Hark, they laugh 'Have you done with them, You-not you with the vagabond Loves, and the lips of yesterday?' Let them laugh! Thou hast done with them. Thou hast cast them all behind thee. 28 Him then, Julia, trusting him, Turn not chill, nor abandon him Lorn to an alien haven. 29 Lift, ye gates of the sanctuary, Lift up your heads! Let the chosen one Enter into her blessedness— Enter the home that is hers—that is Hers, until all be ended! 30 Hers, all hers, till the brows of her As from the eyes of all of us 31 Hymen, hither! Be near to her ! Feet with their golden sandals! 32 Him too-Hymen, be near to him- 33 Hymen, hither! To both of them Heart that burns as a sacrifice- 34 Paranymph, boy of the bride-chamber, Thou whose hand has been leading her, Loose her, and say good-bye to her! Loose her! Her hand may rest upon Hand of thine no longer. 35 Leave her and ye draw nigh to her, 36 Lead her in, and call to him; Call the bridegroom, and say to him, White wild rose, or the slumbering 37 Bridegroom, take her, and tarry not! 38 Open the gates of the mystical Love has rest from its pilgrimage- 39 He shall number the numberless 40 Realm of marvel and miracle ! 4I Ah, may a little Torquatulus One day stretch from a motherly Knee, to a sire that shall gaze at him, Sweet, small hands, with the flower on his Lips of baby laughter! 42 Baby face, may the Manlian Far-descended illustrious Spirit reign on the brows of it! Baby face, may the spirit of 43 Muse of my song, we have done with you! All that of earthly or heavenly Joy for a man is possible, This, for these, we have prophesied. BY CYRIL DAVENPORT, F.S.A. LTHOUGH the process of covering heated metal with a strongly adhesive layer of fused glass was well known and practised many centuries before the birth of Christ, it did not receive much attention in early literature. The first notice of the art yet discovered is a treatise written about the third century by a Greek writer, Philostratus, in a book called The Icones.' The passage is to the effect that the barbarians who live near the sea pour their colours on to hot brass, that they combine with it and harden like stone, and preserve the designs cut upon it.' The sentence can only refer to vitreous enamels: they alone would fulfil the conditions. The passage has especial reference to horsetrappings, which were largely made of bronze, and in all probability the barbarians were the inhabitants of Britain; but some authorities consider they were the Gauls. There is no work of this kind of as early a date as that of the manuscript; but the tradition in Britain of bronze horse-trappings ornamented with enamels was kept up for a long time. Many examples, widely scattered about England, have been found. The Gaulish work seems to have been more usually applied to objects other than horse-trappings. This is one argument against their having been the barbarians' alluded to. Bits and buckles, armlets and bosses of various kinds, ornamented with opaque enamels in simple patterns, are common among the late Celtic remains found in these islands. The colours of these pieces are generally dull red, dull yellow, and dull blue. The same colours are found on the earlier Irish work on bronze; but on the rare Irish enamels on silver the colours are translucent blue and green, with small patches of dull red. Opaque enamels are the earlier. As they fuse at a lower temperature, and are not so brittle as the translucent kind, they are easier to manage. Very early Etruscan enamels on gold are always opaque, unusually white, or blue, or green; and so are the late Ptolemaic or Roman pieces, made in Egypt. Early Roman and Anglo-Roman enamels also are opaque; but when enamels are on any metals except gold or silver it must be remembered that they are always liable to become opaque during the process of firing, even if they were translucent before undergoing this operation. The slightest trace of tin, for example, will invariably render vitreous enamel opaque, and other metallic amalgams are very likely to have the same effect. Byzantine enamels are generally on gold, and both the opaque kind and the translucent are found upon them. Early Greek and 1 ταῦτα φασὶ τὰ χρώματα τοὺς ἐν ὠκεανῷ βαρβάρους ἐγχεῖν τῷ χαλκῷ διαπύρῳ, τὰ δὲ συνίστασθαι καὶ λιθοῦσθαι καὶ σώζειν ἃ ἐγράφη.— Icones, i. ch. 28. |