Christ’s Church, the largest and most elegant of them all, was begun on the ground of St. Frideswide’s Monastery, by Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal of York, to which Henry VIII. joined Canterbury College, settled great revenues upon it, and named it Christ’s Church; the same great prince, out of his own treasury, to the dignity of the town and ornament of the University, made the one a bishoprie, and instituted professorships in the other.
Jesus College, built by Hugh Price, Doctor of Laws.
That fine edifice, the Public Schools, was entirely raised by Queen Mary, and adorned with various inscriptions.
Thus far of the colleges and halls, which for the beauty of their buildings, their rich endowments, and copious libraries, excel all the academies in the Christian world. We shall add a little of the academies themselves, and those that inhabit them.
These students lead a life almost monastic; for as the monks had nothing in the world to do but when they had said their prayers at stated hours to employ themselves in instructive studies, no more have these. They are divided into three tables: the first is called the Fellows’ table, to which are admitted earls, barons, gentlemen, doctors, and Masters of Arts, but very few of the latter—this is more plentifully and expensively served than the others; the second is for Masters of Arts, Bachelors, some gentlemen, and eminent citizens; the third for people of low condition. While the rest are at dinner or supper in a great hall, where they are all assembled, one of the students reads aloud the Bible, which is placed on a desk in the middle of the hall, and this office every one of them takes upon himself in his turn. As soon as grace is said after each meal, every one is at liberty either to retire to his own chambers or to walk in the College garden, there being none that has not a delightful one. Their habit is almost the same as that of the Jesuits, their gowns reaching down to their ankles, sometimes lined with fur; they wear square caps. The doctors, Masters of Arts, and professors, have another kind of gown that distinguishes them. Every student of any considerable standing has a key to the College library, for no college is without one.