y are excellent specimens of inlaid work. That on the
right, with the row of crosses along the cornice, is 6 ft. 2 in. high, and
66 ft. long. That on the left is 5 ft. 10 in. high, and 24 ft. 7 in. long.
The capsae project from the wall 1 ft. 4 in., and are 2 ft. high. Their
lids vary a little in length, from 3 ft. 11 in. to 4 ft. 10 in.

[Illustration: Fig. 100. The library-settles (_spalliere_) once used in
the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV., and now in the Appartamento Borgia.

From a photograph.]

But the presence of a _spalliera_ is not the only peculiarity in the
furniture of this room. Platina's catalogue shews that, connected in some
manner with each seat, were two coffers (_capsae_): and we have seen that
12 such chests were brought into the Library in 1481. I have placed these
in pairs at the ends of the desks opposite the settle (_spalliera_).

_Innermost Library_, or _Bibliotheca pontificia_. This Library contained
12 desks. These, from their number, must have stood east and west. There
was also a _spalliera_, which held the Papal Registers. I have placed it
in the recess on the north side of the room, which looks as though made
for it.

It should be noted that there was a map of the world in the Library, for
which a frame was bought in 1478[402]; and a couple of globes--the one
celestial, the other terrestrial. Covers made of sheepskin were bought for
them in 1477[403]. Globes with and without such covers are shewn in the
view of the Library of the University of Leyden taken in 1610 (fig. 69);
and M. Fabre reminds us that globes still form part of the furniture of
the Library of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, fitted up by Cardinal
Francesco Barberini, 1630-40[404].

Comfort was considered by the provision of a brazier on wheels "that it
may be moved from place to place in the Library[405]."

The following curious rule, copied, as it would appear, in the Library
itself, by Claude Bellievre of Lyons, who visited Rome about 1513, shews
that order was strictly enforced:

Nonnulla quae collegi in bibliotheca Vaticani. Edictum S.
D. N. Ne quis in bibliotheca cum altero contentiose
loquatur et obstrepat, neve de loco ad locum iturus
scamna transcendat et pedibus conterat, atque libros
claudat et in locum percommode reponat. Ubique volet
perlegerit. Secus qui faxit foras cum ignominia mittetur
atque hujusce loci aditu deinceps arcebitur[406].

Before concluding, I must quote an