1628,
at the sole charge of Bishop Williams, whose work at Westminster during
the same period has been already recorded. The site selected was the
ground between the second court of the college and the river, the
library-building being constructed as a continuation of the north side of
that court, with the library on the first floor, and the chambers intended
for the Bishop's Fellows and Scholars on the ground floor.

The room, after the fashion of the older libraries, is long and narrow,
110 ft. in length by 30 ft. in breadth. Each side-wall is pierced with ten
lofty pointed windows of two lights with tracery in the head. The sills of
these windows are raised 4 ft. above the floor, and the interval between
each pair of windows is 3 ft. 8 in. There is also a western oriel, the
foundations of which are laid in the river which washes its walls (fig.
109). The name of the founder is commemorated on the central gable by the
letters I. L. C. S., the initials of _Johannes Lincolniensis Custos
Sigilli_, the Bishop being at that time keeper of the Great Seal, or, as
we should say, Lord Chancellor. The date 1624 marks the completion of the
shell of the building[449].

[Illustration: Fig. 109. West oriel of the Library at S. John's College,
Cambridge.]

[Illustration: Fig. 110. Bookcases in the Library of S. John's College,
Cambridge.]

The beautiful fittings (fig. 110), which are still in use, were completed
before 1628. Medieval arrangement was not wholly discarded, but various
modern features were introduced. The side-walls and window-jambs are
panelled to a height of 8 ft.; and the cornice of this panel-work is
continuous with that of the taller cases--which, as in the older examples,
stand at right angles to the walls between each pair of windows. Before
these fittings were constructed, chaining had been practically abandoned,
so that it was not necessary to provide either desk or seat. In the place,
therefore, of the reader's seat, a low bookcase was set in front of each
window. These cases were originally 5 ft. 6 in. high, with a sloping desk
on the top on which books could be laid for study. Stools also were
provided for the convenience of readers. The larger cases or, as the
building-account of the library calls them, "the greater seats," have been
a good deal altered in order to accommodate more books. Originally the
plinth ran round the sides of the case; as did also the broad member which
is seen on the end above