e next was taken, apparently quite irrespective of the colour or
shade. Thus, a green horse will be seen standing on red legs, and
a red horse will sport a blue stocking! Mr. J. L. Hayes believes
that these varicoloured animals are planned purposely: that two
legs of a green horse are rendered in red on the further side, to
indicate perspective, the same principle accounting for two blue
legs on a yellow horse!

[Illustration: DETAIL, BAYEUX TAPESTRY]

The buildings are drawn in a very primitive way, without consideration
for size or proportion. The solid part of the embroidery is couched
on, while much of the work is only rendered in outline. But the
spirited little figures are full of action, and suggest those in
the celebrated Utrecht Psalter. Sometimes one figure will be as
high as the whole width of the material, while again, the people
will be tiny. In the scene representing the burial of Edward the
Confessor, in Westminster Abbey, the roof of the church is several
inches lower than the bier which is borne on the shoulders of men
nearly as tall as the tower!

The naive treatment of details is delicious. Harold, when about
to embark, steps with bare legs into the tide: the water is laid
out in the form of a hill of waves, in order to indicate that it
gets deeper later on. It might serve as an illustration of the Red
Sea humping up for the benefit of the Israelites! The curious little
stunted figure with a bald head, in the group of the conference of
messengers, would appear to be an abortive attempt to portray a
person at some distance--he is drawn much smaller than the others
to suggest that he is quite out of hearing! This seems to have
been the only attempt at rendering the sense of perspective. Then
comes a mysterious little lady in a kind of shrine, to whom a clerk
is making curious advances; to the casual observer it would appear
that the gentleman is patting her on the cheek, but we are informed
by Thierry that this represents an embroideress, and that the clerk
is in the act of ordering the Bayeux Tapestry itself! Conjecture
is swamped concerning the real intention of this group, and no
certain diagnosis has ever been pronounced! The Countess of Wilton
sees in this group "a female in a sort of porch, with a clergyman
in the act of pronouncing a benediction upon her!" Every one to
his taste.

A little farther on there is another unexplained figure: that of
a man with his feet crossed, swinging joyously