h is panelled, or lying on a shelf beneath the desk. This piece
of furniture would be properly described either as a _banc_ or a
_lettrin_. It should be noted that care has been taken to keep the wheel
steady by supporting it on a solid base, beneath which are two strong
cross-pieces of timber, which also serve as a foot-rest for the readers.
The books on the desk set against the wall are richly bound, with bosses
of metal. Chaining was evidently not thought of, indeed I doubt if it was
ever used in a private library. The window is glazed throughout. In other
examples which I shall figure below we shall find a wire trellis used
instead of glass for part at least of the window.

My next illustration (fig. 136), also Flemish, is of the same date, from a
copy of the _Miroir historial_[527]. It represents a Carmelite monk,
probably the author of the book, writing in his study. Behind him are
three desks, one above the other, hung against the wall along two sides of
the room, with books bound and ornamented as in the former picture,
resting upon them, and beneath the lowest is a flat shelf or bench on
which a book rests upon its side. The desk he is using is not uncommon in
these illustrations. It is fixed on a solid base, which is further
strengthened, as in the example of the wheel-desk, by massive planks, to
guard against the slightest vibration; and it can be turned aside by means
of a limb--apparently of iron--which is first vertical, then horizontal,
then vertical again. The Carmelite holds in his left hand an instrument
for keeping the page perfectly flat. This instrument has usually a sharp
point with which any roughness on the page can be readily removed. The
volume he is using is kept open by two strings, to each of which a weight
is attached. Behind the desk, covered with a cloth, is a chest secured by
two locks. On this stands an object which appears to be a large magnifying
glass.

Sometimes the desk was carried round three sides of the room, with no
curtain to keep off dust, and with no shelf beneath it. The illustration
(fig. 137) is from a French translation of Valerius Maximus (1430-75) in
the Harleian Collection[528].

I now pass to a series of pictures which illustrate the daily life of a
scholar or a writer who had few books, but who could live in a certain
ease--allowing himself a chair and a desk. Of these desks there is an
infinite variety, dictated, I imagine, by the fashion prevalent in
particular