From the Return of John Caley, Esq., Keeper of the Records in the Augmentation Office.[1]
"The Character or Hand-writing of ancient Records, as far as my observation has extended, has gradually degenerated from Age to Age; thus the Records of the Saxon era, whether written in Saxon or Latin, are infinitely more plain and legible than those of subsequent Eras; they are also little obscured with Abbreviations, which have created much Doubt and Ambiguity in after-ages, particularly in that valuable Record Domesday Book.
"From the Norman Conquest until the Reign of Henry III. the Character is in general plain and perspicuous; of this latter Reign, however, there are many Records which cannot be read with facility, on account of the Intricacy of the Character, and the Number of Abbreviations.
"The same Observations may be applied to Records from this Reign until that of Edward III. inclusive.
"From this Period downwards, I have experimentally found that less Difficulty occurs in reading and translating Records, and that the Hands used from the Reign of Richard II. to that of Philip and Mary are such as may be read without much Trouble.
" Hitherto each Reign appears to have had a set or uniform Character; but in the Reign of Elizabeth and her Successors, the Clerical Mode seems to have been in a great Measure abandoned, and each Transcriber to have written according to his own Fancy; and it is observable that the English Records of the 16th and 17th Centuries are in general more difficult to be read than the Latin Records of preceding Ages.
- ↑ Reports from the Select Committee, appointed to inquire into the state of the Public Records of the Kingdom (1800), p. 499.
