Note 52 — Chapter XIII · “DESIGN” IN ILLUMINATION “Design” — Elementary Patterns in Decoration — Scale & Scope of Decoration — Of “Designing” Manuscripts, Generally.

As an example of a good “rule of thumb,” use the ruled lines of a manuscript as a scale for other measurements and proportions, leaving one, two, three, or more of the line-spaces for capitals, ornaments, &c.: you have this scale—as it were, a “ready reckoner”—present on every page, and following it enables you more easily to make the decoration agree and harmonise with the written text and with the book as a whole (see p. 128 & figs. 89, 91, 71).