ation: Fig. 128. Interior of the north-east corner of the Library
of Trinity College, Cambridge, shewing the bookcases, table, desk and
chairs, as designed by Sir C. Wren.]

The cases are 11 ft. 10 in. high, and the wooden floor upon which they
stand is raised higher than that of the library. The great depth of the
plinth, which Wren utilised for cupboards, recalls the plan of some of the
older cases, and there is the little cupboard to contain the catalogue at
the end of each standard; but, with these exceptions, there is nothing
medieval about them except their position. On the top of each case is a
square pedestal of wood on which Wren intended to place a statue, but this
part of his scheme was not carried out. The celebrated Grinling Gibbons
supplied the busts which take the place of Wren's statues, and also the
coats of arms and wreaths of flowers and fruit with which the ends of the
cases are decorated.

It is difficult to decide the source from which an architect so great as
Wren derived any feature of his buildings, but it seems to me reasonable
to ascribe to foreign influence his use of the side-walls at Trinity
College library; and his scheme for combining a lofty internal wall with
beauty of external design, and a complete system of lighting, must always
command admiration. In the next example of his library work foreign
influence may be more directly traced, for I feel that the library of S.
Paul's Cathedral suggests reminiscences of the Ambrosian library at Milan.

Wren placed the library of his new cathedral in the western transept, with
an ingenuity of contrivance and a dignity of conception peculiarly his
own. On the level of what in a Gothic church would have been the
triforium, he constructed, both on the north and south side, a large and
lofty room. It was his intention that each of these rooms should be used
as a library, and that they should be connected by means of the gallery
which crosses the west end of the nave. Access to them was to be obtained
from the exterior, without entering the church, by a circular staircase in
the south-west corner of the facade. This plan has not been fully carried
out, and the southern library only has been fitted up. It is now usually
reached by means of the staircase leading to the dome.

These arrangements will be understood from the ground-plan (fig.
129)[508]. This plan shews very clearly the library itself, the two
circular staircases at the west end, leading