reduced to if others who were as capable of making Alterations as Mr. Cocker had burdened this Kingdom with as many Copy-Books as he has done It is to be feared we should then have been confounded in our Artificial Tongues as the Babel Builders were in their Natural Mr. Cocker's Alterations of Hands I cannot compare to any thing more pat than School-Boy's turning of Verses who only respect Variety Sc. I hope it is now Time for me to begin to proceed to an Imitation of this Hand seeing you have been pleased to give me a full Understanding thereof Mr. You are too short in that yet for an Hand is a certain Number of Letters sufficient for the proper expressing of any Words or Sentences Now no Sentence can properly be wrote without one or more Great Letters therefore the Capital Letters are absolutely necessary to make a compleat and proper Hand So that a Piece of Writing cannot be said properly to be a Hand unless it contain the Twenty Four Chracters Great and Small But notwithstanding we may say That a Piece of Writing is wrote in such and such an Hand although the Piece of Writing be not a compleat Hand the Part being put for the Whole Therefore in the next place I will inform you of the Capitals used in this Hand Which being called Capital it appears from thence that these Letters must exceed the other in Magnitude but this Magnitude must not exceed the distance of Lines in Heighth nor in Depth the longest Stemms except it be in the Beginning of a Piece of Writing Great Letters are only useful for the Beginning of every Sentence Proper Names and Remarkable Appellatives and therefore I need not give you any other Rules for their Proportions than what I have already laid down in my Three General Principles that Form of Capitals being best that is most Firm Expeditious and Beautiful Which I shall give you a Copy of when I see it convenient for you Sc. Your Discourse of the Proportions of Letters puts me in remembrance of a Line I once read in a Book of Mr. Cocker's Proportion is the Quintescense of Art And I am as careful to remember these Words of Yours The Art of Writing is contained in the Documents of meet Proportions Mr. Truly Mr. Cocker said well and he might have done well too if that he had set down the right Proportions of each Hand But he was so far from doing this that he never did in any of his Publick Pieces give the Proportion of one Letter unless in his Examples and those were so various that he never Engraved Two Pieces of One Hand alike And therefore How was it ever possible to gather any true Proportion from him So that he which Writes in imitation of Mr. Cocker is like a Carpenter working without his Rule Sc. Now Sir you having given me the Quintescence of the Hand as Mr. Cocker calls it pray What remains now Mr. These due Proportions be rightly ranged into Order that is into Twenty Four known distinct Characters both Capital and Small they make up a Compleat Hand fit for its intended Use And as the distinction of Things must be known by some Difference so it is also absolutely necessary that the Twenty Four Characters have all their several Forms that thereby they may be distinctly known Therefore this leads me in the next Place to treat of their Forms which cannot be so well express'd by the Tongue as discern'd by the Eye whose proper Objects they are Therefore I here present you with a Copy for your Imitation You must be sure to give your Letters their true Fulls and Smalls according to your Copy And for your more facile Performance thereof observe That when your Hand and Pen is held according to your Directions all the Fulls and Smalls will naturally be performed without any Artificial dawbing the Pen's Edge tending naturally to an ascending or cross-Line and also the flat to a down-right descending Stroke Note That the Pen naturally falls but once to a right Flat in any Circle or Oval So that when you see in an Oval or Circle a Full answering a Full you may conclude That one of those Fulls is Artificial and that is ever Artificial that is perform'd last All double Strokes as in the Top of a small o are naturally Full. Now I have given you the Knowledge of Writing in General and also in this one particular Hand I shall breathe awhile Only this I say Be careful that your Head and Heart attend your Hand Sc. Sir Pray how do you approve of This Mr. I fear you have Written too fast to do well Sc. I hop'd that you would have commended me for doing so much for in your Directions you commend Expeditious Writing Mr. In my Directions I commend an Expeditious manner of Hand which must first be obtain'd by Writing very slow and when you have attain'd to the Writing of it well then it will be made Swift by Practice But observe these Directions and you need not fear Writing too fast That is First When you begin your Copy endeavour to get the perfect Knowledge of each Character before you begin to imitate them And when you have thus Written your First Line then before you begin your Second observe the Faults of each Letter by comparing them with your Copy and then do your utmost Endeavour to mend what you observe to be amiss And prosecute this Course throughout every Copy and you need not fear but that you will learn to Write both Well and Fast Sc. Sir This is an hard Lesson Mr. I wonder why Is there any thing enjoyn'd you which a Child of Six Years old cannot do Sc. I have heard some say That a Child is not capable of learning to Write until he arrive to Twelve Years of Age. Mr. That 's a great Mistake for I have taught some of Nine Eight Seven yea Six Years of Age frequently and to Write Well in a small time Now go your ways and do as I have told you Sc. Sir Pray how like you This I doubt not but that I have Wrote slow enough now for I have not Written above Four Lines in an Hour Mr. Now you have quit your self well And I doubt not but that by my prescribed Method of examining each Line by your Copy you have much improved your Judgment In the next place therefore for the Exercise thereof Write me these Lines out of this Book without a Copy and thereby I shall also discover how far you understand my Directions Sc. I was very much pleased with your Commendation of my last and I should be no less now which I am sure it must if your Praise be equal to my Endeavour Mr. I like your Writing well But I perceive you are very ignorant in the Rules of Orthography Sc. My Master was very negligent of me as to this Particular for he never Exercised me in this Subject But if you will be pleased also to instruct
and I have received a great deal of Satisfaction from your Three Principles together with their Existences and I hope I have a right Understanding of them But Sir Has the Scribe Liberty by these Principles to change or invent Characters for Hands as he pleases Mr. No But he may alter any useful Hand to make it accord with the said Principles provided his Alteration do not render the Hand more illegible I will now proceed to give you the Knowledge of the best way of Writing and according to the fore-recited Principles in each particular Hand And I think it most convenient to begin with the English-Ingrossing-Hand commonly called Set-Secretary And that I may not do and undo I will First set down the General Branches considerable in each Hand Which springing from the said Three Principles of this Art and being followed perfectly will reduce Hands to their highest Excellencies The Rules founded upon these Three Principles have Respect either to the Proportion or Forms of Letters As for the Proportion of the several Characters of this Hand I have already proved That they must be so Firm as that they may endure Legible for ever But how Firm this Hand ought to be that it may thus endure it remains yet to be considered And that I may not give you the Proportion too small which would prejudice the End of its Use nor too full which would render it the more slow I have considered this That Hand which has endured Firm and Legible for several Centuries will endure Legible for ever Now how Large and Firm those Hands are that have thus continued may be seen both by Printed Authors and Antient Writings Sc. Sir There are several sorts of Prints and those of several Proportions Mr. The Smallest of any sort will endure for ever if it be well Printed which doth not only appear by the duration of Books extant in the smallest Prints published both for the Instruction of the present and future Ages but we may also see these Books thus Printed an hundred Years or more after their Publication to remain Firm and Legible as they were the First Day of their Printing Sc. There is a great Difference between that which is Printed and that which is Written Mr. As to the Manner there is but as far as it concerns that which I here argue for there is no Difference a Stroke of the Pen being altogether as durable as a Stroke from the Press they bearing both one Fulness Sc. But that which is Printed seems more firm than that which is Written Mr. The Print is the blacker because it admits of no Hair-strokes but this is Nihil ad rem if you consider First That the Difference of Letters in this Hand depends upon a full Stroke Secondly That their several Forms by which they may be known depends also upon a Full. Sc. I observe from hence That as all Letters are known by some Difference so that Difference must be made by the Full of the Pen that the Difference may remain Mr. It 's well observed Now if the smallest Print be judged of a sufficient Firmness for perpetual Duration sure an Hand as full again cannot be thought too small Now that I may give you the right Proportion of every Letter in this Hand and of every thing that has relation thereunto First I will set down in what particulars Proportion is to be considered in this Hand I. It has respect unto the Length and Breadth of every part of a Letter both Great and Small II. In the joyning of these Letters viz. In the distances between Letters and Words III. In the Ruling viz. The distance of Lines For the First viz. The Proportion of Letters You are to observe That some Letters are made with Stemms and some without Those without Stemms are those Letters that are wholly made within the Ground and upper-line And I chose the rather to give you first the Proportion of these Letters within these Lines because those with Stemms take their Proportions from thence First then Observe to make these said Letters One Fourth of the Third of an Inch or One Fourth of a Grain which iâ— all one in Heighth and the Breadth viz. The White and two-side Lines of each of these Letters must be equal to their Heighth All the Letters of this Hand depending upon a Circle and Perpendicular Line Secondly Observe that the Length of each Stemm must be longer by one half than the other Letters within the Lines excepting q whose Stemm must be equal in Length to the Minnum Strokes and p which must be but One Half of the Minnum Strokes and the Compass of each of these Stemms must be equal in Compass with the other Letters within the Line except h and k which must be as wide again Thirdly Observe that the Fulness of each Stroke be equal to One Fourth of the Wideness Fourthly Observe the White of the small Letters for your Distance between Letter and Letter and the double thereof between Word and Word except Two Circular Letters come together in a Word and then those Letters must be joyn'd closer by One Half Fifthly Observe that your Lines be ruled distant from each other the space of One Third of an Inch which will prevent your Stemms from falling into each other Sixthly Observe that you set all your Letters upright this being the best way for all English Hands And by reason this Last thwarts the Opinion of Mr. Cocker I will inform you what were the Reasons that induced me thus to contradict him I have observed That the Hand naturally and freely will tend only that way that it 's most accustomed to and that is the cause that when any accustom themselves to write Court which ignorantly of late has been lean'd towards the Left-hand they lean all the other Hands alike which is no small Prejudice to them And therefore upon good Reason it is my Opinion That all our English Hands are â—est when set upright which will not in the least be to their Prejudice but very much to their Advantage Sc. Pray Sir How do you judge the Sett-Hand was wrote before Mr. Cocker's Time Mr. Before Mr. Cocker our English Hands were all set upright as it appears by the Manuscripts of Mr. Davy's written Anno Dom. 1590. Sc. It 's strange Men should be thus forward to vary unless their Alterations were for the bettering the Hand altered Mr. I judge that the Alterations of Hands was intended for the bettering of them though in many things their Design miscarried And it was impossible it should be otherwise for they never prescribed to themselves any certain Principles of Writing which would have reduced their Writings to a Certainty as Standards to examine their Writing by but invented and altered every Hand according to their own roving Phancies And what was newest among them was deemed Best as appears by the Words of Mr. Cocker in his ARTS GLORY And I wonder what Hand-Writing would have been
Breadth of the Minnum Strokes are but One Sixth part of their Heighth but in This they must be One Fourth And thus much for Court-Hand Sc. You spake of a Cursory Court-Hand a little before Mr. Well remembred To make a Quick Expeditious or Cursory Hand Two things are absolutely necessary 1. A right Form of Letters viz. A Form agreeing to the Rules of Expedition so far as the Characters both in Shape and Use will admit 2. A frequent Use or Custom in the Writing of the same Court-Hand may be made far more Expeditious than it 's commonly wrote and yet vary but a very small matter from the Original and not in the least the more illegible or infirm by avoiding some Cutts prejudicial to the making of Letters And also these Cutts being many and the most difficult Parts of Letters they must retard the Motion of the Hand This will plainly appear when you have Written a few Lines by this Copy of the Twenty Four Letters wherein the Pen must not be taken off in the performing any Letter except in the making of an x Sc. I judge this last Form of Letters better for Use than the Other Mr. It 's better for common Business than the Other because it 's far more Expeditious but for Business of extraordinary Concern the Sett-Court is best it being the most Beautiful Besides it 's very convenient that the Sett-Court be very well understood before an Imitation of the more Cursory Hand for the more like the Cursory Hand is to the Sett the better For though the Letters may be altered to a Cursory Form yet notwithstanding the Form of each Letter must be in a great measure like the Original otherwise it cannot be Court Sc. Pray Sir then What will you call That that is one part Court and the other Secretary Mr. What will you call that Person that 's both Man and Woman Sc. Those are called Hermaphrodites and pass for Men or Women as the Sex prevaileth Mr. So you may call these Miscellanies Court or Secretary as the Form prevaileth Now I shall proceed to the Chancery-Hand the last of the Five before-mentioned Best for the Writing of any Clerk-like Business whatsoever whose Proportions are as followeth First The Letters within Line must be One Fifth of the Third of an Inch in Heighth Secondly The Wideness of these Letters must be equal to their Heighth Thirdly The Stemms of the Letters must be equal in Length to the Letters within the Line except the Stemms of a s and t which must be lower by One Half than the other Stemms Fourthly The Wideness of these Stemms must be equal to their Heighth Fifthly The Fulness of each Stroke must be equal to One Third of the Heighth of the Letters within Line Sixthly The White of the Letters or One Third of their Breadth must be your distance between Letter and Letter and the double thereof between Word and Word Except Two compass Letters come together in one Word then they must be joyned close Seventhly The Distance of Lines must be Three Fifths of the Third of an Inch. Your Desires of Writing Well and my Endeavours to fulfill the same being now accomplished there remains nothing of my Profession that may be any way serviceable Sc. I have receiv'd a Letter from my Father wherein is signified his Infinite Thanks for your more deserving Favours And I am thereby informed That he has provided a Lawyer for my Master And I doubt not but that you will advise me how to demean my self so as that I may not only please my Master but also may most advantage my self in his Service Mr. I 'll tell you what pleased my Master and I doubt not but that will please Yours First then Observe to write all Business in a good Character clean and true Secondly Observe to dispatch your Business in due Time and to have every thing in readiness when he calls for it Sc. Truly Sir this is not long in wording But many times a short Demand requires a long Performance Mr. Many times a long Payment is made by a good Forecast which I advise you to be ready at In order to which take these following Directions First Be sure to Write always up to the Character you have learn'd and then move your Pen as quick as you can This Course being observed Practice will not only make you Write Quick but Well also Secondly Observe to keep your Study clean and neat and let every thing therein be laid in its proper Place Thirdly Be careful to Write true avoiding thereby the razing out and interlining of Words which is very disgraceful and may be of ill Consequence if it happen in any material Part of a Deed. But if it unluckily so happen that either by your Master's Amendment of what you are to Transcribe or by your Negligence you are forced to alter any Word after it s written if on Parchment then after it 's perfectly dry scratch out the Word with the Point of your Pen-knife being careful therein to scratch away as little of the Parchment as you can for fear of scratching through or making it so thin that it will not bear Ink Then smooth it with your Pummis-Stone And if you interline any Word or Sentence be careful to place rightly your Point of Induction Write no material Word too nigh the Edge of your Paper that being the soonest prejudiced either by fretting or tearing When you have any Business of your Master's be careful to imploy every moment of your Time therein And be sure to admit of no Recreation till your Hands be freed of Business This Course being followed through the whole Progress of your Clerkship I doubt not but that you will please your Master and bring Honour to your self Sc. Sir I thank you and I 'll do my Endeavour to prosecute your Directions Pray Sir be pleased also to give me some Directions how to imploy my spare Minutes Mr. Procure you Two Precedent Books the One a Folio the Other a Quarto Page them both and Margent them with Red Ink. At the End of your Books Rule Ten or Twelve Leaves down the Middle on both sides with Red Ink for your Table which make Alphabetically And in these Books enter your Precedents In the Folio enter your Precedents for Conveyancing and in the Other your Precedents for Pleading And be sure to let nothing that 's new to you pass your Hands without a Copy And if it chance that through the haste of Business you have not an Oppertunity to take a Copy unless you become Master of the Morning an Hour or two sooner than you were wont let neither Drowsiness nor Sloth be any Impediment And you will also do well to spend a good part of your leasure Hours in reading some profitable Books of the Law And when you Read endeavour to apprehend the Reason of Things otherwise you will never be able to apply what you Read to your Practice Sit when you
Write but Stand when you Read I shall now take my Leave in hopes of your diligent Practice of those Things I have been so free in disclosing which will free you from the Disgrace that most justly attends those that cast off all the Business they can possible and what they are forced to do is performed in an impapatient and slovenly Hurry And when their Five or more thus ill imployed Years are expired with the loss of it may be an Hundred Pound they set up for themselves with no more Knowledge than what will just serve the turn to promote an Action And all the rest of the Proceeding they leave to the secret Management of another for which it is to be feared the Clyent pays very dear A TABLE OF Abbreviations SInce the Marks for Abbreviations cannot rightly be made by the Printer you are to observe That those Letters placed after the Full-Points must be written a little higher than the other part of the Words As in the writing the Word Accepimus there the s must be written above the m and a little forwarder in the Line And over the other Abbreviations make a little Dash with your Pen But if the Abbreviation be in the end of a Word then turn your Dash of Abbreviation from the ending of the last Letter A. ACcepim s accepimus Aia anima Auctem Authoritatem Al 's aliis A. o Anno Arlorum Articulorum Adio Administratio Archini Archi-diaconi Archi Arch-Angeli Attach attachiatus Attorn Attornatum Ald alias dictus Assign assignatis Angl Angliae Assias assisas Al alia Ar Armiger B. Bacc Bacchalaurius Bre breve Be Beate Ballia Balliva Barr Barronettus b ber C. Cathi Cathedrali Canoice Canonice Com Comitatus Con. ri Consistorii Can. cis Cancellariis Capcoe captione Cu cum Con. ria contraria c ' cer Caa causa Con. m Conjunctim Con. a contra Clico Clerico Cois communis Cer. o certificatorio Crie crimine Cio citatio Cribus criminibus Captlo Capitulo Canss causis Cur Curia Cogn cognovit Cons consuetudinem Coron coronam Ca Catalla D. Dioc Diocesia Dia Divina Dco dicto Div. m divisim Defunct defunctus Dni Domini Dilco dilecto Depto deputato Dic dicit Dimid dimidium Dampn damnum Debm debitum Def defendens Dirci directi Dign dignitatem Delibacoem deliberationem E. Eccliae Ecclesiae Effcm effectum Epus Episcopus Eor eorum Exit exhibitus ee esse Excoicaco Excommunicatie Exhibico exhibitio Epale Episcopale F. Fco facto Fidelr fideliter Firmr firmiter Frm fratrem Fuer fuerit Flo falso Felon felonia Franc Franciae Fac Facias G. Gra Gratia Grnalem generalem Gaol gaolam Gen generosus H. Hita habita Humoi hujusmodi Het habet Hoies homines Hens habens Hend habendum Huit habuit Hibniae Hiberniae I. Informacoe informatione Ibm ibidem Igr igitur Instrum tu instrumentum Ipo ipso Jurisnis jurisdictionis Jux juxta Illi mi illustrissimi Inven. ry Inventory Jur Juratores Justic Justitiariis Ill illa Io ideo Injur injuriam Intellco intellecto Inspco inspecto Inperpm inperpetuum Indict ' indictatus Irrotlat irrotulatum L. Lras literas Lia lientia Littime Legitines Lilo Libello Leglis Legalis Libe Libere Lco Lecto Libtat ' Libertatem M. Mie mininte Mronia Matrimonia Mr Magister Ma. ti Majestati Millnio Millesimo Mo modo Magri Magistri Mil Miles Mia Misericordia N. Nra nostra Noie nomine Norio Notario Necc ria necessaria Narr Narratio O. Oem omnem Oibus omnibus Offilis Officialis Octogmo Octogessimo Oiodas omnimodas Obl Obligatio Occone occcasione Omitt omittas P. Paroch Parochia P'r pre P. rdcus praedictus Personalr personaliter Ptate potestate Prone Patrone Permioe permissione Pntes praesentes Pubce publice Pr pater Paroli Parochiali Pr. cures procuratores Possonem possessionem P'pue praecipue Popli populi Pr. onus Patronus Priam Patriam Plito placito Pertin pertinentiis Produc producit P. t post Propr propria P. rfat ' praefatus Pet petit Periclo periculo Proclam Proclamationem Praec praeceptum Pros Prosecutor Q. Qd quod Quatus quatenus Q. o quo Quolt quolibet Quer querens R. Rcor Rector Rone ratione Rhdus Reverendus Reverendmo Reverendissimo Regr Register Rs Regis Rondend Respondendum Retoru retornatum Rotlorum rotulorum S. Saltm salutem Spualibus spiritualibus Sacrm Sacramentum Scdm secundum Sexcen mo Sexcentessimo Spicats specificatis Spialitr specialiter Soleizari solemnizari Scaecii scaccarii Successss successoribus Sci Sancti Scrut scrutinio Summ summonitus Sequen sequentem Scilt Scilicet Sile simile Spec specificatim Seiam seseinam Scoc Scotiae Surr Surrogatus Sabti Sabbathi T. Testam to Testamento Tot totam Titlum titulum Tnsgr transgressio Tenta Tenementa T teste Tli tali Tm tam Tles tales Tmio termino V. Vrae Vestrae Vbilet ubilibet Vic Vicarius Venlis venerabilis Val Valentiam Vic Vicecomes Visn Visenenetto Vill villa Vx Vxor W. Westm Westmonasterium X. Xpo Christo Xaru Decimarum Anthus Antonius Aug. tus Augustus Barthus Bartholomeus Clens Clemens Edrus Edwardus Edmus Edmundus Francus Franciscus Galfrus Galfridus Hencus Henricus Humfrus Humfridus Herbtus Herbertus Johes Johannes Luicus Ludovicus Michis Michaelis Matthus Mattheus Nichus Nicholaus Phus Philippus Ricus Richardus Robtus Robertus Radus Radulphus Randus Randulphus Rogus Rogerus Theophus Theophilus Willus Gulielmus Xpian Christian Xpopher Christopher Zathas Zacharias FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Luke Meredith at the King's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard RHetoricae Libri Duo Quorum Prior de Tropis Figuris Posterior de Voce Gestu praecipit In usum Scholarum postremo recogniti infinitisque paeni mendis expurgati Autore Carolo Butlero Magd. Artium Magistro The Songs of Moses and Deborah Paraphras'd with Poems on several Occasions Never before Published To which is added A Pindarick on Mr. L'Estrange A Dialogue between a Pastor and his Parishioner touching the Lord's Supper Two Treatises The First Concerning Reproaching and Censureâ— The Second An Answer to Mr. Serjeant's Sure-Footing To which are annexed Three Sexmons Preached upon several Occasions and very useful for these Times By the late Learned and Reverend William Falkner D. D. An Introduction to the Old English History comprehended in Three several Tracts The First An Answer to Mr. Petyt's Rights of the Commons Asserted and to a Book Entituled Jani Anglorum Facies Nova The Second Edition very much enlarged The Second An Answer to a Book Entituled Argumentum Antinormanicum much upon the same Subject Never before Published The Third The Exact History of the Succession of the Crown of England The Second Edition also very much enlarged Together with an Appendix containing several Records and a Series of Great Councils and Parliaments Before and After the Conquest unto the End of the Reign of Henry the Third And a Glossary expounding many Words used frequently in our Antient Records Laws and Historians Published for the Vindication of Truth and the Assistance of such as desire with Satisfaction to read and truly understand the Antient English Historians and other Pieces of Antiquity By Robert Brady Doctor in Physick