Cowley and Iffley. The church, called by ribalds "the boiled
rabbit," from its peculiar shape, lies on the right; there is a gate
in the city wall, on the place where the road now turns to Holywell.
At this time the walls still existed, and ran from Magdalen past "St.
Mary's College, called Newe," through Exeter, through the site of Mr.
Parker's shop, and all along the south side of Broad Street to St.
Michael's, and Bocardo Gate. There the wall cut across to the
castle. On the southern side of the city, it skirted Corpus and
Merton Gardens, and was interrupted by Christ Church. Probably if it
were possible for us to visit Elizabethan Oxford, the walls and the
five castle towers would seem the most curious features in the place.
Entering the East Gate, Magdalen and Magdalen Grammar School would be
familiar objects. St. Edmund's Hall would be in its present place,
and Queen's would present its ancient Gothic front. It is easy to
imagine the change in the High Street which would be produced by a
Queen's not unlike Oriel, in the room of the highly classical edifice
of Wren. All Souls would be less remarkable; at St. Mary's we should
note the absence of the "scandalous image" of Our Lady over the door.
At Merton the fellows' quadrangle did not yet exist, and a great
wood-yard bordered on Corpus. In front of Oriel was an open space
with trees, and there were a few scattered buildings, such as
Peckwater's Inn (on the site of "Peck"), and Canterbury College. Tom
Quad was stately but incomplete. Turning from St. Mary's past B. N.
C., we miss the attics in Brasenose front, we miss the imposing
Radcliffe, we miss all the quadrangle of the Schools, except the
Divinity school, and we miss the Theatre. If we go down South
Street, past Ch. Ch. we find an open space where Pembroke stands.
Where Wadham is now, the most uniform, complete, and unchanged of all
the colleges, there are only the open pleasances, and perhaps a few
ruins of the Augustinian priory. St. John's lacks its inner