e House, wherever a spare corner could be found for them.

The inconvenience of such an arrangement, or want of arrangement, is
obvious; and it must have caused much friction in the House. We can
imagine the officer in charge of the finances resenting the intrusion of
his brother of the library with an asperity not wholly in accordance with
fraternal charity. And yet, so strong is the tendency of human nature to
put up with whatever exists, rather than be at the trouble of changing it,
no effectual steps in the way of remedy were taken until the fifteenth
century. In that century, however, we find that in most of the large
monasteries a special room was constructed to hold books. Reading went
forward, as heretofore, in the cloister, and I conceive that the books
stored in the new library were mainly intended for loan or for reference.
As at Durham, the monks could go there when they chose.

These conventual libraries were usually built over some existing building,
or over the cloister. Sometimes, especially in France, the library appears
as an additional storey added to any building with walls strong enough to
bear it; sometimes again as a detached building. I will cite a few
examples of libraries in these different positions.

At Christ Church, Canterbury, a library, about 60 ft. long by 22 ft.
broad, was built by Archbishop Chichele between 1414 and 1443, over the
Prior's Chapel[224], and William Sellyng (Prior 1472-1494) "adorned [it]
with beautiful wainscot, and also furnished it with certain volumes
chiefly for the use of those addicted to study, whom he zealously and
generously encouraged and patronised[225]."

At Durham Prior Wessyngton, about 1446, either built or thoroughly
repaired and refitted a room over the old sacristy, between the
Chapter-House and the south Transept, or, as the _Rites_ say, "betwixt the
Chapter House and the Te Deum wyndowe, being well replenished with ould
written Docters and other histories and ecclesiasticall writers[226]."
Wessyngton's work must have been extensive and thorough, for it cost,
including the repairs of the books, L90. 16_s._ 0_d._[227]--at least L1100
or L1200 at the present value of money. The position of this library will
be understood from the illustration (fig. 31). The room is 44 ft. 10 in.
long, by 18 ft. wide, with a window at each end, 13 ft. wide, of five
lights, and a very rough roof of oak, resting on plain stone corbels.

[Illustration: Fig. 31. Library a