THE ROMAN ALPHABET.—The Alphabet, as we know it, begins with the ROMAN CAPITALS[5] (see fig. [2]). Their fine monumental forms were evolved by the use of the chisel—probably under the influence of writing—and had reached full development about 2000 years ago (see Plates [I.], [II.], and Chapter XV.).
FORMAL WRITING—the “book-hand” or professional writing of the scribes—comes of the careful writing of the Roman Capitals (see also footnote, p. [38], on the beginnings of fine penmanship). It was the—
“literary hand, used in the production of exactly written MSS., and therefore a hand of comparatively limited use. By its side, and of course of far more extensive and general use, was the cursive hand of the time”[6] [p037]
In early cursive writing—the running-hand or ordinary writing of the people—
“The Letters are nothing more than the old Roman letters written with speed, and thus undergoing certain modifications in their forms, which eventually developed into the minuscule hand.”[7] (See fig. [3].)
Here it is sufficient to trace the history of the formal Latin “hands,” but the continual, modifying influence exerted on them by the ordinary cursive writing should be borne in mind. Notable results of this influence are seen in Half-Uncials and Italics.