Part of the new building is completed and occupied; but the grander features of the design have yet to be carried out. The portion finished is a fine structure, and appears well adapted for its purpose: when the other parts are added, it will be a magnificent pile, and add greatly to the architectural character of the place. The lower part of the new Library is appropriated to the Woodwardian Museum of Geology-a collection that, under the care of Professor Sedgwick, has become most valuable and important. At present it is only in part arranged, but that part is exceedingly interesting. From the Library we may pass to the Printing-office of the University or Pitt Press-a press famous rather for the style and value of the books issued from it than for the number. The building was erected a few years back from the designs of Mr. Blore, and is of the perpendicular style. It is a good-looking edifice but has nothing about it to denote its particular purpose. The principal feature is the lofty central tower, which however is wholly ecclesiastical in characA collection of pictures and antiquities left to the University by D. Mesman Esq., is at present exhibited here it will ultimately be removed to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Most of the pictures are small and of the Dutch and Flemish schools, and many of them are doubtless genuine, although many are doubtless spurious. The antiquities are most of them British and Roman articles found in the county. Altogether the collection will well reward a careful inspection. In a lower room, is a most elaborate ivory model (said to have cost several thousand pounds,) of the mausoleum at Agra, called the Tajee Mahal, (or crown of edifices) erected by Shah Jehan in honour of his favourite wife. The Pitt Press stands in Trumpington-street, and a little lower in the same street is the Fitzwilliam Museum-by far the noblest of the recent buildings in the town, and perhaps the finest classical building of recent erection in the country. It is indeed a work of unusual richness and grandeur, and also of much originality of effect, and is admirably adapted to its purpose. It tells what it is at a glance. The style is Corinthian, but it is treated with a fulness of detail and completeness that raises it far above the bald and cold-looking erections that are ordinarily so named. The portico is of exceeding beauty, and from the gracefulness of its proportions, the intercolumniation, the unsparing richness of the accessories, and the happy manner in which the composition is extended by the parts on each side, gives to the whole façade a very imposing air. (See Cut No. 2.) The sculpture in the pediment, and the colossal lions at each end of the building which contribute not a little to the general effect, are the work of Mr. Nichol. The interior is every way worthy of the outside. A hall and staircase of noble proportions lead to the Picture Gallery, a suite of five rooms, whose richness of appearance is very striking to one used to the bare and povertystricken air of the rooms in the so-called National Gallery, and other public picture galleries. These rooms are of good size and lofty, but the pictures will not be suspended above the ken of an ordinary eye. Round the upper part is carried a series of casts of the Panathenaic procession from the originals in the British Museum, which will compel the hanging of the paintings at only a moderate elevation. The rooms are lit by oval lanthorns, which are supported by Caryatides. The light passes through embossed glass at the sides of the lanthorns, and the rooms appear well illuminated. The ceilings are richly ornamented, the columns are of coloured marbles or scagliola, and the floors are of oak. arranged in a pattern. It is intended to add a good deal of colouring to the walls, and when the pictures are added, it may be conceived how splendid the general effect must be; and yet, if the rooms are finished with as much good taste as has hitherto guided the architect, they will be as chaste as splendid. It is said that the pictures will be hung against the approaching installation, but from the state of the rooms at our recent visits to Cambridge, we confess to having doubts whether they can be got ready. Should they be, the Fitzwilliam Museum will doubtless be the lion of the occasion. The rooms under the picture gallery are intended for a sculpture room, and a library. The latter is ready for the reception of the books. It presents an entire contrast to the rooms we have left. The whole of the fittings-the walls, the columns, the presses, and the floor,-are of oak, and the effect is pleasing and admirably in character with the purpose to which the apartment is appropriated. The building is nearly a square of about 160 feet, and is so arranged that wings may at any time be added without deranging the composition, should the increase of the collection render them necessary. Mr. Basevi was the architect from whose designs the building has been erected, but he unfortunately has not lived to see it completed, having been killed by falling from one of the towers of Ely cathedral, the restoration of which edifice he was directing. His designs however are being carried out, with some trifling modifications, by Mr. Cockerell, under whose able superintendence there is no doubt of the works proceeding to a satisfactory completion. The Fitzwilliam Museum, it should have been mentioned before, owes its origin to the munificence of Richard Earl of Fitzwilliam who died in 1816, and bequeathed to the University his collection of paintings, drawings, prints, and books, together with the sum of £100,000 the interest of which was to be applied to the erection of a building to contain his bequest, and the maintenance of officers to superintend it. The collection is a most valuable one. There are 101 pictures, many of the first class; we have already specified some of them. The engravings are very numerous and of great value; they fill 520 large folio volumes. The books and manuscripts, many of rare excellence, amount to 7,000 volumes; and there is a large and costly library of music. Truly a noble bequest. Besides these buildings, the University possesses an Anatomy School, an Observatory, and a Botanical Garden, but these it must be enough to mention. We will now visit the Colleges. Trinity is the most important of these though not the oldest; its charter of incorporation bearing date December 19th 1546. Tread its courts lightly. It indeed boasts of a 'glorious ancestry.' Their names are among the very highest in the list of English worthies-Bacon, Barrow, Newton, Bentley, Porson, Dryden, Byron, are but a sample of the most distinguished of them in the several pursuits of theology, science, learning and poetry, and many of the most eminent men of our own day have been educated here. Trinity is the largest of the colleges the number of persons maintained in the establishment being upwards of four hundred-but its buildings are not the most imposing. From the streets they are scarcely seen; only the handsome entrancegateway presents anything striking in that direction. The college itself consists of three spacious quadrangles, and one of small size. The first or great court “forms a vast area, measuring west and east 334 feet by 325, and north and south 287 feet by 256." (Le Keux's Memorials of Cambridge.) It has a modern look-owing mainly to the alterations made during Bentley's mastership-but the impression produced on entering it from the street is very striking. In the centre of the court stands a handsome conduit; on the north side are the chapel, and the lofty gateway or clock tower; on the west are the Master's Lodge, the Hall and the Combination rooms; on the south is another gateway. The Hall is the finest building belonging to Trinity of its kind the finest in the University. It is a large and lofty Gothic edifice, with a high peaked roof and the exterior altogether has a very picturesque appearance: but the interior still more so. It should be seen on a winter's day at dinner time. The noble room has a very venerable air. The tall peaked roof is filled by open timber work of a rather peculiar character. The walls are hung round with dark portraits of the worthies of Trinity. Down the body of the Hall are ranged the long tables about which are seated the scholars in their purple robes-while cross tables at which the master and fellows sit occupy the elevated dais. A charcoal fire burns in the antique fire-place in the centre of the room and the whole is seen by the uncertain light that struggles through the stained glass windows raised far above the floor, and the handsome bays at the upper end. Though less picturesque, the Chapel of Trinity is even more interesting. As the work is likely to be in the hands of very few of our readers, we will borrow a few words from an admirable sketch of it by Mr. Selwyn in the 'Cambridge Portfolio' (p. 92.) "The building itself possesses no striking excellences; there is nothing in the style of the architecture, nor in the decorations of the interior, which challenges admiration; it is, perhaps, as a building rather below the dignity of its purpose, when considered as the place of worship for the most distinguished of our colleges. And yet there are few places more full of interest to the resident in the University, or to the stranger, than Trinity Chapel. It is a powerful rival, to say no more, to the Chapel of King's College with all its riches of architectural skill. The interest which belongs to Trinity Chapel is of a higher order than that which is due to the powers of art; it is one of religious feeling and association; it is a matter of heart, and mind, and soul. In no other place does there exist so impressive a demonstration of the religious spirit of our academic institutions. The large number of students, the great body of resident fellows, many of them distinguished in various walks of learning, the ancient names of glory connected with the college, combine to render the celebration of Divine Worship in this chapel, more than usually solemn and affecting . . . . Seldom do strangers witness the Sunday evening service without bearing witness to the impressiveness of the scene. . . We will not attempt to describe the effect of the chapel itself, filled as it is in all its length and breadth : the master in his seat of dignity, with the young nobleman on his right hand; along the upper row of seats the fellows; below them the scholars of the foundation; the great body of students filling the central space, and all below to the east end, as far as the eye can reach, an apparently innumerable company robed in white. The choir are placed in raised seats on either side, about midway down the length of the chapel." The ante-chapel is mostly occupied by strangers and the students from other colleges, who resort here in goodly numbers, as the evening service does not commence till that in their own chapel is ended. In the ante-chapel is a statue of Newton, the masterpiece of Roubiliac; and around the walls are many tablets in memory of other celebrated men of Trinity. From this first court we pass into the second or Neville's Court; the principal ornament of which is the Library erected (through the exertions of Isaac Barrow, then Master of Trinity,) by Sir Christopher Wren, and generally considered one of his best works. It is undoubtedly a noble building externally; while its magnificent proportions and luminous appearance strike every one who enters it. This grand room is 190 feet long, 40 feet broad, and 38 feet high; the floor is of black and white marble; the door-ways at the ends of the room and the presses are profusely adorned with carvings in wood, the work of Grinling Gibbons. Under the carvings is a series of ten marble busts of eminent Trinity men, by Roubiliac. Another set of more than thirty busts of famous men, but not of Trinity, is placed on the top of each press; and a number of excellent portraits hang round the walls. In a niche is a statue of the Chancellor Duke of Somerset, by Rysbrack; and in the middle of the room is the celebrated seated statue of Byron, by Thorwaldsen, which was refused admittance into Westminster Abbey. One other embellishment must not be passed over-the stained glass window at the south end. This window is probably unmatched; it is certainly unsurpassed. It was painted in the last century, from a design by Cipriani. The subject is, The presentation of Sir Isaac Newton to George III. by Minerva; while Lord Bacon, seated below, is registering the reward that King George is about to bestow upon the discoverer of the theory of Gravitation! We are not jesting, but relating a sober fact. This prodigious piece of fine art is exactly what has been said; and the execution is as extraordinary as the design-as any one may see who will visit Trinity Library-that is, if he can obtain permission; for the fellows have had the grace of late to hang a curtain before the window. We are in hope that, some day, they may be laughed into removing both window and curtain together. The third, or King's Court, was built in 1823, by Wilkins; and though, as an architectural object, very bad, it is happily one of the least bad of his perpetrations. From this court we gladly escape to the walks. Among them we speedily get rid of our ill-temper. They are delicious places to loiter away a summer's afternoon among. No one who has strolled about them will venture to say that Cambridge is not beautifulit was the streets we railed against, remember: do not accuse us of inconsistency. What fair lime avenues are these of Trinity!-the very groves of Academe ! What noble elms are about their neighbour's of John's! and how trim are the walks of King's! Verily, sauntering about them this dreamy afternoon, is enough to make us forget our grizzled locks, and fancy that our school-days are come back again! We must not linger now, however. The peep we catch between the old elms of the New Buildings of St. John's (Cut, No. 1), reminds us that we have much yet to examine. Come with us there. St. John's is the largest of the colleges after Trinity, and is generally considered as a friendly rival to it. The scholars of St. John's have always maintained a high rank, but it has not produced so famous a list as Trinity. It has excelled in statesmen. Lord Burleigh and Lord Strafford, and, in latter times, William Wilberforce were educated here. Ben Jonson is at the head of its poets; Sir Thomas Wyatt, Otway, Matt. Prior, and Kirke White, are also of the number; and in other walks of life it has had many eminent sons. The buildings of St. John's are remarkable chiefly for their extent. The visitor will find much to interest him in them; but we may here pass them by with very brief notice. They consist of four spacious quadrangles. The first court was the original college, built on its foundation by Margaret, the mother of Henry VII., the foundress also of Christ's College, and a munificent benefactress to some others. Her statue is that on the inner side of the noble entrance-gateway. The Chapel, Hall, and Master's Lodge, are in this court. But we will pass through this and the other courts, and over the curious covered bridge, to the New Buildings. These were erected a few years ago, from the designs of Mr. Rickman, whose writings gave so great an impulse to the study of Gothic architecture. The New Buildings are very extensive, and of unusual richness of style; they are, perhaps, the most happily situated in the University, and are undoubtedly the finest and most effective of the modern Gothic buildings in Cambridge. Their most striking feature is the entrance-gateway and clock-tower, shown in the engraving (Cut, No. 1), which, from every point of view, form a highly picturesque composition. The cloisters are continued across the river by the new bridge, which, from its covered-way, is sometimes called the Bridge of Sighs, but in the University is known as the Isthmus of Suesa scholastic pun, suggested by the familiar appellation of the Johnians. From John's we pass along the delightful walks to King's, one of the smallest of the colleges, as regards the number of members on its foundation; but by far the most magnificent in its endowments. And here we are at once arrested by its Chapel, beyond all question the most splendid architectural object of the kind, not only in Cambridge but in England, and, perhaps, in Europe. "They dreamt not of a perishable home, Who thus could build." This glorious building attracts attention as soon as we enter Cambridge, and wherever we turn our steps as we wander about the streets. We have deferred visiting it till now; but assuredly it will be the first object to which the stranger will bend his way. The foundation-stone of this chapel was laid by proxy for Henry VI., in 1447; but the building was little advanced at his death; the greater part of it was erected during the reign of Henry VII., who contributed £10,000 towards its construction; but it was not completed till the eighteenth year of his successor's reign (1534). It is the standard example of what is called the Perpendicular style of Gothic architecture. The designer is believed to have been one Close, or Klaus, the father of Nicholas Close, Bishop of Lichfield. This building occupies the whole northern side of the vast quadrangle of the college. Some idea may be formed of its general appearance from our sketch (Cut, No. 3), but only a faint conception of its majesty can be so obtained. Its noble proportions may aid the imagination somewhat. The extreme length is 316 feet; the breadth 84 feet; the height, to the summit of the battlements, 101 feet; to the top of the turrets, 146 feet. In form it is a simple oblong; but the parts are so admirably broken as to prevent anything like formality. The walls are supported by huge buttresses, the whole space between which is occupied by the windows, of which there are thirteen on each side, and each window is about 50 feet high. Below the windows is a series of chantry chapels, nine on each side of the building. The walls are everywhere profusely adorned with carvings-the Tudor badges, the rose and portcullis, with the crown above, are sculptured in bold relief on every prominent part, from the sides of the door-ways to the very summits of the turrets; and the royal arms are also very frequently repeated. By moonlight the appearance of the chapel is "beautiful exceedingly;" the grand proportions are thrown into magnificent masses of light and shade, while the sculpture on the surface assumes the appearance, under its strange influence, of a singularly rich and quaint fretwork. But, grand as is the exterior, the inside is infinitely more impressive. The vast area is spanned by an enormous stone roof, every portion of which is covered with the richest groin-work, of the kind called fan-tracery; and this wondrous roof, nearly 300 feet long, and 45 feet broad, is suspended some 80 feet aloft, unsupported by a single pillar. Every part of the edifice tends to deepen the impression produced by the first view of it. The walls are entirely covered with carvings; the light is subdued by the richly-coloured glass through which it enters, and plays quaintly with the elaborate sculpture. Well might our great poet exclaim, as he gazed upon it, "What awful perspective! while from our sight With gradual stealth the lateral windows hide Their portraitures, their stone-work glimmers, dyed In the soft chequerings of a sleepy light." The windows must be examined carefully. They are of the rarest worth. The great east window is of course the most important. It is divided into two principal divisions, an upper and a lower, and by the upright mullions into nine inferior ones. In these are six paintings of the Crucifixion of Christ and the circumstances that preceded and followed it. The twenty-six side windows are also filled with stained glass. Each of these, like the east window, is divided into an upper and lower compartment; and these are subdivided into five perpendicular compartments. The central division. is in each occupied by the figures of a prophet and an evangelist; in the side compartments are painted. representations of events chiefly in the Life of Christ, and the occurrences in Old Testament history which were believed to have foreshadowed them. In every instance the type occupies the upper part of the window, the antitype the lower. Two subjects of each class are represented in every window. Often, of course, the resemblance is exceedingly fanciful, and sometimes the subject is inexplicable, but even then they are interesting as characteristic of the period in which they were painted. They are of the time of Henry VIII.; the agreement for their execution bearing date, April, The designs have been attributed, but on insufficient grounds to Albert Durer. There is a good deal of ability displayed in the composition, while the colouring is of the most vivid and glowing kind. The only window which is uncoloured is that of the west end of the chapel; and why it was not painted is unknown, as the agreement still remains for "glazing and setting up one window in the east end of the church and one in the west end. . . . with good clean sure and perfect glass, and orient colours and imagery of the story of the old law, and of the new law." 1526. How these windows escaped destruction during the Commonwealth period is quite astonishing. Their preservation is believed to be due to Whichcote, the provost of King's, who had a good deal of influence with the Puritans; but it is not a little surprising that he should have been able to save pictures such as these. If we had not grievous proof in the mutilated relics of many a glorious work that their feelings were steeled against every such impression, we could almost fancy that the wondrous beauty of the place overawed the spirits, and abashed even the bitterness of these iconoclasts. Be the cause what it may, they have been saved, and the whole place remains -- perfect. The fellows are causing the windows to be carefully taken down, cleaned, and where injured repaired, a work requiring great skill and patience-as will be supposed when we add that the cost of cleaning each window is about £300. One window is taken down at a time, and until it is replaced the next remains undisturbed. The window at the north-east corner has quite recently had a new painting inserted in one of the divisions, which had before been blocked up: the subject is the Elevation of the Brazen Serpent, and is an adaptation of the well known painting by Rubens-it is a good picture, but we think it unfortunate that it was not made more conformable to the style of those in the other windows. We must quit this Chapel: not, however, without quoting Wordsworth's fine sonnet on the Interior-the allusion in the first line is of course to Henry VI. "Tax not the royal saint with vain expense, Of white-rob'd scholars only-this immense And glorious work of fine intelligence! Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the lore So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense But before we return to the quadrangle we must first Time and space warn us that we must run hastily over the remaining colleges. One more we must stay at. The gloomy looking building in St. Andrew-street, opposite to Petty Cury, is Christ's College, the college in which John Milton was educated. Genteel writers of the last century, who appear to have always rejoiced most when they could most degrade a great name, were fond of relating that Milton suffered some indig |