As an example of the paganism of Queen Anne's reign--quite a
different thing from the "Neo-paganism" which now causes so much
anxiety to the moral press-man--let us note the affecting instance of
Geffery Ammon. "He was a merry companion, and his conversation was
much courted." Geffery had but little sense of religion. He is now
buried on the west side of Binsey churchyard, near St. Margaret's
well. Geffery selected Binsey for the place of his sepulchre,
because he was partial to the spot, having often shot snipe there.
In order to moisten his clay, he desired his friend Will Gardner, a
boatman of Oxford, who was accustomed to row him down the river, to
put now and then a bottle of ale by his grave when he came that way;
an injunction which was punctually complied with.

Oxford lost in Hearne's time many of her old buildings. It is said,
with a dreadful appearance of truth, that Oxford is now to lose some
of the few that are left. Corpus and Merton, if they are not belied,
mean to pull down the old houses opposite Merton, halls and houses
consecrated to the memory of Antony Wood, and to build lecture-rooms
AND HOUSES FOR MARRIED DONS on the site. The topic, for one who is
especially bound to pray for Merton (and who now does so with unusual
fervour), is most painful. A view of the "proposed new buildings,"
in the Exhibition of the Royal Academy (1879), depresses the soul.
In the same spirit Hearne says (March 28th, 1671), "It always grieves
me when I go through Queen's College, to see the ruins of the old
chapell next to High Street, the area of which now lies open (the
building being most of it pulled down) and trampled upon by dogs,
etc., as if the ground had never been consecrated. Nor do the
Queen's Coll. people take any care, but rather laught at it when 'tis
mentioned." In 1722 "the famous postern-gate called the Turl Gate"
(a corruption for Thorold Gate) was "pulled down by one Dr. Walker,