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Excerpt from Pearl, Cleanness, Patience and Sir Gawain: Reproduced in Facsimile From the Unique Ms. Cotton Nero A. X in the British Museum; With Introduction
Two illustrations follow the text of Pearl. On F. 56a we have an unusual portrayal of Noah's Ark, where instead of the eight saved therein, only seven figures are discernible, namely, Noah and his wife, their three sons, and two wives. The place for the eighth is perhaps indicated in the blank space at the right hand side. The clinking Of the vessel is plainly shown. The whole design Of the Ark and the means of propelling it are quite contrary to the poet's description. On the reverse, Daniel is depicted expounding the writing on the wall to the sacrilegious Belshazzar and his queen.
On F. 82 a, in a-half-page picture under the concluding lines of Cleanness, Jonah is being thrown from the ship into the open mouth of the whale, the ship being of similar design to that illustrating Noah's Ark. On the reverse we have a full-page picture of Jonah preaching to representative Ninevites; it has special reference to the concluding lines of the poem, - men, women, and sots The illustrator has, I think, indicated the born idiot in the quaint figure holding a stick with both hands, not knowing the right hand from the left. The idiotic expres sion on his face is noteworthy; there is a characteristic fool's jagged collar round his neck. The city of Nineveh is indicated by battlements and buildings Of the same design as the mansion in the fourth illustration to Pearl.
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