The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Wediaval Alphabets and Initials for Illuminators.
By F. G. Delamotte. With an introduction by
J. W, Brooks. Pp. 21. E. and F. N. Spon.
Mr. F. Delamotte is admirably well maintaining
his position in the front rank of our most skilled
and graceful illuminators. As a designer and en-
graver on wood he had acquired great cunning of
hand. But all his industry in that way turned
out only to be preliminary to his evidence of re-
fined taste and brilliant fancy in the gorgeous
art of illumination. As the latest token of this
—here is his new volume of mediaeval initials
and alphabets. A volume in which the letters
of the alphabet come forth glorified in gilding
and all the colours of the prism interwoven, and
intertwined, and intermingled, sometimes with a
sort of rainbow arabesque. A poem emblazoned
in these characters would be only comparable to
one of those delicious love letters symbolised in
a bunch of flowers well selected and cleverly ar-
rorlanil Tt wares n nth i n loco acrre..to to
the sweet :" or—to quote familiarly again from
the Immortal Bard—" to paint the lily, to gild
refined gold, and add a perfume to the violet."
Page after page, as we turn the leaves of the
volume, each plate seems preferable to its prede-
cessor : whether it is B with a forget-me-not—or
D with a heart's-ease—or E with a strawberry that
we are looking at. The bluebell, the foxglove,
and the convolvolus bloom abundantly in all kinds
of unexpected crevices in this and that letter of
the alphabet. Now we are introduced by our
artist to an initial of the 14th century, now to one
of the 16th century, and so forth. But no matter
what the age may be that is selected for illustra-
tion—Mr. Delamotte displays throughout such a
lavish facility in the twistings and twinings of his
radiant pencil, that we may speak of him as one
would ordinarily speak only of Ahasuerus, the
Wandering Jew--observing of our illaminator, as
generation after generation flits before us—He, too,
flourished (literally flourished) in those days. The
book will be very welcome to all amateur illumi-
n ators.

BANK RETURNS.

The Bankers' Magazine furnishes the returns of the cir-
culation of the Private and Joint-Stock Banks in England
and Wales for the four weeks ending Aug. 24. These
returns, combined with the circulation of the Scotch and
Irish Banks for the same period, and the average circula-
tion of the Bank of England for the four weeks ending the
21st August (the nearest date furnished by their returns),
will give the following results of the circulation of notes in
the United Kingdom, when compared with the previous •
month :

July 27, Aug, ,
1861. 1861. (Increase, Decrease.
,----_- _____
12,428
rßrianvkatoefßEawklasnd... 230:2003&2800021 220:919740:930762i
_.__
55,296
Joint-stock Banks.. 2,753,068 2,704,6111 48,457
________
------ -
Total in England. 25,986,070 25,869,8891 _ 1,6,181
Scotland 4,077,331( 4,053,8081 23,523
Ireland
,-- ---_— - -
United Kingdom. j 35,680,445 i 35,443,125 P 927 .2011

£237,320

And as compared with the month ending the 25th August,
1860, the above returns show a decrease of £2,085,098
in the circulation of notes in England, and a decrease of
£2,813,766 in the circulation of the United Kingdom.
On comparing the above with the fixed issues of the seve-
ral banks the following is the state of the circulation :
fhe English private banks are below their fixed
issue
£1,373,002
The English joint-stock banks are below their
fixed issue £507,74G

Total below fixed issue in England.... £1,970,748
The Scotch banks are above their fixed issue .. £1,304,537
The Irish banks are below their fixed issue .... £835,066
The average stock of bullion held by the Bank of Eng-
land in both departments during the month ending the 21st
August was £12,509,523, being an increase of £748,447 as
compared with the previous month, and a decrease of
£3,125,230 when compared with the same period last year.
The following aro the amounts of specie held by the Scotch
and Irish banks during the month ending the 24th Aug. :
Gold and silver held by the Scotch banks, ...
Gold and silver held by the Irish banks . .... £2,470,235
....... 2,126,451

Being an increase of V 2,311 £4,596,689
re compared with the
as previous return, and a decrease of X 147 with the corresponding of last ye,a463 when compared

BOY DROWNED AT MARGATE.—A correspondent
of the Maidstone Journal writes :—" A sad calamity oe-
' curred at Margate on Thursday that I think should be a
, warning to parents allowing. schoolmasters on the coast to
bathe the boys without proper
precaution being taken for
their safety. On the rocks beyond New-town there were
about 40 boys from eight to sixteen years of age bathing,
belonging to a respectable school in Margate. On the
cliffs above were 100 people or more watching them ;
presently a man cried out that one of them had gone
down. A sturdy sailor six feet high instantly ran dug n the cut, waded into the 'water, and swain to the spot
where the boy was last seen. The tide was running out
so strong that he, a strong swimmer, could not
stand against it. He returned —the poor boy was lost.
On reaching the spot I found the remainder of the boys
hastily dressing; among them two little follows who had
been nearly carried away in tho same manner. ' I gored
him, sir,' said a boy about 15 years of age, pointing to one
about
9 fellow but I caught hold of him.' The
little
ho
waswass going,ofull of fright that he
could not speak.
feN
Had a strong swimmer been in attendance, or a boat near
at hand (and I think it the duty of those having the care of
our little ones to take precautions both against tide and
cramps), a heavy affliction would have been spired the
parents of this lost one,"