ROMAN PAVEMENTS AND INTRECCI. 183 



Priory, whose tail is in his mouth, whilst the mortal writhings of 

 a serpent are seen above.* 



These are but samples of Saxon and Norman sculpture, of 

 similar intention, scattered through the kingdom. Mural paint- 

 ings of a later period which illustrate the " Harrowing of Hell," 

 show a fiend in human form, bound with cords or chains, 

 according to the Book of Revelation, xx., 2. The universal 

 theme is the overthrow of Apep, of the old dragon which is the 

 Devil and Satan. 



Perhaps this is the place to notice the lacertine interlacements 

 to be found in early f Irish, Saxon, Carlovingian, and Lombardic 

 MSS. They are later than much of the ruder work in metal and 

 stone ; and Miss Stokes truly remarks that " the scribe of the 

 VII. cent, in his illuminated page represents the graceful designs 

 of the pre-Christian artist in bronze and gold." The pen is a 

 more facile instrument than the chisel. The cloistered monk 

 was less exposed to undercurrents of pagan thought than his 

 masonic brother. It was the latter's business to excite the 

 imagination and enlist the sympathy of the common half- 

 heathen people. But the anchorite, setting loose his own fancy, 

 wrought his wondrous intrecci to embellish a copy of the Gospels 

 that a monastic reliquary was to enshrine. In his delightful task 

 he augmented, to the highest degree, the intricacy of his decor- 

 ation. But beneath it all, we recognise the bitings and 

 writhings of monsters that the Christ of the Gospels came to 

 destroy. 



6. The next intreccio to be noticed is the magic knot. 

 Knitting knots as a means of witchcraft is still practised in 

 Britain. The bonds are tied either for evil or for good, and 

 that the spell may be undone, the knot must be loosed. Knots 

 were made of the branches of trees ; of the birch and the 



* Eomilly Allen's Christian Symbolism, p. 386. 



f Lindisfame Gospels, A.D. 698-721. Gospels of MacBegol, 820. Those of 

 DurroW, 879-916. Of MacDurnan, 891-92,5. Book of Kells, " before 1000." 

 Psalter of Ricemarch, 1089-1096. 



