70 



In these maps we find the most grotesque figures of the kings of 

 different countries, of griffins, unicorns, elephants, and other animals. 

 Dean Swift says, in one of his poems, — 



"Geographers, in antient Maps, 

 With horrid monsters fill their gaps; 

 And o'er inhospitable downs 

 Place Elephants instead of Towns." 



The manuscript raaxine charts, too, exhibit numbers of portentous fishes 

 as lai'ge as mountains — " monstra natantia " — mermaids combing their 

 locks, &c. In these charts the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea are 

 marked out with tolerable accuracy ; and the same may be said of the 

 countries of Greece and Italy; but all other regions of the earth — 

 whether land or water — especially the northern regions, are very loosely 

 delineated. Antient maps, however, both of land and sea, are of con- 

 siderable value, inasmuch as they give a pretty accurate indication of 

 the degree of geographical knowledge prevailing at the periods when 

 they were respectively constructed. 



In the writing and illuminating of manuscripts we cannot consider 

 without astonishment the immense labour and patience which have been 

 bestowed upon them. There is in the library of the writer a copy 

 of the Vulgate, comprehending the Old and New Testament and the 

 Apocrypha, which are all clearly the production of one scribe, and the 

 work of a long life. It possesses all the beauty and accuracy of Bulmer 

 or Bensley's finest printing. 



Nor can we withhold our admiration of the skill, taste, and neatness 

 displayed in them. We observe not only unbounded splendour of 

 colouring and richness of ornament, but often great delicacy of execu- 

 tion. And although the figures are frequently stiff, and the buildings 

 and landscapes continually violate the rules of perspective, the coun- 

 tenances are expressive and symmetrical, and the story is well told. In 

 fact, many of the great artists of the day were proud to bestow their 

 best energies upon the decoration of these manuscripts. Accordingly 

 we find among them the names of Cimabue, Giotto, Da Fiesole, and 

 others, who painted, both on a large scale upon pannel or canvas, and 

 also i n miniature, for the embellishments now under consideration. 

 Others, however, restricted their labours to manuscripts. Such, in the 

 fourteenth century, was the monk of Camaldoli, near Florence, named 

 Silvestro, who delineated capital letters in a style never surpassed — 

 frequently covering an entire page with a single letter, and filling that 

 letter with an exquisite miniature delineation of some occurrence in holy 

 writ. His right hand, and that of Don Jacopo, an eminent caligraphist 

 of the same monastery, were long preserved in a casket by their surviving 



