Our Fathers Have Told Us Part 15

Elijah (?) speaking to an armed man under a tree.

20, D. The Messenger.

A messenger on his knees before a king. I cannot interpret these two scenes (20, C and 20, D).

The uppermost _may_ mean the dialogue of Elijah with the captains (2 Kings i. 2), and the lower one, the return of the messengers (2 Kings i. 5).

21. JONAH.

21, A. Escaped from the sea.

21, B. Under the gourd. A small gra.s.shopper-like beast gnawing the gourd stem. I should like to know what insects _do_ attack the Amiens gourds. This may be an entomological study, for aught we know.

22. MICAH.

_To the front._

22, A. The Tower of the Flock (iv. 8).

The tower is wrapped in clouds, G.o.d appearing above it.

22, B. Each shall rest and "none shall make them afraid" (iv. 4).

A man and his wife "under his vine and fig-tree."

_Inside Porch._

22, 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.

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

23. NAHUM.

_Inside Porch._

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

23, B. The Burden of Nineveh (i. I).[65]

[Footnote 65: 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 LXV., page 157.) 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. p. 45.)]

_To the front._

23, 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 Pere Roze to be covered with gra.s.shoppers. I can only copy what he says of them.

23, D. "Untimely figs" (iii. 12).

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

24. HABAKKUK.

24, A. "I will watch to see what he will say unto me" (ii. 1).

The prophet is writing on his tablet to Christ's dictation.

24, 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.

25. ZEPHANIAH.

_To the front._

25, 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.

25, 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._

25, C. The Lord visits Jerusalem (i. 12).

Christ pa.s.sing through the streets of Jerusalem, with a lantern in each hand.

25, D. The Hedgehog and Bittern[66] (ii. 14).

With a singing bird in a cage in the window.

[Footnote 66: See ante p. 117, note.]

26. HAGGAI.

_Inside Porch._

26, A. The houses of the princes, _ornees de lambris_ (i. 4).

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

26, B. The Heaven is stayed from dew (i. 10).

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

_To the front._