t is now
used as a Combination Room. Over the arch of the gate on the western
side of the Court is a statue of the Countess, with her shield (showing
the arms of Talbot and Cavendish impaled); these were presented to the
College by her nephew, William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle.

[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE SCREENS]

A pleasing view of the Court is got by standing in the south-west corner
and looking towards the Chapel Tower, with an afternoon sun the
colouring and grouping of the buildings is very effective.

Passing through the arch we enter the Third Court; this was built at
various times during the seventeenth century. On the north we have the
Library, the cost of which was chiefly provided by John Williams, a
Fellow of the College, successively Dean of Westminster, Bishop of
Lincoln, and Archbishop of York; he was also Lord Keeper of the Great
Seal to James I. As originally built the Library occupied the upper
floor only, the ground-floor being fitted up as rooms for the
accommodation of the Fellows and scholars, on a special foundation of
Bishop Williams, but this lower part is now all absorbed into the
Library. The southern and western sides of the Court were built between
1669 and 1674, some part of the cost being provided from College funds,
the rest by donations from members of the College. On the last or
southern pier of the arcade, on the west side of the Court, there are
the two inscriptions: "Flood, Oct. 27, 1762," "Flood, Feb. 10, 1795,"
recording what must have been highly inconvenient events at the time.

The central arch on the western side of the Court has some prominence,
and was probably intended from the first as the approach to a bridge.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century Sir Christopher Wren was
consulted on the subject, and a letter from him to the then Master, Dr.
Gower, has been preserved. Sir Christopher's proposal was a curious one:
he suggested that the course of the river Cam should be diverted and
carried in a straight line from the point where it bends near the
Library of Trinity College. A new channel was to be dug, and a bridge
built over this; the water was then to be sent down the new channel, and
the old one filled up. He pointed out that this would give "a parterre
to the river, a better access to the walks, and a more beautiful
disposal of the whole ground." This scheme was, however, not carried
out, but a stone bridge was built outside the range of the buildings on