been ruled by a series of famous and energetic deans, its periods of
inglorious inactivity have been fewer than those of most other
colleges. The roll of deans contains such names as those of John
Owen, the most famous of Puritan preachers, John Fell, theologian and
founder of the greatness of the Oxford Press, Henry Aldrich,
universally accomplished as scholar, logician, musician, architect,
Francis Atterbury, Jacobite and plotter, Cyril Jackson, who ruled
Christ Church with a rod of iron, and who ranks first among the
creators of nineteenth-century Oxford, Thomas Gaisford and Henry
George Liddell, great Greek scholars. It seems that a college gains
something by having its head appointed from outside; the Dean at
Christ Church is appointed by the Crown.

The importance of Christ Church is especially seen in its hall,
through its collection of portraits. It is not only that this is
superior to that of any one other college; it may well be doubted if
the combined efforts of all the colleges could produce a collection
equal to that of Christ Church in artistic merit, or superior to it
in historical importance. The prime ministers of England, of whom
Christ Church claims twelve (nine of them in the last century), are
represented among others by George Grenville, the unfortunate author
of the Stamp Act, George Canning, who called "the New World into
existence to redress the balance of the Old," and W. E. Gladstone;
among the eight Christ Church men who have been Governor-Generals of
India, the Marquess Wellesley stands out pre-eminent; Christ Church
has sent five archbishops to Canterbury and nine to York; there is a
portrait in the hall of Wake, the most famous of the holders of the
See of Canterbury. Lord Mansfield's picture worthily represents the
learning and impartiality of the English Bench. But even more
interesting than any of those already mentioned are the portraits of