Of these only one remains in the Bodleian Library, but in
contemporary letters there are many notes expressing gratitude for, and
appreciation of, this splendid munificence, which advanced the cause of
learning more perhaps than any other donation recorded in the annals of
the University.
The well-being of the librarian was, very properly, a subject of
concern. By an ordinance of 1412 his stipend was raised, and he became
recognized as one of the chief officers of the University. Lest "hope
deferred" should produce slackness in the performance of his duties, the
proctors were bound to pay his salary regularly, and, as a further
encouragement, every beneficed graduate, on his inception, was required
to make him a present of clothes. A similar custom prevailed with regard
to the bedels, and it is sententiously remarked that it would be absurd
for one adorned with superior dignity to be endued with inferior
privileges.
The ordinance of 1412 brought about other changes. At the outset the
library was accessible to all scholars at stated times; permission was
now confined to graduates or religious, and, in the case of the latter,
to those who were of eight years' standing _in philosophia_. Thus a monk
named Hardwyke, who did not possess this qualification, had to sue for a
"grace," and even then the privilege was limited to one term. The
reasons for these restrictions probably were that the undergraduate
constituency in those days was composed, in a great degree, of careless
and dirty boys, who would be apt to soil the manuscripts, while the
monks had their own libraries, to which they could resort without
encroaching on the slender resources of masters and bachelors.
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