The initials are still more fantastic--partly
human, partly plant or fish-form, sometimes sculptured ornament and
plant-forms combined--but all so sweetly painted and so delicately
finished as to be most attractive. The text is a fine and elegant Roman
minuscule interspersed with italic.
Here and there are exquisite little drawings of ecclesiastical utensils,
etc., but the everlasting variety among the quaint and fanciful initials
provides an unwearying fund of interest. Tiny birds of the loveliest
plumage sit among and beneath the limbs of the letters, or elegant
scrolls of pencilled gold cover the little coloured panels on which the
plain gold Roman initials are placed. Some of the larger initials are
very finely executed and contain full-length figures of saints, bishops,
or queens. One lovely initial B has a graceful girl simply clad in blue
tunic and pale yellow skirt with a silken coil of pale rose forming the
upper loop of the letter, the lower being formed of the curved body of a
green dragon. Her left hand lifts the silk-work, her right, hanging by
her side, holds a little golden pitcher. The whole is painted on a panel
of bright gold. Another (L) shows a peasant rushing laughingly, with a
hare slung over his shoulder, past the figure of a guardian terminus of
bronze.
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