oint to their drawings in the books in the Bodleian at Oxford,
and the "Book of the Four Gospels" (of the tenth century) in the
Minster Library at York, which are original and graceful, and have a
reflection from the classical traditions. To an artistic eye they are
beautiful. (Plate 51.)

The conscientious colouring of the Anglo-Saxon MSS. is liturgical. Mr.
Clapton Rolfe[490] says that the Levitical traditions in the earlier
system of decoration in the Christian Church had a far stronger hold
on the popular mind than we are willing now to admit; and that the
five Levitical colours, gold, blue, purple, red, and white, were
retained in the Christian ritual. Whenever we come across figures of
Anglo-Saxon bishops, the liturgical vesture entirely agrees with the
Biblical description.

Embroideries before the twelfth century generally preserve a
semi-Roman, semi-Oriental character, which is nearly related to the
art which is called Lombardic. This differs from what we know of
Scandinavian and Celtic design through illuminated books,[491] carving
on stone crosses throughout the north of Europe, Great Britain, and
Ireland, and the remains we possess of their metal work. I am not
aware of any ecclesiastical embroideries which show a Celtic
origin,[492] unless the intertwined patterns on Italian dresses in
paintings of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries may be supposed
to be derived from that source. (See p. 91, _ante_.)

[Illustration: Fig. 25.]

In accounting for the instances of evident Oriental influence on
Christian art, which came through Byzantium, we must not restrict
ourselves to searching out the Arabian traditions, but we must
remember also how much Babylon and Persia, as well as India, had given
to the Empire of the East, and these influences were in full force at
the time that Christian art was being organized.

We know, for example, that the great veil of the temple at Jerusalem,
given by Herod, was Babylonian.

The materials--linen, silk, and woollen--on which ecclesiastical
embroideries were worked at Rome and Constantinople were accepted all
over the Christian world. The fabrics were plain, striped, and
figured; and came from Persia and India, Greece, Alexandria, and
Egypt. Even Chinese and Thibetian stuffs are often named. Cloths of
gold and silver also came from the East, as in the days of Attalus.
All these furnished the grounds on which needlework was lavishly
spent.

The great veils which