PLATE IV., from the British Museum, Reg. 1, c. vii. This manuscript consists of the Books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, in the Vulgate version, with St. Jerome's prologues. It is probably of German execution, and is attributed by Sir Frederick Madden to the middle of the 12th century. In its illustrations may be recognised a series of good specimens of Romanesque forms. In these the scroll may be observed as having almost entirely superseded the Carlovingian interlacement, while in the foliated ends of the leading stems (more particularly in fig. 1) the germination of Gothic is distinctly perceptible. The student will scarcely fail to observe how entirely dependent this style of illumination is upon the steadiness with which the pen is handled for all its charm of expression. PLATE V. gives the outline of the preceding plate, to be coloured as a lesson in shading with the brush. PLATE VI. provides an alphabet of capital letters, some initials, and a complete sentence, taken from the same MS. which has furnished materials for the two preceding plates. PLATE VII. contains fully-coloured examples from the British Museum, Reg. 1 D, fully described at pages 47 and 48. In these we meet with the plenitude of English mediæval illumination,--its freedom of drawing, its vigour of colour, its exquisite delicacy, and the general facility of design its wayward lines attest. In the best work there is a playfulness not to be often found in the productions of the contemporary European schools. It needs but little ingenuity to expand such features as those which constitute figs. 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, from small book embellishments to large _motives_ of elegant mural decoration. PLATE VIII. is the corresponding outline to Plate VII. PLATE IX. supplies the student with models taken from the same MS. (Reg. 1 D), of capital and initial letters, and ordinary text, suitable for combination with the rich ornaments of Plate VII. In this, as in all corresponding plates, the object aimed at is to provide forms of lettering, at once tolerably legible, well-proportioned, and adapted to harmonize, both historically and artistically, with the styles of pictorial illumination given in connection with them. There are few faults more common in modern work, or more offensive to the educated eye, than the association of styles of lettering and styles of ornamentation warring with each other in the proprieties of both time and form. Against such it is our earnest object to guard the student, both by precept and example. PLATE X. furnishes some specimens of the beautiful borderings which enrich the pages of that most precious relic of the 15th century, the "Bedford Missal," or, more properly speaking, "Book of Hours." This exquisite volume has been so fully dwelt upon at pages 55 and 56, that it is necessary only to refer the reader to the notice given thereat.