6 NOVEMBER 1830, Page 18

Shaw's Illuminated Ornaments. Part III.

Every successive number of this curious work presents us with some novel and striking specimen of the quaint devices and brilliant combi- nations of colour contained in the illuminations of the missals and manuscripts of the Middle Ages. By-the-by, we wonder that some embellishments of this description have not been employed in the An- nuals. The Friendship's Offering began with some specimens of em- blazoning, which were in splendid taste: why have they been discon- tinued ? To the designers, also, of patterns for our printed cottons, silks, and muslins, this work would supply some rich and striking examples; and for shawl-borders they afford splendid specimens of strong contrasts of colour and minute intricacies of figure.