2dly, That there were some mansions called mural, which were appropriated for the repairs of the walls.

3dly, That the burgesses had pasture in common without the walls, which pasture was most probably Port Meadow, or the Meadow of the Town, as the name implies, having been given and confirmed to them by several kings before the Conquest.

Oxford appears in MSS. and old authors, to be called indiscriminately, Civitas, Urbs, Villa, and Burgus.

II. OXFORD CASTLE.

Mr. King, in his "Vestiges of Oxford Castle," supposes that "a Saxon Castle was originally built here long before D'Oily's time: a castle which contained such a sort of tower as was deemed, in those days, fit for royal residence.

"For that both Offa, and Alfred, and his sons, and Harold Harefoot, actually resided in the castle itself, and not, as some of the Norman Kings afterwards did, in

any adjoining palace, is most evident, because in the survey taken just after the conquest, no mention is made of the remains of any other palace, or place of royal residence at all, that they could possibly have dwelt in at Oxford; but only seven hundred and fifty houses, and those common houses, within and without the walls are described, besides twenty-four mansions on the wall.

"Considerable Saxon remains have lately been discovered, by digging within the castle area; and plain common sense alone might easily lead us to conclude, that there must have been in Saxon times some kind of buildings of stone, fit for the purpose of royal residence, within the walls of this castle, when it is actually ascertained by ancient records, that even beyond the walls a Saxon tower of stone was really standing in the time of King Ethelred, at a distance far on the outside, on Grand Pont bridge, in the very place where, in subsequent ages, the Norman tower, called Friar Bacon's Study, was built.

"There is, therefore, every reason to believe, whatever additional ditches D'Oily might make for perfecting the works, and for conveying the river round the whole, that there must have been a great surrounding ditch and wall long before, formed by King Offa, who is well known to have raised many great earth works elsewhere, and to have built great edifices of stone, at St. Alban's and other places, and who, we are positively told, built walls at Oxford, where also he fought with the Kentish Men."

Those who wish for a more particular account of the Castle, the Keep, and the Crypt, may consult the original. In his researches into the antiquities of the Castle, Mr. King acknowledges to have received very material assistance from "the indefatigable labours of Mr. Harris, who has the present custody of it, and whose skill as an architect and builder enabled him to search out every part with minuteness."

In the Castle was a College, founded by Robert D'Oily in 1074, which after some

time was translated to Osney; after which the Castle was possessed by Scholars of the University, as appears by the statutes, in which mention is made of Custos, Socii, Sacerdotes, Scholares, et Commensales. The Custos or Warden was always to be one of the Canons of Osney, (to whom this place belonged) who although he did not always reside here, yet he had his deputy to perform his office in his absence, and once a week, or commonly more, would lodge here to see good order kept, and whenever he came between the Nativity and Epiphany, the Scholars, having notice of it, would after supper go to Osney, and there wait till he came out into the court, from whence they followed him hither, conducted by the Pauperculus, or the Sexton of this place, with a burning torch in his hand, and when they came to the Hamel, which is the midway between Osney and the Castle, they would, by the Warden's appointment, begin and sing a hymn all together, till they came to their college, and so up to his chamber door, where, with

all due reverence, they left him to his

repose.*

III. OSNEY ABBEY.

The following account of this magnificent Abbey is extracted from Wood's MS. in the Ashmolean Museum.

The entrance into the Abbey was through a great gate, which stood on the north side of the Abbey Church. This gate opened into a spacious quadrangle, built for the most part of free-stone, and from it you went through a spacious cloyster into the church, which stood on the left hand. This cloyster was decked and beautified with a boarded roof, having the arms of benefactors carved thereon, with several rebusses, and allusions to their names who contributed to the building: the chiefest of them was Abbot John Leech, who built three parts of the cloysters, through which

*MS. in the Bodleian Library.