s were left; all we do know is that the
'restorers' of the day took Wren's roof off, removed his beautiful
windows, inserted a new and larger cupola, and generally did their best
to spoil his work. It is only necessary to compare the old pictures of
the Sheldonian with its present state to see how in this case, as in so
many others, Oxford's architectural glories have suffered from our
insane unwillingness to let well alone.

[Sidenote: The History of the Sheldonian.]

The Sheldonian was not in existence during the period when University
history was most picturesque. Its associations therefore are nearly all
academic, and academic functions, however interesting to those who take
part in them, do not appeal to the great world. Perhaps the most
romantic scene that the Sheldonian has witnessed was the Installation of
the Duke of Wellington as Chancellor in 1833, when the whole theatre
went mad with enthusiasm as the writer of the Newdigate, Joseph Arnould
of Wadham, declaimed his lines on Napoleon,--

And the dark soul a world could scarce subdue
Bent to thy genius, chief of Waterloo.

The subject of the poem was 'The Monks of St. Bernard'.

But the enthusiasm was almost as great, and the poetry far superior,
when Heber recited the best lines of the best Newdigate on record:--

No hammer fell, no ponderous axes swung;
Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.
Majestic silence.

This happy reference to the manner of building of Solomon's Temple was
suggested by Sir Walter Scott.

Another almost historic occasion in the Sheldonian was when, at a
Diocesan Conference, the late Lord Beaconsfield made his well-known
declaration, 'I for my part prefer to be on the side of the angels.' But
these scenes only indirectly touch Oxford. More intimately connected
with her history are the famous Proctorial Veto of 1845, when Dean
Church and his colleague saved Tract No. 90 from academic condemnation,
and the stormy debates of twenty years ago, when the permission to use
Vivisection in the University Physiological Laboratory was only carried
after a struggle in which the Odium Scientificum showed itself capable
of an unruliness and an unfairness to opponents which has left all
displays, previous or subsequent, of Odium Theologicum far behind.

[Sidenote: Commemoration Scenes.]

There is no doubt that the organized medical vote on that occasion holds
the record for noise in the Theatre. And the competition fo