WRITING. 



elegant Saxon, which took place in England early in the 

 tenth century, lafted till the Norman Conqueft, but was not 

 entirely difufed till the middle of the twelfth, and is more 

 beautiful than the writing in France, Italy, and Germany, 

 during the fame period. 



The writing introduced into England by William I. is 

 ufually called Norman, and is compofed of letters nearly 

 Lombardic, which were generally ufed in grants, charters, 

 public inftruments, and law proceedings, with very little 

 variation, from the Norman Conqueft till the reign of king 

 Edward III. 



About the reign of king Richard II. variations took place 

 in writing records and law proceedings ; the charters from 

 the reign of king Richard II. to that of king Henry VIII. 

 were compofed partly of charafters called fet chancery and 

 common chancery, and fome of the letters called court- 

 hand ; which three different fpccies of writing are derived 

 partly from the Norman and partly from the modern 

 Gothic. The modern Gothic began to take place in Eng- 

 land in the twelfth century ; the old Englilh about the 

 middle of the fourteenth century ; and fet chancery and 

 common chancery in the decline of the fame century, and 

 are ftill ufed in the enrolments of letters patent, charters, 

 &c. and in exemplifications of recoveries : the court -hand 

 was contrived by the Englifh lawyers, and took its rife 

 about the middle of the fixteenth century, and continued 

 till the beginning of the late reign, when it was abohfhed 

 by law. The court-hand charafttra were nothing more than 

 the Norman charaiflers very much corrupted and deformed. 



In the fixteenth century, the Enghlh lawyers engrofled 

 their conveyances and legal inftruments in charafters called 

 fecretary, which are ftill in ufe. 



The French call their writing by the names of the dif- 

 ferent races of their kings, in whofe time they were written : 

 thefe were, the Merovingian, the Carlovingian, the Capetian, 

 the Valefian, and the Bourbonian. 



The writing calk'd Merovingian began in France foon 

 after the time of Merovasus, fon of Pharamond ; who was 

 made king A.D. 460 : this race ends with Childeric, who 

 died in 752. The Caroline race properly began with Pepin, 

 who was made king of France upon the death of Childeric. 

 This prince was fucceeded by Charlemagne, A.D. 814, 

 whofe line in France ended with Lewis V. A.D. 987. The 

 Capetian race began with Hugh Capet, who fucceeded 

 Lewis v., and ended with Charles IV. A.D. 1327. The 

 Valefian race began with Philip IV. the fucceiTor of 

 Charles IV., and ended with Henry III. the laft of this 

 Kne, who was flain in 1589. The Bourbonian line began 

 with Henry IV. A.D. 1589, whofe defcendants now fill 

 the throne of France. 



The MSS. written in the northern parts of Scotland and 

 in Ireland are in charafters fimilar to the Saxon. The 

 learned and ingenious colonel Vallancey thinks, indeed, that 

 the Iberians, who migrated from the borders of the Euxine 

 and Cafpian feas, and fettled in Spain, learned letters and 

 arts from the Phoenicians : that a colony of the ancient 

 Spaniards, by the name of Scots or Scythians, fettled in 

 Ireland about a thoufand, or perhaps fix hundred years 

 before Chrift, and that they brought elementary charafters 

 with them into Ireland. He obferves, that the Irifli alpha- 

 bet differs from that of all other nations, in name, order, 

 number, and power, and fuppofes, that they might have 

 received their alphabet from the Carthaginians, who alfo 

 fettled a colony in Ireland about fix hundred years before 

 Clirift ; and adds, that this opinion is the more to be cre- 

 dited, as the Irifti language appears to have a radical identity 

 with the Punic. 



Vol. XXXVIIL 



In order to difcover what real pretenfions the Irifti have 

 to the early ufe of letters, for which they eagerly contend, 

 Mr. Aftle has examined their ftone monuments, their coins, 

 and their MSS., and appealed to the hiftorians of that 

 country. The letters upon the moft ancient of their mo- 

 numents are apparently of Roman and Roman-Britifh ori- 

 ginal ; and none qf thefe infcribed monuments are fo ancient 

 as to prove that the Irifti were poflefled of letters before the 

 Romans had intercourfe with the Britons ; though they 

 prove that they had letters before the arrival of St. Patrick 

 in that kingdom, which, Mr. Whitaker, with great pro- 

 bability of truth, fays, were wafted over from the Cale- 

 donians, who ufed the Roman letters. Sir James Ware 

 fays, that the Irifh alphabet was borrowed from the Britift), 

 and that the Saxon charafters were nearly the fame as the 

 Irifh ; and adds, that Mr. Camden inclined to this opinion. 



Moreover, there are no Irifh coins, infcribed with letters, 

 till long after the twelfth century : except coins ftruck by 

 fome of our Saxon kings, who made incurfions into that 

 country, and ftruck money there in the Saxon manner. 



The oldeft Irifti MS. which has been difcovered is the 

 Pfalter of Cafhel, written in the latter end of the tenth 

 century. 



The teftimony of approved hiftorians is likewife unfa- 

 vourable to the ancient literature of Ireland. Mr. Innes, 

 in his EfTay on the Antiquities of Scotland and Ireland, 

 and Mr. James Macpherfon, in the third edition of his In- 

 troduftion to the Hiftory of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 maintain, that Ireland was firft peopled from Britain ; and 

 that the manners of the old Irifh were inconCftent with the 

 knowledge of letters. 



It feems probable, that the interior parts of Europe were 

 immediately peopled from the northern parts of Afia, and 

 the maritimejjparts from Phoenicia, and the fouthern and 

 weftern parts of that quarter of the globe. If this be the 

 cafe, it is not furprifing that fome Eaftern cuftoms prevailed 

 in Great Britain and Ireland, and that many Celtic words 

 are ftill preferved both in the Irifh and in the Welfh 

 languages. 



The Norman charafters, it is obferved, were generally 

 ufed in England from the coming of William I., and the 

 Saxon charafters were entirely difufed in the very beginning 

 of the twelfth century ; but the Irifh and Scots preferved 

 the ancient forms of their characters till the end of the fix- 

 teenth century. 



The Gaelic or Erfe language, ufed in the Highlands of 

 Scotland, and the Iberno-Gaelic, are nearly the fame, and 

 their letters are fimilar to each other, as Mr. Aftle has 

 fhevvn by various fpecimens. The curious will find much 

 information on the fubjeft of this article in Aftle's Origin 

 and Progrefs of Writing, 4to. 1784. 



J. Ravenau has a treatife, intitled " Des Infcriptions en 

 Faux," in which he fhews how to revive and reftore old 

 writings almoft effaced, by means of galls ground in white 

 wine and diftilled, and thus rubbed over the writings. 



To write without blacking the fingers : prepare the paper 

 with a fine powder, made of three parts of calcined cop- 

 peras, two of galls, and one of gum arabic ; thofe being 

 frefti mixed, rub them with a hare's foot into the pores of 

 the paper, and then write vWth fair water, and the black 

 letters will immediately appear. 



To make new writing appear old, moiften it with oil of 

 tartar per deltquium, more or lefs diluted with water, as you 

 defire the ink to appear more or lefs decayed. 



We may write without ink or its materials ; for this pur- 



pofe, take a fine powder of calcined hartfhorn, of clean 



tobacco-pipes, or rather of mutton-bones hurut to a perfeA 



5 G white- 



