There is abundant evidence that our forefathers were not a whit behind us in their appreciation of good books. It was the ambition of scholars to get hold of anything of real worth in the shape of literature and they took great pains to this end, often making journeys to he extremities of the Continent. Venerable Bede, who was the profoundest scholar of his age in every department whether secular or religious, speaks with enthusiasm of the fine library which he found at Jarrow. This library was due to the exertions of Benedict Biscop, who went as far as Rome in order to procure books for it. Later we come upon the figure of Alfred the Great - a notable figure in any history of literature. He not only set up schools in every part of the kingdom and brought teachers from different places to lecture in them, but he aimed at forming a kind of National Library and he did, in fact, lay the foundations of one.

From The Light of Our Days by Fr. Aloysius Roche and published by Burns, Oates & Washbourne.