Mazarin died in 1661, and, in accordance with his will, a college, to be called Le Collège des Quatre Nations, was founded and endowed, and the library was removed into it. The college was suppressed at the Revolution, and the buildings are now occupied by the Institut de France, but the library remains practically intact. It occupies two rooms at right angles to each other with a united length of about 158 ft., and a width of 27 ft. They are admirably lighted by 17 large windows.
The bookcases ([fig. 122]), from the original library in the Palais Mazarin, were placed round the new room. At first they terminated with the cornice, surmounted by the balustrade which protected the gallery mentioned above, and the roof was arched. In 1739, when additional shelf-room was required, and the roof was in need of repair, it was agreed to construct the present flat ceiling, and to gain thereby wall-space of sufficient height to accommodate 20,000 additional books. The gallery thus formed is approached by two staircases constructed at the same time[503].
If the elevation of these cases ([fig. 123]) be compared with that of the cases in the Escõrial ([fig. 119]), I feel sure that my readers will agree with me in admitting that the French example was copied from the Spanish. The general arrangement is the same, and especially the really distinctive features, namely, the division by columns, and the presence of a desk. It will be observed that the French example is the larger of the two, being 18 ft. high from the floor to the top of the cornice. The desk, moreover, is 4 ft. from the floor, so that it was evidently intended to be used standing.
I am aware that Naudé, the librarian employed by Mazarin to collect books for him, did not visit Spain, nor was Mazarin himself ever in that country. There is therefore no evidence to connect his library with that of Philip II., but in justification of my theory I submit that the resemblance is too close to be accidental, and that in all probability the library at the Escõrial had been much talked of in the world of letters.
The convenience of placing book-shelves against a wall was soon accepted in England, but at first in a somewhat half-hearted fashion. The earliest instance of this, so far as I know, is to be met with in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, where the first stone of the eastern wing was laid in 1610, and completed, with the fittings, in 1612[504].