royal persons, or dignified ecclesiastics, usually contain the effigies
of the proprietor, often attended by his family, and by some allegorical
or celestial minister; while the humble scribe, in monkish attire,
kneels and presents the book to his patron.

These illuminations, as they are called, almost always exhibit some
costume of the times, or some peculiarity, which serves to mark the age
of the manuscript. Indeed a fund of antiquarian information relative to
the middle ages has been collected from this source. Many of these
pictured books exhibit a high degree of executive talent in the artist,
yet labouring under the restraints of a barbarous taste.--_Taylor's
History of the Transmission of Ancient Books to Modern Times_.

* * * * *

SOUTHERN AFRICAN ELOQUENCE.

"It is clear that it is our best policy to march against the enemy
before he advances. Let not our towns be the seat of war; let not our
houses be stained with bloodshed; let the blood of the enemy be spilt at
a distance from our wives and children. Yet some of you talk ignorantly;
your words are the words of children or of men confounded. I am left
almost alone; my two brothers have abandoned me; they have taken wives
from another nation, and allow their wives to direct them; their wives
are their kings!" Then turning towards his younger brothers, he
imprecated a curse upon them if they should follow the example of their
elder brethren. Again addressing the people, he said, "you walk over my
head while I sleep, but you now see that the wise Mocooas respect me.
Had they not been our friends, we must have fled ere now before the
enemy." Turning to Wleeloqua, the eighth speaker, he said, "I hear you,
my father; I understand you, my father; your words are true and good for
the ear. It is good that we be instructed by the Macooas. May evil
overtake the disobedient! May they be broken in pieces! Be silent, ye
women!" (addressing them,) "ye who plague your husbands, who steal their
goods, and give them to others, be silent; and hinder not your husbands
and children by your evil words. Be silent, ye kidney-eaters,[1]
(turning towards the old men,) ye who are fit for nothing but to prowl
about whenever an ox is killed. If our cattle are carried off, where
will you get kidneys?"

[1] The Bechnanas imagine that none who eat of the kidneys of
the ox will have any offspring; on this account, no one, except
the age