ween
1626 and 1645 during the mastership of Thomas Eden, LL.D. They are
therefore a deliberate return to ancient forms at a time when a different
type had been adopted elsewhere.

There are five desks and six seats on each side of the room, placed, as
usual, at right angles to the side-walls, in the inter spaces of the
windows, and in front of the windows, respectively. Their arrangement, and
the details of their construction, will be understood from the general
view (fig. 65), and from the elevation (fig. 66).

These lecterns are of oak, 6 feet 7 inches long, and 7 feet high, measured
to the top of the ornamental finial. There is a sloping desk at the top,
beneath which is a single shelf (fig. 66, A). The bar for the chains
passes under the desk, through the two vertical ends of the case. At the
end farthest from the wall, the hasp of the lock is hinged to the bar and
secured by two keys (fig. 67). Beneath the shelf there is at either end a
slip of wood (fig. 66, B), which indicates that there was once a moveable
desk which could be pulled out when required. The reader could therefore
consult his convenience, and work either sitting or standing (fig. 65).
For both these positions the heights are very suitable, and at the bottom
of the case was a plinth (fig. 66, C), on which he could set his feet. The
seats between each pair of desks were of course put up at the same time as
the desks themselves. They shew an advance in comfort, being divided into
two, so as to allow support to the reader's back.

[Illustration: Fig. 67. Lock at end of book-desk. Trinity Hall.]

Similar desks occur in a beautiful miniature (fig. 68) from a manuscript
(now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge[330]) written in France about
1480. They appear to be solid--possibly fitted with cupboards for books
under the sloping portion. No seats are shewn, and, as a reader is
standing between them consulting a book, it may be concluded that they
could only be used by students in that position.

Lastly, I reproduce (fig. 69) a print by Jan Cornelis Woudanus, shewing
the library of the University of Leyden in 1610[331]. The bookcases were
evidently contrived with the view of getting the largest number possible
into the room. Each contained a single row of books, chained to a bar in
front of the shelf; and, also for the purpose of saving the space usually
occupied by a seat, readers were obliged to consult them standing. There
are eleven bookcases on ea