Part 14 (1/2)

between seraphim.

13, B. ”Lo, this hath touched thy lips” (vi. 7).

The Angel stands before the prophet, and holds, or rather held, the coal with tongs, which have been finely undercut, but are now broken away, only a fragment remaining in his hand.

14. JEREMIAH.

14, A. The burial of the girdle (xiii. 4, 5).

The prophet is digging by the sh.o.r.e of Euphrates, represented by vertically winding furrows down the middle of the tablet. Note, the translation should be ”hole in the ground,” not ”rock.”

14, B. The breaking of the yoke (xxviii. 10).

From the prophet Jeremiah's neck; it is here represented as a doubled and redoubled chain.

15. EZEKIEL.

15, A. Wheel within wheel (i. 16).

The prophet sitting; before him two wheels of equal size, one involved in the ring of the other.

15, B. ”Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem” (xxi. 2).

The prophet before the gate of Jerusalem.

16. DANIEL.

16, A. ”He hath shut the lions' mouths” (vi. 22).

Daniel holding a book, the lions treated as heraldic supporters. The subject is given with more animation farther on in the series (24, B).

16, B. ”In the same hour came forth fingers of a Man's hand” (v. 5).

Belshazzar's feast represented by the king alone, seated at a small oblong table. Beside him the youth Daniel, looking only fifteen or sixteen, graceful and gentle, interprets. At the side of the quatrefoil, out of a small wreath of cloud, comes a small bent hand, writing, as if with a pen upside down on a piece of Gothic wall.[64]

For modern bombast as opposed to old simplicity, compare the Belshazzar's feast of John Martin!

[Footnote 64: I fear this hand has been broken since I described it; at all events, it is indistinguishably shapeless in the photograph (No. 9 of the series).]

43. The next subject begins the series of the minor prophets.

17. HOSEA.

17, A. ”So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver and an homer of barley” (iii. 2).

The prophet pouring the grain and the silver into the lap of the woman, ”beloved of her friend.” The carved coins are each wrought with the cross, and, I believe, legend of the French contemporary coin.

17, B. ”So will I also be for thee” (iii. 3).

He puts a ring on her finger.