appointed, five of whom annually go out of office. The person whose turn happens in the time of Vacation, or on any day during Term, except Sunday, is at liberty to procure any one qualified, to supply his place. pen on a Sunday in Term, no one but a select Preacher is allowed to be his substitute.

If the turn hap

This spacious Gothic structure is 288 feet in length, 27 feet 11 inches broad, and 70 feet in height. The Vice-Chancellor's seat is at the west end, with the places appointed for the Proctors beneath it. On each side are seats for the Heads of Colleges and Halls, and the Doctors and Noblemen. In the area before them are benches for the Masters of Arts, and over the ViceChancellor's seat, with a return to the north and south, are galleries for the Bachelors of Arts and Under-Graduates. The arch between the area and the chancel supports a fine organ, by Smith. The room on the north side of the chancel is the Common Law School, where the Vinerian Professor reads his Lectures. The steeple is 180 feet high.

A religious ceremony takes place annually in this Church, which originated thus: in the year 1853, on the feast of St. Scholastica, (the 10th of February,) a serious quarrel took place between the Scholars and the Citizens, in consequence of John de Croydon, the landlord of the Mermaid Tavern, on Carfax, giving to some students wine which they disliked. Several snappish words passed between them,

and, at length, the vintner becoming very saucy, the Scholars threw the wine and the cup at his head. From the noise occasioned by this quarrel, several citizens came into the -house and took the landlord's part, and being close to St. Martin's Church, they ordered the bells to be rung, to call the townsmen together. They assembled in great numbers, as did also the members of the University. A great conflict took place, which ended in the death of forty of the Scholars. Many others were wounded, and all the books and goods belonging to the Students the Townsmen could find, they spoiled, plundered, and carried away. In -consequence of this outrage, an interdict was laid on the City. This was taken off in the year 1355, on condition that the Mayor, Bailiffs, and sixty of the chief Burghers, should personally appear in the Church of St. Mary, on the said day of Scholastica, and there, at their own charge, celebrate a mass for the souls of the Scholars slain; after which, the Burghers should each offer up one penny at the great altar of the Church, to be distributed to forty poor Scholars, and the residue of the oblation to be given to the curate of St. Mary's. In failure of this, the City was to forfeit 100 marks to the University. This ceremony was duly performed until the early part of the reign of Elizabeth, when it was urged by the City, that it literally meant masses, and these being done away with by the Reforination, the ceremony

and fines ought to be discontinued. The heads of the Queen's Council, however, did not agree in opinion with the Citizens, but ordered that a sermon or communion, (with the pennies cach) should be exchanged for the masses. This was, at length, changed into the service now used, (prayers). This service and the offering, continue to this day, as an expiation of an offence committed upwards of 460 years ago, in the days of Edward III. In this Church also, annually, the Mayor, and a certain number of the Citizens of Oxford, take an oath, which is administered to them by the Proctors, in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor, to maintain the rights and privileges of the University.

In the square behind St. Mary's Church, stands that magnificent structure

THE RADCLIFFE LIBRARY.

This fine building was begun in 1737, and was opened with great public ceremony, by the trustees under the will of the Founder, Dr. Radcliffe, on the 13th of April, 1749. This great Benefactor to the University left forty thousand pounds for the erection of this Library, one hundred and fifty pounds per annum to the Librarian, one hundred pounds per annum for the purchase of books, and one hundred pounds per annum to keep the Library in repair. The architect was Gibbs, and this

*The trustees have lately determined to appropriate the Library to the reception of books in Natural History and Medicine.