1801. ] 
books do. In both theferefpects, as well 
as in the form of the letter, they imitated, 
as I fuppofe, the manufcripts from which 
they were copied, and of which they feem 
to have been intended for fac-/imiles: fince 
we are told that the firft printers fold their 
printed copies of books for real manu- 
fcripts. And, though the deception was 
probably not long kept up, the form of 
the types, and the manner of printing, in 
imitation of the manufcript writing in ule 
at the time of the invention of this curious 
and uleful art, feem, as was natural, to 
have continued for many years after the 
myftery of it was at anend. 
It is to be obferved that, though this 
one point alone is uled, which we now con- 
fine to note the conclufion of a period; or 
full and final paufe of a complete fentence ; 
it is not; in this book, fo reftriéted to the 
te.mination of a period, but is put in the 
place of all the other paufes, as the com- 
ma, the femicolon, and the celon; and 
even fometimés in places where there are 
properly no paufes at all: but that the 
beginnine of every period is invariably 
difinguilhed by a capital letter. 
Befides the imple point, the hyphen at 
the end of a line, when a word is divided, 
and a part of it carried on to the beginning 
of the next line, which is marked by two 
fmall ftrokes drawn obliquely upwards, 
from the left hand to the right, thus = ; 
the numberlefs contra&tions; and the note 
of interrogation, which occurs not unfre- 
quently; Ihave not been able to difcover, 
in the whole book, a fingle point or mark 
‘of any kind: no note of admiration ; no 
parenthefis, crotchet, fection, paragraph, 
or afterifm; though moi of thefe marks 
occur in books printed in the very begin- 
ning of the fixteenth century, and fome of 
thofe abound even in profufion. 
It is to be obferved alfo, that the pozzts 
are not round, but in the forin of a {quare 
or diamond, either with rectilinear or 
concave fides, thus ,, or thus + ; and ref- 
ing upon one of the points; a form which 
contiuued more or lefs in‘ufe till late in the 
fixteenth century. 
The following extra&, in which I have 
Jeft out the contrations ; but have frilly 
obferved the ufe of the capital letters, re- 
tained the peculiarities of the [pelling, and 
exaétly copied the punctuation ; may ferve 
as a fufficient {pecimen of the latter. 
Prohe. im fcolas. hiftoriam. 
Reverendo patriac domino fuo guilhel- 
mo. dei gratia fenonenft archiépilco. Pe- 
irus fervus chrifti prefbiter trecenfis. Vi- 
tam bonam et exitum beatum. Caufa fuf- 
cepti laboris fuit inftans petitio fociorum, 
; 
On Punétuation, fecond Letter. 
13 
Qui cum hiftoriam facre {cripture in ferie 
& glofis diffulam le&itarent. brevem ni- 
mis & inexpofitam. opus ageredi me com- 
pulerunt. ad quod pro veritate hiftorie 
confequenda recurrerent. In quo fic ani- 
mus ftilo imperavit. ut a digtis patrum non 
recederem,. Licet novitas favorabilis fit & 
mulcens aures. Porro a cofmographia-® 
Moyfi inchoans. rivulum hiftoricum de- 
duxi ufque ad afcenlionem falvatoris. pe- 
Jacus myfteriorum peritioribus relinquens. 
iu quibus & vetera profequi. & nova cu- 
dere licet. De hiftoriis quoque ethnico- 
rum quedam incidentia pro ratione tempo- 
rum inferui. inftar rivuli qui fecus alveum 
diverticula que invenerit replens. preter- 
fluere tamennon ceflat. Veruntamen quia 
{tilorudi opus eft lima. vobis pater inclite 
limam refervavi., ut huic operi deo volente 
& correétio veftra fplendorem. et auctoritas 
prebeat perhennitatem. 
1491. 
Of the execution of the next book which 
is to pals under review, in our inquiry 
into the progrefs of punétuation, I caunot 
fay fo much as of ‘the preceding. The 
paper is ftrong, but coarfe; the types are 
ill formed, and the impreflion is far from 
being neatly taken off: but it adds one to 
the number of points, and exhibits the 
colon as well as the period. It is an edition 
of the works of Virgil, publifhed at. Ve- 
nice, of the date of 1491. The title-page 
is wanting ; and there is no notice of the 
printer, or of the year when it was printed, 
at the end of the work :~but the following 
titie, which I fhall exactly copy, is pre- 
fixed to the Bucolics: 
Pu. Vergilii. Maronis Mantuani Vatis 
Opera ci cométariis Servii Mauri Hono- 
rati Gramatici: Aelit Donati: Chrifto. 
phori Landini: Antonit Mancinelli: & 
Domitit Chalderin.—And at the end of 
the Georgics is the following notice :— 
P. Vergilii Maronis Bucolicorum ac Geor- 
gicor libri cum Comentariis Servii mauri 
honetti grammatici Chriftophori Landini 
& Antonii Manfinelli Venetiis per Phi- 
lipum pintium Imprefli Anno incarnaticnis 
Domini M.cccc.xcr. die. xxviii. De- 
cembris. 
The book is printed in one velume, in 
folio; and the letters are of the rude, old, 
Roman forms 
T might make many remarks relative to 
the peculiarities of the printing, but fhall 
only note that blank fpaces are left, not 
only_at the beginning of all great divifions 
ofthe work, for illuminated initials; but 
in thé commentaries, for Greek quota- 
tions; none of which have been filled 
up. 
; Belides 
