which the enamelled figure is visible. The smaller end of our oval
section is prolonged and is fashioned like the head of a boar. The snout
forms a socket, as if to fit on to a peg or dole; a cross-pin, to fix
the socket to the dole, is still in place. Around the sloping rim, which
remains, the following legend is wrought in the fabric: ÆLFRED MEC HEHT
GEWYRCEAN (Alfred me commanded to make). The language of the legend
agrees perfectly with the age of King Alfred, and it seems to be the
unhesitating opinion of all those who have investigated the subject that
it was a personal ornament of the great West Saxon king. As to the
manner of wearing it, and as to the signification of the enamelled
figure, there has been the greatest diversity of opinion. Sir Francis
Palgrave suggested that the figure was older than the setting. Perhaps
it was a sacred object, and perhaps one of the presents of Pope Marinus,
or some other potentate; and that the mounting was intended to adapt it
for fixture in the rim of a helmet or crown over the centre of the royal
brow. By its side, in the same glass case, there lies a gold ornament
of far simpler design, but of like adaptation.


DRAWING AND ILLUMINATION OF BOOKS.

This is the branch of Saxon art which is best represented by extant
remains. That the specimens are numerous may be gathered from what has
been said above in the description of manuscripts. There are two
periods, and the change takes place with the revival of learning in the
reign of Edgar. In the earlier period, the drawings and the decorations
are of the same general type as the Irish illuminated books, and it has
been thought that our artists had learnt their art from the Irish; but
now there is a disposition to see in this art a type common to both
islands, and to call it British. The Lindisfarne Gospels (A.D.