n recorded
are totally inadequate to enable us to form an opinion. The extravagant
estimate given by some as to the value of books in those days is merely
conjectural, as it necessarily must be, when we remember that the price
was guided by the accuracy of the transcription, the splendor of the
binding, which was often gorgeous to excess, and by the beauty and
richness of the illuminations.[77] Many of the manuscripts of the middle
ages are magnificent in the extreme. Sometimes they inscribed the gospels
and the venerated writings of the fathers with liquid gold, on parchment
of the richest purple,[78] and adorned its brilliant pages with
illuminations of exquisite workmanship.

The first specimens we have of an attempt to embellish manuscripts are
Egyptian. It was a common practice among them at first to color the
initial letter of each chapter or division of their work, and afterwards
to introduce objects of various kinds into the body of the manuscript.

The splendor of the ancient calligraphical productions of Greece,[79] and
the still later ones of Rome, bear repeated testimony that the practice
of this art had spread during the sixth century, if not earlier, to these
powerful empires. England was not tardy in embracing this elegant art. We
have many relics of remote antiquity and exquisite workmanship existing
now, which prove the talent and assiduity of our early Saxon forefathers.

In Ireland the illuminating art was profusely practised at a period as
early as the commencement of the seventh century, and in the eighth we
find it holding forth eminent claims to our respect by the beauty of
their workmanship, and the chastity of their designs. Those well versed
in the study of these ancient manuscripts have been enabled, by extensive
but minute observation, to point out their different characteristics in
various ages, and even to decide upon the school in which a particular
manuscript was produced.

These illuminations, which render the early manuscripts of the monkish
ages so attractive, generally exemplify the rude ideas and tastes of the
time. In perspective they are wofully deficient, and manifest but little
idea of the picturesque or sublime; but here and there we find quite a
gem of art, and, it must be owned, we are seldom tired by monotony of
coloring, or paucity of invention. A study of these parchment
illustrations afford considerable instruction. Not only do they indicate
the state of the pictorial a