, now blocked, at the south-east corner. Some of these windows
contain fragments of richly coloured stained glass--among which the figure
of a large green parrot is conspicuous; but whether these fragments were
brought from the church, or are part of the glass originally supplied to
the library, there is no evidence to shew. Most of these windows are
partially blocked, having been damaged, it is said, in one of the numerous
sieges from which Zutphen has suffered. The position of the church, close
to the fortifications, as Blaeu's bird's-eye view shews, makes this story
probable. The floor is paved with red tiles. The general appearance of the
room will be understood from the view of the north aisle reduced from a
photograph (fig. 53)[314].

[Illustration: Fig. 53. General view of the north side of the Library
attached to the church of S. Walburga at Zutphen.]

[Illustration: Fig. 54. Desk and reader on the south side of the Library
at Zutphen.

From a photograph.]

[Illustration: Fig. 55. Elevation of (A) one of the bookcases in the
Library at Zutphen: (B) one of those in the Library at Queens' College,
Cambridge[315].]

There are eighteen bookcases, or desks; namely, ten on the south side of
the room, and eight on the north side (fig. 52). The material is oak; the
workmanship very rude and rough. I will describe those on the south side
first. Each is 9 feet long by 5 feet 5 1/4 inches high, measured from the
floor to the top of the finial on the end; and the lower edge of the desk
on which the books lie is 2 feet 6 1/4 inches above the floor; but the
general plan, and the relative dimensions of the different parts, will be
best understood from the photograph of a single desk at which a reader is
seated (fig. 54), and from the elevation of one of the ends (fig. 55, A),
beside which I have placed the elevation of one of the desks at Queens'
College (B). The photograph shews that in fixing the height of the desk
above the ground the convenience of readers has been carefully considered.
The iron bar that carries the chains is locked into the ornamental
upright, passes through a staple in the middle of the desk, and into the
upright at the opposite end, which is left plain. This bar is half an inch
in diameter, and one inch above the level of the top of the desk. It is
prevented from bending by passing through a staple fixed in the centre of
the desk. A piece of ornamental iron-work is fixed to the upright. It is
made