To satisfactorily reproduce, either upon the same or upon an enlarged scale, the compact black letter of Plate VII., and the solid brilliant colours of Plate VIII., with the golden grounds, which should in this case be highly burnished, will be found a much more difficult task than any yet encountered. The student must not be discouraged by a little failure at first. The technical operations of illumination are essentially manipulative, and like the fingering of a musical instrument, must be learnt by frequent and active exercise. The mere degree of skill requisite to enable the artist to lay on a perfectly flat tint of very strong or of very delicate colour, is only likely to be acquired after he may have washed some fifty different tints, more or less cloudy and muddled. Few hands will be found capable of tracing out a pure, firm, even outline, of equal thickness and force in every part, with either pen, pencil, or brush, which have not made many a score of ragged, feeble, or blotched attempts at steadiness. To keep a number of lines perfectly upright, parallel, or evenly spaced, demands an amount of dexterity which can only be gained by laborious practice. The student must not therefore feel discouraged if at first his hand may scarcely answer to the call made upon it. The failure of to-day, with proper attention and perseverance, may become the germ of the success of to-morrow; all that is essential is never on one day to repeat the fault of its predecessor. Nothing will tend to give the beginner greater confidence than the habit of working out the same forms and processes upon various scales. Taking, for instance, such an initial letter as the P, fig. 1, Plate X.; it would be an improving lesson to copy it in pen-and-ink outline, exactly as it is shown, and then to copy it, say six times the size given on the plate, thickening the lines, of course, in proportion. Then let the student once again try to copy it in fac-simile, and he will himself be probably surprised to find how much better and more easily he will accomplish his task than he was enabled to do on his first trial. A corresponding experiment, involving the application of gold and brilliant colours, such as would be essential to a reproduction of figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, of Plate II., on various scales, will be found probably no less useful and satisfactory. A similar technical principle to that which has governed the selection and order of the plates in this manual has also determined those in its companion, the "Historical Manual."