In the next reign, (that of _James_ I,) the obtaining of a royal Charter, and the recovery of the alienated revenues and possessions belonging to the Gaywood hospital, (of the latter of which we have spoken already) seem to have constituted the principal and most memorable transactions that appertain to this history. Besides which scarce any thing occurred worthy of being here recorded, unless it be the erection or establishment (in 1617) of a _Library_ in the Vestry of _St. Nicholas’s Chapel_: which appears to have been the first institution of the kind in this town since the dissolution of the convents. {715} So that for about eighty years, or ever since the reformation, the character of the town as a literary, or bookish place, must have been at a miserable low ebb. We need not wonder therefore at the extreme ignorance that seemed to have prevailed here in the mean time. This library is said to have been founded by the mayor, burgesses, &c. The library in St. Margaret’s Church is said not to have been founded till about fourteen years after. How extensively useful these bibliothecal collections proved we have not the means of ascertaining. At any rate, they were creditable to those by whom they were projected and promoted. Upon the accession of _Charles_ I, one of the first and most remarkable circumstances that appear to have occurred here was the _erection of St. Anne’s Fort_, on which were mounted, as we are told, “several great pieces of ordnance, sent from London and planted here for the defence of the town.” This some, perhaps, would be apt to construe as ominous of the subsequent troubles of that reign, of which this town appears to have had its full share: for having declared against the parliament, it was by their forces closely besieged and taken, and afterwards laid under contribution, and strongly garrisoned. As to the _Fort_, we cannot find that it proved of any material use to the town in that time of danger: nor does it appear to have been ever calculated for the defence and protection of the place, or for any other purpose but to please little or full-grown children, who are naturally fond of ribands and rattles. {717} [Picture: A view of the Pilot Office, St. Ann’s Battery etc. Published Dec.r 1809 by W. Whittingham, Lynn]