very little to improve its members "in the liberal sciences, or in polite literature."

It appears that Mr. Johnson's sons, to whom he chiefly trusted for the future maintenance of the Society, so seldom resided at Ayscough Fee Hall, the family seat there, that they were unable to devote the personal attention and support essential to the preservation of the Institution. As he himself observed in a letter to his friend Gale, "realms and all communities have their periods." Nevertheless, as Gale in return assured him would be the case, the "Supellex Literaria" of the Society still remains, "a glorious monument of the public spirit and learning of its founder, and the record of a noble attempt, which otherwise would scarcely be credited by posterity."

W. M.

NOTE.-Mrs. Dinham, of Spalding, daughter of Colonel Johnson, and grand-daughter of the intelligent founder of the Society in that town, has, with kind liberality, presented to the Institute the Portrait accompanying this memoir. This gratifying memorial of cordial interest in the endeavours of modern Archæologists to pursue the researches which Maurice Johnson first promoted in Lincolnshire, will be received with much satisfaction by the Members of the Institute; and the Central Committee desire to record their hearty acknowledgment of this generous contribution to the Lincolnshire Volume.

AN ACCOUNT OF

THE PAINTED GLASS IN LINCOLN CATHEDRAL AND SOUTHWELL MINSTER:

WITH SOME GENERAL REMARKS ON GLASS PAINTING.

I PROPOSE in this paper to give some account of the remains of ancient painted glass existing in Lincoln Cathedral, and Southwell Minster. But as I have reason to believe that the subject of Glass Painting is far from being generally understood, and that it has not received that degree of attention which it deserves, whether considered as occupying a prominent place among the arts of the Middle Ages, or as an art which the taste of the present day has caused to be extensively revived; I shall venture to take a wider range than is absolutely necessary, and instead of confining myself to a description of these remains, combine with it such an account of the process of glass painting, and of its past history and variations, as by affording some knowledge of the practical details of the art, may remove an obstacle, which meeting the antiquary or amateur at his first entrance on the study of glass painting, often deters him from pursuing the subject, or giving due attention to it. In conclusion I shall offer a few remarks on the present practice of the art, and suggestions for removing some of the difficulties which beset its advancement.

The art of Painting on Glass, which it may be proper to state is very different from the art of making coloured glass― an art of remote antiquity—was probably suggested by the very ancient practice of painting on earthenware with enamel, and the use of coloured glass in mosaics: but from the silence of classical authors on the subject, the absence of antique specimens, and the character of ancient buildings, as well domestic as public, it seems to have been invented subsequently to the coming of our Lord. Yet although it

cannot be carried back beyond the Christian era, the art is undoubtedly of considerable antiquity, as the Treatise on the subject, which is found in the second book of the "Diversarum artium Schedula" of Theophilus, is of itself sufficient to prove. This treatise, which is as early as the tenth century, describes so perfect and complete a process of glass painting, as to justify the conclusion that the art itself must have been invented at a much earlier period.' So perfect indeed is the method given in the Treatise, (which has been rendered accessible to the general reader by the recent publication of a French, and two English translations)2 that it continued to be followed, without any material change, until almost the middle of the sixteenth century. But to however remote a period the invention of the art may be referred, the most ancient specimens of it which at present exist, are not so early as even the tenth century. The oldest existing painted glass to which a date can, with certainty, be assigned, has been considered by M. de Lasteyrie, and other eminent French antiquaries, to be the remains of the glass at St. Denys; which was painted in the middle of the twelfth century, by order of Abbot Suger, who has left an interesting account of it. But it is not impossible that painted glass much earlier than this may be discovered; indeed M. Gérente, an ingenious imitator of ancient painted glass, lately exhibited to me tracings made from some painted glass at Mans Cathedral, in France, which glass seemed to be as early as the latter part of the eleventh century. Theophilus, in the treatise before mentioned, particularly extols the skill of the French glass painters, and France is at this day the grand storehouse of painted glass of the earliest style. The little we possess in England is however not inferior in quality to the French glass. Some of the oldest glass in this country, is part of a Jesse window in Canterbury Cathedral; and part of another Jesse in York Minster, which has been inserted into the

1 The art of glass making is also described in this treatise. The glass was formed into a cylinder, and opened or spread out into a sheet. Sheets so made have straight selvedges. It is not improbable that the glass found in the ruins of

Roman villas, and which has a straight selvedge, was made in this manner.

2 Those by Count De L'Escalopier, by Mr. Hendrie, and in the appendix to the "Hints on Glass Painting."

tracery lights of the Decorated clerestory windows of the nave.3 All this glass is of the last half of the twelfth century; so that the glass at York, is older than any part of the existing edifice, with the exception of the crypt under the choir. And this is by no means a solitary instance of the original glass having been preserved when an old structure was pulled down and rebuilt in the Middle Ages.

Having thus alluded to the probable antiquity of the art, and noticed a few of the most ancient specimens, I think it will be convenient briefly to describe what may be called Theophilus's System of Glass Painting, and the alterations that were afterwards ingrafted upon it; since by so doing I shall give a general notion of the process of glass painting, and show the chief sources of the varieties of style that are afterwards specified.

As I shall have occasion to mention several different kinds of glass used in glass painting, for the sake of perspicuity and brevity I will state, that by White glass, I mean, glass which in the course of its manufacture has not intentionally been coloured; that by Coloured glass, I mean, glass to which some colour has purposely been given in its manufacture; that by Pot Metal glass, I mean, a particular kind of coloured glass, viz., glass coloured throughout its entire substance; and that by Coated glass (which is sometimes, though inaccurately, called Flashed glass), I mean another kind of coloured glass, viz., glass coloured on one side only of the sheet. The glass painter, it should be added, does not make the glass he paints; though, at an early period, it would seem that he did so.

The glass painter having made his design, which in the earliest period was drawn with lead, tin, or chalk, on a board or table prepared for the purpose,-transferred it to the glass in the following manner. He cut from the sheet pieces of white and coloured glass, corresponding in size and shape to those parts of the design which he intended to be white and coloured respectively, and fitted them accurately together, so as to form a piece of coarse mosaic work; each colour of

3 See Proceedings of the Archæological Institute, at York; Paper on the Painted

Glass, p. 18.

the design being represented by a separate piece of glass. He then proceeded to paint the outlines and shadows of the design upon these pieces of glass, using for the purpose an Enamel Colour, similar to that now known amongst glass painters by the name of "Enamel Brown ;" and which, like any other enamel colour, is composed of two ingredients,— Flux, that is, soft glass which melts readily in the fire, and some kind of Colouring Matter indestructible by heat. The next step was to subject the glass to the action of Red heat, in a kiln or furnace, in order to make the Enamel Brown attach itself to the glass by the melting of the flux; and the process was completed by connecting together the various pieces of painted glass with Lead-work, and setting up the glass painting in the window. A more simple method of producing a pictorial effect can hardly be imagined. The picture was coloured by using white and coloured glass; its outlines, shadows, and diaper patterns alone were painted by the artist. In the early part of the fourteenth century, the glass painters discovered a means of Staining white glass yellow; and of imparting a yellow tint to most kinds of coloured glass. The principal ingredient of the Yellow Stain is oxide, or chloride of silver; it imparts its tint to the glass,-penetrating it a little way,-on being exposed to the action of a red heat. A new mode of executing the shadows and diaper grounds with the Enamel Brown was adopted just before the close of the fourteenth century. Previously to this time, a coat of Enamel Brown was smeared over those parts only of the glass that were intended to be in shadow, the lights being left clear and untouched; but according to the new method, the Enamel Brown was spread all over the glass, and stippled whilst moist, to obliterate the marks of the brush, and give smoothness to the coat; and the parts intended to represent the lights of the picture were afterwards restored to their original transparency by the removal of the enamel ground from off them. The first and oldest