s a copy of Ovid,
printed by Jacobus Rubaeus at Venice in 1474; this was formerly in the
possession of Lorenzo de Medicis.

Dr. Newcome and Thomas Baker share between them the distinction of
having added many of the chief glories of the Library. Matthew Prior,
the poet, a Fellow of the College, presented his own works and many
interesting French and Italian works on history. There is also a
presentation copy from Wordsworth of his poems.

_The Kitchen._

The Kitchen (opposite to the Hall) may sometimes be visited when the
daily routine permits. The whole has been recently modernised, and a
picturesque open fire with rotating spits done away with. To gain more
air-space it was necessary to incorporate in the Kitchen some rooms in
the floor above. One of these was the set occupied during his College
life by the poet Wordsworth, and the fact is commemorated by a
stained-glass window.

[Illustration: The Library: St. John's Coll:]

CHAPTER III

THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN

CIRCA 1135-1511

St. John's College, as we know it, was founded in 1511, and opened in
1516. But at the time of its foundation it took over the buildings and
property, and many of the duties, of an earlier and then a venerable
foundation, that of the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist in
Cambridge. The origin of the old house is obscure, and its earlier
history lost, but it seems to have been founded about 1135 by Henry
Frost, a burgess of Cambridge. It consisted of a small community of
Augustinian canons; its site was described about 140 years later as "a
very poor and waste place of the commonalty of Cambridge."

Whatever its early history and endowments may have been, it formed a
nucleus for further gifts; and its chartulary, still in the possession
of St. John's College, shows a continuous series of benefactions to the
old house.

Founded before the University existed, the brethren were occupied with
their religious duties, and with the care of the poor and sick who
sought their help. An Infirmary, part of which was adapted for worship,
was built. In the thirteenth century a chapel was added, afterwards
adapted as the College Chapel, and used as such down to 1869.

Of the domestic buildings practically nothing is known. When some years
ago trenches were dug to lay the electric cables for the lighting of the
Hall, some traces of a pavement of red tiles were found ne