132 CONCHOLOGIST’S COMPANION. 
in letters of gold, that by exhibiting them in preach- 
ing, to the eyes of the carnal, I may procure the 
greater honour and veneration for the Holy Scrip- 
tures. Such is the Book of the Gospels, which Louis 
the Pious gave to the monastery of St. Medard, at 
Soissons, now in the Royal library of France; and 
such is the Book of Prayer, written in letters of gold 
upon purple vellum, bound in ivory, and studded 
with gems, formerly belonging to Charles the Bald, 
but now in the celebrated Colbertine library. 
The fourth and fifth centuries were especially 
remarkable for magnificent specimens of Chryso- 
graphy, and of Illumination, or ornamental decora- 
tions of Biblical manuscripts. 
At the sale of the late Sir William Burrell’s library 
in 1798, a manuscript Bible, beautifully written on 
vellum, and highly illuminated, was disposed of; 
it contained the autograph of the writer, Guido de 
Jars, in which he stated that the work had taken him 
half a century to execute; that he had begun it in 
his fortieth, and finished it in his ninetieth year; 
during the reign of Philip the Fair, in 1294. 
Similar transcripts were also occasionally made in 
England. The famous Wilfred, ordered a copy of 
the four Gospels to be written for the church of 
Rippon, in letters of the purest gold, upon leaves of 
parchment, purpled in the ground, and variously 
