9AS THE LAMBETH MAZARINE TESTAMENT. successive portion of liis book almost simiiltaneoiislj : all the copies of the bet^inning uere made in one clay, and all the copies of the endini;' were made in one day. " If we would solve the mystery of these ruled lines, I think we must bear in mind that disguise — the supprcssio veri — was not in the l.Jih century considered so necessary to the beautiful as it came to be aiterwards : that expression and inea)dug were then, in fact, essentials of all works of art : that these lines (the very skeleton, so to s]»eak, of MSS.) which were never attempted to be erased nor disguised, and which might, as it were, be felt guiding the hand of the scribe. Avould have been sorely missed by the asthetic illu- minator, and (why not X) introduced by him for eflect sim]ily, though now functionless.
- ' Touching the fac-similc ; the King's (paper) copy lias
been chosen for comparison as the nearest jiresentment of the types ; accurate measurement shows a slight difference in size between it and the vellum copies. IIore printing-ink is taken up by paper than by vellum, and hence looks blacker. The type alone being the subject of comparison, a mere out- line of the illumination is given. The character, as will be .«^ecn, is that of the German scribe of the pei'iod, but neces- sarily more uniform in appearance. The fact of our now using a character of })rint <linercnt from that of ]LS. may have given rise to a conclusion as to an attempt at frau- dulent imitation not founded upon then existing conditions." As an additional fact, ISIr. Tnjipcr points out that the text is a close imitation of the finished hand of the Gci'man scribe of the time, but of course lias a more uniform and lieavier appearance, and that Caxton used a type extriinrly like it, both in a- arul size, for heul linos and foi' a l>ook i Tsalms. It is certainly most curious to lind that the deceptive efforts of the fiist j)rinters have been successful for -loO years at least, and the congratulations of all anti(]uaric8 arc to bo offered to JIr. Kershaw on the vei'v interesting discovery which has been ma<le <luring his ti'uure of ollice at the Archiepi.scopal Lil>ra?y. I may take this (»pportunity of saying that the Lambeth Jjibrary is open to the puhlic on Mondays. Wednesdays and I'Vidays, and that by tix" <'oin-lesy of th Lihiarian and the jionoraj-y oflicials, ihej-e in not the shglitest dillicnhy about heeijjg this lemaikable volume.
