THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
i 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY, ART AND PALEOGRAPHY 
 
 OF THE MANUSCRIPT STYLED 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 • 
 
 https://archive.org/details/historyartpalaeobirc 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY, ART AND PALEOGRAPHY 
 
 OF THE MANUSCRIPT STYLED 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER: 
 
 BY 
 
 WALTER DE GRAY ^BIRCH, F.R.S.L., 
 
 Senior Assistant of the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, Ho7iorary 
 Librarian of the Royal Society of Literature, Honorary Secretary of the 
 British Archaeological Association, etc. 
 
 . . . . " ut, quantum ad cognitionem pertinet rerum, etiam praeteritis saeculis 
 vixisse videamur." — Ouintilian, lnstit. Orator., xii. 4. 
 
 » 1 
 
 Multse terricolis linguae, coelestibus una. 
 
 r 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS, 
 15, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 M.DCCCLXXVI. 
 
z 
 
 a 7 J-f3 t3 
 
 TO 
 
 THE RECTOR 
 
 AND PROFESSORS 
 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT, 
 
 THIS WORK UPON 
 
 THE ANCIENT PSALTER, 
 
 PRESERVED IN THEIR LIBRARY, 
 
 is 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
 499353 
 
 assical Language? 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Aa/j,7rd&ia ey^ovres StaScoaovacv aWrjXots; Plat. Poht. i. 
 
 + 
 
 N putting before the rapidly increasing number 
 of students of the rudiments of palaeography 
 
 this work upon the history and art of the cele- 
 brated Manuscript known as THE UTRECHT 
 PSALTER, the author has throughout endeavoured 
 to be plain and concise, as one writing to instruct 
 in a general way the reader who is not learned in the 
 deeper intricacies of the questions implicated, rather 
 than to be hypercritical and captious about the too 
 often conflicting opinions of others far better able to 
 judge than himself upon minute evidence. He is 
 not unaware that he has laid himself open to the 
 criticism of the one school that claims an early 
 date for the Manuscript, or the other that assigns 
 a late date to the Manuscript, or perhaps of both, 
 according as his views agree or disagree with theirs. 
 This is naturally to be expected. No doubt much will 
 be urged that this or that aspect of some part of 
 the argument has been imperfectly treated ; the 
 reply is that the questions raised by the Manuscript 
 
ii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 do not so readily allow of exhaustion or solution 
 within the limits here at command. The literary 
 labours of nearly two years, carried on at every 
 opportunity of leisure, will not have been wasted 
 if they may haply result in bringing about some 
 unity, or at least an important preponderance of 
 skilled opinion, upon the date to be assigned to the 
 writing and pictures of this unique relic of Archaic 
 letters, this golden apple of an exacter archaeology 
 which has not always classed palaeography as one 
 of her most fruitful branches. 
 
 To the Society that has so thoughtfully repro- 
 duced the volume in permanent fac-simile the 
 thanks of all literary men of England are due for 
 preserving to their uses at least the faithful shadow 
 of that treasure which it is a regret, and a national 
 misfortune to them, to have lost, whilst to Utrecht 
 and to Holland it is without doubt one of her most 
 valued prizes. Nevertheless it cannot well be said 
 that any one deplores that the Manuscript has fallen 
 1 in pleasant places," where its importance is duly 
 acknowledged, and its preservation carefully studied 
 and maintained. 
 
 The thanks, too, of the Author are due to this 
 Society for kindly permitting the use of their nega- 
 tive photograph for the illustration at p. 211, as also 
 to the Trustees of the British Museum, for the 
 liberal permission to reproduce by the autotype 
 process the plate from the celebrated Harley 
 Psalter, given at p. 213; and to the Master and 
 Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, for the cor- 
 responding illustration derived from the well known 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Manuscript entitled the Tripartite Psalter of 
 Eadwine, which will be found here at p. 214. In 
 consequence of its great dimensions it has been 
 found impossible to reproduce a whole page of the 
 latter on this occasion. A few lines have therefore 
 been omitted from the lower part of the leaf, in order 
 to reduce the plate to a more convenient shape for 
 folding. 
 
 The ornamental cover of this volume contains 
 some excellent groups from the Utrecht Psalter 
 specially prepared for the engraver by W. R. 
 Cooper, Esq., F.R.A.S., Secretary of the Society of 
 Biblical Archaeology ; and the Public, as well as the 
 Author, are indebted to him for these details, viz. : — 
 The figure of David seated in a temple, from the first 
 picture in the MS., fully described at p. 193 ; the 
 Lord in a vesica, from the pictures prefixed to Psalms 
 XIII. and XX.; the Sun, Moon, and Stars from 
 Psalms CII. and VIII. respectively; the masonry as 
 found commonly throughout ; David from the scene 
 in Psalm L. ; and the crown from Psalm XX. 
 
 August, 1876. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 t 
 
 ♦ 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Limited specimens of early Manuscript art — Scope of the work — 
 Literature of Palaeography — Photographic aids towards the study of 
 MSS. — Positive silver process — Autotype process — M. Dujardin's 
 process — M. Delisle's testimony — Palaeographical Society — Theo- 
 logical aspect — Future views. .... pp. i — xxiv. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 General principles of Palaeography — Greek — Silvestre's work — 
 Latin forms — Papyrus — Wax tablets — Cursive character — Uncial 
 writing — Descriptions of typical Manuscripts — Capital writing — 
 Types — Rustic writing — Types — Synopsis of principal styles of 
 Latin MSS., as found in Western Europe, to the tenth century — 
 Works on Palaeography — Mabillon — Montfaucon — Nouveau Traite 
 — Shaw — Sir Frederic Madden — Wailly — Silvestre — Professor 
 Westwood — Letronne — Mr. Bond — Foundation of Palaeographical 
 Society. pp. i — 62. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 Description of the Utrecht Psalter, apart from its artistic and 
 palaeographical contents — Vellum — Quaternions — Arrangement of 
 
ii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 lines and letters — Spaces — Drawings — History of the Psalter — Mr. 
 Payn's suggestions of an Alexandrian origin — Sir Thomas Duffus 
 Hardy's theory of Bertha of France and her connection with the 
 Volume in England — Reculver Monastery — The inserted charter — 
 Text of the charter — Sir Robert Cotton's treatment of Manuscripts 
 exemplified — Vespasian A. I. — Its inserted charter — Theory for the 
 connection of the Utrecht Psalter with Canterbury — Ancient 
 reproduction of charters and title-deeds — Confraternity of religious 
 houses — Reculver and Canterbury — Bercwald, Abbot of Reculver, 
 becomes Archbishop of Canterbury — The Eadwine Psalter pre- 
 pared at Canterbury — " Mary Talbott " — " Master Talbot of Nor- 
 wiche," a collector of MSS. — Later history of the Psalter from the 
 catalogues — Smith's invective against careless borrowers of MSS. 
 — The Psalter falls into the hands of D. de Ridder, who presents 
 it to Utrecht University. . . . . . pp. 63 — 111. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 Literature arising from the Utrecht Psalter — Fac-simile by the 
 autotype process under direction of the Palseographical Society — 
 The Harley Psalter — Aegelmund the bowman — Professor West- 
 wood's notice of MSS. in Lord Ashburnham's library, and at Paris — 
 The British Museum Additional MSS., 26,104, 22,291, and 29,273 
 — The British Museum Egerton MS., 2263 — Ussher^-Waterland 
 — Haenel — Van Westreenen Van Tiellandt — Professor Westwood 
 — Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy — Arntz — Reports edited by Dean 
 Stanley — Written by Mr. Bond— Mr. Thompson — Rev. H. O. 
 Coxe — Professor Westwood — and Canon Swainson — Sir Thomas 
 D. Hardy's Further Report — Mr. H. Payn — Rev. R. C. Jenkins. 
 
 pp. 112— 157. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Handwriting of the Psalter — Numeration of the Psalms tabu- 
 lated, and compared with Vulgate and Authorised English versions 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 — First words — Roman Rustic capitals — Uncial rubrics and 
 headings — Capital letters — Abbreviations and contractions — 
 Monograms — Orthography — Division of words — Erasures — Inser- 
 tions — Paragraphs — Punctuation — Gallican version — Summary of 
 evidence obtained pp. 158 — 187. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 Contents of the Psalter — Press marks — Title — Pictures prefixed 
 to the Psalms — Fac-similes of the nth Psalm from the Utrecht, 
 Harley, and Eadwine Psalters — Realistic treatment of poetical 
 imagery — Weapons — Edifices — Dress — Musical instruments — 
 Ships — Tents — Umbrella — Animals — Trees — Grindstone — Circu- 
 lar form of the picture of the 64th Psalm — Fishes — Birds — Snakes 
 — Organ in the 70th Psalm — Personifications of sun, moon, etc. — 
 " Horns" — Vesical frame enclosing divine figures- — Crowns — Vines 
 — Beds — Chairs — Medallions containing second pictures — Scenes 
 in the Life and Passion of Jesus Christ — Statues of deities — Atlas 
 — Gigantic figures— Ploughs — Utensils — " Diabolus " — Helmets — 
 Bread — Ladders — Names of Hebrew letters in Psalm CXVIII. — 
 Wine making — Mowing — Forging — Dew of Hermon — Snares — 
 Garners — Horsemen — Musical objects in Psalm CXLVIII. — 
 Organ — Wells — Vessels — Graves — Fates — Weaving — Milking — 
 Churning — Fiery furnace — Whales — Te Deitm — Final e occurring 
 in the form ae — Beds — Spiritus — Presentation in the temple — 
 Agnus Dei — Cruciform nimbus — Athanasian creed — Unique nature 
 of the illustration — Apocryphal Psalm — Organ — Appended frag- 
 ments — Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus — Prologits Evangeliorwn 
 — Praefatio Matthei — Capitula secundum Mattheum —Ornamental 
 circle of interlaced bands — Greek invocation to the Blessed Virgin 
 — Gospel of St Matthew — and of St. John — Remarks. 
 
 pp. 188 — 292. 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 Latin text of Athanasian Creed from the Utrecht Psalter — Latin 
 and interlinear Saxon text from the Cottonian MS. Vespasian 
 A. I. — Theological aspect — Literature connected with it — Con- 
 flicting points — Suggestions — Table of opinions concerning the date 
 of the Psalter — Approximate date — Place of origin — Object — Use 
 — Probable future solution of doubtful questions — General con- 
 clusions. .... : pp. 293 — 318. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 + 
 
 PLATE i. Autotype Facsimile of the UTRECHT 
 Psalter, folio 6 b. Psalm XL . . . p. 2\\ 
 
 Plate 2. Autotype Facsimile of the correspond- 
 ing page in the HARLEY PSALTER in the British 
 Museum, No. 603, folio 6 b. Psalm XL . p. 213 
 
 Plate 3. Autotype Facsimile of the corre- 
 sponding page in the Tripartite Psalter of 
 EADWINE, in the Library of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. Psalm XL . . . . p. 214 
 
ADDENDA AND ERRATA. 
 
 ♦ — 
 
 Page xv., line 27. for and, read of. 
 
 Page 75, line 24. for Regulbuim, read Regulbium. 
 
 Page 203, line 18. for affodit, read effodit. 
 
 Page 232, line 1 . for Syrian, or Anglo-Saxon, read or Syrian, but rather Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 Page 237, line 29. for carue, read carne. 
 
 Page 2S2, line 3. for the full foint read a comma. 
 
 Page 296, line S, for spsscspatre, read spsscsapatre. 
 
 Page 303, line 3. gemyncnesse (?), but erased as given. The Brit. Mus. Arundel 
 MS. 60, fol. 130, (a Psalter of equal antiquity) with the Latin 
 Quicunque (" Athanasia lex") having a Saxon gloss interlined, 
 reads here gescindnesse ; but for ge.myncende, page 299, line 9, 
 the same MS. reads scindende. 
 
'> &LflLuuar> cnejy^c ma^mfictfinrnirr. Laina feptuplum 
 
 cftfe-q* defcftrjcfa nm a^oiwffiwr iqggf erq TPu <*ne feniH^W^qnJ}© 
 quo dimming ftmr uert <j eft-dnf dtefnof a^enerstnonrbac 
 
 xOTef afiUxf htrrmnttm ^ proper mifenam mopinn( "; in^erngn 
 */ana loamiunc unur<7utf 6c<^emttuin pauperum 
 que Adyropcivnum fuum nunc epcun^arn diets duP p( J 
 tabid dolvfb.incardt 6C ' pon<*m taper fahrtare 
 corde locunfunc mala ; m eum - fl d u c taltcvr <U^a 
 12 iffpercW diiftmiuerfa meo jCj 
 lalna doUjfa.dctm^uam loquia dni eloquia caftan 
 malt loquam ^ . ary i mm i t^ne cp^xm\rui 
 
 . uidjxenmc lingua, rmwrt tutti xerr^yuv^xaiTri 
 
 I ncir W curai tmpn 
 amlniUmr.fcdtTi ainxudt 
 nem xuam mutcrpUetftt 
 fjliofbominufn 
 
 HARLEY PSALTER. 
 
 N9 603, FOLI 6. B 
 
12.. 
 
 n fi n em p oaztua 
 
 Xirvvay 
 
 mefeo domino 
 quomam do Iccrc 
 
 ftiztitrguett wax Ixeuoacc-' 
 elocfwidr-ubiftilus- 
 
 c, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 HE fascinations which the various points illus- 
 | trated by an ancient manuscript preserved in 
 the Library of the University of Utrecht, and called 
 the " Utrecht Psalter," have now for some con- 
 siderable time exercised over the minds of masters 
 and disciples, whether of theology, palaeography, or 
 of ancient pictorial art, have, as yet, by no means 
 lost their power and influence. The fact of there 
 being an excessively limited number of specimens of 
 man's handiwork upon vellum, that are to be shown 
 as examples of the graphic art deriving their origin 
 during the interval between the fifth and tenth 
 centuries of the Christian era, easily accounts for 
 that transcendent interest springing up around, and 
 as rapidly as it is permanently fostered by, any new 
 acquisition to swell the narrow ranks of those few 
 surviving marvels of an archaic art, which we are 
 
ii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 now permitted to rejoice over, in that they have 
 escaped the ruthlessness of iconoclasts; the voracious 
 scalpel of palimpsest makers ; the greed of monastic 
 mercenaries, who so persistently derived a savage 
 pleasure in mutilating priceless manuscripts for a 
 small gain by the sale of parchment wretchedly reno- 
 vated, or cut up into pieces ; the riotous and wanton 
 destruction of mediaeval reformers. 
 
 It is true that the existence of this precious volume 
 has never been entirely forgotten since its first rescue 
 from obscurity by Sir Robert Cotton, now upwards 
 of two hundred years ago, and its contents have not 
 been carelessly examined by some of the most 
 renowned controversialists of this intervening period. 
 But it was reserved to a very recent time to witness 
 a far greater agitation respecting the manuscript than 
 had hitherto been set on foot ; and it was also 
 reserved, as it were for a prize, to the wondrous 
 improvements which have within the last few years 
 been inaugurated in London, with respect to the art 
 of permanent photographic reproduction, alone to be 
 able, and this for the first time in the history of that 
 powerful scientific agent, to reproduce a perfect fac- 
 simile of the pages of the Psalter. 
 
 In the course of this account of the history, art, 
 and palaeography of the manuscript commonly called 
 the " Utrecht Psalter," it is intended to treat, in a 
 separate and systematic manner, each of the most 
 prominent points which are embraced by the external 
 and internal aspects of this venerable volume. 
 Thereby an endeavour will have been made to lay 
 before the reader a comprehensive view of the whole 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 iii 
 
 subject, the acknowledged utility of which claims, not 
 less than really deserves, the sustained and unflagging 
 attention of all who desire to perfect their knowledge 
 of such ancient productions as is the manuscript 
 which is about to be considered. Before entering 
 upon the minute description of its contents, it will 
 not only be very advantageous to the general reader, 
 whom we here presume to have but a very limited 
 acquaintance with manuscripts of any age, but it will 
 be also useful to some of those whose knowledge of 
 these reliques is somewhat more extended ; and it is 
 in no inconsiderable degree necessary towards a 
 correct appreciation of much that is put forward in 
 the following pages, if we glance briefly in review over 
 the leading characteristics exhibited by manuscripts 
 of those centuries of the Christian age to which by 
 various writers, directly or indirectly, the 1 date of 
 the Utrecht Psalter fyas been assigned. This, 
 although apparently a digression, is really a very 
 indispensable element in the history of the book. For 
 unless the ordinary reader, for whom this account is 
 principally intended, has before him a concise 
 account of the many varieties of writing and artistic 
 productions obtaining in the various schools of 
 learning and refinement during these ages of semi- 
 culture ; unless the principal points of divergence 
 and difference between one style of writing and 
 another, between subtle differences affected in con- 
 tiguous kingdoms, between native styles of any one 
 place changing in accordance with the progress of 
 time, and with the power of foreign influences brought 
 to bear upon them, in a manner none the less strongly 
 
 2* 
 
iv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 marked in the final result because that result has 
 been the certain outcome of forces acting insensibly 
 in their operation upon unconscious and unresisting 
 media be demonstrated ; unless, too, the correct 
 position of the " Rustic capital," the character in 
 which the Psalter has been conveyed to us in this 
 example in the scale of letter forms, is carefully laid 
 down ; and unless the well nigh impossibility of 
 finding any exact counterpart of this book among 
 representative types, and the necessity of comparing 
 it piece by piece with other specimens of early work 
 rather in order to indicate points of dissimilarity than 
 to demonstrate cases of resemblance, is thoroughly 
 grounded in the mind of the reader, it would not be 
 possible for him to acquire so accurate an impression 
 regarding the many important phases which the 
 Utrecht Psalter shows to those who approach its 
 curious pages in a spirit of enquiry after hidden 
 truths of art, history, and theology. 
 
 It will also be profitable to the consideration and 
 due appreciation of the peculiar place which this 
 manuscript claims to occupy, as far as regards the 
 pictorial nature of its contents, if some of the 
 principal picture manuscripts which have been attri- 
 buted to the early periods of graphic art, that is, 
 before the eleventh century, are brought briefly into 
 notice, and their characteristics noted and defined. 
 Of such there are but very few to which it may be 
 useful to allude ; for it is, in a great measure, this 
 very scarcity of materials wherewith to compare and 
 contrast the illustrations of the Psalter that has 
 rendered the task so difficult, and the expressed 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 v 
 
 opinion of palaeographers so hazardous and conj ectural . 
 The more specimens of cognate subjects, whether 
 they partake of the palaeographic, the historic, or the 
 artistic point of view, that can be collected together 
 for comparison and side-by-side contemplation, the 
 more easy is the attempt to attribute an era to the 
 manuscript before us, and the more trustworthy is 
 that opinion when it has been thus formed upon the 
 only correct bases for its elucidation. 
 
 Another very important and truly massive element 
 in the evidence, is that afforded by the testimony of 
 numerous writers upon the bibliography of palaeo- 
 graphy, of which so many diverse treatises and 
 extensive compilations exist. The principal works 
 upon this science will be found to have been noticed, 
 and the instructive character of their contents briefly 
 summarised, in that portion of the present work 
 devoted to this particular part of the subject. With 
 the early years of the nineteenth century a brighter 
 prospect dawned upon the science of palaeography, of 
 which, indeed, although it had for centuries attracted 
 the attention of the curious, and had justly succeeded 
 in obtaining due weight of importance from the 
 learned, yet the literature which embodied its 
 capabilities and expounded its scope and position 
 among kindred sciences, was not couched in those 
 precise forms of language, nor was treated in that 
 exhaustive and comprehensive manner, which so 
 powerful, and withal so requisite, a branch of human 
 intellectual development demanded, before it could 
 acquire from the world of letters that recognition of, 
 and submission to its canons, founded upon a careful 
 
vi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 series of deductions obtained from a number of 
 incontrovertible facts. 
 
 The evolution of the art of photography enabled 
 those whose literary labours led them among manu- 
 scripts, and who studied the forms of writing obtaining 
 in the various epochs of the world, to search out, 
 prepare, multiply, reproduce, and finally collect 
 examples of the choicest and most useful kind 
 towards their object in view, namely, the comparison 
 of styles and dates. And a fatal blow to the art of 
 the copyist, or maker of facsimiles, however deftly 
 he might ply his pen, was delivered by a rapid and 
 unprecedented developing of the method of printing 
 positive pictures by the silver process. These sun- 
 pictures of ancient writings were found, before very 
 long, to be of a greater or less durability, according tp 
 the good or indifferent quality of the chemical 
 materials employed in the course of their production, 
 to the dexterity of the manipulation brought to bear 
 upon them during preparatory processes, and to the 
 amount of careful, intelligent labour bestowed upon 
 the whole operation from its beginning to its end. 
 Hence, while there may be said to be practically no 
 limit to the period that a well-prepared silver paper 
 print should retain its pristine beauty and fidelity 
 (and it is indeed a well known fact that many pictures 
 thus prepared are as good at the present time as 
 they were when they were made nearly twenty years 
 ago) ; yet, on the other hand, it is an equally well 
 known fact, and greatly to be deplored, that there 
 are many positive photographic pictures, taken by 
 means of the silver process, that show a deterioration 
 
INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 more or less serious; and some, moreover, may be 
 said to have utterly failed, and to have become mere 
 waste paper. This evident want of perfect security 
 and unvarying quality, which was at an early stage 
 of the history of photography felt to be almost 
 inherent to this silver positive process, whether it 
 was owing to the imperfection of the method, or to 
 the variable carefulness of the manipulator, led to 
 a very diffuse number of scientific experiments being 
 made with a view to combining the employment of 
 typographic ink, or some similarly compounded 
 pigment that would not ordinarily be influenced by 
 age or deteriorated by the chemistry of the photo- 
 graphic process, with the accuracy of reproduction 
 alone residing in photography. 
 
 The majority of these processes were founded 
 upon the ingenious and well-timed discovery that 
 gelatine could be so treated as to form an impervious 
 and insoluble matrix, or vehicle, that might without 
 difficulty be rendered sensitive to the chemical 
 processes of the photographers, and as easily made 
 insensitive and practicable to the purely mechanical 
 operations of the lithographic printers. This is, in 
 plain and unscientific language, the spirit of all the 
 methods in present operation ; and whether the 
 result be invested with this name or that, the prin- 
 ciples involved and the methods employed remain 
 the same, although the details be slightly varied, 
 or the special vehicles which are brought into use 
 be alternated with substances giving practically 
 the same result. It is to a process, whereby the 
 peculiar power of gelatine to absorb, and yet not be 
 
viii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dissolved, is made to subserve the needs of the photo- 
 lithographic printer, that the autotype system of 
 permanent lithography, practised with such eminently 
 successful results by the Company that holds and 
 works the Patent at the present moment, owes its 
 great and increasingly eminent position in the first 
 rank of unchanging photographic processes. And it 
 is in a great measure due to the practicability of this 
 means, which ranks second only in sharpness and 
 faultless faithfulness to the original, that is, to the well 
 developed and carefully prepared silver positive, that 
 success in the study of palaeography has been 
 attained, and that the efforts of those, who had 
 before laboured under the disadvantage of being 
 unable to put before their readers pictures of the 
 actual writing of the manuscripts under their critical 
 examination, are now and for the future in a position 
 of being easily illustrated and graphically delineated 
 without either trouble, failure, or expense. 
 
 This autotype process was selected by those to 
 whom it fell to direct the photographic reproduction 
 of the Utrecht Psalter — a work then, and, as far as 
 England is concerned, even now, without a parallel 
 — not only on account of its plainly manifest advan- 
 tages of cheapness, and its self-evident durability, 
 but in no slight degree because also of the evenness 
 and sameness of tones and qualitative depths 
 obtaining throughout the whole of the impression ; a 
 result difficult, if not wholly impossible of acquisition 
 in any other process whatever. The consequence is 
 that we have to-day a fac-simile of one of the most 
 important and interesting manuscripts known to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ix 
 
 palseographical and theological enquirers, wherein is 
 combined scrupulous adherence to the prototype 
 with an endurance and cheapness contrasting favour- 
 ably with the productions of every other competitive 
 process. It was, indeed, fortunate for the Palaeo- 
 graphical Society that the manifold disadvantages 
 which the old school of palaeography, as represented 
 by those who were of necessity driven to the employ- 
 ment of copies and fac-similes, made by the hand of 
 the artist, such as, for example, Mabillon, Bastard, 
 Wailly, Anderson, Chassant, Walther, Silvestre, the 
 Benedictines who composed the Nouveau Traite de 
 Diplomatique, and a large number of other writers, 
 principally French, had for long laboured under, had 
 been removed one by one, and that the single obstacle 
 to success, the deficiency of a mechanical means of 
 making the facsimile, was at length fairly removed 
 from the path of future investigators. It is un- 
 doubtedly by reason of this marvellous power of 
 appealing to the eye in that irresistible, because 
 incontrovertible, manner, that the Society is able to 
 say with truth that it has done more towards the 
 dissemination of the true principles of palaeography 
 than any one who has preceded its endeavours. 
 
 Since the adaptation and employment of the 
 photographic element, we may denote the work done 
 as belonging to the new school ; and this new school 
 not only presents a perfect reproduction of the subject 
 discussed, but aims at a more correct and more 
 critical examination of the manuscripts which it 
 undertakes to illustrate. Without the aid of the 
 autotype process it is probable that the facsimile of 
 
 i 
 
X 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the entire Utrecht Psalter would never have been 
 attempted, or if it had been attempted it would have 
 been found to fail in some important element. 
 
 There may be mention made here of another 
 photographic process which is most peculiarly fitted, 
 to all appearance, for the correct reproduction of 
 ancient manuscripts, and as largely employed in 
 France, perhaps, as the autotype in England. It is 
 that worked by M. Dujardin of the Rue Vavin, Paris, 
 who has succeeded in perfecting a method of applying 
 photography to a hard metal plate, generally steel, 
 whereof the surface is acted upon by an acid mordant 
 which leaves a matrix of great hardness and equal 
 delicacy, and capable not only of printing with 
 ordinary inks the writing of the manuscript original, 
 but also the imperfections and stains upon the vellum 
 itself. This novel and interesting process, while it 
 rivals the autotype in clearness of outline, outstrips 
 it in the power of producing an unlimited number of 
 impressions, because the metallic plate upon which 
 the facsimile is, so to speak, engraved, can be 
 utilized for all intents and purposes in the same 
 manner as an ordinary engraving in steel or copper 
 plate. In this respect the method of M. Dujardin 
 possesses a very powerful and undoubted advantage 
 over that of the autotypes. But nevertheless it has 
 been considered by those who have given the greatest 
 amount of attention to these subjects, that of 
 individual methods the autotype process stands pre- 
 eminent, while the difficulty which attaches to the 
 fact that the impressions, after three hundred copies 
 or so have been struck off, gradually lose that clear, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sharp fineness of outline which is so necessary to a 
 good facsimile, may be avoided by limiting the 
 impressions obtained from one negative photograph 
 to the above-mentioned number, and then preparing 
 a second or a third negative and as many in fact as 
 need requires. On the other hand, in cases where a 
 large and simultaneous number of copies is required, 
 there can be but little doubt that the invention of 
 M. Dujardin claims a careful and valuable position 
 in the scale of reproductive methods applied to the 
 facsimile of manuscripts. So valuable has this 
 invention been found to be, that already some 
 specimens of important palaeographic objects have 
 been disseminated by its means throughout the 
 world of literature, and a result has been obtained 
 which was absolutely impossible in the days of the 
 older continental palaeographers. 
 
 M. Leopold Delisle, the talented Director of the 
 Bibliotheque Nationale, has in this way been enabled 
 to put before us an important and hitherto unpub- 
 lished fragment of Eugyppius consisting of six folio 
 pages in facsimile made by this process which he has 
 selected as the best available for his purpose which 
 is found in active operation in France at the present 
 time. So pertinent is the statement made by M. 
 Delisle with regard to these operations that no 
 apology is required for a short extract from his 
 Notice sur un Manuscrit Merovingien contenant des 
 Fragments d'Eugyppius appartenant a M. Jules 
 Desnoyers, published at Paris during the present 
 year : — 
 
 " Le progres des etudes paleographiques depend 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 en grand partie de Pabondance et de la per- 
 fection des fac-simile que les professeurs peuvent 
 faire passer sous les yeux de leurs eleves ou qui 
 peuvent etre joints aux ouvrages didactiques, aux 
 memoires d'erudition, aux editions d'anciens textes, 
 aux catalogues des collections de chartes ou de 
 manuscrits. 
 
 " Pendant longtemps il fallut se contenter d'imi- 
 tations plus ou moins fideles, obtenues soit par le 
 dessin, soit par le caique, et dont la gravure ou la 
 lithographie permettait de multiplier les exemplaires. 
 Les fac-simile ainsi obtenus au XVII s et au XVI IP 
 siecle laissaient beaucoup a desirer. Les planches 
 qui ornent le De re diplomatica de Mabillon, la 
 Palaeogmphia gmeca de Montfaucon, le Nouveau Traite 
 de Diplomatique de Tassin et de Toustain donnent 
 une idee tres-insufficiente des originaux. 
 
 " Les artistes du XIX e siecle ont fait oublier tout ce 
 que leurs devanciers avaient fait dans ce genre ; leur 
 plume ou leur burin a execute de veritables chefs- 
 d'oeuvre, et les planches que Jacobs a gravees pour 
 les Elements de Palegraphie de M. de Wailly, celles 
 de la Paleographie universelle de Silvestre, et celles du 
 grand ouvrage de M. de Bastard meritent une grand 
 confiance et peuvent servir de base a des etudes 
 critiques et approfondies. Les lithographies qui ont 
 ete tirees depuis 1835 jusqu'en 1874 pour l'enseigne- 
 ment de l'Ecole des Chartes, et qui portent sur pres 
 de six cents monuments, ont aussi rendu de grands 
 services ; elles forment un cours a peu pres complet 
 de paleographie, et principal reproche qu'on doive 
 leur adresser c'est d'avoir ete tirees a si petit nombre 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xiii 
 
 qu'il est a peu pres impossible de s'en procurer des 
 collections. 
 
 " Les fac-simile produits par la gravure ou la litho- 
 graphie presentent cependant des inconvenients de 
 plus d'un genre. II est impossible de les amener a 
 un degre convenable d'exactitude sans un surete de 
 coup d'ceil et un habilete de main qu'il est donne a 
 peu d'artistes d'acquerir. C'est un travail long, 
 ingrat, couteux, et qui doit etre dirige, surveille et 
 corrige avec la plus minutieuse attention. Souvent 
 le dessinateur est a son insu conduit a deviner ou a 
 interpreter un peu arbitrairement certains details des 
 monuments originaux, et beaucoup de fac-simile 
 trahissent en plus d'un point les preoccupations du 
 savant qui les a fait executer. 
 
 " La photographie devait amener une revolution 
 complete dans ce genre de travail, et le recueil 
 publie a Vienne par M. Sickel, sous le titre de 
 Monumenta Gmphica medii aevi, peut etre cite comme 
 une des ouvrages de paleographie auxquels Tart du 
 photographe a ete applique avec le plus de succes. 
 II restait cependant un obstacle a surmonter. Les 
 anciens systemes de reproduction ne pouvaient pas 
 etre abandonnes tant que la solidite et la duree des 
 etudes photographiques n'etaient pas garanties d'une 
 maniere absolue, tant que les epreuves ne pouvaient 
 pas etre imprimees avec une encre grasse analogue a 
 celle dont on se sert pour la typographic, la litho- 
 graphie, ou la taille-douce. Ce difficile et important 
 probleme est aujourd'hui resolu, et differents procedes 
 permettent de transformer un cliche photographique 
 en une planche dont les imprimeurs ordinaires 
 
xiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 peuvent tirer des epreuves inalterables. Par la, une 
 voie nouvelle s'ouvre aux etudes paleographiques. 
 
 " Desormais, les manuscrits les plus importants 
 pourront etre reproduits avec une irreprochable 
 exactitude, depuis la premiere jusqu'a la derniere 
 page, et un jour viendra, ou toutes les grandes 
 bibliotheques auront l'equivalent de quelques-uns de 
 ces livres antiques qui font la gloire des bibliotheques 
 de Rome, de Florence, de Milan, de Vienne, de 
 Paris, et de Londres. L'example est deja donne. 
 he psautier de Vuniversite d 1 Utrecht vient d'etre, au 
 Musee britannique, Vobjet d'une publication peu couteuse, 
 dans laquelle on pent etudier avec une entiere confiance 
 Pun des plus curieux monuments de la calligraphic et du 
 dessin au VHP ou au IX s siecle" 
 
 It is unnecessary here to pursue the subject of 
 manuscript reproduction any further, limiting here, 
 too, the remarks upon this point of consideration, 
 and candidly stating that no other known processes 
 combining fidelity to original types, with the attributes 
 of guaranteed durability, fairly easy multiplicability, 
 and moderate expense, can be for a single instant 
 compared with the silver negative, the autotype of 
 Spencer, Sawyer, and Company, and the Dujardin 
 facsimile. 
 
 Yet, while there are points more than one wherein 
 each one of this triad indicates weakness and want 
 of perfection : — the silver, for example, in its varia- 
 bility, its want of uniformity, its occasional mistiness 
 and indistinctness, and its too powerful rendering of 
 blemishes, stains and shadows on the vellum ; — the 
 autotype in its occasionally imperfect scale, its 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 
 
 frequent sponginess, its extreme flatness and want of 
 vitality, its limited power of reduplication ; that of 
 M. Dujardin in its hardness and in its manifest want 
 of power in the half tones and imperfectly graduated 
 depths : — nevertheless these, which are, after all that 
 can be said, comparatively trifling defects, are not by 
 any means insuperable ; and the rapid progress of. 
 enterprise and invention must, before much time can 
 elapse, devise such improvements that will have the 
 effect of bringing each of these three principal 
 methods more closely into equality of competition, 
 as the foremost in the roll of processes to be employed 
 in this particular and most difficult demand made 
 upon the skill and science of the palaeographer. 
 
 Without these, or kindred powers, the present 
 state of palaeographic science had been susceptible 
 of but little improvement. For while the teaching 
 of the Benedictines in their colossal work, the 
 Nouveaii T J mite, the propositions of Bastard, Mabillon, 
 Montfaucon, Wailly, Silvestre, and others, are for the 
 most part perfectly sound and to be relied upon with 
 that implicit faith that is justly due to those who 
 have bestowed, as these illustrious masters have 
 done, no small portion of their life and labour upon 
 their works, yet these great palaeographers laboured 
 under an unfortunate inability to set before their 
 pupils, in practical illustration and profound theories, 
 faithful representations of materials most indis- 
 pensable for the right appreciation of the matters 
 under their consideration. They were, in point of 
 fact, under the stern necessity of having to be content 
 with the best productions of the manual skill of 
 
xvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 artists who, although they for the most part produced 
 excellent facsimiles, yet they not unfrequently failed 
 to catch the spirit of the original, and thus produced 
 not only an unfaithful, but, which was worse still, a 
 deceptive picture. 
 
 It was not until the summer of 1873 that the 
 formation and rapid encadrement of the Palaeo- 
 graphical Society of London, due in the first place 
 to the energy and scholarship of Mr. Edward A. 
 Bond, keeper of the Department of Manuscripts in the 
 British Museum, and to the most cordial co-operation 
 of other gentlemen employed in the same department 
 combined with the support of several other influential 
 palaeographers in England, wrested from France 
 the position that nation had hitherto occupied as the 
 foremost exponents of this enlightened science. And 
 the seat of palaeography, in its most advanced form, 
 passed from Paris, where the labours and assiduity 
 of Mabillon, Wailly, and others already mentioned 
 by name had located it, to the English capital, where 
 the serial publications of the Palaeographical Society 
 justly, at least for the present, claim an uncontested 
 chief position. It is, nevertheless, to be sincerely 
 desired, that, just as in France, the science first 
 obtained that credit, position, and indagation, which 
 laid the foundation of its critical precision and value 
 to-day, as a new branch of human knowledge, so, 
 also, in France before long we may see successful 
 efforts brought to bear upon the establishment of 
 some machinery which shall result in producing, 
 fostering, and extending the operations so splendidly 
 achieved by the Palaeographic Society in England. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xvii 
 
 The only possible way of advancing the science 1 is 
 that propounded and followed by this Society, which 
 puts before the eye, first a perfect and beautifully 
 executed facsimile of the archetypal manuscript 
 page ; secondly, a correctly printed copy of the 
 contents of the leaf reproduced ; and finally, a short 
 but concise and lucid statement of the main facts of 
 the dates, history and surroundings, written from an 
 inspection of the entire volume of which the given 
 specimen has been selected with discrimination as a 
 fair representative of the style occurring throughout. 
 The Utrecht Psalter, executed throughout by the 
 autotype process, is the first entire Manuscript 
 which has been reproduced and issued to the circle 
 of palseographic students through the agency of this 
 Society. And in this case the description and 
 typographic duplicate have not yet been published, if, 
 indeed, it is contemplated by the Society to prepare 
 and issue such a work. Hence, while of the other 
 issues of the Society, information of the most useful 
 character is to be found side by side with the 
 facsimiles, in this case we are left, in a certain 
 measure, to form our own conclusions, and to exercise 
 our own individual judgments upon the reproduced 
 Manuscript. Not that there exists no printed record 
 
 1 " L'un des meilleures moyens de developper et de faciliter l'etude de la paleo- 
 graphie consisterait a publier d'excellents facsimile photographiques, d'apres lesquels 
 l'ceil se familiariserait avec les ecritures de chaque pays et de chaque epoche, a, choisir 
 des types authentiques auxquels, pourraient etre ramenes les exemples qu'on rencontre 
 le plus souvent, a joindre aux facsimile une copie en caracteres courants qui servirait 
 aux exercices de dechiffrement, et des commentaires dans lesquels on indiquerait la 
 nature du texte, la date, et le lieu de la transcription et les particularity dont il faut 
 tenir compte pour bien connaitre les usages suivis par les scribes depuis l'antiquite 
 jusqu' a I'invention de I'imprimerie. Pour donner un exemple de ce qui pourrait etre 
 tente dans ce genre j 'ai pris un volume dont il n'a, je pense, ete question dans aucura 
 traite de paleographie " M. Leopold Delisle, l.c. 
 
 3 
 
xviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the opinion of several of the most eminent 
 palaeographers respecting the Manuscript, because, 
 as will be presently demonstrated, the opinions of 
 several may with profit be collected, examined and 
 collated, but these opinions are to be sought in 
 quarters entirely distinct from the ordinary channels 
 of such information, and in almost every case they 
 have been, perhaps unnecessarily, surrounded with, 
 or at least in some way commingled with theological 
 arguments, dissertations, or pretensions revolving 
 around the consideration of the Athanasian 
 creed. 
 
 Now it is very necessary to say here, although the 
 exact position will be more thoroughly defined 
 hereafter, in the chapter dedicated to the special 
 features of the case, that this theological element is, 
 must be, and cannot but ever remain, entirely 
 distinct and subordinate in interest to the palseo- 
 graphical interest, in the matter of the Utrecht 
 Psalter. The two aspects, the divine and the 
 profane, which this Manuscript presents to view, not 
 only do not need any commixture of any kind or 
 sort, but they actually suffer by the absurd attempts 
 made by so many individuals to mingle the two 
 streams of evolution, which really diverge from each 
 other the further and more persistently they are 
 followed. The history of this ancient literary relic, 
 its external evidence, its wondrous art, its palaeo- 
 graphical merits and claims, are alone the bases on 
 which to fix ideas and lucubrations respecting its 
 age, its probable date, whether of transcription or 
 illustration, its object, and its ostensible use. When 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xix 
 
 these questions have been worked out, solved in a 
 manner more or less satisfactory in proportion as 
 tangible materials exist ready to our hands for their 
 resolution, the theological question at stake can 
 then, and then only, be approached in a manner 
 sufficiently clear and unprejudiced to warrant our 
 hopes of arriving at a correct opinion regarding 
 these enquiries also. In other words, the question 
 demanded of palaeography is this : — What is the date 
 of the writing of the Utrecht Psalter ? Of the 
 theologian : — Is the text of the Athanasian Creed 
 found in this Manuscript the earliest known ? ■ 
 
 To some extent, it is true, the ideas contained in 
 these two questions are identical. But the reply to 
 the second cannot be framed with regard to any 
 useful issue until the answer to the first has been 
 thoroughly discussed, examined, and laid down. 
 Strange to say, this remarkable Manuscript has been 
 made the subject of many treatises, all partaking of 
 a controversial and quasi-theological nature. No 
 printed accounts of the book are yet in existence 
 which leave entirely out of their consideration the 
 theological aspect of the matter ; unless, indeed, we 
 except the reports published in a fasciculus with an 
 introduction by the Very Reverend the Dean of 
 Westminster. And these, from the form of the 
 introductory matter by which they have been, so 
 to speak, strung together, and from the fact that 
 their publication is due to a gentleman who has a 
 strong theological bias in the affair, must be considered 
 in some way connected with a theological view. 
 
 Separate chapters have been devoted to the history 
 
XX 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the externals of the work, that is, its antiquarian 
 nature, looking at it as an object, and apart from 
 the writings and drawings ; to the tracings of 
 the successive owners of the volume; its adventures; 
 its present condition. As the consideration of the 
 bibliography of the science of palaeography will not 
 have proved altogether unprofitable to our average 
 enquirers, so too the bibliography of the Utrecht 
 Psalter itself — a mass of literature of no small 
 proportions — has been most carefully sifted, and ±he 
 principal statements examined and compared as well 
 as may be within the limited amount of space here 
 available. In this, which is, indeed, one of the most 
 interesting branches of the entire subject, a very great 
 quantity of difference of opinion has, unfortunately, 
 been placed upon record, and an attempt has been 
 made, in the chapter assigned to this branch, to 
 balance if not harmonize the expressions employed 
 by the several writers. The names of Waterland, 
 Westreenen van Tiellandt, Westwood, Hardy, 
 Bond, Swainson, Delisle, and others may be here 
 mentioned as the principal writers, or reporters 
 upon the Manuscript. Some account also will be 
 found to have been given of an interesting volume of 
 tracings executed in or about the year 1858, which 
 passed into the Department of Manuscripts in the 
 British Museum and is now numbered " Additional 
 Manuscript 26,104." To the most invaluable Manu- 
 script, "Harley, 603," in the same library, apparently 
 a copy of the Utrecht Psalter prepared at a period 
 considerably later, a very great amount of interest 
 and speculation is attached ; and the present volume 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxi 
 
 would have been justly pronounced incomplete 
 without some account of this important link in the 
 mysterious chain which unites our thoughts and 
 researches of to-day with the venerable Psalter 
 which reaches far back towards the commencement 
 of the Christian era. 
 
 To the artist, and to the draughtsman, the lengthy 
 notices of the art of the illustrations will offer many 
 attractions to be found nowhere else but here, and 
 an invaluable lesson may be learned by a studious 
 perusal of these numerous specimens of the skill of 
 several very ancient master-members of the divine 
 craft of drawing. Many of these pictures, of uniquely 
 beautiful merit, have been minutely described in the 
 following pages, and the facsimiles which accompany 
 the descriptions will enable the intelligent reader to 
 acquire faithful ideas concerning the others, and to 
 perceive, and give due credit to the extreme skil- 
 fulness of the original designer of these pictorial 
 allegories, for his translation of the tropes and 
 metaphors of the Hebrew poet's diction into har- 
 moniously woven ideographs of weirdly fascinating 
 charm, wrought in a style, which for conception, 
 detail, perspective, and general application of means 
 to an end, stand alone, inimitable, unrivalled, and 
 unimpeached. 
 
 In a similar manner, to the palaeographer, whose 
 business lies chiefly in the comparison and collation 
 of letters, their forms, their slopes, their character, 
 their ensemble, the art of the writing is perhaps more 
 important than that of the drawings : for, while the 
 latter are more enticing, and appeal more directly to 
 
xxii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the eye, the former may be compared with at least a 
 few correlative specimens, whereas there is nothing, 
 or hardly any thing, with which for their affinity's 
 sake the illustrations may be contrasted. As this 
 art is an element of the greatest weight in the 
 answer to be given to the question demanded of the 
 palaeographer, it has been examined, in the chapter 
 apportioned to its contemplation, with that care and 
 consideration which a long period devoted to the 
 study of mediaeval writing can alone bring to bear 
 upon it : and the style of the text, the " Rustic 
 Capital," has been traced from its origin to the 
 gradual decay of its employment among the scribes 
 of the Western Empire, when it gave way before the 
 irresistible progress of more utilitarian forms of 
 letters. Some especially conflicting points, exhibited 
 either by the manuscript itself, or contained in the 
 treatises of those authors who have written upon it, 
 have been selected and discussed ; but it is hoped 
 that the remarks offered under this head will not be 
 taken in other than a friendly spirit of impartial 
 investigation rather than of adverse criticism, because 
 it is believed that more satisfactory progress towards 
 a correct elucidation of the hidden mysteries of the 
 Utrecht Psalter can be made by deliberate investiga- 
 tion, than by employment of sweeping assertions 
 and imperfect generalization from facts of unusual 
 occurrence or extreme rarity. 
 
 The text of the creed, called that of St. Athanasius, 
 has been given from this Manuscript, for the first 
 time. And side by side with it will be found collations 
 from other manuscript versions of its text, the student 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxiii 
 
 being thereby enabled to perceive the differences of 
 the various editions of this ancient symbol of the 
 Christian Faith. The position of the theologians, 
 who reject as spurious, or accept this as a genuine 
 composition sanctioned by the early Fathers, retained 
 and accepted by the Church, and imperatively 
 demanded of every member of the church of Christ 
 from the day of its alleged origin until the present 
 time, has been indicated, and the aspect of the two 
 sides noted. The cycle of literature appertaining to 
 this matter is as enormous as that called into 
 existence by the palaeography of the Psalter itself. 
 Some account will be found of the principal works in 
 connection with this theological controversy, but 
 inasmuch as this very controversy has been shown to 
 be subordinate tp purely scientific considerations, so 
 a less amount of space has been devoted to it. 
 
 An attempt has been made to discover the 
 probable date of the Manuscript, to mark the place 
 of its origin, to point out the time of the execution 
 of the pictures, the object, actual use, and destina- 
 tion of the contents ; and a summary of general 
 conclusions, with a notice of the aspect of future 
 additional resolutions likely to be arrived at, concludes 
 the present work, which has been, it may be said 
 with truth, one of great and increasing toil, not 
 however entirely destitute of that reward which is 
 reaped in the shape of advantages gained from the 
 assiduous examination of so many points of interest 
 seldom brought together in and about a single 
 manuscript. 
 
 This examination has been conducted throughout 
 
xxiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in an independent, impartial, and purely literary 
 manner, as most rightly befits the enquiry; and it is 
 in this serene spirit of impartiality, avoiding all 
 captious or devious feelings, that an approach can 
 alone, with fair expectation of success, be made 
 towards the solution of a question, such as the one 
 before us claims to be considered — a question, be it 
 remembered which is involved in all the obscurity 
 which must of necessity attend and surround that 
 wondrous work of ancient art, the Utrecht Psalter; 
 over which we may here at least, on the threshhold 
 of our description, take for granted that more than a 
 thousand years have now rolled. 
 
 The true solution, after all that can be advanced, 
 may only be reached by removing one by one the 
 many obstacles which stand in the path of our way 
 towards obtaining a full and fair prospect of the 
 main points, and of these some will be presently 
 shown to be still subjudice, and indeed likely for long 
 time to remain unsolved, because the subordinate 
 issues, and parallel considerations are in many cases 
 impossible of satisfactory determination by reason of 
 the insufficiency of positive and conclusive evidence 
 bearing upon them in a direct manner. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ml 
 
 mam 
 
 N this opening chapter it is intended to present 
 to the reader a brief account of the general 
 principles of palaeography, that is, the science and 
 art of ancient writing, from the earliest century to 
 the close of the tenth century of the Christian era, 
 but chiefly of course with regard to the styles of 
 writing found in the Utrecht Psalter ; some notice 
 of the pictures found in early manuscripts ranging 
 over the same space of time ; and a summary of the 
 principal works which, taken together, make up the 
 bibliography of palaeography. Although it has been 
 by some considered and expressly stated that a 
 marked Oriental influence is plainly exhibited by 
 some of the drawings of this book, (and this especial 
 aspect will be considered separately in another 
 place) it never has been suggested that the writing of 
 the Manuscript is in any kind of manner connected 
 with, or to be explained by Oriental influences, or 
 that it is the work of a scribe of some Oriental nation 
 
2 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 copying a language, and forms of letters which he 
 did not understand ; and yet there is no doubt that 
 the individuals who transcribed the Manuscript, or 
 at least some of them, were unacquainted with the 
 Latin language. Hence, however, there really 
 exists no necessity for giving here any special account 
 of palaeography other than European, that is of 
 Western, employment. 
 
 This great main stem of the science of palaeography 
 divided itself, almost at the very outset into two 
 lesser branches ; one small, confined, of restricted 
 influence, and comparatively unnecessary to be taken 
 here into any but a very transient consideration ; 
 the other, one which will demand our careful 
 examination, is large, extensively ramified throughout 
 nearly the whole of the most enlightened area of 
 Europe, and possessed of the most varied forms, 
 styles, influences, and conventionalities. Of these 
 the first mentioned is the Greek writing and 
 alphabet. This alphabet although in some respects 
 resembling the Latin alphabet to which it was closely 
 allied, became subject to varying effects of time, 
 race, and circumstances, at an early period. The 
 Greek palaeography, as expounded by D. Bernard de 
 Montfaucon in his Palaeographia Graeca, sive de Ortu 
 et Progressu Liter arum Graecarum, et de variis omnium 
 saeculorum Scriptionis Graecae generibus, etc., Parisiis, 
 1708, — a work which is even now without a rival, 
 however many its shortcomings may be, — is of a 
 very important and interesting character, and 
 according to this author the art of writing in Greek 
 characters, and the study of the Greek language 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 3 
 
 generally, was established in many parts of Italy as 
 well as in its more natural homes of Turkey and 
 Greece, and this at a very early period of the middle 
 ages. Montfaucon mentions Sicily, Calabria, 
 Euboea, Crete, and many other places, where 
 colonies of Grecian literati established schools of 
 writing, and he indicates many manuscripts which 
 were prepared and written in these localities. The 
 same author also points out an important series of 
 early dated manuscripts which must be carefully 
 examined and the differences of their letter forms 
 noted by the student of Greek palaeography. 
 
 The Greek alphabet was in part applied to, and 
 furnished several letters to the Russian and other 
 kindred tongues of Eastern Europe and Western Asia; 
 and in the fourteenth century, throughout the major 
 portion of Italy, the study of the Greek language 
 was kept up, and in the fifteenth greatly promoted 
 and extended. The fall of Constantinople had the 
 effect of driving to Italy many Greeks of conspicuous 
 erudition, so that that century may be considered to 
 have been the most flourishing period of Greek 
 literary culture in places other than its native home. 
 Of the origin of the Greek letters from those in use 
 among the Phoenicians of Asia Minor we have little 
 to consider here. The forms of the letters gradually 
 acquired those shapes in which we now possess them, 
 and these forms underwent gradual changes from the 
 oldest capitals to cursives and minuscules, the due 
 effect of various surrounding influences and mutations 
 of feeling inherent in every living speech. These 
 changing types have been well criticised and 
 
4 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 extensively examined by those who have written 
 upon the subject of Greek handwriting, of Greek 
 palaeography and literature. The student who would 
 desire to examine with advantage the various styles 
 of letter forms employed by this erudite nation, 
 cannot do better than peruse Montfaucon's great 
 work, the title of which has been mentioned above ; 
 and the following works which specially treat of this 
 subject : — W. Wattenbach, Anleitung zur Griechischen 
 und Lateinischen Palceographie, quarto, Leipzig, 1872 — 
 A. Kirchhoff, Studien zur Geschichte des Griechischen 
 Alphabets, quarto, Berlin, 1863 — J. B. Gail, in Le 
 Philologue, Tome xviii. Paris, 1825, a collection of 
 several hundred specimens of Greek handwritings of 
 all ages and styles ; Sabas, Episcopus Mojaisky, 
 Specimina Palaeographica Codicum Graecorum et Sla- 
 vonicorum, quarto, Moskwa, 1863 ; Facsimiles of Greek 
 Papyri, published in Paris 1865, large folio ; the 
 Facsimile of Philodemi Epicurei de Ira Liber, edited 
 by Theodorus Gomperz from a papyrus found at 
 Herculaneum, octavo, Lepsiae, 1864 ; Photographic 
 Facsimiles of the Remains of the Epistles of Clement 
 of Rome, made from the unique copy preserved in 
 the Codex Alexandrinus, folio, London, 1856. More 
 general information may be obtained from works 
 which belong to the art of palaeography, and of which 
 some account will be given further on. 
 
 A variety of instructive specimens of Greek writings 
 will also be found in M. J. B. Silvestre's great work 1 
 entitled, Universal Paleography; or Facsimiles of 
 Writings of all Nations and Periods, copied from the 
 
 1 This work cost nearly £20,000 in production, and is now very rare. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 5 
 
 most celebrated and authentic Manuscripts in the Libraries 
 and Archives of France , Italy, Germany, and England, 
 which was translated and edited, with corrections 
 and notes, by the learned Sir Frederic Madden, in 
 1850. Upwards of forty plates of Greek writings, 
 exquisitely prepared by hand and coloured to 
 represent facsimile, as perfect in their way as can 
 possibly be, are contained in this work ; the principal 
 of these indicate to us uncial writing of the third 
 century before Christ, down to the second, fourth, 
 sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth centuries after Christ ; 
 small capital writing of the first century before 
 Christ ; cursive hands of the second, third, seventh, 
 and later centuries of the Christian era ; sloping 
 uncial, a very peculiar hand, of the eighth and ninth 
 centuries ; mixed uncial of the ninth century ; and 
 minuscule of the tenth. Of these, the cursive Greek 
 is in fact the ordinary writing found in common use 
 among the people, and is so constructed by means of 
 conjoined letters, ligatures, and arbitrary signs as to 
 be entirely unlike the set and formal book-hand. 
 This, and in fact all forms of Greek writing practically 
 followed the same changes as did the European or 
 Latin handwriting ; and it is unnecessary to the 
 consideration of the Utrecht Psalter to pursue our 
 investigations into this branch of palaeography any 
 further, except perhaps to mention that out of the 
 Greek alphabet (which was itself a branch of the 
 Phoenician, and therefore to a great extent linked 
 with Oriental forms) , there arose three great families : 
 (1) the Coptic, which has few important changes to 
 shew, and preserves its shapes which are found in the 
 
6 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 oldest manuscripts far down into the middle ages; 
 (2) the Sclavonic, the parent of the Cyrillian, whence 
 are derived the Russian, the Servian, the Moldavian 
 and Bulgarian forms ; parent also of the Hierony- 
 miant, whence are deduced the two forms of the 
 Glagolitic ; (3) the Maeso'gothic. 
 
 The origin, however, of the Latin alphabet is to be 
 traced to the Pelasgic, a younger offshoot of the 
 Phoenician than is the Greek, and closely allied in its 
 affinities to the Etruscan, Volscian, Oscan, Samnite, 
 and other alphabets of the Italian peninsula, which 
 forms indeed it gradually overcame and superseded. 
 The Latin alphabet, with irresistible force of inherent 
 utility and easy adaptability to Western speech, was, 
 in progress of time, adopted by every country as it 
 came in turn under the civilizing influence of Roman 
 occupation ; and Italian, French, Spanish, Portu- 
 guese, Anglo-Saxon, English, Irish, German, 
 Icelandic, Runic, in fact every enlightened language 
 of the Empire, introduced the use of this alphabet 
 into their writing ; and each rendered the subsequent 
 adoption of the letters by their neighbours more 
 imperative and more easy of performance. 
 
 But with this adoption, the handwriting which 
 obtains in mediaeval Manuscripts has' become the 
 subject of so great a variety of changes, that it will 
 be necessary to describe some of the principal varia- 
 tions. There are (and it should be carefully borne 
 in mind) , two distinctly different forms : the cursive, a 
 flowing, rapid, written character, formed in loose, 
 straggling shapes such as best befit the rapid " pen of 
 a ready writer," and found very extensively in graffiti 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 7 
 
 or wall scribblings, epistolary texts, domestic 
 documents, charters or deeds between two private 
 parties principally partaking of some form of land- 
 conveyance, and matters not intended to be of a 
 literary endurance ; the other style of writing, and 
 the one which our purpose demands that we should 
 consider very carefully, and treat of very minutely, 
 is the formal, set, and fixed book-hand, the work of 
 the calligrapher, KaXAiypatpos, a fine hand-writer, as 
 opposed to that of the ra)(vypa^)09^ a tachygrapher or 
 rapid writer. 
 
 The oldest forms of writing, — diverting our 
 attention from the ideographic, or pictorial, systems 
 which undoubtedly existed in a more or less complete 
 manner from the very earliest appearance of man 
 upon the earth,— by means of a phonetic alphabet 
 are of two kinds termed capital and cursive. We 
 may, without encroaching on too much space, or 
 endangering the continuity of our ideas, take a hasty 
 glance at the history of the cursive hand, before we 
 concentrate our thoughts upon the book hand. 
 There can be no doubt but that a kind of rapid 
 writing was necessarily employed by the Romans 
 during the empire, although it has been the subject of 
 controversy in present times whether the citizens of 
 the Roman state made any extensive use of this kind 
 of writing. At any rate it is very difficult to imagine 
 that the numerous kinds of mutual exchange and 
 intercourse, the familiarity, and rapid intelligence, 
 the extensive operations of a mercantile and financial 
 character, the constant needs of a great mass of 
 population grouped together in the restricted space 
 
8 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 we know Rome to have been, could have existed 
 without some such medium as is plainly afforded by 
 the cursive handwriting, which we may therefore 
 without much doubt believe to have been invented, 
 or at least improved, and perfected, by the tachy- 
 graphers of Rome, to save themselves the time, 
 trouble, and need of dividing the letter of each word 
 in a conventional way which admitted of no abbrevia- 
 tion or modification. Passages may indeed be 
 gleaned from Eusebius, Quintilian, and many other 
 classical authors from which . we may infer the 
 existence of this cursive style throughout the Roman 
 empire. Notice may be here made of a very valuable 
 and important manuscript at Milan ; it is written on 
 Egyptian papyrus, and the text contains the 
 translation in Latin, by Rufinus, of the then most 
 popular works of the historian Josephus. This 
 manuscript is referred by the agreement of the best 
 authorities to the later half of the fourth century, 
 a.d. 350-400, and to the reign of the emperor 
 Theodosius. It is written in a cursive hand, with 
 conjoined letters, and presents many formidable 
 difficulties even to those most skilled in deciphering 
 such ancient scripts. It has been argued, and with 
 apparent good reason, that because very few, or no 
 other examples of this cursive Roman hand occur 
 before the fifth or sixth century (when the book hand 
 forms were in full employment) it may well be 
 believed that this form of writing was not in use for 
 manuscripts or literary texts, but only for documents 
 of an ephemeral nature which have therefore had 
 infinitely less opportunity or necessity of preservation 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 9 
 
 than writings of an enduring interest. At the same 
 time it should not be forgotten, that the dearth and 
 scarcity of the vehicles of writing, namely, papyrus 
 and parchment, was at its height about the seventh 
 century, and transient documents in cursive hand 
 would be selected naturally by the scribes to be 
 erased in preference to Manuscripts in book hand. 
 Hence we must not forget that what remains to us 
 to day of this class of writing cannot but be out of 
 all proportion small in comparison with the extensive 
 character of its employment. 
 
 The tablets of wax, discovered in the year 1790 in 
 one of the gold mines of Hungary, and inscribed 
 with a Latin Act written in a kind of cursive 
 minuscule character, for some time took the world 
 of palaeographers by surprise, and the first and oldest 
 place was assigned to these objects. But it was not 
 until after the year 1840 when they were published 
 at Leipsic by their possessor, M. Massmann, that 
 they were discovered to be forgeries. We may 
 therefore dismiss from our minds any further 
 consideration of these, other than perhaps some 
 gratification at the detection of the fraud sought to 
 be palmed off upon the historian and palaeographer. 
 
 A fine (and without doubt authentic) specimen of 
 cursive Latin writing is to our hands in the Testa- 
 mentary Charter .of Ravenna, preserved in the 
 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. This has formed 
 the subject of a plate in Silvestre's Palaeography, 
 and from an inspection of this it is clear that there 
 are in it but few points of resemblance with another 
 specimen, namely that of an imperial rescript, which 
 
 4 
 
IO THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 has been assigned to the third or fourth centuries of our 
 era, inasmuch as four only of the letters are exactly 
 alike, and the remaining letters of the alphabet 
 totally unlike. How far these changes are the result 
 of different dates alone, or of locality and national 
 influence, must be left to the general consideration 
 of the reader ; but we may take it as a general rule, 
 that changes which are the outcome of lapse of time 
 only, and not the result of external modifications, 
 are very slowly manifested in writings. Whereas, 
 on the other hand, changes which are undoubtedly 
 due to the influence of locality acted upon by 
 external political pressures, to varying forms of 
 thought, to courses of mental activity suddenly 
 diverted, retarded, arrested, remodelled, are rapid, 
 well marked, and as clearly different as are the 
 causes which may have operated to bring about 
 those very results. 
 
 Another very interesting example of the cursive 
 handwriting of the Empire in the sixth century 
 is afforded by a papyrus, formerly also from 
 Ravenna, and now in the British Museum. Parts 
 of this have been facsimiled by the Palseographic 
 Society on two occasions (Plates 2, and 28). Of 
 this we are told, that the letter a is very similar 
 to Uj but the former is joined to the following 
 letter while the latter is unconnected ; u is, however, 
 frequently linked with the preceding letter, in 
 which case it takes a more cursive form ; it is 
 also indicated by a flourish above the line : a is 
 sometimes written above the line in combination 
 with another letter : d and q are open when linked 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 II 
 
 with the preceding letter ; i is most frequently 
 combined, and falls below the line ; t is capable of 
 combination with almost any letter. The actual 
 date of this writing has been fortunately recorded, 
 a.p. 572, in the seventh year of the Emperor 
 Justinus. 
 
 Another most useful comparative specimen of 
 cursive writing is that mentioned and figured by 
 Silvestre (Plate clxiv.), as cursive Romano-Gallican ; 
 it is a fragment of the Homilies of St. Avitus, written 
 upon papyrus, and now deposited in the Bibliotheque 
 Nationale, Paris. It is ascribed to the early part of 
 the sixth century, and in the course of its description 
 we may gather the following valuable information 
 respecting the dissemination of the Roman forms of 
 letters throughout subjugated districts : — " Without 
 stopping to investigate what system of writing was 
 in use among the Gauls before the Roman Invasion, 
 we must take for granted the introduction of Latin 
 writing throughout all the Gaulish provinces which 
 successively succumbed to the invaders ; and that 
 this kind of writing became more and more general 
 in proportion as the authority of the conquerors 
 became confirmed, and their ideas and language 
 were adopted by the conquered ; in proportion, in 
 short, as the Gauls became more and more 
 Romanised." Hence it was necessary that these 
 conquered nations, Gauls and others, should study 
 and make use of the language and the writing of the 
 Romans, their conquerors, and the same writing was 
 used in the mother city of Rome, and in the most 
 outlying province under her sway. Yet there are 
 
12 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 subtle differences which can be easily detected on 
 close and careful examination between examples, 
 few and rare as they are, of the colonial and the 
 native style. 
 
 But it is unnecessary to pursue this subject 
 further, and we may pass on to the consideration 
 of the uncial character in which portions of the 
 Utrecht Psalter, namely, the headings and com- 
 mencing lines of the Psalter itself, and the text of the 
 fragments of the gospels which succeed the Psalms in 
 the volume, have been written. One of the earliest 
 known specimens of Roman uncial character is that 
 of the Respublica of M. T. Cicero, a palimpsest 
 manuscript in the Vatican library, to which the 
 extreme antiquity of the third century at least must 
 be universally conceded. Of this writing the words 
 are not divided, the letters are not truncated, and 
 their summits are short, and as it were, circumflexed. 
 The transverse or horizontal strokes are, like the 
 heads and tails of letters out of line, short and cut 
 off with an oblique form. The employment of this 
 kind of writing for several centuries after the date 
 already mentioned, may occasion some difficulty in 
 arriving at the precise determination of the age of 
 this manuscript ; but Silvestre ascribes it to the 
 third, and Cardinal Mai, he tells us, does not 
 hesitate to refer it to the second or third century of 
 our era. 
 
 Of the fifth century, we may examine, for Roman 
 uncial writing, Silvestre's facsimile from the works 
 of St. Cyprian in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 1 
 
 1 Supp. Latin, No. 712. Formerly in the Library of St. Germain des Pres. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 13 
 
 the date of which that author and his learned 
 translator attribute to the fifth century, Montfaucon 
 to the seventh, but the Benedictine authors of the 
 Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique to the fourth or fifth, 
 since it exhibits all the characteristics of that 
 period. " The vellum is extremely thin and white," 
 according to these authorities last adduced, "each 
 line is written on a horizontal stroke which is 
 only drawn to the width of the page and does not 
 extend entirely across the leaf. . . . The words 
 are not at all divided. . . . Dominus is generally 
 abbreviated DMS., which is a mark of the highest 
 antiquity." Concerning this particular abbreviation 
 we shall have occasion to speak more at length in 
 the description of the writing of the Utrecht Psalter 
 itself. " The Y is without dots, and the F has only 
 two thin horizontal strokes. . . . There are no stops 
 except such as have been subsequently introduced. 
 Scarcely any orthographical errors occur, nor 
 abbreviations, except in a few of the final words. 
 The name Christi is written in Greek letters XPI." 1 
 These minute details are to be taken as so many 
 u special palseographical precepts," and are sufficient 
 to indicate the soundness of the opinion of the 
 Benedictines respecting the age of the Manuscript, 
 as well as to guide the examination of other 
 contemporary Manuscripts, and the several pecu- 
 liarities will bear remarkably upon the Utrecht 
 Psalter when the uncial part of the text is ex- 
 amined. Of this Manuscript the writing is Roman 
 uncial, " elegant, full, moderately tall, continuous, 
 
 1 Nouveau Traite, Tom. III., p. 55, note 1. 
 
14 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 semi-angular, with very fine hair strokes, the letters 
 being round and half-detached. M at the end of a 
 line is indicated by a stroke with a hook at each end, 
 or in the shape of an (/]. B. at the end of a line, is 
 written for BUS. Some of the letters . . . are con- 
 joined at the end of a line. A E are almost always 
 detached. N, at the beginning of the page, is larger 
 than the rest, which is another critical mark of the 
 great antiquity of the Manuscript. Of the succeeding 
 century a very fine specimen of Roman capital 
 writing is given by Silvestre from the fragments of 
 the Virgil in the library of the Vatican, now about 
 twelve in number, but formerly part of a volume of 
 several hundred leaves. These have been considered 
 the finest, most elegant, and largest Roman writing 
 known, and all writers admit that it indicates all the 
 characteristics of very great age, The facsimile 
 given by Silvestre is from the Georgics, and the 
 writing is in large Roman capital letters, neat and 
 broad, the summit and bases simply formed, the 
 cross strokes not truncated, the A without a middle 
 stroke, smaller letters sometimes used at the ends of 
 lines, very few abbreviations, and those of the 
 simplest character, such as B. with a short stroke 
 for BUS, Q. for QUE. The words are run to- 
 gether. Professor Wattenbach, of Berlin, and Dr. 
 Zangemeister, of Heidelberg, are now publishing 
 specimens of this Roman capital hand in a series 
 of photographic facsimile plates from early Latin 
 MSS., entitled Exempla Codicum Latinorum. The 
 principal Manuscripts suited to their work are the 
 papyri of Herculaneum, the codices of Juvenal, 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 1 5 
 
 Plautus, Virgil, and other texts of classical 
 authors deposited in the Vatican and similar 
 libraries. 
 
 Silvestre gives an excellently chosen example of 
 Roman capital writing of the commencement of the 
 ninth century from the Latin gospels of St. Medard 
 of Soissons ; this Manuscript is written with liquid 
 gold, and contains specimens, not only of capital 
 writing, but also of the fine Gallican majuscule and 
 uncial characters. Some of the capitals are tall and 
 elegantly formed, but unequal in size, some of the 
 strokes terminating in short curved ornaments. The 
 volume, which is considered to be one of the most 
 valuable extant, is of remarkably large size, written 
 on extremely fine vellum, and celebrated for the 
 perfection of its writing and the beauty and variety 
 of the ornamentation which has been lavished upon 
 it. Tradition affirms that the Emperor Louis Le 
 Debonnaire (a.d. 814-840) presented the book to the 
 church of St. Medard, but Bastard and other 
 palaeographers ascribe the date of this volume rather 
 to the eighth century ; and this view is, according 
 to Madden, very reasonably entertained, seeing that 
 the volume presents many similar points of com- 
 parison with the golden evangeliary of Charlemagne, 
 written in the year 780, and now in the Bibliotheque 
 particuliere at the Louvre, with the golden gospels 
 given in the year 793 by the same monarch to St. 
 Angilbert, and now in the Abbeville library, and with 
 the golden gospels in the Harley collection in the 
 British Museum, No. 2788. This latter Manuscript 
 is almost a duplicate copy of the St. Medard gospels. 
 
i6 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 The illustrations of this are in the Byzantine style 
 of art. 
 
 Many other fine examples of Roman capital and 
 uncial writing, in Manuscripts executed without doubt 
 during the period under review, might easily be 
 mentioned, but it is now necessary to consider that 
 particular subdivision of the simple capital which 
 has been termed the Rustic Capital, or Rustic Roman: 
 and as our Utrecht Psalter is written in this very 
 hand it will be necessary to examine this branch 
 of the handwriting with great consideration. One 
 of the earliest, if not the very earliest Manu- 
 script written in this hand, is the square Virgil in 
 the Vatican library, No. 3225, and one of three 
 Manuscripts of this celebrated poet, which have long 
 attracted the admiration of all lovers of ancient art, 
 as well as the veneration of all scholars for the 
 purity of the text they exhibit. This No. 3225 is 
 considered the oldest of the three : it is of a square 
 quarto size, such as is usually found in very old 
 Manuscripts, and in this point it may be compared 
 with the Utrecht Manuscript. It is written upon 
 vellum, and the text is adorned with many paintings, 
 the subjects referring to the incidents of the contexts. 
 The style of execution, as demonstrated by the few 
 surviving portions of -the volume, demands careful 
 examination. From the very earliest time that the 
 study of palaeography formed one of the subjects of 
 literary enquiry this Manuscript has acquired a very 
 great interest in the eyes of the scientific. In 1686 
 Emmanuel a Schelestrate, prefect of the Vatican, 
 J. P. Bellorio, and the renowned Mabillon examined 
 
 r 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 17 
 
 it very carefully, and united in drawing up a written 
 account of the results of their joint investigation. 
 The examiners considered that while the styles of the 
 illustrations were those which would have obtained 
 in the age of Constantine, such as temples, victories 
 buildings, galleys with double banks of oars, Phry- 
 gian costumes and armour, yet that all these de- 
 tails had been executed in a manner far superior, 
 in point of design, to the work which that declining 
 age was capable of producing, and hence they came 
 to the conclusion that the work must be attributed 
 a period anterior to Constantine, and the rather 
 referred to the time of Septimus Severus (a.d. 193- 
 211). They observed, too, nothing which is not 
 agreeable to the older period of the Roman empire. 1 
 Silvestre* says of this Manuscript: " The peculiar 
 forms of some of its letters have afforded grounds 
 for determining its real age, and those who regard it 
 as of the age of Septimus Severus, (the beginning of 
 the third century), refer to the G, the half-circle of- 
 which is generally terminated by a small comma- 
 like stroke; — the same form being found on a sun- 
 dial which is assigned to that period. It will be 
 seen that the Manuscript is written in majuscule 
 Roman capitals, of an elegant but somewhat careless 
 form ; the bases and tops short, the latter horizontal, 
 and the bases circumflexed." At this part of the 
 detailed description Madden takes occasion to 
 observe that " It may be remarked that this 
 
 1 Cf. Nouveau Traite, III., 57 n. ; Catalogue of the Lansdowne MSS. in the British 
 Museum, Vol. II., p. 198, col. 1 ; and Hardy, The Athanasian Creed, etc., p. 25. 
 
 2 Vol. I., p. 265-267. 
 
1 8 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 minuteness of observation on the forms of the letters 
 is not always borne out by the text, nor easy to be 
 literally rendered. The tops of many of the letters 
 are precisely of the same form as the bases, and it is 
 not a correct distinction to state that the former are 
 horizontal, and the latter en forme d'osselet (~) or 
 circumflexed." The original description proceeds 
 thus: " The cross strokes are still shorter, but 
 horizontal,, the words are not divided, and the 
 phrases punctuated ; the point on the top of the line 
 indicating a full stop, and when placed in the middle 
 or at the bottom, being equivalent to a comma or 
 semicolon. The second stroke of the U is prolonged 
 below the line, which is peculiar to this kind of 
 writing. Schelestrate says, that the U in this 
 Manuscript is round, whilst Mabillon calls it square; 
 but the fact is, that the two strokes of the letter are 
 united on the level of the line by the rounded up- 
 stroke from the bottom of the first limb, and as this 
 stroke was executed with more or less care, the 
 letter appears square when negligently written, 
 although in reality rounded when regular. The 
 letter A is destitute of the cross-stroke ; its first limb 
 is perpendicular, and the second strong and oblique, 
 and extends beyond the point of formation at the 
 top. The F is taller than the other letters, its top 
 stroke sometimes horizontal, its cross stroke very 
 short, and the base curved ; the P is not perfectly 
 closed ; the top of the T is very short, scarcely 
 exceeding its base, both being curved ; the L has its 
 perpendicular stroke above the line, and dilated 
 gradually to the top, which is bent to the left and 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 1 9 
 
 obliquely formed ; the two half circles of the O are 
 united at a point on the left of the central line. 
 The general character of the writing is massy, close, 
 and square in all the rectangular letters." Such is 
 a very excellent account of this wondrous Manu- 
 script, and readers who wish to see some of the 
 spirit of the drawings which it contains, may, with 
 profit, consult the original coloured drawings of 
 the miniatures, which were made for the Cardinal 
 de' Massimi in 1642, and after passing into the 
 collections of Bartoli, Mead, and Askew, found a 
 final resting place among the Lansdowne Manuscripts 
 in the British Museum, No. 834. 
 
 Of this Manuscript, the following extracts are 
 taken from the description in the Catalogue prepared 
 in 1819 by Sir Henry Ellis, keeper of the Department 
 of Manuscripts in the British Museum, for the 
 Commissioners of Public Records, and may be , 
 considered to represent the opinion of that learned 
 antiquary: U A facsimile copy of the celebrated 
 Virgil preserved in the Vatican library, made by 
 Pietro Santi Bartoli, and accompanied with fifty 
 drawings in gold and colours, besides the very 
 elegant frontispiece which has the following inscrip- 
 tion : — Camillus Maximus imagines ex P. Virgilii 
 Maronis veteri codice qui in bibliothceca Vaticana servatur 
 Urbani VIII. Pont. Maximi concessu pingi curavit, 
 MDCXLII . Of the age of the original Manuscript 
 it would be impossible to speak with certainty, and 
 various have been the opinions of learned men on 
 the subject. It has been carried as far back as the 
 reign of Septimius Severus ; but certainly without 
 
20 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the least authority, and with every probability of 
 erroneous conception. They seem to be nearer the 
 truth who ascribe it to the time of Constantine the 
 Great, especially if there be, as is asserted by the 
 Abbe Winckelman, a nearly contemporary memo- 
 randum in the MS. itself to that effect, which, if 
 genuine, will do away with the opinion of those who, 
 by collation with the Florentine Virgil, contend that 
 it is not earlier than the fifth century. Another set 
 of critics admit the Manuscript to be of the time of 
 Constantine, but consider the paintings as copied 
 from originals of a much earlier period. This 
 opinion seems to have been founded merely on the 
 style of Bartoli's copies ; and it is to be remembered 
 that this ingenious artist has been accused of a 
 systematical intention of making several meaner 
 specimens of art appear as the production of a 
 better age than they really belong to. It is certain, 
 however, that none can have the fair means of 
 judging without a comparison of the copies with 
 the paintings in the Manuscript. There have 
 been several publications of it accompanied with 
 Bartoli's engravings. The Vatican Manuscript in 
 question (for there are others in that library with 
 which it has been confounded) is written on 
 parchment, but is said to be sadly mutilated and 
 to contain only fragments of the Bucolics, the 
 Georgics and the i^Eneid." .... " Cardinal Camillo 
 Massimi, who died in 1677, had himself begun the 
 publication of these drawings, but did not live to 
 complete it. He was a passionate lover of the arts, 
 and had been taught to draw by the celebrated 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 21 
 
 Nicolas Poussin. Being a great admirer of the 
 paintings left by the ancients, he had employed 
 Bartoli to make copies of all that were then 
 remaining at Rome ; and this collection was 
 purchased in 1738 for ^200 by Dr. Mead." . . . . 
 "The present Manuscript, which undoubtedly formed 
 a part of the above collection was sold among 
 the Doctor's books, and purchased by Dr. Askew 
 for five guineas, at whose auction it was again 
 bought by the Marquis of Lansdowne for twenty 
 guineas." 
 
 It is difficult, without a collation of the original 
 with this copy, which has been executed throughout 
 in a very careful and elaborate manner, to say how 
 far it deserves to be called a faithful facsimile ; but 
 the paintings of the copy appear perhaps too highly 
 coloured, too artificial and picturesque, for the 
 period to which the original has been fairly assigned, 
 and the artist has certainly allowed his own style, 
 and the prevailing style of his period, to influence 
 the feeling of the illustrations. The writing is 
 undoubtedly some of the oldest Rustic character now 
 in existence, and of an age when the distinctions 
 between the capital and the Rustic had not become 
 so clearly defined and so manifestly divergent, as we 
 may observe them in later examples. 
 
 Another very beautiful example of this peculiar 
 character is well exhibited by another classical 
 Manuscript in the same library. It is the well 
 known copy of the Comedies of P. Terentius Afer, 
 (Vatican MS., No. 3226). This ancient book, which 
 has received the distinctive appellation of the Vatican 
 
22 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Terence, has long been a prominent theme of 
 admiration with all the principal writers on palseo- 
 graphic subjects. The great popularity of the works 
 of the comedian Terence sufficiently accounts for the 
 expectation we should naturally have, that some 
 example of them, executed at a very remote period, 
 such as this Manuscript is, should exist, and it is 
 most probable that this particular volume was 
 executed in the fourth century, and for a Roman 
 library or for a wealthy and intellectual citizen of 
 that empire. A contemplation of this very elegantly 
 written Manuscript shows that the general form of 
 the letters, resembling very closely the Roman 
 capitals in many respects, yet is of that irregular 
 nature which developed into the well-defined Rustic 
 of succeeding centuries, when the broken, acute, and 
 irregular strokes, here seen in their earliest forms, 
 became thoroughly developed and more distinctively 
 applied. 
 
 For Roman Rustic writing of the succeeding 
 century, we may examine a very typical example in 
 the well known Manuscript of Virgil's works, which 
 is preserved in the Laurentian library at Florence. 
 This Manuscript has created a great amount of 
 criticism among the principal palaeographers, and 
 its exact position with regard to other specimens 
 of Rustic writing has frequently been contested. 
 Silvestre, in his great work on palaeography, gives a 
 circumstantial account of its history from its acqui- 
 sition by Cardinal Ridolfo Carpi, who died in 1549, 
 to its admission into its present resting-place ; and 
 proceeds to describe the peculiarities exhibited by 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 23 
 
 its writing in the following words : — 11 It is a 
 moderately-sized quarto volume, of a square form, 
 written on vellum, in perfect preservation, and 
 consists of four hundred and forty leaves written 
 on both sides, in capital Roman letters, elegant and 
 massive, with the bases, cross, and top strokes Rustic 
 and short ; a few of the down strokes reaching below 
 the line, and some of the letters taller than the rest, 
 with the words not separated from each other. The 
 first three lines of each book are written in vermillion. 
 The abbreviation B. signifying bus, and Q. que. 
 The scholars of Italy have regarded this Manuscript 
 as earlier than the fourth century, but this opinion is 
 not followed by those of other countries." Luke 
 Holstein 1 referred it to the end of the fourth century, 
 about the time of the Emperors Valens and Theo- 
 dosius ; at all events, it is certain that the Manuscript 
 was in existence at the close of the fifth century, 
 since it bears an inscription at the end of the 
 Bucolics respecting its correction by the hands of 
 Turcius Rufus Apronianus Asterius, a literary citizen 
 of Rome, who enjoyed the dignity of Consul in the 
 year 494. It is on these grounds that this volume 
 has been more generally referred to the fifth century, 
 and in this latter view Silvestre and Sir Frederic 
 Madden appear to concur. The librarian Bandini, 
 in his Catalogus Codicum Latinorum Bibliothecae 
 Mediceae Laurentianae, torn. ii. coll. 281-299, gives an 
 exhaustive account, historical and descriptive, of this 
 
 1 "Virgilius majusculis litteris scriptus in quadrato, omnium Codicum hujus 
 Bibliothecae est antiquissimus, mille ducentorum circiter annorum, nam circa Valentis 
 aut Theodosii tempora scriptum existimo. {Bandini, II., 293.) 
 
24 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 ancient Manuscript, and in the opening sentences 
 says of it : — " Inter Virgilianos Codices manu 
 exaratos, qui plurimi in hac servantur Bibliotheca, 
 unus hie, quo de agimus, longe ceteris praestat, sive 
 characteris antiquitatem, sive elegantiam spectes, 
 adeo ut jure Optimo Nicolaus Heinsius, Musarum 
 deliciae ac Parnassi decus, in Praefatione suae 
 omnium emendatissimae Virgilianae editionis, 
 eumdem Codicem dixerit unum instar omnium, qui 
 par em vetustate nullum per Europam universam habeat." 
 In another passage, he says, concerning the date : — 
 " Ceterum annus, quo idem codex exaratus fait, in 
 obscuro latet, et satis credibile videtur antiqua manu 
 fuisse scriptum." The same author, after reviewing 
 the various criticisms which have been promulgated 
 respecting the age of the writing, sums up the 
 description of the volume as " Codex membranaceus 
 MS. in 4 min. Ssec. V. vere insignis optime servatus 
 et initio mutilus." This Manuscript has been 
 printed in facsimile letters by P. F. Foggini, Prefect 
 of the Vatican, in 1741. 
 
 Another very useful example of Rustic writing of 
 this century is that which is afforded us in the 
 Vatican Manuscript No. 3867, a Virgil, ornamented 
 with miniatures. This too is one of those relics of 
 bygone ages which excite admiration and astonish- 
 ment at the beauty of the design and the excellence 
 of the execution, and at the same time stir up within 
 us the regret that so very limited a number of such 
 specimens exist, saved by we know not what 
 fortunate accident, out of the general and almost 
 universal destruction which the barbarity of the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 25 
 
 early middle ages, when all learning and art were 
 thrust down by the rude shocks of conflicting greed 
 for power and love of wholesale conquest, brought to 
 bear upon the priceless productions of ages anterior 
 to their own. Of the origin of this Manuscript little 
 is known beyond the fact of a discovery by Mont- 
 faucon that it formerly belonged to the monastery of 
 St. Denis, in France, as early as the thirteenth 
 century, before it was deposited in the library where 
 it is now preserved. A facsimile of a few words 
 of this volume will be found in Mabillon De Re 
 Diplomatica (pp. 352, 353), and in 'the Nouveau 
 Traite, III., 61, 62 ; while in Silvestre (Plate CI I.) 
 a complete page of the work is given for the first 
 time. This leaf shows a miniature of " three shep- 
 herds, engaged in discourse, surrounded by their 
 flocks their names appear " on the top line of the 
 text, taken from the third Eclogue of the poet of 
 Mantua. This top line, as well as the names of the 
 speakers introduced into the text, is written in red, 
 , the use of which is an acknowledged mark of 
 antiquity. The letters are of the same form and 
 size throughout the Manuscript ; they are of the 
 kind termed Roman Rustic, or negligent capitals, 
 and of a rectangular form, as distinguished from the 
 round uncial letters. They are taller than broad ; 
 rather narrow, but elegant, with the bases, cross- 
 strokes, and summits circumflexed. The V is rather 
 rounded at bottom ; the horizontal strokes of the E 
 are very short ; A is without the middle stroke, and 
 the thick stroke is elevated above its junction ; the 
 T without a clearly defined top-stroke ; P with a 
 
 5 
 
26 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 very small and rather open bow ; L without a cross- 
 stroke at the top ; F and B with strokes exceeding 
 the ordinary height of the lines ; the vowels OE and 
 AE always separated ; Y not dotted ; the tails of L 
 and Q prolonged beneath the lines ; and at the ends 
 of lines the letters of a smaller size. The words are 
 not separated and the punctuation which occurs after 
 each word ( often faulty by confounding the syllables ) has 
 been added by a later and unskilful hand ; entire pages 
 being found without any stops." Mabillon and 
 Montfaucon considered this Manuscript one of the 
 very oldest date ; Bottari, the Vatican librarian, was 
 inclined to date it before the fourth century, but the 
 Benedictine authors of the Nouveau Traite were 
 unwilling to accord that antiquity to it ; Silvestre 
 states that it does not appear to be later than the 
 fifth century, and gives it as his opinion that the 
 paintings evidently belong to the period of decline of 
 art; while, on the other hand, Seroux d'Agincourt in 
 his Histoire de VArt, (II. 74, III. 69) would place the 
 miniatures as low as the twelfth or thirteenth 
 century ! 
 
 Another very instructive example of Roman 
 Rustic handwriting is that found in the fragments 
 of Sallust's Roman History, preserved in that world- 
 renowned repository of classical Manuscripts, the 
 Library of the Vatican. These fragments consist, 
 unfortunately, of but four leaves of vellum, con- 
 taining in all eight imperfect pages of the historical 
 text. The history of these Manuscript fragments is, 
 that the first discovery of them is attributed to 
 Andreas Schott, a learned native of Antwerp who 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 27 
 
 flourished in the sixteenth century. He sent them 
 to the illustrious editor of classical texts, Justus 
 Lipsius, and from this latter they were in turn 
 acquired by Pierre Daniel. At this stage of their 
 history they were for a time lost to reputation, and 
 we do not find them noticed again, until after a lapse 
 of two hundred years, when they were acquired in 
 France by Christina, Queen of Sweden, who pre- 
 sented them to the Vatican Library, and there they 
 are now carefully preserved. These fragments were 
 edited by Cardinal Angelo Mai, the celebrated dis- 
 coverer of so many Palimpsests, in his work entitled 
 " Classiccrum auctorum e Vaticanis codicibus editorum 
 tomus I, curante Angelo Mai,' 1 published at Rome in 
 1828. Silvestre, as well as the learned author of 
 the above work, reproduces a facsimile of the 
 writing, from which it may be gathered that the 
 hand is the " Rustic Roman Capital, rather tall, with 
 short heads and bases, thick and circumflexed, and 
 with short cross strokes ; some of the tall letters 
 reaching above the line ; the words continuous, 
 without either punctuation or abbreviations, and 
 with a few of the letters slightly inclining to the 
 uncial form." This Manuscript is written in the 
 form of two columns to the page, and Silvestre 
 concludes his interesting account of these literary 
 remains by stating that they were " unquestionably 
 written in the fourth or fifth century." 
 
 Another invaluable specimen of the beautiful 
 Rustic Roman Capital may be examined in the 
 Manuscript No. 8084 in the Bibliotheque Nationale, 
 a copy of the poems of Aurelius Prudentius 
 
 5* 
 
28 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Clemens, a native of Saragossa (born a.d. 348) ; 
 an imperial soldier, and, in later life, a Christian 
 poet, whose poems, while they are generally ranked 
 with the concluding pieces on the list of Classical 
 authors, yet bear no insignificant resemblance to the 
 rhyming monastic versification of centuries later 
 than the fourth. These poems appear, from their 
 very nature, to have been always in great request 
 and esteem, and it is very probable that numerous 
 examples of them were in circulation among the 
 Christian subjects of the Empire. A page of this 
 Manuscript has been given in facsimile by Silvestre, 
 and this author attributes its date to the sixth 
 century, although Mabillon without hesitation con- 
 sidered that it should rather be referred to the 
 fourth century, and thereby would appear to make it 
 contemporary with the writer himself. This latter 
 author is followed by Natalis de Wailly, in his 
 Elements de Paleographie (v. II., pi. II.) who gives 
 four lines in facsimile, and assigns the Manuscript to 
 the fourth century. 
 
 There are several points of very great interest 
 in this venerable Manuscript, which has been truly 
 described as one of the most ancient as well as 
 most " elegant productions of the graphic art in 
 Western Europe." One especially interesting point 
 is, that it is, by universal consent, attributed to 
 the same period in which a powerful section of 
 "critics has placed the Utrecht Psalter itself. It is 
 written upon vellum of unequal quality, but the 
 vellum has been carefully selected for perfectness 
 and finish. In its present condition it is represented 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 29 
 
 by a collection of 158 leaves arranged in quaternions, 
 or gatherings of four leaves each, which are re- 
 spectively numbered with Roman numerals, preceded 
 by the letter Q. for quaternio, placed at the foot of 
 the page. This peculiar manner of direction to the 
 binder is by no means confined to this Manuscript, 
 and is found in those to which the most extreme 
 antiquity can be assigned. There are indications 
 that the writing is the work of a learned scribe and 
 not a mere calligrapher, and the corrections which 
 exist are such as we should naturally expect in 
 a Manuscript of this nature. Sir Frederic Madden 
 thus describes the nature of the letters. " The 
 letters are tall and elegant, with words continuous ; 
 with thick oblique strokes and slender vertical 
 strokes ; the letters upright ; the F and L rising 
 above the line ; the A without a cross stroke ; the 
 middle bar of the E extending on each side of the 
 perpendicular stroke ; the H nearly resembling K 
 (a form which occurs in the codices of Terence and 
 Sallust in the Vatican Library) ; and the U and V 
 triangular. Some of the letters are conjoined in the 
 body of the text but more commonly at the end of 
 lines. The chief character of the writing consists in 
 having the bases and cross-strokes circumflexed." 
 
 Of this most beautiful specimen of bold and firm 
 Rustic character, the Palseographical Society has 
 given two very excellent full-page facsimiles in per- 
 manent autotype photography ; and this style of 
 reproduction may be compared with that method 
 employed by Silvestre, with much advantage and 
 interest ; inasmuch as a comparison of these two 
 
30 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 principal forms of facsimile, — viz., the sun- or nature- 
 picture, which perpetuates on its face even every 
 tiny speck or hair mark which obtains over the 
 whole surface of the vellum, and the hand-made 
 engraving or artificial lithograph which studiously 
 avoids all unnecessary blemishes, and so throws up 
 the characteristics of the letters into stronger relief, — 
 clearly indicates the amazing superiority of the first- 
 named chemical process. The Manuscript, whence 
 these two pages of these early Christian poems of 
 Prudentius have been derived, is described by the 
 Palseographical Society as of the beginning of the 
 sixth century, written on very thin vellum, 155 1 
 leaves, measuring n| inches by 11 inches, and with 
 a complement of twenty lines, sometimes nineteen, 
 to a page. The occurrence at folio 45 of a half- 
 erased note in semi-uncial characters, which has 
 
 been deciphered thus, " tins Agorius 
 
 Basilius" written in the same handwriting as are the 
 marginal notes explanatory of the various metres of 
 the poems, has led to the identification of the anno- 
 tator, as Vettius Agorius Basilius, more commonly 
 known under the name of Mavortius,* Consul of the 
 West in the year 527. The gatherings are nearly 
 always of eight leaves, signed on the verso of the last 
 leaf ; the numeration begins afresh after the quire 
 signed x. The ruling is on one side of the leaf and 
 has been made with a dry point ; this lining often 
 
 1 Silvestre says 158, see page 29. 
 
 2 Professor Ramsay states (Smith's Diet, of G. and R. Biogr.) that according- to 
 Bentley, this writer arranged the works of Horace in their present form ; and that he 
 is supposed, by a recent critic, whose reasonings will not bear close investigation, to 
 have interpolated a number of spurious pieces. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 31 
 
 extends beyond the vertical bounding lines. The 
 writing, which is in Rustic capitals, is without sepa- 
 ration of words, and placed between lines. The 
 first three or four lines of some of the pieces are 
 written in red ink, and there are running titles in 
 smaller characters in different portions of the 
 Manuscript. 
 
 The two plates represent, according to the Editors 
 of the Palseographical Society's Publication, speci- 
 mens of writing by two different hands. Contrac- 
 tions are sparingly employed, and confined to the 
 sacred names ; the constantly recurring Q. for QVE, 
 and B. for BVS, which have been already referred 
 to in descriptions of older Manuscripts ; and a 
 final M occasionally eliminated, a horizontal stroke, 
 hooked at the ends, being placed after the word, in 
 a line with the letters and in place of the M for 
 which it is substituted. There are no accents, and 
 there is no original punctuation, but some full points have 
 been inserted at later dates. The forms of the letters 
 demand careful examination. A has no cross-bar 
 and the thick right hand line always passes beyond 
 the thin stem of the left hand. The upper loops of 
 B, P, and R, are smaller in proportion to other 
 shapes. C and D are firm and stable, but not very 
 full or rounded in their curves. The three cross- 
 strokes of E are short, slightly curved, and placed in 
 such a position with regard to the vertical stroke 
 that they project equally on either side, like the 
 arms of the ancient Greek f (3E) as given in Jeff's 
 Grammar, from Sacellaropoulu and Bockh. The 
 cross stroke of F is formed on the same plan, the 
 
32 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 summit of this letter forming a bold flourish, 1 1 some- 
 times broken at the beginning by lightness of 
 hand." This letter is carried far above the line 
 of the others, probably to distinguish it from the 
 E which in other respects it is very like. The 
 final stroke of the G is short, thick, and up- 
 turned, sometimes disconnected from the other part 
 of the letter. H in this Manuscript is of a very 
 remarkable shape, like a modern K, and L like F 
 rises above the line. " O is sometimes reduced in 
 size when following C ; the bow of P is open ; the 
 lower stroke of S is horizontal ; Y is not dotted, and 
 sometimes rises above the line. Combinations 
 occur of ND, NS, NT, OS, UM, UNT, UR, US, 
 UT. Initials of paragraphs are of the same 
 character and size as the letters of the text." As 
 regards correction, marks to indicate erasures are 
 dots placed above the letters, or sometimes beneath 
 them. " Words are also scored through with the 
 pen. Alterations are interlined. There are a few 
 corrections and marginal marks of later date. 
 Notes of the metres of the different pieces, etc., 
 are written in the margins in a small half cursive 
 hand of mixed uncials and minuscules of contem- 
 poraneous date." No ornamentation has been em- 
 ployed throughout the Manuscript. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hardy (in his First Report on the 
 Athanasian Creed, at page 23, and in his Further 
 Report, at page 37, both of which Treatises will be 
 carefully examined presently,) speaks of the writing 
 of this Paris Manuscript, which he admits to be of 
 the sixth century, as so wholly resembling that of the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 33 
 
 Utrecht Psalter that it is difficult to believe that the 
 two Manuscripts were not written by the same 
 scribe. This statement must, however, be accepted 
 with great reservation, for apart from the general 
 Rustic appearance of the letters of either Manuscript, 
 their individual characteristics are diametrically 
 opposed to each other : for in the forms of this Paris 
 MS. 8084, there is a boldness, firmness, breadth and 
 grandeur entirely wanting in those of the Utrecht 
 Manuscript which slope and occasionally totter, 
 while they are smaller and certainly less dashingly 
 penned than their brilliant predecessors in the poems 
 of Prudentius in this French codex. Sir Thomas, 
 nevertheless, argues, from an inspection of the first 
 three out of a passage of six lines commencing a hymn, 
 taken from this Paris Manuscript, given 1 in the 
 Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique, and not from an 
 actual inspection of the book itself, nor from a 
 photographic copy, that the words of the hymns are 
 run together but divided by virgules according to 
 the metrical scansion of the lines ; and he quotes a 
 passage so punctuated or scanned commencing 
 thus : — 
 
 DAPU,ERPLEC,TRUMCHO,RAEIS,UTCA, 
 NAMFI,DELIBUS 
 
 This three-line example, which has evidently 
 been so scanned to indicate the metre of the whole 
 hymn, and another specimen taken equally from 
 the French work already referred to, are selected 
 in support of the statement : " not only that 
 
 1 Plate 35, Tom. B, p. 50. - 
 
34 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Manuscripts of the sixth and seventh century contained 
 punctuation, but that it was liberally used at this 
 early date." At the same time the learned Reporter 
 selects a third example from a sixth century Rustic 
 Manuscript (Vatican, Palatin. 1631) where no such 
 marks of scansion are employed, "for the purpose of 
 showing that punctuation is no criterion of the age 
 of a Manuscript." Now, it is only necessary to say 
 here, that the comma-like marks of scansion in the 
 line quoted above cannot be regarded in the light of 
 punctuation, in the ordinary acceptance of the term ; 
 and as the two photographic facsimiles of this 
 Prudentius, from which the Benedictine authors of 
 the Nouveau Traite profess to have copied them, fail 
 to exhibit any such csesural or tonic marks, which 
 have been called punctuation, we are compelled to 
 believe either that these marks have been inserted 
 into occasional parts of the Manuscript at uncertain 
 periods, and for purposes of indicating the quantities 
 of the feet, and for instruction in reading, or that 
 the virgulated specimen has been by some means 
 erroneously ascribed to the Paris Prudentius instead 
 of being attributed to another unidentified Manu- 
 script of similar age, character, and contents, which 
 may indeed exhibit these virgules as they are re- 
 presented in the facsimiles. This latter case 
 would indeed appear to be more likely than the 
 former, and to acquire greater probability from the 
 fact that the facsimile given in the above French 
 work does resemble the writing of the Utrecht 
 Psalter more closely than that of the Prudentius of 
 which we have two pages before us by the operations 
 
I 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 35 
 
 of the Palseographic Society. It is unnecessary to 
 digress further in this place respecting the punctua- 
 tion of Manuscripts, as the subject will be considered 
 hereafter in connection with the stops found in the 
 text of the Utrecht Manuscript. 
 
 Other fine specimens of Rustic Roman writing of 
 the sixth century might be here mentioned and 
 described at length, but we must be content to 
 merely indicate their existence by referring the 
 reader generally to the works of Silvestre and 
 Mabillon, the Nouveau Traite, and such other books 
 which treat upon this branch of palaeography, the 
 full titles of which will be found further on in this 
 present chapter. 
 
 The Amiatine Bible has been selected by Bandini 
 as a vehicle for a very interesting and learned 
 dissertation inserted into the Bibliotheca Leopoldino- 
 Laurentiana, 1 wherein he expresses his opinion that 
 this Manuscript, which derives its appellation from 
 the fact that it formerly belonged to the Cistercian 
 monastery of St. Saviour on Monte Amiati, near 
 Chiusi in Tuscany, is of the sixth century. But 
 Silvestre places it in the succeeding century, and so 
 would demolish an interesting theory, implicitly 
 believed in the eleventh century, that it was entirely 
 written by the hand of the sainted Pope Gregory the 
 Great (who died in a.d. 604), because it contains a 
 note relating to Servandus who died in the year 543. 
 This Manuscript contains the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, according to the Vulgate Version, and is 
 very finely written upon choice vellum. The first of 
 
 1 Tom. i., cols. 701-732. 
 
36 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the two facsimiles given by Silvestre shows writing of 
 " tall, irregular, inelegant Rustic Roman capitals 
 with the words divided, mingled with some uncials 
 truncated at the base, and the summits simple or 
 bent ; the V, U, and N, with strokes below the line ; 
 the cross strokes of the E not truncated ; the A 
 generally without the bar, and the thick stroke 
 topping over the thinner ; most of the angles of the 
 letters being turned upwards into a kind of hook. 
 Such a writing may be of all ages, either original or 
 by imitation ; but from the union of its various 
 characters the volume may be referred to the 
 seventh century." 
 
 The Bibliotheque Nationale, at Paris, offers us, 
 through the medium of the author and translator 
 whom we have already quoted on several occasions, 
 a valuable example of Rustic Roman capitals mixed 
 with Gallican uncials of about the sixth or seventh cen- 
 tury (No. 669, Suppl. Lat.) in the Epigrams of Prosper 
 of Aquitaine, a disciple of St. Augustine, and a famous 
 doctor of the church, who died in the middle of the 
 fifth century. The present volume of his works is 
 esteemed to be one of the most precious treasures 
 among the Manuscripts in the Bibliotheque Na- 
 tionale, and this on account of its great antiquity 
 and unrivalled calligraphy. Silvestre details the 
 history of the book at length, wherein it appears to 
 have formerly belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of 
 Fleury, or St. Benoit-sur-Loire, and to the Library 
 of Sedan. From the facsimile we may observe that 
 the heading and rubrics are written in " rather 
 elegant massive Roman capitals of the Rustic form, 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 37 
 
 with short oblique summits and bases, and with a 
 few of the top strokes long and curved. Such is 
 also the character of the writing of the rubricated 
 titles after the text of the preface." But the preface 
 itself, as well as two epigrams given in the plate 
 (CXI 1 1.) are, on the contrary, "in elegant Gallican 
 uncial writing, with full strokes and continuous, the 
 letters wide apart, the tails obliquely cut off, and, at 
 the ends of the lines, the letters smaller and con- 
 joined." It is worthy of remark in this Manuscript 
 that the letters N T are conjoined, a practice 
 originating at a very early period and occurring 
 constantly in almost every kind of writing down to 
 the twelfth and even later centuries. The beautiful 
 execution exhibited by the Manuscript, which has 
 been copied on the finest white vellum, is also a 
 subject of proper admiration, and the date may be 
 placed to the sixth, or at the latest the seventh 
 century. 
 
 Although it would be indeed difficult to point out 
 any Manuscript written in Rustic characters 
 throughout the whole of its contents, to which any 
 date more nearly approaching our own times than 
 the seventh century could or has been rationally 
 assigned, yet the partial use of the Rustic Roman 
 capital lingered for many ages among the scribes and 
 illuminators of the next three or four centuries, and 
 we may at pleasure select from our own National 
 Library in the British Museum, or from the plates of 
 the principal works on palaeography, any number of 
 Manuscripts written in majuscule or minuscule 
 character, adorned with headings, rubrics, titles, and 
 
38 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 initial letters derived from Rustic prototypes. It will, 
 however, be unnecessary to prosecute our researches 
 any further into this subject, and the consideration 
 of the Rustic letter may be brought to a close with 
 the examination of a facsimile from a Manuscript in 
 the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 
 (No. 286) which, through the assistance of the 
 Palseographical Society, is fortunately accessible 
 to the body of students of the ancient art of writing, 
 and of which a full-page illustration will be found in 
 Part IV. pi. 44 of the publication of that Society. 1 
 This specimen of Rustic letter consists of the single 
 hexameter line 
 
 +IURASACERDOTII-LUCAS-TENET-ORA- 
 
 . ! IUBENCI 
 
 which has been carefully inscribed along the archi- 
 trave of an architectural erection placed around the 
 seated figure of St. Luke the Apostle and Evan- 
 gelist. The sentence evidently is epigrammatic, 
 and contains an allusion in its first part to the 
 priestly nature of the twelve disciples, and in its 
 latter portion to the symbolical representation of the 
 winged calf, the emblem of St. Luke in the Revela- 
 tion (iv. 7), the or a juvenci referring to the depiction 
 of a winged calf, half length, holding a book, and 
 placed upon the architrave and beneath a semi- 
 circular arch overhead. This specimen of Rustic, 
 of the seventh century, indicates that the character 
 was still in possession of all the beauty and 
 
 1 Compare the same picture, coloured, in Westwood's Palceografthia Sacra, where 
 the emendation of Jure sacerdotis is proposed. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 39 
 
 individuality, but beginning to lack the regularity, 
 firmness, and strength, that some of the last whole- 
 text specimens of the Rustic Roman character 
 possess. The letters, though perhaps rather cir- 
 cumscribed in size, are, for the most part, of 
 excellent shape ; the A open without a bar ; the 
 upper loop of the B considerably smaller than the 
 lower loop ; C and D fully rounded ; the bars of the 
 E more pronounced and not carried out so far on 
 the left side as on the right ; L is carried above the 
 line ; the O possesses two forms, a very round one 
 in the second word, a more purely Rustic shaping in 
 the fifth ; T also has two forms, for in the word 
 sacerdotii and the first T of tenet this letter has 
 its trunk carried far up above the line, but the 
 second t in the latter word is smaller and of a 
 similar size to the context. The miniatures which 
 accompany this figure have descriptive marginal 
 sentences written in small uncial characters. 
 
 This part of the subject may now well be 
 dismissed with a tabular synopsis of the principal 
 styles of writing used in the Western Empire up to 
 the tenth century, for there never has been any 
 serious endeavour to place the date of the Utrecht 
 Psalter later than that epoch. In the following 
 table references will be found to typical and world- 
 renowned Manuscripts, of which the originals are 
 preserved in the British Museum and other Euro- 
 pean Libraries, and of which facsimiles are for the 
 most part given in the leading works on Palaeography. 
 The italic columns indicate the century to which, by 
 preponderance of critical opinion, the respective 
 
4o 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 codices have been assigned, the subdivisions con- 
 taining the columns show the styles of handwriting 
 in their order of antiquity, viz., Cursive, Capital, 
 Rustic Capital, Uncial, and mixed styles, and the 
 general arrangement of the table easily explains 
 itself without further comment : — 
 
 Tabular Arrangement of Typical Latin Manuscripts and 
 Handwritings, to the Tenth Century. 
 
 (a.) Cursive Characters. 
 
 Earliest. 
 
 Graffiti of Italian cities. 
 2nd century after Christ. 
 
 Forged wax tablets, see page 9 supra, 
 yd cent. 
 
 Latin Papyrus, v. Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, torn. 2, 
 
 Manuscrits, pi. 12. 
 (Letronne, pi. 47 ?) 
 
 yd or 4th cent. 
 
 Papyrus of Ravenna at Paris, see page 9 ; Silvestre, pi. 
 xcviii. 
 
 $th cent. 
 
 G. Marini, L Papiri Diplomatici, No. 73, circ. a.d. 444. 
 ibid., No. 82, a.d. 489. 
 ibid., No. 84, a.d. 491. 
 
 6th cent. 
 
 Marini, Nos. 85, 116, 86, 74, 99, 87, 75, 131, 138, 121, 
 
 dated A.B. 523, 541, 553, etc. 
 J. A. Letronne, Diplomata et Charted Merovingicce, ALtatis, 
 
 pi. 1-2, dated 558, 566. 
 Papyrus of Ravenna in British Museum, a.d. 572, see p. 10. 
 Homilies of St. Avitus, Le Moyen Age, pi. 16. Silvestre, 
 
 clxiv. seep. 11. (Cursive Romano-Gallican). 
 Parisian Ravenna-Testament, Silv. exxxiii. 
 
 6th or jth cent. 
 
 Marini, Nos. 90, 92. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 41 
 
 jth cent. 
 
 ibid.) No. 95, a.d. 639. 
 
 Letronne, passim. 
 
 Silv. pi. clxv., clxvi. 
 jth or Sth cent. 
 
 Ambrosian Josephus, Palaeographical Society, pi. 59. 
 
 (a* Cursive Lombard ic. 
 
 Sth cent. 
 
 See Champollion-Figeac, Chartes et Manuscrits stir Pa- 
 pyrus. 
 Silv., pi. cxxxvii. 
 
 Silv. clxvii., clxviii. (Diplomatic Merovingian). 
 Letronne, passim, 
 gth cent. 
 
 Marini, No. 126 : — Champollion-Figeac, pi. 10, a.d. 877 : — 
 
 Letronne : — Silv. cxxxviii., cxxxix. 
 Silv. clxxii., clxxiii. (Carlovingian Diplomatic). 
 Letronne, pi. 48 (Merovingian). 
 \oth cent. 
 
 See Champollion-Figeac. 
 Silv. clxxiv., clxxv. 
 
 (b.) Capital Characters Throughout. 
 
 6th cent. 
 
 Vatican Virgil, No. 3256, see p. 14. 
 
 (c.) Rustic Characters Throughout. 
 
 yd or 4th cent. 
 
 Vatican Virgil, No. 3225, see p. 16. 
 
 Vatican Terence, No. 3226, p. 21. 
 4th or $th cent. 
 
 Vatican Sallust, p. 26. 
 $th cent. 
 
 Florentine Virgil, p. 22. 
 
 Vatican Virgil, No. 3867, p. 24. 
 6th cent. 
 
 Parisian Prudentius, No. 8084, p. 27. 
 
 (d.) Uncial Characters Throughout. 
 
 yd cent. 
 
 Vatican Palimpsest Cicero, No. 5757; Silv. pi. xcvii. 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 $th or 6th cent. 
 
 Parisian Cyprian, see p. 12. 
 
 Gospel of St. Luke at Milan ; Pal. Soc, PI. 54. 
 6th cent. 
 
 Vienna Livy, No. 15 ; Silv. cviii. 
 Parisian Livy, No. 5730 ; Pal. Soc., PI. 31, 32. 
 Parisian Code of Theodosius ; Silv. cix. 
 Psalter of St. Germain, at Paris; Silv. ex. {Galilean). 
 6th or jth cent. 
 
 Gospels in B. M., Harley 1775; Pal. Soc. pi. 16 (but 
 Capital Colophons.) 
 
 1th cent. 
 
 Pandects of Justinian, at Florence ; Silv. cxv. 
 
 Stoneyhurst Gospel of St. John; Pal. Soc, pi. 17. 
 
 Corp. Chr. Cambridge Gospels, No. 286 ; Pal. Soc. pi. 33, 
 34. {Rustic heading.) 
 
 Book of Kells, Pal. Soc, PI. 55, 56, 57, 58. 
 1th or Sth cent. 
 
 Palimpsest Arian Fragments, etc., in Vatican, Silv. cxvi. 
 Sth cent. 
 
 Gospels in B. M., Additional 5463. 
 
 Munich Theodosian Code, Silv. cxii. {Galilean). 
 
 Gregory of Tours, at Paris, Silv. cxix. 
 
 {e.) Capital and Uncial Characters mixed ; or Capital 
 Headings to Uncial Texts. 
 
 6th cent. 
 
 Lindisfarne Gospels, B. M., Cotton, Nero D. IV. See Pal. 
 
 Soc. pi. 3-6, 22. {Circ. a.d. 700). 
 Silv. ccxii-ccxiv. 
 
 Parisian Homilies of St. Augustine on Papyrus. Silv. cvii. 
 6th or ith cent. 
 
 Gospels in B. M., Harley 1775, Pal. Soc. pi. 16. 
 Parisian Augustine, No. 11,641. Pal. Soc. pi. 42, 43. 
 (Papyrus and vellum). 
 
 7 th cent. 
 
 Charter of Hlothari of Kent, a.d. 679, Brit. Mus., MS. 
 
 Cotton, Augustus II. 2. 
 Charter of Hodilred of the East Saxons, a.d. 692, or 693. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 43 
 
 ibid., II. 29. See Facsimiles of Ancient Charters in B. M., 
 pi. 1-2. 
 
 Homilies of Origen, B. M., Burney 340. 
 8th cent. 
 
 Hieronymian Gospels of Canterbury, B. M., MS. Reg; I. E. 
 
 VI. See Pal. Soc. pi. VII. 
 Charter of ^Ethilbalt, a.d. 736, B. M., Cotton, Augustus II. 
 
 3. See Facs. of Anct. Charters in B. M., pi. 7. 
 
 gth cent. 
 
 Golden Gospels or Codex Aureus, B. M., Harley 2788. 
 Gospels of St. Medard. See p. 15. 
 Hours of Charles Le Chauve, Silv. cxxv. 
 Gospels of Charles Le Chauve, Silv. cxxvi. cxxvii. 
 
 (/) Rustic and Uncial Characters mixed. 
 
 1th cent. 
 
 Amiatine Bible, see p. 35. 
 
 Parisian Prosper, see p. 36. 
 8th cent. 
 
 Cotton Psalter, B. M., Vespasian A. 1. See Pal. Soc. 
 pll. 18, 19. {Circ. a.d. 700). 
 
 (g.) Rustic and Minuscule Characters Mixed. 
 1th cent. 
 
 Cambridge Gospels, see p. 38, and Westwood's Palczogr. 
 Sacra. 
 1th to gth cent. 
 
 Commonly abundant miniscule texts with Rustic rubrics, 
 etc. 
 
 gth cent. 
 
 Aratus, B. M., Harley 647. Rustic and minuscule duplicate 
 text. 
 
 (h.) Uncials and Minuscule Characters Mixed. 
 6th cent. 
 
 Cambridge Codex Bezce, Pal. Soc, pi. xv. 
 1th or 8th cent. 
 
 Parisian Livy, Silv. cxxi. (Uncials and semi-uncials.) 
 Lichfield Gospels of St. Chad. Pal. Soc, pi. 20, 21, 35, 
 {circ. a.d. 700). 
 
 6* 
 
44 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 It is now necessary to pass on to a brief notice of 
 the principal works on Western Palaeography, a 
 subject which has now for a long time been a 
 favourite science, and a valuable assistance to the 
 learned, whether in the branches of literature, 
 history, or antiquity. As is most natural for us to 
 expect, some of the productions which appeared at 
 first respecting palaeography do not exercise any 
 very authoritative sway over opinions that have been 
 formed at a later period and more recently, because 
 these earlier lucubrations were in many cases the 
 result of investigations carried on upon the basis of 
 examination of imperfect or inaccurate facsimiles ; 
 and, on the other hand, more modern opinions have 
 been matured upon the inspection of either the 
 Manuscripts themselves, or, at the least, accurate 
 photographic reproductions. And, indeed, without 
 some such aid as permanent photography offers us 
 in every step of this modern science of palaeography, 
 it would be impossible to arrive at correct con- 
 clusions, or to derive accurate deductions from the 
 comparison of Manuscript characters resembling 
 each other more or less generally. And of this a 
 notable instance has already been adverted to, where 
 the opinion of one, whose lengthy experience of 
 Manuscripts demands very great deference, has been 
 recorded to the effect that the writing of the Utrecht 
 Psalter so closely resembles that of the Paris Manu- 
 script 8084, i.e., the well-known Paris Prudentius, as 
 given in facsimile engraving by the authors of the 
 Nouveau Traite, " that it is difficult to believe that the 
 two Manuscripts were not written by the same scribe," 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 45 
 
 Whereas, on the contrary, it is far more difficult for 
 any one who will examine the published photographs , to 
 believe that the writing of the one could ever have 
 been accomplished by the scribe of the other volume. 
 
 The earliest comprehensive treatise of any real 
 importance upon the subject of palaeography appears 
 to be the immortal work of Jean Mabillon, a Bene- 
 dictine Father of the last quarter of the seventeenth 
 century. The title of this book, which must have 
 occupied the unremitting attention and unwearied 
 care of the author for a very long space of time, and 
 which even now, two centuries after its production, 
 continues to occupy a very prominent position in the 
 literature and bibliography of palaeography, by 
 reason of the general soundness of its reasoning, 
 is : Jean Mabillon ; De Re Diplomatica libri VI, in 
 quibus quidquid ad veterum instrumentorum antiquitatem, 
 materiam, scripturam, et stilum .... pertinet, ex- 
 plicatur, et illustratur. Accedunt .... veterum 
 scripturarum varia specimina tabulis LX comprehensa, 
 nova ducentomm et amplius monumentorum collectio, etc. 
 Folio, Lutetian Parisiorum, 1681-1704. A supple- 
 ment was published in 1704- 1709, and the volume 
 contains upwards of sixty large plates of facsimiles 
 of Manuscripts, besides a number of illustrations and 
 woodcuts. It is immaterial to the student whether 
 the book be of the first edition, 1681, or the second, 
 1709, provided copies of the work have the Supple- 
 ment published in 1704, and the Nova Appendix (pp. 
 635-48) issued by Ruinart in 1709. By reprinting 
 a few leaves and by inserting additions, the first 
 edition was made conformable to the new one. 
 
46 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 A well known bibliographical writer says of this 
 stupendous monument of human energy : " Ce livre 
 est regarde comme le chef-d'oeuvre du savant 
 benedictin, qui en est l'auteur. Le supplement est 
 beaucoup plus rare que le livre auquel il appartient, 
 parceque, selon toute apparence, les exemplaires en 
 ont ete tires a plus petit nombre." 
 
 In the year 1708 D. Bernard de Montfaucon 
 published at Paris his celebrated work upon Greek 
 palaeography which has already been brought to the 
 notice of the reader at page 2 ; and in 171 5 the 
 same author brought out his Bibliotheca Coisliniana, 
 olim Segueriana, MSS. Graecorum in ed description 
 aliaque ad Palaeographiam pertinentia, in folio, pub- 
 lished also at Paris. This volume is especially 
 valuable for the plates and facsimiles from Greek 
 Manuscripts with which it is embellished. A few 
 years afterwards appeared the following useful 
 addition to the library of the palaeographer : J. P. 
 Ludewig, Reliquice Manuscriptorum omnis /Evi Diplo- 
 matum ac Monumentorum adhuc ineditorum, 12 
 volumes, i2mo. with many illustrations, Francof. 
 Lips, et Halae, 1720-41. 
 
 The great work of Schilter of which the following 
 is the title — Thesaurus Antiquitatum Teutonicarum, 
 Ecclesiasticarum, Civilium, Litter arium, cum Glossario 
 Teutonico non et Lingua solum inservituro sed et 
 Antiquitatibus abundanti, 3 vols, folio, was published 
 at Ulm, in 1727-1728, and contains many facsimiles 
 of ornaments in ancient Manuscripts. Brunet, in 
 his Manual, says of this production " Schilteri 
 Thesaurus Teutonicus est un recueil rempli de 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 47 
 
 documents precieux pour Phistoire civile et litteraire 
 de l'Allemagne a l'epoque Carlovingienne." Next 
 in order of chronological arrangement comes another 
 work from the pen of the indefatigable Montfaucon, 
 which, although not strictly palseographical, yet 
 contains so much that is valuable to the study 
 of the Manuscript treasures of Italy, France, 
 Germany, and other countries, that it deserves 
 passing mention. The title of this monument of 
 study is : Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum 
 Nova, ubi describuntur quce innumeris Bibliothecis 
 continentur, etc. It was published in two folio 
 volumes at Paris in 1739, and contains ample 
 indexes, which augment its value and add greatly 
 to its general utility. Hence it will always deserve, 
 as it always finds, a place in a palaeographical 
 library. 
 
 The Florentine Virgil, already described at page 
 22, was added to the series of works on palaeography 
 by its publication at Florence in form of a quarto, in 
 1741, under the title — Virgilius, Codex Antiquissimus 
 a Rufo Turcio Aproniano, Consule Romano, Seculo V. 
 Scripto, qui in Bibliotheca Mediceo-Lavirentiana asser- 
 vatur, 
 
 In 1747 was published a very valuable folio, 
 entitled, AlphabetumTironianum, by Carpentier, which 
 treats in a masterly manner of the Tyronian figures 
 or short hand of the ancient Roman imperial scribes ; 
 a practice which dates back to the time of the 
 orator M. T. Cicero. 
 
 Mention may here be made of a dictionary of 
 abbreviations and contractions found in Manuscripts, 
 
48 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 which was compiled by Johann Ludolf Walther, 
 under the title of Lexicon Diplomaticum abbreviationes 
 syllabarum et vocum in diplomatibus et codicibus a seculo 
 VIII. ad XVI. usque occurrentes exponens, junctis 
 alphabetis et scripturae speciminibus, etc. The folio 
 edition of 1745 published at Gottingen has a useful 
 preface by J. D. Koeler, and there are other editions, 
 with a preface by J. H. Jung, which were printed at 
 Gottingen in 1752, and at Ulm in 1756. In this 
 Lexicon there are contained no less than 225 plates 
 of alphabets and contractions, and twenty-eight 
 plates of facsimiles. The palseographical writer, 
 Ebert, considers the edition of 1752 to be the best 
 for reference. 
 
 The best work on palaeography and diplomatics is 
 universally acknowledged to be the celebrated 
 Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique, ou Von examine les 
 fondemens de cet A rt, on etablit des regies sur le disceme- 
 ment des Titres, et Von expose historiquement les 
 Caracteres des Bulles Pontificates et des Diplomes, par 
 deux Religieux Benedictins de S. Maur (Toustain et 
 Tassin), 6 vols. 4to. Paris, 1750- 1765. This noble 
 and enduring literary production is enriched with a 
 very large collection of carefully engraved facsimiles 
 of every kind of ancient writing, specimens of 
 Manuscripts, charters, diplomas, documents, and 
 other illustrations bearing upon the subjects of the 
 text ; 1 and the principal point in the book is that the 
 
 1 "The most comprehensive endeavour to systematise the science was made by 
 the Benedictines of St. Maur in their Nouveau Traite de Diplomatique. The 
 plates, however, though numerous, are insufficient for their purpose, for the specimens 
 rarely extend beyond a few lines. Moreover, the subject of ornamentation and 
 illustration is scarcely noticed." — Prospectus of Palteographical Society, 1S73. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 49 
 
 rules laid down by Mabillon and other previous 
 writers, are carefully examined, tested, and explained; 
 while at the same time, the forward state of the 
 science of palaeography, which had made rapid 
 strides during the period which intervened between 
 the publication of Mabillon's labours and this new 
 treatise, a space of seventy years, is clearly indicated 
 and the future of the science well prognosticated. 
 
 Next in order of time we have an Italian work 
 on palaeography by Giovan Grisostomo Trombelli, 
 entitled Arte di conoscere I 1 eta de 1 Codici Latini ed 
 Italiani, 4to. Bologna, 1756. The same author pro- 
 duced a work closely resembling the above, with the 
 altered title, La Diplomatica, sia UArte di conoscere 
 Veta ed autenticita de* Codici Latini e Italiani, 8vo. 
 Napoli, 1780. And the important Dictionary of 
 Diplomatics written by Francois Joseph de Vaines, 
 which was printed in two octavo volumes at Paris in 
 1773, 1774, brings to a close the list of principal 
 treasures on palaeography issued to the world during 
 the eighteenth century. The title of De Vaines' 
 work is : Dictionnaire raisonne de Diplomatique, 
 contenant les regies principales et essentielles pour servir 
 a dechiffrer les anciens Titres, Diplomes, et Monuments, 
 ainsi qu*a justifier de leur date et de leur authenticite. 
 On y a joint des Planches .... avec des explications a 
 chacune, pour aider egalement a connoitre les caracteres 
 et ecritures des differ ents ages et de differ entes nations. 
 
 In 1780 was published the Escuela palceographica of 
 A. Merino de Jesu-Christo, at Madrid ; and in 1784 
 the first edition of a popular book by Thomas Astle, 
 entitled, The Origin and Progress of Writing, as well 
 
5° 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Hieroglyphic as Elementary , illustrated by Engravings 
 taken from Marbles, Manuscripts, and Charters, ancient 
 and modern, etc., quarto, London ; the second edition 
 was of folio size, and appeared in 1803. This 
 treatise is adorned with numerous facsimile plates 
 from early Manuscripts. There is also a curious and 
 valuable addition to the list entitled Calligraphia 
 Graeca et Poecilographia Graeca, exaravit Johannes 
 Hodgkin, sculpsit H. Ashby, folio, London, 1794-1807. 
 
 The commencing years of the present century 
 ushered in several literary productions concerning 
 the art of palaeography, and from the beginning of 
 this period 1 to the year 1870 many important 
 additions have been made to the bibliography of this 
 interesting science. The valuable work i" Papiri 
 Diplomatici, raccolti . ed illustrati dalV Abbate G. L. 
 Marini, was published in folio at Rome in 1805. In 
 1 81 7 appeared the well-known work of Ulrich 
 Friedrich Kopp, bearing the title of Palceographia 
 Critica, in four volumes of quarto size, printed at 
 Mannheim 1817 — 1829. This production contains 
 many new characters, especially struck for it, to re- 
 present the endless varieties of styles, contractions, 
 and abbreviations, in early Greek and Roman writing. 
 They are arranged in form of a Lexicon, explained 
 in the regular Greek and Roman characters, and 
 followed by reverse Indexes. The work also 
 contains several large folding sheets of facsimiles. 
 The cost of the publication amounted to several 
 
 1 For some account of the voluminous labours of Cardinal Angelo Mai, the reader 
 may consult with advantage a work entitled " Palimpsest Literature, and its Editor, 
 Cardinal Angelo Mai, by C. W. Russell, octavo, 1S63, in the fourth series of Afternoon 
 Lectures on English Literature. See also page 27, 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 51 
 
 thousand pounds, and was entirely defrayed by the 
 learned author, in whose lifetime only a few copies 
 were circulated among collectors and public libraries. 
 The same author published a work of enduring 
 interest, entitled Bilder and Sckriften der Vorzeit, at 
 Mannheim, in 1819-1821, in two volumes, octavo, 
 which, like the larger work mentioned above, con- 
 tains numerous plates of facsimiles of early Manu- 
 scripts, and the text contains a variety of alphabets. 
 In 1825 the labours of J. B. Gail on the subject of 
 Greek palaeography, as described above at page 4 
 were published ; and Friedrich Adolf Ebert wrote his 
 treatise Zur Handschriftenkunde, in two octavo volumes, 
 which were printed at Leipzig, in 1825- 1827. 
 
 The year 1833 witnessed a very important addition 
 towards the history of Manuscript illumination, in 
 the publication of Henry Shaw's Illuminated Orna- 
 ments selected from Manuscripts and Early Printed 
 Books from the sixth to the seventeenth centuries. This 
 magnificent work was engraved on fifty-nine copper 
 plates, all highly finished in opaque colours, and 
 enhanced with very carefully prepared descriptions 
 by the late Sir Frederic Madden, K.H., Keeper of 
 the Manuscripts in the British Museum. 1 Although 
 this work does not contribute very much that is new 
 towards the elucidation of palseographical contro- 
 versy, still the text and the illustrations taken 
 together render the book an indispensable adjunct 
 to a collection of works on palaeography, and 
 demand a place here. Nor must the Viele Alphabete 
 
 1 A fine copy, with additions and corrections by Shaw himself, is in the Library of 
 the British Museum, marked C. 43. i. 
 
52 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 of Heinrich Joachim Jaeck, published at Leipzig, 
 in a double folio size, 1833, be passed over without 
 mention. A volume of great interest to palaeo- 
 graphy was published in 1836 under the follow- 
 ing title : Antiquissimus Quatuor Evangeliorum Codex 
 Sangallensis Grceco-Latinus interlinearis, nunquam 
 adhuc collatus, accuratissime delineatus cura Re f tig, 
 large quarto, Turici ; being a facsimile upon 395 
 pages (with introduction and notes), of the original 
 Manuscript, written in the ninth century by an Irish 
 monk in Germany. The Grammatographie du Neuvihne 
 Sucle, by J. B. J. Jorand, a large folio full of most 
 interesting plates from the " Bible of Charles the 
 Bald," was published at Paris in 1837; an d the 
 same year produced at London Alchuine's Bible in 
 the British Museum, in' octavo. About the same time, 
 1837-1841 'occurred the publication of M. Cham- 
 pollion's Chartes Latines sur Papyrus du sixieme siecle, 
 issued, like most of the previous valuable works on 
 palaeography, at Paris. This important contribution 
 is full of plates which demand careful study and 
 minute examination. Although partaking more of a 
 bibliographical than a palaeographical nature, mention 
 must here be made of a work of indispensable utility, 
 entitled, Bibliographie paleographico-diplomatico-biblio- 
 logique: repertoire des ouvrages relatifs a la paleographie, 
 a Vhistoire deVimprimerie, etc., by J. P. Namur, in two 
 volumes octavo, at Liege, in 1838. Place, too, must 
 be accorded to J. A. Letronne's Fragments d'anciens 
 po'etes Grecs tires d'un papyrus, 8vo, Paris, 1838. 
 
 One of the most comprehensive summaries of the 
 history and art of palaeography is that of M. Natalis 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 53 
 
 de Wailly, entitled Elements de Paleographie, pour 
 servir a V Etude des Documents inedits, sur VHistoire de 
 France, publics par Ordre de Roi, etc., in two volumes 
 square folio, Paris, 1838. The opinions of this 
 author are generally sound, yet there are occasional 
 indications of a want of carefulness in the dates 
 assigned to some of the earlier Manuscripts, but as 
 a rule the opinions expressed by Mabillon and the 
 authors of the Nouveau Traite have been adopted. 
 This work was illustrated with a considerable 
 number of facsimiles of ancient handwriting. The 
 student must not pass over this period without a 
 view of the Paleographie des Classiques Latines, par 
 M. Champollion-Figeac, which was published in 
 folio, Paris, 1839 ; and a notice of the Chartes et 
 Manuscrits sur Papyrus, de la Bibliotheque Roy ale, par 
 M. Champollion-Figeac, large folio, Paris, 1840. 
 
 At page 4 the reader's attention has already been 
 directed to M. J. B. Silvestre's magnificent work. 
 The original work was published in 1841 at Paris 
 under the following comprehensive title : Paleographie 
 Universelle. Collection de facsimile d'ecritures de tous 
 les peuples et de tous les temps, tires des plus authentiques 
 documents de Vart graphique, chartes et manuscrits 
 existant dans les archives et les bibliotheques de France, 
 d'ltalie, d'Allemagne et d'Angleterre ; publiee, d'apres 
 les modlles ecrits, dessines et peints sur les lieux memes, 
 par M. Silvestre, accompagnee d 1 explications historiques 
 et descriptives. This most beautiful work was pub- 
 lished at Paris in 1841 in four volumes, atlas folio 
 size, and contains several hundreds of specimens of 
 every style of calligraphy and illumination ; the 
 
54 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 miniatures from service books of every style, 
 country, and age, are especially numerous and most 
 faithfully reproduced as far as colouring and general 
 effect can go. The facsimiles are the finest that can 
 be produced by hand, and they afforded the best 
 medium of study and comparison of Manuscripts, at 
 a time when the marvellous resources of photography, 
 an art then in its very earliest and weakest stages, 
 had not been sufficiently developed to be applied 
 with any degree of success to the services of com- 
 parative palaeography. This work led the author 
 through all the principal libraries of Europe, which 
 were liberally thrown open to his researches, and it 
 was produced under the immediate auspices of 
 Louis Philippe. It is now very rare, and may be 
 fairly considered one of the finest pictorial books in 
 the world, apart from the special nature of its con- 
 tents. It has well merited the admiration that has 
 been universally accorded to it as the best exponent 
 of Manuscript literature of ancient and mediaeval 
 times, Of the translation, in 1850, into English by 
 the late Sir Frederic Madden, K.H., one of the 
 most learned palaeographers that England has ever 
 produced, notice has already been given, and the 
 annotations and corrections introduced by the 
 translator into the English edition give it a con- 
 siderable advantage over the French text. The 
 same year, 1841, produced at Rouen the large 
 octavo work of Langlois, entitled, Essai sur la Calli- 
 graphic des Manuscrits du Moyen Age et des Ornements 
 des Livres d'Heures, etc., adorned with plates of 
 initial letters and miniatures. Le Comte Auguste 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 55 
 
 de Bastard, another learned Frenchman of great 
 taste and erudition, published at Paris, the seat of 
 the palseographical school up to this time, 1843, his 
 celebrated work on ancient Manuscript art, of which 
 the title is Peintures et Ornements des Manuscrits, 
 classes dans un ordre chronologique pour servir a 
 VHisioire des arts du dessin, depuis le quatrieme siecle, 
 etc. The book is a fitting companion to the pro- 
 ductions of Silvestre, Shaw, Bastard, Westwood, 
 and others, that have preceded or followed it. 
 
 The efforts of Madden to establish a native 
 school of palaeography in England, and thereby 
 to share with the French the honours the savants 
 of that nation had hitherto monopolised with 
 respect to this science, resulted in the publica- 
 tions of Professor J. O. Westwood, an artist well 
 known for his wonderful drawings and coloured 
 figures of subjects connected with the many- 
 branching sciences of Natural History, and for his 
 literary labours which have done so much towards 
 the correct classification of lepidopterous insects ; — 
 an excellent study of minutely changing forms, and of 
 colours blending and resolving themselves according 
 to natural, but none the less hidden and mysterious, 
 laws ; a study which especially fitted his eye for 
 forming correct appreciations of the slowly changing 
 forms of letters, and of the harmoniously sorted 
 colours in which the semi-sacred scribes and artistic 
 miniators of the early and middle ages for the most 
 part found their own and only pleasures, whereby 
 they evolved and codified a happy means of out- 
 pouring their hidden, pent-up yearnings after the 
 
56 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 outward expression of a latent energy of thought, 
 an inward spiritualism, which was not, alas ! eman- 
 cipated from the trammels of imperfect vehicles, 
 and stern conventionalism, until the religious forces, 
 which alone gave these men of art a political power 
 and a means of life, had been shattered beyond all 
 hope of rehabilitation. Professor Westwood's prin- 
 cipal works in connection with the present subject 
 are : Palceographia Sacra Pictoria, being a Series of 
 Illustrations of the Ancient Versions of the Bible, copied 
 from Illuminated Manuscripts executed between the 
 Fourth and Sixteenth Centuries, published in 1843- 
 
 1845, an( i adorned with fifty richly illuminated 
 engravings ; Illuminated Illustrations of the Bible 
 copied from select Manuscripts of the Middle Ages, 
 
 1846, in imperial quarto, with forty excellent plates 
 of a typical character ; and Miniatures and Orna- 
 ments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts, illus- 
 trated in a series of fifty-four superb plates, most 
 elaborately executed in exact facsimile of the 
 originals in gold and colours, with a descriptive 
 text to each plate, serving as a History of British 
 Palaeography and Pictorial Art, imperial folio, 1868. 
 In addition to these printed masterpieces of repro- 
 ductive skill, there is a Manuscript volume in the 
 Egerton collection at the British Museum (No. 2263) 
 which contains a large number of the original 
 tracings and coloured facsimiles executed by the 
 author of the above works during his researches into 
 these subjects. Other works to be noticed are 
 J. A. Letronne's, Diplomata et Chartce Merovingicce 
 /Etatis, folio, Paris, 1844-1849 ; the Schrifttafeln zum 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 57 
 
 Gebrauch bei Diplomatischen Vorlesungen, of Georg 
 Heinrich Pertz, in large folio, Hanover, 1844-1869; 
 the Elements Carlovingiens Linguistiques et Litter aires, 
 of Barrois, in quarto, Paris, 1846, with many plates 
 of characters ; the second volume of Le Moyen Age et 
 La Renaissance, quarto, Paris, 1849, with many fine 
 plates of early Manuscripts on vellum and papyrus, 
 to illustrate the article Manuscrits ; the work of the 
 Hon. R. Curzon, entitled, Catalogue of Materials for 
 Writing, Early Writings on Tablets and Stones, etc., 
 folio, 1849, with several good coloured and illu- 
 minated facsimiles ; and Noel Humphrey's Illu- 
 minated Books of the Middle Ages, with an account of 
 the Development and Progress of the Art of Illumination 
 from the IV th to the X VHIth centuries, folio, which 
 was published in 1849, and illustrated with full size 
 specimens, beautifully printed in gold, silver, and 
 colours by Owen Jones, after the originals, that 
 were collected from all the libraries of Europe. At 
 Vienna, in 1852, the labours of Paul Pretsch, on Die 
 Buchschriften des Mittelalters appeared in octavo 
 form ; and in 1856, at London, the Photographic 
 Facsimiles of the Remains of the Epistle of Clement of 
 Rome, made from the unique copy preserved in the Codex 
 Alexandrinus, were edited by Sir Frederic Madden, 
 and published in a quarto volume of remarkable 
 interest and importance. During the next year, 
 1857, the Lectures on Illuminated Manuscripts from 
 the Eighth to the Seventeenth Centuries, and the Prac- 
 tice and Materials of Illuminators, by Thomson and 
 Tite, were privately printed, in 8vo. ; and in i860, 
 The Art of Illuminating as practised in Europe from 
 
 7 
 
58 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the Earliest Times, by W. R. Tymms, with an Essay, 
 etc., by M. D. Wyatt, small folio. Then come the 
 following publications : — Grammatography , a Manual 
 of Reference to the Alphabets of Ancient and Modern 
 Languages, octavo, London, 1861 ; Dictionnaire des 
 Abbreviations Latines et Frangaises, i2mo, Paris, 1862, 
 a work containing about eight thousand contrac- 
 tions ; La Scuola di Paleografia in Venezia, by 
 Cecchetti, in atlas quarto, Venice, 1862, with several 
 plates of facsimiles ; De VOrigine de la Signature, par 
 M. C. Guigne, octavo, Paris, 1863 ; A. Kirchhoff's 
 Studien, in 1863, which has already been referred to 
 at page 4, where will also be found a note of the 
 Specimina of Bishop Sabas which was produced in 
 the same year ; and of the Philodenms facsimiled by 
 T. Gomperz in 1864. Several useful Facsimiles of 
 Greek Papyri were published at Paris in 1865 ; and 
 of the same city and year is the Notices et Extraits 
 des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Imperiale et autres 
 Bibliotheques, with facsimiles of Papyri, Tom. XVI., 
 2e partie. The writings of F. Trinchera, entitled, 
 Syllabus Graecarum Membranarum, que .... jamdiu 
 delitescentes, et a doctis frustra expetitae, nunc tandem 
 adnitente impensius Francisco Trinchera, Neapolitanis 
 archivis praefecto, in lucem prodeunt, large quarto, 
 Naples, 1865, follow next in order; and Ornements 
 des Manuscrits du Vllle. au XV Ie. Siecle, reproduits 
 en couleurs par Mathieu, avec notice historique par Ferd. 
 Denis, 2 vols., octavo, Paris, 1867, with numerous 
 facsimiles ; and the Compendio delle Lezioni Teorico- 
 Pratiche di Paleografia e Diplomatica of Dr. Andrea 
 Gloria, published at Padua in 1870; although the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 59 
 
 facsimiles in this last are not so strong and charac- 
 teristic of their archetypes as they might have been 
 in these late days of reproductive excellence, must 
 not be omitted from this list. In 1871 some re- 
 markable leaves of lead, inscribed with a peculiar 
 and indeed unique handwriting of the north of Italy, 
 and recording historical events of the eighth and 
 ninth centuries, the period of Charlemagne, formed 
 the subject of a treatise in the Archceologia of the 
 Society of Antiquaries (Vol. XLIV., art. 10, pp. 123- 
 136), by the present writer, and the treatise is illus- 
 trated with a facsimile of one of the inscribed 
 metallic leaves of early date, which has been repro- 
 duced by permanent photography of the heliotype 
 process. W. Wattenbach's Anleitung has been 
 already noticed at page 4, having been published 
 in 1872, and forming a valuable addition to the 
 great quantity of literary material that has been 
 hastily summarised in the preceding pages. In 1873 
 the trustees of the British Museum sanctioned the 
 publication of a number of early charters, which 
 were likely, it was feared, to suffer seriously before 
 long from the effect of age and former careless treat- 
 ment, and under the auspices of Mr. E. A. Bond, 
 the present keeper of the Manuscripts, a volume in 
 large folio was prepared by autotype permanent 
 photography, and issued under the title of Facsimiles 
 of Ancient Charters in the British Museum, published 
 by order of the Trustees, 1873. These plates, seven- 
 teen in number, are of great value to the student, as 
 they range in date between a.d. 679 and 838, and 
 are entirely of English diplomatic character. Mr. 
 
6o 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Bond says very happily of them : " The palseo- 
 graphic interest of the facsimiles will not be 
 overlooked, although it is only incidentally connected 
 with the present publication. The comparison of 
 the Charters, one with another, and of all with other 
 Manuscripts in similar characters, is most instructive. 
 The variations in the style of writing of documents 
 so nearly of the same age point to the prevalence of 
 special forms in the different divisions of the island ; 
 and if the examples had been drawn from the 
 archives of monasteries in various districts, a very 
 important classification of handwritings by localities 
 would probably have been possible." 1 A second 
 and more extended series of these charters is now 
 in course of preparation, and in a very forward state. 
 In the year 1875 a very fine series of early English 
 Charters, preserved among the muniments at Exeter 
 Cathedral were photographed by the silver positive 
 process, but their size necessitated a slight reduction 
 in the pictures which did not add to their useful- 
 ness. In the same year, M. Leopold Delisle, of the 
 Bibliotheque Nationale, gave to the world the 
 facsimiles of Eugyppius, which have been mentioned 
 in the Introduction, page xi. In addition to the 
 numerous works already mentioned some substantial 
 account must be taken of the publications of various 
 societies in England and abroad, which, either from 
 their connection with archaeology generally, such as 
 the Society of Antiquaries, the British Archaeological 
 Association, the Royal Archaeological Institute, and 
 kindred societies in many counties, or from their 
 
 1 Pref. p. viii. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 61 
 
 own special devotion to subjects of palaeography, 
 such as the Ecole des Chartes, and the Pal geo- 
 graphical Society, naturally contain much that is 
 useful, necessary, and instructive with regard to the 
 careful examination of writings and Manuscripts of 
 bygone ages. 
 
 The formation of the Palaeographical Society 
 dates from November, 1873, and, contemporary 
 with the establishment of this prosperous under- 
 taking, must be taken the foundation of a new and 
 native school of palaeography, which seeks by the 
 extensive employment of permanent photography to 
 extend the study, and by means of perfectly trust- 
 worthy facsimiles to collect useful data upon which 
 to build hereafter more correct general rules than 
 have as yet been laid down. Mr. Bond, in his 
 address issued at the date mentioned above, says of 
 its scope: — "This society has been formed for the 
 purpose of collecting materials for the study of a 
 branch of antiquarian science not yet established on 
 a satisfactory basis, though one in which it is 
 possible to attain to a very great exactness. That 
 palaeography has hitherto been treated with im- 
 perfect success is owing to the incompleteness, both 
 in quantity and quality, of facsimile specimens of 
 ancient writing and ornamentation of Manuscripts, 
 on the evidence of which it has been attempted to 
 establish definite conclusions. And this deficiency 
 is most apparent for the more remote times, the 
 extant Manuscripts of which are few in number and 
 usually undated. As they are also widely dispersed, 
 the means of study of forms of characters and other 
 
62 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 peculiarities by comparison of the original writings 
 
 have been proportionately limited It is by 
 
 the mechanical autotype process of photography, by 
 which permanent impressions can be produced, that 
 it is proposed to work ; and by means of it to form 
 an ample collection of facsimiles from pages of 
 ancient Manuscripts and other early writings, exact 
 in every particular except actual colours. The 
 action of the Society will be extended to foreign 
 countries ; and the finest examples of writing and 
 ornamentation will be selected." 
 
 And with this extract from the starting point of a 
 Society which has now issued upwards ot sixty full- 
 page plates of facsimiles of a very large variety of 
 ancient writings, the reader may leave the con- 
 sideration of abstract palaeography, and pass on to 
 the consideration of the lessons laid before him in 
 the pages of the " Utrecht Psalter." 
 
63 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 N the present chapter it is proposed to give 
 the reader a carefully drawn description of 
 the Manuscript, taken as an object of antiquity only; 
 apart, that is, from the account of its artistic and 
 palaeographical contents, the contemplation and 
 discussion of these being intended to form the 
 subject of a subsequent chapter. It is also proposed 
 in this place to investigate, as far as may be, the 
 circumstances under which the Manuscript passed 
 into the possession of Sir Robert Cotton, one of the 
 most ardent and indefatigable collectors of Manu- 
 scripts whom any age or any country has the honour 
 of having numbered among her men of mark and of 
 worth ; the probable manner of the abstraction of the 
 Psalter from the Cottonian Library ; and its de- 
 position in the Library of Utrecht in the Netherlands, 
 where it is now preserved in the manner due to its 
 transcendent value and interest. 
 
 The volume, which measures as nearly as 
 possible thirteen inches in height, by ten in breadth, 
 
64 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 and may be called a large sized quarto, or small 
 folio, contains one hundred and eight leaves of 
 vellum, of which the quality and appearance has 
 been described in different terms by those who 
 fortunately have been enabled to examine it during 
 its brief sojourn in this country, and by those who 
 had the opportunity of inspecting it at the Utrecht 
 Library. According to some writers, " the vellum 1 
 is leathery and wants the fine surface of a very 
 ancient Manuscript;" and, "though not thick, is not 
 of a fine texture. It is of a rather soft leatherlike 
 consistency which bends easily under its own 
 weight ; and it has none of the smooth crispness 
 which one looks for in very ancient Manuscripts." 2 
 On the other hand it has been recorded, that " the 
 vellum 3 on which the Psalter, the Canticles, the 
 Lord's Prayer, and the two Creeds are written is of 
 a delicate and uniform texture ; so fine indeed that 
 the writing and drawings on one side of the page can 
 be easily seen and read on the other. It is quite 
 different from that containing the fragments of the 
 Gospels, bound up in the same volume, and from the 
 vellum generally used in the eighth, ninth, and 
 succeeding centuries." 
 
 There is no doubt that a careful consideration of 
 the actual material upon which any Manuscript is 
 written is a positively necessary, and frequently very 
 valuable, element in the determining of the period of 
 the production of that Manuscript. It is, moreover, 
 
 1 Report by Mr. E. A. Bond, keeper of the MSS. in the British Museum. 
 3 Report by Mr. E. M. Thompson, Assistant keeper. 
 3 Second Report of Sir Thomas Hardy, p. 10. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 65 
 
 a well-known canon in the Science of Palaeography, 
 that every country, and every successive age, made 
 use of a different species of the vehicle by means of 
 which it was alone able to hand down its written 
 productions to future times. The preparation and 
 method of finishing vellum varied considerably, not 
 only with the century during which, but with the 
 kingdom, and even the very locality in which it was 
 prepared ; and an eye experienced in the examination 
 of ancient vellum Manuscripts is enabled to dis- 
 tinguish quite as many subtle varieties in the quality, 
 the substance, and — if such a term may be properly 
 applied to it — the texture of the skin, as it can in 
 the forms of the letters which that skin bears upon 
 its surface, or in the density and colour of the ink 
 with which those forms are written. 
 
 The vellum employed by those engaged in the 
 scriptoria, or writing schools of England, as exhibited 
 by the consideration of a large number of our ancient 
 national Manuscripts — both books and charters — of 
 the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, partakes of 
 several natures. We may select, for example, from 
 the vast repertory in the British Museum, the fine 
 and smooth white skin of crisply sharp firmness ; the 
 white and glazy kind, of a thin and delicate softness ; 
 the brown, hard, leathery, and heavy sort, chiefly 
 seen in the Charters and diplomatic documents of 
 the regal chancery ; and the rough, coarse, almost 
 hide-like parchment that obtains in documents which 
 may be unquestionably demonstrated to belong to 
 an age contemporary with the finer and more 
 beautiful qualities. 
 
66 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 But the fineness of the vellum of the eighth 
 century, for example, differs specifically from the 
 fineness of that of the tenth, and this again from that 
 of the twelfth century ; and the roughness and 
 coarseness of the thick and leathery parchment of 
 the ninth century is easily distinguishable from the 
 thick and leathery kind affected in the fourteenth, 
 fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. The vellum of 
 Irish Manuscripts is remarkably thick, harsh, and 
 dark-coloured ; that of Scotland, little less so ; but 
 both differ very considerably from that of English 
 Manuscripts of several periods. And these dis- 
 tinctions exist, too, in a very unmistakeable and' 
 self-evident degree. In fact there is hardly a single 
 Manuscript which may not have a peculiar and 
 appropriate epithet applied to its substance to 
 distinguish it from all others. The terms leatherlike 
 and leathery, which have been, as is shown, attributed 
 to the vellum of the Utrecht Psalter, must be 
 received with some degree of reservation and ex- 
 planation. For while on the one hand it must be 
 admitted that the vellum, when compared with other 
 vellum of later ages, has a leathery feeling, yet it is 
 far from meriting the indiscriminate application of 
 this word. A better term would perhaps have been 
 hardened, for while the parchment possesses a 
 transparency, which is quite remarkable for its fre- 
 quency throughout the volume, not a mere soak- 
 ing through of inks and pigments, but a decided 
 amount of translucency which occasionally permits 
 the finest lines to be seen on the opposite side to 
 that on which they have been drawn ; yet there is a 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 67 
 
 hard and substantially firm and thick feeling of a 
 smooth material when the page is held in the hand. 
 And again, this property of transparency is by no 
 means a characteristic of leather, and the term 
 leathery can scarcely be rightly applied to this semi- 
 lucent skin. 
 
 The volume is made up by quaternions or gather- 
 ings, that is, quires of eight leaves of vellum folded 
 one within the other in the way now employed 
 ordinarily for books. The writing is between two 
 lines, parallel, or at least intended to be parallel, for 
 the equality of distance between the pairs of lines 
 •has not always been faithfully carried out. These 
 lines are ruled with a dry point, or plummet, hori- 
 zontally, between three pairs of vertical bounding 
 lines, symmetrically arranged to carry within them 
 the three columns of the writings. On the outer 
 margins to the right and left of these columns, the 
 space of an inch or sometimes more has been left ; 
 the two inner spaces are about half an inch wide ; 
 the upper margins are about an inch ; and the lower 
 margins are between two and three inches in width ; 
 but " all 1 the margins have been much clipped." 
 In every page this three-fold arrangement of columns 
 of lines has been preserved, but some of the columns, 
 although they have been ruled, are not filled up 
 with writing when the Psalm finishes well down in 
 the lower half of the columns. 
 
 The initial letters of the sentences are written in 
 uncial characters, and are placed outside the vertical 
 lines which bound the column of text, and of this 
 
 1 Mr. Bond's Report. 
 
68 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 unusual position, as well as of the writing being 
 placed between pairs of lines, we are told, " the 
 writing 1 is between double lines, not on single ones ; 
 the ruling being close-set. This circumstance is 
 significant ; supposing the scribe to be writing in an 
 unaccustomed style, in which his hand would require 
 guidance ; for the writing is not of that exact regu- 
 larity which is found in ancient Manuscripts when 
 written between lines. The arrangement of the 
 initial letters of the verses, regularly placed beyond 
 the margin of writing, is also a rather too artificial 
 method to be consistent with great antiquity." 
 There are about thirty lines of words in each column, 
 the full lines being of fairly equal length, and con- 
 taining from fifteen to twenty letters on an average. 
 We may here take an example of this arrangement 
 from Psalm CVI. [107] in the facsimiles appended 
 to the Dean of Westminster's Reports. 
 
 CVI ALLELUIA 
 C ONFITEMINI DNO 
 
 QNMBONUS/QNMINSAE 
 
 CULUMMISERICORDIAEIUS ; 
 D ICANTQUIREDEMPTISUNT 
 
 ADNO/QUOSREDEMITDE 
 
 MANUINIMICl/DEREGIO 
 
 NIBUSCONGREGAUITEOS ; 
 A SOLISORTUETOCCASU/ 
 
 ABAQUILONEETMARI ; 
 
 CVI. Alleluia. 
 
 Confitemini domino quoniam bonus/ quoniam in 
 saeculum misericordia eius ; 
 
 1 Mr. Thompson's Report, p. 6. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 6 9 
 
 Dicant qui redempti sunt a domino/ quos redemit 
 de manu inimici/ de regionibus congregavit eos ; 
 
 A solis ortu et occasu/ ab aquilone et mari ; 
 
 107. 1. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is 
 good : for his mercy endureth for ever. 
 
 2. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he 
 hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. 
 
 3. And gathered them out of the lands, from the 
 east and from the west, from the north, and from 
 the south. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hardy gives 1 other interesting ex- 
 amples of this nature transcribed from portions of 
 the Athanasian creed. 
 
 The spaces which contain the pictures do not 
 appear to have been ruled, although in some cases 
 the lines of the drawings have extended over some of 
 the straight lines intended for the reception of the 
 words. No spaces or breaks are observed between 
 the words, but these are written running together 
 with blank intervals only where they are required to 
 mark the terminations of the sentences ; and in these 
 cases the fresh sentences always commence upon a 
 new line. Mr. Bond says that " the words are run 
 together, with only the necessary breaks to mark 
 the alternations and terminations of the verses." 
 But the word verse is apt to be misleading, because 
 the arrangement of sentences in this version of the 
 Psalms does not in all cases correspond with the 
 original Hebrew metrical divisions, nor with later 
 versifications. 
 
 The drawings with which that first and principal 
 
 1 First Report, p. 14. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 part only of the Manuscript that contains the 
 Psalter, has been adorned, and which are intended 
 to illustrate the subjects of the respective Psalms to 
 which they have been attached, extend quite across 
 the page, and are executed in brown or bistre, 
 perhaps a black pigment that has now faded, with 
 a pen or stylus ; perhaps indeed they may have been 
 put in with a very fine brush. They are not enclosed 
 in frames or panels as we observe in some of the 
 older classical Manuscripts, as, for example, the 
 Vatican Virgil alluded to in page 16 and the 
 following pages. In all there are not less than one 
 hundred and sixty-six of these illustrations, each of 
 which has some sort of reference, more or less 
 realistic, to the metaphorical language of the poet. 
 These drawings, with the analysis of the artistic 
 elements they possess, will form the subject of a 
 future chapter. 
 
 It is curious to note that faint outlines of fleeting 
 figures, and imperfect groups of shadowy forms, 
 generally corresponding with some of the finished 
 forms in the adjacent drawings, can be observed 
 here and there, by close examination, upon the 
 lower margins, and sometimes in the body of the 
 drawing itself. It is difficult to decide whether these 
 sketches really represent to us the first essays of the 
 artist who was here trying the effect of certain com- 
 positions before he drew them fairly in their proper 
 places, or whether they are mere scrawls which have 
 been suggested to some contemporary idler who has 
 whiled away his time in looking over the Manuscript 
 and injuring it. One theory certainly has been 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 71 
 
 recorded that 4 'does 1 not consider the marginal 
 drawings, which occur here and there, to be designs 
 for, but rather sketches taken from, the illustrative 
 drawings." 
 
 The contents of the Manuscript have been care- 
 fully summarised by Sir Thomas Hardy in his first 
 Report, 8 and Mr. Bond has described the various 
 details more briefly. It is not necessary to describe 
 minutely in this place what the book really does 
 contain, inasmuch as some account of the different 
 pieces with which it is composed will be found in the 
 chapter especially devoted to this subject. It is 
 only needful to say for the present that in addition 
 to the text of the Psalms, in Latin, of the version 
 known as the Gallican, which forms the bulk of the 
 volume, and has been the cause of the assignment of 
 the distinctive title of The Utrecht Psalter to it, 
 the volume contains the several canticles of Isaiah, 
 of Moses in Exodus, or Cantemus Domino, of Ab- 
 acuc, of Moses in Deuteronomy, of the Three 
 Children, the Te Deum, here called Hymnum ad 
 Matutinis (sic), the hymns of Zacharias, of Mary, of 
 Simeon, the Gloria, the Pater Noster, the Apostles' 
 Creed, the Athanasian Creed, or Fides Catholicam 
 (sic) and the apocryphal Psalm often termed the 
 151st Psalm. In addition to this collection of 
 Biblical and Liturgical texts — which undoubtedly 
 formed at the time of writing a separate and com- 
 plete book, for the last leaf has been evidently left 
 blank for a fly leaf, which has indeed, like the first 
 fly leaf at the beginning of the volume, been used for 
 
 1 Mr. Thompson's Report, p. 7. 2 P. 13, 14. 
 
72 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 trials of the pen of the scribe, and like the first, too, 
 has several sketches of figures and ornaments, and a 
 few words in various styles of handwriting — there 
 are twelve folios at the end, written in firm strong 
 uncials of a fine character, and containing several 
 disconnected leaves of a copy of the Gospels, viz., 
 Jerome's epistle to Pope Damasus, the concluding 
 part of his second general Preface to the four 
 Evangelists, the Preface of the Gospel of St. 
 Matthew, with the contents of the chapters of that 
 Evangelist; a title medallion, in the margin or 
 space of which is inscribed an invocatory prayer to 
 the B. V. Mary, in Greek ; the commencement of 
 the Gospel of St. Matthew, and portion of the first 
 chapter of St. John. All these are comprised in the 
 twelve folios, or twenty-four pages, of two columns 
 each, which are written in fine uncial characters of a 
 solid and excellently formed type. 
 
 We have now to trace, as far back as we can, the 
 history of the Utrecht Manuscript, and to examine 
 the various hypotheses that have been placed on 
 record, as being borne out more or less by veritable 
 facts, or by reasonable conjectures founded upon the 
 appearance of the volume itself, and the internal 
 evidence it offers to these ends in view. 
 
 It has been suggested by Mr. Howard Payn, in 
 his most interesting letter to Sir Thomas Hardy, 
 printed as Appendix II. to the Further Report (pp. 
 59-63), that the drawings at least of the Manuscript 
 originated at Alexandria at some time between a.d. 
 373, the date of the death of St. Athanasius, and 
 a.d. 638, " the year in which Alexandria was 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 73 
 
 destroyed, the great library burnt, and the theological 
 schools scattered. At this time, too, the Holy City 
 itself was in the hands of the infidel, and pilgrimages, 
 for a time at any rate, impossible. Had the artist 
 lived then, and had he been compelled to fly , to 
 Europe, in the drawings of so accurate an observer 
 we should not fail to find some indications of new 
 objects and scenery among which he had come ; but 
 as far as I can see, no such indications exist. The 
 whole of the drawings show Eastern surroundings, 
 and I think it is not unreasonable to conclude that 
 he carried out his labour of love undisturbed by fire 
 or sword." This, then, is the earliest conjecture 
 that we are invited to consider, and it amounts 
 practically to this, that, provided for the sake of 
 argument we admit the early date which Mr. Payn 
 would attach to the Psalter as correct, and we accept 
 the deductions he has made respecting the perfectly 
 native Eastern style which he observes throughout 
 the drawings, the volume must have been executed 
 by an artist and a theologian of the Alexandrian 
 school ; and we may even go a step further and con- 
 ceive that it formed one of the precious Manuscripts 
 of the celebrated library at Alexandria, 1 which was 
 destroyed, according to some, by j:he Christians ; 
 according to others by the iconoclastic hordes of 
 Mohammedan barbarians, who were addicted solely 
 to war and the chase, and despised the arts and 
 sciences ; under whose destructive hands the finest 
 
 1 For a graphic and succinct account of the four libraries at Alexandria, the 
 reader is referred to a Treatise " On the Extent of Ancient Libraries," by W. E. A. 
 Axon, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, Vol. X., Second series* 
 1874, p. 383-405. 
 
 8 
 
74 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 monuments of the Greeks and Romans were levelled 
 to the ground, the libraries reduced to ashes, the 
 schools and seminaries of instruction annihilated, 
 the feeble rays of learning that remained to the 
 vanquished nations being powerless to enlighten 
 or civilise their enemies ; so that all arts and 
 sciences unsupported by those ignorant conquerors 
 fell into a contempt from which it took them two 
 centuries or more to gradually extricate them- 
 selves. 
 
 How far this theory is likely to find favour, even 
 with those who would throw back the date of the 
 Utrecht Psalter to such a remote period, it is difficult 
 to say ; but it must be very much modified by the 
 remembrance that Byzantine work was to be found 
 not only in Alexandria, but all over the parts of the 
 world then within the. pale of Roman civilisation; 
 and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find 
 upon any ancient objects, and not only in books, 
 pictorial representations of scenes of similar cha- 
 racter to those that have been selected to illustrate 
 the Utrecht Psalter, which, had they been executed 
 within the limits of the early period claimed by 
 Mr. Payn, would not indicate Oriental, i.e., Byzantine 
 influence and treatment. Hence it follows that the 
 fact of this Archaic Byzantine feeling which these 
 drawings so plainly possess does not avail us any- 
 thing materially towards narrowing the civilised area 
 of possible production of the Psalter, or towards 
 circumscribing the period of its execution. 
 
 The next point that we come to in the history of 
 this book is a suggestion made by Sir Thomas 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 75 
 
 Hardy 1 to explain its importation into England; lor 
 it may be taken for granted that the Manuscript 
 itself was not written in this island, because the 
 style would have been so different, and because it 
 contains liturgical pieces and versions not in use 
 among us in the periods assigned throughout for its 
 age. This suggestion is, that the Psalter " may have 
 been brought into England by Bertha, daughter of 
 Chariberct, King of France, and Queen of Athel- 
 berct, of Kent, who allowed her to retain the 
 Christian religion, and maintained a bishop here as 
 her spiritual guide, 2 before the arrival of Augustine 
 in Britain." " It is clear," the report goes on to 
 say, " to demonstration, that the Utrecht Psalter 
 was prepared for some special occasion ; and the 
 extreme costliness of such a Manuscript in those 
 early times would appear to indicate that the Psalter 
 under discussion must have been the property of 
 some noble or royal personage." " As it was written 
 in some foreign monastery, and was brought into 
 England by Queen Bertha, so I am inclined to think 
 that it was bequeathed by her to the monastery at 
 Reculver, in Kent." The argument proceeds to show 
 that the king built at Regulbuim, i.e., Reculver, a 
 new palace, and it was there that the Queen and her 
 bishop performed the ceremonies of their religion, 
 .having previously celebrated them at the old church 
 of St. Martin, outside the eastern walls of Canter- 
 bury. That there was a religious body, probably of 
 
 1 First Report, p. 33. 
 
 2 Beda, lib. i. cxxv., states that Athelberct received Bertha from her parents upon 
 condition that she should be permitted to retain her religion, with Bishop Luithard, 
 who was sent with her as an assistant to preserve her faith. 
 
76 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 secular priests, perhaps, indeed, a mixed community 
 of professed persons of both sexes, at Reculver, is 
 not indeed stated by Beda, but in a.d. 669 King 
 Ecgbert granted to Bass, 1 a nobleman who had 
 turned priest, exchanging his sword for a cowl, lands 
 for amplifying the establishment at Reculver. 
 Moreover, ten years later, Hlotharius, king of the 
 Cantuarii, granted other lands at Westanae, in the 
 isle of Thanet, and at Sturry on the Stour, to 
 Bercuald, presumably the abbot, and to his monas- 
 tery. So that there is no doubt that there was a 
 monastic establishment in a state of organization at 
 this later date. 
 
 Curiously enough the Utrecht Psalter itself, at the 
 time that it was in the possession of Sir Robert 
 Cotton contained an exemplar of the very Charter 
 recording this gift. With respect to this, Sir 
 Thomas Hardy says, 11 this very Charter was 
 originally inserted in the Utrecht Psalter." And in a 
 footnote he says, " The original Charter is now in the 
 Cottonian collection, Augustus II. 2, and seems to 
 have been removed from the Utrecht Psalter by Sir 
 Robert Cotton himself when the volume was re- 
 bound." There is, however, no evidence to support 
 the fact that the Charter was originally inserted into 
 the Psalter. All the fact we have on record is that 
 the Table of Contents, written by a librarian for Sir 
 Robert Cotton in the fly-leaf at the commencement 
 of the Manuscript indicates that in that collector's 
 time, viz., the seventeenth century, there was an 
 
 1 Bass, the mass-priest, occurs in the Saxon Chronicle as the founder of the 
 Monastery of Reculver, sub aim. 669. See W. de G. Birch, Fasti Monastici Mvi 
 Saxonici, p. 47. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 77 
 
 original (?) Charter answering to this description, at 
 the end of the volume. We cannot decide now 
 whether the Charter was an insertion or not ; whether 
 it was an original document or a copy, for Cotton's 
 opinion on this head is not worth much ; or whether 
 the Charter now in the Cottonian collection under 
 the numeration Augustus II. 2, is the identical 
 document which was abstracted from the Psalter 
 by the illustrious collector, or a duplicate which he 
 acquired for his library from sources entirely inde- 
 pendent of the Utrecht Psalter. Judging, as we 
 have every right to judge, from the procedure of Sir 
 Robert Cotton with regard to other Manuscripts in 
 his enormous library, it is far more probable that he 
 would have fallen into the opposite mistake of 
 binding together two or more separate Manuscripts 
 in one volume, a practice of which every one con- 
 versant with the contents of the Cotton collection is 
 only too well aware, than of separating one volume 
 of different contents into two or more. Even this 
 very Utrecht Psalter has been by some adduced as 
 an example of his method of grouping two codices of 
 similar proportions under one cover, for Mr. Bond, 
 in his report, writes, " The Gospel fragments . . . . 
 are only accidentally connected with the Psalter by 
 having been bound with it at some comparatively 
 recent time — in all probability by Sir Robert 
 Cotton." So that here, if we follow Sir T. Hardy's 
 reasoning, we have to face the anomalous circum- 
 stances that Cotton finds the Utrecht Psalter without 
 the Gospel fragments, but with the Reculver Charter, 
 or, at any rate, that such is the state of the volume 
 
7 8 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 on its first passing into his hands ; — (it is certainly 
 an indisputable fact that the last page of the Rustic 
 Psalter has been at one time exposed to rough 
 usage, and is well thumbed, as though the covers 
 had been defective or altogether missing) — he then 
 inserts the Gospel fragments of uncial writing 
 between the Psalter and the Charter, causes a 
 Table of Contents for the compound book to be 
 written in this order : i, Psalter ; 2, Fragments of 
 Gospels ; 3, Original Charter of Hlothari, and finally, 
 (and strangest of all), he withdraws the Charter and 
 gives it a new place in another part of his library. 
 
 Before proceeding any further with this subject it 
 is not out of place to put before the reader a correct 
 transcript of the Augustus Charter itself, and this is 
 due, not only because it, or a duplicate copy of it, 
 certainly formed at one time a component part of 
 the Utrecht Psalter, but also because it is incorrectly 
 printed, not only in Dugdale, Stevens, and other 
 repertories of monastic evidences, but also in 
 Kemble's standard work upon Anglo-Saxon Diplo- 
 matics, entitled Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, 
 Vol. I., No. xvi. ; and in Sir Thomas Hardy's First 
 Report, p. 34, note. The typographical transcript 
 attached to the photograph of it in the Facsimiles 
 of Ancient Charters in the British Museum, pi. 1, pre- 
 sents the nearest resemblance to the text of the 
 original. It is in mixed uncial and capital cha- 
 racters, and runs as follows : — 
 
 4 In n . d 1 nostri saluatoris ihu xpi 2 . ego hlo 
 tharius rex cantuariorum 3 pro remedium 
 
 1 Nomine domiui, Hardy. ' ffesu Chruti, H. 3 Catnuariurum^ H. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 79 
 
 animae meae dono terram . in tenid . que 1 ap 
 pellatur . uuestan ? ae* tibi bercuald . tuoque 
 monasterio cum omnib: 3 ad se pertinentibus 
 campis pascuis meriscis . siluis modicis . fon 
 nis piscaris omnibus at dictum est ad ean 
 dem terram pertinentia . sicuti nunc usq: 4 
 possessa est . iuxta notissimos terminos 
 a me demonstratus et proacutoribus 
 meis . eodem modo tibi tuoque monasterio 
 conferimus . teneas possedeas 5 tu . poste 
 rique 6 tui inperpetuum 7 defendant a nu 
 llo contradicitur . cum consensu 8 archi 
 episcopi theodori et Edrico 9 . filium fra 
 tris mei necnon 10 et omnium principum . 
 sicuti tibi donata est ita tene et poste 
 ri tui : — quisquis contra hanc donatione 
 ////" uenire temptauerit sit ab omni xpiani 
 tata 13 separatus . et a corpore et sanguini 
 dni nostri ihu xpi 13 suspensus . manentem . 
 hanc donationis chartulam in sua nihil 
 ominus firmitate et pro confirmatione 
 eius manu propria signum see 14 . crucis 
 expraessi 15 et testes 16 ut subscribere 
 nt rogaui . actum in civitate recuulf . 
 in mense maio 17 in$ 18 septima : — In ipsa ante 
 memorato 19 die adiunxi aliam terram in 
 
 1 Que, Kemble; quce, H. 2 Uuestan ae, K. ; westan ae, H. 
 
 3 Omnibus, H. 4 Usque, H. 5 Possideas, K. 
 
 6 Qui, altered into que, Facs. 7 Inperpetuum, H. and B. M. 
 
 8 Consenso, altered into consensu, F. 9 Edrico, K., H. IO Nec non, K. 
 
 11 Donatione \ m, but m erased and the line over the e inserted, F. ; donationem, H. 
 
 12 Christ lanatata, H. 13 Jesu Christi, H. 14 Sancte, H. 
 
 15 Express, H. 16 Erasure here, F. 17 Erased letter between a and i, F. 
 
 18 Indictioue, H.; ina, B. M. 19 Antememorato, K., H., B. M. 
 
8o 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 sturia iuxta notissimos terminos 
 
 a me demonstratus 1 et proacutori 
 
 bus meis cum campis et siluis et pra 
 
 tis sicuti ante memorabimus* supra 
 
 dictam terram . ita ista sit a me donata 
 
 eodem modo cum omnibus ad se perti ///// 
 
 ///// nentia 3 in potestate abb sit . inperpe 
 
 tuum 4 . a me donata . a nullo contradicitur 
 
 quod absit: neque a me neque a parentibus 
 
 meis neque ab aliis . si.aliquis aliter fecerit 
 
 a do se damnatum sciat . et in die iudicii ratio 
 
 nem reddet do in anima 5 sua : — 
 
 + Signum 6 manus hlothari regis donatoris 
 
 + Signum manus gumbercti : + Signu 7 manus 8 
 
 gebredi : 9 — + Signum manus osfridi : — 
 
 + Signum manus irminredi + Signum manus 
 
 aedilmaeri 10 . + Signum manus hagani 
 
 4- Signum manus aeldredi : + Signum manus 
 
 aldhodi : — + Signum manus gudhardi : 
 
 + Signum manus bernhardi . + Signum manus 
 
 uelhisci :. — :. — 
 
 Now, whether Sir Robert Cotton came into 
 possession of the Psalter and Charter contained 
 within the same covers, as Sir Thomas Hardy 
 thinks, or not, as Mr. Bond thinks, there is nothing in 
 the way of record left to bear directly upon the 
 subject either way. It is a well-known fact that Sir 
 Robert Cotton was commonly in the habit of 
 
 1 Demonstrates, H. a Antememorahimus, B. M. 
 
 3 Originally fertinen \ tinentia, but nen \ ti erased, F. 4 In fterfietiLum, K. 
 
 5 Inanima, H. 6 + Signum to the end of the text in a different hand, F. 
 
 7 Signum, K., H. 8 Us conjoined, F. 9 Gebredi, K., H. 
 
 10 Aedihmaeri, H. 11 Hacani, H. 
 
 t 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 8l 
 
 binding up into convenient volumes Manuscripts of 
 all ages, and on paper or vellum, provided only the 
 sizes fitted tolerably well together, although even this 
 necessary point of agreement was not always adhered 
 to. He even went further than this, and cut out 
 from illuminated Manuscripts and printed books 
 miniature paintings or engraved titles wherewith to 
 embellish, as he thought, other more precious Manu- 
 scripts. But we do not find any direct evidence of 
 his being accustomed to insert a separate Charter 
 into a volume. On the contrary there is every 
 reason to believe that his formation of a collection 
 of Charters, which now exists to the number of 
 upwards of thirteen thousand, was commenced about 
 the same time that he began to acquire his library 
 of Manuscripts; and, in addition to this separate 
 collection of Charters, two designations of his Manu- 
 scripts (codices) , viz., Augustus II., and Nero C. III., 
 appear to have been portfolios, or boxes, specially 
 arranged to hold Charters, and yet to range them- 
 selves, like books, in their places in the book shelves, 
 which, being surmounted by busts of the Roman 
 Emperors, took from these busts the distinctive 
 press-marks by which they are now known. 
 
 If this be so, there appears to be no necessity 
 for his binding up a Charter here in Claudius C. 
 VII., the Utrecht Psalter; nor for his pursuing a 
 similar course in regard to another deed in another 
 volume of which notice will be presently made. 
 Hence it must be conceded, that while there is no 
 doubt that the Charter and the Psalter were con- 
 nected in some way before they passed into the 
 
82 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Cotton library, there is at the same time nothing as 
 yet on record to show at what period, anterior to 
 Cotton, this literary union had been effected. And, 
 to endeavour to show that because a Reculver 
 Charter (of a.d. 679) is bound up with the Manu- 
 script, therefore it is to be accepted as a conclusion 
 that the Manuscript itself is of that early date, and con- 
 nected with that monastery, is as peculiar a reasoning 
 as would be to say that because a man hangs up in 
 his house an Italian picture of the fifteenth century, 
 therefore the house is of that date and connected 
 with that country. The most that can be admitted 
 is, that the Charter was inserted into the volume 
 previous to the joint acquisition of the two relics by 
 Sir Robert Cotton ; and it may be even imagined 
 without difficulty that the volume passed into the 
 possession of the monastery at Reculver when the 
 head or librarian of that religious house, following 
 a not uncommon custom, inserted into the sacred 
 volume as it were into an impregnable sanctuary 
 whence no sacrilegious hand should snatch it, so 
 precious a title-deed of his house as this Charter 
 undoubtedly is, at a time as late as the tenth or 
 eleventh century. But the actual Charter, now num- 
 bered Augustus II. 2, bears no marks of having been 
 stitched into the Utrecht Psalter or into any other 
 book, and it is not of a size with the Psalter, for it 
 measures (even in its mutilated state) 13 by 6 
 inches, although, on the other hand, it has been very 
 closely cut in all its margins, so that perhaps the 
 holes of the bookbinders' needles have been trimmed 
 away. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 83 
 
 We may also reasonably presume that if the 
 removal of the Charter from any other location in 
 the Cottonian collection had been carried out in 
 compliance with the intention of Sir Robert Cotton, 
 some record of its original numeration and position 
 would remain, but there is nothing to indicate that 
 such was the case. We may too, with equal reason, 
 expect to find an explanatory note on the page con- 
 taining the elenchus or descriptive title of the Utrecht 
 Psalter (Claudius C. VII.), wherein the Charter is 
 specified as existing in the volume. And we should 
 certainly expect to find the words relating to the 
 Charter scored out with a pen, but nothing of the 
 kind has been done. So, too, should we expect to 
 find some literary notice of the document being 
 missing from the Psalter, in the writings of con- 
 temporary cataloguers and Manuscript readers, but 
 it is not so. 
 
 Far different from all these are the circumstances 
 surrounding a volume preserved in the same mag- 
 nificent library, which presents so many points of 
 illustration that we must of necessity take them into 
 consideration. The Manuscript entitled Vespasian 
 A . /. is a Roman Psalter most beautifully written in 
 fine uncial character of about a.d. 700, with some 
 pages in Rustic handwriting of somewhat later dates, 
 prefixed and inserted into it. The Latin text has 
 been interlined with Saxon glosses. The elenchus 
 which was prefixed to this venerable Manuscript, 
 during the lifetime, and in all probability under the 
 immediate supervision of Sir Robert Cotton, runs as 
 follows : — 
 
» 
 
 84 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 " i. Psalterium Romanum antiquo charactere 
 cum interlineari interpretatione Saxonica, cui prcefixa 
 est donatio antiqua regis Australium Saxonum ALthel- 
 baldij et ad finem habetur symbolum Athanasii 
 Saxonice etiam interlineatum cum aliis hymnis et 
 precibus. Codex iste scriptus videtur Anno 700 a 
 Nativ. Xpi." From the italic words in the above 
 sentence it is clear that a charter of ^Ethelbald 
 king of the West Saxons, was, at the time of com- 
 posing this table of contents, prefixed to the Psalter, 
 much in the same way as the Reculver Charter was 
 suffixed to the Utrecht Psalter. Richard James, 
 Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, a literary 
 man of distinction in the seventeenth century, and 
 contemporary of Sir Robert Cotton, who knew more 
 about the Cottonian library in his own times than 
 any one else, not even excepting Cotton himself, 
 bears witness to the safety of the Charter in the 
 Vespasian Psalter. But between his date and the 
 compilation of Thomas Smith's Catalogue of the 
 Cottonian Manuscripts, published at Oxford in 1696, 
 the document had been abstracted, for we read in 
 Smith's work (p. xxxv.) the following regretful words: 
 u Donatio antiqua ^Ethelbaldi, Regis Australium 
 Saxonum, quam libro Psalmorum olim prsepositam 
 fuisse memorat D. Jamesius, . . . . ab aliqua impia 
 manu abscinditur." 
 
 The impia mamis, nevertheless, has not carried the 
 Charter very far off ; it, too, rests at the present 
 moment in the British Museum, only five paces 
 distant from the volume which afforded it a sacred 
 protection for so many centuries, for at some time 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 85 
 
 during the period between 1696 and 1802 it was 
 found in the portfolio which Cotton designated as 
 Augustus II., placed the very next in order to the 
 Reculver Charter, and numbered 3 in that priceless 
 series of records of our Saxon history. On its 
 discovery and ensuing identification, some hand, 
 probably that of a Cottonian librarian, has drawn a 
 pen and ink through the words in italics in the 
 elenchus given above, and the same pen has inserted in 
 the margin the note 11 V[ide\. Aug. II. 2," the 2 being 
 afterwards corrected in pencil by a later hand into 3. 
 In like manner the folio Parliamentary Catalogue of 
 the Cotton Manuscripts, which was published in 
 1802, speaking of Augustus II. 3, says: " This 
 Charter was formerly in the Psalter Vespasian 
 A. 1 ;" and the same Catalogue gives the following 
 account of the Psalter styled Vespasian A. 1 : " 2. 
 Psalterium D. Hieronymi Romanum elegantissime 
 litteris capitalibus, in Anglia, scriptum et illumi- 
 natum ; cui postea accedit interlineata Versio 
 Saxonica ; folium primum, mala manu abscissum, 
 continebat Psalmum primum integrum et secundi 
 partem ; exscinditur etiam charta donationis ^thel- 
 baldi R. Merciorum, quam hinc libro Psalmorum 
 olim praepositam fuisse memorat D. Jamesius, quce 
 autem hodie in codice August. I. [//.}, No. 3, asser- 
 vatur." And the same, Catalogue, speaking of the 
 Charter, in the description of the Codex Augustus II., 
 says : " This Charter was formerly in the Psalter 
 Vespasian A. I." The Charter itself, although it 
 shows no marks of having been bound up, has been 
 very much trimmed away on all its margins. It has 
 
86 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 been frequently printed, by Dugdale in his Monas- 
 ticon Anglicanum under his account of Worcester 
 Cathedral, Vol. L, Appendix, No. VII. ; by Stevens 
 in his Continuation, Vol. II., Appendix, p. 208 ; by 
 Kemble in his Codex Diplomaticus, Vol. I., No. 
 LXXX. ; and a facsimile of it is given in autotype 
 permanent photography, together with a printed 
 transcript, in the Facsimiles of Ancient Charters in the 
 British Museum, No. 7. It relates to the foundation 
 of a religious house at Stour, or Stourminster, gene- 
 rally identified with Kidderminster, and probably 
 one of several which were impropriated and absorbed 
 into the more extensive establishment at Worcester ; 
 and it bears the date a.d. 736. 
 
 From the above consideration it is perfectly clear 
 that while the removal of the Mercian Charter of 
 if^thelbald from Vespasian A. I. was discovered and 
 noted before 1802, yet the removal of the Reculver 
 Charter from the Utrecht Psalter, under identically 
 similar circumstances, was certainly not known in 
 that year, for in that case a note would have been 
 given to that effect in the Catalogue printed in that 
 year, under the description of Augustus II., 2, its 
 present and its then position. 
 
 Another instance of a very similar procedure (but 
 where no removal has been practised) will be noticed 
 in a third Cottonian Manuscript, Otho. C. 1. pars 
 1., a tenth century copy of the Gospels in Anglo- 
 Saxon, where on two leaves, (folios 68, 69), the first 
 of which contains four lines concluding the Gospel 
 of St. Luke, there is an Anglo-Saxon translation 
 of a Latin Bull or Rescript of Pope Sergius I., circ. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 87 
 
 V 
 
 a.d. 701, in favour of the Abbey of Malmesbury. The 
 Gospel of St. John begins on folio 70. And Mr. N. 
 E. Hamilton, the learned editor of the Gesta Pon- 
 tificum of William of Malmesbury, for the Master of 
 the Rolls' Series of Chronicles and Memorials, in 
 printing this Anglo-Saxon translation for the first 
 time, deduces from this fact of the insertion of this 
 Charter, that it seems " probable that the Manu- 
 script Otho. C. 1. belonged to the monastery at 
 Malmesbury." No doubt other examples of similar 
 treatment might be adduced from the Manuscripts 
 in the Cotton collection. But enough has been said 
 to show the practice of English monasteries before 
 the Conquest by the Normans with respect to in- 
 serting original deeds or copies of them into Biblical 
 Manuscripts, or transcribing their Charters into 
 spare leaves in the body of the books themselves. 
 
 It is necessary now to revert to the concluding 
 considerations of the theory adopted by Sir Thomas 
 Hardy regarding the preservation of the Utrecht 
 Psalter in the monastery of Reculver. It has been 
 already shown that he would rely upon the finding 
 of this Charter in the volume as the principal, indeed 
 only reason for associating the volume with that 
 ancient monastery. It has also been shown how 
 weak and insufficient that evidence, taken by itself 
 is to support such a theory. We have, however, to 
 hear the remarks of Sir Thomas in his Further 
 Report 1 upon this head. These remarks are so valu- 
 able and so instructive upon the subject that they 
 must be repeated here. " It was the custom to 
 
 1 p. 39, 40. 
 
88 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 place royal and other Charters in valuable books and 
 chartularies for preservation, for it was not every 
 monastery that possessed means of recording gifts. 
 The smallness of Reculver would almost determine 
 that it did, not possess any ; what then would be 
 more natural than the abbot should place such a 
 valuable document as the Charter of king Lothair 
 in the highest place of honour with which he was 
 acquainted ; and what higher would occur to him 
 than in a valuable Psalter presented to his house by 
 Queen Bertha ? . . . The Abbey of Reculver had 
 been dissolved 1 centuries before the reign of 
 Henry VIII. ; what then became of this strip of 
 parchment during all the centuries which passed 
 between these two dates ? was it kicked about some- 
 where or other until the time of the suppression of 
 monasteries ? Then why was it placed in that 
 particular Psalter, if there had not been a tradition 
 that it had belonged to Reculver ? . . . I may ask 
 where the Charter had been kept between the time 
 of the suppression of monasteries and when Sir 
 Robert Cotton placed it in this Psalter. Why did 
 he select this particular Psalter ? I would also ask 
 . . . whether it is probable that Sir Robert Cotton 
 would himself have placed the Charter of Lothair in 
 the Psalter, and then have removed it to Augustus II., 
 where it now is ? I am inclined to believe that the 
 Charter was in the Manuscript when it came into 
 possession of Sir Robert Cotton, and that he re- 
 moved it to Augustus II. " After further observa- 
 
 1 The Abbey was founded for Benedictines in a.d. 669; they were removed, circ. 
 a.d. 949; but deans occur, circ. a.d. 1030, showing that the secular clergy had 
 replaced the regular monks. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 89 
 
 tions, tending to show that there was no necessity 
 for the Charter to be bound in the volume, although 
 there placed, the Further Report, referring to the 
 First Report, proceeds : — " I conjectured that it (the 
 Utrecht Psalter) was written in some monastery 
 where the Gallican Ritual obtained, and accom- 
 panied Bertha, daughter of Chariberct, King of 
 France, when she came here to be united in 
 marriage to Athelberct, King of Kent, who, though 
 himself a Pagan, allowed her to retain the Christian 
 religion under the guidance of Luithard, who 
 accompanied her, before the arrival of St. Augustine 
 in Britain. I then stated that the Utrecht Psalter 
 was in all probability prepared for some special 
 occasion ; and the costliness of such a Manuscript 
 in those early times would appear to indicate that it 
 must have been the property of some noble or royal 
 personage, and I added that it is evident that the 
 Manuscript was not written for an Anglo-Saxon 
 personage, or it would have had an interlinear 
 translation into that language ; that Bertha, being a 
 French Princess, would not require such assistance." 
 Sir Thomas then goes on to quote an independent 
 confirmation of his opinion that it was written for 
 Bertha's mother, who presented it to her daughter 
 on coming into Britain, which has been conveyed to 
 him, and by him to us, in these words : — " You trace 
 it to Bertha — let me give some further links. The 
 Kentish queen was brought up by her mother, 
 Ingolberga, at Tours, after the desertion of the 
 latter by Chariberct, in the strictest seclusion, under 
 the eye of Gregory of Tours, who has recorded her 
 
go 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 last moments. But Gregory had another friend and 
 protege living at Tours at this period, viz., Venan- 
 tius Fortunatus, to whom (on independent grounds) 
 Muratori has assigned the compilation of the Atha- 
 nasian creed. The occasion for this is indicated by 
 Pope Pelagius' letter to Childebert, showing the 
 increasing progress of Eutychianism in France. 
 And here a fresh link appears. Avitus, Bishop of 
 Vienne, (who died in 523,) had written letters against 
 the heresies of Sabellius, Arius, and Eutyches, at 
 the instance of King Gunebald, which were so 
 highly valued that they were read in the church of 
 
 Tours as a safeguard against these dangers 
 
 Might we not suppose that Fortunatus, who was a 
 Christian poet, was led by his patron Gregory to 
 give these letters a hymnal and antiphonal form for 
 the purpose of chanting ? " 
 
 Having now before us the whole of the evidence, 
 for and against the theory that the Reculver 
 monastery was the first home of the Utrecht Psalter 
 in England, and having shown how weak is the 
 evidence which connects it with that monastery, it 
 remains for us to adopt some theory to account for 
 the insertion of the Reculver Charter, by binding or 
 otherwise, into the volume. For there is little 
 doubt that the connection between Charter and book 
 took place before the suppression of monasteries. 
 It would appear that in seeking to connect Queen 
 Bertha with the Psalter, and so begging the question 
 of its date, there has been a departure from, and a 
 rejection of the evidence of, material facts, and a 
 simultaneous flight into the realms of fancy, un- 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 91 
 
 fettered by any evidences or proofs wherewith to 
 check or moderate theories which are certainly as 
 interesting and alluring as they are improbable 
 and inconsistent. And in this flight of fancy where 
 we can imagine the deserted Queen Ingolberga 
 solacing her woes at Tours with contemplating the 
 materialism of the pictures in her Psalter, and alter- 
 nately wondering at the incongruities they would 
 represent to her, and admiring the facility with 
 which the pen of the artist has sketched out the 
 ideas which the language of the Psalmist has con- 
 veyed to his simple soul ; where we can imagine the 
 royal daughter, Bertha, reverently depositing the 
 precious volume in the monastery of Reculver, and 
 bequeathing it to the Abbey at her death ; in these 
 misty reveries, and in the glamour of these surround- 
 ings we have allowed ourselves to be carried away 
 unnecessarily from the consideration of one or two 
 facts which are very important, and entirely do away 
 with the necessity of connecting the volume with 
 Reculver, while at the same time they reasonably 
 account for the presence of the Reculver Charter in 
 the pages of the book. 
 
 The theory that appears to be more consistent 
 with established facts, and less dependent upon 
 conjectures, is briefly this. To commence : the 
 Charter is a grant by Hlothari, King of the Can- 
 tuarii, " to thee Bercwald, and to thy monastery," 
 " with the consent of the Archbishop Theodore," 
 and is witnessed by a number of nobles, not of 
 bishops, abbots, and other dignitaries of the church. 
 There can be no doubt that these circumstances 
 
 9* 
 
Q2 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 point to very remarkable proceedings which the 
 Charter chronicles, between the lines, yet manifestly, 
 if one will only take the trouble to accept the hidden 
 meaning it plainly conveys. A careful inspection of 
 the Charter points undoubtedly to the fact, that it is 
 not the original Charter, but a copy, executed after 
 a considerable interval of time. This is borne out 
 by the presence of innumerable proofs. If we turn 
 to the facsimile published for the British Museum, 
 or, better still, to the Charter itself, Augustus II., 
 we shall see that a number of the words are wrongly 
 divided, and portions of two consecutive words fre- 
 quently conjoined; for example, the words " Uuest- 
 anae tibi " are actually written Uuestan ? aetibi," 
 a stop intervening between two parts of the word 
 designating the place, and the final letters run on to 
 the following pronoun. There is the phrase " sicut- 
 anteme morabimiis," where three words are made 
 into two, thus, two and part of the third form the first, 
 and the remainder of the third forms the last. The 
 clerical errors of the text have been corrected, and 
 yet while the eye of the corrector has not been 
 offended by the foregoing examples, it has been 
 offended by the final letter of donationem being set 
 upon a new line, and so he has erased the m and 
 added a mark (<») over the e. The corrector has also 
 emended some clerical blunders which he has left to 
 stand in their amended form thus, " ettest es ut 
 sub scribere nt" for "et testes ut subscriberent." His 
 eye has also detected the blunder of pertinentinentia 
 and erased the first nenti. All these point invincibly 
 to this, that the deed is a copy of the original 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 93 
 
 document. Another very strong proof of this is that 
 the clause containing the attestations is written in 
 another hand, very closely resembling, but yet in 
 general ensemble unmistakeably different from the 
 handwriting which is shown in the body of the text. 
 This would not have been the case with the original 
 deed, which would have been drawn up by the royal 
 scribe at one consecutive sitting, the names of the 
 nobles who were present being entered in their 
 proper order, the signum manus merely being a 
 conventional form of signifying their concurrence 
 with the object of the Charter, and not their actual 
 subscription, as it came to mean in after years, to 
 which we must assign the date of this copy which by 
 a change of hand seeks to convey to us that the 
 subscriptions are genuine autographic representa- 
 tions. By thus showing that the deed is not 
 original, we by no means desire to assert that it is a 
 fabrication. The practice of the earlier Anglo- 
 Saxons, as is indeed well known, was to multiply 
 examples of their title-deeds, for there was no royal 
 registry or chancery wherein to enrol or to deposit 
 them. Hence those whose property depended upon 
 the ability to produce immediate documentary 
 evidence of their right to holdings of territory, took 
 good care to provide against loss of their Charters 
 by fire, theft, carelessness, or decay. It is to this 
 custom that we owe the fact that so many duplicate 
 copies of Saxon Charters are yet extant, some of 
 which, when tested by the scientific examination of 
 palaeography, have evidently been prepared as late 
 as the twelfth century, a hundred and fifty years 
 
94 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 after the domination of that dynasty. It is a sig- 
 nificant point in this deed, that although the grant is 
 made with the consent of Theodore, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, his name has been omitted from the list 
 of subscribing witnesses. This is very suspicious, 
 for although Theodore frequently appears in the 
 Charters of this period, whether his name is intro- 
 duced into the text or not, I only find one instance 
 where allusion is made to the Archbishop (or his 
 predecessor perhaps) where Theodore's name does 
 not appear among the witnesses, and this, an 
 undated Charter of Osuuini, king of the Cantuarii, 
 has been marked as doubtful by Kemble, who has 
 edited it in Vol. I., No. x. of his celebrated Codex. 
 
 It is curious, but it will be profitable, to conjecture, 
 if we may, the reason why the consent of the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury was required under the cir- 
 cumstances of the case. The king is giving to a 
 monastery in his dominions certain lands over which 
 he enjoys absolute power. There is no doubt that 
 Theodore, the head of the Church in the province, 
 would be consulted, but we may go further than 
 this, and without travelling out of the path of 
 possible facts, believe that there was a very close 
 bond of union between the great house at Canter- 
 bury, and the unpretending little monastery presided 
 over by Bercwald at Reculver, a few miles nearer 
 to the sea. It is well known that monastic establish- 
 ments, generally but not necessarily of the same 
 order, were in the habit of entering into confraternity 
 with each other (not in any way connected with their 
 revenues, which were always distinct), not only, 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 95 
 
 like Wearmouth and J arrow, when they were situate 
 in close proximity one with the other, as was 
 the case with Canterbury and Reculver, but we 
 find long distances, such as those which lay be- 
 tween Worcester, and Evesham, and Chertsey ; 
 between Durham and Chertsey ; Durham and Per- 
 shore ; Durham and Westminster ; Malmesbury 
 and Gloucester ; Evesham and Whitby ; Evesham 
 and York ; Cirencester and Bruerne ; bridged over 
 by the fraternization of the houses, 1 whereby the 
 members of the one entered into close compact 
 with those of the other, to share its joys and its fears, 
 to lean mutually upon each other for moral and 
 
 1 Hickes in his Dissertatio Epistolaris gives the Anglo-Saxon text and Latin 
 translation of a mutual compact of fraternization between Wulfstan, Bishop of 
 Worcester, and the Benedictine houses of Evesham, Chertsey, Bath, Pershore, 
 Winchelcombe, Gloucester, and Worcester, from a Manuscript at Corp. Chr. Coll., 
 Cambr., Miscell. G. p. 55. 
 
 In the Cotton Manuscript, Titus D. xxvi., folio 17 b; an early eleventh century 
 book belonging to the Abbot of Newminster, is a formula of the agreement entered 
 into by fraternising monasteries at that time, see English Cyclopaedia, Arts and 
 Sciences, Supplement, col. 1069. 
 
 The Cotton Manuscript, Domitian vii. ff. 33 44, records similar agreements 
 between Durham Cathedral and Chertsey Abbey, between Durham and Gregory of 
 Bermondsey, a professed writer of Manuscripts; between Durham and Wlfravenus, 
 Canon of St. Paul's; between Durham and Pershore Abbey; between William, 
 Bishop of Durham, and Vitalis, Abbot of Westminster for themselves and their 
 respective monks. Gloucester, Lastingham, Winchester, Coventry, Canterbury, 
 Fecamp and Caen in Normandy, Glastonbury and Hackness entered into similar 
 fraternity with Durham, attracted probably by the fame of St. Cuthbert. 
 
 William of Malmesbury in his Gesta Pontificum, Ed. Hamilton, p. 293, says that 
 St. Oswald's Priory of Austin Canons at Gloucester was conjoined "affinitate 
 arctissima " with his own Benedictine monastery of Malmesbury. 
 
 The Abbey of Evesham (in its Register, MS., Cotton, Vespasian B. xxiv., folio 11) 
 was in fraternity with Malmesbury; with St. Mary's Abbey York (folio 12 b), and of 
 Whitby, it says, " quod hee due congregationes quasi una erunt." 
 
 The Cotton MS. Vitellius E. xvii. belonged to a religious house, now not identi- 
 fied, which was leagued by conventions with Peterborough, Worcester, Gloucester, 
 Reading, Tewkesbury, Chertsey, Burton, Ely, Abingdon, Glastonbury, Lewes, 
 St. Albans, Durham, Merton, Malmesbury, Bury, Westminster, Wherwell, Romsey, 
 Bee, and Battle. 
 
 For the text of the agreement between Cirencester and Brueria, see Madox's 
 Formulare Anglicanum, p. 301. 
 
 Further remarks on this interesting subject may be found in Silvestre's Account 
 of the Mortuary Roll of St. Vitalis, pi. clxxxii. ; and see B. M., Add. MS. 28,107, £ 2 39 
 
9 6 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 spiritual support, and to benefit by the spiritual 
 exercises and worldly experiences of their fellow- 
 workmen in the field of Christ. Although there is 
 no direct evidence that can be brought to bear upon 
 this assumption, it is a very natural solution of the 
 question raised concerning the consent of Theodore 
 being required to the gift of land to Reculver. It is 
 quite possible that at those early times the Arch- 
 bishop was considered the natural head of all 
 monasteries within his province ; but the unsettled 
 state of both lay and ecclesiastical rule in England 
 would require that we should receive such a pro- 
 position with great reserve ; whereas from analogy 
 there is nothing to militate against the idea of a 
 confraternity being in operation between the Bene- 
 dictine houses of Canterbury and Reculver. 
 
 But be this as it may, it is sufficient for the 
 argument to indicate, that there was a connection 
 either as between two brothers, or in the light of 
 head and branch, between these two establishments : 
 and this resulted in the very example of Bercwald 
 himself being raised from the comparatively unim- 
 portant position of Abbot of Reculver (perhaps for 
 his services to the Queen Bertha) to the all-powerful 
 office of Archbishop of Canterbury, in a.d. 693, on 
 the death of Theodore. What could be more 
 natural under these circumstances than to conceive 
 the ties of brotherhood drawn more closely around 
 the monastery of Reculver and the Cathedral of 
 Canterbury when the Abbot of the one is elevated to 
 the dignity of Archbishop of the other ? 
 
 It is this fact which more reasonably explains the 
 
 \ 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 97 
 
 connection of the Reculver Charter with the Kentish 
 Court in these early years, than any other yet 
 adduced. Indeed, it almost ceases to be conjectural 
 that the favoured Abbot, on the occasion of his 
 election, ist July, a.d. 692, to the vacant archie- 
 piscopate, or on that of his ordination by Godwine, 
 the Archbishop of Lyons, which was solemnised on 
 the 29th of June, a.d. 693, or, finally, on the 
 ceremony of his enthronement at Canterbury on the 
 31st of August 1 in the same year, removed, together 
 with other documents of a more private and personal 
 nature, this royal Charter addressed to himself by 
 name, as well as to the Abbey of which he was the 
 head. At any rate, it is quite likely that he had a 
 duplicate copy of it for his own use. There must 
 undoubtedly have been a very close connection, even 
 at this early period, between the Abbey of Reculver, 
 wherein, as we have already observed, members of 
 the Royal Family were sometimes domiciled, and 
 Canterbury, the capital city of the kingdom of the 
 Cantuarii : and this connection was assuredly in 
 some measure contributory to the elevation of the 
 Abbot to the dignity of the Archiepiscopate. In 
 addition to this, the harmony of feeling which 
 existed between Archbishop Theodore and Abbot 
 Bercwald in respect to the peculiar and novel pro- 
 ceedings of Wilfrid of York may have had something 
 to do with it. 3 And this very elevation, as it is 
 equally reasonable to believe, operated by drawing 
 
 1 Beda, Historia Ecclesiastica, v. 8. 
 
 2 See William of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontificum, Ed. Hamilton,. Index s. v. 
 Berhtioald, Theodore, Wilfrid. 
 
gS 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 even yet more closely the bonds of a spiritual fellow- 
 ship, should we reject the probability of an organised 
 and definite fraternisation having arisen between the 
 two religious and ecclesiastical establishments. 
 
 Another valuable evidence of the close affinity of 
 these contiguous churches is afforded by a passage 
 in Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, 1 where it is 
 stated 11 that in a Manuscript Chartulary of the 
 Archbishopric of Canterbury in the Bodleian 
 Library at Oxford, several grants of lands and 
 privileges to this monastery (of Reculver) are 
 recorded, as well as the substance of them, in the 
 Evidentiae Ecclesiae Christi Cantuariae, printed in the 
 Decern Scriptores* by Twysden." 
 
 Yet stronger still is the historical fact, that in the 
 year 949 the monastery of Reculver and its posses- 
 sions were annexed to the Cathedral of Christ 
 Church, Canterbury, by a special Charter of King 
 Eadred, which has been frequently printed ; and, 
 curiously enough, there was evidently some peculiar 
 interest attached to the transfer, for no less a per- 
 sonage than St. Dunstan himself composed and 
 wrote out the words of the Charter " propriis digi- 
 torum articulis." 3 It is worthy of remark in this 
 place that at times somewhat later, the text of the 
 
 1 Vol. I., p. 454. 
 
 2 Part II.. col. 2207, 2220, from a Manuscript in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 
 
 3 V. Dugdale, Monasticon, I. 455 where it is printed " Ex ipso autographo in 
 Bibliotheca Cottoniana," viz., Augustus II. 57; another record from the Codex 
 Augustus II., which has been alluded to already on several occasions. The following- 
 sentence occurs in the Charter, towards the end: — "Ego Dunstan .... propriis 
 digitorum articulis perscripsi." Kemble, also, in his great work on Anglo-Saocon 
 Diplomatics prints the Charters (vol. 2, No. ccccxxv., page 293) from another exemplar 
 Antiques Cartce Canluarienses, R. 14, collated with the Augustus II. 57. But the 
 clause concerning Dunstan is not in this Canterbury specimen which bears signs of 
 injury at the place. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 99 
 
 Charter (which is too long for insertion here) became 
 corrupted and very sensibly curtailed, until we find 1 
 that it reached the following laconic form: " + Anno 
 dominicae incarnationis . DCCCCXLIX. Ego Ea- 
 dredus Rex, praesente venerabili viro Odone archie- 
 piscopo, patre tocius Britanniae, et Eadgiva regina 
 matre mea, dedi aecclesiae Christi in Dorobernia 
 (Canterbury), monasterium Raculfense cum tola villa 
 et omnibus ad earn pertinentibus liberam ab omni 
 saeculari servitute, exceptis tribus, expeditione 
 pontis et arcis constructione. Et ego Dunstan, 
 abbas indignus, cartulam, inde imperante domino 
 meo rege Eadredo, composui, et propriis digitis meis 
 perscripsi." Both the full and the abbreviated 
 Charter indicate that the grant of Reculver to 
 Canterbury was made in the presence of Queen 
 Eadgiva, the king's mother, and of Archbishop Odo. 
 Notwithstanding this, the convent was not entirely 
 dispersed, although in all probability the Rule 
 practised by its inmates underwent a fundamental 
 change ; and there was some kind of establishment 
 still kept up until at least a few years before the 
 advent of the Normans, for in a grant or demise of 
 portion of the demesne lands of Reculver monastery, 
 made by Archbishop Agelnoth (the period of whose 
 archiepiscopal life extended from a.d. 1020 to 1038), 
 to Alfwold and Aldred, his ministri, the gift is made 
 " ex consensu fratris nostri Givehardi decani ejusdem 
 ecclesiae Sanctse matris Dei, ut illam terram habeant 
 
 1 Kemble, v. 354, No. mclxvi. MS. Lambeth, No. 121 2, page 323. Twysden, 
 Histor. Angl. Scrifttores oc., 2.2.20. There is also an abbreviated form of the Charter 
 of Hlotharius in Dugdale's Monasticon, i. 424. 
 
100 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 non longius quam ipsi placuerit decano, vel ejus 
 successori," 1 showing that the Reculver was then, 
 and likely, for some time to come, to be, under the 
 management of a dean : whether this deanery was 
 collegiate, or attached to the Cathedral, is of course 
 a matter of speculative research. After this, nothing 
 more is found relating to this Abbey. It is supposed 
 to have ceased as a religious house, and to have 
 lapsed to the crown in the time of William the Con- 
 queror, by whom it was restored, with its revenues, 
 to the Archbishop Lanfranc, as having been given to 
 Canterbury Cathedral; and, Dugdale says, " soon 
 afterwards, on the separation of the estates of it, 
 between the Archbishop and the priory of Christ 
 Church there, the manor of Reculver with its 
 demesnes, of which the ancient Abbey was esteemed 
 part, and the church appurtenant, was allotted to 
 the former." 2 
 
 On the dispersion of the monastery at Reculver, it 
 is equally possible that all the muniments and docu- 
 ments relating to the erection and maintenance of 
 the house were transferred to the larger Cathedral 
 foundation at Canterbury ; and hence we may argue, 
 that even if Bercwald did not take the Charter itself 
 with him to Canterbury, nor absorb it into the 
 muniment-room of the Cathedral during his pro- 
 longed Archiepiscopacy of nearly forty years, 3 which 
 terminated in a.d. 731, the Charter which found its 
 
 1 Dug-dale, I.e. Somner, Anliq. Cantuar. Afifieiidix, xxxix., fol. Lond. 1703. 
 
 2 Hasted, History of Kent, hi. 632. Compare also the account of Reculver in 
 Domesday Survey, i. 3 b. 
 
 3 He sat longer than any previous prelate, and died in January, 731, Beda. Hist. 
 EccL, v. 23, He was buried in St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. Anglo-Sax. Chron. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 IOI 
 
 way into the Utrecht Psalter may have been copied 
 for him for purposes of reference, it may be the 
 duplicate which was deposited with Theodore, the 
 Archbishop, who was a consenting party to it ; or it 
 may have been placed in the hands of the Cathedral 
 registrar when the removal of the monks from 
 Reculver to Canterbury (and of course their library 
 and records with them) was accomplished in a.d. 
 949. 
 
 However these things may be, and to whichever 
 of the three alternatives which are here proposed 
 better credence is due, let us consider what 
 evidence there may be, if any, of the connection of 
 the Utrecht Psalter into which this Charter was 
 inserted at an early period, with the capital city of 
 the Kentish kingdom. 
 
 If the Utrecht Psalter had been brought from any 
 other place and deposited in the library of the 
 Cathedral, or written there in the scriptorium, or 
 writing-school attached to that Church, we should 
 not fail to find some facts that would indicate its 
 existence there, for it is hardly likely that so 
 uniquely beautiful a Manuscript could long remain 
 in any monastic library without attracting the 
 attention of some one connected with its fortunes. 
 And this is the very thing that we do find. 
 For in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 there exists a Manuscript, entitled the " Psalterium 
 Tripartitum Eadwini," the tripartite Psalter of 
 Eadwine, a folio volume of 280 leaves (18 inches x 13) 
 in which is written in three columns of parallel text 
 to each page, the Hebrew, Roman, and Gallican 
 
102 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 versions of the Psalms. Each Psalm is illustrated 
 with a drawing embodying the subject of the text in 
 a singularly quaint but expressive manner ; and 
 many, almost all indeed of these drawings, are so 
 closely alike to those in the Utrecht that no one can 
 deny that they have been minutely imitated from 
 the illustrations in the Utrecht Psalter. Westwood, 
 in his Palceographia Sacra, has given a plate (No. 43) 
 and a short description of this book ; and the addi- 
 tional Manuscript, 29,273, in the British Museum, 
 contains a few photographic pictures derived from 
 the same volume. That this Eadwine was a monk 
 of Christ Church, Canterbury, is easily deduced 
 from the finding of two pages at the end of the 
 Psalter which contain a bird's eye view of Christ 
 Church, Canterbury, with all its buildings and 
 grounds. This was published in the Vetusta Monu- 
 menta, London, 1747. In the calendar contained 
 also in the book is an entry of the day of the death 
 of Archbishop Anselm, (21 April, a.d. nog,) and of 
 the day of the dedication of Christ Church. There 
 is also a full-length portrait of Eadwine himself, 
 pen in hand, with verses and a prayer relating to 
 him, wherein he calls himself the famulus of God, an 
 expression demonstrating his connection with the 
 church by profession. These facts are sufficient to 
 indicate the name and position of the compiler, the 
 place and date of the execution of the Psalter, 
 which could only have been made by one having the 
 Utrecht Psalter before his eyes at the time. 
 Another point is that the Cotton Manuscript Galba, 
 E. IV., which contains a list of the library of 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 IO3 
 
 the Cathedral in a.d. 13 15, alludes to this very 
 volume as the " Tripartitum Psalterium Edwini," 
 as suggested by Wanley. (Hickes' Thesaurus, Vol. II.) 
 The other copy of the Psalter which forms a Manu- 
 script in the Harley collection, No. 603, will have 
 its date and place discussed, and its probable 
 connection with Canterbury determined in the 
 ensuing chapter, which will treat of the Biblio- 
 graphical history of the Utrecht Psalter. 
 
 The few remaining incidents in the history of the 
 Utrecht Psalter are soon told, although they too 
 are blended with a certain amount of conjecture and 
 uncertainty. Wherever it was preserved prior to 
 the dissolution of the monasteries by king Henry 
 VIII., it probably fell into the hands of one of the 
 branches of the great family of Talbot, viz., shortly 
 after that date, for Mr. Bond reports that " in the 
 lower margin of folio 606, an entry in a hand of the 
 middle of the sixteenth century, can be made out, of 
 the name ' Mary Talbott,' now nearly obliterated." 
 This may tend to show that the Manuscript passed 
 from the library of whatever dissolved house owned 
 it in or about a.d. 1540, and was very shortly after- 
 wards accessible to, or in the keeping of the lady 
 who has recorded her name in this page. 
 
 It would be impossible to positively assert to what 
 lady this signature, and with it the possession of the 
 Utrecht Psalter, is to be assigned. It may be that 
 the name refers to Mary Talbot, the eldest daughter 
 of Gilbert Talbot, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, who 
 occupied the earldom from a.d. 1590 to 1616. She 
 married William Herbert, who became third Earl of 
 
104 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Pembroke, 1600, and died in 1630. This lady was 
 one of the three heiresses to the baronies of Talbot, 
 Strange, Badlesmere, and Furnival. 
 
 Another lady, whose name and time correspond 
 with the signature, is Mary Talbot, third daughter of 
 Sir Gilbert Talbot, the second, of Grafton, co. Wor- 
 cester. Her father died in a.d. 1542, and she was 
 married to Sir Thomas Astley, of Patteshall, in 
 Staffordshire. 
 
 But another, and infinitely more interesting 
 method of accounting for this name, remains to be 
 proposed, and this, if conceded, adds yet another 
 link to the chain of evidence in favour of the Can- 
 terbury origin of the book itself. In the Cotton 
 Manuscript, Julius C. VI., there occur, after some 
 of Leland's Collectanea, several pages of extracts, 
 written in a hand of the middle of the sixteenth 
 century, relating to affairs in connection with Christ 
 Church Cathedral, Canterbury, and at the side of 
 the first page of these extracts is written, in a hand 
 somewhat bolder than the body of the text, the 
 words " Master Talbot of Norwiche" as if the extracts 
 had been made from information supplied by him to 
 the compiler of the extracts. Among these very 
 extracts, at pp. 98-100, there is one section headed 
 " E quodam registro sive indice bibliothece Can- 
 tuarie." This is a list of books belonging to the 
 Cathedral library, and among them occurs the 
 remarkable entry " Mr. Talbot made this anotation 
 in the fronte of Oresius historie that he lent me, 
 translated out of Latin into Saxon tonge : Rex 
 yElfredus Oresium interpretatus est et boetium et 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 bedam de historia Ecclesiastica Anglorum." Here 
 the explanation is manifestly this : " Master Talbot" 
 acquired in some way a great portion of the library 
 of the Cathedral ; out of some of the records he 
 supplied the matter of the extracts to the writer of 
 Julius C, VI., pp. 90, etc. " Master Talbot" also 
 had possession of the Anglo-Saxon translation of 
 Orosius by king Alfred, a Manuscript thus known to 
 have been preserved at Canterbury before the dis- 
 solution, and lent the Manuscript as stated in the 
 quotation already made. Now, if we admit these 
 plain facts, it follows naturally that the name of Mary 
 Talbott which is written in the Psalter is that of Master 
 Talbot's wife or daughter, who has inscribed it while 
 the book was in the possession of Master Talbot, 
 its first lay owner. This very volume of Orosius, a 
 fine Manuscript of the eleventh century, is now in 
 the Cotton library, Tiberius B. 1., and contains, in 
 Master Talbofs writing, the very words " Rex Al- 
 fredus Orosium interpretatus est, et Boetium et 
 
 Bedam de histo. ecclesiastica " which are 
 
 stated by the compiler of Julius C. VI., page 99, to 
 have been written in the volume lent to him by 
 Talbot. This evidence connects the MS. Tiberius 
 B. 1, with the library of Canterbury Cathedral, a 
 fact never yet before known, and a very valuable 
 one in the history of that unique Manuscript. 
 
 A careful search for information regarding 
 " Master Talbot of Norwiche," has resulted in 
 identifying him with Robert Talbot, A.M., who 
 was Rector of Birlingham St. Peter's, co. Norfolk, 
 and installed in the second Prebend of Norwich 
 
 10 
 
io6 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Cathedral on the gth of April, 1547. Blomefield (Vol. 
 III., p. 663) says, " He was a most ingenious and 
 industrious antiquary, and what by love or money, 
 he collected a valuable collection of rare Manuscripts, 
 most of which are now in Bennet College library, 
 where also remain, of his own handwriting, a treatise 
 of the ancient Charters of the kings," etc. 
 
 From this private depository the volume passed 
 into the library of Sir Robert Cotton, but in what 
 way, whether by purchase or gift, and from whom, 
 has not been recorded. In this collection it received 
 the number 207, and subsequently, the distinctive 
 appellation, or press-mark, Claudius C. VII. 
 
 The written catalogue of the collected Manuscripts 
 belonging to Sir Robert Cotton, which was prepared 
 in his time, in the year 162 1, and which now forms 
 Harleian Manuscript, 6018, contains the following 
 description of the Psalter, as No. 207 : " Psalmi 
 dauidis latine literis Romanis (que in usu circa 
 Imperii inclinantis tempora) exarati, iisque majus- 
 culis, cum schematis non impari vetustate passim 
 intertextis." It will be noted that there is no 
 reference to the charter of Hlotharius, but whether 
 this escaped the notice of the cataloguer, or was in- 
 tentionally not referred to, cannot now be determined. 
 
 Mr. Bond's report supplies succeeding links in the 
 history of the book, " Archbishop Ussher, in his 
 treatise i De Romanse Ecclesise Synodo,' published 
 in 1647, speaks of having examined the Manuscript 
 when [it was] in the Cotton library. And, in fact, a 
 letter from him to Sir Robert Cotton, dated on the 
 12th of July, 1625, i s extant (Cotton MS., Julius 
 
 / 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. IO7 
 
 C, III., f. 1509 b.) in which he speaks of having bor- 
 rowed four Latin Psalters, three of which were of 
 Gallican use ; and no doubt this Manuscript was one 
 of them, and that he examined it at this time. But 
 he returned it to Sir Robert ; for among some later 
 memoranda at the end of the catalogue of 1621, 
 already referred to, under a general heading of 1 A 
 note of such bookes as have been lent out by Sir 
 Robert Cotton to divers persons and are abroad in 
 their hands att this daye the 15th of January 1630' 
 [163 1], is a list of volumes lent ' to my Lord the 
 Earle of Arundel ' (fol. 173 b) among which occurs 
 the Psalter, under the description of ' An Ancient 
 Coppie of the Psalmes literis maiusculis, in Latin, 
 and pictures : bound in redd leather with Sir Robert 
 Cotton's Armes, fol.' " 
 
 The next record that comes under our notice 
 with regard to the lending of books from the Cotton 
 library is the Manuscript called " Cotton Appendix, 
 XLV., art. 13," which contains notes of Manuscripts 
 lent by Sir Thomas Cotton between the years 1637 
 and 1 66 1, but in this there is no notice of the 
 Psalter, and we are left to conclude that it had been 
 returned at some time during the period 1630- 1637, 
 or that, if still wanting, its absence from its place in 
 the library was not noticed, or that this Cotton 
 Appendix does not represent a complete list of 
 books lent out during the years it embraces. 
 
 In the classed catalogue of the Cotton Manu- 
 scripts made in the year 1674, the Psalter is not 
 entered ; and in the catalogue called Smith's Folio 
 Catalogue, published at Oxford in 1696, its number 
 
 10* 
 
io8 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 is marked " Deest," indicating that it was wanting 
 at those periods. 
 
 It would appear, therefore, from the above records, 
 that the Psalter had been borrowed by the Earl of 
 Arundel between the years 1625 an d 1631 ; that it 
 might have been returned before 1637 > that at any 
 rate it was missing in 1674 and in 1696. 
 
 Smith, in his erudite prefaces, takes good oppor- 
 tunity to inveigh bitterly against those who borrowed 
 Manuscripts from this renowned library, but never 
 cared to return them ; and his remarks are so apposite, 
 and so well represent the abhorrence in which he 
 did, and indeed all lovers and collectors of Manuscript 
 antiquities rightly should, hold such a course of 
 conduct, that they are well worthy of reproduction 
 here. He says, for example : — " Mecum dolebis, et 
 pariter bbstupescendum ac deplorandum videretur, 
 tot libros, quod ex vacuis locis in catalogo cuivis 
 facile apparet, hodie desideravi, nisi thesaurum quo- 
 que literarium peculatui obnoxium esse, et pro 
 summis beneficiis non semper bonam gratiam re- 
 pendi solere, crebris exemplis constitisset. Non 
 ita egregia Cottonorum humanitas, quae illorum 
 gentilitise dignitatis peculiare decus est, tarn male, et 
 prseter omne jus fasque, multari debuit. Utinam 
 illorum, qui mutuo acceperunt, aut heredum, in 
 quorum manus pervenerint, fides vel paria fecisset ! 
 
 Crimen, quasi sacrilegio proximum, 
 
 omnes boni quibus inest justitiae et aequitatis amor, 
 execrantur, et non minimam religionis partem in 
 ablatis vel mutuo acceptis restituendis collocant : 
 nec exceptiones de jure possessorio, qualicunque prcetextu 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. IOg 
 
 acquisitOy contra vindicias veri Domini, a quo ejusmodi 
 res sacrce, quce hcereditatem sequuntur, abalienari non 
 possunt, sunt admittendce. Utinam vero ii, qui codices 
 Cottonianos apud se retinent, imitarentur exemplum 
 cujusdam probi viri, qui, antequam moreretur, 
 sollenni verborum formula illic inscripta, amicos 
 superstites obnixe obtestatus est 1 ut propter amo- 
 rem Dei librum istum, quern apud se habuit, 
 Bibliothecse Cottonianse restituendum curarent.' " 
 
 After its disappearance from the temporary pos- 
 session of the Earl of Arundel, or at least after 1661, 
 the Psalter seems to have fallen, by unknown means, 
 into the possession of D. de Ridder, and of this Sir 
 Thomas Hardy says : — " We 1 are in ignorance when 
 or by what means it became dissevered from that 
 far-famed repository (the Cottonian collection) ; 
 there is, however, evidence that, as early a#the year 
 1718, it had happily become the property of Mon- 
 sieur D. de Ridder ; I say happily, for by this 
 means it escaped the fire which destroyed so many 
 precious volumes in the Cottonian library." The 
 contemporary entry on the first fly leaf is " Biblio- 
 thecae urbis Trajectinae donavit D. de Ridder," 
 where the letter D. appears rather to stand for 
 Dominus, than for the initial of a Christian name. 
 With regard to this, Mr. Bond says: " Nothing 
 more is heard of it from this time [1631] till the 
 year 17 18, when it was presented to the library of 
 the University of Utrecht, as recorded in a memo- 
 randum on the fly leaf of the Manuscript." The 
 credit of the rediscovery of the volume has been 
 
 1 First Report, p. 7. 
 
no 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 very properly accorded to Professor Westwood, who, 
 in 1859, communicated to the Royal Archaeological 
 Institute a paper entitled " Archaeological Notes of a 
 Tour in Denmark, Prussia, and Holland," which was 
 printed in the Archceological Journal, Vol. XVI., pp. 
 132-145, 236-252. Professor Westwood, from his open- 
 ing sentence, which says, " A desire long entertained 
 ... to examine a remarkable Manuscript of the Psalter 
 preserved at Utrecht, which had once formed part 
 of the Cottonian library led me to Hamburgh in the 
 course of last August," appears to have known of 
 the existence of this Manuscript for a long time 
 previous to his inspection of it at Utrecht, and this 
 is confirmed by a note in his paper (p, 247), whence 
 it appears that in a detailed account of the Psalter 
 by Herr Kist, printed at Leyden in 1833, the 
 Cottonian press mark, Claudius A. 7, is mentioned 
 as being found in the book. This is really an error 
 for Claudius C. 7, but the principle of the fact 
 remains the same. We are, nevertheless, indebted 
 to Mr. Westwood for supplying and circulating this 
 early and interesting information respecting the 
 Utrecht Psalter. 
 
 The chain of history is now completed, and we 
 have been enabled to trace back the Utrecht Psalter 
 and its Charter, the former to Canterbury, the latter 
 to Reculver. At Canterbury the union probably 
 took place, and thenceforward we have the Canter- 
 bury monk Eadwine certainly copying from the 
 book in the twelfth century ; at the dissolution, we 
 see the precious library of the Cathedral ransacked, 
 the Psalter finding its way, along with Alfred's 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Orosius, and other books, into the possession of Pre- 
 bendary Talbot, when "Mary Talbott" inscribes her 
 name in a page of the Psalms. Then we find Sir 
 Robert Cotton acquiring it in c. 1621 ; lending it to 
 Archbishop Ussher in 1625, an d to the Earl of 
 Arundel in 1631 ; and losing it altogether before 
 1674. Finally we have " D. de Ridder" presenting 
 it to the University of Utrecht in 171 8, where it 
 finds a final resting place, having thus fortunately 
 escaped from the Cottonian conflagration in 1735. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 EFORE asking the reader to follow us in the 
 description of the pictorial and palseographic 
 art which the Utrecht Psalter exhibits, we must 
 ask his patience and forbearance awhile, in order 
 that some account of the bibliography which the 
 book itself has called into being may be laid before 
 him. For without this, the ideas which should be 
 impressed upon his mind would be less vividly con- 
 veyed, and apt to become imperfect and fugitive. 
 Whereas, on the other hand, when he sees how 
 great a value has been set upon the Psalter from 
 early times ; how the volume itself forms an 
 important link and occupies a prominent position 
 in the history of several other priceless Manuscripts; 
 and how great an interest has been created, exerted, 
 and sustained regarding the many points which this 
 book illustrates, he will be led, imperceptibly per- 
 haps, but more or less irresistibly, towards admitting, 
 in the main, the conclusions which have been 
 rationally and carefully deduced from a protracted 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 113 
 
 investigation of the devious paths into which the 
 Psalter takes us. In this chapter, therefore, some 
 notice will be given of the bibliography of the 
 Utrecht Psalter, that is, of the mediaeval copies of 
 the Manuscript, of the tracings and facsimiles which 
 have from time to time been made of it, of the 
 dissertations, reports and treatises which have been 
 written concerning it, and of the literature which 
 has been built up around it, and under the shadow 
 of its transcendent surroundings. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say much here of the facsi- 
 mile published by the Palseographical Society in 1875, 
 because it is upon that work that the great part of 
 this present treatise is founded. And to that work, of 
 which a considerable number of copies have been 
 successfully produced by permanent photography, 
 and dispersed among the principal libraries and 
 collectors of Manuscripts both in the kingdom and 
 on the Continent, principal reference is made, 
 because the means of access to the Manuscript 
 itself must necessarily be very limited, and, to many, 
 impossible ; whereas the facsimile copies are not 
 only very accessible, but, should demand arise, 
 could be easily acquired. The title prefixed to the 
 facsimile by the Palseographic Society is, LATIN 
 PSALTER. In the University Library of Utrecht 
 [formerly Cotton MS., Claudius C. VII.) . Photographed 
 and Produced in Facsimile by the Permanent Autotype 
 Process of Spencer, Sawyer, Bird & Co., London. 
 There is no preface or introduction placed in the 
 facsimile, so that the Palseographical Society pru- , 
 dently abstained from putting on record any opinions 
 
114 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 in this place respecting the date, or circumstances 
 surrounding the origin of the Manuscript. 
 
 It was however necessary to speak of the facsimile 
 here, because it represents in a great measure the 
 original volume. Let us now consider the various 
 works to which the Utrecht Psalter itself has given rise. 
 To whatever age that volume may be ascertained to 
 belong there is no doubt that the Harley MS., 603, 
 in the British Museum, is connected with it in the 
 light of an inspired copy, although the differences 
 are remarkable and extensive. The description of 
 this MS. is thus given in the Harleian Catalogue, 
 folio, London, 1808 : " No. 603. Codex Mem- 
 branaceus in folio quadrato, circa tempora Regis 
 Eadgari scriptus et inluminatus. In eo continebatur 
 Psalterium Divi Hieronymi Romanum, Iconibus 
 Sacrum Textum illustrantibus ornatum. Quas, etsi 
 rudiori penicillo delineantur, dignas tamen judico, 
 quae a venerandse Antiquitatis amatoribus, intentis 
 oculis, perlustrantur. Notandum quod plurimis 
 foliis, flagrante forsan Bello Danico, a Codice 
 abscissis, medicam manum adhibuit pius quidam 
 vir, temporibus Eadwardi Regis aut Wilhelmi Con- 
 questoris ; destinatum vero opus, quod dolendum, 
 non perfecit." This is practically a correct descrip- 
 tion of this beautiful Manuscript, which deserves to 
 be, and no doubt will, hereafter, be a subject for 
 reproduction by some method of photography. 
 
 There is one, and as far as I can say, only one 
 intrinsic clue contained in this Manuscript, which, if 
 rightly investigated, could give to it a more exact 
 date than as yet has been recorded. In the pictorial 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 115 
 
 explanation prefixed to Psalm ng — a picture dif- 
 fering entirely from that which occurs in the Utrecht 
 Psalter at this passage — there is a figure of a winged 
 bowman, shooting arrows towards an uncertain 
 object in the centre of the illustration ; over his 
 head, written in minute letters, of about the middle 
 of the tenth century, is the word cegelmund, and this 
 is evidently so written to point out thus by name 
 some individual personage for whose portrait the 
 writer considers this figure to stand. Now, if we 
 can search the yet remaining documents of a period 
 coeval with the time of King Eadgar (who assumed 
 the royal dignity in a.d. 957, and died in 975), and if 
 we can find any conspicuous person whose name and 
 position agree with what we have on this picture, it 
 will go far towards establishing the date of the 
 composition of the Manuscript. Strange to say, 
 there are frequent attestations of an Anglo-Saxon 
 dux, or military leader, of the name of Aiftelmund, 
 occurring in the royal documents issued between 
 the years 956 and 965, and when we consider that 
 JEgelmund is merely a local variant form of the more 
 correct word AL^Selmund, it is not beyond fairness to 
 conjecture that the ^Egelmund of the picture, with 
 his bow and arrows, is the same individual as the 
 /E*8elmund dux of the charters and dates here sub- 
 joined : — 
 
 Kemble's Codex. 
 No. 448 a.d. 956 
 
 » 45 1 » 1 9 
 
 >> 453 1 ? ?? 
 
 » 456 „ „ 
 
n6 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 No. 457 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Q^6 
 
 All 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Q^8 
 
 „ 1218 
 
 7 7 
 
 7 7 
 
 „ I2IQ 
 
 j , 
 
 / / 
 
 „ 1221 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 I22S 
 
 7 7 **** J 
 
 7 7 
 
 7 7 
 
 
 A D 
 
 y uu 
 
 7 7 4° J 
 
 
 nfi t 
 
 7 7 i|-UU 
 
 77 
 
 
 7 7 4°7 
 
 77 
 
 
 a88 
 
 77 
 
 
 1230 
 
 7 7 ^ J w 
 
 7 7 
 
 
 77 1235 
 
 7 7 _7 «_7 
 
 / 7 
 
 
 77 I 236 
 
 J J 
 
 
 7 7 "Tr? J 
 
 / 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Q62 
 
 77 !246 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 7, 1247 
 
 7 7 
 
 7 7 
 
 „ 521 
 
 A.D. 
 
 965 
 
 There is no doubt, and there never could be to 
 any reasonable person, that where drawings occur 
 having subjects in common, those of the Utrecht 
 Psalter are older and more original, if such an 
 expression may be rightly used, than the correspond- 
 ing pictures in the Harley Psalter, which, from their 
 manner of treatment, their multifarious details, their 
 grouping and their whole expression and ensemble, 
 must have been copied from the pictures of the 
 Utrecht Manuscript. There is no other escape 
 from this position unless we care to conceive that 
 the draughtsmen of the two Manuscripts copied, 
 each one in his turn, from some third Manuscript of a 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 117 
 
 date earlier than the Utrecht itself. But although 
 this is quite possible, it is very improbable that such 
 a Manuscript should have existed without some 
 signs of its existence, some proofs of its employment 
 as a copy by the inmates of mediaeval scriptoria. A 
 great many observations have been put on record 
 with regard to this Harley MS., and many com- 
 parisons have been made between it and the 
 Utrecht Psalter. For example, Mr. Bond's report, 
 speaking of the pictorial contents of the Utrecht 
 MS., says : " Many of these illustrations are found 
 in the Psalter of the nth century in the Harley 
 Collection, No. 603, Some are exactly similar in 
 design, but generally additions are introduced in the 
 later copies with differences in costume ; and it is 
 remarkable that many of the series in the Harley 
 MS. are altogether different from those in the 
 Utrecht Psalter." The real fact is, that from the 
 beginning of the volume at Psalm 1, down to Psalm 
 113, more than two thirds of the whole series, the 
 resemblance is so great, that when allowance is 
 made for the difference of age, the caprice of the 
 individual artist in filling up small parts and subor- 
 dinate details after his own fancy, no one will 
 venture to deny that the most intimate connection 
 between the two Manuscripts exists in a very 
 prominent and self-asserting manner. Canon 
 Swainson, in his report to the Trustees of the 
 British Museum, arrives, by a peculiar method of 
 reasoning, at the unique conclusion that the 
 Harleian pictures must be regarded as earlier than 
 the Utrecht drawings. This opinion is so much at 
 
Il8 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 distinct variance and diametrical opposition to all 
 the recorded opinions of palaeographers, that it is 
 necessary to repeat the exact words he uses : " But 
 a comparison," he says, " in another respect must 
 be drawn between this Manuscript and the Harleian 
 603, which is considered to belong to the tenth or 
 eleventh century, and which contains a large 
 number of illuminations similar in outline to those 
 which occur in the Utrecht Psalter. It has been 
 considered that the Harleian pictures must have 
 been imitated or copied from the Utrecht drawings. 
 On careful examination I discovered some time ago 
 that this could not be ; because of the drawings in 
 the Utrecht Psalter to which I have on another 
 occasion begged attention as belonging to the ninth 
 or tenth century or later, not one occurs in this 
 Harleian Psalter ; thus, taken as a whole, the 
 Harleian pictures must be regarded as exhibiting 
 an earlier type than the Utrecht drawings ; and if 
 the former are of the tenth or eleventh century, the 
 latter must be brought down much lower." This 
 passage contains very much that is calculated to 
 mislead the studious enquirer, who cannot for a 
 moment endorse the canon's statement concerning 
 the similarity of outline of the illustrations, for this 
 is one of the points where the Utrecht Psalter and 
 the Harley Psalter diverge, the drawings of the 
 one being of an infinitely freer and less conventional 
 character than those of the latter, which, in their 
 outline indicate an entirely different method of 
 treatment, the grouping and essentials only being 
 common to both. Sir Thomas Hardy very justly 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. Iig 
 
 criticises in severe terms the passage quoted above, 
 and says: 1 " Observe the cogency of Canon Swain- 
 son's arguments. Because the Harleian MS. (said 
 to have been written in the tenth or eleventh 
 century) does not contain some of the drawings in 
 the Utrecht Psalter, which have been assigned to 
 the ninth or tenth century or later, therefore the 
 Harleian pictures must be regarded as exhibiting an 
 earlier type than the Utrecht drawings ; and if the 
 former (the Harleian) are of the tenth or eleventh 
 century, the latter (the Utrecht) must be brought 
 down much lower. I should have thought that most 
 men would have drawn exactly the opposite con- 
 clusion ; but I may leave Canon Swainson to settle 
 
 this knotty point When he shall have 
 
 convinced any one . . . that the Utrecht MS. is a 
 later production than the Harleian Psalter, that is, 
 later than the tenth or eleventh century, it will be 
 time for me to canvass more seriously this extra- 
 ordinary paradox of his. There may be doubts 
 whether the Utrecht Psalter is as old as the 
 sixth century ; there can be no doubt, whether or 
 not, it is older than the Harleian ; and the very 
 arguments which lead Canon Swainson to so absurd 
 a conclusion are sufficient to show their unsound- 
 ness." 
 
 It has been said that there is no evidence to 
 connect this book with Canterbury, and it would of 
 course be very difficult to prove that the Manuscript 
 originated at that city, but there are at least two 
 very strong grounds for reasonable supposition that 
 
 1 Further Report, p. 48. 
 
120 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the book was written there ; the first being this, that 
 it was undoubtedly made, as far as illustration goes, 
 from the Utrecht Psalter, down to Psalm 113. And 
 we have shown conclusively that the Utrecht Psalter 
 has considerable claims to Canterbury for its place 
 of deposit. Whence the artist of the Harley Psalter 
 obtained the specimens of the latter portion of the 
 pictures, and whether they are copied from older 
 exemplars, or the result of his own original and 
 unaided efforts, and what is the real reason of the 
 marked divergence of the pictorial element at the 
 place indicated, are questions which would involve 
 too much labour, and demand too much space if the 
 attempts to investigate them were made on the 
 present occasion, because they require special 
 and independent treatment. 
 
 The second ground for connecting the Harley MS. 
 with Canterbury lies with this very occurrence of 
 the name of JEgelmund, for if the conjecture that 
 jEgelmund, the bowman of the Manuscript, is /E*&eU 
 mund, the dux of the Saxon documents, be admitted 
 as feasible, then we must allow that his frequent 
 attestation of so many royal documents yet extant, 
 (and probably a much larger number no longer in 
 existence) presupposes his frequent presence in the 
 royal court of the king in the ecclesiastical capital 
 of his kingdom, in Dorobernia or Canterbury, the 
 chief city of the Cantuarii, or men of Kent. 
 
 The next bibliographical object in connection with 
 the Utrecht Psalter is the volume which is entitled 
 The Tripartite Psalter of Eadwine, preserved in the 
 library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Of this 
 
By the kind invitation of the Earl of Ashburnham, I have had the 
 opportunity of visiting- the Collection of Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place, 
 since the paragraph on pages 121, 122, and note on page 122 were printed; 
 and I am enabled to state that no such Manuscript as that specified by 
 Professor Westwood in this passage is preserved in the library. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 121 
 
 Manuscript, which resembles the Utrecht Psalter 
 more closely (as regards its illustration) than the 
 Harley MS., inasmuch as its pictures are copied, 
 with few exceptions, from the Utrecht Psalter alone 
 (as far as I am able to gather from the description I 
 have obtained of it), some account has already been 
 given. 1 There is an excellent facsimile of a portion 
 of it in Westwood's Palceographia Sacra; and, with 
 this exception, there is no published illustration 
 of it. 
 
 The peculiarly beautiful drawings of the Utrecht 
 Psalter attracted more attention even than that 
 which found vent to its expression by the preparation 
 of the Harley MS. 603, and the Psalterium Eadwini; 
 for Professor Westwood, in his Arckceological Notes, 2 
 speaking of the Utrecht Psalter, says : — " Moreover, 
 each Psalm is illustrated with an elaborate pen-and- 
 ink drawing, running entirely across the page, in 
 which the subjects are treated exactly in the same 
 manner as in the Harleian Psalter, No. 603, a MS. 
 of the end of the tenth century ; in the Cambridge 
 Psalter of Eadwine, a work of the twelfth century ; 
 in another early copy of the Psalter, which I am 
 informed is in Lord Ashburnham's library ; and in 
 the Paris MS. Suppl. Latin. 1194, date circa a.d. 
 1250." From this interesting passage we are now 
 cognizant of the fact that the Utrecht Psalter gave 
 rise to at least four copies executed with more or 
 less faithful adherence to its archetypal teaching, in 
 the tenth, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. Of the 
 
 1 See p. 101-103. 
 
 2 Published in the Archaeological Journal for 1859, p. 245. 
 
 11 
 
122 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 copy stated to be preserved in the Ashburnham 
 library, I have no means of recording any definite 
 description, and probably Professor Westwood would 
 have given more precise information concerning the 
 Manuscript had it been in his power to do so. 1 The 
 Paris Manuscript, however, furnishes an excellent 
 facsimile plate to Silvestre's monumental work, to 
 which so much reference has been made in the 
 foregoing pages of this book. A reference to plate 
 CLXXXIV. shows that the text is of the thirteenth 
 century, and is arranged, like the Cambridge MS., 
 in triple columns of Hebrew, Roman, and Gallican 
 versions, whereas the Cambridge MS. has its 
 columns arranged thus : Gallican, Roman, and 
 Hebrew. 
 
 Passing on from a contemplation of these most 
 interesting early Manuscripts, we come down to the 
 opinions of cataloguers and others in the seventeenth 
 and succeeding centuries, which have already been 
 discussed, and to the bibliographical accounts of the 
 Utrecht Psalter which were drawn up in the present 
 century. The first notice in manuscript to which it is 
 necessary to advert, is the additional Manuscript, 
 26,104, in the British Museum, which was purchased 
 of Messrs. Boone, in January, 1865, from the sale 
 of A. D. Schinkel, at the Hague, in November, 
 1864. It is thus described in the original sale 
 catalogue : — 
 
 1 The Catalogue of Lord Ashburnham's Manuscripts contains references to the 
 following' Psalters, among which may be found the one alluded to in Professor 
 Westwood's Notes : — (i) Psalmorum Liber, Latine, litteris uncialibus, folio, 5th (?) 
 cent., No. L, 5; (2) P. L., cum versione Anglo-Saxonica, folio, 8th cent., No. S, 843; 
 (3) P. L., cum glossa, folio, 9th cent., No. L, 54; (4) P. L., notis Tyroniis, quarto, 
 9th cent., No. L, 94; (5) P. L., cum glossa, folio, 14th cent., No. L, 980. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 123 
 
 " 10. Facsimile de 166 Dessins contenus dans le Codex 
 Psalmorum, de R. Cotton, MS. du VII. Siecle, qui se trouve 
 dans le bibliotheque de l'Universite a Utrecht, (MSS. lat. 
 No. 58) folio oblong, etc." 
 
 " 101 de ces dessins sont faits sur papier vegetal sous les 
 auspices du Prof. C. J. C. Reuvens, par M. Hooiberg, a Leide ; 
 les 65 autres sont d'une autre main, (voir la Notice jointe a ce 
 volume). Ces dessins sont d'une tres-belle execution ; et ont 
 surtout une grande valeur, pour la connaissance des costumes, 
 des arts et des sciences du VII. siecle." 
 
 The following extracts are from the account by 
 Schinkel, prefixed to the facsimiles : — 
 
 " Facsimiles der Teekeningen, voorkomende en het Codex 
 
 psalmorum in de Utrechtsche Boekkerij berustende. 
 " Deze Facsimiles komen op de Catalogus der nagelaten 
 Boeken van wyle den Hooggeleerde Heer Proffessor C. J. C. 
 Reuvens, — waar van de veiling op den 8e. Octob. 1838, en 
 volgende dagen heeft plaats gehadt aldus omschreven voor : — 
 "No. 53. 101 Tabulae in charta tenuissima (papier 
 vegetal), picturas exhibentes, quibus Psalterium se- 
 cundum Septuaginta interpretes ab Hieronymo eman- 
 datum etc. ornatur (Cod. MS. in perg. Biblioth. Acad. 
 Ultraject. MSS. Latt. n. 58). 
 " Tabulas has summa cura ac diligentia delineatas sibi 
 describendas curaverat Reuvensius, quoniam imprimis utiles 
 esse ei videbantur ad ritus populorum prioribus saeculis et 
 medio aevo cognoscendos. 
 
 " Adduntur annotationes MSS. Reuvensii et viri nob. van 
 Westreenen van Tiellandt dissertatio de Codice illo Ultra- 
 jectino, prouti edita est in op. Arch. v. Kerkel. Gesch. door 
 Kist en Royaards, vol. IV. pgg. 231-246, ipsius Westreenii 
 manu descripta." 
 
 Then follows a long statement in Dutch, to the 
 effect that Heer Fredrik Altheer, a bookseller of 
 
 11* 
 
124 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Utrecht, acquired the facsimiles from Professor 
 Reuvens, and at the death of the former the book 
 was sold by auction under the following head : — 
 
 " Alle afteekeningen of doortrekken op papier vegetal der 
 150 oud Romeinsche teekeningen in bister uit het hand- 
 schrift der Utrechtsche Bibliotheek, No. 280, contin. ' Psal- 
 terium sec. 7 , vers, ab Hieronymo emend,' en der 16 
 teekeningen 1 uit het daaraan gebondene ' Fragmentum 
 Evangelii sec. Matheum de translatione S 1 Jeromini,' welk 
 handschrift en teekeningen volgens het oordeel van Z. Excell. 
 Baron W. H. J. Westreenen van Tiellandt te's Hage, uit de 
 6 e eeuw dagteekenen. De stukken door Z. Excell. en Pro- 
 fessor J. Geel, in het archief voor kerkgeschiedenis, 4 e dl. 
 medegedeeld over dit allebelangrijkste handschrift en teeken- 
 ingen zijn hier bijgevoegd. Het geheel is gebonden in rijk 
 vergulden rood maroq. band, etc." 
 
 This Manuscript is interesting from the fact that 
 until the publication of the Autotype Facsimile, it was 
 the only complete copy of the drawings in the 
 original Psalter possessed by the British Museum ; 
 but the tracings are by no means executed with 
 sufficient exactitude to render the Manuscript 
 available for reference or research. 
 
 Another record of value and importance in the 
 series of notices regarding the volume under con- 
 sideration is the additional Manuscript, 22,291, in 
 the British Museum, which contains the following 
 pieces relating to the Utrecht Psalter : — 
 
 1. A letter from M. Suermondt (to Mr. Bond), 
 dated from Utrecht, October 1, 1857, in which is 
 said: "As far as my recollection of your Psalter 
 
 1 These facsimiles are no longer in the volume, which, however, shows the marks 
 of their removal. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 125 
 
 (Harley, 603) goes, it is evident that ours is a copy 
 from yours or yours from ours ; and as far as I am a 
 judge in these matters, ours is the original, the 
 drawings in ours are much better, more spirited, 
 they bear the stamp of being original. The writing 
 of the London Psalter on the contrary is better 
 
 and done with more care In our Psalter 
 
 all the drawings are completed and no blank space 
 left." 
 
 2. Then follow carefully executed tracings of the 
 drawings prefixed to Psalms 6, 58, and 102 ; and 
 the drawing and text of the last page of the Rustic 
 part of the volume, consisting of the Psalm 151. 
 " Pusillus eram," etc. 
 
 3. To these has been appended an extract from 
 the A r chief voor kerkelijk geschiedenis, inzonder- 
 heit van Nederland. Vezameld door N. C. Kist. 
 en H. J. Royaards. 4.de Deel, te Leiden, 1833, 
 8vo., entitled, Naspeuringen nopens zekeren Codex 
 Psalmorum in de Utrechtsche Boekerij berustende. Door 
 W. H. J. Baron van Westreenen van Tiellandt. 
 As this account is probably the earliest independent 
 notice we have, of the Utrecht Psalter, in the shape 
 of a detailed description, it is well that it should be 
 placed before the reader entire. Sir Thomas Hardy, 
 in the first report he made, gives the translation 
 of Baron Westreenen van Tiellandt's description 
 written in Dutch, but omits the prefatial remarks of 
 Royaards, which are as follow : — 
 
 " Onder de Oude HSS. die in die Akademische Boekerij 
 te Utrecht gevonden worden, en welke tot dus ver weinig 
 bekend zijn, behoort een overoude Codex der Psalmen, of 
 
126 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Psalterium, hoogstbelangrijk om de wijze, waarop dit geschrift 
 der vroegste eeuwen bewaard is. Het staat op den vroegeren 
 Catalogus der Utrechtsche Bibliotheek (P. 455, 155) onder de 
 HSS. aangetekend als : — Psalterium secundum septuaginta, 
 sive P salmi Davidis, Latine cum aliis Hymnis et Canticis 
 sacrae Scripturae, Oratione Dominica, Symbolo Apostolorum et 
 Athanasii. Quae omnia illustrantur Romano habitu, figuris 
 et antiqidtate. Imperatoris Valentiniani tempora videntur 
 attingere. No. 280a. 
 
 "Deze titel is ontleend uit de aantekening, op een der 
 voorste schutbladen geplaatst, alwaar echter de eerste regel : 
 Psaltemtm, secundum septuaginta Interpretes, ab Hieronymo 
 emendatum, sive, door een later hand, is bijgevoegd. Daaren- 
 boven vindt men daar, behalve het hoofd Elenckus Contentorum 
 in hoc Codice, na het woord : attingere het volgende : Ffrag- 
 mentum, etc. 
 
 . "Daar dit alles, behalve den aangeduiden eersten regel, met 
 oude letters geschreven is, zal het welligt zoodanig uit de 
 Cottoniaansche Bibliotheek in Engeland alhier zijn over- 
 gekomen. 
 
 " De Leipziger geleerde, Dr. Gustavus Haenel, die voor 
 eenige jaren, op zijne Bibliographische Reis door verschil- 
 lende landen van Europa, 00k de Utrechtsche Bibliotheek 
 bezocht, geeft in zijne Catalog? van dit Handschrift aldus 
 berigt. 
 
 il Psalterium Latinum, Uteris uncialibus et semitmcicialibus, 
 saec. VI exaratum, c. delineatione ejusdem temporis ; Salomonis 
 fragmentum eodem charactere, quo celeberrimits Codex Theo- 
 dosianus, qui Romce in cedibus vaticanis asservatur, scriptus est, 
 membr. 4. 
 
 "Deze Codex trok voor eenigen tijd de aandacht tot zich 
 van onzen geleerden Landgenoot, den Baron van Westreenen 
 van Tiellandt, wiens eigene Bibliotheek, rijk, zoowel in 
 
 1 Catalogi Librorurn MSS. qui in Bibliothecis Galliae, Helvetiae, Hispaniae, 
 Lusitaniae, Belgii, Brittaniae M. asservantur. Editi a D. Gust. Haenelio, Lips. 
 1829, 4to. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 127 
 
 boeken, als Handschriften, die van publieke instellingen op 
 zijde streeft, en gaf denzelven aanleiding tot eene korte 
 zaakrijke beschrijving, door hem aan onze Bibliotheek 
 medegedeeld. 
 
 "Dezelve scheen mij te belangrijk toe om alleen bij de 
 papieren der Utrechtsche Bibliotheek bewaard te worden, en 
 geschikt om ter meerdere bekendmaking van den Codex te 
 kunnen dienen. Het is met volvaardige taestemming van 
 den Heer van Westreenen van Tiellandt, dat ik meende 
 dezelve in ons Archief te moeten opnemen, vertrouwende 
 daarmede kenners van oude Handschriften eene dienst te 
 bewijzen. 
 
 " Ik meende echter ter algemeene opheldering, en in overeen- 
 stemming met hetgeen buitenslands vroeger van zoodanige 
 Codices gedaan is, een Facsimile te moeten mededeelen, 
 hetgeen door der Heer van Westreenen werd aangedrongen. 
 
 " Wij hebben daarop tevens geplaatst die unciaal letters en 
 andere typen, waarheen in het Berigt verwezen wordt, en 
 welke gemakkelijker door Steendruk, dan door de drukpers, 
 konden worden medegedeeld. 
 
 "H. J. ROYAARDS." 
 
 Then follows the Naspeuringen nopens zekeren 
 Codex Psalmorum in dee Utrechtsche Boekerij berustende, 
 by Baron van Westreenen van Tiellandt, of which 
 Sir Thomas Hardy has given an English trans- 
 lation in his report, Appendix, pp. 41-43. The 
 principal points in the Baron's Investigations 
 are that the version of the Psalms is " not made 
 after the Versio Itala, or Greek Translation of the 
 Septuaginta, but after the common translation, the 
 so-called Vulgata, by Jerome, about the end of the 
 4th century." He points out several errors com- 
 mitted by Haenel in his description of the Manu- 
 script ; he speaks of the initial B in the word 
 
128 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Beatus (Ps. 50. 1.) as of " Anglo-Saxon form." Of 
 the illustrations, the Baron gives the following 
 account: " All the representations, both in the style 
 of houses, temples, and altars, and in the dresses, 
 armours, furniture, etc., are evidently derived from 
 the time of the low Roman Empire, in which not a 
 shadow of the Gothic occurs, but which, in general, 
 have a striking resemblance with the representations 
 in the celebrated Virgil of the Vatican Library, 
 published in 1741 ; as also, concerning the buildings, 
 with several diptycha of the Low Empire. (See for 
 instance, Gori, Thesaurus Diptychorum, III., 22.) 
 With regard to the date, he says, " every thing 
 concurs to justify the estimation of Haenel, who 
 places it in the sixth century as an intermediate 
 epoch." 
 
 The Manuscript 29,273 in the British Museum, to 
 which reference has already been made, comprises 
 several pieces of very great interest to the Utrecht 
 Psalter. Among the letters, facsimiles, photo- 
 graphs, and reports which it contains are — 
 
 1. A lithographic plate of the two pages con- 
 taining the Athanasian Creed, prepared originally 
 for the Rev. J. Jones, of St. Beuno's College, at 
 St. Asaph, and presented to the British Museum by 
 the Rev. C. A. Swainson, Canon of Chichester. 
 
 2. Notes on the Organ, a picture of which is 
 found in the Utrecht Psalter, from the Penny 
 Cyclopcedia, Vol. XVII., p. 1. ; from Mersenne's 
 Harmonie Universelle; Hawkin's History; Augustine; 
 William of Malmesbury ; and L 'Art du Facteur des 
 Orgues. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 129 
 
 3. Positive photographs by the nitrate of silver 
 process, taken, apparently somewhat reduced in 
 size, from the illustrations in the Psalterium Eadwini 
 at Cambridge: — for Psalm 11, u Salvum me fac, 
 domine," etc. ; Psalm 63, " Exaudi Deus Orationem 
 meam," etc.; Psalm 139, " Eripe me, domine," 
 etc. ; Psalm 150, " Laudate dominum in Sanctis 
 ejus," etc. ; the illustration and first page of the 
 " Quicumque Vult;" a part of a page containing 
 Psalm 80, " Qui regis Israel intende," etc. 
 
 4. A facsimile executed by hand, in colours, of 
 the initial B in Beatus, Psalm 1. i., contained in a 
 Manuscript in the library of St. Gall, in Switzerland, 
 a Psalter of the ninth century, No. 27, page 20. 
 This letter resembles in several respects the initial 
 letter B in the corresponding place in the Utrecht 
 Psalter. 
 
 5. Photographic plates of parts of the Atha- 
 nasian Creed, from a MS. not named, but apparently 
 of the eleventh century. 
 
 6. A copy of the translation of a report, presented 
 by P. J. Vermuelen, librarian, 10th August, 1872, to 
 the curators of the University of Utrecht, on the 
 Psalter there preserved. In this report the learned 
 librarian propounds two questions : 1. " Can any 
 information be given to prove that the MS. belongs 
 to the sixth century?" 2. " Are there reasons to 
 suppose that the miniatures and illuminations are of 
 later date than the writing or text of the creed ? " 
 The first of these questions is thus answered : — 
 
 " With respect to the first question I must observe 
 at once that it is not possible for me to afford any 
 
130 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 proof that the Manuscript belongs to the sixth 
 century, for the simple reason that I have always 
 assigned it to the eighth or ninth (750-850), and my 
 
 opinion is unaltered." " All who of late 
 
 years have examined the Manuscript, have always 
 embraced my opinion about the age of it. This 
 opinion is, however, at variance with that of other 
 persons." The writer then quotes Usher's reference 
 of the Manuscript to the period of Pope Gregory I., 
 and Haenel's erroneous statement that it is a 
 " Beau manuscrit du VI. Siecle en lettres onciales, 
 et semi-onciales, et miniatures!" The report con- 
 tinues : " My opinion that our MS. belongs to the 
 age of the Emperor Charlemagne rests on a com- 
 parison of the character of the writing with that of 
 other MSS. (as is believed) of that age, .... the 
 contents of our MS. certainly give no sufficient 
 proof at all for exactly determining its date." After 
 deploring the inadvertence of removing the older 
 binding of the book, which, had it remained, would 
 have helped the question of date, notice is taken of 
 the method of gathering the leaves of vellum into 
 quaternions, and the writer says, " It is this regular 
 putting up the leaves of the MS. together which has 
 made me sometimes suspect that our MS. must be 
 only a copy of an earlier one." 
 
 The second question is answered with better 
 reason than the first : " As is well known, the 
 ornamentation [and] the work of the illuminator did 
 not begin until that of the writer was completed, 
 and it was generally entrusted to other persons 
 skilled in that art. Now the already-mentioned 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. I3I 
 
 uniformity of the writing and parchment proves 
 most certainly that our MS. was written from the 
 beginning to the end continuously by the same 
 hand. But then the writer must have left above 
 every Psalm or other portion the room or space 
 required for the drawing or ornamentation ; and he 
 must have been able to calculate this room or space 
 when he was writing, for it depended on the greater 
 or less extent or development of the illustration of 
 the subject, and of the emblems of the text that 
 followed upon it. And for this it was necessary that 
 the drawings or illustrations must have been already 
 executed when the writer began his work, either by 
 themselves or in an earlier MS. which served him 
 as a model. This may be the explanation why 
 costumes, arms, household furniture and utensils, 
 instruments, etc., are represented, which point to an 
 earlier period, and which have given occasion to the 
 MS. being ascribed to an earlier age than that to 
 which it actually belongs. In this view of the case 
 it is worth while observing the drawings of two 
 organs .... whose construction probably does not 
 admit of their being assigned so far back as to the 
 sixth century." Sir Thomas Hardy prints this 
 report entire, as an appendix to the first report he 
 himself prepared. 
 
 Then follow other reports referring to the trans- 
 mission of photographs and enclosures ; and, finally, 
 four photographic plates, by the silver process of 
 1. the Fides Catholica (two plates) ; 2. the page 
 containing the Canticum Simeonis, and Gloria in 
 excelsis, with two illustrations; 3. the page containing 
 
132 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the Omtio Dominica secundum Matheum, and the 
 Symbolu(m) Apostolorum, also with two illustrations. 
 
 The Egerton MS. 2263, a volume containing a 
 collection of original facsimiles, by Professor West- 
 wood, contains a page from the Gospels at the end 
 of the Utrecht Psalter, in uncial characters, but not 
 any example of the Rustic writing of the Psalms, 
 although it has a specimen of the fine Rustic 
 character of the Ley den Aratus, a Manuscript of 
 great beauty, and probably of the sixth century, 
 which may be compared with those tabulated at 
 page 41. These appear to have been executed in or 
 about the year 1873. 
 
 Having now carefully examined and noticed all 
 the salient points of Manuscripts appertaining to the 
 bibliography of the Utrecht Psalter, the next 
 duty is to examine the printed books connected 
 with the subject, before passing on to the description 
 of the Manuscript itself. The account of the biblio- 
 graphy of the Athanasian Creed belongs to a 
 subsequent place. , 
 
 The first notice we have concerning the Utrecht 
 Psalter, other than in the catalogues of the 
 Cottonian Manuscripts and works already described, 
 appears to be in the work of James Ussher, Archbishop 
 of Armagh, entitled De Symbolis, London, 1647, 4to. 
 It is not a separate account of the Psalter, but the 
 Manuscript is mentioned by him in a letter to 
 Gerard Voss, a theologian and critic of celebrity, 
 dated February 8, 1646. Sir Thomas Hardy 1 gives 
 a quotation of the passage in which the opinion of 
 
 1 In his Report, p. 8. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. I33 
 
 the Archbishop, respecting the age and contents of 
 the book are recorded, the date of it being placed, 
 " Gregorii I. tempore non recentius :" " not later 
 than the time of Gregory I.," who occupied the 
 pontifical throne from a.d. 590 to 604. 
 
 Daniel Waterland, the author of the Critical 
 History of the Athanasian Creed, Cambridge, 1728, 
 8vo., criticises this statement of Ussher, and con- 
 cludes a long examination 1 into the conjectures of 
 " Comber, L'Estrange, Tentzelius, Tillemont, Le 
 Quien, Muratorius, Natalis Alexander, and Mont- 
 faucon," writers either on theological or historical 
 subjects, by stating his prescient conviction, " that 
 Bishop Ussher had seen some other Manuscript, 
 which has since that time, like many more, been 
 
 lost or stolen from the Cotton Library I 
 
 conclude therefore that there really was such a 
 Psalter as Ussher describes, with the Athanasian 
 Creed in it, such as he judged to be of the age of 
 Gregory I., from more marks than one ; and how 
 good a judge he was in those matters is well known 
 to as many as know anything of that great man. 
 But how far his judgment ought to sway, now the 
 MS. itself is lost, I must leave with the reader." 
 
 Gustave Haenel, who compiled a catalogue of 
 Manuscripts in European libraries, as has already 
 been stated, in 1830, places this Manuscript in the 
 sixth century: " Saec. VI Exaratum;" but as he 
 also states that it is written in uncials and semi- 
 uncials, he evidently examined it with insufficient 
 accuracy. 
 
 1 See the whole passage in Hardy's Report, p. 8, 9. 
 
134 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Baron van Westreenen van Tiellandt wrote a 
 treatise entitled, Investigations about a certain Codex 
 Psalmorum preserved in the Utrecht Library. The 
 original, in Dutch, was printed in 1833, with pre- 
 fatial remarks by Professor H. J. Rozaards, in the 
 Ar chief voor kerkelijke Geschiedenis. Sir Thomas 
 Hardy prints the translation of the Baron's account. 
 The original preface of Royaards, with further 
 accounts of this work has been already given under 
 my account of the Add. MS., 22,291. 
 
 Next in order is the notice of the Manuscript 
 contained in Professor Westwood's Archceological 
 Notes of a Tour in Denmark, Prussia, and Holland. 1 
 In the account of the Manuscript which he in- 
 spected at Utrecht, he says: "The Psalms are 
 written throughout in triple columns on each page 
 in Roman Rustic capitals, very similar in size to 
 those of the celebrated Virgil of the Vatican, but 
 with as much elegance in the letters as in the Paris 
 Prudentius. In this respect a date not more recent 
 than the sixth or seventh century ought to be 
 assigned to the Manuscript ; but the initial letter of 
 the first Psalm is a large golden uncial B, orna- 
 mented in the genuine interlaced Saxon style." . . . 
 " I made careful copies of many .... drawings, and 
 others have been sent to the British Museum. I 
 copied, for sake of comparison, the illustration of 
 Psalm 54, of which I had published the correspond- 
 ing subject from the Eadwine Psalter in my Palceo- 
 
 graphia Sacra. These I found identical." 
 
 " Others also equally agreed with those in the 
 
 1 In the Archceological Journal, Vol. xvi., 1859, p. 132-145, 236-252. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 !35 
 
 Harleian Psalter. At the same time there are many 
 entire drawings which are either wanting in the 
 Harleian MS., or only very rudely indicated, and 
 from some of these I have copied various details 
 which are so beautiful in their style and subject 
 that one is tempted to believe that this must have 
 been the original from which not only the Harleian, 
 but also the later Eadwine Psalters were copied. 
 One peculiarity I observed with respect to these 
 drawings which is worthy of note. Spaces were left 
 by the scribe across the whole pages, cutting 
 through the triple columns of texts, for the insertion 
 of the drawings by the artist, and in several 
 instances the space was not sufficient, the drawings 
 running close to, or even upon the line of text below. 
 From this fact I infer that the drawings even in this 
 Utrecht Psalter were copied from some earlier MS., 
 and that they were not composed expressly to fill up 
 
 the spaces which had been left for them." 
 
 " Supposing the drawings to be later additions by an 
 Anglo-Saxon artist copying from an early classic 
 series of drawings, we should have no difficulty in 
 referring the text to the fifth or sixth century. The 
 initial of the first Psalm, however, precludes us from 
 assigning it to so early a date, and would bring it to 
 the seventh or eighth at the earliest, ranging it with 
 the Psalter, so-called, of St. Augustine, in the 
 Cottonian Library, Vespasian, A. i. In this case 
 the drawings may have been added in the ninth or 
 tenth century." The account concluded with a 
 notice of the fragments of the Gospels bound up 
 with the Psalter. 
 
136 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 In 1868, Professor Westwood's grandest work, 
 entitled, Facsimiles of the Miniatures and Ornaments of 
 Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts, was published, as 
 has already been described at p. 56. In this he 
 gives a plate of some of the writing and pictures of 
 the Utrecht Psalter, and a further description of the 
 book, from which I select the following extracts : — 
 
 " I have not been able to obtain any information, 
 either documentary or otherwise, when or how it 
 reached Utrecht, although it cannot be doubted that 
 such 1 a volume could hardly have been separated 
 from the remainder of the Cottonian MSS. except 
 by undue means ; neither ought there, as it seems 
 to me, to be any question as to the justice of its 
 restoration to the library from which it must have 
 been improperly removed, unless its present location 
 can be satisfactorily accounted for." 
 
 Professor Westwood then goes on to give a very 
 careful description of the contents of the Psalter, 
 and he points out the principal peculiarities in which 
 its writing may be contrasted with the other known 
 examples of Rustic writing, and its illustrations may 
 be compared with those in the Harleian Psalter, No. 
 603, and the Eadwine Psalter at Cambridge. Some 
 portions of his descriptive paragraphs are identical 
 with those already alluded to as occurring in the 
 Archaeological Journal for 1859. It is, of course, with 
 the illustrations that the learned author has princi- 
 pally concerned himself in this his monumental work 
 on Miniatures and Ornaments of Manuscripts ; and his 
 remarks on the subject of the pictures in the 
 Utrecht Psalter, many of which he describes in 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 detail, are of the greatest value towards correctly j 
 appreciating the peculiar beauty of the style adopted 
 by the draughtsman of the original sketches. Re- 
 ference will, therefore, be made hereafter to several 
 passages in this portion of Professor Westwood's 
 essay. The pieces selected by him for facsimile 
 reproduction are the commencement of the 1st Psalm, 
 and the page containing Psalm 149. The date for 
 the facsimile is expressed thus (VI? IX? century), 
 which sufficiently indicates the doubts which were 
 then present in the writer's mind with regard to the 
 true age of the volume. 
 
 After this magnificent volume of Facsimiles, we 
 must turn to one of the most interesting and 
 critically valuable contributions to the bibliography 
 of the Utrecht Psalter, viz., the work entitled The 
 Athanasian Creed in connexion with the Utrecht Psalter, 
 being a Report to the Right Honourable Lord Romilly, 
 Master of the Rolls, on a Manuscript in the University 
 of Utrecht. By Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy, D.C.L., 
 Deputy Keeper of the Public Records. There is no 
 date on the title page or in the introductory letter 
 addressed to Lord Romilly, but the colophon on the 
 back of page 43, shows that the printing was com- 
 pleted in December, 1872. The main issue of this 
 work (in which the theological aspect is more pro- 
 minently placed than the palseographical interest) 
 is that the Psalter was written in the sixth century ; 
 but the numerous and perplexing points which arise 
 in the course of Sir Thomas Hardy's most rigorous 
 examination are treated in a manner such as we 
 should naturally expect from the literary acumen of 
 
 12 
 
I38 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 so illustrious a master of record-palaeography. The 
 learned reporter defines his position succinctly, and 
 yet clearly, when he says in his introductory letter 
 to Lord Romilly : " I could have given my opinion 
 that the MS. contained a Gallican Psalter, written 
 in the sixth century, without assigning arguments for 
 my belief, leaving it to those who entertained a 
 different opinion to give their reasons for their 
 dissent ; but I was sure that such a course would 
 
 not be satisfactory to your lordship." " I 
 
 am fortunate in being able to lay before your lord- 
 ship the chief objections which have been urged 
 against the age I assign to the Utrecht MS., at least 
 so far as they have been communicated to me. 
 Without entering more fully than I have done into 
 all the liturgical phases of the question, it was 
 sufficient for me to show that the Utrecht MS., 
 which contains both (the Athanasian and the 
 Apostles') Creeds, is a Gallican Psalter, and was 
 written in the sixth century. I have also shown 
 that the Gallican Ritual was used in Britain before 
 the arrival here of Augustine ; but by whom the so- 
 called Athanasian Creed was composed I have not 
 ventured to give my opinion, though there is no 
 doubt in my own mind that the " Fides Catholica," 
 since called the Athanasian Creed, was acknowledged 
 in the Gallican church long anterior to the com- 
 position of the Utrecht Psalter." This extract 
 explains the object of the report, which is, in point 
 of fact, an endeavour to ascertain the first appear- 
 ance of the text of the Athanasian Creed, its 
 connection with the Utrecht Psalter, and by what 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 139 
 
 appellation it was known, as far as these facts can 
 be decided on palaeograpihical grounds, rather than 
 the result of any intention to describe exclusively 
 the volume of Psalms under present consideration. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hardy sums up the age, origin, and 
 first outlines of the Creed or Symbolum, and indicates, 
 in his terse and vigorous language, the principal 
 controversies respecting it ; and says, in the course 
 of unfolding his theories : " The earliest copy of the 
 Creed, at least the earliest with which I am 
 acquainted, is found in a very ancient volume 
 belonging to the Academical Library at Utrecht, 
 that is, the Utrecht Psalter." The learned re- 
 porter proceeds to recapitulate the various notices 
 and descriptions of this Manuscript, and deduces his 
 opinions at this stage from a variety of photographic 
 and lithographic facsimiles, for he had not then seen 
 the volume itself. His description, nevertheless, of 
 the contents of the Manuscript agrees closely with 
 the photographic facsimile which was afterwards 
 published by the Palseographical Society. The 
 peculiarities of handwriting, the fewness of the 
 abbreviations, and the almost unique kind of quasi- 
 punctuation are all carefully examined ; and the 
 individual features of a variety of early Rustic and 
 other illustrative Manuscripts are not inaptly com- 
 pared with corresponding peculiarities in the one 
 here under consideration. The powerful objection 
 that the Rustic writing of the Psalter is a later 
 imitation of an earlier hand, that is, that the writing 
 is of the style of the sixth or seventh century, but, 
 at the same time, that it is a copy made in the 
 
140 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 ninth or tenth century, " and that the writer pur- 
 posely imitated the handwriting of the sixth century," 
 is carefully met and combated ; and the peculiar 
 relationship of the Harleian MS. Psalter, No. 603, 
 to this Utrecht Psalter (namely, its partial 
 resemblance as far as illustration goes, and its 
 divergence from the Galilean text into a Roman 
 version of the Psalms), is exhibited with great dili- 
 gence. Of the initial B at the commencement of 
 the first Psalm, Sir Thomas Hardy says : — " It is in 
 reality an Irish letter, commonly found in Irish 
 Manuscripts from the sixth to the ninth century." 
 He quotes, in support of this opinion, the words of 
 Mr. Brian O'Looney, an able Irish scholar, who 
 " thinks it may be referred to the early part of the 
 sixth century," and thereby adds another name to 
 the phalanx of " sixth-century men." After re- 
 capitulating the peculiarities of MSS. of the sixth 
 century, and branching off into a most instructive 
 digression concerning the punctuation of sentences 
 and separation of words in early Manuscripts, the 
 reporter carries on his arguments with an able 
 examination of the illustrations, of which he says, 
 " the age probably belongs to the end of the fifth or 
 beginning of the sixth century. The suggestion, 
 found on one of the fly-leaves of the Psalter, which 
 would make them as old as the time of the Emperor 
 Valentinian (the younger), and therefore of the end 
 of the fourth century, is somewhat exaggerated." 
 Sir Thomas is manifestly here unwilling to admit 
 that these illustrations were made before the writing 
 of the Psalter. Of his conjectural explanation of the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 141 
 
 occasion of the Psalter coming to England, notice 
 has already been made, and the theory critically 
 examined, and a more probable modification pro- 
 posed in the preceding chapter containing the 
 external history of the volume. The report, which 
 we are loth to leave so hurriedly, concludes with a 
 summary of arguments in support of the various 
 propositions ; and the opinions of Ussher, the theo- 
 logian, Haenel, the cataloguer of European Manu- 
 script libraries, Baron van Westreenen, and Professor 
 Westwood, to the effect of the date being of the 
 sixth century or thereabouts, are tabulated and 
 corroborated by conclusions arrived at in the course 
 of the report. In the appendix are placed the 
 Dutch original and English translations of P. J. 
 Vermuelen's Report to the University of Utrecht, 
 August 10, 1872 ; and the English translation of 
 Baron van Westreenen' s Investigations (Naspeuringen) . 
 The volume fittingly terminates with a transcript of 
 the Athanasian Creed, and facsimiles of, i. The 
 Creed, two pages ; 2. Two pages, containing the 
 Canticum Simeonis, the Gloria, the Oratio Dominica, 
 and the Symbolum Apostolorum ; and 3. The litho- 
 graphic plate of the commencement of the 1st 
 Psalm, in gold and colours. 
 
 The next bibliographical work is an essay, entitled 
 Facsimile van den Ersten Psalm en het Quicumque, 
 of Symbolum van den Heiligen Athanasius, naar 
 het Psalmboek van Robert Cotton's Codex Claudius 
 A. 7., thans in de Academische Bibliotheek te 
 Utrecht vervaardigd op last van J. Arntz, Leerar 
 aan het Seminarie te Kuilenburg. Utrecht, n. d. 
 
142 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 This contains a Dutch translation of the Quicumque 
 or Symbolum, and a Beknopt Histonsch overzigt, 
 or short historical review, divided into, i. The 
 authority of the Quicumque ; 2. Difference of opinions 
 concerning its antiquity; 3. Ecclesiastical pro- 
 ceedings ; 4. Notice of the literary labours of Canon 
 Swainson ; and, 5. of E. S. Ffoulkes, in connection 
 with the Creed ; 6. Account of Archbishop Ussher's 
 description of the Manuscript when it was yet in the 
 Cottonian library, its discovery at Utrecht, and of 
 the reports concerning its condition and age by 
 G. Haenel, Baron van Westreenen van Tiellandt, 
 P. J. Vermuelen, J. O. Westwood, and others ; 7. 
 Description of Facsimiles that have from time to 
 time been made of parts of the Manuscript. In this 
 portion of the essay, the writer says, " Met het 
 Handschrift leerde ik Waterlands werk, Van Wes- 
 treenens verhandeling over het Handschrift, de twee 
 Catalogussen van Cotton's verzameling : die van 
 Th. Smith in 1696, en die van J. Planta in 1802 
 verwaardigd, kennen ; ik kon dus, althans eenige 
 inlichting geven, en besloot, op raad van den Boek- en 
 Steen- drukker P. W. van de Weijer te Utrecht, bij 
 hem van het Quicumque een Chromolithographisch 
 Facsimile te laten vervaardigen. Ik meende niets 
 te moeten sparen, om dit zoo volmaakt mogelijk op 
 het oorspronkelijke te doen gelijken ; zoo dat het tot 
 nog toe de schoonste der thans bestaande kopien is. 
 Daar ik inzag dat de hoofdkwestie over den ouderdom 
 des Psalmboeks liep, deed ik uit eigen beweging, en 
 in navolging van Van Westreenen, den in dit opzigt 
 zeer belangrijke aanvang en de merkwaardigste 
 
 1 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 143 
 
 letters bij het Quicumque voegen ;" 8. An account of 
 the proceedings of Convocation on the 2nd of July 
 (1874?) ; 9. Notice of Sir Thomas Hardy's report, 
 already described, and of the main issues contained 
 in it ; 10. Principal points illustrated by the Psalter 
 itself. In this part, mention is made of the capital 
 letter B of the first Psalm ; and of the uncial letters in 
 the headings, and the remainder of the text "in zwarte 
 ruwe kapitalen," in black rugged capitals. Of these 
 the writer says, <£ Dat nu het gros van den tekst 
 in ruwe capitalen geschreven is, wordt als een teeken 
 van hoogeri ouderdom opgegeven. Als dagelijksch 
 schrift komen deze ruwe kapitalen hoogstens tot in 
 het begin der 8ste eeuw voor. Later vindt men ze 
 nog wel in titels of aanhalingen, in eene van het 
 overige des geschrifts, verschillende taal. Uit dit 
 laatste echter volgt, dat ze nooit geheel vergeten 
 werden, wat overigens reeds daaruit blijkt, dat ze 
 maar weinig van onze thans gebruikte kapitale druk- 
 letters verschillen. Professor Swainson telt daaren- 
 boven verscheidene handschriften van later tijd op, 
 van welke een groot gedeelte in ruwe kapitalen 
 geschreven is. De sierlijke aanvangletter is wel 
 eens als een bewijs aangehaald, dat het Psalmboek 
 niet ouder dan de 7de eeuw kon zijn, daar men ze 
 als Angelsaksisch aanzag." The description of the 
 166 illustrations follows ; and, 9. The Besluit, or 
 conclusion in which the present state of the palseo- 
 graphical and theological position regarding the 
 evidence offered by the Utrecht Psalter is put forth 
 in a few but pertinent sentences. The facsimile of 
 the commencement of the first Psalm, and of the 
 
144 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 two pages containing the Athanasian Creed, conclude 
 the work. 
 
 In 1874 by far the most important treatise, speak- 
 ing simply in a palaeographical sense, respecting 
 this Psalter, was published under the following 
 title : Reports addressed to the Trustees of the British 
 Museum on the Age of the Manuscript, by E. A. Bond, 
 E. M. Thompson, Rev. H. 0. Coxe, Rev. S. S. Lewis, 
 Sir M. Digby Wyatt, Professor Westwood, F. H. Dick- 
 inson, and Professor Swainson. With a Preface by 
 A. Penrhyn Stanley, D.D., Dean of Westminster. 
 These reports are framed principally to represent 
 the respective answers of the eight reporters to the 
 question of date. Whereas, Sir Thomas Hardy's 
 report, as we have seen, treats the finding of the 
 date, that is, the literary aspect of the Manuscript, 
 as subordinate in interest to the liturgical element 
 wrapped around the Athanasian Creed, of which the 
 volume contains, it is believed, the earliest copy. 
 Dean Stanley's Preface puts the true state of the 
 case with clearness and brevity. He says : " In the 
 discussions occasioned by the proposed permission 
 to disuse in the English Church the recitation of the 
 Confession of Faith, commonly called the Creed of 
 St. Athanasius, a subordinate controversy arose 
 amongst scholars as to the probable date of the 
 creed. This date had been variously fixed from 
 the middle of the 4th century to the beginning or 
 the middle of the gth. One of the elements of this 
 chronological question was felt to be the age to be 
 assigned to the .... Utrecht Psalter. ... Inas- 
 much as this Manuscript contained what was 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 145 
 
 supposed to be the earliest copy of the Creed, 
 considerable attention was attracted towards the 
 document." Accordingly, at the request of Dr. Elli- 
 cott, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, Lord 
 Romilly, then Master of the Rolls, through the 
 assistance of Earl Granville, Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs, obtained from the Utrecht Acade- 
 mical Library, photographs of several portions of 
 the Manuscript. With the aid of these illustrations, 
 and from examination of tracings and lithographic 
 facsimiles already alluded to, Sir Thomas Duffus 
 Hardy prepared his elaborate essay which has just 
 been described. But the opinion which he laid 
 down, that the date of the Manuscript is to be 
 referred to the close of the sixth century, and the 
 remarkable historical circumstances which he attri- 
 buted to its originally finding a royal English home, 
 "led to further enquiries, which issued in an 
 application on the part of the Trustees of the British 
 Museum to the authorities at Utrecht to allow the 
 Manuscript itself to be transferred for a time to the 
 British Museum, and there deposited for inspection." 
 This was done, and by these means archaeologists 
 and students of palaeography and church history 
 have, for the first time since the Manuscript was 
 separated from the Cottonian Library, had an 
 opportunity of examining it at pleasure. Hence, all 
 praise is due to the liberality of the Utrecht 
 University authorities for so promptly lending the 
 book, to the Trustees of the British Museum, for their 
 judicious consideration in placing it temporarily 
 before English scholars, and, finally, to the Palaeo- 
 
146 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 graphical Society for undertaking to reproduce it by 
 one of the most faultless and enduring processes 
 of photography, and thus practically recovering to 
 permanent English uses the literary treasure of 
 which our national library and its numerous students 
 had been so long and so strangely deprived. It was 
 during the brief depositing of the Manuscript in the 
 British Museum that the opinions expressed in the 
 reports were arrived at, and put into the shape in 
 which they were laid before the Trustees ; and, 
 during this period, the photographic copy of the 
 book was prepared. These reports, in respect to 
 their conclusions respecting the date of the Psalter, 
 range from the eighth to the ninth century only, and 
 they are illustrated with three autotype facsimiles of 
 the second page of the text showing the employment 
 of golden uncial characters in the first line of the 
 Psalm, " together with the manner of work of 
 perhaps the best draughtsman of the illustrations." 
 The second gives the drawings for Psalms 95, 96, 
 and the text of the latter : in this page are shown 
 various forms of the marks of contraction alluded to 
 in Mr. Bond's report, and the abbreviation of t r - for 
 tur, which is of frequent occurrence. " The drawing," 
 we are told, " exhibits the jagged outlines of the 
 draperies referred to as characteristic of English work 
 of the tenth and eleventh centuries, and the classical 
 origin of the design in the river God." The third fac- 
 simile is of the page containing the concluding lines 
 of the Psalm 105 ; the picture and commencement of 
 the text of the Psalm 106. This illustration has 
 been chosen for the many interesting points it 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 147 
 
 presents. The sun and moon, treated in a peculiar 
 style of most ancient art, ships, temples, and towered 
 buildings, and oxen at the plough. 
 
 The first report is that drawn up by Mr. Bond, 
 Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts. It con- 
 tains an accurate and exhaustive account of the 
 volume, pointing out for special notice that it 
 contains two distinct Manuscripts, the Psalter, and 
 imperfect Gospels. To the Gospel portion the date 
 of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century is 
 attributed. The- punctuation is full throughout, by 
 simple points and by the virgule and point, in form 
 of a semicolon (;) or reversed semicolon (/). There 
 are frequent abbreviations as well of such words as 
 Deus, Dominus, Jesus, Christus, sanctus, as of more 
 constantly recurring words as quoniam, noster, omnes, 
 terra, pater, non, neque, sunt, and parts of words, as 
 con-, -tur, -runt, -bus. The arguments which have 
 been used to arrive at the date are, that although 
 the use of Roman Rustic capitals, and the tri- 
 columnar arrangement of texts in themselves indicate 
 a time prior to the seventh century, yet the abbre- 
 viations, contractions, punctuation, and golden 
 uncial letters in first lines, £ • are unmistakeable 
 evidences of a date so late as the end of the eighth 
 century." Mr. Bond proceeds to show, by reference 
 to the Harley MS. 647, an early tenth century copy 
 of Cicero's metrical version of the Treatise of 
 Aratus on Astronomy, with the commentary of 
 Hyginus, written in Rustic capitals, a MS. ascribed 
 by Ottley 1 to the extremely early date of the second 
 
 1 In the Archceologia, Vol. xxvi. 47-214. 
 
148 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 ! 
 
 or third century ; and by reference to the additional 
 MS. 24,142, a Bible of the ninth or tenth century, 
 written in three columns in imitation of the older 
 exemplar from which it was transcribed, that the 
 earlier characteristics which the Utrecht Psalter 
 contains, may be, and are indeed found to be 
 carried on in more recent ages. But the use of so 
 many late forms, that the Manuscript constantly 
 exhibits, cannot be thrown back to an earlier age. 
 
 The weakness and irregularity of the Rustic 
 writing ; the employment of the two forms of semi- 
 colon ; the occurrence of numerous abbreviations ; 
 the dotted y , found throughout the Manuscript, with 
 rare exceptions ; the illuminated initial letter at the 
 beginning of the first Psalm ; the thin and sketchy 
 figures of the illustrations, where, " if compared with 
 acknowledged works of the tenth and eleventh 
 centuries, the connexion ... in style of execution 
 with this later manner of representing the figures is 
 equally apparent ; " the"** full representation of the 
 Crucifixion ; the Saviour's form uncovered to the 
 waist ; comprise the principal grounds on which 
 Mr. Bond considers it impossible to refer the Psalter 
 to an earlier time than the end of the eighth century, 
 and dispose him rather to assign it to the ninth. 
 
 The report continues by remarking upon the 
 position of the apocryphal Psalm, which would have 
 been placed after the last Psalm, not after the 
 canticles and creeds, if the Psalter had been copied 
 from one of higher antiquity. With regard to the 
 arguments for early age which have been founded 
 upon the Gallican text of the Psalter, it is shown 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 149 
 
 that the greater number of Psalters of the ninth, 
 tenth, and eleventh centuries, contained in the 
 British Museum, are of the Gallican version, of 
 English use, and with English glosses. The theory 
 respecting the introduction of the Psalter into 
 England by the French Princess Bertha is carefully 
 examined, and the history of the inserted Charter to 
 Reculver, and of the added Gospel fragments, laid 
 down and illustrated from corresponding treatment 
 of other Manuscripts by Sir Robert Cotton. The 
 report closes with the later history of the volume 
 and some notices of its mention by Archbishop 
 Ussher. This account is certainly the best written 
 of any separate history of the Utrecht Psalter extant. 
 The remarks are forcible, pertinent, and completely 
 to the point, recording no discursions into recondite 
 subjects which affect the true history of the book, if 
 at all, yet in a very slight degree ; no ventilation of 
 theories which, however attractive, have no solid 
 basis of fact or strong probability to rest upon. 
 The keynote is evidently this, that in judging the 
 age of a Manuscript, we must place it to the date of 
 the latest style it exhibits, not to an earlier or to an 
 age intermediate between its youngest and its oldest 
 aspects. Mr. Bond's remarks in the Athenceum, 
 No. 2468, for February 13, 1875, may be taken as 
 additional proofs and illustrations of his theories 
 respecting the age of the writing. 
 
 Mr. Thompson's report is practically and sub- 
 stantially the same as that which precedes it. It 
 goes further, perhaps, in some points, where it draws 
 attention to the imitative appearance of the writing ; 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 " the weakness and uncertainty about the strokes 
 which force one to feel that the scribe is writing in a 
 character to which he is not habitually accustomed ;" 
 the too artificial arrangement of the initial letters of 
 the verses which are set beyond the margin of the 
 writing, so that, to use a technical term, the text 
 appears indented ; the absence of stops or use of the 
 full point only in ancient Manuscripts ; and the 
 constant use of contractions. " With respect to the 
 drawings," it continues, "it may be observed that 
 the hands of at least three artists can be traced. 
 There is no reason to suppose that they are later 
 insertions, yet they approach more nearly in style to 
 the light sketchy drawings of English Manuscripts 
 of the tenth and eleventh centuries, than to that of 
 such Manuscripts as the Vatican Virgil, or the 
 Cotton Genesis, where the classical element is so 
 strong. They therefore tend to support the opinion 
 that the Psalter is not of so great an antiquity as 
 has been represented." 
 
 The statement respecting the volume made by 
 the Rev. H. O. Coxe, Bodleian Librarian, is to the 
 effect that he can see no reason to conclude that it 
 was written before the commencement of the ninth 
 century, and that he has never seen a Manuscript, 
 save the one in question, written throughout in the 
 character and tricolumnal form by which it is 
 distinguished. 
 
 The Rev. S. S. Lewis, Librarian of Corpus Christi 
 College, does not feel warranted in assigning it to an 
 earlier date than the ninth century. 
 
 Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt makes some very 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 interesting remarks about the illustrations, the 
 majority of which, he considers, " give every indi- 
 cation of having been copied from a much earlier, and 
 probably less profusely illustrated, painted Psalter, 
 produced under a decidedly Classical influence." He 
 compares the Harley Psalter and the Aratus Manu- 
 scripts, to which the reader's attention has been 
 directed on several previous occasions, and dates the 
 Utrecht Psalter at about the middle of the eighth 
 century. 
 
 Professor Westwood's notes are of high interest. 
 They refer to his previous opinions expressed in the 
 Archceological Journal and his great work on Minia- 
 tures and Ornaments, which have already been pointed 
 out. He brings forward, however, other circum- 
 stances which induce him to refer this Manuscript 
 to the eighth or ninth century at the earliest. These 
 are, the space for the large initial B ; the style of 
 the ornamentation and the use of gold in the initial 
 itself; the mixture of Rustic text with uncial first 
 lines; the division of each verse by the semicolon (?) ; 
 the Anglo-Saxon character of the drawings which 
 accord with those of the tenth century Oxford 
 Pseudo-Caedmon, 1 the Cotton Julius A. VI., and 
 may be compared with Cotton MS. Titus, D. XXVII. ; 
 the opposition that would have been given to the 
 pictures previous to the second council of Nice 
 (a.d. 787). " The use of the Rustic writing," he 
 writes, " was common from the sixth to the twelfth 
 century ; scarcely a good Manuscript of that long 
 
 1 See the plates, and description by Sir Henry Ellis, 1832, in the Archceologia, 
 Vol. xxiv. 329. 
 
152 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 period exists in which some portion is not in that 
 
 character ; it is childish to affirm that 
 
 because an entire Manuscript is so written it must 
 necessarily be of the fourth, fifth, or sixth centuries." 
 There are also letters from Professor Westwood to 
 the Athenceum, dated July n, and Sept. 15, 1874, 
 in which the ivory carvings on the cover of the 
 Psalter of Charles le Chauve, a Manuscript of the 
 middle of the ninth century, are compared, in 
 a remarkable manner, with the Utrecht drawing 
 for the 56th Psalm (Latin Version), and the 
 corresponding picture in the Harley Psalter, and 
 with the Utrecht drawings for the 26th Psalm 
 (Latin Version) . But we are not told whether the 
 carvings are coeval, or older, or younger, than 
 the writing contained in the Manuscript, whose 
 covers they adorn. 
 
 Canon Swainson's report does not profess to 
 partake of a palseographical character. It deals 
 with the Gallican version of the Psalms ; the Harley 
 Psalter, of which the pictures exhibit, he thinks, an 
 earlier type than the Utrecht drawings ; the Apostles' 
 Creed, the text of which was not definitely fixed 
 even in the ninth century ; the Te Deum, the text of 
 which, as it is in the Utrecht Psalter, was not fixed 
 before the time of Charlemagne ; the Gloria in Ex- 
 celsis, which therein occurs in its modern, and not in 
 its older form ; and the indications of a daily use of 
 the Te Deum, which had not come into practice even 
 in the ninth century. The ancient Cotton Psalter, 
 Galba, A. XVIII., is compared in some points; and 
 the report concludes that the contents of the Psalter 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 153 
 
 could not have been arranged, nor the Psalter written 
 long before the year 800. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hardy prepared an elaborate reply to 
 these evidences collected by Dean Stanley, and 
 published it under the title of Further Report on the 
 Utrecht Psalter ; in answer to the eight Reports made to 
 the Trustees of the British Museum, and edited by the Dean 
 of Westminster. Like the first, this Further Report 
 bears no date on the title, but the colophon shows 
 the date of May, 1874. It is not proposed on this 
 occasion to enter very deeply into the consideration 
 of this report, which is one of the most exhaustive 
 accounts ever written respecting any Manuscript 
 whatever, and necessarily examines, weighs, and 
 sifts every thing that has been advanced in the work 
 to which it stands as an answer. It points to the 
 exceeding scarcity of Manuscripts of the age of the 
 Psalter, and the difficulty of comparing the style with 
 any other example of cognate workmanship ; and 
 states that the age of the Athanasian Greed is not 
 affected by the age of the Psalter, and that absurdities 
 are involved in the hypothesis that the Manuscript is 
 of the ninth century. The Psalter is again described 
 minutely and at length, the "peculiarities of the 
 writing pointed out, and some similarity of ortho- 
 graphy claimed for it to the inscriptions in the 
 catacombs of Rome, and the Virgil and Prudentius 
 already mentioned in a former chapter. The age of 
 the drawings is equally criticised, their execution 
 being attributed by the learned reporter to an artist 
 well acquainted with Oriental objects, scenery, and 
 customs ; while they have no peculiarities of the 
 
154 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 well-known delineation of the Anglo-Saxon era in 
 England. For " the buildings, furniture, costumes, 
 weapons, armour, musical and agricultural imple- 
 ments do not belong to Britain." In support of this 
 line of argument, it is stated 1 that " these drawings 
 are conceived and executed by a highly intelligent 
 artist who .... derived the forms . . . there por- 
 trayed from actual knowledge, and was personally 
 acquainted with the scenes and objects he depicts. 
 I think it impossible that he could have been 
 indebted to some earlier delineator as has been 
 suggested." This passage must be compared with 
 another in the First Report,* with which it appears to 
 clash, viz., "it is not unlikely" that "the draughtsman 
 had in his possession many specimens of former art, 
 and selected those which he considered suitable to 
 his purpose ; and having determined what his 
 drawing was to represent, he delineated temples, 
 houses, costumes, and armour, similar to those in 
 use in his day." 
 
 A lengthy dissertation from the gifted pen of 
 Mr. Howard Payn, given in full as an appendix to 
 the Further Report, and referred to at length by 
 Sir Thomas Hardy at this part of the text, sustains 
 the idea of the familiarity of the artist with the 
 scenes and details he depicts, and points out how 
 powerful are the probabilities " of the drawings 
 being executed by a dweller in Alexandria, well 
 acquainted with Syria," and with details found 
 repeated in the wall subjects of Egyptian tombs at 
 Beni-Hassan and Thebes. The total absence of 
 
 1 p. 13. 
 
 2 p. 25. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 155 
 
 monastic forms is also, and with great weight, 
 brought forward in proof of the early age of the 
 drawings; but here we may ask, i 1 Where 1 are the 
 Roman chariots, deities, helmets, sandals, ceramic 
 and metallic utensils, bucklers and broadswords, 
 which the classical theory as peremptorily pre- 
 supposes?" There is undoubtedly a very strong 
 Eastern character in these drawings, as will be seen 
 hereafter ; and this branch of the report is ex- 
 ceedingly interesting, and demands very careful 
 perusal from all who wish to examine these points 
 exhaustively, and thus to see " how each of them 
 has a direct and definite reference to the Psalm it is 
 intended to illustrate, and which could, by no 
 possibility have served for any other purpose." The 
 report proceeds to examine the different positions 
 and various propositions assumed, raised, or debated 
 by the reporters whose opinions have been published 
 by the Dean of Westminster ; and in doing so a 
 very great amount of research is exhibited, and an 
 equally great power of discrimination and logical 
 reasoning is brought to bear upon the numerous 
 points which arise during the enquiry. To the 
 initial B, Sir Thomas Hardy denies an Anglo- 
 Frankish origin, or an Anglo-Saxon prototype, and 
 refers it to an Irish style. With regard to the 
 "leathery" vellum; the alleged weakness of the 
 handwriting ; the peculiarities of the ruling ; the 
 punctuation ; the arrangement of matter ; the marks 
 of contraction and abbreviation ; the accents ; the 
 breaks in the text ; and the dotted y ; the report 
 
 1 See Athejiceum, Nos. 2434, 2436, 2438, June and July, 1874. 
 
156 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 enters into full discussions calculated to upset all 
 previous determinations arrived at by the West- 
 minster reports. 
 
 The history and surroundings of the inserted 
 Charter of Reculver are treated in the way already 
 shown in the previous chapter ; and the report, 
 which is deserving of all the good things that can be 
 said of it, as far as ingenuity, energy, and powerful 
 theoretical reasoning carries us, concludes with 
 three appendixes : (1.) The Concurrence of the His- 
 torical and P alee graphical arguments on the date of the 
 Utrecht Psalter, in the matter of the Athanasian Creed, 
 a letter to Sir Thomas Hardy by the Rev. Robert 
 C. Jenkins, M.A., Rector of Lyminge and Honorary 
 Canon of Canterbury, dated December 31, 1873; 
 (2.) The letter from Mr. Howard Payn,. March 2, 
 1874, mentioned in a previous page ; (3.) The com- 
 parison of the text in the Utrecht Psalter with those 
 in the Gallican, Roman, Vetus, Vulgate, Hebraic, 
 and Conciliatum versions, as far as Psalm 50, and 
 Psalm 95. In this, the complete coincidence of the 
 Utrecht text with that called the Gallican, and the 
 general coincidence of both with the Vulgate and 
 Conciliatum, and occasionally with the Vetus, is 
 demonstrated. 
 
 The principal treatises upon the Psalter have now 
 been brought before the reader, who may, in fur- 
 therance of his study of the subjects which this 
 remarkable book affords, consult at will the literary 
 journals of the last four or five years to gather up 
 other more or less correct opinions which have from 
 time to time been expressed upon the same great 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 157 
 
 centre of palaeographical attraction. It is necessary, 
 however, to pass on to the description of the art- 
 work itself which the Utrecht Psalter contains. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HE account of the external view of the Utrecht 
 Psalter, which has been given in Chapter II., 
 naturally preceded the independent examination of 
 the contents of the volume that will be found com- 
 prised in the present chapter, which is devoted to 
 this description, and to an enquiry into the peculiar 
 styles of handwriting in which those contents have 
 been committed to the Manuscript. This will 
 prepare us for that division of the present work 
 containing the detailed notices of the pictures, 
 which, although undoubtedly of older conventionality 
 than the execution of the text, and so, apparently, 
 claiming a priority of investigation, yet may not un- 
 duly be taken in hand subsequent to the characters 
 of the words they purport to illustrate, because they 
 undoubtedly are additions of a less remote anti- 
 quity, notwithstanding that they approach, perhaps 
 very nearly in point of time, to the same period. 
 
 It will therefore be necessary here to take 
 account of the Rustic capital writing, the plain 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 1 59 
 
 capital, and the uncial letter as found in the 
 Psalter ; the abbreviations and contractions of 
 words ; the division and punctuation of verses or 
 sentences ; the bisection of words in the middle and 
 at the end of lines ; a variety of circumstances which 
 seem to indicate that the scribe was ignorant of, or 
 at least imperfectly acquainted with the Latin 
 tongue ; the particular version of the Psalms and 
 subjoined liturgical compositions ; the headings and 
 descriptive sentences attached to the respective 
 Psalms ; and a quantity of evidence produced by, 
 dependent upon, or connected with the above points. 
 
 For greater convenience, and for simplicity's sake, 
 the Psalms will be referred to according to their 
 number as given or implied by the Manuscript itself, 
 and the Latin quotations will be from the text of 
 the same ; the English equivalents, where quoted, 
 will be from the English translation of the Bible 
 dedicated to King James I. As the numeration of 
 the Utrecht and the English Psalms does not 
 entirely correspond, it will be useful to bear in mind 
 that the ninth Psalm of the Vulgate 1 and of the 
 Utrecht or Gallican version is broken up into the 
 ninth and tenth of the English version : so that, 
 roughly speaking, from the numeration, Psalm 10, to 
 the end of the series, the English figures are in 
 advance, by one, of the Latin versions. 
 
 Nevertheless, the numeration of the Utrecht 
 Psalter is by no means uniform ; sometimes the 
 number is omitted altogether; sometimes the number 
 
 1 "Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis," Fesontione, 1839. And so also "Biblia 
 impressa Venetiis opera . . . Nicolai Jenson, mcccclxxvi;" Vitellius E. xviii., with 
 Saxon glosses; and MS. Reg - ., 1. E. viii., a fine MS. of the 10th cent. 
 
:n 
 id 
 
 US] 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 io 
 ii 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 14 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 17 
 l8 
 
 I 9 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 24 
 
 25 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 3° 
 3 1 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 incorrect ; hence the following table will be 
 seful : — 
 
 .GATE. 
 
 UTRECHT. 
 
 FIRST WORDS. 
 
 1 
 
 in ui iiuiiiucicu. 
 
 JJCcllUb UU1. 
 
 2 
 
 5J 
 
 Quare fremuerunt. 
 
 3 
 
 J5 
 
 Datyiitip niiin 
 
 J_yUllllllC UUlU! 
 
 4 
 
 
 ■oUlll lllVUUcllcHl. 
 
 5 
 
 "IT 
 
 V. 
 
 v ci Uci in Lei. 
 
 6 
 
 VI 
 
 T^omine ne in 
 
 7 
 
 VII 
 
 V lli 
 
 T^OTTilTiP fiPTIQ 
 
 -L-/ WXXXXXXC VXV< UO. 
 
 
 
 mil 
 V 111 . 
 
 -L'UllllllC t_lUilHllU.o. 
 
 9 
 
 viiii 
 
 f v^oiinieuor qui. 
 v ui uuiu liuxuhic. 
 
 I O 
 
 X. 
 
 In domino 
 
 T T 
 
 A J. • 
 
 OctlV U.1I1 111c. 
 
 T O 
 
 All. 
 
 TTc/~inA nun 
 UoL[UC LJ^LiU. 
 
 I 3 
 
 Yin 
 Alii. 
 
 UlA.ll IHblUlCllb. 
 
 T vl 
 
 J 4 
 
 Villi 
 
 AlJ.il . 
 
 TlnTYiitiA /Tin c 
 UULULILC UUlb. 
 
 T r- 
 X 5 
 
 l\Tot TinmVjPfprl 
 
 Pninpren tyip 
 
 V^VJJLloCl V (X XllC 
 
 x V 
 
 
 H VQiini nrimitip 
 
 T *7 
 
 5J 
 
 TllllCTClTTl i"A 
 
 18 
 
 xviii. 
 
 Cflpli f-riarrarit 
 
 V^C^lL "wXXCLX X (XXX Li 
 
 t n 
 
 Yvim 
 
 A V 1111. 
 
 H VQllnldf fa 
 XLAd.UU.lcl I LC 
 
 Z vJ 
 
 YY 
 AA. 
 
 -L/uiiiiiic in. 
 
 O T 
 
 YY1 
 
 T IP11C TlAnC 
 
 JL/cub -Lycllb. 
 
 
 VYll 
 
 JL/UIIlinilb ICglL. 
 
 23 
 
 AAL11. 
 
 Domini est. 
 
 24 
 
 xxiiii. 
 
 Ad te domine. 
 
 25 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Judica me. 
 
 26 
 
 xxvi. 
 
 Dominus inluminatio. 
 
 27 
 
 xxvii. 
 
 Ad te domine. 
 
 28 
 
 xxviii. 
 
 Adferte domino. 
 
 29 
 
 xxviiii. 
 
 Exaltabo te. 
 
 30 
 
 XXX. 
 
 In te domine. 
 
32 
 
 33 
 34 
 35 
 36 
 37 
 38 
 
 39 
 40 
 
 4i 
 42 
 
 43 
 44 
 
 45 
 46 
 
 47 
 
 48 
 
 49 
 5o 
 5i 
 52 
 53 
 54 
 55 
 56 
 57 
 58 
 
 59 
 60 
 
 61 
 
 62 
 
 63 
 64 
 
 65 
 
 PSALTER. 
 
 l6l 
 
 FIRST WORDS. 
 
 Beati quorum. 
 Exsultate justi. 
 Benedicam dominum. 
 Judica domine. 
 Dixit injustus. 
 Noli emulari. 
 Domine ne in. 
 Dixi custodiam. 
 Expectans expectavi. 
 Beatus qui. 
 
 Quemadmodum desiderat. 
 
 Judica me deus. 
 
 Deus auribus. 
 
 Eructavit cor. 
 
 Deus noster. 
 
 Omnes gentes. 
 
 Magnus dominus. 
 
 Audite haec. 
 
 Deus deorum. 
 
 Miserere mei. 
 
 Quid gloriaris. 
 
 Dixit insipiens. 
 
 Deus in nomine. 
 
 Exaudi deus. 
 
 Miserere mei. 
 
 Miserere mei. 
 
 [S]i vere. 
 
 Eripe me. 
 
 Deus repulisti. 
 
 Exaudi deus. 
 
 Nonne deo. 
 
 Deus deus. 
 
 Exaudi deus. 
 
 Te decet. 
 
7o 
 
 7i 
 
 72 
 
 73 
 74 
 
 75 
 7 6 
 
 77 
 78 
 
 79 
 8o 
 
 8i 
 
 82 
 
 83 
 
 84 
 
 85 
 86 
 
 87 
 88 
 
 89 
 90 
 
 9 1 
 92 
 
 93 
 94 
 
 95 
 96 
 
 97 
 98 
 99 
 
 THE UTRECHT 
 
 PSALTER. 
 
 VULGATE. 
 
 UTRECHT. 
 
 lxv. 
 
 lxxi. 
 
 Ixxii. 
 
 lxviii. 
 
 lxviiii. 
 
 lxx. 
 
 lxxi. 
 
 Ixxii. 
 
 lxxvii. 
 
 lxxiii. 
 
 lxxv. 
 
 lxxvi. 
 
 lxxvii. 
 
 lxxvii. 
 
 lxxviiii. 
 
 lxxx. 
 
 lxxxi. 
 
 lxxxii. 
 
 lxxxiii. 
 
 lxxxiiii. 
 
 lxxxv. 
 
 lxxxvi. 
 
 lxxxvii. 
 
 lxxxviii. 
 
 lxxxviii. 
 
 xc. 
 
 xci. 
 
 xcii. 
 
 xciii. 
 
 xciiii. 
 
 xcv. 
 
 xcvi. 
 
 xcvii. 
 
 xcviii. 
 
 FIRST WORDS. 
 
 Jubilate deo. 
 Deus misereatur. 
 Exurgat deus. 
 Salvum me. 
 Deus in adjutorium. 
 In te domine. 
 Deus judicium. 
 Quam bonus. 
 Ut quid deus. 
 Confitebimur tibi. 
 Notus in. 
 Voce mea. 
 Adtendite populus. 
 Deus venerunt. 
 Qui regis. 
 Exsultate deo. 
 Deus stetit. 
 Deus quis. 
 Quam dilecta. 
 Benedixisti domine. 
 Inclina domine. 
 Fundamenta ejus. 
 Domine deus. 
 Misericordias domini. 
 Domine refugium. 
 Qui habitat. 
 Bonum est. 
 Dominus regnavit. 
 Deus ultionum. 
 Venite exultemus. 
 Cantate domino. 
 Dominus regnavit. 
 Cantate domino. 
 Dominus regnavit. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 1 63 
 
 ENGLISH. 
 
 VULGATE. 
 
 UTRECHT. 
 
 FIRST WORDS. 
 
 • 
 
 IOO 
 
 QO 
 
 xcviiii. 
 
 Tubilate deo. 
 
 IOI 
 
 IOO 
 
 c. 
 
 Misericordiam et. 
 
 I02 
 
 IOI 
 
 ci. 
 
 Domine exaudi. 
 
 IO^ 
 
 I02 
 
 cii. 
 
 Benedic anima. 
 
 104 
 
 I02 
 
 ciii. 
 
 Benedic anima. 
 
 
 IOA 
 
 ciiii. 
 
 Confitemini domino. 
 
 106 
 
 10c; 
 
 cv. 
 
 Confitemini domino. 
 
 I07 
 
 106 
 
 cvi. 
 
 Confitemini domino. 
 
 108 
 
 107 
 
 cvii. 
 
 Paratum cor. 
 
 109 
 
 108 
 
 cviii. 
 
 Deus laudum. 
 
 I IO 
 
 100 
 
 cviiii. 
 
 Dixit dominus. 
 
 III 
 
 no 
 
 ex. 
 
 Confitebor tibi. 
 
 112 
 
 in 
 
 cxi. 
 
 Beatus vir. 
 
 113 
 
 112 
 
 cxi. 
 
 Laudate pueri. 
 
 114 
 
 11? 1-8 
 
 cxiii. 
 
 In exitu. 
 
 US 
 
 112 1-18 
 «j 
 
 new numera- 
 tion of 
 
 v \_> a ovO* 
 
 runs on with 
 the above. 
 
 Non nobis. 
 
 Il6 
 
 
 cxiiii. 
 
 Dilexi quoniam. 
 
 
 cxv. 
 
 Credidi propter, verse 10. 
 
 117 
 
 116 
 
 cxvi. 
 
 Laudate dominum. 
 
 Il8 
 
 Ti7 
 
 cxvii. 
 
 Confitemini domino. 
 
 no 
 
 y 
 
 Il8 
 
 cxviii. 
 
 Beati inmaculati. 
 
 120 
 
 no 
 
 cxviiii. 
 
 Ad dominum. 
 
 121 
 
 1 20 
 
 cxx. 
 
 Levavi oculos. 
 
 122 
 
 T 2 T 
 
 JL £* JL 
 
 exxi. 
 
 Lsetatus sum. 
 
 123 
 
 12 2 
 
 exxii. 
 
 Ad te levavi. 
 
 I 24 
 
 
 exxiii. 
 
 Nisi quia. 
 
 I2 5 
 
 124 
 
 1 
 
 exxiiii. 
 
 Qui confidunt. 
 
 126 
 
 
 exxv. 
 
 In convertendo. 
 
 127 
 
 126 
 
 exxvi. 
 
 Nisi dominus. 
 
 128 
 
 127 
 
 exxvii. 
 
 Beati omnes. 
 
 129 
 
 128 
 
 exxviii. 
 
 Ssepe expugnaverunt. 
 
164 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 ENGLISH. 
 
 VULGATE. 
 
 UTRECHT. 
 
 FIRST WORDS. 
 
 130 
 
 1 2 y 
 
 OXXV111I. 
 
 uc pr U1U.I1U.1d. 
 
 
 130 
 
 cxxx. 
 
 l^umiiic nun cbi. 
 
 132 
 
 T T 
 
 I 3 I 
 
 CXXX1. 
 
 IVlcIIlcllLU U.UII1111C 
 
 T 33 
 
 A 3^ 
 
 
 T^ppp nuntn 
 
 J_jv^V-/C IJ LicU.ll. 
 
 J 34 
 
 T 'J 
 
 A 33 
 
 CXXAI11. 
 
 jZjCcc nunc. 
 
 T O C* 
 
 I 35 
 
 T -7 A 
 
 
 Laudate nomen 
 
 136 
 
 A 35 
 
 l/AAA V • 
 
 nnfi t ptt» l m 
 
 x 37 
 
 130 
 
 CaaaVL 
 
 1 1 X~\ QV Till 1MO 
 
 oujjcr liUIIilllci* 
 
 I38 
 
 J 37 
 
 CXXXV11. 
 
 L/OnntcDOi LlDl. 
 
 *39 
 
 
 CXXXV111. 
 
 jL^oniine proDasti. 
 
 140 
 
 x 39 
 
 CXXXV1111. 
 
 jiripe nic. 
 
 141 
 
 140 
 
 CXI. 
 
 UOlTHllC CldmaVl. 
 
 142 
 
 I 4 I 
 
 CX11. 
 
 V OCc lllcd. 
 
 M3 
 
 142 
 
 cxlii. 
 
 jjomrne exauui. 
 
 144 
 
 x 43 
 
 /"*"V 1 111 
 
 CXilll. 
 
 jjciicQicius uominus. 
 
 M5 
 
 144 
 
 cxlim. 
 
 H/XdlldUO te. 
 
 I4O 
 
 x 45 
 
 cxlv. 
 
 jL/auUd dnima. 
 
 147 
 
 J I4O 
 
 CXI VI. 
 
 j_/ciuu.dic uominum. 
 
 l 147 
 
 cxlvii. 
 
 Lauda Hierusalem, verse 11. 
 
 I48 
 
 148 
 
 cxlviii. 
 
 . Laudate dominum. 
 
 149 
 
 149 
 
 cxlviiii. 
 
 Cantate domino. 
 
 
 ISO 
 
 cl. 
 
 Laudate dominum. 
 
 By this it will be seen that the 9th and 10th 
 English form the Utrecht ninth. The errors occur 
 of XLVI. for XLVII. ; LXII.I. for LXIV. ; LXXI. 
 for LXVI. ; LXXI I. for LXVII. ; LXXVII. for 
 LXXIII. ; LXXIII. for LXXIV. ; LXXVII. for 
 LXXVIII. ; LXXXVIII. for LXXXIX. ; CXI. for 
 CXI I. ; the 114th and 115th are combined to 
 form CXI II. ; the 11 6th is divided at verse 10, 
 making CXIV. and CXV. ; the 147th similarly 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 165 
 
 divided at verse 11 to make CXLVI. and CXLVII. ; 
 and hence the total number of one hundred and fifty 
 Psalms is brought up at the end. 
 
 With regard to the character in which the bulk of 
 the text is written, it has already been stated that it 
 is written in that letter which is distinctively called 
 the Roman Rustic capital. The term Rustic is 
 applied to denote the crooked branch-like appear- 
 ance which some of the component parts of the 
 letters exhibit when compared with the regular 
 
 The particular kind of Rustic lettering adopted by 
 the scribe of the Utrecht Psalter undoubtedly 
 betrays a certain debility of formation not seen in 
 the Rustic hands of the Vatican Virgils, Terence, 
 and Sallust, the Florentine Virgil, or the Prudentius 
 of the Bibliotheque. No one can compare these 
 forms together for a moment without perceiving the 
 instability and weakness of the one, the firmness and 
 power of the other. Mr. Bond points this charac- 
 teristic out, where he says, in his report, "That the 
 Rustic capitals are not genuine characters of the 
 sixth century is evident from their comparative weak 
 form and irregular setting. The first aspect of 
 the writing conveys this impression most forcibly." 
 Another report, too, considers " the impression which 
 the writing conveys to the eye is that, though the 
 style is old, the forms of the letters are not true. 
 There is a weakness and uncertainty about the 
 strokes which force one to feel that the scribe is 
 writing in a character to which he is not habitually 
 accustomed. This impression amounts to a con- 
 
 preceded this modified form. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 viction that the writing is an imitation. An ex- 
 amination of the letters in detail will show, in the 
 Rustic (? Utrecht) letters, certain deviations from 
 original forms, which would not be found in genuine 
 writing. The few leaves in the Augustine Psalter 
 (Vespasian A. i), which are written in this character, 
 and which are themselves probably not older than 
 the eighth century, impress the eye far more favour- 
 ably." But to this Sir Thomas Hardy objects that 
 the character of the handwriting belongs to the 
 sixth century, and that these Rustic capitals shown 
 in the Psalter, " were prevalent in Europe from the 
 third century, or earlier, to about the end of the 
 seventh century. In titles and colophons it appears 
 still later ; but never, so far as I have been able to 
 discover, in the full text of later Manuscripts." 
 
 These Rustic letters in themselves are, neverthe- 
 less, of regular and shapely appearance, being all of 
 uniform height, with exception of the F, L, and Q, 
 which respectively project slightly above or below 
 the line. 
 
 The A is formed of two wavy strokes or arms 
 without the cross bar ; the left stroke is thinner than 
 the right, and the bases are finished off each with a 
 small and short horizontal notch or spur. 
 
 B has its upper loop not so prominent as the 
 lower loop, but the lower loop is sometimes shorter 
 in height than the upper one ; the commencement 
 of the upper loop, and the finish of the lower, project 
 on the left side of the vertical bar. 
 
 C has a well defined spot at the top, and the bend 
 is upright, thickened as it approaches the base, and 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 167 
 
 curled up very slightly towards the concluding part 
 of the letter. The curve is of an elliptical rather 
 than circular shape. This letter resembles the G 
 very much, except that the finish is made dif- 
 ferently. 
 
 D is formed in a remarkable manner. The 
 vertical bar has a horizontal stroke at the base, 
 slightly projecting on the left, but prominently so on 
 the right side. The loop is commenced slightly on 
 the left of the bar at the top, rapidly thickened, and 
 brought down to a fine stroke to meet the horizontal 
 stroke on the base. Hence the letter does not 
 represent that symmetry with which we are familiar, 
 but appears to have a right-angled base, but not a 
 right-angled summit, which is, on the contrary, more 
 acute. 
 
 E is also curious for the short and abrupt nature 
 of its three bars, all of which are of the same size 
 and shape : the one in the base projects, however, 
 more distinctly over the left side of the upright 
 stroke. 
 
 F is one of the three projecting letters, and Sir 
 Thomas Hardy considers that it possesses " scarcely 
 any cross lines." 1 But a careful inspection shows 
 that its cross lines are of distinct and peculiar style. 
 The upright line is about one fifth longer than the 
 corresponding line of other letters, and so overtops 
 the bounding line of the two parallel lines ruled with 
 a dry point, between which the letters of the text 
 are ranged. The upper cross line is commenced 
 slightly to the left hand of the vertical line, and, 
 
 1 Further Report, p. 11. 
 
i68 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 after beginning with a thick stroke, finishes off thinly 
 and with a curved point. This bar is not horizontal, 
 but obliquely placed, and points upwards, thereby 
 contributing to the additional height of the letter. 
 
 G is closely similar to C, but has a sort of 
 shortened comma or cedilla added vertically down- 
 wards at the end of the curl, which seldom passes 
 below the range of the other letters. Another form 
 of G has no cedilla, but the curve of the C is enriched 
 with a thick and short curve within it. The two 
 forms are seen on column i of the second page of 
 the Psalter, a facsimile of which is given in the 
 Dean of Westminster's collection of Reports. In 
 this page, the G with cedilla occurs seven times, and 
 the G without cedilla, five times. 
 
 H also possesses two forms ; the first is made up 
 of two vertical and one horizontal stroke, the former 
 having at their bases short spurs ; the second kind, 
 which is by no means so constantly recurrent, is 
 somewhat like K. 
 
 I has a spurred base as large as that which is 
 given to the E. 
 
 K does not appear to occur. 
 
 L is remarkable for the additional length bestowed 
 upon its upright stroke, which is at least one fifth 
 above the bounding line ; its base stroke is very 
 short, and scarcely longer than the base strokes of 
 the E, F, and I. 
 
 M has the first and third strokes thin ; the second 
 and fourth, thick ; the summits of the upright bars 
 cut off obliquely ; the bases embellished with spurs. 
 The interior angle, formed by the junction of the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 l6g 
 
 second and third strokes, almost touches, and in 
 many cases does touch the lower bounding line of 
 the writing. 
 
 N has two thin upright bars, a thick interior line, 
 curved in a distinct and decided manner towards 
 the base, that is, the outer edge of the curve is 
 towards the left hand ; the second upright has no 
 basal spurs ; the first has a distinct one. 
 
 O is formed of two curved strokes, containing an 
 elliptical space ; the thick parts of these curved 
 lines are opposite to each other obliquely, viz., the 
 thickest part of the left hand stroke is near the 
 bottom of the curve ; but of the right hand curve it 
 is near the upper part of the bend. 
 
 P has an upright stroke, framed according to the 
 usual wavering Rustic form, a spur or base line of 
 distinct dimensions, and a short and small loop, 
 which commences slightly on the left of the vertical 
 line, and is not continued so far as to finish in 
 contact with the stem upon which it is built. 
 
 Q resembles O, with an oblique stroke jutting out 
 downwards below the line, and pointing to the right 
 hand. There are three forms of Q, the stroke being 
 straight, curved, or elongated. 
 
 R is a fine and well shaped letter. The upright 
 stem has a strong spur at the bottom ; the upper 
 loop resembles that of the B ; the acute finishing 
 stroke is thick, and produced far beyond the limit 
 indicated by the loop. This also has a Rustic 
 shaping, produced by a horizontal turning given to 
 the pen when it reaches the bounding basal line. 
 
 S is not a thick and firm letter, but poor and thin 
 
 14 
 
170 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 in its curves ; the middle and ends thicker than the 
 other parts. 
 
 T resembles I very closely, with the single excep- 
 tion that the upper horizontal line is a trifle more 
 distinctly expressed, whereas in the I the vertical 
 line is abruptly cut off by imparting an oblique 
 motion to the pen. 
 
 U, or V, is a very interesting letter. It is formed 
 of an oblique thick stroke, slightly curved in the 
 same way as the central stroke of the N, but more 
 distinctly bent. The second stroke resembles the 
 last upright of the N ; it is thin, and has a hori- 
 zontal spur at the top. In this respect this letter 
 may be compared with the uncial U, which has a 
 curved stroke conjoined with the second stroke, 
 that is upright and strongly marked. 
 
 X is very characteristic of the Rustic lettering. 
 The oblique line from left to right is thick, strong, 
 and cut off cleanly and abruptly without spurs. It 
 is, however, slightly curved downwards. The cross- 
 stroke from right to left is thin, weak, and (/) 
 shaped, the spurs in this letter taking rather the 
 form of a thickening in the line, that at the summit 
 being on the right, that on the base being on the 
 left of the stroke to which they perform the part of 
 finial embellishments. 
 
 Y of the Rustic alphabet has attracted much 
 attention, because it has been strenuously asserted, 
 and as assiduously denied, that this letter is adorned 
 with a dot or point above it. For example : " The 1 
 letter y in the Utrecht Manuscript is very seldom 
 
 1 Sir Thomas Hardy, Report, p. 20. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 pointed, and the point seems to have been added by 
 the scribe himself when he has made the letter look 
 something too like the V." "Of 1 individual letters, 
 the y (in the Utrecht Manuscript) is almost always 
 dotted." This letter is certainly of remarkable shape, 
 and does not seem to accord with pure Rustic 
 shapings. It is formed of a large and thick curve, 
 very boldly drawn, bulging towards the right, and 
 commences fully three fourths of the height of an 
 ordinary letter above the line. On reaching the 
 base the stroke is carried upwards thinly, and ends 
 off with a sharp but small and thick curve. The 
 dot is by no means always placed over it, and we 
 may compare this (Y) form as it occurs, with a dot, 
 in Ps. XXXII. 2, in cythara, with the form without 
 the dot in Ps. XXXV. 6, in abyssus.*. 
 
 In the " Canticum Moysi Prophetae," or Cantemus 
 domino, verses 5, 8, the word abyssi occurs twice 
 with a dotted y, which does not project at all above 
 the row of letters. 
 
 Z does not occur very often. The oblique stroke 
 is thin ; the horizontal strokes thick, short, and of 
 true Rustic waving form. The reader may for 
 instance, compare Zabulon, Ps. LXXII. 29, with a 
 variant form in Zib et Zibeae, Ps. LXXXII. 10; 
 Zelaveris, Ps. XXXVI. 1 ; Zelavi, Ps. LXXII. 3 ; 
 Zelus, Ps. LXVIII. 12; LXXVII. (for LXXVIII.) 
 5 ; Zona, Ps. CVIII. 18. 
 
 The addition of the point or dot over the y in this 
 
 1 Report by Mr. Bond, p. i. 
 2 See also tympana (Ps. 14S) ; moysi (Ps. 76, 102); cymha, cythara (Ps. 150); 
 tyru (Ps. 82); martyrum (Te Deum) ; egypto (Ps. 79); aegypto (Ps. 113, 114); 
 Moyses (Ps. 98). 
 
172 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Rustic alphabet has been instanced by some as a 
 decided mark of late age ; by others it has been 
 asserted that in Manuscripts of the sixth century 
 this letter is often dotted ; but it is pretty well 
 acknowledged that the dotted y seen in Manuscripts 
 of the sixth down to the twelfth centuries affords no 
 test of age, and must be ascribed to the fancy of the 
 writer, and not to the conventionalism of any age in 
 particular. This fact is so amply borne out by the 
 facsimiles of pages of early MSS. selected and pub- 
 lished in the issue of the Palseographical Society, 
 that it is unnecessary here to recapitulate any 
 .evidence respecting it. 
 
 We have now to glance at the two other styles of 
 writing which are found in the Utrecht Psalter. 
 The uncial characters, in which the rubrics or 
 headings of the Psalms, as well as the first line of 
 the text of each Psalm (and in the case of the 
 1 1 8th, some of the first lines of subdivision) are 
 written, differ naturally somewhat considerably 
 from the Rustic capital, which is in this Manuscript 
 a more interesting modification of the ancient capital. 
 These uncial titles or headings are written in red- 
 coloured ink, the first lines of the earlier Psalms in 
 gold. The initials of the divisions or verses are 
 also given in uncial letters, coloured, and stand out 
 to the left of the text ; but the first letter of each 
 Psalm is plain and uncoloured, about half an inch 
 square, and partakes of the capital form. 
 
 This capital alphabet may be briefly described as 
 thick, massive, and solidly set, about half an inch 
 high, and many of the letters quite of that breadth. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 i 
 
 173 
 
 The generality of the letters are armed with spurs 
 or projecting notches. The A, which commences 
 Psalms XXIV., XXVII., XXVIII., XLVIIL, 
 LXXVIL, CXVIII. {daleth and tav) , CXIX., 
 CXXIL, has a thin left line and bar, a thick right 
 line and firm bars or spurs both above and below. 
 B occurs in Psalms XXXI., XXXIII., XL, 
 LXXXIV., XCI., CII., CIII., CXI., CXVIII. 
 (aleth and teth) , CXXVII., CXLIIL, and is of a fine 
 Roman square or set form, such as may be seen on 
 the inscriptions of the best period. C occurs in 
 Psalms IV., IX., XV., XVIII., etc., in all seventeen 
 times, and has a bold and well formed curve. D is 
 of most frequent occurrence, being found in Psalms 
 III., VI., VII., VIII., XIII., XIV., XVII., etc., 
 forty-four times, or nearly one third of the whole 
 number. This letter is beautifully made, with well 
 marked spurs, and has a strong and solid shape, 
 very unlike the rustic D. E is also of frequent use, 
 being placed at the head of Psalms XVI., XIX, 
 XXIX., XXXII., etc., for seventeen times altogether. 
 It has a thick standard and well lengthened spurs ; 
 but the three horizontal arms are rather more short 
 and thin than we might perhaps expect. F only 
 occurs twice, in Psalms LXXXVI., and CXVIII. 
 (ain). In these instances it resembles the E, but 
 without the lower bar. G and H do not occur at all. 
 I is met with in Psalms X., XXV., XXX., XXXIV., 
 etc., fifteen times. Its upright line, which is strong, 
 is thickened still more as it approaches the summit 
 and base, and it has thin flat spurs extended pro- 
 minently on either side. K does not occur, L is 
 
174 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the commencing letter of twelve Psalms or sub- 
 divisions, being found in Psalms CXIL, CXVL, 
 CXVIII. (he and nun), etc. M begins Psalms 
 XLVIL, L., LV., LVL, etc., and is met with ten 
 times. Two fine examples, Psalms L., LVL, show 
 that it is of a very massive shape, the first stroke 
 thickened as it approaches the base, the second and 
 fourth stroke very broad, the spurs fine and thin. 
 N occurs five times, in Psalms XXXVI. , LXL, 
 LXXV., CXXIIL, CXXVL Of these examples 
 two are very good, Psalms LXXV. and CXXVL, 
 showing that the first and third strokes, which are 
 thin, gradually thicken as they approach their spur, 
 and the oblique line, which is very strong and broad, 
 is cut off at the top horizontally where it meets the 
 first vertical line ; but at its junction with the third 
 stroke it forms an acutely pointed angle, set some- 
 what below the line of the writing, so that the third 
 stroke is longer downwards, in a corresponding 
 degree, than the first. O is only to be seen once, in 
 Psalm XL VI., and the photograph unfortunately 
 does not reproduce the whole of the letter, although 
 there is enough to show that the thickest parts of 
 its shapings do not stand horizontally, but obliquely, 
 opposite to each other. P is to be seen thrice, in 
 the initial letters of Psalm CVIL, CXVIII. (Beth, 
 and Sin, or, as the Utrecht Psalter write these 
 words, Eth, and Sen) . These three examples of the 
 capital P are of different dimensions, but all have 
 the same peculiarities, the broad upright stem, 
 strengthened towards summit and base, the dis- 
 tinctly expressed spur, and the swelling curve of the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 175 
 
 loop, which falls short by a very little of meeting 
 the vertical line in the middle, and so leaves the 
 loop open by about the sixteenth part of an inch. 
 Q is an interesting character, because it also appears 
 to possess more than one magnitude. Altogether 
 this letter occurs nine times, in Psalms II., XLL, 
 LI., LXXIL, LXXIX., LXXXIII., XC, CXVIII. 
 (mem) , and CXXIV. It is very similar to the O, 
 already described, with the addition of an oblique 
 line or finishing stroke with acutely pointed end. R 
 only occurs in Psalm CXVIII. (gimel), and in this 
 example is rather to be ascribed to the uncial than 
 the capital alphabet, by reason of its smallness and 
 the peculiar arrangement of the spur at the base of 
 the upright line. This spur is very fine and thin, 
 and points directly downwards. S is the initial 
 letter of five Psalms, viz., XI. [LVIL], LXVIII., 
 CXXVIIL, CXXXVI. The curves in this letter 
 are perhaps not so bold as we should expect to see 
 in comparison with those of the C, D, O, P, Q, and 
 R. T is found only at the commencement of Psalm 
 LXIV., and of this, too, the photographic facsimile 
 does not give a perfect reproduction. Its charac- 
 teristics are, however, in keeping with the other 
 members of this capital alphabet. U r or V., is seen 
 in seven Psalms, V., XII., [LXXVII. for] LXXIIL, 
 LXXVL, XCIV., CXVIII., resh, CXLI. The first 
 stroke is thick, and the second stroke by no means 
 so thin in comparison as some in the series. X, Y, 
 Z do not occur. 
 
 The added pieces, canticles, and prayers, do not 
 fill up many vacancies. The T of the Hymnum ad 
 
176 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Matutinis is imperfectly reproduced. There is, 
 however, a very fine capital G in the Gloria in 
 Excelsis. This letter has a fine curve, and is 
 finished with a strong short upright line, with spurs 
 at the top and bottom of very handsome pro- 
 portions. 
 
 The uncial alphabet, which is employed, for initial 
 letters of verses, first lines except the letter at the be- 
 ginning, and rubrications of Psalms, affords, naturally, 
 far more specimens for examination. There are 
 two types of this alphabet, a large kind, which is 
 used as initials to the first words of head-lines, as 
 well as initials to the first words of verses or 
 divisions ; and a small kind that is employed in the 
 sentences of the head lines. But the only variation 
 appears to be in the size of the individual letters, 
 and not in their shape, and we may, therefore, 
 consider these two types together as one character. 
 Of this alphabet, the letters have spurs or short 
 notches where the forms present an opportunity for 
 their employment. The A has a thick stroke from 
 left to right, but its first stroke is thin, and its 
 second stroke, or bar, rises obliquely from the base 
 of the first to the middle of the third stroke. B 
 resembles a capital B. C also is very like its 
 capital equivalent, but is spurred at both extremities; 
 the upper finish appears to project slightly beyond 
 the lower end. D is a round letter made with two 
 curves, that on the left rising upwards to form the 
 up stroke of the letter, which resembles an O roughly 
 made, and disconnected at the top. E is also 
 nearly a circular letter, completed with a horizontal 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 177 
 
 bar, the two ends of the curve approaching the end 
 of the bar very closely, and all three ends 
 have spurs. F has a thick upright, which is pro- 
 longed below the line, where its spur is added to it, 
 curiously enough, not at right angles, but in the 
 form of a thin stroke carried out perpendicularly 
 downwards on the left hand plane of the thick 
 stroke. G resembles C, with a thin stroke added 
 below the line perpendicularly, and terminated with 
 a dot or thick spot. H is not unlike a Roman 
 minuscule (h) with thick upright, and curved bow 
 thickened in the middle, and not spurred at the end 
 as is the upright. I has a thick stem, a spur to the 
 left only at the top, and a perpendicular spur like 
 that described for the F, at the base. K does not 
 appear to be found. L rises above the line, and has 
 three spurs. M is very similar to a broken figure of 
 eight lying down, being formed of two imperfect 
 circles, or curved lines. N is of the rustic type, but 
 with the first base spur not so strongly formed or 
 altogether omitted, and of stouter build. O is 
 round and firm, and has the same characteristic as 
 that described for the Rustic alphabet, P is well 
 shaped, but has the peculiar vertical spur already 
 found on the uncial F and I. Q is of a distinctly 
 uncial type, differing materially from the Rustic and 
 the capital equivalents. This letter closely re- 
 sembles an uncial C conjoined to an uncial I, the 
 tail passing below the line, and being armed with 
 the perpendicular spur. R is not unlike a capital 
 letter, but has the distinguishing spur projecting 
 downwards. S and T are similar to capital letters, 
 
178 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 but not strong and firm. The latter of these letters 
 does not always bear its upper spurs. The spur at 
 the base of the T should, to be uniform, be per- 
 pendicular, but in this letter the horizontal spur is 
 always used. U and V, in words, have but one 
 form, a broadly swelling curved line united to a 
 straight line with short spurs. But V, in numerals, 
 is of the capital form, made up of two straight lines 
 meeting at an acute angle. X has a thick bar from 
 left to right, a thin and weak bar, bent, and with 
 only the upper spur, from right to left. (See Psalm 
 LXXXIV., and the Gloria in Excelsis.) Y resembles 
 a capital V, with a thin vertical tail added, which 
 has a thick spot at the end, turning up slightly to 
 the left. (See Psalms LXXI., LXXV., and the 
 Symbolum Apostolorum. Z is like a capital Z, with 
 thick transverse line. (See the Canticum Zacharice, 
 and Psalms LXXXVIL, CXLV., CXLVI.) 
 
 The abbreviations and contractions, which a 
 careful examination of the Utrecht Psalter enables 
 one to gather together, have been variously esti- 
 mated by different writers. Sir T. D. Hardy considers 
 that "the rarity of abbreviations in Manuscripts is 
 generally in proportion to their antiquity, and this 
 is the case in the Utrecht MS.;" Mr. Bond, on the 
 other hand that the " abbreviations are of frequent 
 occurrence." Mr. Thompson finds that " contrac- 
 tions are used throughout the Manuscript ; and 
 these are not limited to the abbreviations of sacred 
 names and titles which occur in the most ancient 
 Manuscripts, but comprise many forms which are 
 only found in the eighth or subsequent centuries." 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 179 
 
 The following words occur in the text and headings 
 with an abbreviated or contracted form :— 
 
 aetni 
 
 for 
 
 aeterni. 
 
 nrs 
 
 for nostris (Fs. 77). 
 
 aetnu 
 
 n 
 
 aeternum. 
 
 propnt 
 
 11 
 
 propneta (Fs. 50) 
 
 aut 
 
 55 
 
 autem (Fs. 33). 
 
 psal 
 
 
 
 -b; 
 
 
 -bus, commonly. 
 
 psalm 
 
 " 
 
 > psalmus, com- 
 
 xps 
 
 11 
 
 Chnstus [Fid. 
 
 psl 
 
 11 ' 
 
 1 monl v 
 
 
 
 Cam.) 
 
 oms 
 
 j? 
 
 omnes, commonly. 
 
 c- 
 
 n 
 
 7 
 
 con-, commonly. 
 
 omps 
 
 11 
 
 omnipotens. 
 
 dd 
 
 n 
 
 David, commonly. 
 
 ort 
 
 11 
 
 oratio (Fs. 10 1). 
 
 dm 
 
 •>•> 
 
 Deum, commonly. 
 
 pat 
 
 11 
 
 pater. 
 
 ds 
 
 11 
 
 Deus, commonly. 
 
 propt 
 
 11 
 
 propter. 
 
 defcit 
 
 11 
 
 defecit (i^. 118 
 
 qd 
 
 11 
 
 quod (Fs. 69). 
 
 
 
 caph. ) 
 
 qm 
 
 11 
 
 ) quoniam, com- 
 
 dl 
 
 11 
 
 Dei, commonly. 
 
 qnm 
 
 11 
 
 j ' monly. 
 
 dns 
 
 11 
 
 Dominus, etc., 
 
 -r 
 
 11 
 
 -runt (Fs. 42). 
 
 
 
 commonly 
 
 repudad 
 
 11 
 
 repudiandum, 
 
 domu 
 
 1") 
 
 domus (Fs. 95). 
 
 
 
 (Apocryphal 
 
 e 
 
 11 
 
 est, commonly. 
 
 
 
 Fsalm). 
 
 ei 
 
 ?? 
 
 ejus (/V. 70, 72, 
 
 -rnt 
 
 11 
 
 -runt, commonly. 
 
 
 
 96, 104, 108, 
 
 scs 
 
 n 
 
 sanctus, and so for 
 
 
 
 115, etc.). 
 
 
 
 cases, commonly. 
 
 r 
 
 J? 
 
 fine (Fs. 73) 
 
 scuarium 
 
 11 
 
 sanctuarium (Fs. 
 
 ihs 
 
 11 
 
 Jhesus (Fid. 
 
 
 
 72, 77, etc.). 
 
 
 
 Cath.). 
 
 seper 
 
 1 1 
 
 semper (Fs. 18). 
 
 inscription 
 
 11 
 
 inscriptionem 
 
 sps 
 
 11 
 
 Spiritus, etc., com- 
 
 
 
 (Fs. 56). 
 
 
 monly. 
 
 long 
 
 . ?J 
 
 longe (Fs. 55). 
 
 spuit 
 
 11 
 
 sprevit (Fs. 77). 
 
 (overline) 
 
 11 
 
 m final, commonly. 
 
 St 
 
 11 
 
 sunt, commonly. 
 
 ml 
 
 11 
 
 millia (Fs. 59). 
 
 tabernacul 
 
 11 
 
 tabernaculi 
 
 ms 
 
 )) 
 
 meus (Fs. 42). 
 
 
 
 (Fs. 28) 
 
 n 
 
 11 
 
 non (/V. 43). 
 
 -t r 
 
 11 
 
 -tur (Fs. 62, etc.). 
 
 neq; 
 
 11 
 
 neque. 
 
 tra 
 
 11 
 
 terra (Fs. 77). 
 
 nost 
 
 11 
 
 noster (Fs. 105). 
 
 usq ; 
 
 11 
 
 usque (Fs. 27). 
 
 nr 
 
 11 
 
 noster, commonly. 
 
 
 etc., etc. 
 
 The mark used for indicating an abbreviated word 
 is in all cases a line, more or less curved, according 
 
i8o 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 to the Rustic style, over the word from which a 
 portion has been omitted. This line is, in the 
 majority of cases, obliquely drawn from left upward 
 towards the right, and may have a small hook at 
 either or both ends, so that it appears to be a long 
 but small s reversed. Sometimes, however, it nearly 
 approaches a straight line, and is so given in the list 
 on page 179. 
 
 Mr. Bond, however, in his Report, distinguishes 
 three forms of the marks of contractions, " 1st, a 
 horizontal slightly curved line, fine, and raised a 
 little at the extremity ; 2nd, a line turned in oppo- 
 site directions at the ends, and slanting upwards 
 obliquely to the right ; 3rd, a modification of the 
 same in which the ends are both turned inwards." 
 
 Another form of contraction is found for the 
 letters UR, when they occur after T, forming the final 
 syllable -TUR. This is found of pretty frequent 
 occurrence, and in most cases at the ends of lines. 
 It generally resembles a small figure of 2 obliquely 
 disposed, but is not altogether unlike an r. A great 
 deal of controversy has arisen with respect to this 
 form of contraction : some maintaining that the 
 constant use of the expression is alone conclusive 
 evidence of the late date of the Psalter ; others, 
 again, being unwilling to concede any inference 
 from the employment of this peculiarity. 
 
 In addition to the abbreviations pointed out, the 
 letters N T, where they occur in following order at 
 the end of a word, are conjoined into a monogram, 
 the cross-bar of the second letter being added to the 
 final upright stroke of the first, which is carried up 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. l8l 
 
 above the line (Psalm XCL, etc.). But JE, when it 
 is a true diphthong, is, if at all, very rarely written as 
 one character, in which case it appears to take the 
 form of E with a cedilla, as in pretermit, Psalms 
 LXXXVIIL, XCIII, and CE never occurs in com- 
 bination. No other forms of unification of two or 
 more letters appear to occur. 
 
 The orthography of some of the words forms a very 
 interesting branch of the examination of the Manu- 
 script. In addition to several mere clerical errors, 
 many very remarkable instances of spelling, which 
 indicate probably the pronunciation of the indi- 
 vidual scribe, or of the district where the Psalter 
 was written, are scattered throughout its pages. 
 Among these may be instanced pmmptuaria (Psalm 
 CXLIII.) ; Hismahelitae (Psalm LXXXII.) ; salmus, 
 for psalmus (Psalm LXXIX.) ; inmensus (Fid. Cath.) ; 
 inluminatio (Psalm XXVI) ; redemtor (Psalm XVIII.) ; 
 inmaculati (Psalm CXVIII.) ; Diabpsalma (Psalm IV.); 
 efuderit (Psalm CI.) ; sup, for sub (Psalm XVII.) ; 
 liniretw, for leniretur (Psalm XXVI.) ; 6s always, and 
 a sometimes have an accent over them (Psalms 
 XXVI., CVL, CXLIII., twice, LXIL, CXVIII., 
 etc.) ; ddron is thus written in Psalms XCVIIL, 
 CV.; oportuno (Psalm XXXI.) ; sterelem for sterilem 
 (Psalm CXI.); faciae; gigans (Psalm XVIII.); orroris 
 (Cant. Moy.) ; Babyllonis, habierunt, decim, eructuo, 
 postola, decacordo, aurietis, oportunus, ymnis, orfano- 
 rum, etc. Sir Thomas Hardy points out, in addi- 
 tion, other peculiarities, such as the occurrence 
 of adnuncio, adfligo, adsumsit, adpropero, adfero, 
 adfticto, adtraxi, conpungar, conparatus, conlocavit, 
 
1 82 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 inrideant, inlustra, inmortalis, obprobrium, optenint, 
 capud, reliquid, fulgora, subplanta, harena, holera, etc. 
 The errors pointed out here seem to indicate that 
 the scribe was not a Latin scholar, but was copying 
 (perhaps from dictation), a language with which he 
 had a very superficial acquaintance ; but it must be 
 borne in mind that Latin was, in the middle ages, 
 for all who had any pretence of education, a 
 living language, and, as such, subject to laws of 
 mutation. 1 
 
 The division of words is also a very necessary 
 point to be observed. For while the general body of 
 the text has the words run together without breaks, 
 yet a number of instances occur where a small space 
 called alinea 3 has been left by the scribe, between 
 two words, or even between parts of the same word. 
 Sometimes a very harsh form of division of words 
 occurs at the end of a line, such as lunam et s\tellas, 
 (Psalm VIII.) ; cons\tituisti, (Psalm VIII.) ; cons\- 
 pectu (Psalm 30) ; omni\a, (Psalm CXVIII., lamech) ; 
 which evidently strengthen the opinion already ex- 
 pressed, that the writer had not much critical know- 
 ledge of the language which he was transcribing. 
 
 Erasures occasionally occur, such as Exsurgat, 
 Exsultate, with the 5 in each case erased, (Psalm 
 LXXIL); Exstirge, with s erased, (Psalm XLIII.) ; 
 Exspectans exspectavi, altered into Expectants expectavi, 
 (Psalm XXXIX.) ; a letter erased in Eruct avit, the 
 first word of Psalm XLIV. ; ter erased in interfecta, 
 (Psalm CV.); etc. 
 
 1 See Revue Critique, 2 April, 1S70, on L'Histoire des doctrines grammaticales au 
 moyen age, by C. Thurot. 
 
 2 See Hardy's Report, p. 14. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 1 83 
 
 Inserted letters may be occasionally noticed, they 
 having been omitted in the first preparation of the 
 text ; these inserted letters are placed over line in 
 the position they should properly occupy. For ex- 
 ample, ma g na for magna, (Psalm CVII.) ; abs con ditis 
 for absconditis, (Psalm XVI.); fratre'mei for fratres 
 mei, (the Apocryphal Psalm) ; et in ira, (Psalm 
 XXXIV.). The first occurrence of the words facti 
 sunt, originally written twice over, has been erased 
 in Psalm LXXXII. At the " Canticum Moysi 
 Prophetae," five concluding versicles, commencing 
 " Ascenderunt populi," to " operatus es domine " 
 have been omitted, and supplied on the lower 
 margin of the leaf in a smaller Rustic handwriting of 
 very weak and undefined form. 
 
 Many other peculiarities of the text in the way of 
 abbreviations, contractions, erasures, insertions, and 
 divisions of words might be pointed out, but a 
 sufficient number of examples have been adduced to 
 give the reader a correct idea of the nature of the 
 transcript. The remaining point of interest, which 
 it is necessary to mention, is the punctuation of the 
 sentences. On examination of the text of the 
 Psalter it will be found that as a rule each verse is 
 commenced on a new line with an uncial letter at 
 the beginning, occupying a position to the left of the 
 body of the text in the page. But the number of 
 paragraphs in the Utrecht Psalter does not in all 
 cases coincide with the number of verses ascribed 
 to other versions of the Psalms ; as, for example, 
 the Utrecht Psalm XXVI., Dominus inluminatio 
 mea, has twenty paragraphs, whereas the English 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 version has but fourteen verses. The increased 
 number is owing to the division of each of the 
 verses i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, into two paragraphs respec- 
 tively. In addition to this, occasionally a com- 
 bination of parts of verses has been made, as may 
 be observed in the Psalm just mentioned, where the 
 tenth paragraph, " In petra exaltavit me ; et nunc 
 exaltavit caput meum super inimicos meos;" repre- 
 sents the latter part of the fifth and beginning of 
 the sixth verse of the English version, ... he 
 shall set me up upon a rock. (6) And now shall my 
 head be lifted up above mine enemies round about 
 me Numbers of instances occur through- 
 
 out the Psalter where a similar treatment has been 
 adopted. 
 
 The marks adopted throughout for punctuation 
 are the semicolon, and the inverted semicolon, the 
 former of these being used at the ends of the 
 versicles or paragraphs, the latter in a space left 
 for it intentionally at the rhythmic division of the 
 versicle in the middle, in the same manner, and, 
 generally speaking, in the same places where the 
 colon is used in the Prayer Book version of the 
 Psalms. There is nothing in the photographs to show 
 that these stops are not contemporaneous with the 
 text, for the colour of the ink is the same. And this 
 again has been instanced as an indication of late 
 age, for it is asserted that in ancient Manuscripts 
 there are usually either no stops, or simply the full 
 point. The full point does certainly occur in the 
 Psalter {see Psalm XXXIV. Et adversum me, etc.), 
 but it is very rare in comparison with the two forms 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 1 85 
 
 above described. It is curious, too, to observe here 
 that Mr. Bond considers that these two forms of 
 semicolon " have every appearance of having been 
 inserted, as was the common practice, by the reviser 
 of the Manuscript." 
 
 The version of the Psalms which forms the text of 
 the Utrecht Psalter has been shown by Sir Thomas 
 Hardy, in his Further Report, Appendix III., to 
 resemble so very closely the " Gallican Version," 
 that the text of our Manuscript must be undoubtedly 
 admitted to be Gallican. In his collation of fifty- 
 one Psalms there appear to be only three instances 
 where the Utrecht text varies from readings ex- 
 hibited by the established Gallican forms. The 
 term Gallican, we are told by Canon Swainson, is 
 applied to this text " merely because it obtained a 
 general currency in the first instance in countries 
 north of the Alps, and was thus distinguished from 
 an earlier recension by Jerome, which was retained 
 for a time ini:he church of Rome and Italy." " The 
 Roman Psalter was gradually and steadily ousted 
 by the Gallican. The latter spread from Gaul and 
 Germany to churches in the North of Italy, and was 
 ultimately accepted by nearly all the churches in 
 communion with the church of Rome." On the 
 other hand, Hardy says the Gallican Psalter is 
 St. Jerome's more exact Latin translation, made in 
 a.d. 389 from the Hexapla of Origen, or rather, 
 perhaps from the Greek Septuagint, corrected from 
 the Hebrew where the Greek was supposed to be 
 faulty. 
 
 The headings and descriptive sentences attached 
 
 15 
 
i86 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 to the respective Psalms, are, with some omissions, 
 practically the same as those found in the Vulgate 
 version ; but they present several curious readings, 
 and occasionally are difficult of solution. For ex- 
 ample : the Utrecht heading for Psalm XV. is "In 
 finem pro adsumptione mationa psai dd," where the 
 Vulgate reads " In finem pro susceptione matutina 
 psalmus David ;" and that for Psalm LIX. is "In 
 finem his qui mutabuntur in tituli inscriptionem 
 david in doctrina cu succendit syriam et convertit 
 ioab et percussit valle salinaru xii mi" which the 
 Vulgate gives thus : " In finem, Pro his qui immu- 
 tabuntur, in tituli inscriptionem ipsi David in doc- 
 trinam, Cum succendit Mesopotamiam Syriae, et 
 Sobal, et convertit Joab, et percussit Idumaeam in 
 valle salinarum duodecim millia." The apocryphal 
 Psalm " Pusillus eram," sometimes called the CLIst, 
 placed in this Manuscript after the Fides Catholica, 
 has an unintelligible heading, " Hie psal proprie 
 scribitur dd et extra numerum cum pugnavit goliat 
 hie psl in ebreis codicibus non habet sed ne a lxx 
 interscriptib; edictus e et idcirco repudad," for 
 which an emendation 1 has been proposed thus, 
 " Hie psalmus proprie scribitur David, et extra 
 numerum, cum pugnavit Goliat. Hie psalmus in 
 Ebreis codicibus non habet [ur] sed ne[que] a 
 septuaginta interscript[or]ibus edictus est, et idcirco 
 repud [i] and [us] 
 
 It is natural to expect a very great amount of 
 difference of opinion should exist with critical 
 palaeographers respecting the chief points of pecu- 
 
 1 See Athenaeum, No. 2438, p. 73, 18 July, 1874. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 187 
 
 liarity which are exhibited by the text of the Psalter, 
 and this does exist in the principal treatises which 
 have been mentioned in the chapter devoted to the 
 Bibliography of the Manuscript. It is, however, 
 unnecessary in the present volume, which aims at 
 being descriptive rather than controversial, to say 
 more on the subject of these distinctions. The date 
 of the Manuscript of course depends in a great 
 measure on the peculiarities of its abbreviations, 
 orthography, and punctuation ; but when these 
 peculiarities cannot be assigned exclusively to any 
 one age, they lose that paramount importance which 
 the nature of the character employed for the text 
 alone can be said rightly to possess. Hence, — while 
 it must be admitted that the fewer the abbreviations, 
 the rarer the contractions, the less often the re- 
 currence of departures from classical orthography, 
 the simpler the punctuation, be found, by so much 
 the older the Manuscript itself must be — yet the 
 well known period of rise, flourishing, and decay of 
 pure Rustic texts, and of the same with uncial and 
 capital letters introduced, so far outweighs all other 
 evidence, that the ultimate verdict as to the date of 
 the Utrecht Psalter must be given in accordance 
 with these elements of greater importance. 
 
 15 
 
i88 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 H'BJ'lAVING lingered thus long, but necessarily, 
 UJ upon the introductory topics which are raised 
 by an examination of the Utrecht Psalter, it is time 
 we should now look closely into the pictorial art 
 which is exhibited by this remarkable and unique 
 Manuscript. The present chapter, therefore, has 
 been devoted to an almost page by page investiga- 
 tion of its contents. In it will be found an account 
 of the principal illustrations with which its leaves 
 are adorned, together with remarks relating to those 
 peculiarities which appear to claim the interest or 
 the attention of the reader as he turns over the 
 plates of the Autotype Facsimile, which has done so 
 much towards disseminating a knowledge of the 
 volume since its reintroduction to English palaeo- 
 graphers by the discernment of Professor West- 
 wood. 
 
 On the folio (marked A) at the commencement of 
 the book, and stained round the margins with the 
 leather turnings-in of the original, or some ancient 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 I8 9 
 
 binding, are written at the top of the page the words 
 
 ©lattoms. <£. 7. 
 
 in a rude Gothic or black letter, such as is seen in a 
 great quantity of the Manuscripts among the Cot- 
 tonian Collection in the British Museum. It is 
 believed that this is the handwriting of the librarian 
 who arranged the collection under the immediate 
 supervision of Sir Robert Cotton. Below this is a 
 small ticket, or label, of white paper, pasted on, and 
 bearing this inscription in printed Roman charac- 
 ters, being the press mark of the Utrecht University 
 Library : — 
 
 " Aevum medium. 
 Scriptores Ecclesiast. 
 No. 484." 
 
 On the outer margin, about one-fifth from the 
 bottom, is the following manuscript note : — 
 
 " Bibliothecae urbis 
 Trajectinae 
 
 donavit 
 D. de Ridder." 
 
 apparently in a hand of the seventeenth or eighteenth 
 century ; but it has not been determined whether 
 this note is in the handwriting of the clerk or 
 librarian of the University, or of " D. de Ridder," 
 who presented the Manuscript to that institution. 
 
 The next folio (B) contains a short tabular list of 
 the contents of the books written in an imitative 
 character of the shape known as Gothic or black 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 letter, such as we have already had occasion to 
 notice on the previous leaf. The text of this is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " (IBInxtfjus Contentorum 
 in i)0c (£oofe 
 
 Psalterium, secundum septuaginta Inter pretes ab Hier- 
 onimo emendatum, stve. 1 
 
 ^salmt IBautot'gi, Hattne cum altts 2 Jfframta et (Canting &acr« 
 gcrtpturae ~ ~ | orattone Uomnuea, iSjjmfrolo ^postolorum 3 et 
 ^tjanastj. <&u& omnia Hlugttantur ~ | t&omano fjairittt, figurtg . 
 et anttqtutate Emperatorte Ualenttmant tempora frionttur | attmgere. 
 
 Jfragmentum (55uano;elij iSectmoum Jilaifjettm oe translations IS, 
 .Keronrau zunx pro- | logo tpsms ao Hamasum Papam SLttertg; 3Lom= 
 imroicts. 
 
 (£arta ©rigmalfe iLiterm anttqufestmts ffi%<&&ffi&$M. 2&egfe 
 Cantuariortim ~ ~ | B(£E(£IM1L<©, zt JHonasta'o suo be terrts m 
 TOestan in £eneo. Consensu ^rcfjtepl: | £^e€)£)©E3L &n°. 
 CJjristi. 679. Urtoietione septmta." 
 
 This c&fta is no longer contained in the volume, 
 but several pages have already been devoted to a 
 consideration of its history, and the important light 
 it throws upon the history of the whole volume. 4 
 We may pass on to the first folio proper (1 a) 
 which contains on the upper right hand (outside) 
 corner the well known signature of Sir Robert 
 Cotton. Specimens of this signature may be ex- 
 amined in a great many of the Cottonian Manu- 
 scripts ; for example, the reader may compare that 
 
 1 This sentence in a hand closely resembling - the donatory sentence on the pre- 
 ceding page. 
 
 2 ALliis with the second I lined out. 
 
 3 Apostoloru with m. final added in the late hand. 4 Pp. 76, et seqq. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 191 
 
 in the volume Cleopatra C. VIII., which is almost 
 identical. Reversing the volume are some ancient 
 scribbles, as if the scribe had been trying his pens. 
 " m d o, d c, d d, d ds nr & n o n u 1 d b i t, tts a 
 autem, aute increm, incremtu dedit alia, . . . ipso." 
 These letters and words may be of an age almost 
 contemporary with the writing of the book, if they 
 are not indeed trials of pens by the actual writer of 
 the text. Turning the book back again to its 
 original position, and at the lower margin, are the 
 words " pennis valde fulgentibus refert . . . •" 
 " Stat sonipes," in a hand of the eleventh century; 
 and, finally, at the lowest edge of the page, in the 
 middle, is the stamp of the library at Utrecht, an 
 estoile of sixteen rays, those in cross and saltire 
 plain, those alternately placed between them, wavy, 
 charged with a shield of arms : — Party per bend — or, 
 as foreign heraldry would describe them, taille d'ar- 
 gent et de gueules, with the inscription in ordinary 
 Roman capitals, 
 
 ACADEMIA RHENO TRAIECTINA. 
 
 On the verso or reverse side of this folio (i b) is 
 the first of the wondrous specimens of pictorial 
 illustration that we shall have occasion to examine. 
 A whole page, indeed, is dedicated to the picture, 
 but a fairly wide margin of more than one inch is left 
 blank at the upper margin, and nearly three inches 
 have been left untouched at the lower margin. In 
 the foreground, on the right, we perceive a confused 
 heap of slain bodies ; above them two winged 
 figures, each armed with a long trident, thrust their 
 
192 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 weapons into prostrate forms which writhe under 
 the terrible punishment. To the left of these is 
 drawn a compact body of six or seven spearmen 
 looking towards the winged messengers of wrath ; 
 the foremost of the group has thrown down his spear, 
 and kneels on his right knee, while, with uplifted 
 arms and outstretched hands, he seems to implore in 
 vain some respite from his impending and inevitable 
 fate. In the centre of the foreground is a bearded 
 head in profile adorned with wings, and apparently 
 lying on the ground of the hillock which divides 
 from it the group of warriors. Further still to the 
 left, a solid, gnarled, and cable-like trunk of a tree 
 erects itself with a bushy head of fruit and foliage ; 
 the fruit being round, the leaves pip shaped, and 
 arranged in groups of three upon long stems. This 
 alludes to verse 3, "tamquam lignum quod plantatur 
 secus decursus aquarum." At the extreme left of 
 the foreground, at the head of a trench, here in- 
 tended for a river, with a hydria or prockoos, without 
 handles, a vase of classical shape, at its source, is a 
 figure seated on the rising ground of the bank, and 
 draped and reclining with the knees bent slightly 
 upwards, and the head and shoulders resting against 
 a graceful reed-like tree. This part of the picture 
 appears to represent a vision, the sitting figure is in 
 a trance, the winged head represents his spirit and 
 looks towards the subject of his dream, the infliction 
 of Divine wrath upon those who have risen up in 
 rebellion against the living God. 
 
 In the back ground, on a peculiar wavy line of 
 ground, the middle of the picture is occupied by two 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 193 
 
 draped figures, turned almost back to back, but 
 inclining their heads towards each other, and 
 elevating their outer arms and hands, as if each 
 strove to point out to each the group at either side 
 of the page. That on the right hand shows us a 
 king, seated in majesty, upon a chair-like throne 
 with semi-circular back and rectangular footboard. 
 The monarch holds in his right hand, by the hilt, a 
 broad sword, the point downwards, resting on his 
 right knee. At his right hand stands a group of 
 warriors or armed figures, brandishing spears, and 
 seemingly intent upon the words spoken by the 
 king. The whole group is arranged under a pedi- 
 ment, and rudimentary tiled roof placed upon and 
 supported by two plain columns on plinths, and 
 with Corinthian capitals. The left hand group of 
 the background consists of a circular temple of six 
 columns of the kind already described, with a domed 
 or arched roof terminating in the centre with a circular 
 knob surmounted by a trefoil or fleur-de-lys. Be- 
 neath its shade, and seated on an altar-like throne 
 with square footboard, but having no back, is a 
 draped figure, perhaps intended to represent the 
 divine Psalmist himself, intently gazing upon an 
 open book which is placed upon a raised stand or 
 lectern before him, in allusion to verse 2. Behind 
 the throne stands a winged angel with outstretched 
 arms, as it were, the personification of the heavenly 
 inspiration by whose means the Psalms were con- 
 ceived and written. Above these groups is a stratum 
 of clouds ; Sol, the full orbed sun, in human form 
 personified, within a circle on the left ; on the right, 
 
194 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the crescent moon, attended by a train of stars, 
 shines over the regal throng. 
 
 The whole of this picture is intended to portray, 
 in literal fashion, the allegorical figures and tropes 
 of poetical fancy contained within the verses of the 
 first Psalm. For example, it may be that the 
 circular temple with its occupant denotes the man 
 whose " delight is in the law of the Lord ; and 
 in his law doth he meditate day and night" (verse 2). 
 The tree by the river in the foreground, called by 
 Hardy the rose-bay, or oleander, alludes to the man 
 who is " like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, 
 that bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf 
 also shall not wither" (verse 3). The destruction of 
 the ungodly, alluded to in the sixth verse, is un- 
 doubtedly indicated by the angels bearing tridents 
 and slaying the figures lying prostrate before them. 
 
 Folio 2 a contains the v text of the first Psalm, 
 commencing with the initial B of Beatus. The 
 page also contains the opening verses of the second 
 Psalm, ending in the middle of the seventh verse. 
 The text is divided into short paragraphs, for the 
 most part but not always corresponding with the 
 present division into verses. For example, there 
 are seven paragraphs in the first Utrecht Psalm for 
 six verses English, verse 3 being divided into two in 
 the leaf before us. In the centre of the page, 
 running right across, and occupying about one-third 
 of the entire space of the form, is a picture, the 
 second in the book, and, like all throughout, an 
 endeavour to illustrate and represent, in a literal 
 way, the metaphorical diction of the Psalmist. In 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 1 95 
 
 the centre, on a lofty eminence, " the holy hill of 
 Zion " (verse 6) , a draped figure, with a nimbus around 
 his head, breaks " a potter's vessel with a rod of 
 iron" (verse g). On the right, a dense phalanx of the 
 heathen, and on the left, a similar, but smaller body, 
 each armed with spears, and some few among them 
 with ovate shields are taking " counsel together, 
 against the Lord, and against his anointed" (verse 2). 
 On the left, an engagement between five angels or 
 winged figures, armed with bow, battle-axe of 
 double edge, trident, shield, and spears, and a con- 
 fused mass of figures upon the ground beneath, 
 striving vainly to ward off, or avoid if they may, the 
 missiles hurled down upon them from above. As 
 they " rage " (verse 1), He that sitteth in the heavens 
 laughs at them in derision (verse 4). From the clouds 
 on the upper right hand issues a right hand with the 
 two fingers and thumb in the act of benediction, but 
 not extended in so decidedly marked a manner as 
 was afterwards the custom in representations of the 
 hand of blessing. This is probably in allusion to 
 verse 2, " Blessed are all they that put their trust in 
 the Son." 
 
 Reuvens points out the value of this illustration as 
 showing in one and the same picture all the weapons 
 used by the draughtsman throughout his work. We 
 have the barbed javelin or spear, the two-edged 
 battle-axe with semi-circular lunetted blades, the 
 bows, arrows, and oval convex shields of the angels, 
 the trident, and the rod. 
 
 Folio 2 b contains the remainder of the second 
 and the whole of the third Psalm, at the head of 
 
ig6 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 which is a picture representing in a pictorial and 
 positive manner several of the images originally 
 presented to the mind of the reader by the divine 
 poet. The centre of the tableau is occupied with a 
 long and straight bedstead with a rising scroll-shaped 
 head-piece and cushions. Hardy 1 points to this 
 " sella lectica " as an Eastern luxury not introduced 
 into Rome until towards the end of the Republic, 
 and by no means an Anglo-Saxon object. On this 
 bed is David, contrite and characteristically of re- 
 signed mind, rising from his slumbers at the invoca- 
 tion of an angel, in explanation of verse 5 : " I laid 
 me down and slept ; I awaked ; for the Lord 
 sustained me." The words " Non timebo milia 
 populi circumdantis me " are illustrated by two 
 groups of figures set out to the right and left of the 
 central subject. That on the right hand bears 
 branches of palm or willow, one in each man's hand. 
 The left-hand group are armed with spears. Of 
 this band, the foremost person is the subject of an 
 attack made upon him by the winged figure, who, 
 while he sustains the awakening sleeper with his left 
 hand, strikes this rebellious leader upon the face 
 with a long lance, in accordance with the text of 
 verse 7 : " Thou hast smitten all mine enemies 
 upon the cheek bone ; thou hast broken the teeth of 
 the ungodly." Above the figure of the Psalmist, 
 upon a lofty knoll, depicted in that wavy, swelling, 
 and rolling manner which characterises the whole of 
 these drawings, the Divine Form is seen, seated 
 on a stool-shaped throne, with a projecting footrest, 
 
 7 Flirt her Report, p. 18. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 197 
 
 a circular nimbus thrown around His head, and 
 stretching out towards the suppliant his right hand, 
 as it were, in vivid representation of the fourth verse. 
 "Voce mea ad dominum clamavi, et exaudivit me 
 de monte sancto suo," " and he heard me out of his 
 holy hill." The remainder of the accessories are a 
 hill with a house and a few trees, and at the extreme 
 limits of the picture two sturdy trees with decaying 
 trunks, lopped under branches, and peculiarly drawn 
 heads of foliage, probably intended to convey to the 
 eye some resemblance to the stately cedar 1 of 
 Mount Lebanon. 
 
 The lower margin of this same Manuscript page 
 is occupied with the illustration belonging to the 
 next Psalm. Here, on the right, is a basilica, or 
 rectangular temple, with plain door ; a flight of four 
 steps ; six windows in what may be called the cleres- 
 tory, or the highest part of the side-wall beneath the 
 roof, which is represented by lines crossing at right 
 angles ; a triangular pediment, and a circular knob 
 surmounting it at either end of the building. On the 
 right hand wall is an aisle, or lean-to addition, with 
 masoned side-walls ; roof as already described ; and 
 small doors, one at the side, the other at the front. 
 From each of these doors or openings a prostrate 
 figure, seen at half-length, is pointing outwards, and 
 probably represents the catechumens or congregation. 
 In the principal doorway is a priest, and in front of 
 him, on the steps, standing before an altar of Roman 
 shape with plain square shaft and plainly chamfered 
 or bevelled plinth and cap, is another priest, who is 
 
 1 See Hardy's Further Report, p. 2, for remarks on the cedar. 
 
ig8 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 officiating in front of the triple flame of fire which 
 rises with its flickering, lambent tongues in anticipa- 
 tion of the sweet-smelling sacrifices of righteousness 
 (verse 5) , here put before the eye under the form of a 
 sheep led to the slaughter by a votary who carries a 
 round vessel in his right hand, and is followed by two 
 others each bearing a barbed spear. The upper 
 central portion of the view is occupied by a half 
 length figure of the Almighty in the heavens. Be- 
 neath him, a most interesting group of " the sons of 
 men." One man, armed with a spear and shield, 
 leads two champing horses to the chase, while his 
 two dogs grapple with a fierce animal which has been 
 drawn so graphically, and yet indistinctly, that it is 
 difficult to say whether it is intended to be a bear or 
 a lion. Sir Thomas Hardy does not take notice of 
 these creatures in his note concerning the animals 
 found in the pictures. It may be, that this portion 
 of the picture is the result of the artist's endeavour to 
 translate the phrase " how long will ye love vanity," 
 but the idea is very farfetched, and does not carry 
 out the usual procedure of the draughtsman in most 
 cases herein. There is nothing in the text of the 
 Psalm which in any way would account for this 
 rendering of the pleasures and vanities of the world 
 but this sentence, and we must bear in mind that the 
 excitement of the chase was one which was carried to 
 an extent in the classical and middle ages which cer- 
 tainly places the indulgence of hunting in the category 
 of vanities. Behind the hunter is a row or group of 
 six persons ; one holds a long lance or staff slightly 
 curved, one is draped as a female with cincture, and 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 1 99 
 
 fillet on the brows, others hold spears and a shield. 
 Before them are two barrels and two canthari, or 
 vases of classical goblet shape but without handles, 
 in illustration of the seventh verse, " A fructu frumenti 
 et vini et olei sui multiplicati sunt," which is trans- 
 lated in the English version in connection with the 
 previous sentence, but here kept separate. Behind 
 these again is a tall man standing in an oblong com- 
 partment, which resembles a box, with the lid partly 
 open. He stretches out his hand towards the 
 Almighty, and perhaps indicates the subject of the 
 third, fourth, and eighth verses : " The Lord will hear 
 me when I shall call unto him," " Stand in awe and 
 sin not," " Thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in 
 safety." Cedar trees, the lily or reed, temples, one 
 with a statue on the principal pediment, are drawn 
 in shadowy outline to complete the coup d'ceil. 
 
 The next page (folio 3 a) contains the whole of the 
 fourth Psalm. The lower central part contains the 
 picture belonging to the following Psalm, of which 
 the text is given below the drawing, as far as verse 5. 
 The scene here, as is most usual, is composed of 
 two or more separate actions. In the middle of the 
 foreground is one of those peculiar boxes, or coffins, 
 with open lid, most probably alluding to verse 9 : 
 " Their throat is an open sepulchre." On the left a 
 tonsured priest ascends the steps of a temple, at the 
 door of which is an altar. It is worthy of remark 
 that the bald head refutes the statement, so fre- 
 quently made, that there is an entire absence of 
 mediaeval religious forms, for here is a plain indica- 
 tion of the shaven crown distinguishing the cleric 
 
200 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 from the layman in the early ages of the church. 
 Not that the occurrence of the shaven head helps at 
 all to the approximation of a date, for the custom of 
 cutting hair in a round is mentioned by St. Athana- 
 sius, 1 St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose, while on the 
 other hand, St. Jerome and Optatus, in the fourth 
 and fifth centuries, censured the practice as unbe- 
 coming spiritual persons ; Casalius, too, explains that 
 the tonsure betokens the priest's grief for his own 
 sins and for those of his people. The walls of the 
 building are lined to represent masonry, and it is 
 drawn with upper windows, a tetrastyle arrangement 
 of columns, triangular pediment, and roof of curved 
 tiling (verse 7), " Introibo in domum tuam," etc. 
 By its side stands a tree which may in some rough 
 way be the representation of an olive tree. In the 
 centre, above the open sepulchre, a winged man is 
 making his way with rapid strides towards a group of 
 several persons armed with spears ; at the right hand 
 corner three angels are destroying a seething mass of 
 human forms in a pool of liquid fire fringed about its 
 banks with a kind of short and scanty vegetation. 
 This refers to verse 10, " Destroy thou them, O God." 
 The background contains yet another image ; a body 
 of men, bearing palm branches, are turned towards 
 an angel who is flying down from the upper heaven 
 with a shield in the left, a crown in the right hand; 
 while, from out the clouds on the extreme left of the 
 view, the right hand of the Almighty Father stretches 
 forth a second crown towards the adoring throng. 
 This is the remarkable conception of the artist with 
 
 1 Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, p. 580. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 20I 
 
 reference to the concluding verse of the Psalm, 
 " Domine, ut scuto bone voluntatis coronasti nos." 
 " For thou, O Lord, wilt bless the righteous ; with 
 favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield. " 
 
 The concluding verses of the fifth Psalm, and the 
 commencement of the sixth, are upon folio 3 b, which 
 also contains in its central part the illustration 
 adapted to the latter. Suspended in the heavens, 
 between two rugged hills, that on the left having 
 a small edifice with a cedar and wild olive tree, that 
 on the right similarly figured but with greater 
 elaboration and more space, is a half length figure of 
 the Almighty Father. Beneath him, in the valley, a 
 rectangular temple, of the peculiar classical kind 
 already described, and of most frequent occurrence 
 throughout the Manuscript, and two framed bed- 
 steads each containing a half- reclining figure. These 
 may be taken to refer to the words of the 6th verse, 
 " Laboravi in gemitu meo/ lavabo per singulas noctes 
 lectum meum/ lacrimis meis stratum meum rigabo;" 
 " I am weary with my groaning; all the night make 
 I my bed to swim ; I water my couch with my 
 tears." On the right, in the foreground, is a body of 
 men armed with spears, and departing from the pre- 
 sence of the suppliant. " Discedite a me omnes qui 
 operamini iniquitatem." " Depart from me all ye 
 workers of iniquity" (verse 8). In the foreground, on 
 the left, four angels, each armed with a long lance, 
 are standing on the bank of a pool, in which are 
 heaped up a confused mass of the impious who are 
 receiving their punishment from the celestials. " Eru- 
 bescant et conturbentur vehementer omnes inimici 
 
 16 
 
202 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 mei." " Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore 
 vexed" (verse 10). 
 
 Folio 4 a is filled with the conclusion of the sixth, 
 and beginning of the seventh Psalm. In the middle, 
 and occupying about one third of the covered space, 
 is the drawing which relates to this latter Psalm. 
 This is one of the most beautifully conceived tableaux 
 in the whole of the book, and for clearness, excellence 
 of style and general effect may be compared with any 
 of the illustrations that follow or precede it. Taking 
 the subjects in the order of the text, we must begin 
 with the extreme left, where, on a rising hillock, 
 beneath a stunted cedar trunk a lion 1 is standing in 
 solitary power and strength over the prostrate form 
 of a human being. This undoubtedly points to verse 
 2, " Ne quando rapiat ut ho animam meam/ du[m] 
 non est qui redimat neque qui salvum faciat." " Lest 
 he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while 
 there is none to deliver." A full length figure behind, 
 and nearer to the centre, pours out his supplication 
 contained in the following verses, and stands in 
 graceful attitude gazing stedfastly, and withal with a 
 kind of contented air, towards a small temple sur- 
 rounded with trees of various growth, and towards 
 the central subject of the whole picture, a repre- 
 sentation of the Almighty King standing on a lofty 
 rock, and armed with a bow and arrows in the one 
 hand and a sword in the other. This refers to verses 
 12, 13, " Nisi conversi fueritis gladium suum vibrabit / 
 arcum suum tetendit et paravit ilium. Et in eo 
 paravit vasa mortis/ sagittas suas ardentibus effecit." 
 
 1 See Hardy's remarks on the lion of the Utrecht Psalter, Further Report, p. 21. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 203 
 
 " If he [the wicked] turn not, He will whet his sword; 
 He hath bent his bow and made it ready. He hath 
 also prepared for him the instruments of death ; 
 He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors." 
 Grouped in a semicircle half round the figure of the 
 Father, at the base of the rock, stand thirteen per- 
 sons armed with spears and clad in loose short 
 tunics, " Sinagoga populorum circumdabit te." " So 
 shall the congregation of the people compass thee 
 round about " (verse 7) . An angel placed on a pro- 
 jecting corner of the rock extends his arms towards 
 the Creator. In the foreground on the right is a 
 round pit or well with banked mouth and a few 
 sprigs of vegetation. Into it is falling the wicked 
 Cush, the Benjamite, against whom this Psalm has 
 been specially directed, " He made a pit and digged 
 it; and is fallen into the ditch which he made." 
 " Lacum aperuit et affodit eum / et incidit in foveam 
 quam fecit;" (verse 15). The extreme right con- 
 tains a woman lying on the ground and giving suck 
 to two infants, one being on each arm; this is the 
 literal rendering of the poet's metaphor, V Behold he 
 travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, 
 and brought forth falsehood." " Ecce parturit injus- 
 titiam / concepit dolorem, et peperit iniquitatem ; " 
 (verse 14). The great beauty and inherent charm 
 of this picture is its simplicity, its well arranged 
 symmetry, and its carefully balanced subjects centring 
 upon the prominent figure of the heavenly Father. 
 The attitude of the subordinate beings are well 
 studied, and conceived with due regard to nature, 
 and the majesty of the suppliant, who makes his 
 
 16* 
 
204 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 mute yet eloquent appeal to the Lord, is very 
 strikingly made manifest. The lion with his human 
 prey ; the pitfall ; the birth of the twins, mischief 
 and falsehood ; the " congregation ;" the four armed 
 men shooting and casting spears and darts against 
 the suppliant, who is indeed none other than the 
 Psalmist himself ; all form so many little sketches 
 complete in themselves, while at the same time they 
 are harmoniously grouped together to form a whole 
 of enticing interest, over which we may linger for a 
 long time without exhausting all the details of the 
 apparently simple composition. In this picture we 
 may see faintly foreshadowed the dawn of that style 
 which has rendered the spirit of Raffaelle immortal, 
 because he did not despise the teachings of those who 
 long before him had discovered the true principles of 
 artistic representation, although to this he added 
 the correction of faultless perspective and an im- 
 proved depiction of relative proportions and back- 
 grounds, combined with more equable distribution of 
 detail. 
 
 Folio 4 b is occupied with the remainder of the 
 seventh and the beginning of the eighth Psalm. The 
 upper part of the lower half of the page bears the 
 illustration which the draughtsman has prepared to 
 represent the leading features of the latter Psalm, 
 translating metaphor by tangible subjects, and group- 
 ing those points that best suit this most remarkable 
 method of appealing to the eye to fix the poet's 
 imagery more vividly upon the imagination of the 
 reader. The upper part of this view, which has no 
 background, or reduced vista of sight, is occupied 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 205 
 
 with the Blessed Lord seated on a rainbow, and set 
 within an oval line or frame which is supported by 
 four angels, and of the shape so commonly adopted 
 in all conventional representation of divine personages 
 in glory, down to the very close of mediaeval illustra- 
 tive art. On each side three winged ministers of the 
 divine will stretch forward attentively towards their 
 Master, whose words they are, as it were, listening 
 to with eagerness and joy. Each one of them bears 
 a long staff, the upper end terminating in a cross. 
 This refers to the opening sentences of the poem, 
 " Domine, dominus noster/ quam admirabile est 
 nomen tuum in universa terra. Quoniam elevata 
 est magnificentia tua/ super caelos; " Beneath this 
 heavenly host stand a group of " babes and suck- 
 lings" (verse 2) who are gazing upwards to their 
 Father, while the " enemy and the avenger" are 
 " stilled " by being thrust into a pit by an angel with 
 a long lance and streamer of two pendants. One of 
 these enemies has already fallen into the abyss, and 
 three other companions are rapidly about to undergo 
 the same manner of destruction. The right hand of 
 the upper part contains the crescent moon and her 
 attendant stars, " Lunam et stellas quae tu fun- 
 dasti " (verse 3). Beneath these is a cedar tree with 
 three birds on its branches, other three flying through 
 the air, and in a pool fringed about with vegetation on 
 its swelling banks, are a variety of fishes and aquatic 
 birds. This group of natural life is balanced by a 
 concerted subject on the left in the foreground. A 
 "rocky height with trees and houses, on its slope ; at 
 its base a group of horned sheep, goats, and oxen 
 
206 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 are disporting themselves at their will in their 
 pastures. These two subordinate divisions relate to 
 the concluding strains of the song (verses 6-8), 
 " Thou madest him to have dominion over the 
 works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under 
 his feet : all sheep and oxen, .... the fowl of the air, 
 and the fish of the sea." " Omnia subjecisti sub 
 pedibus eius oves et boves universal insuper et 
 pecora campi ; Volucres caeli et pisces maris t qui 
 perambulant semitas maris ; " The avenging angel, 
 who stands on the right of the group of babes, is 
 carefully set in balance by the erect figure of the 
 Psalmist, who stands, with upturned face and hands 
 extended forwards, composing his song of praise as 
 he gazes upon the King of Heaven who inspires his 
 theme. 
 
 The next page (5 a) is filled with the final portion 
 of this Psalm, and a first portion of the following 
 one ; and folio 5 b contains the remainder of this the 
 ninth Psalm and commencement of the tenth. These 
 two Psalms have not been separated in any way from 
 each other, and it would seem that the illustration 
 that is placed on folio 5 a at the head of the ninth 
 Psalm has been intended by the artist to apply to 
 passages contained in both these compositions. On 
 the left hand at the upper part of the picture is a 
 representation of the Lord in an oval line of glory, 
 attended by six angels, three on either side, bearing 
 each one a staff or cross. The Lord holds, in his 
 left hand, an even balance, the emblem of justice, 
 and the group may be taken to represent the words, 
 " Paravit in judicio thronum suum / et ipse judicabit 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 207 
 
 orbem terrae in aequitate/ judicabit populos in jus- 
 titia ; " (verse 8) . There are four groups in the fore- 
 ground of the picture. On the extreme left a cedar 
 tree overshadows a kind of walled polygonal enclosure 
 wherein a small knot of suppliants stand taking 
 " refuge in times of trouble ;" on the principal buttress 
 or column over the doorway stands a solitary figure 
 with hand upraised in adoration. In front of the 
 walls a man with uplifted sword, and two comrades 
 with spears, are falling upon the enemies of the 
 Lord. Beyond these, a hill with trees scattered over 
 it bears a warrior with spear and shield, addressing 
 the image of the Father, as if he spoke in the words 
 of verse 19, " Exurge domine non confortetur homo/ 
 judicentur gentes in conspectu tuo ; " The hill leads 
 us to one of the two central groups ; hell, a low, 
 rectangular, masoned building vomiting flames. This 
 is undoubtedly the hell of verse 17, a representation 
 of the infernal pit, as unlike the gaping jaws of hell 
 of later mediaeval conventionalism as can possibly be. 
 Into this structure are being driven the wicked " and 
 all the nations that forget God," " omnes gentes 
 quae obliviscuntur Deum." A winged angel with 
 a long rod hovers over the heads of the hurrying 
 throng and hastens their destruction. One of the 
 crowd turning slightly backwards seems to implore 
 in vain a respite from the horrors of the punishment. 
 Broken walls, and a group of armed men, " destroyed 
 cities," lead us on to a peculiar tent of four upright 
 standards supporting a convex, swelling, sail-like 
 roof, beneath which, on a wide throne sit three 
 figures ; the one on the right holds a fourth figure 
 
208 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 by the hand and a long scroll or waving device of 
 uncertain meaning. This group probably refers to 
 verse 4, " sedisti super thronum qui judicas justi- 
 tiam," " thou satest in the throne judging right." 
 On the extreme right hand of the picture a temple 
 on the hills, with a triangular pediment ; four figures 
 in animated attitudes, and four more below these, 
 shut off a small group of four persons gazing with 
 dismay upon a man fallen supine on his back from 
 off a square pedestal which is falling from its base 
 and seems to threaten to overwhelm him, " Dixit 
 enim in corde suo non movebor." " He hath said in 
 his heart I shall not be moved" (verse 6). The last 
 portion of this fertile drawing is a small but clear 
 figure of a lion, crouching secretly in his den " to 
 catch " the poor. This is placed in the central part 
 of the foreground, and is so small that it is almost 
 sure to be overlooked at first sight, but careful search 
 will show the subject of verses 9, 10 of the tenth 
 Psalm, English Version, here forming paragraphs 
 32-34 of the ninth Utrecht Psalm, " Insidiatur in 
 abscondita quasi leo in spelunca sua ; Insidiatur ut 
 rapiat pauperem / " etc. 
 
 The next picture is placed before the tenth Psalm 
 on folio 6 a, the upper part of the leaf containing the 
 remainder of the foregoing Psalm, the lower part the 
 whole of the tenth Psalm except the last paragraph. 
 The subjects which this illustration takes in hand to 
 depict are varied, yet when we contemplate the whole 
 as it is set forth on the leaf before us, we cannot fail 
 to admire the exceeding beauty, naturalness, and 
 congruity of the whole allegory, so harmoniously has 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the grouping and balancing of the component parts 
 been effected. It is, indeed, a question whether any 
 better arrangement of the details could be carried 
 out. Verse i is literally shown by the bird fleeing 
 to the mountain, " in montem sicut passer." Verse 
 2, " the wicked bend their bow," etc., supplies two 
 figures, one with bow bent pointing at the " upright 
 in heart," three venerable men in conversation, seated 
 on the brow of the mountain ; while the other makes 
 ready his u arrow upon the string." The next verse, 
 " quae perfecisti destruxerunt," gives rise to a motley 
 group of destroyers, who, armed with long instruments 
 resembling the modern adze, surround a square 
 building and throw down one of its sides. The walls 
 of the house are masoned in square blocks, in front 
 is a triangular pediment, the roof being of slightly 
 convex tiles laid as is now the custom in long ridges, 
 and the two upper corners of the roof are finished off 
 with small cup-like crockets or finials. This is the 
 shape and style of building which is frequently met 
 with throughout the series of drawings in the Manu- 
 script, but some examples are elaborated with 
 pilasters, and other enrichments, as will be observed 
 hereafter. The crowd of destroyers do not, however, 
 perform their work unhindered, the denunciations 
 contained in verse 6 are come upon them, " Pluit 
 super peccatores laqueos / ignis . et sulphur et 
 sp[iritu]s procellarum pars calicis eorum ; " The 
 " fire and brimstone" falls on them in an incessant 
 shower, the " laqueos" or snares are already at their 
 throats, one man falls backwards half strangled, 
 while others vainly struggle to free themselves from 
 
2IO THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the fatal coils of the heaven-sent halters. The left 
 hand side of this realistic tableau balances in most 
 exact proportion with the groups described. Oppo- 
 site the shower of fiery sleet sits u the Lord in his 
 holy temple," serenely poised in mid-air upon an 
 orb, at the entrance of a rectangular temple with 
 masoned sides, enriched with three pillars, and an 
 imbricated roof adorned with ball-shaped finials. 
 The stricken crowd of destroyers is counterpoised in 
 turn by a number of men with uplifted hands, 
 looking towards one who holds an even balance, and 
 turns his gaze towards the Lord in His Majesty 
 overhead. This group relates to verse 5, "The Lord 
 trieth the righteous," etc., " Dominus interrogat jus- 
 turn et impium/" or better perhaps to the concluding 
 words of the Psalm, " aequitatem vidit vultus ejus." 
 
 Not the least interesting point that this picture 
 raises is the question of the shape and material of 
 the temples and ecclesiastical buildings. Sir Thomas 
 Hardy 1 enters at length into a very interesting 
 examination of their peculiarities, and shows their 
 dissimilarity from anything like Anglo-Saxon art, 
 pointing out that the early churches in England were 
 made of wood and thatched with reeds, or at least 
 with lead, yet in the Manuscript there is not a single 
 instance of an ecclesiastical building being covered 
 either with thatch or lead, they are all roofed with 
 stone of a particular nature, described by Pliny as a 
 substitute for tiles and of common use for the pur- 
 pose by being cut up into thin slabs. It is, however, 
 difficult to imagine that in this particular illustration 
 
 1 Farther Report, p. 19. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 211 
 
 the two buildings are roofed with slabs of this stone, 
 because there is a decided convexity about the lines 
 which can only be reasonably and naturally explained 
 by the well known shapes 1 of Roman tiles, but still 
 some of the drawings appear to show a flat roofing 
 material which may perhaps be composed of this 
 stone slab work. 
 
 Folio 6 b contains the eleventh Psalm with a pic- 
 torial interpretation which occupies fully half the 
 page. This illustration has obtained a large amount 
 of notice at the hands of critical palaeographers. At 
 the right hand corner in front stand the " speakers of 
 vanity," whose reprobate deeds are mentioned in 
 verses 2-4. The poor of the 5th verse, halt 
 and maimed, are crawling about over broken and 
 rugged ground, stretching forth imploring hands to 
 the Lord, who, with cruciform nimbus, and attended 
 by a band of angels, steps down from his universal 
 seat, and hands a long spear, with a cross bar near 
 the head, to an avenging spirit. This is probably 
 St. Michael, the Archangel, who, with buckler girt 
 on his left arm, and wings erect, and loose flowing 
 robe trailing behind in the vivid haste of his eager- 
 ness to obey the divine will, shows rapidity, agility, 
 and power, in every detail of his attitude, " Now will 
 I arise, saith the Lord." " Propter miseriam inopum 
 et gemitum pauperum / nunc exsurgam dicit domi- 
 nus ; " Verse 6, " The words of the Lord are pure 
 words : as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified 
 seven times," is indicated here most skilfully by a 
 furnace or smith's forge, a flaring fire, two workmen 
 
 1 See S. Birch, History of Ancient Pottery, p. 469, 2nd Edit., 1873. 
 
212 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 beside it, one blowing (the bellows) behind the hearth, 
 the other with hammer and pincers turning round as 
 if to demonstrate the success of his assay, which is 
 trickling down the front of the fireplace in a wavy 
 stream. Near this group a suppliant with an in- 
 scribed scroll probably indicates the words of the 
 Lord already alluded to. There are three faintly 
 drawn figures of seated men in the left hand corner 
 of this picture, but the forms do not appear to have 
 been finished, and have a similar outline to three 
 sitting figures just above them. 
 
 The most remarkable groups, however, are for the 
 realisation of the concluding verse, " The wicked 
 walk on every side," or as the Utrecht Version 
 renders it, " In circuitu impii ambulant." There 
 are two separate renderings of this image. In the 
 centre of the foreground an upright standard is sur- 
 mounted with a cross-shaped turnstile which is driven 
 round by four stalwart operators, at a rapid rate. 
 This is apparently the literal rendering by the artist 
 of circuitus, and to this Professor Westwood alludes 
 as a kind of circular treadmill or roundabout pushed 
 round by four men. Messrs. Cahier and Martin, he 
 states, mention a similar subject in the Paris MS. 
 Suppl. Latin, 1194, the connection of which to the 
 Utrecht Psalter has been already referred to. 1 In 
 addition to this realistic rendering another pic- 
 torial translation of the phrase has been placed in 
 juxtaposition to it. A broad ring, or disk, around 
 which are ten figures in a variety of attitudes turning 
 it upon itself in a kind of rotary motion, is drawn with 
 
 1 See page 121. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 213 
 
 a spirited expression which is quite remarkable for its 
 lifelike force. 
 
 The picture which responds to this illustration in 
 the Harley Psalter 603, the relation of which to the 
 Utrecht Psalter has been already indicated, points 
 out how faithfully the artist of this later Manuscript 
 has adhered to the archetypal teaching of the older 
 codex. A few variations, however, may be noticed. 
 The roof slabs of the forge are filled in with a small 
 spot in each square ; the stream of pure silver 
 running from the fire, which is thin and hardly 
 noticeable in the Utrecht picture, is clear and large in 
 the Harley copy, and appropriately depicted in a 
 bright blue colour. The general tone of the drawing 
 is free and noble ; the nimbus of the Lord is more 
 decidedly detailed ; the roundabout ring is plain, and 
 the scroll also held by the figure in the background is 
 devoid of the marking which the corresponding scroll 
 in the Utrecht picture has. It is curious to notice 
 that a shield, lying on the ground in the foreground 
 of the Utrecht picture, has been sketched in here to 
 correspond, but in finishing his work the Harley 
 artist omitted to notice it and yet has left to this day 
 the preliminary plummet or pencil lines of its sketch- 
 ing faintly shown in the vellum, but not painted in 
 with the coloured lines which are employed through- 
 out the finished art work of the volume. 
 
 A comparison of the corresponding picture in the 
 Eadwine Psalter at Cambridge, a positive photograph 
 of which is contained in the MS. already described, 
 Brit. Mus., Add. 29273, f. 7, shows that the limner of 
 this later picture has faithfully adhered to the 
 
214 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Utrecht prototype. There are, however, two or 
 three additions of less ancient style, such as the 
 masonry at the front of forge, of which also the slabs 
 of the roof are embellished with annulets, an improve- 
 ment by the artist on the spots of the Harley picture. 
 The disk, or circuitus, is made more prominent and 
 its rim appositely inscribed with the legend " In 
 circuitu impii abulat." The perspective is just as 
 peculiar and defective ; the hummocky waves of 
 ground are hard, and poorly conceived, whereas the 
 Utrecht model has rapid sketchy lines of original 
 thought. These three pictures, originating, without 
 the slightest doubt in the fertile imagination of one 
 man, show as it were three successive stages of 
 development, and point out how different, with all their 
 verisimilitude, the results of transcription really are. 
 The simplicity of one detail alone, the roofing of the 
 melting house or smithy, irresistibly claims for the 
 Utrecht Psalter, were every other means of proof want- 
 ing, the oldest stage of the idea ; the depiction of the 
 same with a slight yet well defined embellishing of 
 spots or dots evinces how the artist of the Harley 
 picture, copying what to him must have been an old 
 picture, strove to modernise its details where he 
 could without offence ; the elaboration of the spots 
 into rings or annulets seems to show that the Canter- 
 bury monk Eadwine was cognizant of the Harley as 
 well as of the Utrecht Psalter, and derived his teach- 
 ing from the later as well as from the earlier codex. 
 These drawings so forcibly illustrate the fact that the 
 artistic results shown in this Manuscript were in their 
 own age and in ages immediately succeeding them, 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 215 
 
 considered notable examples of draughtsman's art, 
 that they have been chosen for reproduction in the 
 present place. 
 
 Folio 7 a is occupied for about two thirds of its 
 space with a picture placed in front of the twelfth 
 Psalm. This, although it thus occupies a large 
 space, contains only one subject of most interesting 
 execution. Beneath a finely designed and branching 
 tree, whose well pruned trunk and sparse wiry head, 
 instinctively point to the cedar, sits a large figure of 
 the Royal Psalmist draped in a long dress down to 
 his bare ankles. With uplifted hands and head 
 turned upwards, he gazes in ecstacy upon the Lord, 
 who from out the clouds beyond the mountain range 
 on the extreme left stretches forth in his right hand 
 an object somewhat resembling a horn or cornucopia, 1 
 whence proceeds a wavy line of holy anointing oil, or 
 perhaps of spiritual fire, and some direct rays which 
 reach down and touch the eyes of the king, who 
 sings, " Lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of 
 death." " Inlumina oculos meos ne unquam obdor- 
 miam in morte." The anxious profile of the heavenly 
 Father, his flowing vestments, the book-like object 
 held in his left hand, the nimbus around his head, 
 complete this part of the picture. Below the 
 Psalmist, and in the middle of the foreground, is a 
 box-like coffin or bed with half-opened lid ; and on 
 the left a group of eleven warriors armed with barbed 
 
 1 See a similar object in an Anglo-Saxon picture of very beautiful execution, 
 MS. Cotton, Tiberius, C. VI., folio 10, David, King and Psalmist seated on his 
 throne, with his harp in his hand is being anointed with "the holy oil," from the 
 horn-shaped object in the clouds. A horn of just the same shape is held by Saul, in 
 a picture in the same Manuscript (folio 7 b) representing him in the act of anointing 
 the youthful David. 
 
2l6 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 and crossed spears, and ovate bucklers, are led by a 
 foeman, who stretches out his right hand to his 
 companions while his left holding a bow points in the 
 direction of the principal figure. The clothing of 
 this bowman appears to consist of two parts, a tight 
 fitting under garment barely reaching to the waist, 
 and an ample cloak fastened up over the right 
 shoulder with a circular knob or fibula. 1 
 
 Folio 7 b gives us the whole of the 13th Psalm 
 except one line which is on the following page. It 
 also contains a picture in the upper half of the space. 
 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children 
 of men to see if there are any that understand and 
 seek God. "Dominus de caelo prospexit super filios 
 hominum t ut videat si est intelligens aut requirens 
 Deum ;" (verse 2). His form is clothed to the feet, 
 and he wears a cruciform nimbus, as he sits on an 
 orb or mound within an ogival vesica, with three 
 winged ministers on either side his seat, each one 
 bearing a long standard with wavy streamers and 
 bending forward to hear the voice of his master. 
 The earthly scene below in the foreground is varied 
 and animated. On a hummocky hill bearing a tree 
 of the conventional type herein used for the cedar, 
 stands a man with spear and shield probably in- 
 tended for the insipiens, or " fool " of verse 1, who 
 saith in his heart, " There is no God." Before him 
 is a crowd of men, women and children, and three 
 mounted warriors with pennoned spears. These are 
 probably intended for those pointed out by the 
 
 1 Reuvens describes this dress as : " Een kort hembd zonder mantel, en dan een 
 puntig schortje." 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 217 
 
 Psalmist in verses 3-5. The phrase " Sepulcrum 
 patens est guttur eorum " is shown by a rect- 
 angular chest with half opened lid, used frequently 
 throughout the Manuscript to represent a bed or the 
 grave. In the foreground on the left are three small 
 groups ; in one of them two men are disputing for a 
 captive woman (in allusion to the final verse) who is 
 held by one hand by each, while they hold over her 
 head a long javelin or lance ; in the second group 
 one figure is wrestling with another who thrusts a 
 broad sword into his stomach ; in the last group 
 a soldier is spearing a fallen foe, and a third man 
 also armed with a spear is on the point of wounding 
 with it the slayer of the fallen one. " Veloces pedes 
 eorum ad effundendum sanguinem." In the back- 
 ground at the left is a very interesting drawing. In 
 the centre of a circular temple with dome-shaped 
 roofing composed of convex tiles and capped with a 
 low flat finial boss, supported by seven slender pillars 
 of plain stone with narrow capitals sustaining arches 
 of the simplest curve, sits a man enthroned, with a 
 sword in his hands. Before him on the one side are 
 two swordsmen, holding each a decapitated head, on 
 the other side a group of suppliants, a prostrate 
 figure of a man, and a tall figure standing on the 
 rock, pointing with the right to the throne, with the 
 left to the three horsemen already described. Two 
 serpents, to complete the picture, are coiling their 
 lithy folds around the pillars of the temple, in memo- 
 rial of the phrase, " venenum aspidum sub labris 
 eorum " (verse 3) . 
 
 Folio 8 a is occupied by the whole of the 14th 
 
 17 
 
218 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Psalm, which takes up the middle third of the page 
 between two pictures the upper one of which relates 
 to this Psalm, the lower to the following one. In the 
 picture referring to the 15th Psalm we may notice 
 the curious book on its rest or table ; the curtained 
 temple with its altar, before which the episode 
 alluded to in verse 4 is vividly depicted ; and the 
 gnarled tree with lanceolate leaves, attributed by 
 Sir Thomas Hardy to the rose-bay or oleander. 
 
 The lower picture, rightly attached to the 16th 
 Psalm, the text of which is given on the following 
 page, is composed of no less than six subordinate 
 groups. On the right hand at the top of the drawing 
 half length figures of the Lord, with cruciformed 
 nimbus, and rolled book in hand, attended by winged 
 ministers. ; Below this a compact body of men in 
 eager conversation (alluding to verses 3, 4). Below 
 these again, at the right hand corner of the fore- 
 ground, three bedsteads with scroll-heads and full 
 cushions, on which recline as many figures, in re- 
 ference to verses 7, 9, " Insuper et caro mea 
 requiescet in spe." The central group demands an 
 all absorbing interest. It is described by Westwood 
 as the visit of the three Maries to the tomb, which is 
 represented as a small square building with a circular 
 domed tower, built at the side of a rock. The angel 
 is seated on a fallen slab in front of the sepulchre, 
 addressing the three sorrowful forms who appear to 
 approach with fear and trembling, keeping closely 
 together as they come nearer to the tomb. In an 
 opening at the side of the sepulchre is seen the head 
 and upper half of the body of the Saviour, the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 2ig 
 
 remainder being hidden by the projection of the 
 rock. " There can be no doubt," says Westwood, 
 " as to the artist having in this unusual treatment 
 intended simply to delineate the napkin which had 
 enveloped the head of the Saviour lying apart. This 
 is apparently an illustration of the latter part of the 
 1st verse of the 15th Psalm at the head of which it 
 is placed." Professor Westwood's interesting re- 
 marks regarding the picture are worthy of notice, but 
 he has fallen into a curious error in the concluding 
 part of the passage quoted above, for the picture is 
 not placed at the head of the 15th Psalm English 
 Version, which has two divisions in its 1st verse, 
 " Domine quis habitabet in tabernaculo tuo t aut 
 quis requiescet in monte sancto tuo f but at the head 
 of the 15th Vulgate or Utrecht Psalm, answering to 
 the 16th English, of which the 1st verse Vulgate is 
 only composed of one member, " Conserva me domine 
 quoniam speravi in te," the Utrecht taking in the 
 2nd verse, " Dixi domino Deus meus es tu quo- 
 niam bonorum non eges," to form a paragraph which, 
 too, cannot be said to have any connection with the 
 picture of the holy sepulchre. The picture, on the 
 contrary, undoubtedly refers to verse 10, " non dabis 
 sanctum tuum videre corruptionem." " Neither wilt 
 thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption." 
 
 There are yet two other groups to be examined. 
 On the brow of a hill to the left stands a man holding 
 in the one hand a vessel with ample hands, and of 
 the form of an ancient Greek Kantharos, 1 in the other 
 a coil of rope which passes also two or three times 
 
 1 See S. Birch's Ancient Pottery, p. 396, 2nd Edit. 
 
 17* 
 
220 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 round his waist and rolls down to the ground in 
 front of him. This is a literal realisation of the 5th 
 and 6th verses, " The Lord is the portion of mine 
 inheritance and of my cup . . . . the lines are fallen 
 unto me in pleasant places," or as the Latin is ren- 
 dered, " Dominus pars hereditatis meae et calicis mei/ 
 . . . . funes ceciderunt mihi in praeclaris." The other 
 episode, which is drawn in the left hand corner of the 
 foreground, shows us the Saviour with cruciform 
 nimbus standing on the prostrate form of a woman, 
 and drawing out from the hell of the 10th verse two 
 figures each of whom he holds tenderly by the 
 hand, " quoniam non derelinques animam meam in 
 inferno." 
 
 The next page (8 b) contains the text of the 15th 
 Psalm, the picture for which has just been described. 
 The lower half of the page holds the illustration 
 intended for the 16th Psalm, which follows it on the 
 succeeding folio. It would be impossible, in the 
 space here at command, to attempt to describe this 
 pictorial representation of the Psalm so minutely as 
 might be done, but notice must be made of three 
 subordinate parts. The latter half of verse 2, "Oculi 
 tui videant aequitates ;" "let thine eyes behold the 
 things that are equal" is realised by a figure of a man 
 on a dome-shaped building holding two equal balances 
 in his hand. The metaphors of the 12th verse, " the 
 lion that is greedy of his prey," and the "young lion 
 lurking in secret places," " leo paratus ad praedam . y 
 et catulus leonis habitans in abditis;" are drawn in a 
 very clever manner. The phrase of the 14th verse, 
 " Saturati sunt filiis et dimiserunt reliquias suas 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 221 
 
 parvulis suis," which has been translated by the 
 words " They are full of children, and leave the rest 
 of their substance to their babes," is depicted by two 
 long tables at which are feeding the naked children 
 of the quotation. 
 
 Folio g a, in addition to the whole of the text of 
 the 1 6th Psalm, has a picture on the lower third part 
 of its space, in reference to the long Psalm, XVII., of 
 which the text is given on the two succeeding pages, 
 9 b and io a, and part of io b. This picture is far 
 too complicated to describe at length, but some 
 curious pieces of it may be indicated. Verse 5, " The 
 sorrows of hell compassed me about," supplies the 
 monstrous but human features of the hell of mediaeval 
 fiction, with gaping jaws swallowing a doomed man. 
 Verse 10, " Et ascendit super cherubim et volavit/ 
 volavit super pennas ventorum ; " "And he rode upon 
 a cherub and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings 
 of the wind," is a charming part of the illustration, 
 the breathing heads for the personified winds, the 
 winged heads of the cherubims, the Lord being sup- 
 ported in a vesica between them, are marvellous 
 specimens of the art of the drawings. Verse 33, " He 
 maketh my feet like hinds' feet," gives us three 
 horned deer upon a mountain on the right. The sen- 
 tence " Quoniam tu inluminas lucernam meam, 
 domine/" is realised by a lamp lighted, and set upon 
 a tall candelabrum upon a tripod foot, similar to 
 those classical specimens which are now deposited 
 among the antiquities of the British Museum. The 
 metaphors contained in verses 34-40 are centred in a 
 figure of imposing attitude armed with the " bow of 
 
222 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 steel," and the " shield of salvation," while the enemy 
 is fallen under his feet, and on his head he wears a 
 helmet of peculiar form, resembling the Phrygian 
 helmet, and specially noticed by Reuvens, Westwood, 
 Hardy, and others. 
 
 The next picture is that on folio 10 b, and refers to 
 the 18th Psalm of which the text is placed on the 
 following page. This most beautiful composition of 
 words is appropriately delineated in the Utrecht 
 Psalter, but we may not linger too long over its 
 beauties. The ist verse, " Caeli enarrant gloriam 
 Dei / et opera manuum ejus adnunciat firmamen- 
 tum ; " introduces to us two suns, set in juxtaposi- 
 tion, full orbed, and with the bust of a king wearing 
 an antique or rayed crown in each circle, and two 
 moons, also at the full and near to each other, con- 
 taining a female bust with a crescent on her head. 
 Verses 2, 3 are represented by a thronging multitude 
 of eighteen persons in excited and animated dis- 
 course, for " there is no speech nor language where 
 their voice is not heard. 7 ' The " bridegroom coming 
 out of his chamber " here takes the likeness of the 
 Saviour, with the usual distinguishing nimbus, pass- 
 ing down the steps of a small curtained temple, and 
 accompanied by two angels with wings erect. The 
 " strong man " running a race, " ut gigans ad cur- 
 rendum viam," carries a sword and shield, and is clad 
 only in some airy cloths about his loins, and he 
 hurries along the way bending forward with rapid 
 strides, outstretched arms, and eager aspect. The 
 phrase, " In sole posuit tabernaculum suum," trans- 
 lated by " In them hath he set a tabernacle for the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 223 
 
 sun," is also carefully and literally treated. To the 
 left of the tabernacle, in the background, is a demi- 
 figure wearing an antique crown and holding in his 
 hand a blazing torch. It is difficult to say to what 
 particular passage of the Psalm this figure is alluding 
 unless it be the 5th verse, " in sole posuit tabernacu- 
 lum suum," and so the figure would be a repetition of 
 the half length figure seen in the sun's orb already 
 mentioned. 
 
 Folio 11 a contains, in addition to the 18th Psalm 
 text, a picture on its lower margin which accords, as 
 indeed it is intended to do, not inaptly with the 19th 
 Psalm, the text of which follows it on the succeeding 
 page. This Psalm consists of nine verses in the Vul- 
 gate Version, and of ten paragraphs in the Utrecht 
 Manuscript, the 6th verse of the former forming 
 two divisions in the latter arrangement ; and in this 
 verse is the word xpm which is contracted for 
 Christum according to later Manuscripts. This 
 picture is as useful for contemplation as those which 
 have already been examined, but we may not dilate 
 much in the description. The " holocaustum 
 pingue " of verse 3 is represented by an ox and 
 two sheep before an altar, beside which stands a 
 suppliant priest who has come from a temple which is 
 of its kind a handsome specimen of ecclesiastical 
 edifice, with its clerestory, imbricated roof, crestings 
 and trifurcated finials, its curtains, its doorway, and 
 its masoned aisle walls. Verse 7, " Hi in curribus 
 et hi in equis," is well and spiritedly shown by two 
 mounted riders falling off their stumbling chargers, a 
 third knight already fallen bites the dust as he falls 
 
224 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 upon a shattered shield and broken spear. While 
 the chariot of two wheels and as many horses lies a 
 perfect heap of wreck to point the reality of the 
 metaphor. A fourth rider is just being disabled by 
 his horse rolling over him with hoofs erect in the air. 
 " Ipsi obligati sunt et ceciderunt.' , The concluding 
 verse, " Domine, salvum fac regem/" is depicted in 
 this realistic table by a shirted figure holding in his 
 hands a vase and napkin, and wearing on his head a 
 peculiar crown of three fleurs-de-lys, or a crown 
 fleury, affected by the monarchs of France in very 
 late mediaeval times, as well as by King Louis I. 
 early in the ninth century. 
 
 Folio nb comprises the text of the Psalm of 
 which the picture has already been described ; and 
 on its lower half a representation referring to the 
 following or 20th Psalm. Of this picture,, the Lord, 
 in a nimbus and vesica, with three attendants on 
 either side of him ; cedar trees on the extreme sides 
 of the margins ; and a remarkable figure placing 
 a crown of three points fleurees upon the king, in 
 allusion to verse 3, " posuisti in capite ejus coronam 
 de lapide pretioso ; " are the principal subjects. 
 
 Folio 12 a indicates the text of Psalm XX. and 
 the picture for Psalm XXL, a long poem of thirty- 
 one verses, or thirty-two paragraphs, which are 
 given in the following page and part of folio 13 a. 
 Naturally this picture is crowded and complex. 
 " Circumdederunt me vituli multi," etc. (verse 12), 
 is given in a way we should expect, and so also are 
 the " canes multi" of verse 16. A curious candle- 
 stick set upon a tripod is worthy of notice, and 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 225 
 
 § 
 
 among the many metaphorical expressions with 
 which this prophetic Psalm* is filled the parting of 
 the garments (verse 18) and the dried potsherd, 
 " aruit tamquam testa virtus mea" (verse 15), are 
 most graphically set forth. In the centre of the 
 picture is a plain cross, on the arms are hanging a 
 crown of thorns and the scourge of two thongs, and 
 by its side are set the spear, and the sponge upon a 
 long staff. The spear has an indistinct object, which 
 seems intended either for a phial of vinegar or 
 perhaps a lizard, nearly half way up the shaft, but it 
 is impossible to determine what this small and 
 uncertain shape is put to signify. Westwood draws 
 especial attention to the details of the subject, and 
 points out what appears to him to be a monogram of 
 the letters P. V. with a straight cross bar, attached 
 to the cross at the place where the feet of the 
 crucified Saviour would be drawn. The photo- 
 graphic facsimile certainly indicates an apparent 
 letter or combination of letters in the place alluded 
 to, but there are many letters into which with equal 
 probability the monogram, if indeed it be a mono- 
 gram, may be resolved. This peculiar grouping of 
 the instruments of the divine passion is well worthy 
 of examination, for in after ages the group was 
 collected into a heraldic device, entitled the " shield 
 of the passion," or " the arms of Jesus Christ," by 
 the early designers of religious heraldry, and its eager 
 and universal adoption as an adornment of churches, 
 and church furniture, manifests the high favour with 
 which the emblematic form was received during the 
 middle ages. Mr. H. S. Cuming has figured several 
 
226 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 typical forms of the shield of passion emblems in a 
 paper contributed to the Journal of the British 
 Archceological Association, Vol. XXXI. p. 92, em- 
 bracing specimens from painted windows, stone 
 carvings, and encaustic tiles, of various dates and 
 from various localities. 
 
 Folio 13 a contains in its middle third part the 
 illustration of Psalm XXII., of which the text in 
 nine paragraphs, corresponding to six verses of the 
 Vulgate, is given below. The "green pastures" of 
 verse 2 are shown by browsing herds and flocks, the 
 " still waters," " aquam refectionis," of the same 
 verse, by a stream of water welling from a hole in the 
 rock and coursing along by the side of the pastured 
 cattle. Behind the Psalmist, a winged angel holds 
 in one hand the rod and staff on which David leans, 
 in the other an anointing horn (in reference to verse 
 5, 11 inpinguasti in oleo caput meum"), with which 
 he anoints the poet's head. Before him is the table 
 mentioned in the same verse, which has three serpen- 
 tine legs or trusses, and is spread with many dishes ; 
 and the phrase " calix meus inebrians quam prae- 
 clarus est," " my cup runneth over," is depicted by a 
 two-handled kantharos which the Psalmist holds in 
 his left hand. In the background on the left is a 
 very good example of the temple structures drawn 
 throughout the Manuscript. It is of rectangular plan 
 with a side aisle entered by a semicircular arch in 
 front ; the walls are lined to represent large blocks of 
 stone, the roof to represent convex tiles laid in 
 parallel ridges ; there are three square windows in 
 the upper part of the principal wall of the nave and 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 227 
 
 in that of the aisle ; and the two triangular pedi- 
 ments are adorned each with a spherical finial 
 surmounted by a plain cross. In the principal 
 doorway is a Roman altar with a swinging lamp 
 above it, between two ample curtains, drawn aside to 
 show the interior of the building. From out the 
 clouds overhead issues a hand with four fingers 
 extended in the act of benediction. This temple 
 has been introduced into the picture in relation to 
 the concluding verse, " ut inhabitem in domo do- 
 mini," " I will dwell in the house of the Lord." 1 
 
 Folio 13 b presents to us the 23rd Psalm, the text 
 being on the lower half, the picture on the upper 
 half of the page. The " king of glory " (verses 7-10), 
 with cruciform nimbus and long spear with a cross- 
 piece near the point, is approaching a city, followed 
 by a faithful train of soldiers armed with spears and 
 shields, clad in tunics, stockings in wrinkled folds, 
 (reminding us of the Anglo-Saxon forms of this portion 
 of dress, as shown in English Manuscripts of the 
 tenth and following centuries) , and peculiarly shaped 
 helmets with a winglike crest or ridge along the back 
 and over the top of the head. This helmet is 
 referred to by Westwood and other writers as of 
 Phrygian form. In front of the Saviour stands a 
 draped figure with a helmet as described, and with 
 a broad sword of classical form, pointing towards 
 the arched doorway of a town wall, which is flanked 
 on either side with a round tower of masonry 
 
 1 For full descriptions of the imagery of this and the previous Psalm, see two 
 works by the Rev. John Stevenson^ Christ on the Cross, London, 1844; and The Lord 
 our Shepherd, 1853. — S. Bagster and Sons. 
 
228 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 surmounted by two tiers of windows. In the space 
 inclosed by the polygonal wall is a compact group of 
 worshippers, while in the doorway stands a single 
 figure watching the approach of the king, and over 
 the arch another almost similar figure seems to look 
 down eagerly and intently upon the coming host. 
 This scene evidently is intended to realize the con- 
 cluding portion of the Psalm, " Attollite portas 
 principes vestras / et elevamini portae aeternales et 
 introibit rex gloriae ; " etc. Above the Saviour, in 
 the background overhead, are five angels and a 
 hand issuing from the clouds, with two fingers bent, 
 and two extended in the act of pronouncing a bless- 
 ing, " Hie accipiet benedictionem a domino." 
 
 With regard to the nimbus which occurs so 
 markedly in this, and other examples of art through- 
 out the Utrecht Psalter, a great deal has been 
 advanced with the object of proving the general 
 lateness of its adoption as an attribute of the Deity 
 or of Divine personages. It will be well therefore to 
 bear in mind that Sir Thomas Hardy 1 adduces the 
 opinion of Martigny, as expressed in his Dictionnaire 
 des Antiquites Ckretiennes, that the nimbus was first 
 applied to the Saviour, and this at a period long 
 anterior to Constantine ; and the opinion of Padre 
 Garacci that in the fifth century Christian artists 
 either used or omitted this symbol indifferently, but 
 that after that time its use became universal. 
 Didron 2 attributes the origin of the nimbus to the 
 
 1 First Report, p. 27, 28. 
 2 See Observations on the Nimbus, from Didron's Iconogra-phie, by Thomas Wright, 
 yournal of the British Archaeological Association, Vol. I., p. 121 ; Observations, etc., by 
 G. J. French, ibid., X. 332; and by H. S. Cuming, ibid., XI, 84. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 229 
 
 fire-worshippers of the East, and to the intention of 
 expressing by fire or flame the emanation of the 
 Divine power and intelligence. Examples certainly 
 exist in the Roman catacombs which are attributed 
 to the sixth century, and it has been asserted that 
 the Gnostics employed the nimbus on their mystical 
 rings ; but it is evident that from the jirjVLcrKos or 
 metal disk employed to protect Greek statues when 
 exposed to the air and weather, and from the disk- 
 shaped nimbi of Roman paganism seen on the heads 
 of Apollo and Diana, engraved by Montfaucon, of 
 Jupiter and Circe, in paintings at Pompeii, and on a 
 large number of Roman coins, Christian artists 
 derived the luminous circle with which they invested 
 the heads of the personages of the Holy Trinity, 
 and, in later ages, the portraits of saints and other 
 members of the Church. Cuming considers the 
 cruciform or cruciferous nimbus not to have been 
 employed before the ninth century, as a rule, but he 
 cites D'Agincourt's History of Art by its Monuments 
 for a fourth century ivory tablet in Greek style, where 
 the Almighty Father is adorned with cruciferous 
 nimbus, as well as a mosaic of the fifth century at 
 Ravenna, in the church of St. Agatha Maggiore, in 
 which the Lord is depicted with a similar object, and 
 a third example furnished by the same author from 
 a fresco in the catacombs of St. Ponziano's church, 
 Rome, of an age between the sixth and eighth 
 centuries, where a nimbus with decorated edge and 
 cross is placed on the head of Jesus Christ. Cuming 
 also points out the image of the Saviour with cruci- 
 form nimbus on the coins of the Byzantine Emperor 
 
230 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Justinianus Rhinometus, a.d. 685-711. We cannot 
 therefore, with these facts before us, assign to the 
 employment of the nimbus, as constantly seen in the 
 illustrations of the ^ Utrecht Psalter, an important 
 position in the category of those details which have 
 by some been pointed out as important indications of 
 the late date of the Manuscript. 
 
 The next folio presents to our view the picture 
 placed at the head of Psalm XXIV., and the text as 
 far as the twelfth paragraph. The two principal 
 points of interest in this are the quiver, or case for 
 arrows, from which a soldier is withdrawing an arrow 
 at the entreaty of two bowmen who stand before 
 him ; and a large vase, or vessel of cup-like form, 
 before which stands a female holding a closed roll or 
 volume in one hand, while she extends her other 
 hand towards a group of three children, in reference 
 to the passage, " Delicta juventutis meae / et igno- 
 rantias meas ne memineris/" or perhaps to " Inno- 
 centes et recti a[d]haeserunt mihi/" 
 
 Turning to the next page, the final portion of 
 Psalm XXIV. is followed by a picture and the 
 beginning of the next Psalm ; and in this page some 
 remarkable drawings are contained. A curious 
 group consisting of a naked man held by an iron 
 ring round the left ankle, a staple having been driven 
 into the ground, with two men scourging him ; a 
 temple, of the form already described, on the left 
 hand, and two others on the right hand in the back- 
 ground, one of which is embellished by the addition 
 of a round tower with a domed roof; the Almighty 
 with his attendant angels ; and in the centre of the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 231 
 
 picture a drawing which plainly indicates the essen- 
 tially classical origin of the set of illustrations in this 
 Manuscript. This drawing is in reference to verse 6, 
 " Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas'" " I will 
 wash mine hands in innocency; " and presents to us 
 an aqueduct of ten simple semicircular arches sus- 
 tained on plain columns, conveying the water in an 
 oblique course from a distant mountain, the surplus 
 water at the head of the stream forming a river which 
 streams along to the right of the picture. The 
 aqueduct terminates in a figure of a lion sejant, from 
 out of its mouth the water is discharged with a jet 
 into a broad basin, around which are the innocents 
 to whom the Psalmist alludes in the quotation. This 
 method of conveying water is of very ancient origin, 
 and ruined remains of similar works executed by the 
 Romans are to be found not only in Italy but 
 generally throughout the Roman Empire, although 
 it would be difficult perhaps to point to any in 
 Britain. 
 
 The illustration to the 26th Psalm is contained on 
 folio 15 a, the principal part of the picture being 
 devoted to a very spirited realisation of the 2nd and 
 3rd verses. The host encamped, " si consistant 
 adversum me castra / .... si exsurgat adversum me 
 proelium /" gives rise to the introduction of two 
 groups of peculiarly shaped tents, formed apparently 
 by a long sheet of canvas thrown over a cross bar, 
 the ends of which jut out slightly beyond a short 
 projecting part of the cloth. It would be interesting 
 to identify the peculiar shapes of these tents with 
 those of any known nation. They neither resemble 
 
232 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Roman, Egyptian, Syrian, or Anglo-Saxon, and Mr. 
 H. Payn has not claimed for them any weight in his 
 essay on the Eastern origin of these illustrations. 
 In the background of the picture is a fine example of 
 temple with domed round tower, apse, transept or 
 porch, and chapels, sacristies, or added rooms grouped 
 between the apse and the porch. The weapons, such 
 as the bow and arrows, spiked shields, and barbed 
 spears carried by the enemies and the host are of the 
 usual kind which have been before noticed, and the 
 groupings of the battle, fallen horses, and overthrown 
 riders, are well conceived and artistically portrayed. 
 
 Folio 15 b gives the picture applied to Psalm 
 XXVII. They " that go down into the pit" are 
 shown to us in a seething pit into which winged 
 figures armed with trident are driving the " workers 
 of iniquity." In the background on the left hand, in 
 front of a temple overshadowed by the Lord and his 
 angels, stands the Jewish king with crown of fleurs- 
 de-lys on his head, and hands upraised towards the 
 sanctuary, attended by an angel holding up over the 
 royal head an umbrella, and followed by a band of 
 servants. This refers to verse 2, " Exaudi domine 
 vocem deprecationis meae dum oro . ad te / dum 
 extollo manus meas ad templum sanctum tuum ; " 
 To this drawing of the umbrella Sir Thomas Hardy 
 refers with great stress as a positive proof that the 
 drawings are not the composition of an Anglo-Saxon 
 artist. The umbrella, as a symbol of sovereignty, 
 had been probably used by the Jews from the time 
 of Alexander the Great and his successors, when the 
 Jewish territory became the prey of Egyptians and 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 233 
 
 Syrians, and when the Jews affected either from fear 
 or degeneracy the customs of their conquerors, intro- 
 ducing among other things the umbrella, originally a 
 Bacchic implement, into their religious ceremonies, 
 probably at the Feast of Tabernacles, in remem- 
 brance of divine protection given to the Israelites in 
 the desert. He mentions also the occurrence of this 
 object on coins of Agrippa the Elder, and refers to 
 the work of Paciaudi, De Umbrellce Gestatione, pub- 
 lished at Rome in 1752. 
 
 The 28th Psalm, of which the illustration is repre- 
 sented on the following page (16 a), contains a 
 graphic poem descriptive of the majesty and power 
 of " the voice of the Lord " (verse 4). This is vividly 
 realised by the Lord enthroned in glory, as usually 
 drawn throughout the Manuscript, while from be- 
 neath his feet three heads, the personification of 
 storm winds, pour forth their blasts " upon the 
 waters," break " the cedars of Lebanon," and shake 
 the wilderness (verses 3, 5, 8). 
 
 On folio 16 b the pictorial application of Psalm 
 XXIX. is shown. The pit or 11 lacus " is apparently 
 a favourite theme with the artist, who draws drown- 
 ing human forms, and savage tormentors armed with 
 tridents, and having for their hair snakes and fiery 
 serpents, with a vivid force which shows a kind of 
 acquaintance with the gladiatorial exhibitions of the 
 Roman empire. The tree on the right hand, with 
 lopped branches, twisted trunk and sparse lanceolate 
 leaves is identified by Sir T. Hardy with the sycamore. 
 
 On the next page we have the illustration selected 
 by the artist for the 30th Psalm, the text of which 
 
 18 
 
234 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 occupies the lower half of this page and all the next. 
 In this we see the " net privily laid/' the " dead man 
 out of mind," the " broken vessel," the " pavilion" or 
 " tabernaculum," the " strong city," and many other 
 images of the poet's mind treated in that practical 
 manner which characterises the whole of these 
 drawings. The occurrence of the phrase, " comrao- 
 rantium in circuitu," suggests to the artist a crowd 
 of persons arranged in a semicircle witnessing a man 
 playing upon the double pipes, while another dances 
 before him to the music, and keeps time with his 
 hands, which seem to hold clappers or castanets, 
 KporaXop, of well known classical use. This group 
 may perhaps have reference also to the " vanitates 
 supervacue" of the 6th verse or seventh paragraph. 
 Another vanity is that of a bear held by a leash in 
 the hand of its master, and apparently about to 
 stand upon its head. This scene is described by 
 Westwood, and has been noticed by Thomas Wright 
 in his Domestic Manners, a work which draws largely 
 from the Harley Psalter already so frequently alluded 
 to. 
 
 Folio 1 8 a contains the text and drawing of Psalm 
 XXXI. In this we may take notice of the " spina" 
 and the " multa flagella peccatoris," the translations 
 of which seem to be obscure in the English Version ; 
 the horse and the mule " which have no under- 
 standing," and " the floods of great waters," which 
 here occupy the foreground, and are full of a large 
 kind of fish, perhaps intended for the tunny of south 
 European seas. 
 
 The 32nd Psalm commences on the next page, 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 235 
 
 and has a special illustration, of which certain 
 appearances of a different touch and style of execu- 
 tion would appear to suggest, either that the single 
 draughtsman of the series of drawings had acquired 
 a new method in his art or affected a variable 
 treatment, or else that the whole illustration is the 
 work of another hand. Westwood, in his description 
 of these drawings, indeed, states that " it seems 
 evident that there were different hands employed, 
 the figures in some of the compositions being small 
 and very neat, whilst in others they are much larger 
 and ruder," and indeed all critics seem to be agreed 
 on this point, but it is difficult to say whether he 
 refers particularly to the hand which in designing 
 and drawing this picture has entered into a more 
 indistinct and broken kind of pencilling than the 
 preceding pictures exhibit, or whether he alludes to 
 some coarse and large styles which we shall pre- 
 sently observe in future folios. In this realisation of 
 the Psalm the most prominent group is that of the 
 water in allusion to the words " Congregans sicut in 
 utre aquas maris/" (verse 7), where a classical treat- 
 ment has been adopted, and he that " gathereth the 
 waters of the sea together as an heap " appears to be 
 seated as a water-god upon a sea-dragon, or marine 
 creature with convoluted tail and recurved beak, and 
 to be holding in his hand an inverted vessel, which 
 has been alluded to in the quotation. 
 
 The 33rd Psalm has its picture principally devoted 
 to the illustration of the words " Multe tribulationes 
 justorum ? et de omnibus his liberabit eos dominus ;" 
 " Many are the afflictions of the righteous : but the 
 
 18* 
 
236 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Lord delivereth him out of them all." Crucifixion 
 with the head downwards, decollation by an execu- 
 tioner armed with a sword in either hand, roasting 
 to death over a grating or a rack, are pourtrayed 
 in a most graphic manner ; and close at hand, beside 
 each martyr, stands or hovers an angelic minister 
 with a cloth in his hand ready to receive the 
 departing soul and convey it purified and unspotted 
 into the presence of its Maker. Mr. Howard Payn 
 very naturally sees 1 in these instruments of torture 
 and martyrdom a reference to the persecutions of 
 the Diocletian era, a.d. 284. 
 
 We have now carefully reviewed and described 
 the illustrations of the first thirty-three Psalms, and 
 the remainder, being cast in the same moulds, and 
 evolved from the thoughts and feelings of the same 
 artist or school of artists by whom the first were 
 produced, hardly require so much special examina- 
 tion, but it will be well to note prominent pecu- 
 liarities and beauties as we turn over the remaining 
 pages of the Psalter. The picture applied to the 
 34th Psalm has in the foreground a peculiar net, 
 held up by three upright poles, " Quoniam gratis 
 absconderunt mihi interitum laquei sui," etc. In 
 the 35th Psalm the phrases £t Filii autem hominum 
 in tegmine alarum tuarum sperabunt ; Inebriabuntur 
 ab ubertate domus tuae / et torrente voluptatis tuae 
 potabis eos ; " are rendered by two bands of the sons 
 of men receiving in chalices the " torrentes " which 
 flow in powerful streams from the mouths of two 
 birds ; it would be difficult to say whether they 
 
 1 Sir T. Hardy's Further Report, p. 15. 
 
 s 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 237 
 
 be doves or eagles, set upon poles within hollow 
 quatrefoiled columns on either side a portal over 
 which sits the Lord with His attendant angels, 
 drawn in the conventional manner employed through- 
 out the Psalter. Westwood points out the spirited 
 group of horses and oxen in this picture. The 
 36th Psalm introduces to us the broadsword drawn 
 forth from its scabbard ; the sun personified in a 
 circle, with an antique crown of six rays upon his 
 human head ; ploughing, measuring out seed, 
 sowing, and reaping with the scythe ; one of the 
 mowers holding and sharpening his scythe with a 
 stone exactly in the manner practised at the present 
 day. These scenes are in allusion to verses 11 
 and 29. At the extreme left are two figures 
 thrusting swords into their own bowels, " Gladius 
 eorum intret in corda ipsorum." These forms of 
 the implements of agriculture, when compared with 
 drawings of the same objects and the same scenes 
 in the Saxon Calendar, MS. Cotton, Julius, A VI. 
 in the British Museum, clearly point to an older 
 age and one of feebler mechanical ingenuity. West- 
 wood and Reuvens draw especial attention to the 
 incidents selected here by the draughtsman for 
 illustration. In this picture also is a fine example 
 of oleander. The next Psalm (XXXVII.) has a 
 coarse and rough illustration. The verse, 11 Quoniam 
 lumbi mei impleti sunt inlusionibus / et non est 
 sanitas in carue mea ; " is treated in a memorable 
 way by three winged illusionary forms issuing from 
 the clothing that covers the loins of the figure of 
 the Psalmist. Psalm XXXVIII. shows a peculiar 
 
2 3 8 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 crown on the head of a king, not unlike the crown 
 of later continental and English use, seen on coins 
 and seals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. 
 The horses of this illustration are charmingly 
 grouped and evidently the conception of a truly 
 artistic mind. Psalm XXXIX. has a representation 
 of two greyhounds or hunting dogs with collars 
 round their necks. The open temple, filled with 
 worshippers, the goats for sacrifice, and the " volume 
 of the book " (verse 7), are all worthy of examination 
 by reason of their remarkable treatment. 
 
 The following folio (24 a) contains for the 40th 
 Psalm a temple or ecclesiastical structure of a class 
 very unlike that usually affected by the conven- 
 tionalism of the painter ; it has a circular tower 
 topped by a dome and cross, a pointed roof, and 
 a semicircular apse, and no windows or roofing lines, 
 in any part, but three small orifices in the upper 
 part of the tower. The phrase, " universum stratum 
 ejus versasti in infirmitate ejus;" " thou wilt make 
 (turn, Heb.) all his bed in his sickness/' is translated 
 pictorially by a sofa-shaped bedstead overturned 
 and falling forwards. The round table with the 
 vase and cakes is of the kind already described 
 in foregoing Psalms. There is another example of 
 the same in the next Psalm, XLL, where the 
 beautifully natural simile of the first verse, " As 
 the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth 
 my soul after thee, O God," " Quemadmodum de- 
 siderat cervus ad fontes aquarum ? ita desiderat 
 anima mea ad te Deus ; " enables the draughts- 
 man to show his exquisite skill in a group of two 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 ^39 
 
 greyhounds in a leash chasing a hart towards a 
 watercourse which leaps down from a mountain 
 into a lake, and overflowing this passes on towards 
 the extreme limits of the foreground. The sun 
 and the moon peer down upon the hunt from 
 opposite corners of the sky, each orb containing 
 the head of the personified Sol and Luna with 
 appropriate crowns, ,the radiated, and the crescent- 
 shaped. 
 
 Folio 25 a contains two pictures ; that for Psalm 
 XLII. a short poem of five verses or six paragraphs, 
 the fifth paragraph being composed of parts of 
 verses 4 and 5. The chief point of interest here 
 is the " harp " or 11 cithara," which is formed of 
 a long stem terminating in a triple leaf, and a 
 vase-shaped base or shell, altogether being an 
 object very unlike the classical lyre or harp as 
 seen in the ancient statues of Apollo and other 
 deities. The tents or tabernacles of this picture 
 resemble those already described where they occur 
 in a former Psalm. 
 
 The lower picture in this page is to be attributed 
 to the 43rd Psalm, " Exurge quare dormis domine Y 
 exurge." "Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? 
 arise/' gives us the sleeping Lord reclining on a 
 bed, and not conventionally set in a vesical frame, 
 but still attended by three watchful ministers on 
 either side of His heavenly couch, that he may 
 hear " the voice of many angels round about the 
 throne." Spread before him is a city wall of 
 polygonal form, with bays of masonry in square 
 blocks alternately set, and with squared buttresses 
 
24O THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 each capped with a flat stone and with peculiarly 
 shaped hooks or bent iron cramps upon the upper 
 row of the stone work in the bays. The gateway 
 is of an elaborate style of architecture, with its 
 arched portal and square towers of three stages on 
 either side. The quiver, sword, and horn in the 
 centre of the picture are also to be compared with 
 the earliest mediaeval forms of corresponding relics. 
 Psalm XLIV. shows us two excellent groups of 
 the " king's daughter" and " the virgins her com- 
 panions;" and the "raiment of needlework" (fim- 
 briis aureis) is depicted here by a dress covered 
 with small circular ornaments or golden spangles, 
 each enclosing a dot or spot. The crowns which 
 occur so frequently in this picture are of the nature 
 of a band or fillet encircling the head, and with 
 one, two, or more projecting trefoil-shaped additions 
 on the upper margin. This picture has also a good 
 specimen of the tree with triple heart-shaped leaf, 
 which has been alluded to before more than once. 
 The illustration of the 45th Psalm is selected from 
 verse 2, " Transferentur montes in cor maris;" 
 " Though the mountains be carried into the midst 
 of the sea," where we perceive a range of mountains 
 set in the foreground of the sea, each hill being 
 occupied by a seated figure. The wall of the city 
 is of polygonal faces, or bastions, with towers at 
 short and regular distances, and it runs quite across 
 the page, enclosing a temple and many spirited 
 groups of men, while above is the Lord in glory; 
 and from out of the clouds on either side of him 
 are issuing two angels, blowing upon long horns 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 24I 
 
 or trumpets slightly curved, " Dedit vocem suam 
 mota est terra ; " " He uttered his voice, the earth 
 melted." 
 
 The following folio (27 a) contains the picture oi 
 the 46th Psalm, which has a city wall, portal or 
 gateway, groups of figures holding palm branches, 
 and crowned with the fleury coronet already de- 
 scribed. In this, too, the forms of the harps, some 
 of which are of the true classical lyre-shape, while 
 one is of the kind apparently termed the cytkara, 
 or the triangular psalterium. Of these the lyre is 
 found in illuminated Manuscripts preserving its 
 classical form, down to the eleventh century, but 
 the latter shape is not so well attributed to any 
 particular period. 1 The vesica containing the 
 Saviour is not only attended as usual by six angels, 
 but is borne up by four other winged servants, two 
 of whom are blowing trumpets, in allusion to the 
 5th verse, " God is gone up with a shout, the Lord 
 with the sound of a trumpet." " Ascendit Deus in 
 jubilo / dominus in voce tubae." The 47th Psalm 
 is of interest for its picture of two ships riding in 
 the sea, " in spiritu vehementi conteres naves 
 Tharsis ; " " Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish 
 with an east wind." These vessels have the low 
 free-board, the broad beam, the rising swan-like 
 poop and prow, with beaked ends, the single mast 
 and swelling mainsail of lateen, with its ropes flutter- 
 ing loosely in the east wind, or " spiritus vehemens," 
 of two winged heads blowing fiercely from the left 
 
 1 See "On the Musical Instruments of the Middle Ages," in Journal of the 
 British Archaeological Association, I., 291 ; and II., 221, by E. de Coussemaker. 
 
242 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 c 
 
 hand corner of the foreground. There is little here 
 in common with the recognised form of the ancient 
 galley so universally depicted on coins and other 
 Roman and Greek remains, for the absence of oars 
 or other appliances for directing transit, the short- 
 ness and rotundity of the whole shape seems on 
 the other hand to point more to the coasting boat 
 or mercantile vessel, which must not only have 
 been employed throughout the European coasts long 
 before the extension of Roman influence, but have 
 survived also for a long time after the decline of 
 that imperial power. The picture of the 48th 
 Psalm contains instances of the crown fleuree, the 
 triangular musical instrument (" aperiam in psalterio 
 propositionem meam"), the box-like grave or bed, 
 the rectangular tabernacle or temple, the balance, 
 and the cedar and oleander trees, one of which as 
 usual stands on the one margin of the picture, to 
 balance the other which has been planted on the 
 opposite edge. Psalm XLIX. has some very spirited 
 drawings of goats, and bullocks (verse 9), and the 
 " fowls of the mountains " are shown by three birds 
 in a cedar tree on the right hand. The waving 
 pennons or banners on the spears in the hands of 
 the angels near the Lord, and the classical treat- 
 ment of the orbs of heaven, personified as usual 
 with antique crowns and flaming torches, are well 
 worthy of careful notice. 
 
 The illustration which has been prefixed to the 
 50th Psalm contains a most charmingly and naturally 
 conceived group of a shepherd and his flock. The 
 background of the picture has a drawing of the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 243 
 
 " walls of Jerusalem," unlike the masoned walls 
 of edifices hitherto described. The wall here is 
 without marks of masonry, but adorned with a 
 string-course, and a bevelled or pent capping along 
 the top. Sir Thomas Hardy points out the details 
 relating to the story of Bathsheba, Uriah, and 
 Nathan. 
 
 Folio 30 a holds the picture and the text of Psalm 
 LI. This picture is of a large and coarse style 
 of drawing, very unlike those that have preceded 
 it. The treatment of the details is in very great 
 contrast with that of the previous pictures, and 
 there can be no doubt that we either see here the 
 finished work of another artist, or, if it be of the 
 same hand as those already described, it must have 
 been executed under altered conditions and have 
 resulted from the imitation of an original picture 
 not belonging to the same series which has hitherto 
 supplied the details of the illustrations in the Psalter. 
 The work is, however, certainly contemporary with 
 the previous work. The same kinds of lines of 
 waving form indicate the rising and sinking of the 
 ground. The stunted olive tree is seen here and 
 in other places with almost similar form, " Ego 
 autem sicut oliva fructifera." The Lord, seated on 
 the sphere, and within an oval vesica, is supported 
 on either side by four seated figures in flow- 
 ing robes, who are conversing eagerly together, 
 thereby constituting grouped designs very different 
 to the three winged angels seen on either hand of 
 the Lord in previous pictures. The temple, in 
 which sits the subject of the opening verses of 
 
244 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the Psalm, 1 i Quid gloriaris in malitia/ qui poteus 
 es iniquitate," etc., is also designed and elaborated 
 in a style quite at variance with what has gone 
 before. Here we see columns with plain shafts 
 resting on plinths of two grades, and adorned with 
 foliated capitals somewhat resembling the Corinthian 
 architecture ; a triangular pediment enriched with 
 a fleur-de-lys or other flowering ornament in the 
 entablature ; and a roof apparently composed of 
 stone slabs, alluded to by Sir T. Hardy, and dis- 
 cussed in the present description of the ioth Psalm. 
 Westwood remarks of this picture that it is similarly 
 represented in one of the few illuminations in the 
 small purple Psalter of the Douce Collection in 
 the Bodleian Library, Oxford, as well as in the 
 Psalter of Count Henry which is preserved in the 
 Cathedral Library at Troyes, and published by 
 Gaussen. Reuvens draws attention to the cap-like 
 crown worn by the principal seated figure in the 
 centre of the vestibule of the temple, which bears 
 strong contrast with the preceding crowns of three 
 points which have already noticed and hitherto 
 been alone observed. 
 
 The illustration of the 52nd Psalm contains, 
 among other groups, a circular temple, sustaining 
 on four columns a domed roof covered with curved 
 tiles and finished at the top with a spherical boss. 
 The next picture, for the following Psalm, contains 
 principally two subjects. The sacrifice alluded to 
 in the words " Voluntariae sacrificabo tibi ( " gives 
 us a temple, a priest, two altars, and a sheep with 
 a long tail reaching to the ground. The scope of 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 245 
 
 the whole Psalm, the cry of the Psalmist for 
 deliverance from his enemies, has suggested to the 
 draughtsman a picture of many riders, armed with 
 spears and a battleaxe, most of whom are fallen 
 to the ground and crushed beneath their over- 
 thrown horses. The 54th Psalm also affords an 
 opportunity for a picture of a combat in front of 
 a city wall. The phrase, " Et dixi quis dabit mihi 
 pennas sicut columbae / et volabo et requiescam." 
 " And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove," etc., 
 introduces the dove flying away to the solitary tree 
 upon a mountain. The sun is here again personified 
 with radiated crown, but the moon and stars are 
 treated naturally. These details have been intro- 
 duced in reference to verse 10, u Day and night 
 they go about [the city]." In the centre of the 
 picture is a round table on three carved legs, and 
 on the right hand of it a warrior with three spears 
 held up erect in his left hand ; on his head is a 
 helmet of peculiar shape, being drawn without the 
 cresting noticed in foregoing pictures as of Phrygian 
 origin, a fine example of which is to be observed in 
 the picture prefixed to the 17th Psalm. 
 
 The 55th Psalm is interesting for the weapons 
 held by those who are alluded to in verse 1. These 
 are the battleaxe with two semicircular edges or 
 blades, the trident, the spear, and the sling, or 
 perhaps, large stone. There is also a good example 
 of the standard or staff with a short flag of two 
 waving streamers and a cross piece, held by the 
 Divine Protector. This figure appears to have been 
 originally drawn to a somewhat smaller scale and in 
 
246 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 advance of the position it now occupies ; but the 
 drawing has been carefully erased (although the 
 photograph clearly shows the remains of the 
 drawing) before the final place and size of the 
 figure were determined upon. Psalm LVI. has 
 for the central group of its realistic illustration, 
 a picture of the poet king, holding a harp or lyre, 
 and sustained by a winged angel near the side of 
 a large bed, which is flanked on the right side 
 by a lion, on the left by a lioness, in allusion to 
 verses 4, 8, " Eripuit animam meam de medio 
 catulorum leonum / dormivi conturbatus ; . . . . Ex- 
 surge psalterium et cythara / " "My soul is among 
 lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire 
 . . . . Awake, psaltery and harp." 
 
 In the following illustration, that appertaining to 
 the 57th Psalm, a great quantity of the metaphorical 
 expressions of the text have been inserted, and we 
 may notice the serpent (verse 4) ; the breaking out 
 the great teeth of the young lions (verse 6) ; the deaf 
 adder that stoppeth her ear (verse 4) ; the snail 
 which melteth, " caera quae fruit " (verse 8); the 
 candelabrum, probably also referring to caera; and 
 the water god with inverted vessel, " tanquam aqua 
 decurrens " (verse 7) . This introduction of a natural 
 representation of a snail in the foreground at the 
 corner on the left hand suggests to the careful 
 enquirer a very important fact ; namely, the pos- 
 sibility that the whole series of pictures, in its first 
 state, was produced to accompany the Hebrew text, 
 which in this Psalm, for example, contains the ex- 
 pression relating to the snail ; transformed in the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 247 
 
 Vulgate and Gallican versions (which are derived 
 from the Greek Septuagint) into the word caera or 
 wax. 1 If this be so, a very strong argument is 
 brought to bear upon the point already in some 
 measure discussed, 2 that these drawings which we 
 have before us in the Utrecht (Gallican and Sep- 
 tuagintal) Psalter have been copied into it from an 
 illustrated exemplar of a Hebraic version ; just as 
 in the Harley Psalter, as we have already seen, the 
 Utrecht drawings have been affixed to a transcript of 
 the Roman version. 
 
 In the same picture, in the upper part of the 
 background, are four angels, each armed with a 
 weapon, and one of these is a long sword without 
 either cross piece or pointed end, but of one uniform 
 width throughout its length. This unusual shape 
 of sword is pointed out by Reuvens as worthy of 
 comparison with other forms of the same weapon. 
 The next picture, that of Psalm LVIIL, should 
 be remarked for the rendering of verses 6 and 14, 
 where the enemies "make a noise like a dog and 
 go round about the city," are shown by two hounds 
 within and as many without a city wall drawn as 
 a rectangular enclosure with masoned walls and 
 corner turrets. Another group shows us the Psalmist 
 rescued by the Almighty from the impending sword 
 
 1 The confusion between the snail, ^f®, shablul, of the Hebrew Version, and the 
 tempos, caera (wax), of the Septuagint and Vulgate Versions respectively, does not 
 appear to arise in this case from a mis-reading of the Hebrew points, a fertile source 
 of so many variations in the translations of Holy Writ. We should, therefore, here 
 perhaps conceive the difference to arise from an intention of the translator of the 
 Hebrew into the Septuagint, not without parallel examples in other passages, to 
 substitute the more natural and obvious metaphor of the melting of wax for the 
 melting of a snail, supposed, but erroneously, " to consume away and die by reason 
 of its constantly emitting slime as it crawls along." Chaldee Paraphrase. 
 
 2 See p. 117. 
 
248 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 of the enemy ; another, a number of persons seated 
 round a circular table ; and a third detail in the 
 illustration is a very freely drawn rank of four 
 angels up in the clouds, armed with many and 
 various weapons, with which they are waging a 
 successful war upon the " workers of iniquity," and 
 "the bloody men." " Eripe me de operantibus 
 iniquitatem / et de viris sanguinum salva me." 
 
 Psalm 59 has its illustration selected from verse 9, 
 11 Who will bring me into the strong city? " " Quis 
 deducet me in civitatem munitam " and presents to 
 our inspection a polygonal enclosure, within and 
 without which a desperate encounter is taking place 
 between men armed with spears and shields. And 
 in another group of combatants on the left, the 
 broad Roman or Saxon sword is of conspicuous 
 size. The next Psalm (LX.) has in its drawing 
 much that should be noted, especially the three 
 storied column or tower, " turris fortitudinis a facie 
 inimici ; " the tabernacle with its arcading, and 
 roof tiled and crested according to previous models ; 
 the second allusion to the tabernacle in the form 
 of a pyramidal tent, pegged out on the ground 
 and upheld by a central standard surmounted by 
 a ball and cross ; and the half length figure of 
 the Lord in the clouds, holding a wreath of victory 
 towards the suppliant who is just come forth from 
 the tent, or towards the kneeling king who adores 
 him from the entrance of the tabernacle. 
 
 The same page contains the drawing that is ap- 
 plied to the 61st Psalm. The most interesting 
 group is that which points to verses 2 and 6, " He 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 249 
 
 only is my rock and my salvation." The Lord, 
 with nimbus, shield and spear, stands erect and 
 divine between the six usual attendants upon his 
 voice. On the next page, in the drawing of Psalm 
 LXIL, is a very spirited olive tree set beside a 
 temple, the outline of which, like most in the series, 
 is deficient in perspective. " When I remember thee 
 upon my bed," gives us a view of the box-like couch 
 already described, and the " portion for foxes" is a 
 mass of human beings stricken down by the spears 
 of their opponents and devoured by foxes. 
 
 One of the most striking groups in the Manu- 
 script is that afforded by the picture designed for 
 the sixty-third Psalm, verse 3, " Quia exacu- 
 erunt ut gladium linguas suas / intenderunt arcum 
 rem amaram." " Who whet their tongue like a 
 sword," etc. In the centre is a grindstone set up 
 between two posts and turned by a man who is 
 working at the handle, while another man applies 
 the edge of his sword to the revolving surface of 
 the stone. Above this is the group of two men 
 bending " their bows to shoot arrows;" and on the 
 left in the foreground is a man seated astride upon a 
 bench, and apparently sharpening or fabricating a 
 sword. This latter group is probably a secondary 
 realisation of the same metaphor as that to which 
 the grindstone alludes, for we have seen occasionally 
 in foregoing pictures two separate depictions of the 
 same verbal imagery treated in different ways. 1 
 
 The 64th Psalm 2 has its picture set in a different 
 
 1 The corresponding picture in the Eadwine Psalter has been facsimiled in West- 
 wood's Palceographia Sacra, pi. 43. 
 
 2 Here also called lxiii., see page 161. 
 
 19 
 
c 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 way to all that have preceded it; for, while those 
 are drawn to occupy the whole breadth of the page 
 of the Manuscript, this is enclosed within a circular 
 line of exactly four inches diameter. The picture 
 itself is very similar in detailed conception to those 
 already described. But the vine laden with grapes 
 and trained upon a frame or trellis is of great in- 
 terest, and has not as yet been met with in the 
 drawings. The circular line which contains the 
 picture is inscribed in another fainter line less than 
 a quarter of an inch larger in its span. The narrow 
 band which is enclosed thus between the two circles 
 contains the symbols of the Zodiac, alluded to in 
 verse 8, " a signis tuis," signa here having reference 
 to the " signa caelorum," the starry constellations 
 of heaven, the " lights in the firmament" which 
 are set "for signs and for seasons, and for days 
 and for years" (Gen. i. 14). In the upper part of 
 the picture, outside this zodiacal belt, are two small 
 circles, with rims shaded to stand out prominently, 
 containing the one a half length figure of the sun, 
 the other of the moon, with radiated crown and 
 crescent horns. These two refer to the phrase, 
 " exitus matutini et vespere delectabis," verse 8. 
 A question naturally suggests itself here to enquire 
 the reason of the artist's departure from the usual 
 arrangement of the pictures across the width of the 
 page, in favour of a circular empanelling of his con- 
 ceptions. But the reply is not, we may take it, 
 difficult to be made. It is evidently the result of 
 a deeply affected understanding of the text, which 
 is here recording the universal power of the Lord 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 251 
 
 throughout the world, " Visitasti terram et inebriasti 
 earn/." And hence the Psalm has allured the artist 
 into endeavouring, by the orbicular arrangement 
 of the picture, the border of zodiacal signs, the 
 sun and moon, and the cartographical nature of 
 the details, to represent a map of the world, the 
 orbis terranim, such as his acquaintance with the 
 diagrams of the early geographers of Western schools 
 would allow him to reproduce without altogether 
 discarding the realistic interpretation of mystical 
 elements which his series of illustrations takes upon 
 itself throughout. 
 
 The 65th Psalm has a picture which affords 
 excellent examples of the flagella or short handled 
 whips with doubled thongs, " posuisti tribulationes 
 in dorso nostro," " thou laidst affliction upon our 
 loins," (verse 11). Verse 6. u Qui convertit mare 
 in aridam / in flumine pertransibunt pede/" " they 
 went through the flood on foot," is indicated by 
 a stream of water, welling from a globose jar over- 
 turned, at the right hand corner of the picture, 
 and flowing in a direct line along the foreground. 
 Two figures are fording the stream with naked 
 feet, and with garments gathered up in a bunch held 
 in the right hand. Psalm LXVI. (here erroneously 
 numbered LXXI., the second X being a mistake 
 of the copyist for a V) has an illustrative design 
 of very simple conception, the most interesting parts 
 of which are the half length figure of the Lord, 
 with nimbus on his head, and balanced scales in 
 his hand, " Thou shalt judge the people righteously," 
 "judicas populos in aequitate ; " and the earth 
 
 19* 
 
252 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 yielding her increase, " terra dedit fructum suum," 
 in the forms of a cedar tree, two vines laden with 
 their fruit, trained upon poles in a waving scroll-like 
 manner, and a variety of smaller plants and bushes. 
 The next Psalm has also, by a slip of the writer's 
 pen, been numbered LXXII. for LXVII. The 
 designs of the artist here are very well conceived 
 and grouped together, but there is only space to 
 notice the angel " bringing out those which are 
 bound with chains;" " the chariots of God are 
 twenty thousand, even thousands of angels,'' here 
 taking the form of a classical quadriga 1 with four 
 prancing horses shown rising out from the clouds 
 at half length, and directed by a winged angel of 
 wrath with a whip in his hand ; another angel 
 " wounding the head of the enemy;" the tongue 
 of the dogs u dipped in the blood of the same" 
 (verse 23) ; " the players on instruments " with a 
 lyre and a triangular harp ; and a damsel playing 
 with a timbrel, " in medio juvencula tympanistria- 
 rum" (verse 25), a musical object that here acquires 
 the form of a cylinder with incurved or depressed 
 surface, and covered with skin at the ends, which 
 are struck with the hands after the manner of the 
 modern Indian hand drum. The bulls and calves, 
 the kings with presents, the bodies in their beds 
 or graves, the people feasting at a round table set 
 with vessels, are all so many groups which combine 
 to form a very instructive picture. 
 
 The illustration prefixed to the 68th Psalm strikes 
 
 1 This may be in allusion to verse 33 of the Hebrew Version, "him that rideth on 
 the heaven of heavens." See page 247. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 253 
 
 us principally on account of the scene in reference 
 to the opening verses, " intraverunt aquae usque ad 
 animam meam ; Infixus sum in limo profundi /" 
 etc. In the foreground, riding upon the deep waters, 
 are three vessels with beaked prows and curved, 
 bowl-like shape, two of them having rudders of the 
 classical and conventional form. In the central ship 
 is a human figure falling from the stern into " the 
 deep mire," where the floods are ready to overflow 
 him, as he raises his hand to the Lord and seems to 
 speak in the words of verses 14, 15. The waters 
 round about are filled with aquatic birds and fishes. 
 On the right hand is a round table, on which are 
 placed several vessels of various shapes, some of 
 which appear to have been overturned (verse 22). 
 The 69th Psalm has, in its picture, the Lord hasten- 
 ing to send help to the Psalmist, who stretches forth 
 his hands to the winged messenger on the hill : while 
 above, out of the clouds, a half length figure of the 
 Lord looks down benignantly upon him. In the 
 foreground on the left is a group of those who are 
 "turned back for a reward of their shame," " Aver- 
 tantur s ta tim erubescentes," a passage in which 
 the Utrecht Psalter has a curious correction of a 
 clerical error rather than a contraction in the word 
 statim. 
 
 The details of the illustration prefixed to the 70th 
 Psalm are principally to be noticed for the group 
 of three persons holding snakes and bifurcated forks 
 with barbed points, and the temple with its hanging 
 lamps and curtains ; but above all for the three 
 musical instruments which are drawn in allusion to 
 
254 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 the phrase, " psallam tibi in cythara." These are, 
 a lyre of three chords ; a guitar-like object, the long 
 stem held upon the shoulder of the musician, and an 
 organ with nine pipes of graduated heights set up 
 upon a square frame which contains the apparatus 
 for producing and directing the wind. The simple 
 form of this organ may well be contrasted with the 
 more complicated forms which will be noticed lower 
 down. Psalm LXXL introduces to our observation 
 ships, trees, and many details that have been already 
 observed ; and, among others, three kings adoring 
 the Lord, and wearing the plain flat cap-like crown 
 which has been contrasted with the crown fleury in 
 a former place. The Lord, with cruciform nimbus, 
 and within an oval frame, sits upon the sphere of 
 the universe, with a prostrate figure beneath his 
 feet ; while, on either side, is a winged angel, a 
 crown of branches overhead, and two other winged 
 figures, the right hand one carrying in his hands a 
 small circular plaque in which is drawn a human bust, 
 probably referred to the sun, Et permanebit cum 
 sole," or, "ante solem permanet nomen ejus/" "His 
 name shall be continued as long as the sun," verse 17. 
 
 The 72nd Psalm (here numbered by error LXXVII.) 
 has a very spirited representation of a mare and 
 her foal ; a body of armed men ; a party at a 
 table feasting ; graves or couches ; a group of 
 naked children ; a walled city ; a fine and noble 
 figure of the Almighty casting arrows or darts 
 at a mass of the wicked, that is surging and 
 writhing in the flames of a pit (verses 18, 19).. In 
 the centre of the foreground is a pillar raised upon 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 255 
 
 a plinth of three orders, and sustaining a statue 
 of a warrior with a shield and a long spear. Mr. 
 H. Payn sees in this a representation of the column 
 of Diocletian at Alexandria, now popularly called 
 Pompey's pillar. In the next picture we may notice 
 the classical depiction of the sun and the moon, 
 "Tuus est dies et tua est nox/" The destruction 
 of the sanctuary with fire and axes (verse 5-8) gives 
 the artist an opportunity of introducing a very 
 beautifully drawn group of destroyers armed with 
 adzes, and hewing at the " carved work," while 
 one among them lifts up to the roof a wisp of 
 lighted material, or a long torch. The lions, the 
 bears, the serpents or dragons, and the sheep, are 
 all of good design, and grouped in a manner such 
 as we have already noticed as peculiar to this series 
 of illustrations. Psalm LXXIV. (by inadvertence 
 of the scribe called LXXIII.) presents to us the 
 realisation of verse 3, " The earth and all the in- 
 habitants thereof are dissolved : I bear up the pillars 
 of it." The earth is seen as a liquid mass with 
 floating fragments and a few bird-like figures in it ; 
 ten pillars or columns set at equal distances all 
 along the length of the picture, sustain a piece of 
 the land on which is a numerous body of warriors, 
 armed and habited, as usual, with the tunic, the 
 wrinkled hose, the barbed spear, and the spiked 
 shield : at their feet are a number of the slain. The 
 foremost soldier holds in his hands the skull of a 
 stag with branching antlers ; and on a rock overhead 
 is a figure holding a similar skull, and breaking with 
 a long staff the skull that is held by the soldier. 
 
256 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 This relates to the last verse, " Omnia cornua 
 peccatorum confringam / et exaltabuntur cornua 
 justi." The " calix in manu domini" is held by 
 a winged angel, who is passing down from heaven 
 towards the armed host. 
 
 The 75th Psalm has well drawn figures of three 
 horses, with horsemen, into each of whom is entering 
 a small spirit, in reference to verse 6, " Dormitave- 
 runt qui ascenderunt equos." Some vessels of 
 elegant outline are drawn in the right hand corner 
 of the foreground, near two beds with sleeping 
 figures, into whom also are entering other small 
 naked spirits in allusion to the 5th verse, " They 
 have slept their sleep," etc. 
 
 The next picture, that prefixed to Psalm LXXVI., 
 has a full length figure of the Almighty standing in a 
 vesical frame ; and a boat or vessel, of the shape 
 already described, holding four persons, and floating 
 in water filled with fishes and marine animals. On 
 the banks are groups of the redeemed people, (verse 
 15); and towards the boat a man stretches out a 
 long pole, in reference to verse 16, " Viderunt te 
 aquae Deus." Folio 44 b containing the final portion 
 of this Psalm, is left blank with the exception of 
 seven lines of writing at the top, but the extreme 
 translucency of the vellum allows several of the words 
 to appear through, and the photograph reproduces 
 these with remarkable clearness. In the upper part 
 a later hand has essayed to draw a female head with 
 cap or headdress and short curling hair. The 77th 
 Psalm, which contains seventy-two verses, prin- 
 cipally relating to the history of the Israelites, their 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 257 
 
 journeyings, their disobediences, and their divine 
 punishments, is illustrated with a long and mul- 
 titudinous procession of persons, old and young, 
 men and women, nearly encompassing a central 
 group of a king, with diademed crown having a 
 boss or knop of a shape somewhat resembling a 
 fleur-de-lys, and spear, standing before the figure 
 of an old man, who with a large open book resting 
 upon a carved stand or lectern, and inspired by a 
 hand of blessing issuing from the clouds above the 
 curious chair-like throne which he has just vacated, 
 is opening " his mouth in a parable," and uttering 
 " dark sayings of old " (verse 2). The 78th Psalm 
 (here in error also numbered LXXVII.) shows us 
 outside the walls of the city the dead bodies of the 
 servants of God " given to be meat unto the fowls of 
 the heaven, the flesh of saints unto the beasts of the 
 earth" (verse 2); where lions, hyenas, and vultures 
 are feasting upon the dead whose blood is " shed 
 like water round about Jerusalem." 
 
 The 79th Psalm shows a beautiful drawing of the 
 wild boar out of the wood wasting the vine brought 
 out of Egypt, while they " which pass by the 
 way do pluck her." Of this design Sir Thomas 
 Hardy speaks at length, and very justly claims 
 it as the conception of an artist who had a perfect 
 knowledge of the vines of Palestine ; and by no 
 means likely to be the work of an Anglo-Saxon artist. 
 
 Among the ensuing illustrations we may notice 
 the mounted horsemen in a well drilled rank, the 
 psaltery, lyre, and horses ; and the " hands delivered 
 from the pots," of Psalm LXXX. ; the figure of 
 
258 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Atlas sustaining the " foundations of the earth" 
 (alluded to with praise by Professor Westwood); 
 and a repetition of the statue on the column of the 
 81st Psalm ; the tumult of enemies, on horse and on 
 foot, with spears and shields, horns, pennons, with 
 triangular tents and all the pomp of war, persecuted 
 with the tempest, and made afraid " with the storm 
 of the Lord, " in the 82nd Psalm ; and the crowned 
 king, the city walls, the tents and the trees of Psalm 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 Psalm LXXXIV. has an interesting representation 
 of ploughing and reaping, and a most practical 
 depiction of covering the sin of the people, in the 
 form of a group of men over whom two angels 
 are drawing a large cloth. In the 85th Psalm is 
 another example of a statue upon a carved monu- 
 ment of three stages ; and a royal figure with single 
 crested crown. The picture prefixed to the 86th 
 Psalm is full of elaborate architecture, and has a 
 central group of the birth of Jesus Christ. The 
 Virgin lying on a bed of irregular shape, and four 
 attendants dipping the nimbed infant into a large 
 bowl-shaped vessel ; this group refers to verse 5, 
 " Homo natus est in ea." The next picture has 
 a number of dead bodies in boxes or graves, in 
 allusion to verses 4-6, and a central figure among 
 them holding up his hands in supplication to the 
 Lord. In this the sun and moon appear under the 
 forms already pointed out. Psalm LXXXVIII. may 
 be examined for its pictures of ships ; its crowned 
 figures ; its architectural buildings ; the sun and the 
 moon ; and a crucified figure between two execu- 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 259 
 
 tioners, with a circular line drawn over all the design 
 in the centre. Psalm LXXXIX. (here also num- 
 bered LXXXVIII. by mistake of the copyist) for 
 its polygonal wall and temple ; its groups of warriors ; 
 and its " grass which groweth up." The next pic- 
 ture shows us Sol and Luna as before expressed ; a 
 fine group of the Lord and His angels ; a stag hunt ; 
 and a Medusa-like face in the clouds which probably 
 relates to the 6th verse, " demonio meridiano." 
 
 On the following folio (54 a) is a specimen of the 
 triangular harp ; and on the next, for the 92nd 
 Psalm, ships, 1 a temple with curved roof within a 
 circle which seems to have no special application, 
 but held up by two strong men ; two seated figures 
 blowing long horns ; and in the middle a throne 
 or chair with carved legs, crossed bars, " established 
 of old " for the Lord who is descending in a vesica to 
 occupy it. Among the most noticeable parts of the 
 following picture is a king seated with cap-like crown 
 and spear, a figure holding a palm branch, and a 
 battle-axe, and angels chastising the heathen by 
 casting down burning torches from heaven upon 
 them. Psalm XCIV. realises the scenes of Moses 
 striking the rock, and the images set up and wor- 
 shipped by the Israelites in the wilderness, in 
 allusion to the "forty years," " quadraginta annis 
 offensus fui," of verse 10. The 95th Psalm shows 
 good examples of walls ; two suns with antique 
 radiated crowns ; and a temple set in an oval 
 medallion, having separate scenery in the front 
 of the picture, after the manner we have seen 
 
 1 In this picture Mr. H. Payn recognises the inundation of the river Nile. 
 
26o 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 employed in the 92nd Psalm. The confusion of those 
 " that serve graven images" (Psalm XCVL, ver. 7) 
 introduces a group adoring two statues standing 
 upon an architectural monument of three stages, 
 which is toppling over to destruction, while in the 
 foreground the " multitude of the isles" suggests 
 to the artist the idea of three islands in a sea, each 
 with a few figures standing in it. In the text of 
 this Psalm, the word confundantur is written con- 
 fundant 2 , with a good example of the obliquely placed 
 (2), which stands occasionally in this Manuscript as 
 the contraction for the termination ur. 
 
 The same page gives the drawing for Psalm XCVII. 
 And it has been selected by Dean Stanley as one 
 of the illustrations appended to the Reports, because 
 it gives the various forms of the contraction mark, 
 and the above mentioned abbreviation, and also 
 because "the drawing exhibits the jagged outlines 
 of the draperies referred to in some of the Reports 
 as characteristic of English work of the tenth and 
 eleventh centuries, 1 and the classical origin of the 
 design in the river god." The cithara, the tubes 
 ductiles, and the tuba cornea (verses 5, 6) are here 
 introduced, as well as the realistic balance, in re- 
 ference to the aequitas, or equity of the judgment of 
 the Lord mentioned in the last verse. The sea 
 roars, and the fulness thereof, in the guise of sea 
 serpents ; and, sheltered by a rocky cave, a horned 
 sea god holds a branch in his hands and reclines 
 upon the back of a dragon, or monster with coiled 
 
 1 For a criticism upon this statement, see Sir T. D. Hardy's note on page 18 of 
 the Further Report. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 26l 
 
 folds of body and equine head. In the centre is 
 a medallion in a nearly perfect circle, containing 
 a number of persons, old and young, who are 
 singing unto the Lord "a new song" (verse 1). 
 Psalm XCVIII. has in its drawing "the cloudy 
 pillar," a true column with plinths, shaft and 
 capital, surmounted by a smoking fire or cloud. 
 In the centre the Lord " sitteth between the 
 cherubims," one of whom is placed on each side of 
 the conventional representation of the Almighty. 
 There are some capital groups of horsemen, and 
 in the foreground, in the middle, the phrase " movea- 
 tur terra," "let the earth be moved," verse 1, in- 
 troduces a sturdy figure of Atlas, drawn as a 
 monster with human face in his middle, who struggles 
 to uphold the weight of the earth, the scabellum or 
 footstool of our God (verse 5). 
 
 The next folio (57 b) has a drawing of walls, 
 horned sheep or goats, and groups of men, for 
 Psalm XCIX. ; and for the 100th Psalm, some 
 interesting figures holding books, and outside a city 
 wall the early destruction of the wicked (verse 8). 
 The next Psalm, the 101st, gives an illustration of 
 the " pelican of the wilderness," the " nicticorax in 
 domicilio," or " owl of the desert," and the " passer 
 solitarius in tecto." In the foreground is a large 
 figure of a female, surrounded by her children and 
 holding a cornu copise, in allusion probably to the 
 final verse. Three angels with hammers and chisels 
 are "building up Zion " (verse 16), and "taking 
 pleasure in her stones" (verse 14). It is interesting 
 to note that the concluding words of the rubric or 
 
262 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 heading to this Psalm, not capable of being con- 
 tained in one head line, have been written in a lower 
 line on the right hand column, in a Rustic hand of 
 weaker and later character than that of the body 
 of the text ; but as we cannot suppose that a very 
 great interval of time elapsed between the tran- 
 scribing of the text and that of the rubrics, these 
 Rustic words must either have been written in by 
 the reviser some considerable time after the com- 
 pletion of the work, unless we accept the writing 
 as that of one whose power of writing this character 
 was even less firm than his who transcribed the body 
 of the book. A long insertion, apparently in this 
 same style of character, will be adverted to presently. 
 
 Psalm CII. has the usual sun and moon, as Osiris 
 and Isis, within circular medallions ; and the princi- 
 pal accessories for noting here are the cedar tree ; 
 the trident ; the long crosses with wavy streamers 
 held by angels ; the crown of victory ; and the human 
 jaws of hell which are engulphing a body of miserable 
 wretches thrust down by demons with serpentine 
 hair. Professor Westwood specially points out this 
 latter group as a grand representation of the mouth 
 of the infernal regions. The next Psalm is prin- 
 cipally to be examined for its vessels ; its sea birds, 
 marine animals, and a huge water dragon ; various 
 birds and animals ; the " wild asses " or " onagri ; " 
 the "volucres caeli ; " the wild goats, conies, and 
 lions devouring a human prey, and seeking " their 
 meat from God." There is also an interesting scene 
 of ploughing with a most simple plough, and another 
 of a man feasting at a long table while an attendant 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 263 
 
 places a crown on his head. Psalm CIV. has for 
 the subject of its illustration David relating the 
 story of God's providence over the Israelites and 
 their chosen leaders, to a crowd of worshippers 
 eagerly hanging upon his words, and the Deity 
 in the clouds overhead holds out a scroll towards the 
 inspired narrator. 
 
 Folio 61 b contains the picture of the 105th Psalm, 
 one group of which is drawn in reference to the 
 passage of the Red Sea, and the waters are covering 
 the enemies, " Et operuit aqua tribulantes eos / 
 unus ex eis non remansit." (verse 11); while the 
 chosen people are led in safety through the depths, 
 " et deduxit eos in habyssis " (verse 9). The illus- 
 trative design prefixed to Psalm CVI. has been 
 chosen by the Dean of Westminster for one of 
 those appended to the Reports. It is full of inter- 
 esting and important details, oxen at the primitive 
 plough ; a man in the stocks ; others pruning vines 
 and planting vineyards" (verse 37); or going down 
 to the sea in ships, of the shape already pointed 
 out ; others preparing a city for habitation ; and 
 two chair-like thrones in allusion to the phrase, 
 " et in cathedra seniorum laudent eum." (verse 32). 
 
 The 107th Psalm has in its drawing fine examples 
 of the " psalterium et cythara ; " an hexagonal en- 
 closure with walls and gateway, with the washpot 
 or " lebes," and the " calciamentu[m] meum " takes 
 the form of a pair of sandals with long straps cast 
 over the wall by a king adorned with a very fine 
 specimen of the crown with three fieurs-de-lys. 
 Over a temple on the left the early sun shoots 
 
264 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 down his rays upon the Psalmist who appears to 
 be ejaculating " Exsurgam duluculo / " "I myself 
 will awake early." Psalm CVIII. has a most spirited 
 group of the " diabolus " or " Satan" (verse 6), with 
 wings of different form to those of the angels over- 
 head, thrusting his knee into the back of the wicked 
 man ; and the fatherless children grouped beside the 
 widow (verse 9), who is reclining beneath a tree, 
 upon a mound, tearing her hair and rending her 
 garments, form a very remarkable detail in the 
 picture. The 109th Psalm has in its medallion the 
 depiction of the opening verse, " The Lord said 
 unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand," etc. 
 The Lord seated on a bench, and with cruciform 
 nimbus, sits beside " My Lord," who is adorned 
 with a plain nimbus and seated on a sphere ; be- 
 neath their feet the u scabellum pedum" of two 
 prostrate enemies is placed. Verse 6, " He shall 
 wound the heads over many countries," gives rise 
 to an angelic figure discharging darts against a body 
 of armed men, the foremost of whom, a crowned 
 king, is pierced in the head and falling backwards. 
 On one side is a group with lighted torches, on the 
 other a youth with a Phrygian helmet, and with 
 shield and spear stands upon a dead foeman, and 
 appears to collect in a bowl some water from a 
 stream welling down a rock. For 11 he shall drink 
 of the brook in the way," " de torrente in via bibet /" 
 Psalm CX. gives a group to illustrate the verse, 
 " He hath given meat unto them that fear Him :" 
 an angel flying down with a dish of food towards a 
 square table on which are set three vessels of meat ; 
 
 1 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 265 
 
 and a temple closely resembling those that have 
 been already recorded. 
 
 The next folio (65b) has a picture full of edifices 
 of various forms, the central one having a circular 
 apse, in which, under a domed roof, sits the good 
 man whose horn is exalted in the form of the head 
 and antlers of a deer which crowns the summit of 
 the tiled roof over his head. His house contains 
 three hanging lamps, probably in reference to verse 3. 
 In the foreground are classical vases, a group armed 
 with tridents and javelins, and another group of 
 the poor, to whom a female is handing a mass 
 of bread. The illustration of the 112th Psalm 
 (here by error numbered CXI., as the preceding 
 Psalm), if we may judge by the photographic aspect, 
 does not appear to have been finished, the lines 
 being in some places very faint and almost imper- 
 ceptible. The picture is very evenly balanced, the 
 Lord with his six angels ; a vacant seat flanked on 
 either side by a long couch, upon which sit the 
 princes of the people (verse 8) ; below these, two 
 groups of the " servants of the Lord " engaged in 
 a song of praise (verse 1); and in the foreground, 
 in the centre, the barren woman, " sterelem," who 
 is made a joyful mother of children (verse 9). He 
 that " raiseth up the poor out of the dust " is on the 
 left of the seat, helping a clinging figure to raise 
 himself from the ground. The 113th Psalm (which 
 corresponds to the 114th and 115th of the English 
 version) shows us the sanctuary of Judah, a chest 
 slung on a pole and carried by two bearers ; this 
 chest is depicted with greater elaboration in the 
 
 20 
 
266 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 corresponding place in the Eadwine Psalter. The 
 Jordan driven back here curls its eddying waters 
 away from the staff of the Jewish leader, but in 
 the later treatment of the Eadwine Psalter two 
 large fishes appear to take the place of the curved 
 waves. The water flowing from the stricken rock ; 
 the dead bodies in their graves, who " praise not the 
 Lord ; " the skipping rams ; the houses of Jacob, of 
 Aaron, and of Israel, are graphically drawn : and 
 on two ladders reared against a tower are two men 
 striving for the possession of a bird which is eluding 
 their grasp, while others are falling headlong down 
 the ladder, and " go down into silence," " descen- 
 dunt in infernum." The next Psalm, the 114th 
 (corresponding to CXVL, verses 1 to 10 of the Vul- 
 gate), has a very large figure in a rocky cave (in 
 allusion to verse 3), stretching forth its monstrous 
 hands, the personification of the sorrows of death, 
 the pains of hell, towards the escaping Psalmist. 
 The 115th Psalm (forming the second portion of the 
 Vulgate 116th) shows us the death of the saints, and 
 pre-eminently the crucifixion of the Lord, which 
 Professor Westwood points out for especial notice 
 because of the short-sleeved garment which clothes 
 the body of Jesus to the feet; a representation, the 
 conventionalism of which is claimed by him for a 
 later period than that to which others are willing to 
 ascribe it. 
 
 The short 116th Psalm of two verses, has an 
 illustrative design of all the nations praising the 
 Lord. This picture is useful because it shows how 
 the original designs have been adapted to the 
 
 1 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER, 
 
 267 
 
 exigencies of this particular Manuscript ; for the 
 third column, not containing so much text at the 
 end of the preceding Psalm as the first and second 
 columns, only admits of one angel on the right hand 
 of the Deity against the usual three on the opposite 
 side. The 117th Psalm, in reference to the 4th 
 verse, u They compassed me about like bees," " Cir- 
 cumdederunt me sicut apes t " shows us a warrior 
 attacked by a swarm of these insects ; and another 
 group in the same drawing demonstrates how " the 
 stone which the builders refused is become the head 
 stone of the corner," where three masons are busied 
 about their building the angle of a wall. The 
 lengthy Psalm which follows this, the 118th, has 
 a fine specimen of a temple, and kings seated with 
 warriors on a long couch, over which a battle-axe 
 is poised, in allusion to the 23rd verse. The names 
 of the Hebrew letters which are prefixed to the 
 subdivisions of this Psalm are translated into St. 
 Jerome's Latin equivalents (not in all cases correct) 
 in the following manner : — 
 
 Beth 
 
 Domus. 1 
 
 Mem 
 
 Ex ipsis. 
 
 Gimel 
 
 Plenitudo. 
 
 Nun 
 
 Sempiternum. 
 
 Deleth 
 
 Tabulam. 
 
 Samech 
 
 Adjutorium. 
 
 He 
 
 Ista. 
 
 Ain 
 
 Fons, sive ocul[us] 
 
 Vav 
 
 Et. 
 
 Fe 
 
 Os, non ab osse. 
 
 Zai 
 
 Haec. 
 
 Sade 
 
 Justitia. 
 
 Eth 
 
 Vita. 
 
 Coph 
 
 Vocans. 
 
 Teth 
 
 Bonum. 
 
 Res 
 
 Capitis. 
 
 loth 
 
 Principium. 
 
 Sen 
 
 Dentium. 
 
 Caph 
 
 Manus. 
 
 Tav 
 
 Signa. 
 
 Lamech 
 
 Disciplina. 
 
 
 
 1 See Opera S. Eusebii Hieronymi, in Migne, Patrol. Cursns, vol. 23, p. 1306. 
 
 20* 
 
268 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 The 119th Psalm has a coarse picture, with the 
 tents of that peculiar shape adverted to in the 
 description of the 26th Psalm. This drawing has been, 
 like its fellows, much altered in the Eadwine Psalter, 
 which, however, adheres in the idea to the Utrecht, 
 whereas, as has before been pointed out, the Harley 
 Psalter gives new designs after the 113th Psalm. 
 
 The next folio is very instructive, because it con- 
 tains two pictures, the first in the coarse style, the 
 latter in a very neat and beautifully fine style of 
 drawing, on the same page. In the former of these, 
 the natural figure of the waning moon may well be 
 contrasted with the half-length personifications so 
 constantly met with throughout. The pavonaceous 
 heading to the scroll of the bed (verse 3), and the 
 crowned figure of the king, should also be noticed. 
 In the latter the mention of the tribes going up into 
 the " compact city" of Jerusalem affords the artist 
 an opportunity of displaying an unsurpassed specimen 
 of his wonted skill in architectural buildings and 
 dense bodies of men 
 
 There are two pictures on each of the next three 
 folios (72 b-73 b) ; and in these six samples of the art 
 of the illustrator, which yield to none in merit or 
 in interest throughout the volume, may be noticed 
 the same striving after a realistic effect as a means 
 of impressing vividly upon the mind of the reader, 
 the metaphorical scenes which pass before his eyes 
 as he consults the accompanying verses. Here may 
 be seen the varied weapons, bows and arrows, broad 
 swords, and javelins ; a man holding a curious snare 
 for birds which flee from his half-revealed body 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 269 
 
 sitting in a bush ; the fording of a torrent ; temples 
 of various styles, several with altars, curtains, and 
 lamps ; embattled city walls with watch towers at 
 their angles ; prostrate bodies fastened to the ground 
 by fetters ; the " virga peccatorum " in form of stout 
 switches held by two who are about to inflict a 
 punishment upon them ; the " sowing in tears" that 
 fall in thick showers from a body of men on one side 
 of a picture which on the other contains the sheaves 
 which have been reaped in joy; snake-like streams 
 of water ; tables having carved trusses with lions' 
 heads, and loaded with viands in vases of various 
 form; the " bread of sorrows," " panem doloris," 
 which appears to be in the shape of round flat cakes, 
 marked with three curved lines in a simple triangular 
 pattern ; reaping with sickles ; gathering grapes from 
 espalier vines into spherical baskets and treading 
 out the wine in a vat; the olive plants, " novella 
 olivarum ; " and the fruitful vine, " vitis habundans," 
 in the shade of which, crowned and seated at a feast 
 with his children and his wife, is the man " that 
 feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways." 
 
 The 128th Psalm exhibits the grass upon the 
 house-tops, mowers with scythes of a shape very 
 similar to the present style, and men gathering 
 sheaves. Verse 4, " Dominus Justus concidit cer- 
 vices peccatorum," " he hath cut asunder the cords 
 of the wicked," shows us a shower of battle-axes 
 and spears, and in the words of the poet, an 
 
 " Iron sleet of arrowy shower 
 Hurtles in the darken'd air," 
 
 cast down from the heights of heaven by an angelic 
 
270 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 host, one of whom is receiving from the hands of the 
 Almighty a sword, the type of destruction. One of 
 the battle-axes has cut through the neck of a man 
 who is falling forward. A curious group here is that 
 of a forge with a blazing fire about which are three 
 men armed with hammers, probably in allusion to 
 verse 3. The shape of this forge is that of a 
 rectangular box, with curved back to the fire-place, 
 and in the front of the fire is a square object which 
 may either represent an anvil or some portion of the 
 apparatus to produce the wind. 
 
 The next Psalm, " De profundis," introduces to 
 our notice another rare example of those large 
 figures, so completely out of proportion to the size 
 of the surrounding beings, and to the general shapes 
 of the persons seen throughout the series. It is a 
 draped body, three quarters length, holding up a 
 scroll, and crying out of the depths unto the Lord. 
 The occurrence of the phrase, " A custodia matutina 
 usque ad noctem / " explains the personifications of 
 the sun and moon, with lighted torches and appro- 
 priate crowns, which have already received the 
 attention of the reader. The 130th Psalm has a 
 well drawn example of an olive tree, and an in- 
 teresting group of the " child that is weaned of his 
 mother," or " ablactatus." 
 
 Psalm CXXXI. has a picture of a city wall with 
 arched portals and bodies of men marching out ; 
 a temple with a procession of torch-bearing priests 
 accompanying four shrine-carriers, approaching it ; 
 the " horn of David;" the wreath of victory; and 
 lamp for the anointed one, " paravi lucernam xpo 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 2JI 
 
 meo," in the form of a bird, set upon a tall candela- 
 brum with tripod foot and beaded stem. The archi- 
 tecture of the tabernacle which contains the bed 
 (verse 3) is of a very different order to the " habita- 
 tion for the mighty God of Jacob." The roof is 
 semicircular, and the sides of open arching, with 
 curtains stretched from pillar to pillar. Psalm 
 CXXXII. finds its principal group in the anointing 
 of Aaron (verse 2), who stands in the centre of a 
 congregation while a winged figure, issuing from 
 the clouds overhead, pours from a horn the precious 
 ointment, " that went down to the skirts of his 
 garments," for " there the Lord commanded the 
 blessing," " Quoniam illic mandavit dominus bene- 
 dictionem," and His hand is drawn over the head of 
 the throng. The mountains of Sion show us a 
 wandering stream leaping down from a hill on which 
 are two statues upon short columns, a lion, a wild 
 boar, a bear, and four deer, and in the air the visible 
 dew of Hermon falling upon the trees. The 
 133rd Psalm naturally seems to require that 
 he who would take upon himself to pictorialise the 
 verses of the text should represent the " domus 
 domini," the " atria domus dei nostri." Hence we 
 have a drawing of heaven and earth ; the former 
 realised by a crescent moon and attendant stars, 
 the latter by a broad belt of verdant banks and 
 water, wherein are disporting swans and other 
 aquatic birds, and fishes. The centre of the picture 
 is occupied with a very elaborate structure intended 
 to represent the temple. It has a curved roof 
 covered with convex tiling, a dome surmounted with 
 
272 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 ball and cross and supported by two columns with 
 foliated capitals ; small apertures in the clerestories 
 over lean-to aisles which have their slanting roofs 
 covered in with slabs, the numerous fastenings or 
 pegs of which project very prominently, and their 
 sides composed of open arcading of four columns 
 sustaining semicircular arches. The approach is 
 by a broad flight of steps, perhaps in allusion to 
 the object of this Psalm, which is entitled, a " Canti- 
 cum graduum," or " Of degrees." Three swinging 
 lamps hang beneath the dome ; and the steps and 
 aisles are occupied with a throng of worshippers. 
 
 The next Psalm has a smaller temple (in reference 
 to verse 2), set within a walled city and between two 
 groups with harps ; the personified sun and moon ; 
 the " lightnings for the rain" (verse 7); " the idols 
 of the heathen," " simulacra gentium," set within 
 small walled enclosures; the smiting of great nations, 
 the slaying of mighty kings, and the death of the 
 " primogenita Aegypti ab homine usque ad pecus ; " 
 a ship ; and the sphere, on which the Lord is seated, 
 upheld by two large heads of cherubim. 
 
 The 135th Psalm, the verses of which throughout 
 ring to the refrain of " quoniam in aeternum miseri- 
 cordia ejus;" " for his mercy endureth for ever;" 
 offers many pictures to the facile pen of the artist, 
 who seems to have found his art more easy of 
 expression as he passes on to the completion of 
 his work, and so he introduces many more individual 
 groups into the same amount of space which holds 
 so few in the earlier pictures of the series. In this 
 instance, just as the text of this and the preceding 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 273 
 
 Psalm resemble each other in no slight degree, and 
 just as the scope of the two is of a similar nature, 
 so also the picture of this Psalm has very much 
 in common with that which precedes it. The 
 statues, the ship, the winged throwers of the 
 lightning, the city fortifications, the sun and moon, 
 all occupy similar positions with those in the pre- 
 vious illustration. Among minor points of interest 
 are the hinges and ornamental iron work of the 
 valved doors in the wall, and the overthrown riders. 
 The 136th Psalm in its picture renders the " flumina 
 Babylonis " by a winding river, on the borders of 
 which are the " salices " or willows on which hang 
 the "organa" of the captive Jews, here rendered 
 into harps of the conventional cithara shape, and 
 thus more closely translating the Hebrew (and 
 English) version than that of the Vulgate. " We 
 hanged our harps upon the willows," " In salicibus 
 suspendimus organa nostra." 
 
 Kings of the earth are praising the Lord and 
 worshipping towards His holy temple in the next 
 picture; and the phrase, " in medio tribulationis " 
 (verse 7) , appears to be rendered by a hollowed site 
 in the foreground wherein are two men seated, each 
 with one foot set in the stocks, and two other 
 prisoners held down to the earth by chains or cords 
 round the neck, one being also confined by a ring 
 round the ankles. Psalm CXXXVIII. affords 
 another of those rare examples of figures of large 
 size, in this place intended to represent the per- 
 sonification of the fades, or the spiritus of the Lord 
 (verse 7), but not without reference also to the 
 
274 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 infernum of verse 8. The head and arm alone of 
 this large figure are shown in the left hand corner 
 of the foreground, about to engulf a human being, 
 while another is thrust towards him for a similar fate 
 by one armed with a trident. The 139th Psalm is 
 principally to be noted for the two " aspides " or 
 " adders," referred to in the 3rd verse; the " la- 
 queus" or " funes," the "snare for me, and cords," 
 which here takes the form of a net held by warriors 
 armed with spears and cuirasses or breastplates of 
 armour, with a short plaited petticoat below them. 
 On the right of the picture burning coals fall upon 
 the wicked and they are cast into the fire (verse 10). 
 Psalm CXL. has a monstrous head in the left hand 
 corner of the foreground, and a very large trawl-net 
 in the centre of the picture, in allusion to verse 10. 
 " Cadent in reciaculo ejus peccatores ' " " Let the 
 wicked fall into their own nets." The animals in 
 this page are the work of a good designer. 
 
 The two pictures for the next Psalms on the 
 following folio (79 b) are of coarse workmanship. 
 In the former we must observe the net, or snare, 
 privily laid at the foot of a flight of steps ; in the 
 latter a gigantic half length figure of the sun ; the 
 dead dwelling in darkness shown by coffins piled 
 up in a cavern ; demon forms with snakes about 
 their bodies and heads, and armed with tridents 
 spears and a hook, attacking one rising from the 
 grave and leading two captives with their hands 
 fettered. Psalm CXLIII. has an illustration of the 
 Lord teaching the hands of David to war, by handing 
 to an armoured figure a shield and a broadsword 
 
 \ 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 275 
 
 with its scabbard and baldric, from the heavens. 
 The groups of sheep and oxen ; the fighting-men 
 armed with battle-axes, spears, sword, and triangular 
 breastplate ; the 11 novella [e] plantationes," or plants 
 grown up in their youth, and the " promptuaria 
 plena," or garners full of all manner of store, must 
 be noticed in this plate. 
 
 The 144th Psalm has several well executed figures 
 of animals, in reference to verse 16, " imples omne 
 animal benedictione ; " a group of trident-bearers 
 destroying the wicked (verse 20) ; the raising up 
 of one that is " bowed down," " erigit omnes elisos ;" 
 and a winding river which springs from the right 
 hand and passes along the whole length of the 
 foreground to the left hand corner. Of a very 
 different style is the broad water with fishes and 
 birds in the picture of Psalm CXLV., which also 
 contains a very elaborate throne, with carved orna- 
 ments at the back and side arms, and with a sloping 
 foot-rest ornamented with three arches in front. 
 Psalm CXLVI. has its illustration in the same folio, 
 but this is of that coarse style which characterises 
 several of the drawings which have already been 
 adverted to. In this may be noticed city walls, 
 musical instruments, and the weapons of the class 
 already examined, spears, axes, standards and 
 shields ; the moon and the " number of the stars ; " 
 the casting down of the wicked ; the rain (verse 8) ; 
 the beasts, and the young ravens, one of which is 
 perched upon a stump on the extreme right of the 
 foreground ; the horse and the rider overthrown, in 
 allusion to verse 10. 
 
 1 
 
276 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Folio 82 a contains the picture prefixed to the 147th 
 Psalm. The most conspicuous group is that in re- 
 ference to verse 2 (or 13 of the Vulgate version, which 
 combines the 146th and 147th Utrecht Psalms), 
 "quoniam confortavit seras portarum tuarum/" " for 
 He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates." Two 
 angels are holding thick bars in the staples of the 
 folding doors of a city gate. The wheat, (frumen- 
 tum), the snow like wool, the hoarfrost like ashes 
 (nebulam sicut cinerem), the ice like morsels (cris- 
 tallum sicut buccellas), and the flowing waters, are 
 all depicted with a realistic force that we have seen 
 employed already in former places. Two angels are 
 coming down from heaven, one bearing an open book 
 (verse 15), the other a personification of the " facies 
 frigoris" (verse 17), in the shape of a monstrous 
 head. The band of warriors who have piled their 
 spears in a sheaf beside them, and placed their 
 shields on the ground before them, while with palm 
 branches in their hands they raise their thanksgiving 
 to the Lord, forms a very interesting group. Psalm 
 CXLVIII. has a picture of very beautifully balanced 
 proportions. The artist has evidently striven to in- 
 troduce a drawing of all the material works of the 
 divine creation which are invoked by the Psalmist 
 in this hymn of universal praise. The most pro- 
 minent groups that claim our notice are the broad 
 belt of stars beneath the heavenly throne, and the 
 quaint representations of the sun and moon in 
 medallions as before, but held in the hands of 
 gigantic half length figures, a most unusual, and 
 almost unique form of these celestial bodies. The 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 277 
 
 hosts, the earth, the dragons, the deeps, the fruitful 
 trees, the creeping things, the flying fowl, kings, 
 princes, judges, young men and maidens, old men 
 and children, are inserted in well set groups ; and 
 the beasts are represented by pairs of oxen, stags, 
 bears, lions, and wild boars, among the trees on the 
 banks of the water. 
 
 Of the 149th Psalm the most instructive parts are 
 the women with the psalterium, the tympanum, or hand- 
 drum, and a harp of ovoid shape which appears to 
 occur here for the first time ; and the allusion to 
 verse 8; u To bind their kings with chains, and their 
 nobles with fetters of iron," where we may see two 
 kings set in the stocks, and other two led, chained at 
 the hands, by a divine messenger towards a temple 
 on the right hand. The concluding Psalm has also 
 its picture on this folio (83 a) . The eight instru- 
 ments of music mentioned in the text, namely tuba, 
 psalterium, cythara, timpanum, chorus, cordse, orga- 
 num, and cymbala, are variously represented. The 
 tuba, trumpet or cornet, is large and slightly curved ; 
 the psalterium triangular ; the cythara of three shapes 
 already described where they occur ; the timpanum or 
 timbrel is a cylindrical hand-drum with recessed 
 centre ; the word chorus may perhaps signify dance 
 (English Version) or pipe, as in the marginal note 
 (of the same version), in which case it is shown by 
 the same shape as the tuba already alluded to. The 
 corda must be taken as equivalent to the psalterium 
 and cytharce ; and the cymbala are double plates of 
 metal rattled together and tossed into the air, held 
 by two thongs in the hand of the performer. The 
 
278 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 organ is of very intense interest on account of the 
 great amount of detail it exhibits. 1 Westwood says 
 of this object that it agrees exactly with that given 
 by Strutt from the Eadwine Psalter, copied by 
 T. Wright in his Domestic Manners. 
 
 Much controversy has arisen among the principal 
 writers upon this Psalter with regard to the organ, 
 which is played upon by two performers by means 
 of a manual arrangement or finger board, the wind 
 being driven through the pipes by bellows worked 
 with two levers on either side of the instrument, 
 each lever being held by an assistant. Some con- 
 sider that this form of musical instrument does not 
 appear to have been in use (at any rate, north of 
 the Alps) before the time of Charlemagne ; Dr. 
 Vermuelen states that the construction does not 
 admit a date so far back as the sixth century: but, 
 on the other hand, Sir Thomas Hardy records a 
 reference to organs worked by bellows in St. Augus- 
 tine's treatise on music, and also mentions an ex- 
 cellent representation of an organ, not very unlike 
 that one here depicted, carved on an early cata- 
 comb stone in Rome. 2 Hence all that can be 
 gleaned from the evidence of the organ here and 
 in other places is, that the date of the drawings is 
 not in any way affected by the introduction of these 
 objects. 
 
 It now remains to examine the pictures prefixed to 
 the appended canticles and pieces. The first is the 
 " Canticum Isaie Prophetae," commencing " Con- 
 fitebor tibi domine quoniam iratus es mihi/" being 
 
 1 Compare the simpler organ in Psalm 70, folio 40 a. 2 Report, p. 26. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 279 
 
 the 12th chapter of the book of Isaiah. The prin- 
 cipal points of interest in the drawing are the figures 
 with water-vessels of various ancient forms, and in 
 the centre a quatrefoil-shaped well or fountain with 
 stone mouth, over which the water of salvation is 
 flowing down to the gate of a city wall, where the 
 stream divides and runs towards either corner of the 
 foreground. " With joy shall ye draw water out of 
 the wells of salvation ; " Aurietis aquas in gaudio de 
 fontibus salvatoris i ' ' 
 
 The next piece is another " Canticum Isaie Pro- 
 phetae," " Ego dixi in dimidio dierum meorum/" 
 being the 38th chapter of Isaiah, verses 11-20. Here 
 we see the lions (verse 13), the birds of verse 14, 
 the shepherds (verse 12), and the gates of the grave, 
 held open by an angel (verse 10). The mournful 
 plaint of the prophet, " I have cut off like a weaver 
 my life : he will cut me off (from the thrum) with 
 pining sickness ; " Praecisa e[s]t velut a texente vita 
 mea/ dum adhuc ordirer succidit me/" (verse 12), 
 has suggested to the pen of the artist an exceedingly 
 delicate and excellently grouped representation, which 
 Professor Westwood points out for especial notice. 
 The treatment of the idea is certainly very ancient 
 and classical, and is none less than a group of the 
 Fates employed in weaving the web of human 
 destiny, one of them with a pair of shears cutting 
 off the shortened span of life alluded to in the quota- 
 tion. 1 
 
 The third u Canticum " of Isaiah, rightly shown 
 
 1 See a very rude copy of this group from the Eadwine Psalter in T. Wright's 
 Domestic Manners, p. 108. 
 
28o 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 by Sir T. D. Hardy to be that of Anna (i.e., Hannah, 
 the mother of Samuel), " Exsultavit cor meum in 
 domino/" is from i Samuel ii. i-io. There is in 
 this picture a small circular medallion, after the style 
 noticed in some of the later Psalms. In the lower 
 part of this are the broken bows alluded to in the 
 phrase, " Arcus fortium superatus est/" in the upper 
 part a female accompanied with nine crowned figures, 
 in reference to the words, 11 ut sedeat cum principi- 
 bus," etc. 
 
 Then follows the u Canticum Moysi Prophetae," 
 commencing, 11 Cantemus domino," Exodus xv. 1-13, 
 17-20. The four verses (14-17) have been added on 
 the lower , margin of the page in a handwriting of 
 Rustic capitals of a weak, imperfect, and uncertain 
 style. It would be interesting to determine whether 
 the insertion is to be considered in the light of a 
 rectification of a clerical error, or whether the 
 abridged form of the Canticle was ever employed 
 in the early ages of the church. If this later addi- 
 tion be not an insertion to complete the original 
 form of the Canticle, but rather the effect of a newer 
 liturgical arrangement which can be attributed to a 
 period within which the writing of the Psalter can be 
 shown to have been current, much will have been 
 done towards a solution of the true date of the 
 Manuscript. But this is one of those questions 
 which as yet the paucity of research affords no well 
 grounded means of answering. 
 
 The " Canticum Abacuc Prophetae," commencing 
 " Domine audivi " (Habakkuk iii. 2-19), has a picture 
 containing many most interesting groups, the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 28l 
 
 " tentoria Aethiopiae " of the form described under 
 the 26th Psalm ; the rivers and seas, the chariot, the 
 " gurges aquarum," the "abyssus," the " altitudo," 
 or u deep," that u lifted up his hands on high," the 
 "pedes cervorum," and the fig-tree or u ficus " of 
 verse 17. But above all in interest are two groups, 
 one of the scourging, the other of the crucifixion of 
 the Lord, the latter being designated by Professor 
 Westwood as one of the earliest representations of 
 the three crosses. Beside the Saviour stand two 
 figures, one with a spear, the other with a sponge on 
 a reed, in accordance with the details of the Gospel 
 narratives. 
 
 This is followed by the u Canticum Moysi ad filiis 
 Israhel," from Deuteronomy xxxii. 1-43, commencing 
 with the words, " Audite caeli quae loquor/" The 
 picture here is one of those specimens of even 
 balancing of groups pointed out in several former 
 instances. The central figure is Moses, the lawgiver, 
 standing on a hill, holding a book of the law, and 
 reciting his song to two bodies of men. On either 
 edge of the picture is a cedar tree, and in the 
 branches an eagle stirring up her nest (verse 11), 
 " aquila provocans ad volandum pupillos suos/ et 
 super eos volitans." In the clouds is the Saviour with 
 sword and arrows in his hands, and surrounded by 
 animals, the lion, and the wolf, in allusion to verses 
 23, 24. In the foreground is a well drawn scene of 
 milking goats and kine into large chalices, and a man 
 churning with a cylindrical vessel not far unlike the 
 form of the modern churn. 
 
 In the following Canticle, that entitled " Bene- 
 
 21 
 
282 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 dictio trium puerorum," and commencing, " Bene- 
 dicite omnia opera domini domino/" (from the 
 Apocrypha) . The three children are seen in the 
 fiery furnace 1 placed on arches in the centre of a 
 picture containing a . number of groups, carefully 
 balanced, and intended to represent " all the works 
 of the Lord," The corners of the foreground con- 
 tain two very elaborate examples of " whales and all 
 that move in the waters ; " " Coetae et omnia quae 
 moventur in aquis." Professor Westwood especially 
 points out the classical representation of water in 
 this illustration. 
 
 The " Hymnum ad matutinis," better known as 
 the " Te Deum " from its first words, follows next in 
 order. This composition is attributed to St. Ambrose, 
 Bishop of Milan ; and a hymn with the same com- 
 mencing words is noticed by Hardy as mentioned in 
 The Rule of St. Benedict. But Canon Swainson's 
 Report states that the older versions of the " Te 
 Deum " vary considerably from each other and from 
 the text in the Utrecht Psalter, which later text 
 was not fixed before the time of Charlemagne. 
 Yet the Canon speaks of the old phrase, " Su- 
 scepisti hominem " being altered into " Suscepturus " 
 at the suggestion of Abbo of Fleury ; the Utrecht 
 version retaining the former phrase would seem 
 therefore, by this kind of reasoning, to be prior to 
 both Charlemagne and Abbo. Sir T. Hardy points 
 out another old variation, munerari for numerari, in a 
 succeeding verse of the Utrecht text. The picture 
 has a temple, and groups of the principal characters 
 
 1 Compare a similar form in the illustration prefixed to Psalm 65. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 283 
 
 invoking the praise of their God. The Canon's 
 translation of the title as " daily at matins" appears 
 unreasonable, and the argument founded upon this 
 redundancy of translation, namely, that as the daily 
 use of the hymn commenced in the ninth century, 
 the Psalter cannot be earlier, must necessarily be 
 rejected. The word scae, in the phrase, " Te ergo 
 scae quesumus tuis familis subveni;" " We therefore 
 pray thee," etc., is styled "unintelligible" by Canon 
 Swainson, but there can scarcely be any difficulty in 
 reading it as a contraction for sancte, in the vocative ; 
 e being occasionally in this Manuscript thus strangely 
 written, as may be seen in the words voluntariae 
 (p. 244), caera (p. 246), coetae for cete (p. 282), fili 
 unigenitae in the " Gloria in excelsis," virginae in the 
 Apostles Creed. 
 
 The next poem is that entitled " Canticu Zacharie 
 Prophete ad matutinum," or " Benedictus," (Luke 
 i. 68-79). This picture has a group of the Nativity, 
 with the Child being washed in a large vessel, as 
 we have already seen depicted in Psalm LXXXVI. 
 The^ Blessed Virgin reclines upon a bed placed at 
 the door of a circular edifice with a domed roof, 
 over which shines the " dayspring," or " oriens ex 
 alto ; " and the horn of salvation, held in the hands 
 of the Almighty, sheds visible rays " to give light 
 to them that sit in darkness," under a cave in 
 the foreground. Here, too, the fig-tree and the 
 cedar balance each other on the margins of the 
 drawing. 
 
 The " Canticum sanctae Mariae," or " Magnifi- 
 cat," (Luke i. 46-55), shows us, in addition to the 
 
 21* 
 
284 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 interesting groups of realistic expressions derived 
 from the images of the text, a very unique repre- 
 sentation of the Blessed Virgin, standing before the 
 hand of the Lord, which is blessing her from the 
 clouds ; and in front of her, and as it were held up 
 by her hands, her spirit, in the form of a small 
 child stretching out its hands toward the sky, " ex- 
 sultavit spiritus meus ; " " my spirit hath rejoiced " 
 (verse 47). That this is really intended for a figure 
 of her spirit, and not for the child Jesus, is plainly 
 manifest from examples already pointed out in the 
 illustration to Psalm LXXV., where a similar meta- 
 phor occurs. , 
 
 The " Canticum Simeonis ad completorium," or 
 '-Nunc dimittis," (Luke ii. 29-32), on folio 89b, has 
 a charming group of the Virgin offering the Child 
 to the high priest at the entrance of a temple, with 
 an attendant standing behind her and holding two 
 doves in a cloth. According to Sir Thomas Hardy, 
 St. Benedict's writings do not mention this Can- 
 ticle, so that it would appear to be an introduction 
 into the liturgy of later date than a.d. 530, but this 
 is opposed to Prebendary Walcott's opinion. 1 
 
 The same page contains the 11 Gloria in excelsis," 
 without any rubric or heading. The picture pre- 
 fixed to this very ancient angelical hymn is of 
 simple but harmonious construction. By the side 
 of the Almighty Father is the " Lamb of God," and 
 in the foreground groups of worshippers, and an 
 angelic figure offering two palm branches to the 
 leaders of the song. 
 
 1 Sacred Archcenlogy, p. 112. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 285 
 
 The u Oratio Dominica secundum Matheum," 
 (Matt. vi. 9*13), is written without the doxology. 
 Its picture represents the Saviour in the midst of 
 the twelve disciples, elevating their hands in prayer: 
 and from out of the heavens overhead the right 
 hand of the Lord is extended in the act of bene- 
 diction. The same folio (90 a) contains the Apostle's 
 Creed, with the rubric " Incipit Symbolu[m] Apos- 
 tolorum." The picture prefixed to this composition 
 is of very great interest. It contains, and we should 
 naturally expect that it would so contain, a number 
 of groups illustrative of the various events in the 
 life of Christ which form the principal subjects of 
 the text. Hence we may see the arraignment of 
 Jesus before Pontius Pilate ; the crucifixion in the 
 presence of the three Maries ; the holy sepulchre ; 
 the descent " ad inferna ; " the angel at the tomb ; 
 the ascension, treated in a very original manner, the 
 rising figure of the Saviour being led up into heaven 
 by the Divine hand of God, while the assembled dis- 
 ciples gaze fondly after their Lord, whose entire 
 form is yet in their sight, and not, as in pictures of 
 later conventionalism, half hidden in the skies ; the 
 " Holy Ghost" as a dove with a branch; the 
 Church ; the resurrection of the body, and other 
 groups. Not the least interesting is the group of 
 the Almighty Father, seated in the heavens in 
 majesty, on his right hand the Blessed Virgin, also 
 seated, and holding the Infant Saviour, with cruci- 
 form nimbus, in her arms, while the Holy Spirit in 
 form of a dove hovers overhead. With regard to 
 the text of this creed, Sir Thomas Hardy, in his 
 
286 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 first Report,' treats in a lengthy and exhaustive 
 manner the objections that have been by some 
 urged with regard to the employment of the phrase, 
 " descendit ad inferna/" which they allege to have 
 been introduced not before the latter end of the 
 eighth or beginning of the ninth century ; and he 
 instances its use in several symbols or creeds, the 
 earliest cited being that of Aquileia in the beginning 
 of the fifth century. 
 
 On folio 90 b is the Athanasian Creed, or " Qui- 
 cu[n]que vult," with the faulty rubric " Incipit 
 Fides Catholicam." The picture is one that de- 
 mands great attention, for, while throughout the 
 volume we have observed every picture endeavours 
 to represent in some way, more or less natural and 
 realistic, a rendering of the imagery of the diction 
 and the metaphors or incidents of the texts, here, for 
 the first time, a departure is made, and the illustra- 
 tion fails to give as we should expect, a group or 
 series of groups illustrative of the Divine nature and 
 attributes of the personages of the Holy Trinity. 
 The picture, on the other hand, contains a repre- 
 sentation of a synod or council of ecclesiastics, 
 seventy-eight in number, seated on benches and 
 cushions in a complete circle. The interior space is 
 occupied with a full length personage, intended for a 
 pope or archbishop, who is being invested with a 
 pallium or stole by two attendants. On each side of 
 this figure is a square upright desk of thick frame- 
 work, and sloping top supporting a large open 
 volume, a scribe seated writing in a roll, and beyond 
 
 1 pp. 29-32. 
 
 1 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 287 
 
 these two other scribes seated between a bowl of ink 
 and dipping into it their pens to write on scrolls held 
 before them. The picture is evidently intended to 
 show a view of the Council of Nicea, or some synod 
 in which the Fides Catholica was accepted for the 
 church at large ; and from the similarity of its 
 artistic work with the other pictures in the volume, 
 must be taken as of contemporary execution. If, 
 therefore, any evidence could be acquired respecting 
 the date of the admission of this Creed into the 
 liturgical formula of the Church, that same date 
 would in all probability give us also the time of the 
 execution of the illustrations in this Manuscript ; for 
 on account of the unique departure which we witness 
 here, viz. from realistic rendering of metaphors to a 
 historical cartoon representing an event of great im- 
 portance in church history, there is no doubt that the 
 artist is pourtraying a scene at which he probably was 
 present, or which at least was of coeval occurrence. 
 But unfortunately no means appear to be available 
 for the solution of this question, the actual date of the 
 admission of the creed into the Church being unde- 
 termined ; and hence we are debarred from deducing 
 any theories of the date of execution of the art shown 
 here, from the theological point of view. 
 
 The text of this creed will be found in the next 
 chapter. It is followed by the Psalm termed the 
 Apocryphal Psalm by general acceptance. The 
 Rubric has been already pointed out 1 as an illustra- 
 tion of the imperfect and arbitrary nature of the 
 abbreviations, which cannot be here said to be of 
 
 1 See page 186. 
 
288 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 regular use, and seem to weaken the theory of after 
 revision by a Latin scholar of the text prepared by a 
 mere scribe. The Rubric as it stands in the Manu- 
 script is not easily explained without the aid of 
 supposed contractions, which seem to shew that the 
 scribe was ignorant of the language he was writing 
 and took no notice of marks over lines in the book 
 from which he was copying. 
 
 This is the last of the pictures, and a portion of it is 
 reproduced by Professor Westwood in his great 
 work. There are four groups : — the angel appearing 
 to David feeding his father's sheep ; a figure seated 
 playing an organ, u Manus meae fecerunt organum / 
 et digiti mei aptaverunt psalterium ; " the organ here 
 being very similar to that in the picture described at 
 page 278, with two wind boxes, a double row of 
 pipes, and a carved ornamental frame along the 
 sides and upper part ; the death and decollation of 
 the " alienigena " Goliath; and on the right hand of 
 the picture Saul, the king of Israel, seated in majesty 
 upon a throne, crowned, holding a sword and sceptre 
 terminating with a carved effigy wearing a helmet, 
 and surrounded by a group of warlike attendants. 
 
 The next folio (92 a) was originally left blank, but 
 a few words have been scribbled on it of the time 
 of the eleventh century, an eagle's head and some 
 other scratches of the artist's and the scribe's pens. 
 On the other side of the leaf are, " m 1 vivere xpc est - 
 vere - spc," a study of a bust with spear and sword, 
 a female head roughly drawn, and the commence- 
 ment of one of those beautifully intricate lacertine 
 letters or winding ornaments, composed of stalks, 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 289 
 
 leaves, heads, wings, etc., which abound in many 
 books of the tenth and eleventh centuries. Then 
 follow a number of leaves, which have been added 
 by Sir Robert to the original volume of the Psalter, 
 for the only reason, apparently, that in size they 
 coincided with each other, a practice which has 
 been shown to have been frequently made use of 
 by that collector. Of these, two leaves contain the 
 epistle of Hieronymus to Pope Damasus, generally 
 prefixed to the Vulgate version of the Old Testa- 
 ment, in fine uncial writing of the end of the seventh 
 century, written in two columns of thirty lines to a 
 column. The final letters of lines are occasionally 
 united into monograms, or a curve (~) over the line 
 indicates an omitted m. Among the combined letters 
 may be noticed NT, EN, ES, US, OR, UR. To- 
 wards the end of the line the letters are sometimes 
 very much reduced in size in order to get in a 
 certain number of letters, and there are many cor- 
 rections and erasures. A middle comma is used for 
 the terminative -us, in -bus, or -ue, in que, or it is 
 used as a stop. The text begins, " Incipit prologus. 
 Beato Papae Damaso Hieronymus. Novum opus 
 facere me cogis, etc.," and ends, " vel vicina dicerunt," 
 with a colophon in Rustic writing: " Opto ut in xpo 
 valeas et memineris mei papa beatissime. Explicit." 
 
 The next leaf contains, from the same Bible, the 
 ending of the 11 Prologus secundum Mattheum quat- 
 tuor evangeliorum," a complete copy of which may 
 be read in the British Museum, Additional MS., 
 1 1849, a very fine Manuscript of an early date. The 
 text of the fragment commences with the words, "qui 
 
2go 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 negant xpm in carne venisse," and ends with " vivis 
 esse canendas." The Royal MS., I. B. vii., in the 
 British Museum, may be examined for prefatory 
 material very much the same as is shown by these 
 fragments. 
 
 Then follows the Praefaiio Matthei: " Mattheus in 
 Judaea sicut in ordine," etc., complete, to which is 
 subjoined the abstract entitled " Capitula lectionis 
 secundum Mattheum," in eighty-eight sections, com- 
 prised in four leaves or eight pages altogether, ending 
 thus: u in finem saeculi praesentiam pollicetur, Ex- 
 plicit." 
 
 Folio ioo contains the general title to the Gospels, 
 u Incip | in nomine dm | hi ihu xpi euange|lia numero 
 IIII. | Sec mattheum | Sec marciim | Sec lucan 1 | 
 Sec iohannem | ," in most beautifully formed uncial 
 letters of the height of a quarter of an inch, arranged 
 within a circle of five and a half inches diameter 
 concentric with an outer circle of seven and a half 
 inches diameter, coloured blue about an eighth of an 
 inch wide ; the belt thus formed is filled with thirteen 
 semicircular escallops or festoons of the same colour 
 interlaced, over and under, with the same number of 
 large, and twice the number of smaller semicircular 
 ornaments coloured pink. Each of the lozenge 
 shaped spaces of the field between the intersecting 
 curves has one letter of the following line : — 
 
 + APIA MAPIA BOHGHCON TO TPA^ANTI. 
 
 " Holy Mary, help the writer." 
 
 The next six pages contain the gospel of St. 
 
 1 The form of this word has been attributed to great antiquity. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 2QI 
 
 Matthew in very fine and bold uncial writing of the 
 seventh century, in two columns of about twenty- 
 eight lines to a page, with numerical canons on the 
 margins; the lines being of unequal length, and the 
 words in many cases run together, but with an 
 evident leaning towards division, the space between 
 the words in a great number of instances being very 
 distinctly shown. The text is consecutive from 
 chapter i. i, " LIBER 1 generationis," to chapter iii. 
 4, u de pilis camelorum." The last folio (104) has the 
 beginning of the gospel of St. John in the same 
 handwriting, from " In principle," chapter i. 1, to 
 " et dixit non sum," chapter i. 21. 
 
 And here we close the Utrecht Psalter \ having ex- 
 amined carefully, and, as minutely as the space at 
 command has allowed, described every point of 
 interest raised by the contemplation of the art, 
 whether of the writing or pictures, which this book 
 affords ; a book standing alone, sui generis? in the 
 library of ancient literary relics, for its manifold 
 peculiarities ; and, like the Sphinx of old, offering to 
 our researches complicated paradoxes, to which; as 
 yet, the combined knowledge of those best competent 
 to decide has failed to propose unanimous responses. 
 In the concluding chapter some of the causes of this 
 divergence of skilled opinion will be brought under 
 discussion. 
 
 The necessity of acquiring more evidence of a 
 collateral and comparative nature, with which to 
 contrast the many peculiarities which this Manu- 
 script possesses, is indeed very great. But, until 
 
 1 This word in large plain gold capitals. 
 
292 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 this be acquired, we must be content to accept the 
 qualified decision of those whose opinion has been 
 formed by the examination of existing palseographical 
 materials ; and in the following pages these opinions 
 of skilled writers will be found to have been tabulated 
 and placed in apposition, and their teachings con- 
 sidered, and, where possible, accepted. _ 
 
293 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 N this, the concluding division of the work, it is 
 proposed to give the correct text of the Atha- 
 nasian Creed from the Utrecht Psalter, with some 
 account of the theological points raised in connection 
 with the palaeography, and the means for accounting 
 for them ; a table of the expressed opinions of many 
 writers of acknowledged authority concerning the 
 date of the Manuscript, notices of some specially 
 conflicting points selected from the great number of 
 such difficulties, remarks as to the probable date of 
 the work, its place of origin, its object, and its actual 
 use, and, finally, the aspect of future solutions likely 
 to be offered, obtained, and received, and the general 
 conclusions derived from the examination of the 
 book. 
 
 The text of the Athanasian Creed does not appear 
 to have ever been printed directly and verbatim from 
 the Utrecht Psalter, excepting only the transcript, 
 with separated words and extended contractions, in 
 Sir Thomas Hardy's privately printed Report. No 
 
294 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 apology is therefore needed for recording it here line 
 for line, with contractions and other peculiarities, 
 exactly as it is written in the Manuscript itself. The 
 large letters of the first two lines are in the uncial 
 character, as are also the first letters of the para- 
 graphs which stand to the left of the text. The 
 whole of the body of the text is written in the Rustic 
 letters described in a former place. 
 
 Col 2.] 
 
 F 
 
 N 
 
 A 
 
 S 
 
 Q 
 
 INCIPITFIDESCA THO 
 UICUQUEUULT 
 
 SALUUSESSEANTEOMNIA 
 
 OPUSESTUTTENEATCATHO 
 
 LICAMFIDEM; 
 
 UAMNISIQUISQUE1NTE 
 
 GRAMINUXOLATAMQUE 
 
 SERUAUERITABSQUEDU 
 
 BIOINAETERNUMPERIBIT; 
 
 IDESAUTEMCATHOLICA. 
 
 H AECESTU TU N U MDMIN 
 
 T R I N I TAT E/ETT R I N I T A 
 
 TEMINUNITATEUENERE 
 
 mur; 
 
 equeconfundentes 
 
 PERSONASNEQUESUBSTAN 
 TIAMSEPARANTES; 
 LIAESTENIMPERSONA 
 PATRISALIAFILIIALIA 
 S PS SCI; 
 
 EDPATRISETFILIIETSFSSCI 
 
 UNAESTDIVINITASAE 
 
 QUALISGLORIACOAET 
 
 NAMAIESTAS; 
 
 UALISPATERTALISFILIUS 
 
 LIC AM 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 295 
 
 / 
 / 
 
 A 
 
 E 
 S 
 
 Col. 3.] S 
 
 E 
 
 I 
 E 
 I 
 
 E 
 
 I 
 
 TALISETSPIRITUSSCS. 
 
 NCREATUSPATERINCRE 
 
 ATUSFXLIUS/XNCREATUS 
 
 ETSPIRITUSSCS; 
 
 NME-NSUSPATERIN MEN 
 
 SUSFILI U S / 1 N M ENSUS 
 
 ETSPIRITUSSCS; 
 
 ETERNUSPATERAETER 
 
 NUSFILIUSAETERNUS 
 
 ETSPIRITUSSCS; 
 
 TT AM EN NO N TRES AETN I / 
 
 SEDUNUSAETERNUS; 
 
 I CU T N O N TRESI N CRE ATI 
 
 NECTRESINMENSI/SEDU 
 
 NUSINCREATUSETUNUS 
 
 INMENSUS; 
 
 IMILITEROMNIPOTENS 
 
 PATER/OMNIPOTENSFI 
 
 LIUSOMNIPOTENSETSPSSCS; 
 
 TTAMENNONTRESOMNI 
 
 POTENTESSEDUNUSOMPS; 
 
 TADSPATERDSFILIUS 
 
 DSETSITRITUSSCS; 
 
 TTAMENNONTRESDII 
 
 SEDUNUSESTDS; 
 
 TADNSPATER/DNSFILIUS 
 
 DNSETSPIRITUSSCS; 
 
 TTAMENNONTRESDNl/ 
 
 SEDUNUSESTDNS; 
 
 UIASICUTSINGILLATIM 
 
 UNAMQUAMQUEPERSONA 
 
 DMETDN MCONFITERIXPIA 
 
 NAUERITATECONPELLIMUR; 
 
 TATRESDEOSAUTTRES 
 
 DOMINOSDICERE/CATHO 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Col. 4.] P 
 
 F 
 S 
 U 
 
 E 
 
 S 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 LICARELIGIONEPROHIBE 
 
 MUR; 1 
 
 ATERANULLOESTFACTUS/ 
 
 NECCREATUSNECGENITUS 
 
 ILIUSAPATRESOLOEST/ 
 
 NONFACTUS/NECCREATUS/ 
 
 SEDGENITUS; 
 
 RSSCSPATREETFILIONON 
 
 FACTUSNECCREATUSNECGE 
 
 NITUSSEDPROCEDENS; 
 
 NUSERGOPATERNONTRES 
 
 PATRESUNUSFILIUSNON 
 
 TRESFILIIUNUSSPSSCS 
 
 NONTRESSPSSCI; 
 
 .TINHACTRINITATENIHIL 
 
 PRIUSAUTPOSTERIUS/NI 
 
 HILMAIUSAUTMINUS; 
 
 EDTOTETRESPERSONAECO 
 
 //// 2 AETERNAESIBISUNT . ET 
 
 COAEQUALES; 
 
 TAUTPEROMNIASICUTIA 
 
 SUPRADICTUMESTETTRI 
 
 NITASINUNITATE/ETU 
 
 NITASINTRINITATEUE 
 
 NERANDASIT; 
 
 UIUULTERGOSALUUS 
 
 ESSE/ITADETRINITATE 
 
 SENTIAT; 
 
 EDNECESSARIUMEST 
 ADAETERNAMSALUTE/ 
 U TIN CAR NATION EM 
 QUOQUEDNINOSTRI 
 IEUJXPIFIDELITERCRE 
 
 Originally firohibem r , but m r erased and mur added below the line 
 Co here erased, but very evident traces remain. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Col. 5.] 
 
 Col. 6.] 
 
 E 
 
 D 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 Q 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 N 
 
 Q 
 
 DAT 
 
 STERGOFIDESRECTAUTCRE 
 
 DAMUSETCONFITEAMUR/ 
 
 QUIADNSNOSTERIHSXPS 
 
 DIFILIUS/'DSETHOMOEST; 
 
 SESTEXSUBSTANTIAPATRIS. 
 
 ANTESAECULAGENITUS/ 
 
 ETHOMOESTEXSUBSTAN 
 
 TIAMATRISINSAECULO 
 
 NATUS; 
 
 ERFECTUSDSPERFECTUSHO 
 MOEXANIMARATIONALI/ 
 ETHUMANACARNESUB 
 SISTENS; 
 
 EQUALISPATRISECUN 
 
 DUMDIVINITATEM/ 
 
 MINORPATRISECUNDU 
 
 HUMANITATEM; 
 
 UILICETDSSITETHOMO 
 
 NONDUOTAMENSEDU 
 
 NUSESTXPS; 
 
 NUSAUTEMNONCONUER 
 
 SIONEDIVINITATISIN 
 
 CARNE/SEDADSUMPTIO 
 
 NEHUMANITATISINDO; 
 
 NUSOMNINONONCON 
 
 FUSIONESUBSTANTIAE 
 
 SEDUNITATEPERSONAE; 
 
 AMSICUTANIMARATIO 
 
 NALIS.ETCAROUNUSESTHO 
 
 MO.ITADSETHOMOUNUS 
 
 ESTXPS 
 
 UIPASSUSESTPROSALUTA 
 NOSTRADESCENDITADIN 
 FEROSTERTIADIERESUR 
 
298 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 REXITAMORTUIS; 
 Jl SCENDITADCAELOSSEDIT 
 ADDEXTERAMDIPATRIS 
 OMNIPOTENTIS; 
 J NDEUENTURUSIUDICARE 
 UIUOSETMORTUOS; 
 j/[ DCUIUSADUENTUMOM 
 
 NESHOMINESRESURGERE 
 HABENTCUMCORPORIBUS 
 
 suis; 
 
 ]5 TREDDITURISUNTDEFAC 
 TISPROPRIISRATIONEM 
 TQUIBONAEGERUNT 
 IBU N TIN UITAM AETERN A/ 
 ETQUIMALAINIGNEM 
 AETERNUM; 
 J-f AECESTFIDESCATHOLICA 
 QUAMNISIQUISQUEFIDE 
 LITERFIRMITERQUECREDI 
 DERITSALUUSESSENONPO 
 TERIT; 
 
 The Latin text of the same Creed, with Anglo- 
 Saxon gloss from the ancient Manuscript Vespasian 
 A. i, fo. 155, which has been so often alluded to in 
 the preceding pages, is worthy of a place here for 
 comparison with the Utrecht text. 
 
 INCIPIT FIDES CATHOLICA. 
 
 swa hz^a sze^a z^yle hal ze/esan beforan eallum 
 
 QUICUMQUE UULT SALUUS ESSE . ANTE OMNIA 
 
 J>earf is f he nime J?sene fulfredan geleafan . 
 opus est . ut teneat catholicam fidem , 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 299 
 
 Jxmne nympe hze/ylc an^ealhne and un^emne 
 Quam nisi quisq : integram inuiolatamq : 
 
 gehealde buton tweon on ecnysse he fonejyfS . 
 seruauerit . absque dubio in aeternum peribit. 
 
 geleafa so$lice fulfremed pes is f anne god 
 Fides autem catholica haec est . ut unum dm 
 
 on J?rynnysse 7 ]?rynnysse on annysse we arz#eorJ?ien . 
 in trinitate . & trinitatem in imitate venerem 1 " . 
 
 7 na gemyncende hadas 7 na s^ede 
 Neque confundentes psonas neque substantiam 
 
 syndriende . sum is so$lice had faederes . 
 separantes . Alia est eni persona patris . 
 
 sum suna ac fsederes 7 suna 7 
 
 alia filii alia spc sci. Sed patris & filii & 
 
 gastes haliges an is godcundnys gelic 
 sps sci una est diuinitas aequalis 
 
 zemldor efen ece msegen J?rym . s^ylc fseder swjlc 
 gloria coaeterna maiestas . Qualis pater talis 
 
 sunu . ]?seslic 7 gast halig ungesceapen fseder 
 films . talis & spc scs . Increatus pater . 
 
 ungesceapen sunu ungesceapen 7 gast halig . 
 increatus Alius . increatus & spc scs . 
 
 unametenlic fseder unametenlic sunu unameten- 
 Inmensus pater . inmensus Alius . inmen- 
 
 lic 7 gast halig . ece fseder ece 
 sus & spc scs . . Aeternus pater . aeternus 
 
 sunu ece 7 gast halig . 7 J?eah na 
 Alius . aeternus & spc scs . Et tamen non 
 
 22* 
 
300 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER 
 
 pry ece ac an ece swa swa. na 
 tres aeterni.' sed unus aeternus . Sicut non 
 
 J?ry ungesceapene ne J?ry unametegude ac an 
 tres increati / nec tres inmensi . sed unus 
 
 ungesceapen 7 an unametegod gelic 
 increatus & unus inmensus . Similiter 
 
 aelmihtig faeder aelmihtig sunu selmihtig 
 omnipotens pater . omnipotens Alius . omnipotens 
 
 7 gast halig 7 ]?eah na ~pry selmihtige 
 & spc scs . Et tamen non tres omnipotentes 
 
 ac an aelmihtig swa. faeder sunu 
 sed unus omnipotens . Ita ds pater . ds Alius . 
 
 7 gast 7 J?eah na ]?ry godas ac 
 
 ds & spc scs . Et tamen non tres dii . sed 
 
 an is swa. faeder sunu 7 
 
 unus est ds . Ita dns pater . dns films . dns & 
 
 gast halig 7 ]>eah drihtnes 
 
 spc scs . Et tamen non tres dm . sed 
 
 is forjxm swa. sze^a synderlice anne 
 
 unus est dns . Quia sicut singillatim unam- 
 
 gehz^ylcne had 7 drihten andettan 
 
 quamq : personam dm & dnm confiteri 
 
 cristenre so$faestnysse we beo$ genyd sze>a ]?ry 
 xpiana ueritate compellimur . Ita tres 
 
 godas o$$e drihtnas cwe]?an of cyriclicre sefestnysse 
 deos aut dominos dicere/ catholica religione 
 
 we beo$ forboden faeder of nanum is gez^orden 
 prohibemur . Pater a nullo est factus . 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 301 
 
 ne gesceapen ne acenned sunu fra faeder 
 nec creatus . nec genitus . Filius a patre 
 
 anum is na gezcorden na 
 
 solo est . non factus 
 acenned gast halig fra 
 
 genitus . 
 
 gez&'orden 
 factus 
 
 Spc 
 
 ne 
 nec 
 
 scs a 
 
 gesceapen 
 creatus 
 
 , nec 
 
 fseder 
 patre 
 
 ne 
 . nec 
 
 gesceapen 
 creatus 
 
 7 
 & 
 
 suna 
 filio 
 
 acenned 
 genitus 
 
 ac 
 sed 
 
 na 
 non 
 
 ac 
 sed 
 
 fofSgezeutende 
 
 tres 
 
 gast 
 spc 
 
 an eornostlic faeder na 
 ^cedens . Unus ergo pater non 
 
 fsederas an sunu na J?ry suna an 
 patres . unus filius non tres filii . unus 
 
 halig na ]?ry gast halig 7 on Jrysse ]?rynnesse 
 scs . non tres spc sci . Et in hac trinitate 
 
 nan$ingc ser o'S'Se aefter nanj>ing mare 
 nihil prius aut posterius . nihil maius 
 
 oSSe laesse . ac ealle ]?ry hadas efenece 
 aut minus . Sed tota[e] 
 
 him synt 7 efenlice 
 sibi sunt . & coaequales 
 
 SW3, swa. nu 10 bufan gec^eden is 7 J?rynnys on 
 sicut iam supradictum est & trinitas in 
 
 annysse 7 annys on ]?rynnysse to arayrf»ienne 
 unitate . & unitas in trinitate ueneranda 
 
 sy se ]>e wyle eornostlice hal z^esan s^a be 
 sit . Qui uult ergo saluus esse . ita de 
 
 ]?aere ]?rynnysse an gyte ac nydbehefe is to 
 trinitate sentiat . Sed necessarium est ad 
 
 tres psone coaeterne 
 
 sze^a f purh ealle 
 Ita ut n omnia 
 
302 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 J?aere ecan haelo f Ipe flsescnysse zeutodlice 
 eterna salutem ut incarnationem quoq: 
 
 drihtnes ures anragehz^ylc getryze/lice 
 
 dm nn ihu xpi . unusquisque fideliter 
 
 he hihte is eornostlice geleafa riht f 
 
 credat . Est ergo fides recta ut 
 
 we gelyfan 7 we andettan . fte drihten nselend 
 credamus et confiteamur . quia dns nr ihc 
 
 crist godes sunu god samod 7 mann is god 
 xpc dei Alius ds pariter 1 & homo est . Ds 
 
 is of sTCde fssderes aer zcoruldum acenned 
 est ex substantia patris ante secula genitus 
 
 7 mann is of swede modor on worulda 
 & homo est ex substantia matris in secula 
 
 acenned . fullfremed god mann of 
 
 natus . Perfectus ds . j)fectus homo . ex 
 
 saula gesceadzerisre 7 menniscum flsesce zemni- 
 anima rationali & humana carne sub- 
 
 gende efenlic f seder aefter godcundnysse 
 sistens . Aequalis patri secundum diuinitatem . 
 
 lsessa ]?am faeder setter menniscnesse se J?eah god 
 minor patre 3 scctm humanitatem Qui lic& ds 
 
 he sy 7 mann na J?a tu J?eahhw3eJ?ere ac an 
 sit & homo . non duo tamen sed unus 
 
 is crist an so$lice na of gecyrrednysse 
 est xpc . Unus autem non conuersione 
 
 godcundnesse on flaesce ac of afangennysse 
 diuinitatis in carne . sed adsumptione 
 
 1 Pariter, omitted, Utr. 2 Patri, Utr. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 303 
 
 mennisclicnesse on gode an eallunga na of 
 humanitatis in deo . Unus omnino non con- 
 ge //// nesse s^ede ac of annysse hades 
 fusione substantiae . sed imitate ;osone . 
 
 ^itodlice s^a sze>a saul gesceadzeuslic 7 flsesc 
 Nam sicut anima rationalis & caro 
 
 an is mann sz#a god 7 mann an is crist 
 unus est homo . Ita ds & homo unus est xpc . 
 
 se ]>vowade for hselo urra he adune astah 
 Qui passus est pro salute 1 nra . descendit 
 
 to helmrum ]>e J>riddan dsege he aras fram 
 ad inferos tertia die resurrexit a 
 
 deajmm he astah to heofenum he gesit to 
 mortuis . Ascendit ad caelos . sed& ad 
 
 J?sere szryj?ran god fsederes selmihtiges J>anon 
 dexteram dei patris omnipotentis inde 
 
 he toze>eard is deman cz^ice 7 deade to 
 uenturus est 3 iudicare uiuos & mortuos . Ad 
 
 ]?3es to cyme ealle menn arisa^ habba$ 
 cuius aduentum omnes homines resurgere habent 
 
 mid limgesijmm his 7 to agyldenne synt of 
 cum corporibus suis & reddituri sunt de 
 
 z^eorcum agenum gescead . 7 J>a J?e god dydan 
 factis propriis rationem . & qui bona egerunt 
 
 hy ga$ on lif ece 7 ]?a )?e so$lice yflu 
 ibunt in uitam aeternam . //// qui uero mala 3 
 
 on . fyr ece J?is is geleafa cyriclic 
 
 in ignem aeternum . Haec est fides catholica 
 
 1 Saluta, Utr. 2 Est, omitted, Utr. 3 Et qui mala, Utr. 
 
304 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 ]?onne nym$e hz^ylc getryzdice 7 trumlice gelyfe 
 quam nisi quisque fideliter firmiterque crediderit 
 
 hal beon na he mseg 
 saluus esse non poterit. 
 
 One of the great values of this text, which may be 
 fairly dated along with other additions to the MS. 
 about a.d. 1050, is to show with how few and unim- 
 portant variations the ancient Latin form of the 
 Creed, as given by the Utrecht Psalter, has been 
 adhered to in this later copy. 
 
 It has already been pointed out that the theological 
 aspect, which the Utrecht Psalter possesses with 
 regard to the occurrence of the Athanasian Creed in 
 its text, is subordinate to the palaeographical con- 
 sideration of the Manuscript. The probable date of 
 the Creed of St. Athanasius, called "the Confession 
 of Faith," " Fides Catholica," and " Symbolum 
 Sancti Athanasii," has been for a long period, and 
 is likely long to remain, a fruitful source of contro- 
 versy. St. Athanasius, reputed by many to be the 
 author of the Creed, was elected Bishop of Alexandria 
 in a.d. 326, and died in a.d. 373, having spent a 
 great part of his life, and acquired a large share 
 of his reputation, in successfully opposing Arius, 
 or, as he is sometimes called, Arrius, the leader 
 of a sect which denied the divinity of Jesus Christ 
 (a.d. 315-336). By those who thus ascribe the 
 authorship of the Creed to the Saint, it is referred to 
 about the year 340. This controversy between 
 Athanasius and Arius was warmly espoused by the 
 Emperor Constantine, who himself presided at the 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 305 
 
 first General Council of Nicsea or Nice in Bithynia, 
 igth June to 25th August, a.d. 325, wherein the 
 consideration was on the consubstantiality of the 
 Son of God, against the teaching of Arius. In this 
 Council the Arians were condemned, but their doc- 
 trine prevailed in some parts of the East for a time, 
 and found an imperial votary in Constantius II., the 
 third son of the great Constantine, who ruled from 
 a.d. 337 to 361. Other theologians, however, believe 
 the Creed to be the compilation of Vigilius Tapsensis, 
 an African bishop who flourished in the fifth century, 
 Paulinus of Aquileia, 1 Pope Anastasius, Hilary of 
 Aries, 2 Eusebius of Vercelli, or Victricius of Rouen, 3 
 and their principal argument against the authorship 
 of Athanasius rests on the undoubted fact that 
 hitherto no copy of the Creed has been met with 
 in the Manuscripts of the Opera S. Athanasii. Venan- 
 tius Fortunatus, the well known literary Bishop of 
 Poictiers, is considered to have written the first com- 
 mentary on the text, in a.d. 570. The date of the 
 first appearance of the Creed 4 has been variously 
 fixed from a.d. 336, the middle of the fourth century, 
 to as late as a.d. 642, the beginning or middle of the 
 seventh, and so rare are early copies of it that if it 
 could be shown on palseographical evidence that the 
 Utrecht Psalter belongs to the sixth century, then 
 the text of the Athanasian Creed contained herein 
 would be, as it is by many believed to be, the 
 earliest example of the Creed extant. To attempt 
 to enter into a history of the Creed would be un- 
 
 1 Ffoulkes. 2 Waterland. 3 Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, p. 47. 
 
 4 " Waterland himself preferred a date between a.d. 426 and 430."- — Hardy. 
 
306 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 necessary here, for many plainly evident reasons, 
 and principally because all that has been adduced 
 in the foregoing pages points irresistibly against the 
 adoption of this extremely early date for the Utrecht 
 Manuscript, and so removes from it the theological 
 importance bestowed upon it by those who would 
 carry back its art and its palaeography to so distant 
 a period. Even to enumerate the writers upon the 
 Creed would be impossible, for in one part alone of 
 the Catalogue of the British Museum Library there 
 are two hundred and fifty works upon the sainted 
 Bishop and his Creed. However, among the more 
 prominent writers who have handled the subject 
 mention may be made of Daniel Waterland, whose 
 Critical History, first published in 1723, and lately 
 reprinted in 1870 by the Rev. J. R. King, recapitu- 
 lates the opinion of thirty-two distinguished scholars, 
 from the time of Voss in 1642, to that of Oudin in 
 1722. And in more recent times the names of 
 Ffoulkes, Hardy, Ommanney, Brewer, and Swain- 
 son stand out pre-eminently in the mass of literature 
 to which the controversies which beat around the 
 Athanasian Creed have given rise. 
 
 Before we dismiss the subject of the Creed, atten- 
 tion may not inaptly here be directed to an impor- 
 tant Manuscript in the British Museum (Add. MS., 
 24,902), formerly in the library of Baron de 
 Warenghien, and purchased at the sale of his 
 books after his death, in 1855, by M. Claudin. It 
 was purchased for the British Museum in June 1862. 
 This fine Manuscript, of the tenth century, contains 
 at folio 71 a tract, attributed by some, but appa- 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 307 
 
 rently without proof, except that it is combined with 
 known works of that writer, to St. Augustine. The 
 opening sentence of the treatise has a very interest- 
 ing bearing on the age of the Athanasian Creed, and 
 is in these words : — 
 
 " Incipit expositio Fidei Catholicae ; Traditur 
 quod a beatissimo Athanasio alexandrine ecclesie 
 antistite istud fidei opusculum sit editum sicut etiam 
 in veteribus codicibus invenitur pretitulatum. Quod 
 idcirco tarn piano et brevi sermone tunc traditum 
 fuisse cognoscitur ut omnibus catholicis etiam minus 
 eruditis tutamentum defensionis prestaret adversus 
 illam tempestatem quam ventus contrarius hoc est 
 diabolus excitavit per Arrium." 
 
 Now the value of the expression in veteribus codici- 
 bus will be variable in accordance with the opinion 
 that St. Augustine of Hippo, who died in a.d. 430, 
 is the author of this Exposition ; if so, we can hardly 
 imagine a writer of the fourth and fifth centuries 
 would apply such a term to a Manuscript younger 
 than the third or fourth, and this would decide at 
 once the date of the creed, which no one seeks to 
 make older than a.d. 340. If, on the other hand, as 
 is more likely, this " Exposition" is the work of an 
 unknown theological writer who flourished in a 
 century intermediate between the date of Augus- 
 tine's death (a.d. 430) and of the Manuscript itself 
 wherein it occurs, viz., the tenth century, then we 
 must shift the conversion of the above Latin phrase 
 from fourth to sixth, seventh, or eighth century, and 
 so gradually lessen the important value of the 
 quotation. 
 
3 o8 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 It may be frankly admitted that the Utrecht 
 Psalter affords little or no clue to the date of the 
 Athanasian Creed. And we yet have to find from 
 palaeographical evidences data on which to found 
 a correct and unassailable opinion concerning the 
 true epoch of one of the most important tests of the 
 Christian belief. 
 
 During the progress of the enquiry into the history 
 and art of the Utrecht Psalter, many points of detail 
 have been remarked wherein the opinions of the 
 learned appear to converge, and to admit of com- 
 bination. Such as, for example, the unique forms of 
 the Rustic letters ; the antiquity of the tri-columnar 
 arrangement of the text, of the non-division of words, 
 of the punctuation, and of the general appearance of 
 the Manuscript ; the early conventionalism of the 
 pictorial art ; the great beauty exhibited by the 
 designs ; and the high artistic excellence of the con- 
 ceptions. Again, points have been instanced where, 
 on the other hand, great divergence of skilled opinion 
 has been made manifest. Perhaps in no case has 
 there been more severe literary conflict than in what 
 has been written respecting the initial letter B in the 
 word Beatus at the beginning of the first Psalm. Sir 
 Thomas Hardy calls it an Irish letter commonly 
 found in Irish Manuscripts from the sixth to the 
 ninth century, 1 and emphatically rejects its alleged 
 Anglo-Saxon origin, adducing some very powerful 
 arguments in support of this opinion. Mr. Bond, 
 however, considers this letter a strong and decisive 
 proof of a later age, and that it has been erroneously 
 
 1 Report, p. 21. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 309 
 
 stated to be of Irish execution and of early date. 
 The form of the pattern used in the ornament is 
 derived from ancient Irish work, 1 " but the whole 
 design of the letter and colouring, including the 
 outer edging in red to the gold ground, is unmistake- 
 ably of a different, probably the Anglo-Frankish, 
 school." 1 Mr. Thompson reports that the letter 
 " belongs to the class which is found in Carlovingian 
 Manuscripts of the ninth century though rather 
 simpler in form." In reply to these opinions Sir 
 Thomas Hardy 3 insists upon the well known practice 
 of inserting initials, and other embellishments, long 
 after the completion of Manuscript texts ; and 
 demurs to the employment of the term Anglo- 
 Frankish, although it would naturally seem to allude 
 to the intercourse between England and the Franks, 
 when various persons skilled in arts connected with 
 the production of Manuscripts passed from one 
 region to the other, especially as we know that the 
 illustrious Englishman Alchuine 4 was the tutor of 
 the children of Charlemagne, circ. a.d. 782. If this 
 great light of theological and literary learning 
 gathered around him at Tours a circle of English 
 students, 5 these would possibly form the Anglo- 
 Frankish school alluded to by Mr. Bond. Professor 
 Westwood appears to refer the letter under con- 
 sideration to the Anglo-Saxon style. But unless it 
 can be shown that the form of the letter requires 
 
 1 " It was from Ireland that the Anglo-Saxons learned the art of illumination." 
 Hill's English Monasticism, p. 290. 
 
 2 Report, p. 3. 3 Further Report, pp. 25, 26. 
 
 4 Born about a.d. 735 at York; died at Tours in 804. 
 
 5 See Hardy's Catalogue, Vol. I., p. 503. 
 
3IO THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 imperatively to be attributed to an earlier date than 
 the eighth or ninth century, a fact as yet by no 
 means satisfactorily proved, the value of its evidence 
 with regard to the age of the text is practically of no 
 account. 
 
 It will be interesting to notice the principal 
 opinions, concerning the date of the Manuscript, 
 that have been placed on record by the foremost 
 writers and describers of its contents. 
 
 The writer of the elenchus contained in the first 
 leaf of the Psalter, as given above at page 190, 
 considers that it appears to attain in antiquity to 
 the times of the Emperor Valentinian. 1 There were 
 three emperors of this name, who ruled from a.d. 364 
 to 375 5 375 t0 392 ; and 425 to 455, and it is not 
 easy to say to which the reference relates. 
 
 Archbishop Ussher considers it to belong to the 
 age of Pope Gregory the Great, 3 who occupied the 
 See of Rome from a.d. 590 to 604. 
 
 Waterland appears to endorse Ussher's opinion. 3 
 
 Gustave Haenel, whose knowledge of ancient 
 Manuscripts has been always considered very ex- 
 tensive, assigns it to the sixth century, 4 in his 
 Catalogi, published in 1829. 
 
 Baron Van Westreenen van Tiellandt, in his 
 Naspeitringen of 1833, says, " All the representations 
 . . . . are evidently derived from the times of the 
 Low Roman Empire, in which not a shadow of the 
 Gothic 5 occurs." He says, with regard to the 
 
 1 See page 140. 2 See pages 130, 133. 3 See page 133. 
 
 4 See pages 126, 130, 133. 
 5 Cf. " They are in fact Gothic in their style." Mr. Bond's Report, p. 3. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 writing, that " everything concurs to justify the 
 estimation of Haenel, who places it in the sixth 
 century, as an intermediate epoch." " The Psalter 
 may date just as much from the end of the fifth 
 or the beginning of the seventh, as from the sixth 
 century .... The writing seems to be of some- 
 what later date." 
 
 Professor H. J. Royaards concurs in the opinion 
 expressed by Baron Van Westreenen van Tiellandt 
 in 1833, as already mentioned. 1 
 
 Professor Westwood, in his Archceological Notes of 
 1859, considers that " a date not more recent than 
 the sixth or seventh century 3 ought to be assigned to 
 the Manuscript," but under certain circumstances he 
 would " have no difficulty in referring the text to the 
 fifth or sixth century," yet the initial letter of the 
 first Psalm " would bring it to the seventh or eighth 3 
 at the earliest." 
 
 The notice of the facsimiles acquired by A. D. 
 Schinkel, 4 and sold at the Hague in 1864, attributes 
 the drawings to the seventh century. 
 
 Professor Westwood's great work of Facsimiles, in 
 1868, appears, from the uncertain expression upon 
 the plate, to waver between assigning the date 
 of the Psalter to the sixth or the ninth century. 3 
 
 P. J. Vermuelen, in his report of 1872 to the 
 University of Utrecht, has " always assigned it to 
 the eighth or ninth century, 6 a.d. 750-850." 
 
 Sir Thomas Hardy, in his First Report, 1 of 1872, 
 
 1 See page 125. 2 See page 134. 
 
 3 See page 135, and Sir Thomas Hardy's Report, p. 35 note, where the ninth 
 century is even mentioned. 
 
 4 See page 123. 5 See pages 136, 137. 6 See page 130. 7 Page 36. 
 
312 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 " with the experience of half a century, believes it to 
 have been written at the latter end of the sixth 
 century." "But the age of the illustrations probably 
 belongs to the end of the fifth or beginning of the 
 sixth century." 1 
 
 Mr. B. O'Looney, an Irish scholar, attributes part 
 of the illuminated work to the early sixth century. 2 
 
 J. Arntz, in his essay described at pages 141- 144, 
 considers "the Psalter 3 not older than the seventh 
 century." 
 
 The theological controversialist, Mr. Ffoulkes, 4 is 
 willing to admit that the Psalter was transcribed in 
 the fifth century, but that the pieces following the 
 Psalms must have been written during, or after, the 
 ninth century, the period in which, as he asserts, the 
 Athanasian Creed was concocted. 5 This statement 
 is so manifestly unsatisfactory that it is unnecessary 
 here to discuss it. 
 
 Dean Stanley's Collection of Reports recapitulates 
 the opinions of the Reporters thus : — 
 
 Mr. Bond " concludes 6 that it is not earlier than 
 the end of the eighth century, and is disposed to 
 assign it to the ninth." 
 
 Mr. Thompson gathers negatively 11 that 7 it cannot 
 be assigned to an earlier age than the close of the 
 eighth century." 
 
 The Rev. H. O. Coxe sees no reason to conclude 
 that it was written before the commencement of the 
 ninth century. 8 
 
 1 See page 140: Report, page 24. 2 See page 140. 3 Page 143. 
 
 4 In his letter to the Times, 17 Feb., 1S74. 5 Hardy, Further Report, p. 50. 
 
 6 See page 148. 7 Report, p. 5. 8 See page 150. 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 313 
 
 The Rev. S. S. Lewis would not assign it to an 
 earlier date than the ninth century. 1 
 
 Sir M. D. Wyat ascribes it to about the middle of 
 the eighth century. 2 
 
 Professor Westwood modifies his opinions de- 
 livered in 1859 and 1868, 3 and refers the Manuscript 
 to the eighth or ninth century at the earliest. 4 
 
 The Rev. Canon Swainson gives two dates, one 
 that " the volume cannot be much earlier than the 
 middle of the ninth century (i.e., a.d. 850), and may 
 be considerably later ; " the other that " the contents 
 could not have been arranged, nor could the Psalter 
 have been written long before the year 800. 5 
 
 M. Leopold Delisle, in his remarks upon the pro- 
 gress of palaeographical study, in 1875, quoted in the 
 introduction to this work, 6 incidentally records his 
 opinion upon the age of the Utrecht Psalter as " un 
 des plus curieux monuments de la calligraphic et du 
 dessin au VHIe ou au IXe siecle." 
 
 By comparing the opinions of the foregoing quota- 
 tions, we may see that the author of the Elenchus 
 ascribes to the Utrecht Psalter the oldest date, that 
 of the Valentinians, or fourth and fifth century : — 
 
 Mr. Ffoulkes, the fifth century. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hardy, the fifth or sixth for the art ; 
 the end of the sixth for the palaeography. 
 
 Mr. O'Looney, the early part of the sixth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 G. Haenel, Van Westreenen van Tiellandt, and 
 Royaards, the sixth century. 
 
 1 See page 150. 2 See page 151. 3 See pages 134, 136, 137. 
 
 4 See page 151. 5 Report, pages 11, 13; seepage 153. 6 Pages xi.-xiv. 
 
 23 
 
314 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 Professor Westwood varies between the sixth, 
 seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries. 
 
 Ussher and Waterland, the end of the sixth or 
 beginning of the seventh. 
 
 Schinkel and Arntz, the seventh century. 
 
 Mr. Thompson not earlier than the eighth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Sir Matthew D. Wyatt, the middle of the eighth. 
 
 H. Vermuelen, the middle of the eighth to the 
 middle of the ninth. 
 
 Mr. Bond, the end of the eighth to the beginning 
 of the ninth, 
 
 M. Delisle, the eighth or ninth. 
 
 Mr. Coxe, the beginning of the ninth century. 
 
 Canon Swainson, not long before 800 ; and the 
 middle of the ninth century. 
 
 Mr. Lewis, not earlier than the ninth century. 
 . The only real data, whereby a correct view of the 
 period, in which the text of the Psalter was written 
 can be acquired, are the styles of the handwritings 
 which compose that text. And it has been shown 
 that the Rustic character was employed solely, and 
 to the exclusion of all others, in single entire Manu- 
 scripts, as late as the sixth century, and was in its 
 prime at that time, as exhibited by the Manuscripts 
 discussed in the early pages of this work ; while 
 to the seventh and eighth centuries belong the 
 mixture of Rustics and uncials seen in several 
 instances, where the letters are even stronger and 
 more naturally made than those in the Utrecht 
 Psalter. We may not, therefore, date the Manu- 
 script older than the beginning of the eighth century, 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. i 3x5 
 
 a period when, as is well known, the employment 
 of these characters was passing through a transi- 
 tional stage. In this opinion, which is upheld by 
 five, if not six, important members out of the 
 fourteen tabulated above, great latitude must be 
 allowed, because of the unique nature of the book, 
 to which there is no compeer, in the points of similar 
 art and similar writing, to be found within the whole 
 wide range of European libraries. 
 
 It is not an insignificant fact that this date of the 
 early eighth century, having been arrived at on 
 purely palseographical reasons, is corroborated, in 
 a remarkable manner, by what has been laid down 
 already with regard to the history of the book in 
 connection with Canterbury and Archbishop Berc- 
 wald. We shall not be exceeding probabilities if 
 we choose to imagine that the Manuscript was pre- 
 pared, not far from England at any rate, under this 
 prelate's direction, for a royal owner, or even 
 for himself, by an ancient master of the penman's 
 craft, and that it was embellished by the hands 
 and thoughts and feelings of some one or more, who 
 formed their ideas on what to them were ancient 
 and classical models, and who yet at the same time 
 breathed into their pictures, thus defined in the 
 abstract, and thus classically conventional, details 
 of expression which to one body of critics appear 
 to be Byzantine, Syrian, and Alexandrian, and to 
 another body Frankish and Anglo-Frankish, while 
 they really are in a great measure common to the 
 whole cycle of Western pictorial representations 
 at this early period. 
 
3i6 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 That we may observe how this so called Byzan- 
 tine, or Oriental element lingered in the West, even 
 in England, for long after the latest era to which 
 any writer has ventured to ascribe the art-work we 
 have analyzed in the foregoing pages, let us glance 
 for a moment at a priceless Manuscript written and 
 illustrated, without a shadow of doubt, by Anglo- 
 Saxon hands in the first half of the eleventh century. 
 The Cottonian Manuscript, Claudius B IV., in the 
 British Museum, contains the celebrated ^Elfric's 
 Anglo-Saxon Paraphrase of the Pentateuch and 
 Joshua. In this Manuscript, which must be dated 
 three hundred years nearer to our own days than the 
 Utrecht Psalter, one sees the same classical treatment 
 of the sun, as a figure, half length, holding a flaming 
 torch, and set in a circle or medallion (folio 3); 
 trees with truncated branches and close cut heads 
 (folio 8) ; masonry of ashlar-work with alternate 
 joints as it is found in almost every page of the 
 Psalter (folio 9) ; imbricated roofs with pavonaceous 
 and other tilings (folios 21b, 22, 23 b, etc.) ; curtains 
 twisted in a peculiar manner round the columns of a 
 temple (folio 138); scroll-like door-hinges (folio 
 36 b) ; concave shields with central spike (folio 142) ; 
 pillars with egg and fillet carving, foliated capitals, 
 and circular dome roofs (folio 39 b); crowns with 
 the triple fleur-de-lys (folios 22, 35, 37 b) ; and tents 
 more elaborate, certainly, but not very unlike those 
 described above at Psalm XXVI. (folios 9 b, 17 b, 
 18, 21 b, 23, 24): while out of many Anglo-Saxon 
 groups which correspond with those in the Utrecht 
 drawings we should especially observe those of 
 
THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 317 
 
 the births of Jewish personages, the reclining 
 mothers, and the attendants washing the newly born 
 infants in large bowls or ceramic vessels of great 
 capacity and various outline, as seen at folios 28, 35, 
 36, etc., which must have been derived from an ex- 
 tensive acquaintance with the styles which led to the 
 production of the corresponding drawings in the 
 Utrecht Manuscript. 
 
 And here must be closed the present investiga- 
 tions into the history, the palaeography, and the art 
 of an ancient relic of our Christian faith, which 
 reaches back considerably more than half the way 
 towards the epoch of the establishment of that faith 
 itself. What has been said throughout this enquiry 
 will, it is hoped, be taken not as from a critic, but 
 from an earnest enquirer, and from a student whose 
 researches into the many and intricate fields that 
 this book open to us may haply guide others, who 
 approach it as he has done, hereafter to a more 
 correct and complete knowledge of the true position 
 occupied by the book in the series of palaeographic 
 vestiges to which it forms so important and so in- 
 teresting an adornment. 
 
 " Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought," 
 
 and in like manner the sweet music discoursed by 
 the Hebrew poet to the rhythmic cadences of 
 psaltery and harp, and lute and timbrel, in the 
 bygone days of Jewish culture and Jewish power, 
 strikes upon our ears to day as we read it in the 
 light of this Manuscript, not without some still small 
 voice of saddest thought to think that those who 
 
3i8 
 
 THE UTRECHT PSALTER. 
 
 wrote and drew and painted the various parts that 
 make up this enigmatic work have left no record 
 of their being, not a single word which, as a magic 
 spell, might guide us to uncover the mysteries which 
 enwrap every page we have scanned. These secrets 
 of an undetermined age and region demand patience 
 and toleration rather than indignation, on the part of 
 those who would successfully expound them. It is 
 not to be doubted that sufficient means exist for this 
 work, but they have yet to be brought to light ; and 
 an era which has been so fertile in the reading of the 
 "records of the past," in the decipherment of dead 
 languages, and the recovery of a clay literature cor- 
 roborative of Old Testament History can hardly pass 
 away without rendering up to us new and fresh 
 material with which the ancient copy of the Book 
 of Psalms in the Library of Utrecht University may 
 hereafter be compared more closely and collated 
 more systematically than existing Manuscript re- 
 mains have hitherto allowed us to do. 
 
By the same Author: 
 
 (UNIFORM WITH THE HISTORY OF THE UTRECHT PSALTER). 
 
 progress.) 
 
 ANCIENT PSALTERS 
 
 ' PRESERVED IN THE 
 
 BRITISH MUSEUM. 
 
 Being an account of the principal Manuscripts of the 
 Book of Psalms contained in the Harley, Cotton, Egertou, 
 Additional, and other Collections in the National Library. 
 With notices of the chief points of interest connected 
 with their pictorial and palaeographic art, their history, and 
 their importance. 
 
/ 
 
 1 
 
SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS, 
 
 15, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 
 
 ARCHAIC CLASSICS. 
 
 ASSYRIAN GRAMMAR. 
 
 An Elementary Grammar and Reading Book of the Assyrian 
 Language, in the Cuneiform Character : containing the most complete 
 Syllabary yet extant, and which will serve also as a Vocabulary of both 
 Accadian and Assyrian. By Rev. A H. Sayce, M.A. 
 
 Quarto, Cloth. Price ys. 6d. 
 
 INSCRIPTIONS OF ESARHADDON, 
 
 King of Assyria, B.C. 681-668. Translated, with Text and Commentary, 
 for the use of Students. By W. Boscawen. 
 
 In the Press. 
 
 EGYPTIAN GRAMMAR. 
 
 An Elementary Manual of the Egyptian Language : with an inter- 
 lineary Reading Book : in the Hieroglyphic Character. In two Parts. 
 Part I. Grammar. By P. le Page Renouf. 
 
 Quarto, Cloth. Price ys. 6d. 
 Part II. Reading Book. Shortly to follow. 
 
 EXERCISE SHEETS: 
 
 Prepared to enable the Student to test his progress by translating 
 a short passage from some well-known Text. 
 
 On Writing Paper. Price 2d. each. 
 
SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS, LONDON. 
 
 RECORDS OF THE PAST. 
 
 BEING ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF 
 THE ASSYRIAN AND EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS. 
 
 Published under the sanction of the Society of Biblical Archeology. 
 Edited by S. BIRCH, LL.D. 
 
 Crown octavo, Cloth. Price, each Vol., 6d. 
 
 Vol. L ASSYRIAN TEXTS, 1. 
 
 Inscription of Rimmon-Nirari ; Monolith Inscription of Samas- 
 Rimmon ; Babylonian Exorcisms ; Private Will of Sennacherib ; Assyrian 
 Private Contract Tablets; Assyrian Astronomical Tablets; Assyrian 
 Calendar; Tables of Assyrian Weights and Measures. By Rev. A. H. 
 Sayce, M.A. 
 
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 Taylor's Cylinder of Sennacherib; Legend of the Descent of Ishtar. By 
 H. Fox Talbot, F.R.S. 
 
 Annals of Assurbanipal (Cylinder A). By George Smith. 
 
 Behistun Inscription of Darius. By Sir Henry Rawlinson, K. C.B., 
 D.C.L. 
 
 Lists- of further Texts, Assyrian and Egyptian. Selected by George 
 Smith and P. Le Page Renouf. 
 
 Vol. TI. EGYPTIAN TEXTS, r. 
 
 Inscription of Una; Statistical Tablet; Tablet of Thothmes III.; 
 Battle of Megiddo ; Inscription of Amen-em-heb. By S. Birch, LL.D. 
 Instructions of Amen-em-hat. By G. Maspero. 
 
 The Wars of Rameses II. with the Khita. By Prof. E. L. Lushington. 
 Inscription of Pianchi Mer-Amon. By Rev. F. C. Cook, M.A., Canon 
 of Exeter. 
 
 Tablet of Newer-Hotep. By Paul Pierret. 
 
 Travels of an Egyptian. By Francois Chabas. 
 
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 Hymn to Amen Ra ; The Tale of the Doomed Prince. By C. W. 
 Goodwin, M.A. 
 
 The Tale of the Two Brothers. By P. Le Page Renouf. 
 
 Egyptian Calendar ; Table of Dynasties ; Egyptian Measures and 
 Weights. 
 
 Lists of further Texts, Assyrian and Egyptian. Selected by George 
 Smith and P. Le Page Renouf. 
 
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 Early History of Babylonia. By George Smith. 
 
 Tablet of Ancient Accadian Laws; Synchronous History of Assyria 
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 Liturgy; Babylonian Charms. By Rev. A. H. Sayce, M.A. 
 
 Annals of Assur-nasir-pal. By Rev. J. M. Rodwell, M.A. 
 
 Inscription of Esarhaddon ; Second Inscription of Esarhaddon ; 
 Sacred Assyrian Poetry. By H. F. Talbot, F.R.S. 
 
 List of further Texts. 
 
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 Inscription of Anebni ; Inscription of Aahmes ; Obelisk of the 
 Lateran ; Tablet of 400 years ; Invasion of Egypt by the Greeks in the 
 Reign of Menephtah ; Dirge of Menephtah ; Possessed Princess ; Rosetta 
 Stone. By S. Birch, LL.D. 
 
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 Tale of Setnau. By P. Le Page Renouf. 
 
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 Early History of Babylonia, Part II. By George Smith. 
 
 List of further Texts. 
 
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 Sepulchral Inscription of Ameni ; The Conquests in Asia ; Egyptian 
 Magical Text. By S. Birch, LL.D. 
 
 Great Harris Papyrus, Part I. By Professor Eisenlohr and S. 
 Birch, LL.D. 
 
 Inscription of Aahmes, son of Abana. By P. Le Page Renouf. 
 Letter of Panbesa ; Hymns to Amen ; The Story of Saneha. By 
 C. W. Goodwin, M.A. 
 
 Stele of the Coronation ; Stele of King Horsiatef. By G. Maspero. 
 
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 Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind. By Edouard Naville. 
 
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 The Tale of the Garden of Flowers. By Francois Chabas. 
 
 List of further Texts. 
 
 Succeeding Volumes, in the Press. 
 
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 THE ASSYRIAN EPONYM CANON: 
 
 Containing Translations _of the Documents, and an Account of the 
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 By the late George Smith, of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, 
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 WORKS BY W. R. COOPER, F.R.A.S., M.R.A.S., 
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 THE RESURRECTION OF ASSYRIA. 
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 THE HEROINES OF THE PAST. 
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 EGYPT AND THE PENTATEUCH. 
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 THE SERPENT MYTHS OF THE ANCIENT 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
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 ANCIENT CHALDEAN MAGIC. 
 
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 A REVISION OF THE HEBREW TEXT OF THE OLD 
 
 TESTAMENT. 
 
 synopsis of Readings revised from critical sources; being- an attempt to present a 
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 A PRACTICAL HEBREW GRAMMAR. 
 
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 A POCKET HEBREW-ENGLISH LEXICON. 
 
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 AN INTERLINEARY HEBREW-ENGLISH PSALTER. 
 
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 THE HEBREW LANGUAGE. 
 
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 PRINCIPIA HEBRAICA. 
 
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LONDON: SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS. 
 
 BIBLIA SACRA POLYGLOTTA. 
 
 THE MODERN POLYGLOT BIBLE IN EIGHT LANGUAGES. 
 
 TWO VOLUMES, FOLIO. 
 
 The Biblia Sacra Polyglotta is invaluable to the Biblical Student, who can, by 
 its aid, compare with facility the various Texts of the Bible. Every Clergyman also, 
 will find it a great addition to his library. 
 
 The advantages offered by this Polyglot Bible are great. Unlike the older Polyglots, 
 it addresses itself primarily to the Interpretation of Scripture. It gives under one 
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 are inaccessible to most people, and many would find a difficulty in using them ; but 
 this Modern Polyglot is at once accessible, convenient, moderate in price, and of easy 
 practical use. The study of Hebrew is spreading every day, the Greek is familiar to 
 most Biblical Students, while the Latin and European Versions are more or less 
 universally understood. 
 
 Bishop Coverdale says in the prologue of his Bible, "Sure I am that there cometh 
 more knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures by their sundry translations, 
 than by all the glosses of our sophistical doctors." 
 
 The New Testament is presented on a precisely similar plan, with a Supplement 
 containing the Peschito Syriac Version. 
 
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 Septuagint, the Greek, and Syriac New Testaments. 
 
 Hie Liber continet : — Prolegomena in Biblia Polyglotta; Biblia Hebraica, ex 
 editione celeberrima Everardi Van der Hooght, qua^ a.d. 1705 lucem vidit, punctis 
 vocalibus et accentibus instructa; Versionem Gra^cam Septuaginta Seniorum, juxta 
 exemplar Vaticanum, a Cardinali Carafa in lucem emissum ; Novum Testamentum 
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 et Clementis VIII. jussu recognita atque edita; Versionem Anglicanam, lectionibus 
 marginalibus, numerisque loca parallela indicantibus adornatam ; Versionem German- 
 icam a Martino Luthero; Versionem Gallicam a Johanne Frederico Ostervald; 
 Versionem Italianam a Giovanni Diodati; Versionem Hispanicam a Patre Scio; 
 Novum Testamentum Hebraicum a Gulielmo Greenfield ; et in Appendice, Syrorum 
 Novi Testamenti Versionem, quam Peschito nuncupant, juxta exemplar Viennense a 
 Johanne Alberto Widmanstadio, A. d. 1555 typis mandatum, Uteris Syriacis atque 
 punctis vocalibus instructam, cumque collatione editionis quam Societas ad Biblia 
 Sacra evulganda instituta in lucem emisit; Pentateuchum Hebra^o-Samaritanum 
 juxta Kennicotti editionem ; Varias Lectiones in Versionem LXX. ex editione Grabii ; 
 Lectionis Varietates in Novum Testamentum Graecum, e notis Griesbachii ductas. 
 
 The Work is handsomely printed in Two Volumes, Crown folio, and is issued ready 
 bound in best morocco Roxburgh, £8 Ss. ; or bound in Cloth, £6 6s.; also in 12 Parts, 
 stiff wrapper, 10s. 6d. each. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS, 15, Paternoster Row. 
 
University of California Library 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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 MAR 1 8 195 
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