Thomas Wright

“ February introduces us to the interior of a house in which a portly bon-vivant is enjoying the pleasures of the table beside a glowing fire, whilst an upper compartment of the picture shews us the dreary season without. ”

“ The literary monuments of the middle ages are varied and numerous, and we may form them into a series of short articles, arranging them according to dates, so as to preserve the historical order of the variations in style, and according to the class of literature to which they belong, which will keep distinct the architectural monuments of each order of society. ”

“ The head being round, the nimbus is round; the body when upright forms a lengthened oval, and the aureole also lengthens itself generally into a form nearly oval. But when the body is seated, the oval contracts itself into a circle, sometimes into a quatrefoil; because then the four protruding parts of the body, the head, legs, and two arms, have each their particular lobe, their section of the nimbus, and the torso is collected into the centre of the four leaves." M. Didron gives many examples of the aureole in its different forms. The most common is that represented in our fig. ”

“ It is very much to be desired that a list should be made of all the parish churches mentioned in the Domesday Survey, and that the churches now existing in the same places should be carefully examined. Among the illuminations of the manuscript of Cædmon, pl. 59, as published in the Archæologia, vol. 24, there is a rude but curious figure of an Anglo-Saxon church, the steeple of which bears considerable resemblance in form to those of which we are speaking. The date of Deerhurst tower appears also to be justly fixed to a period antecedent to the Norman conquest. ”

“ We have just observed that the cross of the divine nimbus appears to have no connection with the Christian symbol of the cross: one of the cuts given by M. Didron furnishes a curious proof of this. In the more ancient monuments, where the nimbus is absent, the Person of Christ is frequently accompanied by, or typified by, a lamb, which lamb always has a cross, which is often placed on the forehead. In fig. 4, taken from an Italian sculpture of the tenth century, we have the lamb with the divine nimbus, and the figure of the cross in each limb of the cross of the nimbus. ”

“ The writer is evidently a man of talent, and his book gains upon us as we advance, by the agreeable style in which it is written, and by the quantity of interesting and novel local information which it offers. ”

“ Domes occur frequently in the manuscript, and form a connecting link between Anglo-Saxon and Byzantine architecture. The dome represented in our cut appears to be covered in a very singular manner with parallel semicircles, apparently of tiles; the form which occurs more generally in the manuscript has a knob or ball at the summit, from which, as a centre, the rows of tiles radiate. It may be observed also, that in these drawings the roofs are generally covered with tiles which, in form and arrangement, bear a close resemblance to the scales of a fish. ”

“ Lewis (whose talents as an artist are universally known and appreciated) has made a complete series of drawings of the still more remarkable ornaments of the remains of Shobdon church, from which he has kindly permitted us to select the examples given in our article. It is his intention to publish them by subscription in the same form as his work on Kilpeck, and we heartily wish that he may obtain a sufficient number of subscribers to enable him to put his design in execution. In a few years, these remains may have fallen into a hopeless state of dilapidation. ”

“ The door, which is probably that which led to the hall, is represented apparently as opened outwards. It is altogether a curious illustration of early domestic architecture.
In the fabliau Du vair palefroy (Barbazan, i. 164) , we have a picture of the castellated manor-house of a wealthy knight. A young knight who had spent his substance, who lived at no great distance, was in love with the rich knight's daughter, but was not allowed to have access to her. The "manor" in which the lady was confined was built on a rock adjacent to a forest. ”

“ The Trinity. In these cases a regular gradation of age is most commonly observed: the Father appearing in the character of a man far advanced in years, the Son as a man in the vigour of age, and the Holy Ghost the youngest of the three. The last cut we borrow from the book before us (fig. 12.) , was taken from a French miniature of the fifteenth century, and represents the three Persons of the Trinity, each with a cruciferous nimbus, and enveloped together in a flamboyant aureole, not limited by an outline. M. Didron's book ends with the chapter on the Trinity. ”

“ The church of Sompting presents a very interesting specimen of what appears to be an Anglo-Saxon
(Fig. 12.) Sompting. steeple, and one which seems to have preserved its original form, even to the roof. It is joined to a church of late Norman style, but apparently containing also some relics of an earlier building. From the difference of the stone, and its much greater corrosion by the atmosphere, in the steeple, we are at once led to believe it to be at least more than a century (perhaps two) older than the body of the church ”

“ The stab's appear, therefore, to have been outside the hall, and there seems to have been a latticed window looking from the top of the stairs into it. The monk appears to have entered the hall by the back-door, and the chamber is in the story shewn to be adjacent to the hall (as in houses which had no soler) , on the side opposite to that on which were the stairs. When another monk comes, the husband hides himself under the stairs (souz le degré) . The bodies of the monks (who are killed by the husband) are carried out parmi une fausse posterne which leads into the fields (aus chans) . ”

“ We have then, in the manuscript under consideration, a series of architectural drawings which are pure Saxon, and of the date of which there can be no doubt. They present a number of characteristics which are sufficient to distinguish a peculiar style, which probably was the general style of Anglo-Saxon buildings. It is certain that the old artists produced nothing on parchment which was not modelled on what really existed before their eyes. ”

“ We have a very elegant example of the chimney in fig. 4, representing part of the house of a knight, whose wife has an intrigue with one of the heroes of these romances, King Claudas. The knight laid watch to take the king as he was in the lady's chamber at night, but the king being made aware of his danger, escaped by the chamber window, while the knight approached by the hall door—the illumination of which this is a fragment represents—Ensi que li roys Claudas s'enfuit par mi un fenestre, por le signour de l'ostel qu'il veoit venir. ”

“ Mr. Thompson has entered upon the task with a taste for his subject, and for the antiquities of all ages so thickly strewed around him, and the visitor may safely proceed under his guidance without any fear of being misled or misinformed. It is embellished with a few neat woodcuts of objects of antiquarian interest. We select as examples the cuts of two of the most interesting of the Roman monuments of Leicester. The first is an inscribed Roman milestone, of new red sandstone, which "is now placed in the
museum of the Literary and Philosophical Society. ”

“ The Early English style is found in the naves of Bicester and Charlton-on-Otmoor, in the nave of Kirtlington, in the tower of Middleton Stoney, in the east windows of Hampton Poyle, and one or two other churches, and in various parts of Stonesfield and Stanton Harcourt. The chancel of Bucknell church is pointed out as a fine specimen of the manner in which country churches were built in the thirteenth century. The nave and aisles of Bicester church present some interesting examples of Early English clustered columns, many of which have been mutilated. ”

“ REMAINS OF SHOBDON OLD CHURCH, HEREFORDSHIRE.
Right Tympanum of the remains of the ancient Church of Shobdon.
The negligence and archæological ignorance of the last century was much more fatal to our national monuments than even the religious excitement of the period which immediately followed the Reformation. The number of early buildings, especially churches, which were sacrificed to the love of novelty, was greater than we can easily conceive. ”

“ The Handbook of Leicester, by James Thompson, 12mo. pp. 96. Leicester, 1844. We are glad to see local guide-books compiled with some degree of taste and accuracy; they are humble works of utility, which may in general be made attractive and interesting, but which have too often been 'got up' in the most contemptible manner. The little volume before us is an honourable exception, and as such the more gratifying as it relates to so interesting a town as Leicester. ”

“ I have already stated that triangular arches are found in the oldest parts of the abbey church of St. Alban's. They occur as windows in most of the steeple-towers of the character supposed to be Saxon, and are also found in some instances as door-ways. We have a door-way of this description in Barnack church, Northamptonshire, and another in Brigstock church, in the same county. Windows of this description are still more common. Of the following cuts, fig. 10. represents a door-way in the church of Barnack; fig. 11. a very curious belfry-window in the church of Deerhurst, in Gloucestershire ”

“ The Father is properly represented as the Creator; yet in some monuments, and especially among the Greeks, the Son usurps the place of the Father, and is frequently represented in the act of creating, as well as in other acts and attributes belonging to the Father. In the following figure (fig. 10.) , from a fresco of the eighteenth century, at Salamina, Christ is represented as the Almighty—ὁ παντοκράτωρ. In some instances we find the second Person of the Trinity placed in a superior position, or with higher attributes, than the first. ”

“ The house was in general very much exposed. In the fabliau Du clerc qui fu repus deriere l'escrin (Meon. i. 165) , a man enters the hall, and seeing no one there, boldly knocks at the chamber door. In the fabliau Du meunier d'Arleux, the outer door of the hall is left unlatched at night, although a young maiden is in bed by the fire-side. In the fabliau Du prestre crucifié (Meon. iii. 14) , the maker of crucifixes returning home at night, before he opens the door sees his wife and her gallant in the hall through a hole in the wall ”

“ We will not undertake to describe the numerous borders of gold and colours, with beautiful and accurate drawings of the flowers peculiar to each season, and hosts of butterflies, moths, beetles, caterpillars, &c. contained in this illuminated calendar. The miniatures of the months are not only attractive as finished pictures, but they comprise faithful delineations of the buildings and costumes of the age to which they belong. ”

“ In the fabliau D'Estourmi (Barbazan, iv. 452) , a burgher and his wife deceive three monks of a neighbouring abbey who make love to the lady: she conceals her husband in the soler above, to which he ascends by a flight of steps:—
Tesiez, vous monterez là sus
En cel solier tout coiement.
The monk, before he enters the house, passes through the court (cortil) , in which there is a sheep-cot (bercil) . The husband from the soler above looks through a lattice or grate and sees all that passes in the hall:—
Par la treillie le porlingne. ”

“ The illumination of the month of September exhibits the process of the vintage, men pressing out the juice of the grapes by treading them in large tubs, bare-footed and bare-legged. In October people are occupied in sowing the earth, and the back-ground is occupied by a pretty landscape, with farmers' houses, and a pond of water with swans. ”