research and a sense of
humour and of the picturesque, excellences rarely found together in
historians. Mr R. B. Gardiner, formerly Scholar of Wadham, has earned
its gratitude by his invaluable 'Registers of Admissions,' which, it is
to be hoped, he will bring down to 1910 or later: they will make easy
the work of some member of the College, who will doubtless arise to
write a _magnum opus_, the history of the College in every
aspect--architectural, social, and academical.

For it the writer will use, as I have done for this little book, the
notes and comments of Mr Andrew Clark on Wood's 'Life and Times,' and
other volumes published by the Oxford Historical Society.

My thanks are due also to Dr Butler, the Master of Trinity, Cambridge,
for his kindness in telling me what little there is to tell of Wilkins'
short tenure of the Mastership.

The Bishop of Chester, Dr Jayne, formerly a Scholar of Wadham, now
Bishop of the Diocese which Wilkins held, has helped me with information
about the short episcopate of his predecessor. For it I am grateful to
him, as well for the suggestion or command which led to my first
attempt, made four years ago, to write something about Wilkins.

The too short article in the 'Dictionary of National Biography' has been
of much service: it gives the bibliography of the subject, or an
equivalent, for no life of Wilkins has been written till now, and
indicates the sources of information about him: it also puts in clear
order the events of his varied life. Mr Sanders must know much which he
should be gently forced to tell.

Fain would I acknowledge to Wood and Aubrey the debt I owe to them,
especially to Wood, and ask his pardon for occasional ill-natured
remarks about him, as ill-natured nearly as his own about most of his
contemporaries.

The only merit claimed for this _libellus_ is its brevity--no small
recommendation in this age of "exhaustive treatment" when, in
bibliography especially, it is difficult to see the wood for the trees.
It is an inadequate expression of the writer's affection for the College
in which he has spent more than forty years of his life, and the
unvarying kindness and indulgence which he has received from pupils and
colleagues.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE FROM ITS FOUNDATION TO
THE BEGINNING OF WILKINS' WARDENSHIP 1

II. WILKINS' LIFE TILL