"Arriving at the mount of St. Mary's, I have brought you some fine
bisketts baked in the Oven of Charitie, carefully conserved for the
chickens of the Church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet
swallows of salvation.


In spite of these evil symptoms, a Greek oration and plenty of Latin
plays were ready for Queen Elizabeth when she visited Oxford in 1566.
The religious refugees, who had "eaten mice at Zurich" in Mary's
time, had returned, and their influence was hostile to learning. A
man who had lived on mice for his faith was above Greek. The court
which contained Sydney, and which welcomed Bruno, was strong enough
to make the classics popular. That famed Polish Count, Alasco, was
"received with Latin orations and disputes (1583) in the best
manner," and only a scoffing Italian, like Bruno, ventured to call
the Heads of Houses THE DROWSY HEADS--dormitantes. Bruno was a man
whom nothing could teach to speak well of people in authority.
Oxford enjoyed the religious peace (not extended to "Seminarists") of
Elizabeth's and James's reigns, and did not foresee that she was
about to become the home of the Court and a place of arms.



CHAPTER IV--JACOBEAN OXFORD



The gardens of Wadham College on a bright morning in early spring are
a scene in which the memory of old Oxford pleasantly lingers, and is