after revolution to 1805 71

returning to the name given to the room, the Rev-
enue Office, we find that in a description of the
building in the Columbian Magazine for Febru-
ary 1789, the same room in the southern corner of
the second story, over the room of the House of
Delegates, is designated as the Auditor's Chamber.
The Auditor was an officer appointed under the
authority of article X of the constitution of 1776
to state and adjust all accounts of the state relating
either to the collection or expenditure of the rev-
enue ; and once appointed his work was much ex-
panded, especially during the war. And not the
least of the circumstantial evidence on the point at
issue is the finding of this Auditor's day book for
a period of about sixteen months beginning Sep-
tember 1, 1782, and some of his vouchers, among
the books and papers of the Court of Appeals;
they are among them today, and the day book
exhibits an office very busy with Revolutionary
War expenses. The arrangement of the courts in
the State House was that the General Court oc-
cupied the main court room in an octagonal ex-
tension at the rear of the main corridor, its door
facing down the corridor to the entrance of the
building. That room had been designed for the
Provincial Court and had been occupied by it for
a short time prior to the Revolution.¹² It was in
in the same relative position as the Provincial
Court rooms in previous State Houses.¹⁸ The
Chancery Office and court room were then in the
northern corner of the second story; and the Court

12. The building, begun in 1772, was in use after 1774.

13. After the abolition of the General Court in 1805, the room was
unoccupied until it was taken over by the State Library in 1834,
and ultimately made into two stories.