Remarks on the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford

THE few historical notices of St. Mary's Church which are to be produced on the present occasion have no claim to the credit of originality.They are principally derived from sources of information which are universally accessible, and scarcely deserve to occupy your time, except so far as they may serve for an appropriate introduction to some observations on the fabric, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the accomplished architect 1 now employed in effecting the restoration of the Tower and Spire.The original foundation of St. Mary's Church has been referred by an ancient and certainly not incredible tradition to the great King Alfred.It is alleged that when, on the resuscitation of the University after its devastation by the Danes in the ninth century, that prince erected Schools of Grammar, of Arts, and of Theology within the walls of Oxford, the place of conferring degrees, and celebrating other public acts of the University, was transferred from its former situation, where St. Giles's Church now stands, to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin ; 2 so called, as the learned President of Trinity College has observed, in contradistinction to the still earlier foundation of St. Frideswide's, which in the most ancient documents is denominated, not St.Frideswide's, but St. Mary's " prope Tamesin

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