Eton College

Eton College. Steel engraving. From Eighty Picturesque Views of the Thames and Medway.

Text accompanying the engraving

The small town of Eton is connected with Windsor by a new and handsome iron bridge of three arches. This place is indebted for its notoriety to the venerable and celebrated seminary, at which, for nearly four centuries, the germs of knowledge have been implanted in the expanding minds of youth; and the effect of the liigh and classical education here attained is to be witnessed in the after life of many individuals, who have rendered themselves conspicuous in literature, the cabinet and the field. The college was founded by Henry VI, in 1440, and contains at present on its establislunent a provost, vice-provost, six fellows, a master, under master, assistant, seventy king's scholars, seven lay-clerks and ten choristers. The chapel, constructed in all the elegance of gothic architecture, forms an interesting and beautiful object on the Buckinghamshire side of the river. Soon after passing through Windsor bridge the stream divides; the main body of the water flowing over a weir to the left, and washing the meadows of Eton college, while a canal has been formed to the right, through a lock, for the accommodation of the navigator. The current now increases its rapidity, skirting the walls of Windsor little-park, and passing through Datchet bridge, which is a substantial wooden structure, with nine arches, on stone piers. The river, after a long and widened reach, meanders to the left. On the right, a lengthened canal and lock have been formed, in order to shorten the navigation and avoid the force of the stream.

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Text and formatting by George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the University of California Library and the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]

Bibliography

Fearnside, W. G. Eighty Picturesque Views of the Thames and Medway, Engraved on Steel by the First Artists. London: Black and Armstrong, [n.d. after 1837]. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California at Berkley Library. Web. 30 March 2012.


Last modified 30 April 2012