oreign tour in search of rarities.[15-*]

We propose presently to follow the Doctor in his investigation of old
books, and exhibit some few of the enrichments that artist and engraver
gave to the written or printed volumes which passed from their hands;
at the same time we shall endeavour to take a more general survey of the
adaptation of art to works of ordinary use.

[Illustration: Fig. 16.]

The quaint manner in which letters were sometimes braced together may be
seen in Fig. 16. Occasionally, a name thus formed in monogram would
require much ingenuity to unravel, inasmuch as the entire letters made
but one interlaced and closely compacted group, each limb or portion of
a letter helping also to form part of another. In the hospital founded
at Edinburgh by the famous goldsmith, George Heriot,--the favourite
goldsmith and jeweller of James I., a monarch who fully appreciated his
art,--the name of "Jingling Geordie," as his majesty playfully called
him, is sculptured in such a group, which appears at first sight an
enigma few could unravel; indeed, without knowing what letters to look
for, and how to arrange them, it is a chance if they would be arranged
correctly. Such a mode of marking would, however, have its advantages,
for it would enable those who were in the secret to unravel the mystery
of the true proprietorship of any valuable article unfairly abstracted.
The shields in Fig. 13 are filled with monograms less elaborate, but
bearing a sufficient affinity to those alluded to, to aid in
understanding the rest.

FOOTNOTES:

[15-*] "Biographical, Antiquarian, and Picturesque Tour in France and
Germany." London, 1821. 3 vols.

CHAPTER II.

We owe the term _illumination_, as applied to the decoration of old
manuscripts, to the mediaeval Latin name of the artist himself,
_alluminor_, the root of our English word _limner_, and of the French
word _enlumineur_, one who colours or paints upon paper or parchment,
giving light and ornament to letters and figures. The brilliancy and
beauty of much of this ancient art are marvellous to look upon, but the
names of few of the patient artists, who devoted their lives to book
illustration, have descended to us. There are, however, one or two names
well-known to us, a Julio Clovio and a Girolamo da Libri (Jerome
Veronese), affording a sufficient warrant of the high-class minds who
honoured their art by honouring literature. There can be no greater
pleasure than in turn