l were
provided[470].

A library was built over the porch of the parish church at
Denchworth[471], Berks, in 1693, and "stocked with 100 books well secured
with chains," presumably for the use of the vicar and his successors; and
in 1715, William Brewster, M.D., bequeathed 285 volumes to the
churchwardens of All Saints' Church, Hereford, for the same purpose[472].
The books were placed in the vestry, where they still are. They are all
chained on a system copied from that in use at the Chapter Library.

In addition to collections of books, which varied in extent according to
the taste, or the means, of the donor, single volumes are often found
chained in churches. These do not come within the scope of this Essay, and
I will therefore pass on to notice some libraries connected with Grammar
Schools.

At Abingdon in Berkshire, the school, founded 1563, had a library, some
volumes of which, bearing their chains, are still preserved. There was a
similar collection at Bicester in Oxfordshire, where a school is said to
have been in existence before 1570. In 1571 James Pilkington, Bishop of
Durham (1561-1577), by will dated 4 February in that year, bequeathed his
books to the school at Rivington in Lancashire. The following extracts
from the statutes, said to have been made shortly after the arrival of the
books, remind us of monastic provisions[473].

The Governors shall the first day of every quarter when
they come to the School take an account of all such
books as have been given to the School, and if any be
picked away torn or written in they shall cause him that
so misused it to buy another book as good and lay it in
the place of it and there to be used continually as
others be.

The Schoolmaster and Usher whensoever the Scholars go
from the School shall cause all such books as have been
or shall be given to the School and occupied abroad that
day to be brought into the place appointed for them, and
there to be locked up; and every morning shall cause the
dictionaries, or such other books as are meet to be
occupied abroad by the Scholars, that have none of their
own, to be laid abroad, and see that none use to write
in them, pull out leaves, nor carry them from the
School; and if any misuse any book, or pick it away, the
Governours shall cause him to buy another as good, to be
laid in the stead of it, and occupied as the other was.

An