Michael and the Dragon is St. James the
Greater--sometimes called of Compostella, because he lies buried in
that Spanish city--with a book in one hand and in the other a staff,
and slung from his wrist a wallet, both emblems of pilgrimage to his
shrine in Galicia.... In the next quatrefoil above is St. Paul with
his sword, and over to the right St. Thomas; still further to the
right St. James the Less. Just above is our Saviour, clad in a golden
tunic, and carrying a staff, overcoming the unbelief of St. Thomas.
Upon his knees that Apostle feels, with his right hand held by the
Redeemer, the spear wound in His side.

As at the left side, so here, quite outside the sacred history on the
cope, we have the figure of an individual probably living at the time
the vestment was wrought. The dress of the other shows him to be a
layman; by the shaven crown of his head, this person must have been a
cleric of some sort; but we cannot tell ... for the canvas is worn
quite bare, so that we see nothing now but the lines drawn in black to
guide the embroiderer.... This Churchman holds up another scroll
bearing words which can no longer be read.

"When this cope was new, it showed, written in tall gold letters more
than an inch high, an inscription now cut up and lost ... the word
_ne_, and a V on some of the shreds are all that remains of it.

"In its original state it could give us the whole of the twelve
Apostles. Portions can still be seen.... The lower part of the
vestment has been sadly cut away, and reshaped with the fragments;
perhaps at that time were added the present heraldic orphrey, morse,
and border, probably fifty years later than the other portions of this
matchless specimen of the far-famed 'Opus Anglicum.'" "Of angels,"
the "nine choirs," and the three great hierarchies, Cherubim,
Seraphim, and Thrones, are figured here. Led a good way by Ezekiel,
but not following that prophet step by step, our mediaeval draughtsmen
found out for themselves a certain angel form. To this they gave a
human shape, that of a comely youth; clothing him with six wings, with
human feet; instead of the body being full of eyes, the wings are
often composed of the bright-eyed feathers of the peacock. On this
cope the eight angels standing upon wheels are so placed that they are
everywhere nearest to those quatrefoils wherein our Lord's Person
comes, and may therefore be taken as representing the upper hierarchy
of the angelic host. The othe