The peculiar value to the
student lies in the fact that although quite in the same style as
contemporary French work, it is the work of an English illuminator. The
colouring, however, is not confined, as in somewhat earlier examples, to
blue and dull pale rose or paled red ochre and gold. It gives us
scarlet, crimson-lake, green, and brown, besides the blue and pink and
bright gold which suggests some German influences. The line fillings are
somewhat peculiar as having silver tracery, on the blue, side by side
with golden tracery on the crimson. The full ivy leaf appears in the
long branch work of the borders, and some of the initials still retain
the bird or dragon forms in their construction. The compound bar-frame,
gold and traceried colour side by side, is however already taking the
place of the mere sweeping tail or branch. But perhaps the best
indication of English design is the presence of a number of grotesque
animals, with birds and occasional humorous scenes disposed, not in
framed miniatures, but simply among the stems and coils of the foliage.
This is a form of illustration much appreciated by English illuminators
at all times, though it appears also in much continental work. Among
other English MSS. which display this taste we may point out Arund.
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