The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-14
HISTORY OF WRITING.
PhvsioRnomy OF MaAuscripts-Msdi0cv
PSSmnI Isntp-OuriSus Changes.

Three works .Ientitled "Fac-smies OF National
Manuscripts from william the Conqueror to
ouepn Anne, Selected under the Direction Of the
Master of the Rolls" "Fac-similes of National
Manuscripts OF Scotland" and "sculptured
Stones OF Scotland" furnish the subject for an
interesting article on the "History of Writing"
in the last number of the North British Reuielo'
We quote few passages:-
PHYsIoGNoMY OF MANUGCsIPTs.
''In our day, when everybody writes lor NM
self and the form of writing is little regarded
there lie ABUNDANCE OF pnyslognony lu Jhe
various hands; but neglect OF form prevents IL
from touching upon tne ooroere OF art Nheh
writing was in "a few hands, and the writers
were an order or profession, they became more
or less consciously, artists. Their caigrapny
had history which is truly a branch OF the
history OF art, aud the changes which
At underwent must be attributed to
the working of some such art in
stinct as that which leads to novelty in
dress or in architecture. In these latter the
type and standard OF beauty Is subject to yarla-
ton, more frequently IN the one case and more
rarely in the other; and in like manner we see
In wrlrng not merely an indntte variety, IKE
that OF physiognOmy, which is due no doubt to
the INFINITE variations OF individual character;
but we also see, rs in the case OF dress aud
architecture, succession OF standards or types
of beauty which from time TO time make their
snpearanCc, win their way, eXtingulSh some
former type, culminate, and then sooner or later
retire to make way ior the next innovation.
to start with. IN which the course OF English me-
di@val writing corresponds TO that OF architec-
ture. They both occupy the same space OF time;
they rise together and fall together. We lay no
stress on the term Gothic as applied to both, ex-
cept as a testimony 10 the above fact; because
there is no doubt that it was applied to the one
in consequence of its companonship with
tho other. Gothic characters were SO called
simply because they were found TO predomt'
nate on Gothic monuments and in Gothic
buildings, The term Gothic, as applied TO art, is
SAID to have been started IN der1slon by an ltaan
writer Of the sixteenth century. If so, 1t was
most appropriate Inauguration for a word which
was presently to stand forth as the antltheslS, IN
so macy respects, OF that which was Italian or
Roman, or (more generally classic. 1t repre-
sents in O general way the Outgro With OF the
northern mind OF Europe, as opposed to that of
the southern. In phllology and ethnology it
COmprehends the two great subdivisions OF the
Teu, onic and scandinavian families, from whom
has proceeded everything which has coustl-
tuted the distinction between the modern Euro.
pean civilization and that OF the Roman empire.
Gothic architecture was product OF the north,
perhaps OF Normandy; but 1t nowhere had SO
long career, 1t nowhere was 50 thoroughly
domesticaed, 1t penetrated the hooks and glens
of no country so completely, as OF England.
GolhiC handwriting also was a northern taste,
which developed in the north west of EurOpe
but IN no country did 1t pass through such
succession OF delicate transformations as in thls
country.
BLACK LETTER.
''The main grand result that OF the black let
ter, Is indeed common to many lands, i'm form
almost Identical This was through the great
commerce OF literature which connected the
universities Of Europe, and which led to the
possession OF common writing character for
literature. This is the character commonly
meant wnen Gothic wrltlng' is spoken OF, but
We must vIndicate that expression as belonging
TO the whole series OF varieties of the pointed
style in penmansnip. We only grant to the
black letter mat II Is the Gothic par eccetenCe
or the Square GOthlc.' or the 'MOnkish GothIc'
The great Romance lands OF Italy ana Spain
never lost the rOundness of their hand, although
it was not quite unaffected by the influence
OF northern Europe. And it was this rouudness
which at length returned upon us with the
revival of CLASSIC lore and extinguished our
native architecture and hand WRITING at the same
time.
MEDIEVAL PENMANsaIp
''The three volumes OF English historical
monuments, extending from the Conquest to the
year l60O include the entire period of that Pc
Cullar medieval style of penmau shtp in which
there Is so much TO explore. At the opening of
the series (Vol l., No. ! we see the decline of
the style which preceded the Gothlc-a style
which was, in fact a BRUSH type of Roman
esque. At the clO,e of the Third Part the last
lingering traces of the Gothic are being etfaced
by the general preference for the Italian hand
at the time when the Renaissance was chang
ing the ace of all things (Vol. Ill. No. XIV.
and No. LE) The earliest specimens sdll be-
long to that round hand in which the Auglo-
Saxon manuscripts are written, and which has
IRON this circumstance been sometimes called
u
good designation, because the Irish, Scottish
and Saxon manuscripts are all equally written
In this character, whe her the contents are in
the VeInaculars or in Latin.
what gives interest TO this style of writing is
the TACT that it is peculiar to the British Isles,
though not peculiar to the SaXOns. 1t is the
monument of that intellectual dominion which
Ireland once exercised over the British Isles,
and which extended itself beyond our seas to
many parts OF the Continent. This type of
handwriting, whose origin we shall glance at
by aud by, begins to lose its character soou
alter the Conquest. Already in the two short
Saxon documents with which the present series
opens, we perceive great declenson from tue
bold round hand of the Saxon books. But in
fact 1T was not a meIe decliue; it was a change
IN fashion. The same king who first imported
the use of the Norman seals, Imported also the
ta.hiOn of Norman writing. Not without justice
has Edward the Coniessor been styled by some
historians the first of our Norman kings. The
change which Saxon Denmauship admitted in
his day finds no parallel in our history, as a
foreign innovation, until the entrance OF the
Italian hand in the sixteenth century.
CHANGES IN THE REIGN OF HENRY II.
1T is in the reign of Henry IL that
the tendency to seek beauty in a new direc-
tiOn is clearly pronounced We observe a
studied and delicate manipulation which
makes 1t plain that hand writing was become
a fancy There Is progressive elegance in
the body of the writing, accompanied by an out
growth of the tall letters, which in the previous
style hardly emerge above their felio rs. Con-
nected with this is the large space now allowed
between the lnes, up through which, as If to-
wards some lofty ceiling, the long letters shoot
their graceful shafts, tipped oil at their SUBMITS
with gentle flourish, like the delicate chapter Of
exhibited IN the present collection between
the numbers vi. (Henry ID and XII
IRichard y. The numbers XII and XIII, which
MI one page, present an admirable and instruc.