Polly. That is according to my book not a dative at all, but a locative plural. You said Greek had a few irregular locatives singular. Its plurals dative are all locative, and answer to the shu, or su, of Sanskrit, the shua of Zend. So you see, if the Greeks agreed with the Persians in nothing else, they did in their locative plural.

George. It is the less wonder, as their dative did more work than the Latin dative. Well, it is very queer work to hunt down these things. (To be continued.)

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF ILLUMINATION.

(IN SIX PARTS.)

PART I.

It is necessary, in tracing the history of Illumination as a branch of decorative art, to consider it in its relations to contemporary work both of painting and sculpture. For it is only by looking at it side by side with the higher branches of art, that the beauty of noble conventional ornament can be felt, and its place in the unity of art determined; and it is by watching the growth of art as a whole, that the history of any one branch of it is really understood; since the same laws govern, and the same moral and physical influences affect it alike in its highest and lowest offices.

For the Art of Illumination is not mere 'monk's crochet-work,' as someone contemptuously called it: the important place which it occupied in mediæval art, and its educational value in an age when printing and wood-cuts were unknown, are now too frequently forgotten.

Illumination is best defined as the art of surrounding and ornamenting writing with such combinations of pure colour, as shall make it pleasing to the eye. This may be done, not only by the arrangement of conventional patterns, but also by the representation of birds, animals, and flowers, in few and characteristic lines, and in arbitrary or flat colours. But from the time when the illuminators of the fifteenth century introduced shadows and reflections into their borders, the art began to decline, for its limits were overstepped, and its true office forgotten.

The subject of grotesque representations in art is a wide one, and might furnish matter by itself for a volume; but as in the middle ages Illumination was the chief field for displaying it, a few words concerning it are necessary. Illumination, as being strictly an ornamental art, is limited to pure unshaded colour, and conventional treatment of subject, and is therefore peculiarly fitted for the expression of fanciful ideas. For the essence of the grotesque is suggestiveness: it displays the signs of ideas otherwise inexpressible, and it would generally be impossible to

work out these conceptions without diminishing the suggestiveness of the picture. In fine grotesque drawing, as that of Durer and Blake, the addition of detail would weaken the force of the ideas which are grand in their incompletion.

The fables of the middle ages were thus continually represented in MSS. both sacred and secular; the vices of the age condemned, and even its follies and the extravagances of dress satirized. One of the best known of these fables is that of Reynard the fox and Isegrim the wolf; the former representing the Church, and generally dressed as a monk; while the latter was the type of the rapacious mediaval barons. This representation of the fox as an ecclesiastic is very common in English work of the middle ages, and one of the boldest of these satires is in a painted window of St. Martin's Church at Leicester. A fox dressed as a monk is preaching to a congregation of geese, the text inscribed over him being, 'God is my witness, how I desire you all in my bowels.'

The extravagant shape and size of some articles of dress from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, called forth the condemnation of the ecclesiastics of those periods, and were satirized with an unsparing hand. Tradition says that the ladies of the twelfth century invented stays, in order to make their figures appear more slender, which seems to have been considered a grave impropriety; for in a MS. of the period, a demon is represented clad in the objectionable article. In a French MS. of the fifteenth century, the absurd height of hats and length of boots worn by gentlemen are caricatured; and another MS. of the same date depicts a sow wearing the enormous steepled cap then fashionable among ladies. The vice of gluttony is constantly satirized in connection with the monks, and a MS. of the fourteenth century has a picture of a monk eating pies by himself, which are held up to him by a little demon. There is no doubt, however, that the Illuminated Art of the middle ages was essentially religious, and it is probable that the best work was, as a rule, reserved for Church MSS. and books of devotion.

races.

There remain a few words to be said about the mediæval feeling for colour. Until the general decay of all decorative art during the Renaissance period, no system of ornament existed without it; and it is said that the feeling for colour is most strongly developed in the Semitic It is probable, too, that there existed in the minds of the early Christians a feeling for the sacredness of colour, which may have been a chief cause of its universal adoption in their art and worship. The minute directions given to Moses regarding the use of colour in the worship of God, may have led them to reverence it, to dwell on its symbolism, and to give, as we know they did, to each tint its own typical significance. We in this age have accustomed ourselves to think that pure bright colouring is 'gay' and 'glaring;' but the artists of early Christendom felt more truly that there was a solemn gladness in its brilliancy, with which all earthly beauty was woven specially sanctified, as it was, by the patterns of heavenly things shewed to Moses on Mount

Sinai, and connected still more closely with their holiest thoughts in the visions of St. John of the rainbow-girt throne, and of Him Who was as a jasper and a sardine stone.

However this may be, it is certain that from the earliest Christian times the writers of the sacred books ornamented them according to their skill and knowledge with bright hues; at first varying the black with only red and yellow capitals, and gradually increasing the number and brilliancy of colours, till in the thirteenth century the perfect balance of colour was attained. The perfection of design and harmony of colour attained by the Illuminators of that age were indeed wonderful; like the notes in a perfect melody of music, in which every one fulfils the rest, and without any one of which the harmony would be imperfect.

There is no one period in history in which one can say that the art of ornamental writing was invented. Like all other art, it had its origin in very remote times, and was gradually developed through the same channels. The earliest known writings of the world are the hieroglyphic writings of the Egyptians on papyri, into some of which pictures were inserted, but the usual ornamentation of which consisted in the occasional use of vermilion. Gold-leaf was known to them, but seems to have been chiefly reserved for painting the coffins and faces of mummies. They must, however, have possessed much knowledge and feeling for colour, for they attained great perfection in the arts of mosaic and enameling; and, in all probability, it was from Egypt that the Persians derived their knowledge of these arts, which in after ages the Byzantines learned from them.

In the earliest periods, the representations of ideas were really symbolic drawings; and letters, or signs of sounds, were originally derived from the initial sound of the names of things represented by such rude pictures. In all times before men had sufficient knowledge otherwise to represent the idea intended, they have used simple figures borrowed from the world of nature, which conveyed their meaning by analogy. Thus 'picture writing' in some form must have been used in the earliest ages. Symbolic representation is a characteristic of all early Christian art, and gave place very gradually to a more natural expression of ideas; and in the East, Egyptian traditions and symbols probably exercised some influence over Christian painting, chiefly that of the Gnostics. The Copts are said to be the immediate descendants of the ancient Egyptians : they were converted to Christianity within the first century, and their patriarchs claim to be descended from St. Mark. Mr. Curzon mentions, that on the opening of the tomb of St. Mark, who was buried in Egypt, a fragment of his Gospel was found within it, which was supposed to have belonged to the saint. It was in Latin, and beautifully written on

vellum.

Some of the oldest books in existence are in the libraries of the Coptic monasteries; and among the most valuable MSS. preserved in the British Museum, are those in the Syriac language, which were

purchased from the Coptic monks. They do not appear, however, to be aware of the value of their treasures, or to have much care for their preservation; for Mr. Curzon, in a visit to one of the Abyssinian monasteries, found that some of the MSS. were used as coverings for pickle-jars, among which was a fine and ancient copy of the Gospels lying on the floor. A closet in the oil-cellar of the same monastery, on being opened, was found filled two feet deep with leaves of MSS.: these were the valuable Syriac MSS. now in the British Museum. The arrangements of libraries in Abyssinian monasteries is very curious, and probably unchanged from the earliest times. A wooden shelf is continued all round the walls of the room, underneath which project pegs of about a foot and a half in length; on these the books are hung, two or three on a peg. In the library instanced by Mr. Curzon, fifty books were thus hung round the room. They were chiefly bound in red leather, or boards carved in curious devices, and kept in cases tied up with leather thongs, by means of which they were hung to the pegs.

Papyrus was used very extensively in the East, and also occasionally in the West, probably on account of the scarcity of vellum. In some early French MSS. vellum and papyrus are used in alternate pages. It would seem that the invention of inks caused the manufacture of softer materials than wood and ivory, which were used to a great extent by Western nations, until parchment and paper became attainable. It is said that Julius Cæsar first caused MSS. to be folded into pages in the form of modern books: until then, they had always been kept in rolls, in which form MSS. are occasionally seen of as late a date as the seventh century.

Mr. Curzon, in his interesting account of the monasteries of the Levant,* gives a minute description of the manner in which the modern Abyssinian scribes pursue at this day the art of ornamental writing, preserving the traditions and curious habits of ancient times. The modes of representing and colouring sacred pictures have, wherever the Eastern Church holds rule, remained unalterable ever since the eighth century, when the Second Council of Nicea decreed that it was 'not the invention of the painter which creates the picture, but an inviolable law, a tradition of the Catholic Church.' The utensils and manner of writing are probably still more ancient, having descended from the Egyptians. The ancient Coptic books are chiefly written on cotton paper, as are also the Arabic MSS. The use of this paper, which was discovered at Memphis, is very ancient. It was a kind of skin found in certain trees, between the bark and the wood, and called libes. The modern scribe sits on the ground after the ancient custom, his ink-horn stuck into the ground beside him, and his vellum held on the knee, or in the palm of the left hand. Each letter is painted separately with the Eastern reedpen, one page being considered a good day's work. The figure outlines are generally drawn first with the pen, and then filled in with the primitive brush, made by chewing a reed into threads, and then biting it * From which the following account is borrowed. 5

VOL. 9.

PART 49.

to a point. The colours, which are chiefly composed of ochres, are mixed with the yolk of an egg, and any mistakes are smeared off with a wet finger and thumb.

This sketch of the primitive artistic customs of the monks of the Levant, may serve as an introduction to some remarks on Byzantine art. The first school of Illumination took root at Byzantium, and from thence spread through Europe, marking with its peculiarities all the national schools with which it came in contact, but gradually dying away with the development of intellectual vigour and freedom of thought.*

(To be continued.)

TRADITIONS OF TIROL.

XI.

NORTH TIROL-THE INNTHAL.

INNSBRUCK (continued); FERDINAND I., THE HOFKIRCHE, MAXIMILIAN'S CENOTAPH, ITS BAS-RELIEF, STATUES; MIRAKEL-BILD DES H. ANTON ; FÜRSTENCHOR; ABJURATION OF QUEEN CHRISTINA-INTRODUCTION OF JESUITS, RESULTS -THE FROMME SIECHIN FERDINAND II., HIS PEACEFUL TASTES, ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT, PHILIPPINE WELSER, MÉNAGE AT SCHLOSS AMBRAS, COLLECTIONS, CURIOSITIES, PORTRAITS ; PHILIPPINE'S END.

-

'Many centuries have been numbered,
Since in death the monarch slumbered
By the convent's sculptured portal,
Mingling with the common dust:
But his good deeds, through the ages
Living in historic pages,

Brighter grow and gleam immortal,
Unconsumed by moth or rust.'

Longfellow.

FERDINAND THE FIRST's reign has many mementos in Innsbruck. He built the Franciscan church, otherwise called the heiligen Kreuzkirche and the Hofkirche, which, tradition says, had been projected by his grandfather, Kaiser Max, though there is no written record of the fact; and he raised within it a most grandiose and singular monument to him, which has alone sufficed to attract many travellers to Tirol. The original object of the foundation of the church seems to have been the establishment of a college of canons in this centre, to oppose the advance

* Our readers will remember that mention of the text quoted in this paper, though it could not well be omitted as an instance of the grotesque in art, must not be taken as a sanction for irreverent application of Scripture.-ED.