orm blot
than like an exquisite interweavement of figures; exhibiting no
perfection of skill or art, where all is really skill and perfection
of art. But if you look closely at them with all the acuteness of
sight that you can command, and examine the inmost secrets of this
wondrous art, you will discover such delicate, such wonderful and
finely wrought lines, twisted and interwoven with such intricate
knots and adorned with such fresh and brilliant colours, that you
will readily acknowledge the whole to have been the work of angelic
rather than human skill."

At first gold was not used at all in Irish work, but the manuscripts
of a slightly later date, and especially of the Anglo-Saxon school,
show a superbly decorative use both of gold and silver. The "Coronation
Oath Book of the Anglo-Saxon Kings" is especially rich in this
exquisite metallic harmony. By degrees, also, the Anglo-Saxons
became more perfected in the portrayal of the human figure, so
that by the twelfth century the work of the Southern schools and
those of England were more alike than at any previous time.

[Illustration: IVY PATTERN, FROM A 14TH CENTURY FRENCH MANUSCRIPT]

In the Northern manuscripts of the eleventh and twelfth centuries
it is amusing to note that the bad characters are always represented
as having large hooked noses, which fact testifies to the dislike
of the Northern races for the Italians and Southern peoples.

The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries may be considered to stand
for the "Golden Age" of miniature art in all the countries of Europe.
In England and France especially the illuminated books of the thirteenth
century were marvels of delicate work, among which the Tenison
Psalter and the Psalter of Queen Mary, both in the British Museum,
are excellent examples. Queen Mary's Psalter was not really painted
for Queen Mary; it was executed two centuries earlier. But it was
being sent abroad in 1553, and was seized by the Customs. They
refused to allow it to pass. Afterwards it was presented to Queen
Mary.

At this time grew up a most beautiful and decorative style, known
as "ivy pattern," consisting of little graceful flowering sprays,
with tiny ivy leaves in gold and colours. The Gothic feeling prevails
in this motive, and the foliate forms are full of spined cusps.
The effect of a book decorated in the ivy pattern, is radiant and
jewelled as the pages turn, and the burnishing of the gold was
brought to its full perfectio