emblems the meaning was adapted to the symbol, rather than the symbol chosen for any meaning peculiar to the individual Evangelist whom it represents. The significations generally applied to them are as follows:

The angel or human form to S. Matthew, because his Gospel seems to dwell most particularly upon the human nature of our Lord, and commences with His human generation and descent.

The lion to S. Mark, because he is termed the historian of the resurrection, of which doctrine the lion was considered the emblem, from the legend that it was always born dead, and after some days licked into life by its parents.

The ox or calf to S. Luke, because being the emblem of sacrifice it is the sign of a priest or victim'; and S. Luke especially dwells upon the priestly character of our blessed Lord.

The eagle to S. John, because as the eagle soars highest among birds and looks undimmed at the

sun, so S. John beyond all the

soared upwards

other inspired

writers, in setting forth the divine nature of our Lord, and in contemplating the glory of His Godhead, and for this reason S.

S. JOHN

John is often represented soaring upwards mounted on the back of an eagle.

These symbols form a most favourite subject of medieval decoration, we meet with them in all positions and in all materials in sacred art: in carved wood or sculptured stone, painted glass or engraved metal; in frescoes, illuminations and embroidery, on roofs, on fonts, in windows and on walls, in service books, and in decorations for the altar; in short, these symbolical forms were introduced, wherever by any possibility reference could be directed to the divine writings of those whom they so mysteriously shadowed forth, or to the divine hopes which those writings inculcated.

They have been variously represented at different periods, according to the idea of the artist, as developed by the progress of Christian art. Thus in early Byzantine mosaics and frescoes, we meet with the four emblems united in one mysterious form, generally an angel or cherub, with the four heads, of a man, a lion, an ox, an eagle, joined on to one body; then we find the heads only, joined on to separate winged bodies, of vague form, and having arabesquelike terminations; sometimes the plain natural animal alone is drawn, winged, and holding or standing upon a book or scroll, and this form, varied according to the style of art in vogue, is the one most generally found in gothic work; sometimes they have been represented as four men standing, with the heads of their respective attributes instead of human heads, each carrying his Gospel; or they are four men

standing, or writing their Gospels, with their distinctive emblems at their feet, winged, or in their natural forms, and perhaps the noblest series thus represented, is a production of our own day from the pencil of the celebrated German painter, Overbeck, who has drawn them as four men with remarkably expressive and characteristic countenances, each holding a book and a pen, and attended by his respective symbol in its natural form, the lion and ox not being winged d.

We give as examples four sets of these evangelistic symbols. The first series is from the frontal of an altar of the 11th century, of Greek work, represent

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ing the four animals bearing their respective Gospels; it forms a good and characteristic illustration of the style in which these subjects are treated in Greek or Byzantine art.

From the frontal of an altar of Greek workmanship, about the 11th century.

The next series is from a monumental brass, and is the usual type met with in western art on monumental brasses, in painted glass, &c.; they are generally placed at the four corners of the sepulchral slab, d See Cottage Prints, edited by Revs. H. J. Rose, and J. W. Burgon, 1850.

or if the memorial be a cross, they generally form the terminations of the four arms; in painted glass they usually occupy the quatrefoils or smaller foliations formed by the tracery in the upper part of the win

dow.

From a brass of the 14th century.

The third set is from sculpture on the tomb of Lady Elizabeth de Montacute, in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, (1355,) and is merely one of the endless variations met with in medieval work; the mottoes on the scrolls are curious.

From the tomb of Lady Elizabeth de Montacute Ch Ch., Oxford, A.D. 1354.