"Would Clio seek the most distinguish'd seat, Like a rich gem, in circling gold enshrin'd, Along the sweetest shore That ever felt fair Culture's hands, Or Spring's embroider'd mantle wore, The word Oxfordshire was written by the Saxons Oxnafordscire, and stands, in Domesday Book, Oxenefordscire. Leland has laboured to prove that the original of the name, Oxford, arose from the contiguity of the river Ous, (in Latin, Isis) and supposes that the ancient town was denominated Ousford. But this hypothesis appears to be the offspring of a mere love of novelty. We are not aware that any writings are extant in which the word is so spelt. In all probability the original town derived its appellation from the frequent passage of oxen over the adjacent rivers; and Camden appositely observes, that other nations have bestowed names on places from a similar inducement. The Grecians had their Bosphorus, and the Germans their Ochenfurt, upon the river Oder, both simply and unequivocally meaning a ford of oxen. A city so long favoured by science must necessarily be supposed to have engaged the attention of the learned in every age; and, also, to have afforded continual matter for those conjectures of the curious, which rather amuse the fancy than convince the understanding. The writers concerning the antiquity of Oxford have been numerous, and they have gone very far indeed in endeavours to bestow on it the venerable crust of a remote day. By the most confident of these historians it is asserted that, in the year one thousand and nine before Christ, Memphric, "king of the Britons," built a town on the site of the present city. This town is said to have been called Caer-Memphric, in honour of the founder. The same writer (J. Ross, whom Dugdale terms a famous famous antiquary) proceeds to say, "Oxford primo a Conditore MEMPHRICIO CAER MEMPRIC dicta, deinde BELLESITUM, forsan a Bello monte vicino, postea RIDOHEN, I. E. Vadum Boum, et Caer vossa (Bosso) a comite quodam qui floruit tempore arturii, Oxford was first called Mimbre (this being Celtic, or British, for Memphric to the present day;) then Belle-situm, from a pretty mountain near; afterwards Ridohen, implying, in the Celtic language, a ford of oxen, and Caer-vossa (meaning Bosso) a certain Earl that flourished in the time of King Arthur." This statement is credited, and repeated, by Twyne, Rogers, Lewis, Wood, &c. and Dr. Stukeley informs us that the original town was built on the west end of the present city, in the quarter where the county gaol now stands. A multiplication of modern names avails little with the judicious reader. He looks singly to the source whence primary information was derived; and, when he finds that Ross only professed to gain intelligence on this subjeet from certain "Welch, or British books," which are not now to be inspected, and concerning the dates of which he makes no mention, little reliance will be placed on his authority. Although the period of its foundation cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, it still appears that a large assemblage of buildings existed, on the site of the present city, in the time of the aboriginal Britons. This place often occurs under the old British appellation of Caer Pen Hal-goit, a city, or town, situate on an eminence, between two rivers, and adorned with woods. When Aulus Plautius entered Britain, by command of the Emperor Claudius, Oxford is said to "have suffered its most terrible downfal: Inclytum Oxonium Romanis temporibus vel viculus vel omnino nihil fuerit nisi Rit-Ocheyn, viz. Bosphorus sive trajectus Boum. The once renowned city of Oxford, in the time of the Romans, was reduced to the form of a little village, or had nothing, as it were, left of it but its name, and serving only as * Iter Curios. p. 43. a ford |