e course of one month," but it was uncertain just when it would speak,
and "if they heard it not before it had done speaking, all their labor
would be lost." They watched it three weeks, but fatigue overmastered
them, and Bacon set his servant on watch, with orders to awaken them if
the head should speak. At the end of one half hour the fellow heard the
head say, "Time is;" at the end of another, "Time was;" and at the end
of a third half hour, "Time's past," when down fell the head with a
tremendous crash. The blockhead thought his master would be angry if
disturbed by such trifles, and this ended the experiment with the brazen
head. Yet Friar Bacon was a much wiser man than would be supposed by
those who only know him from this tale. He was esteemed the most learned
man ever at the great university, and it is considered doubtful if any
there in later years surpassed him.

NEW COLLEGE AND RADCLIFFE LIBRARY.

[Illustration]

William of Wykeham founded the New College, or the College of St. Mary
Winton, in 1380. It has a noble entrance, and in a niche above the
gateway is the Virgin, to whom an angel and the founder are addressing
themselves in prayer. The chapel has a massive detached bell-tower, and
in its windows are some fine stained glass, while the silver staff of
William of Wykeham is still preserved there. The cloisters are extensive
and picturesque, the ribbed roof resembling the bottom of a boat, while
the restored hall has a fine oaken roof. The New College gardens are
enclosed on three sides by the ancient walls of the city, which are well
preserved, and the enclosure is one of the most beautiful in Oxford.
Through a door in a corner of the gardens there is a passageway opening
out of one of the bastions of the old walls into a strip of ground
called the "Slype," where a fine view is had of the bastions, with the
college bell-tower and chapel behind them. In making a recent addition
to the buildings of this college on the edge of the "Slype," the workmen
in digging for the foundations discovered the remains of a mammoth.

[Illustration: NEW COLLEGE.]

[Illustration: THE RADCLIFFE LIBRARY, FROM THE QUADRANGLE OF BRASENOSE.]

New College Lane leads to Radcliffe Square, in the centre of which is
located the handsome Radcliffe Library, with colleges, churches, and
schools all around the square. Dr. Radcliffe, who was the
court-physician of King William III. and Queen Anne, founded this
library, which is i