directions were given for a picture of the crucifixion, with Mary and John, in the chapel of St. Stephen. In 1241, there is a precept for painting the royal stalls in the "church of St. Peter's, beneath the keep of our tower; also the "little Mary and her Shrine;" and the figures of St. Peter, St. Nicholas, and St. Katherine, of St. Christopher carrying Jesus; and for painting of "two fair tables of the best colours, with the legends of St. Nicholas and St. Katherine." "Two fair cherubim, with cheerful and pleasant countenances," were to be placed on each side of the great cross; and "a marble font, with marble columns, to be well and decently carved." The minuteness of these directions will excite a smile. Many similar precepts were issued during the following years; in one of them occurs the first notice of a "star chamber; "star chamber;"—it is to "cause the chamber at Winchester to be painted with stars of gold, and of a green colour; "* "it was also to be adorned with histories from the Old and New Testament." In In another we have decisive evidence on the question so warmly contested, the antiquity of oil painting; for the king's treasurer is directed to pay to Odo and Edward "117s. 10d. for oil, varnish, and colours bought by them."

We have hitherto seen that all the precepts were

* From whatever source it was borrowed, though not improbable from the Saracens, this mode of decoration seems to have been greatly approved. In the illuminations of this period; a blue ground studded with stars is a frequent back ground; in the beautiful little picture too, from the Decameron, engraved in Dibdin, the ceiling is studded with

stars.

for painting religious subjects; but, in 1242, one occurs directing the queen's chamber in the castle of Nottingham "to be painted all round with the history of Alexander." A few years later, Richard de Sandforde is commanded to deliver to Henry of the wardrobe "a certain great book, which is in his house at London, written in the French language, in which are contained the gestes of the king at Antioch, and of the other kings." This great book Mr. Weber conjectured to have been the French romance of Richard Cœur de Lion, to which the curious English romance refers as its guide; and there is little doubt that it was sent for, to enable some artist to execute a series of paintings on the subject, to decorate one of the apartments in the palace at Westminster-that one probably which was afterwards known by the title of the Antioch Chamber.

It is a subject of regret to the inquirer, that not a vestige of any of these curious paintings now remains. Judging from illuminations of the same period, we may believe that, while in brilliancy of colouring, they might vie with any modern decorative painting in neatness of execution, and in general correctness of design, they would be found to approach nearer to the perfection of modern arts than many a modern inquirer would believe. From the very curious accounts which the industry of the late Mr. Smith and Mr. Brayley, in their descriptions of the ancient palace of Westminster, have collected, we find that the painters, during the 13th

century, were well supplied with materials, and that their rate of wages was rather higher than that of the present day.

To the middle of this century, the introduction into England of that most imposing and splendid species of decorative painting, stained glass, may be assigned. The mere art of colouring glass, and combining detached pieces of various forms and colours, in a kind of mosaic, seems to have been adopted very early. According to Muratori, even in the ninth century, one of the popes decorated the windows of a church "with glass of divers colours." But the beautiful art of painting subjects upon glass was not known until the twelfth century, and not long before its close. Where it first originated, or who was its inventor, are alike unknown; but among, perhaps, the earliest specimens of painted glass, those in the windows of St. Denis, near Paris, may be placed. It has been said that these were painted by order of its abbot, the celebrated Suger; but a later date has, by most writers on the subject, been assigned to them. About the commencement of the thirteenth century, this beautiful art rose rapidly into favour; and the aid of the painter on

*The prices of some of these articles may amuse the reader. White lead is 24d. per lb., red lead 2d., green paint 54d.; but azure 4s. There is an entry of another azure, charged as high as 8s. (this was probably ultramarine.) Sinople is 4s., vermillion Is. 8d., and verdigris 1s. 94d. In Stevenson's Supplement to Bentham's Ely, entries for similar materials will be found. These date about twenty years later; the prices, however, are very nearly the same. The wages of the men are from 3d. to 7d. per day, while the superintendant receives 14d. per day. All these prices must be multiplied by fifteen, to bring them to their present rate.

D D

glass was always invoked to give additional splendour to those noble edifices of the new order, which were rising on every side. The first notice of stainedglass windows, in England, occurs in a precept of Henry, 1241, in which, directing various repairs and improvements to be made in the chapel of St. John the Evangelist, within the Tower, he commands "that they shall cause to be made three glass windows; that in the northern part with a little Mary, holding her Son; the next, in the southern part, with the Trinity; and the third, also in the southern part, with St. John." Nor, even at this early period, does this splendid art appear to have been employed only in ecclesiastical buildings; in a precept, dated in his 36th year, we find Henry directing that "a window of white glass, with the history of Dives and Lazarus thereon," be placed in his castle at Northampton. No specimens of stained-glass of this period are now remaining in any of our cathedrals; but, most singularly, windows which were painted within a few years of the date of Henry's first precept, are still remaining in the chancel of an obscure country church-that of Chetwood in Buckinghamshire--which, with its adjoining priory, was founded by Sir Ralph de Norwich, for Augustine friars, in 1244. These windows, which exhibit a striking resemblance, both in their pattern and colouring, to a rich tessellated pavement, are engraved in Lysons' Buckinghamshire; and from the form of the letters of an inscription, and the figure of the royal arms, their early date is incontestibly proved.

The method adopted by the artists of the middle ages, of transferring the design to the glass, was, according to Mons. le Noir, by tracing out the general design of the proper size and colour, upon a whited table, or thick papers joined together. This surface was then divided into as many parts as there were pieces of glass, each part numbered, and the corresponding number put on each corresponding piece of glass; nothing then remained for the principal artist than to see that each subordinate workman neatly traced the outline from the pattern underneath, and coloured it according to the copy. The substances used for colouring were, according to the same writer, similar to those used by our enamellers; they were applied in the same manner, only the tints were laid on stronger, and in the more shaded parts, on both sides.* The pieces of glass were then placed in the oven, in order that the colours might melt into the very substance, and thus be rendered proof against time or change; and after the last and deepest touches were added, they were again passed through the fire. According to Stevenson, in his Supplement to Ely, they were then cooled with beer.

While painting, fostered and patronized alike in the convent and the palace, made such rapid advances, the sister art of sculpture proceeded even more rapidly toward perfection; and the first im

*These colours were wholly metallic; cobalt formed the blue; manganese, the purple; silver, the yellow; copper, the green; iron, the red and brown; and a most brilliant purple was obtained from gold. Such is the infinite divisibility of this precious metal, that “one single grain is capable of colouring strongly 400 panes of glass."-Vide le Noir.