A modification of this form of desk was common in Italy. It is often used by painters of the fifteenth century in pictures of the Annunciation, where it does duty as a prie-dieu. The example I have selected (fig. 140) is from a painting by Benedetto Bonfigli, in the church of S. Peter at Perugia. It represents S. Jerome writing. A small circular revolving desk, at the left-hand corner of the larger desk, holds the work he is copying or referring to. On the desk near the inkstand lies the pointed _stylus_ mentioned above. Below the cupboard containing books is a drawer. Projecting from the top of the revolving desk, there is a vertical rod of iron with a long horizontal arm. This is no doubt intended to carry a lantern. I shall shortly give an example of one in such a position. [Illustration: Fig. 141. Circular book-desk. From a MS. of _Fais et Gestes du Roi Alexandre_, in the British Museum.] [Illustration: Fig. 140. S. Jerome writing. From an oil painting by Benedetto Bonfigli, in the Church of S. Peter at Perugia.] I now return to the wheel-desk, of which I have already figured one specimen (fig. 135). A piece of furniture consisting of one or more tables which could be raised or depressed by means of a central screw, was very generally used by scholars in the Middle Ages. I shall present a few of the most common forms. [Illustration: Fig. 142. S. Luke writing his Gospel. From the Dunois _Horae_, a MS. in the possession of H. Y. Thompson, Esq.] My first specimen is from a manuscript in the British Museum, written and illuminated in England in the middle of the fifteenth century. It is called _Fais et Gestes du Roi Alexandre_[532]. The picture (fig. 141) represents Alexander as a little child, standing in front of his tutor, who is seated in one of the chairs I described above. On the learned man's right is his book-desk. A circular table with a rim round it to prevent the books falling off, is supported on a central pedestal, which contains the screw. The top of the said screw is concealed by the little Gothic turret in the centre of the table. This turret also supports the book which the reader has in use. [Illustration: Fig. 143. A lady seated in her chair reading. From a MS. written in France, early in the fifteenth century.]