3.s<i INKS; 



durable quality, as may best resist tin- destructive powers of time 

 and the elements. The necessity of paying greater attention to this 

 matter may be readily seen by comparing the rolls and records, 

 that have been written from the fifteenth century to the end of the 

 . \< ntienth, with the writings we hare remaining of various ages 

 from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. Notwithstanding the superior 

 antiquity of the latter, they are in excellent preservation ; but we 

 frequently find the former, though of more modern date, so much 

 defaced, that they are scarcely legible. 



Inks are of various sorts, as encaustic or varnish, Indian ink, 

 gold and silver, purple, black, red, green, and various other co- 

 lours : there are also secret and sympathetic inks. 



The ink used by the ancients had nothing in common with ours, 

 but the colour and gum. Gall nuts, copperas, and gum, makeup 

 the i -omposition of our ink ; whereas soot, or ivory black, was tin 

 chief ingredient in that of the ancients ; so that very old charters 

 might be suspected, if written with ink intirely similar to what we 

 liso ; but the most acute and delicate discernment is necessary in 

 this matter, for some of the inks formerly used were liable to fade 

 and decay, and are found to have turned red, yellow, or pale : those 

 imperfections are however rare in MSS. prior to the tenth century. 



There is a method of reviving the writing, but this expedient 

 should not be hazarded, lest a suspicion of deceit should arise, and, 

 the support depended on be lost. 



Golden ink was used by various nations, as may be seen in se- 

 veral libraries, and in the archives of churches. Silver ink was also 

 common in most countries. Red ink, made of vermilion, cinna- 

 bar, or purple, is frequently found in the MSS. bat none are found 

 written intirely with ink of that colour. The capital letters are 

 made with a kind of varnish which seems to be composed of vermi. 

 lion and gum. Green ink was rarely used in charters, but often 

 in Latin MSS. especially in those of the latter ages : the guardians 

 of the Greek emperors made use of it in signatures, till the latter 

 were of age. Blue or yellow ink was seldom used but in MSS. 

 The yellow has not been in use, as far as we can learn, for six hun. 

 dred years. 



Metallic and other characters were sometimes burnished. Wax 

 was used as a varnish by the Latins and Greeks, but much more 

 by the latter, with whom it continued a long time. This covering 

 or tarnish was very frequent in the ninth century. 



