y Mazarin to collect books
for him, did not visit Spain, nor was Mazarin himself ever in that
country. There is therefore no evidence to connect his library with that
of Philip II., but in justification of my theory I submit that the
resemblance is too close to be accidental, and that in all probability the
library at the Escorial had been much talked of in the world of letters.

[Illustration: Fig. 123. Elevation of a bookcase and section of a desk in
the Bibliotheque Mazarine, Paris.]

The convenience of placing book-shelves against a wall was soon accepted
in England, but at first in a somewhat half-hearted fashion. The earliest
instance of this, so far as I know, is to be met with in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, where the first stone of the eastern wing was laid in
1610, and completed, with the fittings, in 1612[504].

[Illustration: Fig. 124. A portion of the bookcases set up in the eastern
wing of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, built 1610-1612.

From Loggan's _Oxonia Illustrata_, 1675.]

Advantage was taken of the whole of the wall-space provided by this
extension, and it was lined with a bookcase extending from floor to
ceiling. In order to provide easy access to the upper shelves, a light
gallery was provided, the pillars of which were utilised to support a seat
for the readers, because, the books being still chained, desks and seats
were indispensable. These cases still exist almost unaltered, but their
appearance as first constructed has been preserved to us in Loggan's
print, taken about 1675, part of which is here reproduced (fig. 124).

In 1634 (13 May) the first stone was laid of the enlargement of the
library towards the west, corresponding exactly to the wing at the
opposite end erected twenty-four years before[505]. The fittings were on
the same plan, but of a more elaborate and highly finished design, the
plain supports of the former work being replaced by Ionic columns
supporting arches with frieze and cornice, and a heavy balustrade for the
gallery above.

I now come to the influence exercised upon the architecture and fittings
of libraries by Sir Christopher Wren, and I shall be able to shew that
though he did not actually introduce the wall-system into England, he
developed it, adapted it to our requirements, and by the force of his
genius shewed what structural changes were necessary in order to meet the
increased number of books to be accommodated. Wren never visited Italy,
but in 1665 he