as possible to the shelf, for the chain
attached to the book in use to pass through. This is well shewn in the
view of a single book-case in Merton College, Oxford (fig. 83).

I will next describe the library of Merton College, Oxford. There is still
considerable doubt respecting the date of some of the bookcases, but the
appearance of the library is so venerable, so unlike any similar room with
which I am acquainted, that it must always command admiration, and deserve
study[335].

[Illustration: Fig. 80. Exterior of the Library at Merton College, Oxford,
as seen from 'Mob Quadrangle.'

From a photograph by H. W. Taunt, 1899.]

The library occupies the whole of the first floor of the south side of
"Mob Quadrangle" and the greater part of the same floor of the west side
(fig. 80). It is entered through a doorway in the south-western angle of
the court, whence a staircase leads up to the vestibule (fig. 81). This
room is separated from the two divisions of the library by lofty oak
screens, elaborately carved and ornamented in the style of the early
renaissance.

[Illustration: Fig. 79. Hook to hold up the desk. Bodleian Library,
Oxford.]

The two rooms into which the library is divided have a uniform width of 20
ft. 6 in. The west room, called by tradition Old Library, is 38 ft. 6 in.
long (A, B, fig. 81); the south room, or New Library, is 56 ft. 6 in. long
(C, D, fig. 81).

The west room is lighted by seven equidistant lancet windows in each of
the west and east walls, and by two dormer windows of peculiar design on
the side of the roof next to the court. The south room is similarly
lighted by ten lancets in each of the north and south walls, and on the
side next to the court by two dormer windows like those in the west room.
This room moreover has an open space at the east end, about 10 ft. long,
lighted by a window of two lights in each of the north and south walls
respectively, and by an oriel of five lights in the east wall. In both
rooms there is a waggon-roof of five cants boarded, and divided into
panels by molded ribs with little bosses at the intersections (fig. 82).

The blank wall at the north end of the west room is panelled with oak of
an elaborate and beautiful design for a height of about 12 ft. (fig. 82).
The space above this is decorated with panels of plaster-work. The large
square central panel contains the arms of the college; the circular panel
to the west those of John Whitgift (Archbishop