REPRODUCTIONS FROM ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS.
Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts. (The British Museum.)—This is the third series of reproductions, and may he fairly said to rival its predecessors in interest. For reasons stated in the preface, it may, indeed, be said to surpass them. The originals, in the first place, are not exposed to public view as are those from which the first and second series are taken. These originals are, oá the whole, of even greater importance. Finally, the reproductions are on a somewhat larger and more effective scale. The plates number fifty. They are taken from thirty-four Gospels, hymnals, breviaries, &c. First in order—the arrange- ment is chronological—comes the manuscript of the Lindisfarne Gospels, sometimes known as St. Cuthbert's. It was written about the end of the seventh century A.D., or early in the eighth, by Bishop Eadpith of Lindisfarne, covered by Bishop Ethel weld (the cover is new), and furnished with an interlinear translation into English about a century later. Of this we have two plates. III. and IV. are Gospels ; V. a Psalter (all these date from before 1,000 A.D.) ; X. is a Latin Bible (1160); XXVIII. contains the "Thebais" and " Achilleis " of Stativa (fifteenth century); and KLVII. the "Roman do in Rose" (fifteenth century). The' lasts two are the only secular works.
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