The Library, he said, was of little use now, as the Fellows had their own books and very seldom required 17th and 18th century editions, and no new books had been added to the collection for a long time.
We passed down a few steps into an inner library where piles of early folios were wasting away on the ground.

Beneath an old ebony table were two long carved oak chests.

I lifted the lid of one, and at the top was a once-white surplice covered with dust, and beneath was a mass of tracts--Commonwealth quartos, unbound--a prey to worms and decay.

All was neglect.

The outer door of this room, which was open, was nearly on a level with the Quadrangle; some coats, and trousers, and boots were upon the ebony table, and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within the door--in wet weather he performed these functions entirely within the library--as innocent of the incongruity of his position as my guide himself.