This Street owes much of its Beauty to its curve Direction, affording by
this Means a gradual and unexpected display of it's Parts, and fucceffively
furprizes and pleafes at every Turn with a new Object.

In the North Entrance into this City, through St. Giles's, a Rus in Urbe,
having all the Advantages of Town and Country, is a well-built Street,
2055 Feet long, and 246 broad, planted with Rows of Elms on each Side,
and having Parterres of Green before the respective Houses. In this Street
stand the venerable Colleges of Baliol and St. John; and at each End of it,
fronting each other, are the comely Stone Churches, with embattled Towers,
of St. Giles and Magdalen.-The Entrance to the City this Way is greatly
ornamented by the handfome White Stone Buildings, the Obfervatory, In-
firmary, and Houfe of Industry.

The West Entrance, for above a Mile, over feven raised modern elegant
Bridges of white Stone, is very beautiful.-But Oxford is better seen than
defcribed. The magnificent Colleges, and other most noble Edifices,
standing in, and giving an Air of Grandeur to the Streets;-the many de-
lightful Walks;-elegant Gardens ;-rich Chapels ;-grand Libraries; —
the Beauty of the Meadows and Rivers, that on every Side delight the Eye;
-the Swectness of the Air; - the Learning, and frequent public Difplay
of it, and the Politeness of the Place; the Harmony and Order of Dif-
cipline;
;- not to mention the great Number of Strangers that continually
vifit us, and exprefs their Satisfaction, confpire to render it the Delight and
Ornament of the Kingdom, not to fay, of the World.

The Antients had ever a mighty Veneration for, and bestowed the
greatest Encomiums upon it; in particular diftinguishing it by the Name of
Bellofitum, quafi a belle fitum, or Beaumond, for it's fweet Situation.

He that hath Oxford feen, for Beauty, Grace,
And Healthinefs, ne'er faw a better Place.
If God himself on Earth Abode would make,
He Oxford, fure, would for his Dwelling take."

in this princely Land of all that's good and gotat,

Would Clio feek the most diftinguish'd Seat,

Moft bleft, where all is fo fublimely bleft,
That with fuperior Grace o'erlooks the rest:
Like a rich Gem, in circling Gold enforin'd,
Where Ifis' Waters wind

Along the fweetest Shore

That ever felt fair Culture's Hands,

Or Springs embroider'd Mantle wore,
Lo! where majestic Oxford stands.

This City fends two Members to Parliament.

It gave the Title of Earl to the Family of Veres for near 600 Years, 'till the Death of Aubrey de Vere, the 20th and laft Earl of that Family without Iffue Male, A. D. 1702: After which it lay dormant, 'till it was conferred by Queen Anne upon Robert Harley, Speaker of the House of Commons, and afterwards Lord High Treasurer of England, A. D. 1711, whofe Succeffor, Edward Harley, now enjoys that Title.

Here are five Schools; of which three are fupported by voluntary or private Charities.

The first, of fifty-four Boys, by the University.

The fecond, of thirty Boys, by the City.

Another for Girls, called the Ladies Subscription, confifts at present

of thirty-fix Girls.

Its Market Days are Wednesdays and Saturdays, Weekly.

No Fairs: - Óf its Wakes, fee hereafter."

Of

The Affizes for the County are always held here.

Oxford may be confidered in its two fold Capacity, as an University and a City: The former well deferves a particular Account of it, by itself; the latter is the Subject of my prefent Defign.

d

In the rooo and 9th Year before Chrift, A. M. 2954; Memphric King of the Britains, (Son of Madan, Son of Locrin, Son of Brutus) is faid to have built it; whence it had the Name of Caer-Memphric. (Caer, in the Celtic or British Tongue, fignifying a City) De quo nihil boni commemo

c Mr. Warton's Ode, A.D. 1751.

d Of whofe Origin and Defcent, defended by many, denied utterly by few, as Milton fays, Hist. Eng. p. 6. See fully Rob. Sherringham de Angl. Gen. Orig. Edit. 1679 -Rev. Aaron Thompfon Pref. to Geof. Monmouth Hift. Ed. 1718.—John Lewis Hift Brit. Ed. 1720.-Rot. Parl. In Turr. In Pryn Hift. Tom. 3. 1. 5. ch. 3. Epift. Reg. Ed 1. Com. & Baron. Angl. ad Papam Boniface. 8 in Matt. Weftminster A D. MCCCI.-The Pe digree of K. H. VII. In App. to W. Wynn Hift. Ed. 1697. and after Coronation.Ex MSS. in Bib. Cotton. -Leland Coll. v. 4. p. 185. and of K. H. VIII. defcendinge Lineally of the Britanne Kinges. -Leland Itin. V. 1. Ed. 1770. Year's Gift,&c. Whence probably the Name of Britain; Bryt being Celtic or British for Brutus, and

-

New

Tayn Regio. Dict. Celtick. A. Bullet Edit. 1754,
V. 3. 396.

His Brother Maul having incited the Britons
to rebel against him, he invited Maul to a friendly
Conference, (then) flew him, and feized the
-Kingdom wholly to himself: which he ruled with
great Tyranny over his People, killing the greatest
Number of the Worthies of his Land; and leav-
ing his Wife, he gave himself up to fodomitical
Practices.- At length, in hunting, being parted
from his Company, and got into a Wood, or as
others fay, in a Dingle near a Wood, at Walver-
cote, two Miles North of Oxford, he was feized
upon and devoured by Wolves (whereof the Land
was then full.) J. Lewis, as before. Ralf Hig-
den. Hift. C. 3. Holingfhed, p. 11. Stow, p. 9.
Harding Chron, and others.
B 2

ratur,

ratur, nifi quod probum filium & hæredem generavit, nomine Ebrancum, & unam nobilem urbem condidit, quam a Nomine fuo Caer-Memphric nominavit.»"Of whom nothing can be faid to his Honour, except that he was Father of an hopeful Son Ebrane, and founded a noble City called after his own Name." The fame fays, Oxford primo a Conditore Memphricio-Caer Mempric dicta, deinde Bellefitum, forfan a Bello Monte vicino, poftea Ridohen, i. c. Vadum Boum, & Caer - Voila (Boffo) a Comite quodam qui floruit Tempore Arturii. "Oxford was first called Mimbre (this being Celtic or British for Memphric "to this Day) then Belle-fitum, from a pre ty mountain near, afterwards "Ridoben, (q. Ryd-ychen) implying, in the Celtic Language, a Ford of Oxen, and "Caer Volo (meaning Boffo) a certain Earl that flourished in the Time of King "Arthur."

The above Particulars he collected from the British or Welch Books.E libris lingua Britannica fcriptis. This City was originally built on the Weft End of the prefent City, in the Quarter where the Caftle now ftands.* With Mr. Rofs agrees F. Stow, as to its antient Erection, but mistakes the Son Ebranc, for the Father, the Founder of it. He builded, he fays, Caer

Memvir.

Ralph Agas totally concurs with Mr. Rofs in this Particular.

And Mr. Brian Twyne in his learned Treatife," makes the fame King the Founder; and Vortiger the Restorer, Conditor Urbis Oxonienfis Mempritius Britannorum Reftaurator Virtigerus.

To the fame Purpose Mr. Rogers, as before, in his Address to the University:

Rhidoca primis fub Nomine culta Britannis,
Quam vagus irriguis Ifis adornat aquis.
Non ingrata fuis queis crevit Regibus olim,
Memphritio fefe Vortigeroque refert. 1

Mr. Lewis, as before, in his History under the Name of King Membyr, fays, "I finde, he built Oxford upon Auon Dayn, i. e. the Ryver Temes. * Miles Winfore next enters the Lifts. Oxonienfis Civitas augufta, literata & Regia, ab antiquis diebus inter Academicas Urbes merito venit

a Villam Nobilem. MSS. in C. C. Coll.

b Caer-Memre, in fome Copies of him. In C.C. MSS. Mempris.

J. Rofs.-In Hist. Reg. Angl. a Bruto ad H. 7. MSS. A. D. 1468. In Bib. Cotton. fub effig. Vefpafian. A. 12. Id. in T. Hearne ed. 1716. Ant. Wood. Hift. Oxon. p. 6. & Brian Twyne, 1. 2. 118,-In eund. This Rofs Sir William Dugdale calls a famous Antiquary, and Leland and Bale tell us he had devoted himself wholly to the Search of MSS. and Antiquities. He had Liberty, by the Royal Command, to examine all Rudiments in England and Wales. See him alfo in Leland's New Year's Gift. V. I. 1769.

Leland, V. 4. 166, 168.

e Iter Curiof. a Dr. Stukeley, P.43.-Leland Itin. V. 2. p. 142. Ed. 1769.

nume

f Chron. Engl. He might finish what his Father had begun. -Text. Roff.

Dr. Wilkins fays, the Hiftory of J. Rofs concerning the building of the City of Caer-Membre by King Memphrick, was of fo great Credit and Worth, that its Authority can never be invalidated by a later Writer (Stow) who if he had looked more narrowly into Rofs, had not fo ill mistaken his Words. Pref. ad Ep. Tanner in Script. Brit. P. 8.

8 In Typo Urb. Oxon. A.D. 1578.

Ant. Acad. Ed. 1608. b. 2. 120.

He was

B. D. of C. C. C. & Cuftos Archiv. Oxon.
Wood's Athenæ.

* Page 31.

i Epigr.

1

Regis opus. Coriatus Vet. Poeta.

randa;

rauda; bujus originem bona cum Lectoris venia licet altius repetere; quia paululum controvertitur tum de Antiquitate quam de Nomine; & Varie funt Scriptorum opiniones, Oxoniæ Urbs, Caer-Memphric, &c. "The auguft, learned, and Royal City of Oxford well deferves to be ranged in the Number of the antient academick Cities. Though fome had doubted of its Antiquity, and Authors were divided about its Name, he would venture to fay, that this was (really) the Caer, or City of Memphric. "To confirm this his Meaning, in his Notes on Caius, on the Word Oxonia, he adds, Ab Memphritio fundata—" it was the Foundation of Memphric :" And again," it well deferves to be reckoned not only amongst the first and most antient Cities of Britain, but of all Europe, and even of the World."

--

Mr. Wood, treating of the Origin of the City, thus by his learned Editors delivers himself.d "Talem in prifca Britannia Urbem oppidumve extitiffe frequentibus Autorum calculis adftruitur, &c. "That there was fuch a City in antient Britain is an Opinion founded on the Suffrages of many Writers.' Et quamvis nonnulli longe alibi ponendum fentiunt, mibi tamen in promptu funt rationes, fatis idonea quibus Oxonium antiquum fuisse plane evincam.' Though fome were inclined to think otherw fe, he had arguments in readiness to produce, very fit, and fufficient to prove its Antiquity."

The profound Dr. Burley tells us, that certain Philofophers who came out of Greece had the ordering of the Situation of our City. Not unlikely, as it is faid, by Memphric's Command.

Mr. Percye Enderbye writes, " To end his Days with more Glory, the heroic King Ebranc laid the Foundation of Oxford; but he confeffes, it was otherwise called Caer-Mennit, q. Memphric's City." And again, others, fays he, call it Caer-Mennip-another Word for Memphric."

This, Mr. Wood fays, was taken from Dr. David Powell's Hiftory of Cambria, published 1514, from Records, and the beft approved Authors, from the Library of Lanternam, &c.i

Mr. Nic. Fitzherbert refers us to many that attribute its beginning to the next Age, after the Conqueft of Troy, and to King Memphric's Age.* Others speak of it as early.

James Lewknor avers it, as a Truth evident from antient Writings, that Oxford City was in being in the earliest Times of the Britains.'

Cambden, from Chronicles, as he affures us, fpeaks pofitively to the fame Purpose.

Mr. Talbot, in his Iter. Antonini, treating of Cities built by the Britains, has Oxon in the Number."

A Book of Mr. Selden's, introduces this City as early as the Time of the Britains, the firft Inhabitants of this Ifle.<

An old Book, entitled, Diverforum Privilegiorum Statutorum et Memorabilium Alma Univerfitatis Oxon, mentions it as early as the Greeks, foon after Brutus's Time under the Name of Municipium, which Word implies a City or Town that had Privileges and Liberties, and particular Laws and Cuftoms of its own to be governed by.

A Manufcript of Dr. Rawlinfon is very particular as to the Time of its building. A. M. 2954, and before Christ, 1009, in the 5th of King Memphric's Reign.'

Mr. Wood affixes the Date of its erection to the fame Era or Time.

Apud Scriptores noftros hæc fere occurrunt; mille & fupra ante Chriftum natum annis Memphricius Britannorum Rex eam condidiffe dicitur, & de fuo Nomine CaerMemphric appellaffe, quæ deinceps Rydychen, quod lingua Britannica Vadum Boum fonat, &c..". "This commonly occurs in our Authors, that King Memphric built our City above 1000 Years before Chrift's Nativity, and that it had its Appellation or Name of Caer, or the City of Memphric from him," and after, Ryd-ychen. Again, "E variis profecto authoribus liquet Mempbricium Regem Britannorum anno ante Chriftum natum CIOIX urbem noftram fundaffe Nomenque Caer Memphric indidiffe, &c."

"It is evident, from a Variety of Authors, that Memphric King of the Britains, 1009 Years before the Birth of Chrift, first laid the Foundation of our City, and gave it his own Name-Caer-Memphric, Memphric's City."

J. Rous, as before, intimates its Foundation was not compleat till 2960, the 10th of the fame Reign."

Mil. Winfore, aforementioned, finds by his Authorities, that it was built in South Britain, at the fame Time that York was in North Britain, that is by Memphric, as he has elfewhere explained himself.

In Geneological Tables it ftands in that Era of Time, when David was King of Judea, thirty-eight Years before the Erection of Solomon's Temple, and 298 antecedent to Rome.

Oxford has been often mentioned under an old British general Appellation of Caer Pen Hal-goit, or Coit, meaning a City fituate on an Eminence between two Rivers, and adorned with Groves, or Woods.-The Eulogium, or