The Trajan Column.
This alphabet is extremely beautiful, and for important inscriptions it is hardly possible to find a better model. The student is advised to make a careful study of this alphabet.
Fig. 17.
When using this alphabet for writing an inscription it is not a bad plan to make a small cardboard gauge giving the width of the different letters in proportion to the height decided upon. A small gauge like this is very easily constructed and should be a great help in quickly spacing the letters. For example, it may be noted that the letters C, D, G, H, K, M, N, O, Q, U and Z nearly fill the square, while A, R, T, V come next in size. B, X, and Y are slightly narrower, while the letter P is a shade less than these. L and S are still slightly less in width, and E and F are the most narrow of all the letters, excepting, of course, I and J. If these various widths are marked on the edge of a small strip of card it ought to be quite an easy matter to space these letters quickly.
Fig. 18.
The first alphabet shown in [Fig. 20] (a) is a free rendering from a thirteenth-century inscription in the Church of St. Ursula, Cologne. As the alphabet was incomplete it has been completed, so that it may be used without any difficulty arising through any of the letters being missing.
Fig. 19.