[141] As I know of no other passage in a medieval writer which describes an _armarium_, I transcribe the original text: Armarium, in quo libri reponuntur, intrinsecus ligno vestitum esse debet ne humor parietum libros humectet vel inficiat. In quo eciam diversi ordines seorsum et deorsum distincti esse debent, in quibus libri separatim collocari possint, et distingui abinvicem, ne nimia compressio ipsis libris noceat, vel querenti moram inuectat. [142] Statuta primaria Praemonstratensis Ordinis, Cap. VII. ap. Le Paige, _Bibliotheca Praem. Ord._ fol. Paris, 1633, p. 803. The words are: Ad Armarium pertinet libros custodire, et si sciverit emendare; Armarium librorum, cum necesse fuerit, claudere et aperire ... libros mutuo accipere cum necesse fuerit et nostros quaerentibus commodare sed non sine licentia Abbatis vel Prioris absente Abbate et non sine memoriali competenti. [143] The delightful story of S. Francis and the brother who wished for a psalter of his own is told in the _Speculum Perfectionis_, ed. Sabatier, 8vo. Paris, 1898, p. 11. [144] These Constitutions have been printed by Father F. Ehrle in a paper called _Die aeltesten Redactionen der Generalconstitutionen des Franziskanerordens_, in "Archiv fuer Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters," Band VI. pp. 1-138. The passages cited above will be found on p. 111. [145] _The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury._ ed. E. C. Thomas, 8vo. Lond. 1888, p. 203. [146] In the Cluniac Customs those volumes only which had been assigned to particular brethren are to be laid on the carpet. It is difficult to understand the reason for this formal assignment of a book to each brother who chose to ask for one. As brethren in those early times had no separate cubicles or cells, it could hardly imply more than a precaution against the difficulty of two brethren requiring the use of the same volume. Possibly the whole intention was disciplinary, to ensure study as prescribed by the Rule. [147] Delisle, _Bibl. de l'Ecole des Chartes_, Ser. 3, Vol. I. p. 225. Interdicimus inter alia viris religiosis, ne emittant juramentum de non commodando libros suos indigentibus, cum commodare inter praecipua misericordiae opera computetur. Sed, adhibita consideratione diligenti, alii in domo ad opus fratrum retineantur; alii secundum providentiam abbatis, cum indemnitate domus, indigentibus commodentur. Et a modo nullus liber sub anathemate teneatur, et omnia predicta anathemata absolvimus. Labbe, _Concilia_, XI. 69. [148] Delisle, _Cab. des Manuscrits_, II. 226. [149] M. Delisle (_ut supra_, II. 124) cites an inscription in one of the MSS. of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris: "Liber iste de Corbeia: sed prestaverunt nobis usque Pascha." [150] Mabillon, _Thesaurus Anecdotorum_, Vol. 1. p. 151. [151] _Opera Thomae a Campis_, fol. 1523. Fol. XLVII. 7. The passage occurs in his _Doctrinale Juvenum_, Cap. V.