Note—
- the fine form of the a;
- that b and l have an angle where the stem joins the lower part;
- that f was made something like t, and the upper part was added: this was a common mode—see fig. [180] (the f shown in plate is unfortunately not a good specimen);
- that g—a very graceful letter—lacks the coupling serif;
- 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. [p483]
Like most of the finest writings, this bears evidences of considerable speed (see pp. [84], [311]). Besides the great uniformity of the letters, the coupling strokes are occasionally carried over the succeeding stroke, the arches of b, h, m, n, p, r (and the heads of the ascenders) frequently are separated from the stems, and the o 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 (p. [254]).
The RULING is in faint ink: there are two vertical 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
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 812 by 514 inches, and contains 79 leaves.”—[S. C. C.]
THE MARGINS of the page from which the plate is taken are approximately: Inner 58 inch, Head 34 inch, Side 2 inches, Foot 112 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). [p484]