namented, according to the taste or the means of the owner. With
the same limitations the floor, the walls, and possibly the roof also were
decorated. Further, it was evidently intended that the room selected for
books should be used for no other purpose; and, as the books were hidden
from view in their presses, the library-note, if I may be allowed the
expression, was struck by numerous inscriptions, and by portraits in
various materials, representing either authors whose works were on the
shelves, or men distinguished in other ways, or friends and relations of
the owner of the house.

The Roman conception of a library was realised by Pope Sixtus V., in
1587[113], when the present Vatican Library was commenced from the design
of the architect Fontana. I am not aware that there is any contemporary
record to prove that either the Pope or his advisers contemplated this
direct imitation; but it is evident, from the most cursory inspection of
the large room (fig. 16), that the main features of a Roman library are
before us[114]; and perhaps, having regard to the tendency of the
Renaissance, especially in Italy, it would be unreasonable to expect a
different design in such a place, and at such a period.

This noble hall--probably the most splendid apartment ever assigned to
library-purposes--spans the Cortile del Belvedere from east to west, and
is entered at each end from the galleries connecting the Belvedere with
the Vatican palace. It is 184 feet long, and 57 feet wide, divided into
two by six piers, on which rest simple quadripartite vaults. The north and
south walls are each pierced with seven large windows. No books are
visible. They are contained in plain wooden presses 7 feet high and 2 feet
deep, set round the piers, and against the walls between the windows. The
arrangement of these presses will be understood from the general view
(fig. 16), and from the view of a single press open (fig. 17).

In the decoration, with which every portion of the walls and vaults is
covered, Roman methods are reproduced, but with a difference. The great
writers of antiquity are conspicuous by their absence; but the
development of the human race is commemorated by the presence of those
to whom the invention of letters is traditionally ascribed; the walls
are covered with frescoes representing the foundation of the great
libraries which instructed the world, and the assemblies of the Councils
which established the Church; the vaults r