ces were promised. The Library was commenced in 1623,
and the books finally placed in it in 1628. The style of the building is
Jacobean Gothic, and its interior, with the whitewashed walls and dark
oak roof and bookcases, is singularly striking. John Evelyn visited it
while at Cambridge in 1654, and describes it as "the fairest of that
University"; after 250 years the description still holds good.

The upper part of the Library has been little altered since it was
built. The intermediate (or lower) cases were heightened to the extent
of one shelf for folios when Thomas Baker left his books to the College;
but two, one on either hand next the door, retain their original
dimensions, with the sloping tops to be used as reading-desks.

At the end of each of the taller cases, in small compartments with
doors, are class catalogues written about 1685. These catalogues have
been pasted over original catalogues written about 1640; small portions
of the earlier catalogues are yet to be seen in some of the cases. Of
the treasures in manuscript and print only a slight account can be given
here. One of the most interesting to members of the College is the
following note by John Couch Adams:--

"1841 July 3. Formed a design, in the beginning of this week,
of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree,
the irregularities in the motion of Uranus, wh. are yet
unaccounted for; in order to find whether they may be
attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it;
and if possible thence to determine the elements of its orbit,
&c. approximately, wh. wd. probably lead to its discovery."

The original memorandum is bound up in a volume containing the
mathematical calculations by which Adams carried out his design and
discovered the planet Neptune.

Lord Keeper Williams, who was instrumental in building the Library,
presented to it many books; amongst others, the Bible known as
Cromwell's Bible. Thomas Cromwell employed Miles Coverdale to revise
existing translations, and this Bible was printed partly in Paris and
partly in London, "and finished in Aprill, A.D. 1539." Two copies were
printed on vellum--one for King Henry VIII., the other for Thomas, Lord
Cromwell, his Vicar-General. This College copy is believed to be that
presented to Cromwell, and is now unique, the other copy having
disappeared from the Royal Library; the volume is beautifully
illustrated, and has been descr