Three lists of the books were to be drawn up,
one to be kept by the Bishop, the second by the sacrist,
and the third by the keeper. Once a year stock was
taken, and if a book were missing through the keeper's
neglect, he was to forfeit its value within a month, or in
default was to pay forty-shillings more than the value of
it, one half of the sum to go to the Bishop, the other
half to the sacrist. Unfortunately these and other regulations
were not observed with care, and within forty years
the Bishop's work was completely neglected and forgotten.
[1] Reliquary, vii. 14 (Floyer).
[2] Ibid., 17.
At the Dissolution the Priory was deprived of much of
its church plate, service books and vestments, and probably
of many of its books. But the library there suffered a good
deal less than those of other houses, and the Cathedral now
has in its possession some respectable remains of its ancient
collection of books.[1]
[1] The best account of Worcester Cathedral Library is in
Reliquary, vii. Il, by the Rev. J. K. Floyer, M.A.
Section III
The history of an old library can only be traced intermittently,
the facts playing hide and seek like a distant
lantern carried over broken ground.
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