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 248 NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. standing their small scale are so clear that the style is perfectly intelligible. The work itself, though very concise, is so well arranged and digested, that more information may be collected from it than from many larger publica- tions. It is arranged in centuries, and to each century is prefixed a short table of the prominent historical events likely to have had any influence direct or indirect on architecture. Each century is subdivided into subjects, such as 2)lan, masonry, buttresses, pillars, capitals, bases, Sec, with short descrip- tions of the character of each, a good deal on the plan of Rickman. This is followed by a concise glossary of the principal terms only, and an excel- lent index on a novel plan. Altogether this little book does much credit to its author, and is one of the best manuals of the subject that has yet ap- peared. An English translation of it would be an acceptable boon to those who cannot read French, and yet wish to be acquainted with French archi- tecture. Bulletin Monumental dtrige par M. De Caumont. 14e Volume. No. 5, August, 1848. Caen and Paris. The present number of this valuable periodical contains so much that is interesting to our readers, that we cannot refrain from calling attention to it, although Ave are generally obliged to omit such notices of cotemporary periodicals on account of the space they would occupy if given regularly. The number begins with a curious and interesting paper on some very early examples of medieval embroidery, illustrated by woodcuts of the cope of Charlemagne, with details ; this cope is preserved in the treasury of the cathedral of Metz, and is considered by M. Le Normand as part of the present sent by Haroun-el-Raschid to Charlemagne, as recorded by Egin- hart ; the fabric is oriental, and the imperial eagles with which it is orna- mented may have been worked by order of the califF as a compliment to the ' emperor. — The napkin (suaire) of St. Germain is said to have formed part of the rich silks in which the body of the saint was wrapped by order of the empress Placidie. St. Germain was bishop of Auxerre, and died at Ravenna in A.D. 448, and his body was brought to France to be buried at Auxerre, in one of the churches of which city this precious relic is still pre- served, at least enough of it to make out the original dimensions and design, for it has been much mutilated by the zeal of the faithful in obtain- ing fragments of it. This is also ornamented with eagles of a very stiff and ancient character, details of which are engraved, they are evidently more early than those on the cope of Charlemagne. — The cope of St. Maxiraus, the disciple of St. Martin, towards the end of the fourth century ; this has always been religiously preserved as a relic of the saint, in the treasury of the church built over his grave at Chinon, and is " regularly exposed once a year on the day of his festival." It is ornamented by four animals resem- bling giraffes with lions' heads, tied by the neck to a rope attached to a kind of beacon or fire-altar, an emblem of the religion of Zoroaster, and this piece of silk is considered by M. Lc Normand as Persian work of the fifth