The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1807-05-01

ms laoorouS talk and arrived his journeys end at
quarter before one o'clock, and won, with difficulty,
way by two horfemen.
3
or Tnx MATERIALS OF WAITING.
FROM pIsRAKLL
have collected from the literary hitory Of France
the Prefent curious article.
j he mof ancient mode Of writing on cinders
on bricks, and on tables of ftone afterwards on
plates OF various materials, ON ivory, and on milar
articles.
In the book of Job, mention is made of the euftom
OF writing on Rome and fheets of lead 1t was
on tables of one that Moles received the law writ
ten by the finger Of God himfelf. The Gauls in the
TIME OF Caiar, wrote tables; but of what they
were eoniPofed is not known. This manner of writ
ing we Till retain, in repe& to interruptions, epi=
taPhs and iuch memorial, we are deiirous fhouid
reach pofterty.
Theie early inventions led to the difeoveft of tab.
lets OF wood; and cedar 10 incorruptible beeau.
OF ITS bitterness, they ehoe this wood for their mott
important writings From this euffom arifes the &C.
LIBERATED exPreRons Of the aneienes when they eant
to give the highea eulogium of an e,eellen, work,
d fed'' dsna i0ea1dri that it was worthy to be
written on cedar. Thefe fsbiefy were made of the
hrnks Of tree, the ue Of them Gill exits but in ve
neral they are made of other materials than wood.
he lame reafon which led to prefer the cedar 70 o.
Their trees induced write on 4pax which j, ineor
ruptiSle from its nature. Men generally ued il to
write their teamens, order the better to prefervr
them thus Juvenal lays, CeraI impier. eaeart,.
Saint lfdore of Seville .eififes that the C,r.et,
and iuicans were the Grf who ufed wax to write on
They wrote with iron bodkin, as they did ON m.
other iubftances we have noticed. But the Ronan,
having forbidden the ufe of this inltrument, thew
iubftituted Gyiur made of the bone of bird or a.
IN thair
cravings They ALTO employed rmds cut in the form
Opens
In the progress of time, the art of writing eenf.d
IN Painting with different kinds Of ink This novel
MODE OF writing oceafoned them to invent other
materials proper to receive their writing. They now
ehoie the thin Pefr of certain trees, tant, and even
Kim Of animSis which were prepared for mi. NM
pole. The hrA place where they began to pr.psrs
theie ik'ns was Pegnmor, Ala. This is the Groin Of
the Latin name, from whence we have derived ,b,,
oil fHr3bUfnf. 1hefe hins are, however better known
amongit the authors of the pureh Latin. under ,bs
name OF mem6rSn0. They were 10 called beeaufs M
the membranes OF the animals, of which they were
competed. The ancients had porebmerfs of three diff
ierent Colours, white, yellow and purple. AtRom.
white parchment difliked, becaufe /, wa. No.,
inbJec to be fooled than the Others and dazx.d ,hs
eye. They generally wrote In letters of gold and
hiVer, on purple parchment This cuftom Continued
IN early ages of the church; and there are We. .x
tant written copies of the evangeGs of this kind
OF which iPecimens are preierved in the Brtifb Mn
feun,. ''Au'
The Egyptians on their fde EMPLOYED for ,vr;,n,
the tari Or PAb of plant called Sse,,u,. Formeriss
there grew great quantities of it on the eide, of
the Nile. 1t Is this plant which has given the name
to our paper, although it is competed of linen or
rags. The CSi1ys make their pasen with Ill., The
de OF pgf is of great antiquity. II is wHa, the an
tient Lat'niits call @bayta or eba,f< The honor of
TINS invention is due tothe town of Memphis in E.
gyPt Before the ule Of pdrebs.f and paper pared TO-
me Romans, they contrived to ufe the thin peel
winch was found on certain trees, between the wood
OF thes trees and their bark This iecond Kin ,b.x
called IOer, from whence they have derived rho
names OF library and H5r0,ian in the European Ian.
guages, and the French their E5-e for book Anc;-
entity initead OF folding thisbark this parchment and
paper as we fold ours they rolled it according as they
wrote on It and the Latin name which thew gave
thefe rolls, Paed into languages, as we'll as the
others. we lay vsiams or poiumes, although our
books are competed of pages cut, and bound tooe.
tber.
The ancients were hill more curious than our.
ielve' IN having their books richly conditioned Re-.
iide' the TINT OF purple with which they tinged their
veiiam, and the liquid gold which they EMPLOYED for
their lux, they were very foci;ous to enrich with
precious ones the covers Of their books. I'm the
iy ages OF the church, they painted ON the outGde
commonly dying Ch-h
The following additional information, taken from
Cali-ys catalogue Of the MSS in the Kings library,
is not lefs curious,
Varro iays, that plain leaves Tor naalIow Ieaves)
were at flrit ued tor writing ON from whence the
word began and continued to fgnify The leaf of SoOE
as well as Of or plant.
hat the abcients or engraved on by,6 i,
maniieit from ieveral intances: the the laws of
the twelve tables, ana other monuments. were
Kept IN the capitol, engraved brais. The Ro
mans and the Lacedemonians wrote to the Jews in
rabies oil brais. There is fmal fragment sf writ.
ing on bark near one thouand years old, in III. Co,
tonian library and there are fill remaining a few
old books IN Libraries abroad, faid to be written OH
the Egyptian papyrus.
g The ART of making paper Of cotton, was dfeover
ed IN the Aith century; The invention of making pa
per OF linen rags could not be long After"
"A late Engih newspaper mentions, tina, the eele-
brated Mr.. koieoe (auhor of the Lives Of Lorenzo
d. Mediei and Pope Leo X,) had been choien re.
ur ei in p.riia f.