SGI 
PAP 
& glutine.” This, Cafaubon underftands as fpoken of 
the produce and revenue of paper; though Salmafius 
takes it to be meant of the papyrus itfelf, which could 
fupply moft of the neceffiaries of life. 
We find div.ers fpecies of Egyptian paper mentioned in 
ancient writers : fome denominated from the places where 
they were manufactured ; as, i. The Amphitheatrica, fup- 
pofed to have been made in fome building belonging to 
an amphitheatre at Alexandria; though Guilandinus, 
with more probability, reads it Arthribitica, from Arth- 
ribus, a city in the middle of the Delta, which was the 
place of its manufacture. What countenances this cor¬ 
rection, is, that we find mention of this paper before there 
was fo much as an amphitheatre at Rome, much lefs at 
Alexandria. 2. Saitica , made in the city Sais. 3. 
Taniotica, or, according to others. Tuition , whofe place 
authors are not agreed on. There were alfo other forts 
denominated from the makers; as, 4. The Fanniana , from 
the grammarian Fannius Palaemon, who kept a paper¬ 
work. This kind wasfmall, but finer than the amphithe¬ 
atrica! paper ; being firft wrought at Alexandria, and af¬ 
terwards finifhed at Rome. 5. Claudia, firft made by order 
of the emperor Claudius. This was reputed the belt of 
all, in that, belldes the two pellicles, in common with the 
reft, it had a third. Others were denominated from the 
ufes they were intended for ; as, 6. Hieratica, the firft or 
oldeft fort, which was appropriated to religious ufes; this 
was afterwards denominated Augujla and Liviana, in 
compliment to the emperor of that name, and his wife ; 
who, according to fome, improved and made it whiter 
than before. 7. Emporctica, or Empurica, a fin all and 
coarf’e fort, ferving for fhopkeepers’ ufes, to tie up 
goods, &c. 
The qualities for which the aficient papers wereprifed, 
were their thinnefs, clofenefs, whitenefs, and fmoothnefs; 
though their breadth alfo conliderably enhanced their 
value. That fort called Charta Claudia was thirteen 
inches wide ; the Hieratica , eleven ; the Fanniana, ten ; 
and the Amphitheatrica, nine; as to the Saitica, it ex¬ 
ceeded not the diameter of the mallet it was beaten with. 
Among thefe, the Amphitheatrica was highly efteemed 
for its ltrength, whitenefs, and polifh. The ink, however, 
funk lefs in paper highly polifhed ; and therefore the cha¬ 
racters were more liable to be effaced. When it was not 
carefully foaked in the firft preparation, the paper 
brought a lefs price; becaufe letters were with difficulty 
formed upon it, and it fent forth a difagreeable fmell. To 
remedy this defect, the paper went through a new courfe 
of iizing and hammering ; and the fize uled on that occa- 
lion was made of light bread fteeped in boiling water, and 
palled through a filtering-cloth. By this means the paper 
became in the higheft degree united, and fmoother than 
the fineft linen. It was this paper which gave fo long a 
duration to the works of the Gracchi, Tiberius, and Caius, 
in their own hand-writing. “ I have feen them (fays 
Pliny) in the library of Pomponius Secundus, a poet and 
citizen of the firft rank, near 200 years after they were 
written.” We may add, that manufcripts of this paper 
ftill remain, which have undoubtedly been written 1000 
or 1200 years ago. Notwithftanding the care which was 
taken to give ltrength and confiftency to the paper of 
Egypt, the leaves, although collected into a book, were 
too weak to fupport themfelves; and for this reafon it was 
a common practice, after every five leaves, to infert a leaf 
of parchment. There ftill remains in the abbey of St. 
Germain-des-Pres a fragment of the Epiftles of St. Au- 
guftine written in this manner. The manufcript is at 
lealt 1100 years old, and in a high ftate of prefervation. 
This paper was an important branch of commerce to 
the Egyptians, which continued to increafe towards the 
end of the Roman republic, and became ftill more exten- 
iive in the reign of Auguftus. The demand from foreign 
nations was often fo great, as to occafion a fcarcity at 
Rome ; and we read in the reign of Tiberius of a tumult 
among the people in confequence of this fcarcity. In a 
Vol, XVIII. No. 1249. 
E R. 
letter of the emperor Adrian, the preparing of the papyrus 
is mentioned as one of the principal occupations at Alex¬ 
andria. “In this rich and opulent city (fays he) nobody 
is feen idle : fome are employed in the manufactory' of 
cloth, fome in that of writing-paper,” &c. 
St. Jerome informs us, that it w r as as much in ufe in 
the fifth century when he flourifhed. The duty on the 
importation of this commodity had grown excelfive to¬ 
wards the end of this or the beginning of the fixth cen¬ 
tury; and, being aboliffied by Theodoric king of Italy, 
Caffiodorus, in the 38th letter of his 11 th book, congratu¬ 
lates the whole world on the difcharge of an impoll on a 
merchandife foeffentially neceflary to mankind. 
Montfaucon and Mabillon mention feveral fragments 
written on this paper in the fixth century. One of them 
was a charter of the emperor Juftinian, entitled, Charta 
plenarice J'eeuritatis. Father Montfaucon law in 1698, in 
the library of Julio Juftiniana, three or four fragments of 
paper of Egypt of the fame antiquity'. And Mabillon 
lpeaks of fome books of the JewilhAntiquities by Jofephus, 
tranflated into Latin, which feemed to have been written 
in the fame century, and which were preferved in the 
library of St. Ambrofe of Milan. The fame father men¬ 
tions to have feen in the library of St. Martin of Tours 
the remains of an old Greek manufcript of the paper of 
Egypt, and which appeared to him to be of the feventh 
century. He alfo believes, that the copy of St. Mark’s 
Gofpel preferved in the regifter-office of Venice is written 
on the fame paper, that it is the moft ancient of any of the 
evangelical manufcripts, and may be fuppofed to be writ¬ 
ten at the latelt in the fourth century. According to the 
fame antiquarian, the paper of Egypt was ufed in France, 
and Italy, and other European countries, both for books 
of learning and public records ; and there ftill remains, 
adds he, a great number of thefe in the archives of the 
church at St. Dennis, at Corbie, in the abbey de Graffie, 
and in other convents. 
It is probable, that the invention of paper made of cot¬ 
ton, of which we are p.ext to treat, infenfibly deftroyed 
the reputation and manufacture of the paper of Egypt; 
but it is ftill a queftion at what particular period the 
fabrication of the latter totally ceafed. Euftachius, the 
learned commentator on Homer, alfures us, that in his 
time, in 1170, it was no longer in ufe ; but father Mabillon 
maintains, that many of the popifh bulls w'ere written on 
the papyrus in the nth century. 
Count Maffei, in his Illor. Diplomat, lib. ii. Biblioth. 
Ital. tom. ii. is decidedly of opinion, that the paper of 
Egypt was not in ufe in the fifth century. He confiders 
all records written on this paper dated pofterior to this 
period as not authentic ; and the popifh bulls mentioned 
by Mabillon appear to this learned perfon, as well as the 
copy of St. Mark’s Gofpel, to be written on paper manu¬ 
factured from cotton. To reconcile in fome meafure 
thefe contradictory accounts, it may be obferved, that on 
fome particular occafions, and by fome particular perfons, 
the paper of Egypt might have been employed for feveral 
hundred years after it ceafed to be of general ufe. Who¬ 
ever wiffies for a fuller account of the paper of Egypt, 
may confult among the ancients Pliny, lib. xiii. and 
Theophraftus, lib. iv. chap. ix. and, among the moderns, 
Guilandinus, Scaliger, Salmafius, Kerchmayer, Nigrifoli; 
Hardouin, in his edition of Pliny; Mabillon, De Re 
Diplomat. Montfaucon in his Paleography, and in his 
Collections; the illuftrious Maffei in his Iftor. Diplomat, 
the Count de Caylus in the Memoirs of the Academy of 
Infcriptions ; and Mr. Bruce in his Travels to difcover the 
Source of the Nile. 
II. Of PAPER made from COTTON. 
It is generally fuppofed that the invention of the pa¬ 
per, called Charta bombycina, fupplantcd the Egyptian 
paper in Greece. This paper is incomparably more lall- 
ing, and better calculated for all the purpofes of writing. 
It is not precifely known at what period this art, which 
4 Z fuppofes 
