was no greater then from one
stanchell of the wyndowe to another.

And over against the carrells against the church wall
did stande certaine great almeries [or cupbords] of
waynscott all full of bookes, wherein did lye as well
the old auncyent written Doctors of the Church as other
prophane authors with dyverse other holie mens wourks,
so that every one dyd studye what Doctor pleased them
best, havinge the Librarie at all tymes to goe studie in
besydes there carrells.[189]

At Durham the monastic buildings stood to the south of the church, and the
library-walk of the cloister was that walk, or alley, or pane, or syde
(for all these words are used), which had the church to the north of it.
The library was placed there partly for the sake of warmth, partly to
secure greater privacy. At Canterbury and at Gloucester, where the church
was to the south of the conventual buildings, the library-walk of the
cloister was still the walk next to the church, the other walks, as Mr
Hope has pointed out to me, being apparently kept clear for the Sunday
procession.

[Illustration: Fig. 25. The cloister, Westminster Abbey.

From Mr Micklethwaite's plan of the buildings.]

I propose to explain the system indicated in the above quotation by
reference to a plan of the cloister at Westminster Abbey, drawn by my
friend Mr J. T. Micklethwaite (fig. 25)[190], and by quotations from his
notes upon it. At Durham every vestige of ancient arrangement has been so
completely destroyed that it is better to go to another House, where less
mischief has been done, and it happens fortunately that, so far as the
position of the cloister with reference to the church is concerned,
Westminster is the exact counterpart of Durham. I will consider first the
last paragraph of my quotation from the _Rites of Durham_, that namely
which deals with the presses for books, there called "almeries or
cupbords."

Mr Micklethwaite shews that the two bays at the north end of the west walk
of the cloister, and the second bay from the west in the north walk (fig.
25, nos. 1, 2, 4), were appropriated to the novices, by the existence of
several sets of nine holes, evidently cut by boys in their idle moods for
the playing of some game. Similar holes have been found at Canterbury,
Gloucester, and elsewhere. Next he points out that "the nosing of the
wall-bench for six feet of the third bay from the west in the north walk,
and in the wh