Page:The Life of Sir Thomas Bodley written by himself.djvu/24

18, alone remained to prove that there had once been a "publike library" at Oxford, by fitting it with the necessary shelves and seats, procuring for it gifts of books, and by an annual endowment. The offer was most gratefully accepted, and from that time the story of the founder is practically that of the library.

Bodley's firm confidence in his "honourable friends" was not misplaced: gifts came pouring in, both from those who shared his enthusiasm and from those who "wished to be written in the scroll of the benefactors," for whose recognition wise provision was made. The expense of fitting up the room was far greater than