Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/175

PALEOGRAPHY 159 France, Wiirzburg in Germany, St Gall in Switzerland, and Bobbio in Italy, they were as busy in the production of MSS. as they had been at home. At first such MSS. were no doubt as distinctly Irish in their character as if written in Ireland itself ; but, after a time, as the bonds of connexion with that country were weakened, the form of writing would become rather traditional, and lose the elasticity of a native hand. As the national styles also which were practised around them becarne more perfected, the writing of the Irish houses would in tarn be reacted on ; and it is thus that the later MSS. produced in those houses can be distinguished. Archaic forms are tradition ally retained, but the spirit of the hand dies and the writing becomes merely imitative. English Writing. In England there were two sources whence a national hand could be derived. From St Columba s foundation in lona the Irish monks established monasteries in the northern parts of Britain ; and in the year 635 the Irish missionary Aidan founded the see of Lindisfarne or Holy Isle, where there was established a school of writing destined to become famous. In the south of England the .Roman missionaries had also brought into the country their own style of writing direct from Rome, and taught it in the newly founded monasteries. But the r writing never became a national hand. Such a MS. as the Canterbury Psalter in the Cottoriian Library (Pal. Soc., pi. 18) shows what could be done by English scribes in imitation of Roman uncials ; and the existence of so few early charters in the same letters (Facs. of Anc. Charters, pt. L, Nos. 1, 2, 7), among the large number which have survived, goes to prove how limited was the influence of that form of writing. On the other hand, the Irish style made progress throughout England, and was adopted as the national hand, developing in course of time certain local peculiarities, and lasting as a distinct form of writing down to the time of the Norman Conquest. But, while English scribes at first copied their Irish models with faithful exactness, they soon learned to give to their writing the stamp of a national character, and imparted to it the elegance and strength which individualized the English hand for many centuries to come. As in Ireland so here we have to follow the course of the round hand as distinct from the pointed character. The earliest and most beautiful MS. of the former class is the Lindisfarne Gospels or " Durham Book " in the Cottonian Library (Pal. Soc., pis. 3-6, 22 ; Cat. Anc. MSS., pt. ii., pis. 8-11), said to have been written by Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfarne, about the year 700. The text is in very exactly formed half-uncials, differing but slightly from the same characters in Irish MSS., and is glossed in the Northumbrian dialect by Aldred, a writer of the 10th century. epn mires quovnom ^^jA A^n&^A-fr ipsi posiDefauutr- Lindisfarne Gospels, circ. 700 A. D. (regnum caelorura. Beati mites quoniam ipsi posidebunt. ric heofna eadge bidon da inilde fordon da agnegad. ) MSS. in the same solid half-uncial hand are still to be seen in the Chapter Library of Durham, this style of writing having been practised more especially in the north of England. But in addition to this calligraphic book- writing, there was also a lighter form of the round letters which was used for less sumptuous MSS. or for more ordinary occasions. Specimens of this hand are found in the Durham Cassiodorus (Pal. Soc., pi. 164), in the Canter bury Gospels (Pal. Soc., pi. 7 ; Cat. Anc. MSS., pt. ii., pis. 17, 18), the Epinal Glossary (E. Eng. Text, Soc.}, and in a few charters (Facs. Anc. Charters, pt. i., 15; ii., 2, 3; Pal. Soc., 10), one of which, of 778 A.D., written in Wessex, is interesting as showing the extension of the round hand to the southern parts of England. The examples here enumerated are of the 8th and 9th centuries, the earlier ones being written in a free natural hand, and those of later date bearing evidence of decadence. Indeed the round hand was being rapidly displaced by the more con venient pointed hand, which was in full use in England in the middle of the 8th century. How late, however, the more calligraphic round hand could be continued under favouring circumstances is seen in the Liber Vitse or list of benefactors of Durham (Cat. Anc. MSS., pt. ii., pi. 25 ; Pal. Soc., pi. 238), the writing of which would, from its beautiful execution, be taken for that of the 8th century, did not internal evidence prove it to be of about the year 840. The pointed hand ran its course through the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries, until English writing came under the influence of the foreign minuscule. The leading character istics of this hand in the 8th century are regularity and breadth in the formation of the letters and a calligraphic contrast of heavy arid light strokes the hand being then at its best. In the 9th century there is greater lateral compression, although regularity and correct formation are maintained. But in the 10th century there are signs of decadence. New forms are introduced, and there is a disposition to be imitative. A test letter of this latter century is found in the letter a with obliquely cut top, d- The course of the progressive changes in the pointed hand may be followed in the Facsimiles of Ancient Charters in the British Museum and in the Facsimiles of Anglo- Saxon MSS. of the Rolls Series. The charters reproduced in these works have survived in sufficient numbers to enable us not only to form a fairly accurate knowledge of the criteria of their age, but also to recognize local peculiarities of writing. The Mercian scribes appear to have been very excellent penmen, writing a very graceful hand with much delicate play in the strokes. On the other hand the writing of Wessex was heavier and more straggling, and is in such strong contrast to the Mercian hand that its examples may be easily detected with a little practice. Turning to books in which the pointed hand was .employed, a very beautiful specimen, of the 8th century, is a copy of Bede s Ecclesiastical History in the University Library at Cambridge (Pal. Soc., pis. 139, 140), which has in a marked degree that breadth of style which has been referred to. Not much later is another copy of the same work in the Cottonian Library (Pal. Soc., pi. 141 ; Cat. Anc. MSS., pt. ii., pi. 19), from which the following facsimile is taken. English Pointed Minuscules, 8th century. (tus sui tempora gerebat. Uir uenerabilis oidiluuald, qui multis annis in monasterio q?od dicitur Inhry ) For an example of the beginning of the 9th century, a MS. of miscellanea, of 811-814 A.D., also in the Cottonian Library, may be referred to (Pal. Soc., pi. 165; Cat. Anc.