side of the end of each case indicates that
originally the gates were in one piece. The cases are quite plain, with
the exception of a few panels at the end. On the uppermost of these, which
is oblong, and extends from side to side of the case, the subjects of the
works are written: as PHILOSOPHIA; and beneath, in smaller characters,
_Mathematica_, _Physica_, _Metaphysica_. All indications of chaining have
been obliterated, but a reference to the earliest account-book which has
been preserved, that beginning 20 April, 1685, shews that the founder's
directions were obeyed:

20 Apr. 1685. To James Wilson for Cheining ten books
0 2 6

" 1686. -------------- for making 26 large
Claspes and Cheining 26 bookes 0 4 4

9 Mar. 1686-87. -------------- for Cheining and
Clasping 12 doz. bookes 00 18 00

Chains were evidently kept as a part of the stock-in-trade of the library,
to be used as required, for, at the end of an Inventory taken 18 November,
1684, we find:

Alsoe in the Library two globes; three Mapps; two queres
of larg paper to make tables; a paper fol-booke; A
Ruleing penn; 24 dossen Chains; A geniological roul; and
a larg serpent or snaks skin.

[Illustration: Fig. 115. Ring and link of chain: Wimborne Minster.]

At Wimborne Minster the books are placed in a small room, about fifteen
feet square, over the vestry, a building in the Decorated style, situated
between the south transept and the south aisle of the choir. Access to
this room is obtained by a turret-stair at the south-west corner. It was
fitted up as a library in 1686, when the greater part of the books were
given by the Rev. William Stone. There are two plain wooden shelves,
carried round three sides of the room. The chains are attached to the
right-hand board of each book, instead of to the left-hand board, and they
are made of iron wire, twisted as shewn in the sketch (fig. 115). The
swivel, instead of being central, plays in a twist of the wire which
forms the ring attached to the book. The iron bars are supported on eyes,
and are secured by a tongue of iron passed over a staple fixed into the
bracket which supports the shelf. The tongue was originally kept in its
place by a padlock, now replaced by a wooden peg. No desk was attached to
the shelves, but in lieu of it a portable desk and stoo