(a) _Hooks or Beaks_ Suitable only _for certain_ _parts of certain letters_ (d) _Thin Finishing-Curves_ (and for informal writing).
(b) _Straight (or Curved) THIN_ Informal (or Ornamental). _Strokes_
(c) _Triangular "Heads"_ Formal and capable of imparting great elegance and finish.
For a formal, straight-pen writing, therefore, we may assume that a form of triangular head is, on the whole, the most suitable, while some of the letters may be allowed to end naturally in finishing hooks and curves. [p246]
Heads are easily built up at the ends of thick strokes, but some practice is required to enable a penman to make them on the thin strokes properly and skilfully. On the thin horizontals they are made with an almost continuous movement of the point of the nib from the thin stroke itself (see (_a_) to (_h_) fig. 146) closely resembling the termination of some of the thin strokes in the Irish half-uncial (Plate VI.). On the thin oblique or vertical stems a thin crossing stroke is first made, and then shaped [p247] with the pen point to meet the stem (see (_i_) and (_k_) fig. 146).
We may write out the letters now with their suitable serifs, and we see that the Pen character and finish, given to the "Essential, or Skeleton, Forms" (fig. 142) result in a very formal and highly finished alphabet (fig. 147).
_Slanted-pen characters and serifs_ (see fig. 145)--
(a) _Hooks or Beaks_ Suitable for most of the letters, but tending to (d) _Thin Finishing-Curves_ be informal.
(b) _Straight (or Curved)_ Formal and strong. _THICK Strokes_
(c) _Triangular Heads_ Formal and suitable for small-letters, and free capitals (see fig. 168).
The alphabets (fig. 148), produced from the skeleton forms (fig. 142) by the _slanted pen_, while not having such a conscious air of finish as the straight-pen letters, are much easier to write, and have in a greater degree the virtues of strong,[54] legible, natural penmanship.
They are eminently suitable for general MS. work (see p. 305) when the beginner has mastered an early form of round-hand (see pp. 70, 304).
DISTINCTIVENESS (_As having the distinguishing characteristics of each letter strongly marked_)
The "_Characteristic Parts_" are those parts which most particularly serve to distinguish one letter from [p250] another (fig. 149). We should therefore, when constructing letters, give special attention to their preservation, and sometimes they may even be accentuated with advantage--always with an eye to the life-history, or evolution, of the letter in question, and allowing for the influence of the special tool with which it is to be made (see _Proportion_, below).