OXFORD.

UNDER the title of "England's Great University," Mr. M. D. Conway gives a very interesting account in the December Harper's of Oxford as it is at the present day. As the usual ideas about the English universities are rather vague on this side of the water, not to say incorrect, we give a short summary of the article.

In the first place, we must remember that Oxford is constantly changing. Most of us derive our ideas on this subject from reading "Tom Brown"; but the Oxford of to-day is by no means what it was when Thomas Hughes saw it. The purse-proud regime has been reduced, the tandem-driving lords and snobs are unknown. The "Town and Gown" row is a thing of the past, so is that unappeasable thirst for beer by which the youth of that time seemed to have been impelled. The writer states that a student who should anywhere be seen tipsy would lose caste entirely among his fellows; but this is a very hard statement to swallow. If true, things have vastly improved in England over what they used to be.

There are at present thirty or more Americans at Oxford, most of whom are probably sent to imbibe conservative views, or because they or their parents have been fired by reading "Tom Brown." But Oxford is commonly conceived of as far more stereotyped than it really is. Among the works studied are those of Gibbon, Hume, Voltaire, Mill, Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndall. In Merton Library old books still remain chained to the wall, but as a visitor was looking at them he noticed that the last two books issued to a student were works of the most sweeping radical of the time.

Even female education is to have a place at Oxford. The lectures of Ruskin, Max Muller, and others have long been crowded with women, and now a separate college is to be founded for them, for which an endowment is now being raised. The Broad or rationalistic party, and the High Church party, between whom the competition at Oxford now seems to lie, have united in advocating this measure.

One of the causes of the immense progress at Oxford in recent as compared with former years has been the operation of the University, Tests Abolition Act. In America many are still accustomed to think of Oxford as a university where everybody is obliged to sign the Thirty-nine Articles and conform with the established church, but such is not now the fact. This act abolished subscription to any and all formularies of faith as a condition of admission, or taking lay degree and lay academical or collegiate offices.

The professors of the university, not being officers of the colleges, generally reside in detached houses. Their pay is rather less than that of our own professors. The Oxford tutor is usually an accomplished scholar who has himself passed through the university course. He is the familiar friend of the young men, often entertained by them at their social gatherings, and entertaining them in return. His care of his pupil is not limited to official hours, but is often special.

The number of students is two thousand. Their rooms are considerably larger as a rule than those at Harvard or Yale, and having much fewer books in them appear more like sitting-rooms than studies. In a view that is given of the interior of a student's room the freedom from overcrowding, either with furniture or smaller objects, is especially noticeable.

A student's room is sacred from intrusion. No master or proctor can insist on entering it, whatever may be his suspicions as to proceedings inside. In this respect Oxford is ahead of Harvard. The regulations meant to discourage dissipation and immorality are directed against the temptations of the town outside the college walls. Students are rigorously restrained from frequenting public houses and saloons; this hardship, however, is mitigated by the privilege of obtaining at cost from the college stores as much wine or spirits as is desired. After all allowances are made for debaucheries in other towns, there are good grounds for believing that the moral character of Oxford is exceptionally high.

The cost of living varies largely, but it is a matter of experience that a student who resides within a college or hall can, with economy, obtain the degree of B. A., which requires twelve terms or three years of residence, for a total expenditure of $300.

Admission to Oxford seems to be easy. The applicant is examined in some Greek play, generally Euripides, or in Homer and Thucydides, in Virgil or some other of the Latin classics; must translate a short English passage into Latin prose, answer some questions on grammar, show a fair familiarity with arithmetic, and know something of Euclid or algebra. But if he possess special excellence in any one of these studies he is pretty certain to be admitted, even though he be weak in the rest. Oxford has a great tendency to foster special abilities.

In the matter of scholarships, Harvard would do well to imitate Oxford. All of these - more than 700 in number and bringing in an aggregate of pound 60,000 annually - are bestowed for knowledge alone, and are sought as earnestly by the sons of the wealthy as by the poor. They average about pound 65 a year. This is one example of the determination at Oxford to draw no line between rich and poor. It has its swells and its snobs, but whatever they may import in that way is absolutely unrecognized by university and college law and administration.

In conclusion, Oxford is at the same time a university of the past and of the present. Many old manners and customs still remain, but in most respects she is abreast of the times and is making continual progress. The restraint put upon the student, however, seems to be greater than in most other large universities, but in time this will doubtless be done away with.