233 



PALAEOGRAPHY. 



PALANQUIN. 



234 



nishing another very strong corroborative test of the age of manuscripts 

 in which illuminations occur ; nor, interesting though it be, can we treat 

 of the purely artistic portion of the subject, as our present object is 

 solely the palaeographic portion of the inquiry. We will, therefore, 

 at once sum up briefly, and in a manner easily remembered, the great 

 lines of demarcation which separate the different epochs. This we will 

 do, taking the centuries in triplets. 



Of the first three centuries we can say nothing. In the 4th, 5th, 

 and 6th we find little ornamentation beyond the rubricated or gilded 

 letters of the actual text. The 7th, 8th, and !)th, witnessed the 

 perfection and adoption of the Hibernian style. The 10th, llth, and 

 12th, the introduction and use of architectural forms. The 13th, 14th, 

 and lath, the growth of foliage under carefully studied natural laws; 

 the 13th century being the age of the bud, the 14th of the leaf, the 

 15th of the flower; and in the miniatures, the 13th the age of gold, 

 the 14th, of diaper, the 15th the commencement of realistic painting. 

 Of the next century we need say little, as manuscripts formed no longer 

 the bulk of literature, but were mere costly appendages of luxury and 

 taste. 



The broad outlines we have here given are of course open to many 

 exceptions, as the artists of different countries worked under different 

 influences ; indeed, to Italian works they can hardly be said to apply 

 at all, as that nation infused a new life of its own into the Byzantine 

 style in a more gradual manner than the sudden and independent 

 changes of the western nations. 



Throughout the whole of the dark and middle ages the value 

 attached to the possession of manuscripts, and the activity shown in 

 multiplying them, are very remarkable. Silvestre tells us that long 

 previous to the 12th century, the most active zeal was displayed in 

 search after ancient texts, even of profane authors. " In the middle 

 of the 9th, Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, earnestly requested from the 

 Pope and the bishops of England and Ireland, the loan of manuscripts 

 of ancient writers that copies might be made of them ; and in 1040, 

 Count Geoffrey of Anjou gave to the abbey of Notre Dame of Saintes, 

 the tithe of the hides of the deer killed in his forests, to furnish a 

 fund to bind the books of the monastery." (Silvestre, ed. Madden, is 

 311.) The same writer, Inc. fit., mentions also the veneration paid 

 in the 15th century to the Florentine Pandects of the Laurentian 

 library, a magnificent volume written in the 7th century, and esteemed 

 the most valuable of the manuscripts of the Roman law. This 

 manuscript was taken from Pisa by the Florentines in 1403, and after 

 its deposition at Florence " was regarded with almost religious 

 veneration, being shown only to the highest personages, with great 

 ceremony, in the presence of the chief magistrate, accompanied by 

 monks, bareheaded, and bearing lighted tapers." 



The price of manuscript* in the middle ages is a subject full of 

 interest, the data for determining which, although existing scattered 

 throughout various manuscripts, has never been properly collected or 

 discussed. A recent writer (Mr. Digby Wyatt, ' Art of Illuminating ') 

 furnishes " a moat interesting contemporary illustration of the precise 

 terms upon which noble patrons employed the best illuminators of the 

 day (14th century)," in the shape of an extract from the fabric rolls of 

 York Minster, 1348, in which a contract seems to have been entered 

 into for writing a volume containing psalter, hymnal, and collectary, 

 ornamented with illuminated letters in gold, azure, and vermilion, 

 for about sixteen shillings. Such a price, however, far from in- 

 ilir.-itiug the cost of the works of the " best illuminators," could only 

 have represented a manuscript of comparatively rough and coarse 

 description. There is in the British Museum a 14th century bible, 

 taken by the English at the battle of Poictiers, exactly ten years 

 after the date of the contract quoted above. The volume is a large 

 one, and contains a good many illuminated letters in addition to 

 some miniatures and borders of a tolerably fan*, although by no means 

 superior kind. This volume, the spoil of war, William Montagu, 

 earl of Salisbury, purchased at the time for one hundred marks 

 (upwards of 62/., representing about 360/. of our money), as a present 

 to his countess, and it was arranged that at her death it should be 

 old by her executors for 40/. This is recorded in a contemporary 

 entry at the commencement of the volume, so curious in its details 

 that we give it entire : " Cest liure fust pris oue le Roy de Fraunce a 

 la bataille de Peyters, et le bon Cointe de Saresbirs William Montagu 

 la achata pur cent mars et le dona a sa cornpaigne Elizabeth la bone 

 Countesae qe dieux assoile. Et est continus de dedeius le Bible enter 

 oue text et glose e le mestre de hiitoires, et incident tout en memes le 

 volym. La quele lyure la dite Countesse assigna a ces executours de 

 le vender pur xl liuere." Again, in the 15th century, a roughly 

 executed volume of 210 leaves, now preserved in the British Museum, 

 and containing the Book of Wisdom with gloss, the capitals in plain 

 blue and red, is priced at Ix shillings. A further insight into the price 

 of such manuscripts is gained from the very curious memoranda 

 occasionally met with of the price for which nuch books were pawned 

 or set in pledge. There is a manuscript in the old royal collection, 

 British Museum (7 E v), which was pawned by its possessor five different 

 times, between the years 1483 and 1510, a fact showing not only the 

 worth of manuscripts, but how readily a money value might be 

 obtained for them. This manuscript is of the 14th century, roughly 

 executed, and contains a treatise entitled ' Pupilla Oculi ,' by John 

 Borough, and a sacramentary. It will be seen from the entries, which 



we subjoin, that in 1483 he pawned it for 20s. ; in 1485, for 16s.; 

 1488, for 26s. 8rf. ; in 1 510, for 20s., and again for 16s. Sd., and it must; 

 be remembered that these sums cannot be supposed at the most to 

 represent more than a moiety of the worth of the manuscript : " Cautio 

 dommi Johaunis Corke, excepta in cista de Gylford, A.D. 1 483, 5 die Maii, 

 et jacet pro 20s. Renovatur cautio hec 24 Januarii, A.D. 1485, et jacet 

 pro 16s. Cautio M. J. Corke, A.D. 1488, in cista de Wagon et Hosy, et 

 habet unum supplementum, et est Albertus de Naturis 2. fo. illorum, 

 et jacet pro 26s. Srf. Renovatur hec cautio per manus Magistri 

 Johannis Corke, A.D. 1510, 22 die mensis May, et nunc jacet pro 20s. 

 Item eodem die renovatur per manus ejusdem magistri Corke et nunc 

 jacet pro 16. Srf." These entries specifying the sums lent upon 

 manuscripts, sometimes for the accommodation of the possessor, and 

 sometimes apparently as security for safe return when borrowed for 

 purposes of study or transcription, are highly curious. 



PAL/ESTRA (iroAcuorpa), which properly means a school for 

 wrestling (iroAoiW, "to wrestle," and iraArj, "wrestling"), was used 

 in several different significations. The word first occurs in Herodotus 

 (vi. 126, 128), who informs us that Clisthenes built at Sicyon a dromos 

 and pahcstra, both of which he calls by the general name of gymnasia. 

 At Athens, however, it appears probable that the pahestrao and 

 gymnasia were distinct places, and that the former were appro- 

 priated to the gymnastic exercises of the boys and youths (vaiSts and 

 ^fipdxia}, while the latter were intended for those of the men ; it is 

 certain, however, that the boys also exercised in the gymnasia. These 

 palaestrae were called by the names either of their founders or of the 

 teachers of the gymnastic exercises (iroi8orpi'/3oi). We accordingly 

 read in Plato of the palaestra of Taureas, which appears to have been 

 one of the most celebrated. (Plato, ' Charmid.,' c. i. ; with Heindorf's 

 ' Note.') 



In most of the other cities of Greece the palaestra formed a part of 

 the gymnasium. According to Muller (' Archaologie der Kuiint,' S '->- ) 

 it included the ardSiov (stadion) ; tyi)jScu> (ephebion, or exercise hall) ; 

 aitMiptarlipuiv (sphaeristerion, or hall for ball-play) ; airoSuT/ipiov (apody- 

 terion, room for undressing) ; facuoQtffiov, or a^enrT-fipiov (elacothesion, 

 aleipterion, room for anointing); Kovurrlipiov (konisteriou, for rubbing 

 with dust) ; oAi//i/3^flpo (columbethra, a swimming-bath) ; U<TTOI 

 (xystoi, covered walks) ; irtpiSpont&fs (peridromides, open walks) ; in 

 fact, every part of the gymnasium except the outer porticoes. It 

 appears, however, more probable that the term palaestra was confined 

 to the rooms which were appropriated to the exercises of the athletse, 

 who, it must be recollected, were persons who were especially trained 

 for contending in the public games, and therefore needed a course of 

 gymnastic exercises different from that which was usually pursued. 

 That this view of the subject is correct, is shown by the statement of . 

 Pausanias, who informs us (vi 21, s. 2), that in the gymnasium at 

 Olympia there were pahcstrse for the athletic, and also by that of 

 Plutarch, who says ('Symp.,' ii., Probl. 4) " that the place in which all 

 the athletic exercise is called a palaestra." 



Among the Romans the terms palaestra and gymnasium are used as 

 synonymous. Thus Vitruvius fives a description (v. 11) of a Greek 

 gymnasium under the name of palaestra. In the Greek cities in Sicily 

 and Italy there also appears to have been no distinction in use between 

 the two words (Cic. in ' Verr.,' ii. 14 ; Polyb , xv.,p. 716, c. : Casaubon) ; 

 whence the Romans probably came to use them in common. [GYMNA- 

 SIUM.] (Kr.iuse, 'Gymnastik uiid Agonistik der Helleneu ; ' Becker, 

 ' Charicles,' v. 1.) 



PALANQUIN (sometimes written Palankeen, and Palkee), a kind of 

 covered litter carried, by means of poles, upon the shoulders of men, 

 which forms the principal vehicle for personal transport in Hindustan, 

 and varieties of the vehicle are used in other eastern countries. In 

 Hindustan the palanquin is described by Captain Basil Hall, in his 

 ' Fragments of Voyages and Travels,' third series, vol ii. chap, vi., as 

 about six feet long by two and a half feet wide, and provided with con- 

 veniences which enable it to serve at night-time for a bed, and in the 

 day-time for a parlour. A pole is attached to each end of the palanquin, 

 near the top, to carry it by. As the poles, which rest upon the shoulders 

 of the bearers, are not elastic like those of a sedan-chair, Captain Hall 

 states that a palanquin lias not the same unpleasant motion as that 

 vehicle ; and Bishop Heber also, who gives an account of dak tra- 

 velling in the ' Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of 

 India,' published after his death, observes that " the motion is neither 

 violent nor unpleasant," but that, being incessant, it is impossible to 

 draw in a jxilanqum, and not very convenient to read, excepting a large 

 ', print. Only four bearers can, in an ordinary palanquin, place their 

 shoulders beneath the poles, two at each end ; but in passing over diffi- 

 cult ground two others will occasionally bear part of the weight by 

 thrusting a bamboo under the body of the palanquin ; and in travelling 

 there are two or more sets of bearers, who relieve each other by turns. 

 While walking or running with their load, the bearers, who form a 

 peculiar ciass among the Hindus, keep up an incessant noise, sometimes 

 like grunting or groaning, and sometimes approaching the character of 

 a song, or of wild vociferation. 



The mode of conveyance is undoubtedly ancient. A conveyance of 

 this sort was used by the Egyptians, as is shown by a representation 

 found at Beni Hassan. In western Asia they are usually carried by 

 camels ; and one of a similar diameter is borne by an elephant, but 

 this is usually called a liomlah. 



