84 
HE most poorly supplied on account of the great cost of the 
ooks, 
But a change was approaching, brought about by a systematic 
and more rapid transcription of MSS. in the “ Monastic Scrip- 
torium,” the number of competent scribes increasing as the 
century advanced, and, as a consequence, so affecting the 
‘output’? as to lead to literary treasures becoming more 
accessible. There was a greater demand for books as the century 
grew older. Chaucer’s productions had created a positive taste 
for reading, and his free, plain homely style fascinated the eager 
reader, and led to a thirst for more. ‘The ecclesiastical and 
conventual establishments were specially at this period taxed to 
supply the demand for fiction. 
It is said that books from the Latin and French were now 
freely translated and scattered over the country and led to the 
‘‘ bookease,”’ up to that time unknown as an article of furniture, 
being introduced to the English home. They are known to have 
been carved and ornamented with taste, and the curtains that 
usually hung before them were as much, perhaps, to hide the 
scantiness of the stock, as to protect the precious volumes from 
dust. But itis interesting to know that the scarcity of books 
was an aid to friendly intercourse in medieval times, the scanty 
domestic libraries became really lending libraries, and this 
pleasant interchange of literary treasures was helpful in promot- 
ing good and kindly feeling among the neighbours of the day. 
No private library could, however, compete in scholarly wealth 
and lore with monastic ones, and those who lived near the gates 
of a great monastery were the best off, and they who had the 
privilege of using the books knew fully well how to appreciate 
their good fortune. A reader of that day must have been a learned 
man, but the percentage of those who had acquired the art, 
must have been deplorably small. ‘To those who possessed it, 
the accomplishment was a keen enjoyment, and involved the 
faculty to translate Greek, Latin, and French, the languages of 
the books of the period. There could have been but very little 
hurried reading in those days. The character of the literature, 
save in the lighter frivolities and love idylls of French romance, 
and now that of the descriptive Chaucer, would lead to sober, 
sedate, and thoughtful perusal, which would occupy time, a 
commodity more at the disposal of the student in those less 
artificial days. A man who had to translate a book in order to 
understand it could hardly skim it, but would ponder thoughtfully 
every paragraph as he laboriously deciphered its illuminated 
pages. We are justified in concluding that even some well to do 
families possessed books without always having members of the 
household who could read them. The visit of the Mendicant 
Friars to such unfortunate dunces would, therefore, be welcome, 
