and colour to the carved work.

If possible, the stranger should attend the service, when he will hear grand
singing and accompanied by a magnificent organ. The silver gilt crozier of
Wykeham, formerly studded with rich gems, is one of the few relics of value
preserved by New College. Charles I. received the greater part of a rich
collection of plate as a contribution to his military chest in the great
civil war. This crozier interests, for, gazing on it, we are carried back
five centuries, when it was not a bauble made in Birmingham, but a symbol of
actual power and superior intelligence. The sceptre of a prince of a church
which then absorbed almost all the intellect and all the learning of the age.
The garden with its archery-ground, and the "Slipe," with its stables and
kennels, complete what was meant to be a temple of sacred learning and active
piety, but which has become a very Castle of Indolence, a sort of Happy
Valley, for single men. Winchester School still retains its ancient
character for scholarship. (It is said to be almost impossible to "pluck" a
Wykehamist); but the foundation has been grossly abused, the elected being
not poor boys but the sons of wealthy clergymen and gentlemen, as indeed they
had need be, for, by another abuse, the parents of boys on the foundation
have to pay about 40 pounds a-year for their board. But, when a boy,
distinguished for diligence and ability among his fellows, has been, at
eighteen or nineteen years, elected to a Fellowship of New College, his work
for life is done,--no more need for exertion,--every incentive to epicurean
rest. Fine rooms, a fine garden, a dinner daily the best in Oxford, served
in a style of profusion and elegance that leaves nothing to be desired, wine
the choicest, New College ale most famous, a retiring-room, where, in
obsequious dignity, a butler waits on his commands, with fresh bottles of the
strong New College port, or ready to compound a variety of delicious drinks,
amid which the New College cyder cup and mint julep can be specially
recommended. Newspapers, magazines, and novels, on the tables of both the