14 July, 1629. It is ordered and agreed upon that the churchwardens seate in the body of the churche shall be enlarged both in the wideness and in the deske that the bookes given unto the church may bee more convenientlie laid and chained to remain there according to the directions of the donors[464]. The will of Humphry Chetham, a wealthy merchant of Manchester, dated 16 December, 1651, directs L200 to be spent on certain specified books, to be, by the discretion of my Executors, chained upon Desks, or to be fixed to the Pillars, or in other convenient Places, in the Parish Churches of _Manchester_ and _Boulton in the Moors_, and in the Chapels of _Turton_, _Walmesley_, and _Gorton_, in the said County of _Lancaster_[465]. The bookcase at Gorton[466] is a cupboard of oak, 7 ft. long by 3 ft. high and 19 in. deep, raised upon four stout legs, 22 in. high. On opening the doors, the interior is seen to be divided into two equal parts by a vertical partition, and again by a horizontal shelf. The shelf and the partition are both 9 in. deep, so as to leave a considerable interval in front of them. The bars--of which there is one for each division--rest in a socket pierced in a small bracket screwed to each end of the case, in such a position that the bar passes just in front of the shelf. A flat piece of iron, nailed to the central division, carries a short hasp, which passes over the junction of the bars, and is there secured by a lock. By this arrangement no person could withdraw either bar without the key. The chains, of iron, tinned, are of the same type as those at Hereford, but the links are rather longer and narrower. They are attached to the volume in the same manner, either near the bottom of the right board, or near the top of the left board. There are scars on the lower edge of the case, and on the legs, which seem to indicate that there might once have been a desk. Otherwise, the books, when read, must have rested on the reader's knees. The whole piece of furniture closely resembles one dated 1694 at Bolton in Lancashire to be described below (fig. 116). The bookcase at Turton[467] resembles that at Gorton so closely that it needs no particular description. The doors are richly carved, and on the cornice above them is the following inscription, carved in low relief: THE GIFT OF HUMPHRY CHETHAM ESQVIRE. 1655.