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to re;ul lectures in divinity ; and such was the resort of students jto it, that in the reign of king John there were not fewer than |3000. Robert d’Oilv, a Norman, to whom William the Cion- iqueror had given the greatest part of it, built a castle on the west iside of it, in 1071. In a palace built by Henry 1 . was bornRichard I. commonly called Ccrur de Lion. About the tenth ofking John , there happened a quarrel between the citizens and stu-dents; in consequence of which many of the latter quitted it, butreturned again a few years afterwards. II ere Iienrv 111. held aparliament to settle the differences betwixt him and his barons;when he confirmed the privileges granted to the university bv hispredecessors, and added others. In this reign the students are saidto have been 30,000, who were all excommunicated by the popefor some rudeness to his legate. In the time of Duns Scotus , weare told that 30,000 scholars attended his lectures. Matthew Paris styles the university of Oxford , ‘ the second school of the churchafter Paris , and the very foundation of the church.’ The popeshad before this honoured it with the title of University , whichthey had conferred by their decrees on no other but that of Paris ,this of Oxford , and those of Bologna and Salamanca. Collegesbegan about this time to be founded and endowed. The follow-ing is a list of them, with the time when, and the persons bywhom, they were founded :
Colleges. Founders. King's reign.
University.Ring Alfred.Alfred.
Baliol.Sir Joint Baliol, father to the
king of Scots.Hen. III.
Merton.Walter Merton, lord chancel-
lor and bishop of Ro-chester.Kdw. I.
tO riel.Edward 11.Edw. 11.
iExeter.Walter Stapleton, Bp.Edw. 11.
•Queen’s.Robert Eglestield, B. D.Edw. III.
New College.William of Wickham, Bp. of I
Winchester, lord chan- |
cellor.Edw. III.
Lincoln.Richard Fleming, Bp. of Lin-coln.lien. VI.
All-Souls.Hugh Chicheley, Abp. of
Canterbury.Hen. k I.
Magdalen.-.William Wainfleet, Bp. of
Winchester, lordchancellor.Ilen. VI.
Brazen-Nose.William Smith, Bp. of Lin-
coln, and Ricluud Sutton,
Esq.......Hen, VIII.
■Corpus Cbristi_Richard Fox, Up. of Win-
chester, and lord privy seal.lien.VIII.
Christ-Church.Henry A"111. and Cardinal
Wolsey.Hen. VIII.
Trinity ..Sir Thomas Pope.Mary.
St. John Baptist.Sir Thomas White, merchant
of London...Mary.
Jesus.Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth.
Wadham.Nicholas and Dorothy Wad-
Pembroke......Thomas Tisdale, Esq. and Dr.
Richard Whitwick.James 1.
Worcester was called Gloucester-hall till lately, when it was en-dowed by Sir Thomas Coke , and made collegiate. Hartford wasHart-hair till 1740, when it was erected into a college by Dr.Richard Newton. All these are richly endowed, and have linegardens, libraries, chapels, &c. The most considerable of thesecolleges are Magdalen and Christ-church, which are as noblefoundations as any in the world. The church of the latter is thecathedral, and has a dean, eight canons, eight chaplains, eightsinging men, eight choristers, a teacher of music, and an organist.Eaclt of the colleges has its visitor appointed by its statutes, exceptChrist-church, which is subject to the visitation of the sovereignalone. The other remarkable buildings belonging to the univer-sity are. 1. the public schools; 2. the Bodleian or public library ;3. Ratclilfe’s library, a most elegant structure, for building andfurnishing which, Dr. Ratcliffe h it 40,000/.; 4. the theatre, builtby Sheldon, archbishop of C’anteibury ; 5. the museum, in whichis an elaboratory and a repository for natural and artificial raritiesantiquities; 0. the Clarendon printing-house, so called, be- |
ii
cause it was built partly with the money arising to the universityby the sale of lord Clarendon’s history. To the south of Magda-len college lies the,physic-garden, instituted by the earl of Dauby,and much improved by Dr. Sherrard: It contains live acres, inwhich is a complete series of such plants as grow naturally, dis-posed in their respective classes; together with two neat and con-venient green-houses, stocked with a valuable collection of exo-tics, and a hot-house, where various plants brought from thewarmer climates are raised. The whole body of the university,including professors, fellows, and students of all sorts, exceeds3000. Each college has its particular statutes and rules for go-vernment. There are four terms in the year for public exercises,&c. and particular days and hours for public lectures, by the se-veral professors. ’Pile university is governed by a chancellor,Ingh-steward, vice-chancellor, two proctors, a public orator. SeeOrator . A keeper of the archives, a register, three esquire-beadles, and three yeomen-beadles. See University . Thecity has had the same privileges granted to it as London , particu-larly an exemption from toll, all over England. It was made anepiscopal see in 1341, when Robert King, the last abbot of Ose-ney, was elected bishop. It is governed by a mayor, high-steward,recorder, four aldermen, eight assistants, two bailiffs, a town-clerk,two chamberlains, all that have borne the office of bailiff andchamberlain, and twenty-four common-council men ; but theseare subject to the chancellor or vice-chancellor of the universityin all affairs of moment; and not only the mayor, but the princi-pal citizens, and sheriff of the comity,'take an oath to maintain theprivileges of the university. The city, including the colleges, isa place of considerable magnitude, havingthirteen parish-churches,besides the cathedral, well built, clean, and regular. It is 20miles S. W. of Buckingham, 40 S.Vv. of Bedford, 45 f>. K. ofWorcester, and 58 W. by N. of London . Lon. t. 10. \V. J,at.51. 45. N.
Oxford, a sea-port-town of Maryland , on the eastern shore, inTalbot county, 4b miles S. E. of Baltimore , anti 128 S. W* ofPhiladelphia .
Oxford, or Oxfordshire , a county of England, which madepart of the territory of the ancient Dohuni, bounded on the W.by Gloucestershire; on the S. by Berkshire; on the E. by Buck-inghamshire . It extends 50 miles from N. to S. and 35 from E.to W. 1 he air is pleasant, and the soil rich and fertile. Thelower parts consist of meadows and corn-lields, and the higherwere covered with woods till the civil wars; in which they wereso entirely destroyed, that wood is now extremely scarce, exceptwhat is called the chiltern, and so is coal ; of consequence fuelbears an exorbitant price. The county is extremely well watered •for besides the Isis, 'Fame, Cherut-JI, Evenlode, and Windrush,'there are many less rivers and brooks. One of the four greatRoman ways passes quite through this county, entering at the pa-rish of Chinner, and going out at that of Goring.
OXGANG, or OXGA'I E OF LAND, is generally taken, inold law-books, tor 15 acres, or as much ground as a single ox canplow in a year.
OXIDATE, OXIDATION , OXIGENATEI), OXI-GENA L ION, OXIGENE. See Oxydation, Oxyoenatf.d,Oxygen, &c.
OXIDE, a substance having oxygen for one of its constituentparts, but in a less proportion than is sufficient to constitute anacid. Oxygen enters into combination with a great variety of bo-dies, which combinations may be divided into two sets : 1.'Thosewhich possess the properties of acids; and, 2. Those which atedestitute of these properties. The lirst set of compounds are dis-tinguished by the term acids; to the second, the term oxide hasbeen appropriated. By oxide, then, is meant a substance com-posed of oxygen and some other body, and destitute of the pro-perties which belong to acids. It is by no means uncommon tofind a compound of the same base and oxygen belonging to bothof these sets, according to the proportion of oxygen which entersinto the compound. In all these eases, the smaller proportion ofoxygen constitutes the oxide; the larger the acid. Hence it fol-lows, that oxides always contain less oxygen than acids with thesame base. See Chemistry, Oxygen," and Oxydation.
OXONIA, or OXON1UM, the classical name of Oxford .From its pleasant situation, it was called by Antoninus , Bcllositum,and Calleva.
OXOP1IYLLUM,