o'clock, when they would even scale the walls, to the disturbance of quiet students; and also bring in armed strangers to spend the night. One of these obstreperous Fellows, Thomas Wilton by name, did come over the wall at ten one evening, did knock at the Provost's door, so as to wake him up, did abuse him as a liar; and did challenge him to go out and fight!"
The term "Distinguished Son" is as familiar in the annals of Oxford, as is the epithet "Venerable Pile." One of the most distinguished of the sons of Oriel was Sir Walter Raleigh the Historian of the World.
Wood says that in "1568, or thereabouts, Raleigh became a Commoner of Oriel, where, his natural parts being strangely advanced by academical learning under the care of an excellent tutor, he became the ornament of the juniors, and was worthily esteemed a proficient in oratory and philosophy. After he had spent about three years in that House, where he had a good ground and some foundation to build thereon, he left the University,"—without a degree.
Gilbert White, the Naturalist, was graduated from Oriel in 1743, and made a Fellow the next year; holding the position for the following half century of his natural life, and as such distinguishing himself, chiefly, by his absence from Oriel! It
