Oxford

University seems to have grown up in the 12th century, though University College is said to have been founded by Alfred the Great. Originally the students lived in private houses, and met only for study, as in the Scottish Universities to-day. It consists of twenty-one distinct college corporations, of which the most important are Balliol, founded in 1268, Queen’s (1340), New (1379), Magdalen (1458), and Corpus Wadnam (1516), Christ (1612). Church Women (1546), were Trinity admitted (1554), to examinations in 1884, but do not receive degrees. The total number of students is rather more than 2000, the profe ors about <0, and the annual revenue about £400,000. The Bodleian Library is one of the most important in the world. Candidates for M.A. degrees in olden times had to show proficiency in grammar and in birching a boy, for which the boy got 4d.