2 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 



themselves or each other, are, however, not truly Celtic, as I 

 have elsewhere shown.* They originated in Egypt, where they 

 had a religious significance, and came, through Byzantium, 

 Italy, and Gaul, to Ireland and Britain, losing by degrees 

 their symbolic meaning, and retaining at last only an 

 ornamental value. But, for us, the most important feature 

 of this type of art is its geometrical basis, the fact that all its 

 details are symmetrically arranged. 



In this regard, reference may be made to the Irish 

 Illuminated Manuscripts, the Book of Durrow and the Book 

 of Kells, which are assigned by Haddon and Stubbs "f and by 

 Dr. Reeves to the early part of the IX. century. But it 

 should be noted that the pigments used in Irish and in 

 Byzantine manuscripts are precisely the same ; that in the 

 Book of Kells may be seen Byzantine arcading ; that the 

 phoenix has become a peacock, and represents the beatified 

 soul ; and yet that the interlaced animal forms resemble 

 designs from the North of Europe. 



True Scando-Gothic art, on the other hand, is altogether 

 destitute of sj^mmetry, for the simple reason that it is every- 

 where based on national legend. Always, even tln-ough later 

 flamboyant interlacements, one can read the story — the 

 struggle of gods and heroes against the foes of earth and of 

 heaven, against the causes of disaster, destruction, and death, 

 against Midgarthorm, the world serpent, and Fenris the 

 raging wolf. 



The Danish Monk could not forget them ; Norwegian 

 churches, down to the close of the XIII. century, on porch 

 and panel, still told of Fafni and Sigurd ; and after such 

 decoration had become little else than an unsymmetrical 

 intreccio, the point of a sword covild still be seen piercing the 

 body of a serpent ; while to-day, on many a Scandinavian 

 sanctuary, the dragon's head towers far above the cross. 



* Proceedings of this Club, Vol. XXI. 

 f Ecclesiastical Documents, Vol. I., p. 190. 



