14 
Befides the two points, the colon and 
period, there are no other marks, but of 
the note of interrogation, and of contrac- 
tions ; the latter of which are numerous. 
TI thall only fpecify one mark of contrac- 
tion, which is very common in this, and 
all the early-printed books: it fomewhat 
-refembles the Arabian figure for the num- 
ber three, thus 5 3 and is very generally 
put for tne we of the conjunétion gue, as 
q3, which was afterwards altered for q;: 
it is often made alfo to fupply the place of 
a terminating m, as eua3 for ela, 
quid 5 for quidem, grandine3 for graz- 
diaem ; and ftands occafionally for a con- 
traction of fome oiher terminations, as 
q35 for quam, {3 for fed, and ic3 for 
fetlicet. , 
The only two points introduced, are 
fparingly and incorrectly uied. The coloz 
ftands fometimes in the place of a comma, 
fometimes of a period, and fometimes of 
#n interrogation. 
15006 
Inthe laft year of the fifteenth century, 
in an edition of TuLtLy’s Offices, his 
bocks on Friendfhip and Old Age, and 
his Paradoxes, printed together in one 
volume, in quarto, with numerous notes, 
the only points or paufes which are com- 
monly and undoubtedly met with, are co. 
fons, and periods; the tormer of which an- 
fwer for all intermediate paufes, which 
indeed are very frequently not marked at 
all; and the latter are placed at the con- 
- elufion of the fentences. 
There are alfo parenthefes (); colons 
inftead of parenthefes ; hyphens -3 para- 
graphs @, which Ihere meet with for the 
firft time: fometimes notes of interroga- 
tion; and innumerable, as well as exceffive, 
contrictions, among which, befides q5 
for gue, are to be found £3 for fed, q3 
for quam, and na3 for nas. 
Yo the paufes, perhaps, I ought to 
have added the comma; fince juft at the 
end of the Paradoxes, but not before, I 
find a few oblique firckes, fuch as were 
afterwards ufed for commas; but, though 
they fometimes appear where commas 
would be proper, at other times they feem 
to be inferted as if by accident, and with- 
out any apparent defign. And as they are 
only introduced in the few laft pages, 
chiefly in- the laft paradox ; and then irre- 
gularly, uncertainly, and with NO appa- 
rent plan or purpofe; fo that it feems as 
if the printer had inferted them by mif- 
take; or, having juft learned that fuch a 
mark was come intoufe, and, wifhing not 
to be the laft to adopt an improvement in 
the art, had introduced a few of them at a 
On Punétuation, fecoud Letter. 
[ Feber. 
venture, as a fpecimen of a mark of which 
he did not underftand the meaning; they 
do not feem to have a juft claim to be enu- 
merated among the points employed in 
this book. 
My copy wants the 
the end T find — 
M. ‘I. C. de offictis: Amicitia: Se- 
nectute: & Paradoxis: cum exaétifiima 
explicatione Petri Marfi: nec non in de 
ofiiciis familiariffima expofitione Jodoci 
Badii finit feliciter. Anno dni. M.ccecc. 
die vero tertia Decembris. 
Tt is well printed in the old black let- 
ter. ‘The manner of pointing may be feen 
in the following extraét from the beginning 
of the firft book of the Offices. 
Quanquam te Marce fili annum jam au- 
dientem Cratippum idque Athenis abun- 
dare oportet preceptis inftitutisque phi- 
lofophie: propter fummam. & doftoris 
auctoritatem & urbis: quoru3 alter te 
{cientia augere poffit: altera exemplis : 
tamen ut ipfe ad meam utilitatem femper 
cum grecis latina conjunxi: neq3 id in 
philofophia folum: fed etiam in dicendi 
exercitatione feci: idem tibi cenfeo facien- 
dum: ut par fis in utriufg 3 orationis: fa- 
cultates. Quam quid 3 ad rem nos (ut 
videmur) magnum adjumentum attulimus 
hominibus nofiris: ut non modo greca- 
rum literarum rudes:-{3 etiam doét 
aliquantum fe arbitrantur adeptos: & ad 
dicendum & ad judicandu 3. 
Thefe are all the books printed in the 
fifteenth century which I have examined; 
in which F have no where found any other 
points, for marking the paufes, but the 
colon, and the full point, or period ; ex- 
cepting a few oblique dafhes, = apparently 
in the place of commas, as already no. 
ticed, at the conclufion of the juft men- 
tioned edition of CiceRo ; the printing of 
which was finifhed on the third of Decem- 
ber, in the laf year of this century. 
Here I conclude this long epiftle. Tis 
my next I fhall trace the progreis of punc- 
tuation in the fixteenth century, till the 
firt appearance, which I fhall be able to, 
difcover, of that very convenient point the 
semicolon. Tam, &c. 
Dec. 4, 1800. 
EE 4 
For the Menthly Magazine. 
ACCOUNT of NEWSPAPERS publifhed it 
POLAND, /fince the Partition in 1795... 
N the year 1794, two newfpapers in 
the Polith, two in the French, and 
one in the German language were yet pub- 
lifhed at Wariaw. But on the diffolution 
of the republic of Poland, a total change 
enfued with refpeét to political journals» 
and 
title page 3 but at 
BIpLicus,. 
