basilican church in Oxford. The church tower in the centre, though
itself dating from the fourteenth century, is the most modern part of
one of the oldest churches in Oxford, St. Peter in the East. The
crypt and the chancel of this church go back to the time of the
Conquest, and are probably the work of Robert d'Oili, to whom William
the Conqueror gave the city of Oxford; he was first an oppressor and
then a benefactor; in the former character, he built the castle keep,
still standing near the station; in the latter, he was the builder,
besides St. Peter, of the churches of St. Michael and of the Holy
Cross; parts of his work survive in all three.

The churchyard, at all events, of St. Peter in the East, deserves a
visit, lying as it does between the beautiful garden of New College
and the picturesque buildings of St. Edmund Hall.

Before this last foundation is spoken of, a word must be said as to
the road round which these three buildings are grouped--Queen's Lane.
It survives, almost unaltered, from Pre-Reformation Oxford, and,
winding as it does its narrow way between high walls, it is an
interesting specimen of the "lanes" which threaded mediaeval Oxford,
a city in which the High Street and, to a smaller extent, Cornmarket
Street were the only real thoroughfares; the rest of the city was a
network of narrow ways.

But from the historic point of view, the most interesting part of the
picture is its right side, where stand the buildings of St. Edmund
Hall. This is the only survival of the system of residence in the
earliest University, of the Oxford which knew not the college system.

Before the days of "pious founders," the students had to provide