at Hereford, but
the links are rather longer and narrower. They are attached to the volume
in the same manner, either near the bottom of the right board, or near the
top of the left board. There are scars on the lower edge of the case, and
on the legs, which seem to indicate that there might once have been a
desk. Otherwise, the books, when read, must have rested on the reader's
knees. The whole piece of furniture closely resembles one dated 1694 at
Bolton in Lancashire to be described below (fig. 116).

The bookcase at Turton[467] resembles that at Gorton so closely that it
needs no particular description. The doors are richly carved, and on the
cornice above them is the following inscription, carved in low relief:

THE GIFT OF HUMPHRY CHETHAM ESQVIRE. 1655.

Besides these parochial libraries Mr Chetham directed the foundation
(among other things) of "a Library within the Town of _Manchester_, for
the Use of Scholars, and others well affected, to resort unto ... the same
Books there to remain as a public Library for ever; and my Mind and Will
is, that Care be taken, that none of the said Books be taken out of the
said Library at any Time ... the same Books [to] be fixed or chained, as
well as may be, within the said Library, for the better Preservation
thereof." In order to carry out these provisions the executors bought an
ancient building called the _College_, which is known to have been
completed before 1426 by Thomas Lord de la Warre, as a college in
connexion with the adjoining collegiate church, now the Cathedral[468].
The library was placed in two long narrow rooms on the first floor, the
original destination of which is uncertain. They are at right angles to
each other, and have a united length of 137 ft. 6 in., with a breadth of
17 ft. The south and west walls are pierced with fourteen three-light
windows, probably inserted by Chetham's executors; the east and west walls
are blank.

The existing fittings, though they have been extensively altered[469] from
time to time, are in the main those which were originally put up. The
bookcases, of oak, are placed in medieval fashion at right angles to the
windows. They are 10 ft. long, 2 ft. wide, and were originally 7 ft. high,
but have been pieced apparently twice, so that they now reach as high as
the wall-plate. Each pair of cases is 6 ft. apart, so as to make a small
compartment, closed by wooden gates, which now open in the middle; but a
lock attached to one