Dibdin's Bibliographical Tour in France and Germany. 609 



ture and of rural occupation, form tlie 

 chief subjects of this running orna- 

 ment. All the inscriptions as you have 

 them above, are executed in capital 

 letters of about an inch in length; and 

 upon the whole, Miiether this t-xtraor- 

 diuary and invaluable relic b(! of the 

 latter end of the 11th, or of thebcgiu- 

 uiug or middle of tlie 12th century, 

 seems to me a matter of rather second- 

 ary consideration, 



I have l(?arnt, even here, of what 

 importance this tapestry roll was con- 

 sidered in the time of Buonaparte's 

 threatened invasion of our country ; 

 and (hat either after or before disphiy- 

 ing it at Paris for two or thre(^ monllis 

 to awaken the curiosity and excite tlie 

 love of conquest among the citizens, it 

 was conveyed to one or two seii-jiort- 

 towns, and exhibited upon the stage 

 as a most important material in dra- 

 matic eftect. 



To have seen tlie Bayeux Tapestry is 

 a req^iital for all my sufferings at sea, 

 and all my tours and detours by land. 

 But in other respects, this is a town 

 well deserving of greater antiquarian 

 research tlian appears to have been be- 

 stowed upon it. 



BREVIARY OP JOHN DUKE Of 

 BEDFORD. 



Pursuing what I imagine to be a 

 tolerably correct chronological ord<'r, 1 

 am now about to place before you this 

 fiir-faraed Breviary, companion to the 

 MISSAL, which originally belonged to 

 the same eminent owner, Louis XIV. 

 and of which our countrymen have iiad 

 more frequent opportunities of appre- 

 ciating the splendour and beauty than 

 the Parisians ; as it is not likely that 

 the former will ever again become the 

 property of an Englishman. 



On the recto of the first leaf is the 

 following memorandum. " lireuiaii-e 

 apartenant jadis a Monsieur de Moriiil- 

 liers Garde ties Seaux de France, done 

 a Messire Cammille de Neufaille Abbe 

 d' Aine et Conte de Laigny par IMon- 

 sieur de St. Germain le XVe. decem- 

 bre mil vjc. xxv. de I'liostel de viile- 

 roy a Paris." The calendar, without 

 any ornament, occupies the six follow- 

 ing leaves. On the seventh leaf begins 

 the text of the Breviary, with the first 

 Sunday in Advent, accompanied by an 

 elaborate illumination of the Trinity 

 at fop, and tlie patriarchs, cSic. below. 

 This illumination is about five inches 

 and one tliird in height, by four in 

 width. It is surrounded with orna- 

 ment, and has tiie arms of tlie Duke of 

 Bc-dford 



A female unrolls and explains it to 

 you. The first portion of the needle- 

 work representing the Embassy of 

 Harold from Edward tlie Confessor to 

 William Duke of Normandy, is com- 

 paratively much defaced, that is to 

 say, the stitches are worn away, and 

 little more than the ground, or fine 

 close linen cloth remains. You are to 

 viuderstand that the stitches, if they 

 may be so called, are threads laid side 

 by side, and bound down at intervals by 

 cross stitches or fastenings, upon rather 

 a fine linen cloth ; and tliat the parts 

 intended to represent flesh are left un- 

 touched by the needle. I obtained a 

 few straggling shreds of worsted with 

 which it is worked. The colours are 

 generally a faded or bluish green, crim- 

 son, and pink. About the last five feet 

 of this extraordinaiy roll are in a yet 

 more decayed and imperfect state than 

 the first portion. But the designer of 

 the subject, whoever he was, liad an 

 eye throughout to Roman art, as it 

 appeared in its later stages. The fo^ds 

 of the draperies, and the proportions of 

 the figures, are executed with tliis feel- 

 ing. Both at top and at bottom of the 

 principal subject, there is a running al- 

 legorical ornament, of which I will not 

 incur the presumption to suppose my- 

 self a successful interpreter. The con- 

 stellations, and the symbols of agricul- 



