nded to indicate a taller piece of furniture, and it
terminates in a pediment. There are two shelves, on which lie the four
Gospels, each as a separate _codex_, indicated by the name of the
Evangelist above it. This press rests upon a stout frame, the legs of
which are kept in position by a cross-piece nearly as thick as themselves.

[Illustration: Fig. 14. Press containing the four Gospels.

From a mosaic above the tomb of the Empress Galla Placidia at Ravenna.]

The third representation of an _armarium_ (fig. 15) occurs in the
manuscript of the Vulgate now in the Laurentian Library at Florence, known
as the _Codex Amiatinus_, from the Cistercian convent of Monte Amiata in
Tuscany, where it was preserved for several centuries[101]. The thorough
investigation to which this manuscript has lately been subjected shews
that it was written in England, at Wearmouth or Jarrow, but possibly by an
Italian scribe, before A.D. 716, in which year it was taken to Rome, as a
present to the Pope. The first quaternion, however, on one of the leaves
of which the above representation occurs, is probably older; and it may
have belonged to a certain _Codex grandior_ mentioned by Cassiodorus, and
possibly written under his direction[102].

The picture (fig. 15), which appears as the frontispiece to this work,
shews Ezra writing the law. On the margin of the vellum, in a hand which
is considered to be later than that of the MS., are the words:

CODICIBUS SACRIS HOSTILI CLADE PERVSTIS
ESDRA DEO FERVENS HOC REPARAVIT OPUS.

Behind him is a press (_armarium_) with open doors. The lower portion,
below these doors, is filled in with panels which are either inlaid or
painted, so that the frame on which it is supported is not visible, as in
the Ravenna example. The bottom of the press proper is used as a shelf, on
which lie a volume and two objects, one of which probably represents a
case for pens, while the other is certainly an inkhorn. Above this are
four shelves, on each of which lie two volumes. These volumes have their
titles written on their backs, but they are difficult to make out, and my
artist has not cared to risk mistakes by attempting to reproduce them. The
words, beginning at the left hand corner of the top-shelf, are:

OCT.[103] LIB. REG.
HIST. LIB. PSALM. LIB.
SALOMON. PROPH.
EVANG. IIII. EPIST. XXI.
ACT. APOSTOL.

The frame-work of the press above the doors is ornamented in the same