When Oxford became the fortified residence of the king during the civil war, Colonel William Legg, then governor of Oxford, feared that the bishop's palace might be used as a garrison for the Parliamentary forces; and, under that apprehension, the edi. fice was burned to the ground, At the same time Sir Thomas Gardiner destroyed a house belonging to himself, on the south side of the church. The ruins of the palace remained untouched till Dr. Fell, Bishop of Oxford, at his own cost, rebuilt the edifice on its old foundation, with a chapel in it as before. The outside was completed in 1679, and the interior shortly after.In the adjoining church of Cuddesden parish is buried Dr. John Bancroft, Bishop of Oxford, through whose liberality the original palace was constructed.

At GARSINGTON a house was built, in a quadrangular form, by Sir Thomas Pope, founder of Trinity College, Oxford, for the accommodation of his students when the plague prevailed in the University. They twice took refuge in this building; and, on both occasions, performed the same exercises of learning and devotion as when in college. On a screen, dividing the chancel from the body of the parish church, are the arms of Sir Thomas Pope, among those of several other persons, This church for merly paid a pension of forty shillings to the priory of St. Frideswide. In the 28th of Edward I. John de la Mare was summoned to Parliament, as Baron of Garsington.

IFLEY, or Yeofly, a small village on the border of the river Isis, about one mile and a half from Oxford, is remarkable only for its church, which is an interesting specimen of Saxon architecture. This structure consists of one aisle and a chancel, having a tower of flat proportions nearly in the centre. On each side of the tower are two circular-topped windows, supported by pillars, and half filled up by a facing of stone. On the northwest angle is a square turret, with a cluster of pillars at the top: a stone staircase within leads to the upper part of the tower.

The church is entered on both sides by Saxon door-ways, ornamented by columns, the shafts, as well as the capitals, of which

are

are richly carved. The west end is extremely fine. The doorcase (now disused,) is composed of receding divisions of mouldings, which, though somewhat rudely worked, produce a striking grandeur of effect. Both on the north and south many pointed windows have been introduced at different eras, but the remains of the ancient circular finish are evident over each.

The interior retains the marks of rude and cold, but commanding, magnificence. The two fine arches which divide the church are sustained by clustered pillars, and richly ornamented with chevron work. The pulpit was originally of stone, and worked into one of these pillars, but only the steps and pediment are now remaining. One portion of the roof, still uninjured, is much embellished, and supported by three taper shafts. On the right of the altar are three large stone recesses, and one intended as a receptacle for holy water. The font is Saxon, very large, and the basin supported by three twisted pillars, and one of a different construction.

SANDFORD is an irregular village, partly built on a gentle ascent, at the distance of three miles from Oxford, on the road to London through Henley. The church is a humble building, of Norman architecture. On the north side of the altar is an image of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. This curious relic was found in the year 1723, with the face downwards, near the entrance of the church; in which situation it had, probably, remained since the era of church-reformation. In Sandford parish was a preceptory of Templars, first founded by Maud, wife of King Stephen, in the adjacent village, now called Temple Cowley. Edward I. granted to the Knights-templars, and their successors for ever, free warren in all their lands at Sandford. The house, at the Dissolution, came to the Powell family.

Near Sandford, but in the parish of Littlemore, was a Benedictine nunnery, founded before the time of Henry II. and suppressed in 1524, for Wolsey. Some remains are still to be seen in the premises attached to a farm-house, called, in allusion to the former building, Mincherry Farm. The state of these relics,

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