Of the rest of the MSS. of this wretched period we will say
nothing.
"Non ragioniam di lor', ma guard' e passa."
We are glad to hurry on for another century or so, remembering that the
leading idea now is the development of the initial letter.
CHAPTER IX
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INITIAL
The initial and initial paragraph the main object of decoration in
Celtic illumination--Study of the letter L as an example--The I of "In
principio" and the B of "Beatus Vir."
From the moment when the initial was placed beneath the miniature the
object of the whole design was not to give prominence to the initial but
to the picture. Until then, that is, whilst the initial remains above or
beside or outside the picture, it is the initial we must watch for style
and development. And therefore we seize on one letter among those of the
latter part of the eighth century, because of the frequency of its
occurrence in the Gospel-book or Evangeliary, one of the commonest books
of the time. This the letter L of "Liber Generationis," etc., the
commencing words of St. Matthew. This passage is always made of
importance, and on the initial and arrangement of the words the artist
expends his best efforts.
Properly I should here display pictorially the series of which I speak.
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