_Parochial Libraries_ (Vol. vi., p. 432. &c.; Vol. vii., p.
392.).--_Totnes_ may be added to the list of places containing parochial
libraries. The books are placed in presses in the vestry room of the
church, and so preserved from loss and damage to which they were formerly
subjected. The collection is principally composed of works of divinity
published in the seventeenth century, the age of profound theological
literature. I noticed amongst the goodly array of weighty folios, the works
of St. Augustine, the _Homilies_ of St. Chrysostom, works of St. Ambrose,
St. Gregory, &c., the works of the high and mighty King James, Birckbek's
_Protestant Evidence_, and Walton's _Polyglott_. Nothing is known of the
history and formation of this library. Inside the cover of one of the
volumes is the following inscription:
"Totnes Library. The guift of Mr. Thomas Southcott, July 10. 1656."
I found the following incorrect and antiquated piece of information
respecting this library in a flimsy work, published in 1850, entitled, _A
Graphic and Historical Sketch of the Antiquities of Totnes_, by William
Cotton, F.S.A., _note_, p. 38.:
"I know not what the library contains. I believe nothing more than
theological lumber. It is always locked up, and made no use of by those
who keep it, and it is inaccessible to those who would wish to examine
it. I was once there by accident, and looked into some books, which
were all on Divinity."