Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/468

 314 NOTICES OF AKCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. of Archaeology, are strikingly shown in the care with which minor details have been examined and classified. It is only by paying close attention to a number of these minutife, that correct conclusions as to date and general design can be formed. In a former volume of this Journal we called the attention of our readers to a work which has been received with no ordinary amount of public approval, the able treatise on the art of glass-painting, V)y Mr. Charles Winston. That admirable analysis of a very interesting subject, has naturally stimulated careful inquiiy ; and we are indebted to Mr. Franks for a valuable monograph of one of the minor portions of the history and practice of glass-painting in England, to which hitherto little attention had been paid. The numerous illustrations given in this work, forming 112 plates, are not more valuable as authorities for practical purposes, than as a series of designs, showing the conventional modes of ornament at various periods. We will here advert only to the advantage with which a diapering composed of such simple forms might be made available, in very many instances, for the purpose of subduing any excessive light, or introducing a more harmonious effect, in preference to the more costly and richly-coloured figure, or medallion, window. The propriety of employing such glowing accessories in a simple village church, where no colour is found in other parts of the fabric to sustain the effect and give harmony to the whole, may justly be questioned. The use of quarries, mingled with plain glass, and frequently enriched by small portions of colour, appears to have been much in vogue in former times, forming mostly an elegant running pattern, admirably devised for a double purpose, — to give a more pleasing tone, or general colour, to spaces which otherwise would have appeared cold and blank; as also, probably, to disguise the unpleasing effect produced by the hard lines of the leading or iron staucheons, in the exquisitely formed windows of Gothic design. The most pleasing results were produced by such arrangement, especially in the subordinate parts of the fabric in churches of simple character, or where " glorious stained glass," with its attractive hues, would have proved not less inconvenient as extinguishing light, than out of keeping in regard to general effect. The volume produced by Mr. Franks must be appreciated by those who discern, or would seek to imitate, the propriety even in details by which medieval design for the most part is characterised. The devices, monograms, and patterns exhibited by these lozenge-shaped panes, are frequently of interest to the antiquary as illustrations of heraldry, evidences of the descent 'of property, or memorials of pious benefactions. A fragment of this description may serve, not unfrequently, after escaping the intemperance of Puritail times, and the ill-advised proceedings of churchwardens and parish glaziers, to supply evidence as to the date of a fabric, or the by-gone generations by whose piety it was raised. We will only add, that in this interesting volume the Anastatic process appears to have been rendered available with excellent effect. The plates are actual reproductions of the drawings, carefully traced from the originals in greater part by the author ; this ingenious and economical means of multiplying fac-similcs seems well suited to designs of this kind, and may claim the notice of those who are engaged upon any illustrated publication.