CHAPTER XVII INSCRIPTIONS IN STONE (_By A. E. R. Gill_) Treatment & Arrangement -- The Three Alphabets -- Size & Spacing -- The Material -- Setting Out -- Tools -- A Right Use of the Chisel -- Incised Letters & Letters in Relief -- The Sections of Letters -- Working _in situ_ 389
Nearly every type of letter with which we are familiar is derived from the Roman Capitals, and has come to us through the medium, or been modified by the influence, of the pen. And, therefore, in trying to revive good Lettering, we cannot do better than make a practical study of the best pen-forms, and learn at the same time to appreciate the forms of their magnificent archetypes as preserved in the monumental Roman inscriptions.
The development and the relations of the principal types of letters are briefly set out in the accompanying "family tree"--fig. 1. When the student has learnt to cut and handle a pen, he can trace this development practically by trying to copy a few words from each example given below. [p036]
_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_.