To begin by learning a variety of old alphabets seems to me so much waste of time, although it would be a valuable groundwork to commence with. The true alphabet for beginners lies in the contracted words, whose missing portions must be supplied by the reader from the few letters given, which are often not even one connected syllable, but instead merely one or two letters out of the missing syllable clustered together.
The reason for this style of writing was to save time and material. With use, it grew into a complete system, a language of its own. At the time it was penned, these contractions were no doubt perfectly familiar to all, just as our modern abbreviations are. Of these last there are more contractions in use nowadays than would at first be realized—our daily correspondence is full of them; these may have originated from the older system of contractions, relics of it, still left lingering on.
A few examples of modern abbreviations will not be out of place here, as showing that a contracted form of writing is not so very difficult or extraordinary after all.
&, and, derived from the Latin et; the second example, which is still in use, can be traced in very old documents from et, till gradually it assumed its modern shape.
Mr, mister or master; Sr for sir was formerly in common use.
Co, company; Cie, compagnie (French).
etc., derived from the first three letters of the Latin word etcetera.
The words ‘with, which, whereof, where,’ etc., were formerly abbreviated; also yr for your, ye the, and many others now obsolete.
Pounds, shillings and pence we still designate by the Latin £ s. d.
The long word ‘affectionate’ is seldom written in full; so, too, with many other words there are recognised forms of contraction, and when this is borne in mind the abbreviations of old deeds appear in quite a different light, and we attack their difficulties with less dread of failure.