ury cloisters during the middle
ages, and when the reader considers that these facts have been preserved
from sheer accident, and, therefore, only enable us to obtain a partial
glimpse of the actual state of their library, he will be ready to admit
that bibliomania existed then, and will feel thankful, too, that it did,
for to its influence, surely, we are indebted for the preservation of
much that is valuable and instructive in history and general
literature.[134]

We can scarcely leave Kent without a word or two respecting the church of
the Rochester monks. It was founded by King Ethelbert, who conferred upon
it the dignities of an episcopal see, in the year 600; and, dedicating it
to St. Andrew, completed the good work by many donations and emoluments.
The revenues of the see were always limited, and it is said that its
poverty caused it to be treated with kind forbearance by the
ecclesiastical commissioners at the period of the Reformation.

I have not been able to meet with any catalogue of its monastic library,
and the only hints I can obtain relative to their books are such as may
be gathered from the recorded donations of its learned prelates and
monks. In the year 1077, Gundulph, a Norman bishop, who is justly
celebrated for his architectural talents, rebuilt the cathedral, and
considerable remains of this structure are still to be seen in the nave
and west front, and display that profuse decoration united with ponderous
stability, for which the Norman buildings are so remarkable. This
munificent prelate also enriched the church with numerous and costly
ornaments; the encouragement he gave to learning calls for some notice
here. Trained in one of the most flourishing of the Norman schools, we
are not surprised that in his early youth he was so studious and
inquisitive after knowledge as to merit the especial commendation of his
biographer.[135] William of Malmsbury, too, highly extols him "for his
abundant piety," and tells us that he was not inexperienced in literary
avocations; he was polished and courageous in the management of judicial
affairs, and a close, devoted student of the divine writings;[136] as a
scribe he was industrious and critical, and the great purpose to which he
applied his patience and erudition was a careful revisal of the Holy
Scriptures. He purged the sacred volume of the inadvertencies of the
scribes, and restored the purity of the text; for transcribing after
transcribing had caused