The Anglo-Saxon MSS. show traces of the influence of the traditions of Classic art drawn through the Byzantine, or from the Roman sources, which naturally affected the earliest forms of Christian art as we see its relics in the catacombs. These classical traditions are especially noticeable in the treatment of the draperies clinging in linear and elliptical folds to express the limbs. In fact, it might be said that, spread westward and northward by the Christian colonies, this classical tradition in figure design lingered on, until its renewal at the dawn of the Renaissance itself, and the resurrection of classical art in Italy, which, uniting with a new naturalism, grew to that wonderful development which has affected the art of Europe ever since. The Charter of Foundation of Newminster, at Winchester, by King Edgar, A.D. 966, written in gold, is another very splendid early example of book decoration. It has a full-page miniature of the panelled type above mentioned, and elaborate border in gold and colours by an English artist. It is in the British Museum, and may be seen open in Case 2 in the King's Library. [Sidenote: ANGLO-SAXON MS.] "The Gospels," in Latin. A MS. of the eleventh century, with initials and borders in gold and colours, by English artists, is another fine specimen of the early kind. Here the titles of each gospel, boldly inscribed, are inclosed in a massively designed border, making a series of full title pages of a dignified type. [Illustration: GERMAN SCHOOL. XVTH CENTURY. "BUCH VON DEN SIEBEN TODSÜNDEN UND DEN SIEBEN TUGENDEN." (AUGSBURG, BÄMLER, 1474.)] As examples of illustrated books, according to the earlier Mediæval ideas, we may look at twelfth and thirteenth century "Herbals," wherein different plants, very full and frank in colour and formal in design, are figured strictly with a view to the ornamentation of the page. There is a very fine one, described as written in England in the thirteenth century, in the British Museum. Decoration and illustration are here one and the same. A magnificent specimen of book decoration of the most splendid kind is the "Arundel Psalter" (Arundel MS. 83, Brit. Mus.), given by Robert de Lyle to his daughter Audry, as an inscription in the volume tells us, in 1339. Here scribe, illuminator, and miniaturist are all at their best, whether one and the same or different persons. It is, moreover, English work. There is no doubt about the beauty of the designs, and the variety and richness of the decorative effect. Like all the Psalters, the book commences with a calendar, and full pages follow, panelled out and filled in with subjects from the life of Christ. A particularly splendid full-page is that of the Virgin and Child under a Gothic canopy, with gold diapered background. There are also very interestingly designed genealogical trees, and fine arrangements of double columned text-pages with illuminated ornament (_see_ Nos. 2, 3, and 4, Appendix).