The mark of contraction between H and S terminates prettily in a trefoil.

The Six-Winged Seraphim.

and

On the piers, at the entrance to the apse, stand the bright Seraphim, one on each side, facing north and south. The artist here depicts one of the living creatures thus described in Revelation iv. 6, 7, 8:—“. full of eyes before and behind . . . . the third beast had a face as a man, the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within; and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty." To the sixwinged attendants of the Almighty, who ceaselessly utter this cry, Isaiah gives the name of Seraphim ;* but no portion of Holy Scripture describes them, as depicted here, except Revelation iv. 6, 8. The attribute of wondrous swiftness, and perpetual motion, is signified by placing beneath the feet of each seraph a wheel, which is borne likewise upon wings.

The rectangular background of the figures is of a glorious bright crimson colour. It is framed within a broad band of yellow ochre, duly edged with broad black lines, on both sides; but having a white line, on the inner side, between the yellow and black. Upon the glorious crimson background Mr. Neale believes that he sees a regular diaper, or marbling, of white. I believe this to be imaginary; the effect of damp, during long centuries, is calculated thus to mislead.

Each seraph's body is four feet high. The wheel (white as crystal) on which he stands, is 13 inches in diameter, and has eight broad spokes, of oak colour, arranged as if a St. Andrew's cross were laid upon a Greek cross, with limbs of equal lengths. In the centre is a broad round ring, or crystal "box." Two encircling wings, each more than two feet long, support the wheel from beneath, and their tips extend far above the level of its apex.

Over the seraph's body two wings are folded, each being 33 inches long and 12 inches broad; two wings of similar

* Isaiah vi. 2, 3. The cherubim described by Ezekiel i. 4-23, and chap. x were totally different; having but four wings cach; and having also eyes in their hands and in their wheels (x. 12.)

size are spread open from the shoulders; and above the head two smaller wings are waving. The eyes are admirably depicted, with eyelids and eyebrows, like human eyes; not like the eyes of a peacock's tail-feathers. Seven eyes are seen on the seraph's right side, below the chin, and seven on the left side. On the topmost wings, above the head, are four others. As usual in these frescoes, the wing-feathers are in three layers of different colours; white in the middle, between layers of black, and dark brown streaked with a lighter shade. Small portions of a white tunica talaris appear at the ankles. The seraphs have each a golden nimbus, eight inches in diameter, and their dark ruddy hair is dressed in tight round curls, which form a continuous line, like a coronet, around the head.

It is believed that, in method of treatment, these figures are unique. Four-winged cherubim are not uncommon; but seraphs, with six wings full of eyes, standing on winged wheels, and having men's heads, feet, and hands, are not easily to be found.*

The soffits of the two arches, by which the apse was originally entered, are painted with geometrical patterns, and medallions. Domes and buildings, palm-trees and foliage, appear on small irregular spaces, and corners, of the walls and roof of the apse.

It is matter for congratulation, that while the colours of the chief frescoes are still well-preserved, the Kent Archæological Society has been able, on the one hand, to obtain the services of an artist (Mr. James Neale) fully competent to copy these early frescoes, in facsimile; and, on the other hand, to defray his charge of more than two hundred guineas for his work.

W. A. ScoTT ROBERTSON.

* The Sion Cope (of the thirteenth century) now in South Kensington Museum has, on it, six-winged seraphs standing each on a wheel; but the eyes on their wings are like those of a peacock's tail. In the Brit. Mus. Arundel MS. 83, folios 5b, 131, we find six-winged "cherubim" on wheels, but their wings lack eyes; and the wheels lack wings; the MS. is of the fourteenth century. A Greek mosaic at Monreale Cathedral shews seraphs somewhat like ours, but they lack the wheel. At Orvieto, on the Duomo's façade, a six-winged angel expels Adam and Eve from Paradise. At Forest Hill Church, Oxon, a pulpit cloth is embroidered with a seraph much like these at Canterbury; but yet they differ considerably.

THE FRIAR-PREACHERS, OR BLACK
FRIARS, OF CANTERBURY.

BY THE REV. C. F. R. PALMER.

THE Order of Friar-Preachers, or Black Friars, known in later times as Dominicans, entered England in the year 1221. A band of thirteen religious, sent from the General Chapter held in May, at Bologna, passing through Canterbury, reached London Aug. 10th, and thence went on to Oxford. At Canterbury, by the command of Stephen Langton the Archbishop, Gilbert de Fresnoy, their head or prior, delivered the first sermon amongst the English, in a church, where the Archbishop had himself purposed to preach. The excellence of this discourse, and the religious bearing of the Friars, secured for them Langton's lasting friendship. Not until fifteen years later, however, did they obtain a settlement in Canterbury. In the meantime, they had fixed themselves in many other parts of England, and had even advanced into Ireland and Scotland. At last, by the favour of the king, and co-operation of Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, afterwards canonized, they were admitted into the great metropolitan city. A troop of some twenty Friars settled there in the year 1236, having acquired a dwelling, with some land, on the banks of the river Stour. Here, according to custom, they fitted up an oratory, for mass and the divine office, whilst they preached in the neighbouring country. They soon set about building their church and dwelling in due conventual form, Henry III being their patron and founder. The church was nineteen years in progress, and the other buildings were not finished until four or five years later. The Friars relied entirely on the free-will gifts of the people for the maintenance of their foundation.

1 Nic. Trivet, Annales.

VOL. XIII.