Notes on the and for this reason alone it would be better to practise
Plates such a hand as the tenth-century MS. (Plate VIII)
before seriously attempting to model a hand on the above
(see pp. 378, 275, 288, xxiv).

The use of a fine pen is apt to flatter the unskilled
penman, and he finds it hard to distinguish between
delicate penwork which has much character, and that
which has little or none. And he will find, after some
knowledge of penmanship gained in practice with a broad
nib, that the copying of this fine Italian writing—while
in reality made much more feasible—may even appear
more difficult than before.

CONSTRUCTION—The pen has a moderate slant
—see thin stroke in e. The letters are very square, the
tops flat (especially in m, n, and r), and the lower parts
flat (as in u). This shows the same tendency that there
is in the tenth centiiry and other hands to avoid thin or
high arches in the letters.

The feet in some of the letters (in i, for example) are
in the nature of stroke-serifs, but the pen probably made
these with an almost continuous movement—from the
stem.

Note—the fine form of the a;

that b and 1 have an angle where the stem'joins
the lower part;
that b,o,p, overlap о and e ;
that f and long f were made something like I’s,
and then the upper parts were added ; this
was a common mode—see fig. 180 ;
that g—a very graceful letter—has no terminal
projection or lug ;
that i, p, u have triangular heads, and m, n, r
hooks;

that the ascenders have triangular heads, and the
descenders p and q, stroke-serifs;
that the ascending and descending stems are
longer than the bodies, and the writing is in
consequence fairly widely spaced.

418

Like most of the finest writings, this bears evidences
of considerable speed (see pp. 50, 275). Besides the
great uniformity of the letters, the finishing strokes are
occasionally carried into the succeeding letter, the arches
of b, h, Ш, n, p, r (and the heads of the ascenders) fre¬
quently are separated from the stems, and the о and b
occasionally fail to join below. These broken forms are
the results of speed, and are not to be imitated except as
to that which is both a cause and a result—their uniformity
and freedom (p. 218).

The RULING is in faint ink; there are two verti¬
cal marginal lines on the left and one on the right of
every page.

The DECORATION of the MS. is very simple. The
Initial (here shown) is in green and powder-gold, on a
lake ground, with white pattern: there is a very fine
brownish outline, probably drawn first. The two upper
lines of writing and | |oro are in red.

PLATE XXI. — Italian {early) Sixteenth - century
“cursive” or Italic” MS. Ex libris S. C. Cockerell.
{See enlargement, fig. 178.)

“From the Poems of Cardinal Bembo, a fine example
of the cursive writing perfected in Italy in the first half
of the sixteenth century. The book measures 8| by
inches, and contains 79 leaves.”—[S. C. C.]

THE MARGINS of the page from which the plate
is taken are approximately; Inner f inch, Head § inch,
Side 2 inches, Foot 1J inch. Note.—The lines of writing
begin as usual at the left margin, but do not extend to the
(true) margin on the right, hence the latter (the side
margin on the recto, and the inner margin on the verso)
would appear unnaturally wide, but the effect is carried
off by the (true) side margins being already exceptionally
wide (and by the writing on the backs of the leaves
showing through the semi-transparent vellum and so
marking the true margins).

Notes on
Plates

419