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OXENHAM 69 OXFORD UNIVERSITY St. Edmund's College, Ware, and master at the Oratory School, Birmingham. Oxenham translated Dollinger's "First Age of the Church" (1866), and "Lec- tures on Reunion of the Churches" (1872), also vol. ii. of Hefele's "History of the Councils of the Church" (1876) ; "Catholic Eschatalogy and Universal- ism" (1876); "Short Studies in Eccle- siastical History and Biography" (1884) ; and "Short Studies, Ethical and Reli- gious" (1885). He died March 23, 1888. OXENHAM, JOHN. English novel- ist. He was born in Manchester, Lan- cashire, and educated at Victoria Uni- versity in that city, acting first as a clerk and later as a commercial trav- eler, reresenting English firms in con- tinental Europe and the United States. His first efforts at novel writing were in the interests of business. His works in- clude: "God's Prisoner"; "Bondman Free"; "Barbe of Grand Bayou"; "Hearts in Exile"; "Carettc of Sark"; "Pearl of Pearl Island"; "A Maid of the Silver Sea"; "The Coil of Carne"; "Red Wrath"; "Broken Shackles." OXENSTJERNA, AXEL, COUNT, a Swedish statesmen; born in Fano, Swe- den, June 16, 1583, studied theology at COUNT AXEL OXENSTJERNA Rostock, Wittenberg, and Jena; and in 1609 returned to Sweden and entered the service of Charles IX. In 1608 he was admitted into the senate ; and on the accession of Gustavus Adolphus, in 1611, was made chancellor. He accompanied Gustavus Adolphus during his campaigns in Germany; and on the fall of his mas- ter at Liitzen (1632) was recognized, at a congress assembled at Heilbronn, as the head of the Protestant League. This league was held together and supported solely by his influence and wisdom, and in 1636 he returned to Sweden, laid down his extraordinary powers, and took his seat in the senate as chancellor of the kingdom and one of the five guardians of the queen. He died in Stockholm j Aug. 28, 1654. OXFORD, a city and county borough in England; capital of Oxford co., and seat of one of the most celebrated uni- versities in the world; about 50 miles W. N. W. of London, on a gentle acclivity between the Cherwell and the Thames, here called the Isis. Oxford, as a city of towers and spires of fine collegiate buildings old and new, of gardens, gi'oves, and avenues of trees, is unique in Eng- land. The oldest building is the castle keep, built in the time of William the Conqueror, and still all but entire. Of the numerous churches the first place is due to the cathedral, begun about 1160, and chiefly in the late Norman style. It not only serves as the cathedral of Oxford diocese, but also forms part of the collegiate buildings of Christ Church. Other churches are St. Mary's, used as the University Church, ^vith a note- worthy tower and spire (dating about 1400), St. Philip and St. James', a striking example of modern Gothic; All Saints' (18th century), with a Graeco- Gothic spire; St. Giles' (12th and 13th century) ; St. Barnabas, a fine modern building. Of the university buildings the most remarkable are Christ Church; Magdalen College, considered to be the most beautiful and complete of all; Bal- liol College, with a modern front (1867- 1869) and a modern Gothic chapel; Brasenose College; and New College (more than 500 years old), besides the Sheldonian Theater, Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Library, and other buildings belonging- to the university. Pop. esti- mated (1918) 53,108. OXFORD CLAY, in geology, a bed of clay, sometimies 600 feet thick, underly- ing the Coral Rag, and the accompanying sandy beds of the Middle Oolite. Cor- als are absent, but Ammonites and Belemnites abound. Remains of Ichthy- osaurus, Plesiosaurus, etc., are also found. OXFORD, EARL OF. See Walpole. OXFORD. UNIVERSITY OF, an Eng- lish university that lays claim to great antiquity, tradition assigning its foun- dation to King Alfred in 879. The ear- liest charter was granted by King John, and its privileges were confirmed and extended by subsequent monarchs, the act by which it was created a corporate