er goes round the room, beginning at the west end. He proceeds
along the north side, and returns along the south side, to the point
whence he started, enumerating on his way the bookcases and their shelves,
the volumes removed, and, occasionally, a note of the repairs required.
For my present purpose I will content myself with his account of a single
bookcase, the first on the list. The writer begins thus: "From the upper
shelf on the east side in the first seat (_de superiori textu[347] ex
orienti parte in prima_ (sic) _sedile_)." Three volumes are enumerated.
"From the lower shelf (_de inferiori textu_)," two volumes. "From the
upper shelf on the other side of the same seat (_de superiori textu ex
altera parte eiusdem sedilis_)," seven volumes. "From the lower shelf (_de
inferiori textu_)," five volumes. In this way eight seats, i.e. bookcases,
are gone through on this side of the room. The writer next turns his
attention to the south side, and goes through eight more seats, beginning
with: "From the east side of the upper shelf on the south side (_de textu
superiori ex parte australi incipiendo. In parte orientali_)." The
examination was evidently thorough, and, as the same number of seats is
enumerated for each side of the room, we may, I think, safely conclude
that all were examined, and that the whole number in the library was
sixteen.

The passages I have quoted shew that each of these bookcases had an upper
and lower shelf on each side, on which the books stood, so as to be
conveniently consulted by readers on each side; the books were chained;
and, in consequence, there must have been a desk, presumably below the
shelves on each side; and a seat for the reader. I have embodied these
requirements in the accompanying sketch or diagram (fig. 89), which
indicates a bookcase of the same type as those at Corpus Christi College,
Oxford. If we may suppose that each of these cases was two feet wide and
eight feet long like those at Merton College, we can accommodate eight
cases on each side of the room (fig. 88), with the same interval between
each pair as at that college.

[Illustration: Fig. 89. Sketch of the probable appearance of a bookcase,
and a reader's seat, in the Library at Christ Church, Canterbury.]

Let us now consider whether the library as thus arranged would have had
sufficient shelf-room. Each bookcase being 8 feet long would contain 32
feet of shelving, and the 16 cases a total of 512 feet. The catalo