This Illumination is taken from an odd volume of a MS. of Froissart’s Chronicles, among the royal MSS. now in the British Museum. It contains few illuminations beyond the present subject, which forms a sort of frontispiece, or title-page, in which the illuminator has not, as usual, represented the principal event of the first chapter, but has thought it more appropriate to picture the author of the book in his study. He is just receiving a letter from some person of note, (as appears from the bearer wearing the arms or badge of his lord upon his breast,) whilst a clerk, or amanuensis, is busily employed in transcribing what we may suppose to be a portion of the famous Chronicles. The present plate only represents a portion of the original illumination, in which, not only the interior of Froissart’s study is exhibited by the usual device, an excision of a portion of the wall, but also the exterior of the building, with a side-entrance, court-yard, and a distant view; a portion of which is given in the next plate. The present plate conveys a very vivid and pleasing impression of a comfortably furnished apartment of the fifteenth century; the whole being executed with great care; but the figures are inferior to many works of the period, and are principally interesting on account of the costume. [Illustration: <f>A female attendant serving wine to a groom.</f>] PLATE XI. A FEMALE ATTENDANT SERVING WINE TO A GROOM. This subject is another portion of illumination, partly given in the previous plate, and forms the principal part of the exterior view. A groom is holding the horse of the messenger, who, in the previous plate, delivers the letter, whilst a female attendant is serving him with wine, from a tankard of precisely similar form to those still used in many parts of Belgium. Though, in some respects, rudely drawn, it forms a very characteristic group, and serves to convey an idea of the entire Illumination, which is surrounded by a rich border, the whole, nearly occupying the entire page of a large folio volume; leaving space only for an enriched capital, and four or five lines of the beginning of the chapter. [Illustration: <f>The Duke of Brittany and his Barons.</f>] PLATE XII. THE DUKE OF BRITTANY AND HIS BARONS. This Illumination is from another volume, containing a portion of Froissart’s Chronicles, among the Royal MSS. in the British Museum, from which several of the ensuing subjects will be selected, some with remarkably rich borders. The present subject represents a meeting of the Barons of Brittany to remonstrate with their Lord, the Duke. [Illustration: <f>Philip van Artevelde preaching.</f>] PLATE XIII. PHILIP VAN ARTEVELDE HARANGUING THE PEOPLE.