260 OUT OF DOORS. 



can tell whether the face is that of a hero or coward, an 

 honest man or a thief, a saint or a scoundrel. The 

 artist, however, is at no loss for means by which to 

 indicate the moral condition of his subjects, especially 

 those of the female sex. Drapery invariably represents 

 piety, and moral excellence may be measured by the 

 amount of folds in which the various personages are 

 enveloped. Sanctity is always clad in flowing robes, 

 while a curtal frock is a sure sign of a guilty conscience. 

 Lot's wife, Mrs. Potiphar, and other doubtful or ob- 

 jectionable characters, are clothed in short and scanty 

 raiment ; while all the female saints (with the excep- 

 tion of Mary Magdalene, who wears nothing but her 

 own hair, and plenty of it) are endowed with trailing 

 skirts, proportionate in length and volume to the 

 sanctity of the wearer. The culmination of drapery, 

 however, is to be seen in the wonderful print represent- 

 ing the Adoration of the Magi. In this print the most 

 conspicuous object is the drapery with which the prin- 

 cipal figure is clad. Her mantle is large enough for 

 a tent, and all in waves, like a sea, over the foreground. 

 It is carefully gathered into a thousand angular folds, 

 as if made of the stiffest fabric, and has more than 

 enough material to clothe fully all the scantily-dressed 

 sinners in the book. 



As may be imagined from the character of the 

 book, both author and artist revel in the various 

 monsters which were fully believed to inhabit the 

 world. Two whole pages are given up to these crea- 



