est, and the other with him that has the Book: And let
no Book, belonging to the House, be lent out of the
College, without a Pawn better (than the Book), and this
with the Consent of all the Fellows.

Let there be put one Book of every Sort that the House
has, in some common and secure Place; that the Fellows,
and others with the Consent of a Fellow, may for the
Future have the Benefit of it.

Every Opponent in Theology, or Reader of the Sentences,
or a Regent that commonly reads (_regens et legens
communiter_), when he wants it, shall have any necessary
Book, that the House has, lent to him Gratis; and when
he has done with it, let him restore it to that Fellow,
who had formerly made choice of it[262].

The statutes of Oriel College, dated 1329, lay down the following rules
for the management of books:

The common books (_communes libri_) of the House are to
be brought out and inspected once a year, on the feast
of the Commemoration of Souls [2 November], in presence
of the Provost or his deputy, and of the Scholars
[Fellows].

Every one of them in turn, in order of seniority, may
select a single book which either treats of the science
to which he is devoting himself, or which he requires
for his use. This he may keep, if he please, until the
same festival in the succeeding year, when a similar
selection of books is to take place, and so on, from
year to year.

If there should happen to be more books than persons,
those that remain are to be selected in the same
manner[263].

The last clause plainly shews how small the number of the books must have
been when the statute was written. Their safety was subsequently secured
by an ordinance of the Provost and Scholars, which, by decree of the
Visitor, dated 13 May, 1441, received the authority of a statute. The high
value set upon the books is shewn by the extreme stringency of the
penalties imposed for wilful loss or failure of restitution. After
describing the annual assemblage of the Provost and Fellows, as directed
in the former statute, the new enactment proceeds as follows:

Any person who absents himself on that day, so that the
books selected by him are neither produced nor restored;
or who, being present, refuses to produce or to restore
them; or who refuses to pay the full value, if, without
any fraud or deception on hi