octors. By
far the greatest benefactor of the University in the matter of books was
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who made many valuable presents during his
lifetime, and on his death, in 1447, a final large instalment was added
to the store. Of these only one remains in the Bodleian Library, but in
contemporary letters there are many notes expressing gratitude for, and
appreciation of, this splendid munificence, which advanced the cause of
learning more perhaps than any other donation recorded in the annals of
the University.

The well-being of the librarian was, very properly, a subject of
concern. By an ordinance of 1412 his stipend was raised, and he became
recognized as one of the chief officers of the University. Lest "hope
deferred" should produce slackness in the performance of his duties, the
proctors were bound to pay his salary regularly, and, as a further
encouragement, every beneficed graduate, on his inception, was required
to make him a present of clothes. A similar custom prevailed with regard
to the bedels, and it is sententiously remarked that it would be absurd
for one adorned with superior dignity to be endued with inferior
privileges.

The ordinance of 1412 brought about other changes. At the outset the
library was accessible to all scholars at stated times; permission was
now confined to graduates or religious, and, in the case of the latter,
to those who were of eight years' standing _in philosophia_. Thus a monk
named Hardwyke, who did not possess this qualification, had to sue for a
"grace," and even then the privilege was limited to one term. The
reasons for these restrictions probably were that the undergraduate
constituency in those days was composed, in a great degree, of careless
and dirty boys, who would be apt to soil the manuscripts, while the
monks had their own libraries, to which they could resort without
encroaching on the slender resources of masters and bachelors. All
graduates on admission were required to take a solemn oath that they
would handle the books _modo honesto et pacifico, nulli librorum per
turpitudinem aut rasuras abolitionesque foliorum, praejudicium
inferendo_.

The librarian was granted a month's vacation, and the library was closed
on Sundays and holy days, unless it should chance that a distinguished
stranger desired to visit it, when leave was given him from sunrise to
sunset, subject to the condition that he was not followed by a loud
rabble. At all other t