HISTORICAL MANUAL.
LIST OF PLATES.
Plate I.—From the fragments of the Bible of Charles the Bald, preserved in the British Museum, Harleian 7551. In most of the MSS. of the date of Charlemagne and his immediate successors, the ornamental forms are generally compounded of Anglo-Saxon and semi-classical details; thus, fig. 1 presents us with a lunette, or arch-filling, borrowed from some Latin type; while in figs. 3, 4, 5, the interlaced knots, and in figs. 2 and 6 the "zoomorphic" terminations, are equally characteristic of Celtic art. This class of conventional design, although apparently complicated, is of comparatively easy execution, and on that account forms a suitable style for the young illuminator to try his "'prentice hand" upon.
Plate II. gives the outline of the preceding plate, and the beginner may make his first attempt at practical illumination in an endeavour to make it resemble Plate I. as closely as possible.
Plate III., from the same source as Plate I., gives, in figs. 1 and 4, two alphabets, and in fig. 2 one sentence, in the characters in which the Latin text of the original is written throughout the volume, with the usual form of initial letter; together with, in fig. 3, an ornament showing, on a largish scale, the principle upon which the most common interlacement of the Saxon school is usually worked out.
It may be here noted that, considering it as likely to be more useful to the student, throughout these illuminations the characters, which in the originals express Latin, French, or barbarous English, have been arranged to exhibit Scripture texts of simple language, such as may be frequently desired for the embellishment of churches or schoolrooms.
Plate IV., from the British Museum, Reg. 1, c. vii. This manuscript consists of the Books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, in the Vulgate version, with St. Jerome's prologues. It is probably of German execution, and is attributed by Sir Frederick Madden to the middle of the 12th century. In its illustrations may be recognised a series of good specimens of Romanesque forms. In these the scroll may be observed as having almost entirely superseded the Carlovingian interlacement, while in the foliated ends of the leading stems (more particularly in fig. 1) the germination of Gothic is distinctly perceptible. The student will scarcely fail to observe how entirely dependent this style of illumination is upon the steadiness with which the pen is handled for all its charm of expression.
Plate V. gives the outline of the preceding plate, to be coloured as a lesson in shading with the brush.
Plate VI. provides an alphabet of capital letters, some initials, and a complete sentence, taken from the same MS. which has furnished materials for the two preceding plates.
Plate VII. contains fully-coloured examples from the British Museum, Reg