22. MICAH (Inside Porch). c. "Swords into ploughshares" (iv. 3).

Nevertheless, two hundred years after these medallions were cut, the sword manufacture had become a staple in Amiens! Not to her advantage.

. . . D. "Spears into pruning-hooks" (iv. 3).

23, NAHUM (Inside Porch). A. "None shall look back" (ii. 8).

(To the front). c. Thy princes and thy great ones (iii. 17).
23 A, B, and c are all incapable of sure interpretation. The
prophet in A is pointing down to a little hill, said
by the Père Roze to be covered with grasshoppers.2
I can only copy what he says of them.

. . D. Untimely figs (iii. 12).

Four people beneath a fig-tree catch its falling fruit in their mouths.

"I will watch to see what He will say unto me" (ii. 1). The prophet is writing on his tablet to Christ's dictation.

B. The ministry to Daniel.

The traditional visit to Daniel. An angel carries Habakkuk by the hair of his head; the prophet has a loaf of bread in each hand. They break through the roof of the cave. Daniel is stroking one young lion on the back; the head of another is thrust carelessly under his arm. Another is gnawing bones in the bottom of the cave.

*The statue of the prophet, above, is the grandest of the entire series; and note especially the "diadema" of his own luxuriant hair plaited like a maiden's, indicating the Achillean force of this most terrible of the prophets. (Compare Fors Clavigera, Letter 65, page 157.3) For the rest, this long flowing hair was always one of the insignia of the Frankish kings, and their way of dressing both hair and beard may be seen more nearly and definitely in the angle-sculptures of the long font in the north transept, the most interesting piece of work in the whole cathedral, in an antiquarian sense, and of much artistic value also. (See ante, chap. ii. § 36.5)

1 [Durand's interpretation (vol. i. p. 359) is as follows:-A, Nineveh in its splendour, the prophet curses the city. B, Nineveh overthrown. c, the people of Nineveh in flight.]

2 [Visite à la Cathédrale d'Amiens, par l'Abbé Roze, p. 18.]

[Of the first edition: see now § 15, Vol. XXVIII. p. 601.]

[See, for a representation of the font, Fig. 240 (vol. ii. p. 476) in Durand,

and for a description of it, ibid., p. 530).]

[Above, p. 74.]

25. ZEPHANIAH (To the front). A. The Lord strikes Ethiopia (ii. 12).

Christ striking a city with a sword. Note that all violent actions are in these bas-reliefs feebly or ludicrously expressed; quiet ones always right.

B. The beasts in Nineveh (ii. 15).

Very fine. All kinds of crawling things among the tottering walls, and peeping out of their rents and crannies. A monkey sitting squat, developing into a demon, reverses the Darwinian theory.

(Inside Porch). c. The Lord visits Jerusalem (i. 12).

Christ passing through the streets of Jerusalem, with a lantern in each hand.

D. The Hedgehog and Bittern* (ii. 14).

With a singing bird in a cage in the window.

26. HAGGAI (Inside Porch). A. The houses of the princes, ornées de lambris (i. 4).

A perfectly built house of square stones gloomily strong, the grating (of a prison ?) in front of founda

tion.

B. "The heaven is stayed from dew" (i. 10).

The heavens as a projecting mass, with stars, sun, and moon on surface. Underneath, two withered trees.

(To the front). c. The Lord's temple desolate (i. 4).

The falling of the temple, "not one stone left on another," grandly loose. Square stones again. Examine the text (i. 6).

. . D. "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts" (i. 7).

Christ pointing up to His ruined temple.

27. ZECHARIAH. A. The lifting up of Iniquity (v. 6 to 9). Wickedness in the Ephah.

B. "The angel that spake to me" (iv. 1).

The prophet almost reclining, a glorious winged angel hovering out of cloud.

28. MALACHI.. A. "Ye have wounded the Lord” (ii. 17).

a

The priests are thrusting Christ through with barbed lance, whose point comes out at His

back.

*See ante, p. 151, note.