“Inks are of various sorts, as—encaustic or varnish, Indian ink, gold and silver, purple, black, red, green, and various other colors. There were also secret and sympathetic Inks.
“The Ink used by the ancients had nothing in common with ours, but the color and gum. Gall-nuts, copperas and gum make up the composition of our Ink; whereas soot, or ivory-black, was the chief ingredient in that of the ancients; so that very old charters might be suspected, if written with Ink entirely similar to what we use; but the most acute and delicate discernment is necessary in this matter; for some of the [black] Inks formerly used were liable to fade and decay, and are found to have turned red, yellow or pale. Those imperfections are however rare in manuscripts prior to the tenth century.
“There is a method of reviving the writing; but this expedient should not be hazarded, lest a suspicion of deceit may arise, and the support depended on [be] lost.
“GOLDEN Ink was used by various nations, as may be seen in several libraries, and in the archives of churches. SILVER Ink was also common in most countries. Red Ink, made of vermilion, cinnabar, or purple, is very frequently found in manuscripts; but none are found written entirely with ink of that color. The capital letters, in some, are made with a kind of varnish, which seems to be composed of vermilion and gum. Green Ink was rarely used in charters, but often in Latin manuscripts, especially in those of the latter ages. The guardians of the Greek emperors [or rather the Regents of the Empire] made use of it in their signatures, till the latter [the monarchs during minority] became of age. Blue or Yellow Ink was seldom used but in _manuscripts_.[!!!] The yellow has not been in use, as far as we can learn, for six hundred years.
“Metallic and other characters were sometimes burnished. Wax was used as a varnish by the Latins and Greeks, but much more by the latter, with whom it continued a long time. This covering or varnish was very frequent in the ninth century.
“COLOR. The color of Ink is of no great assistance in authenticating manuscripts and charters. There is in my library a long roll of parchments, at the head of which is a letter that was carried over the greatest part of England by two devout monks, requesting prayers for Lucia de Vere, Countess of Oxford, a pious lady, who died in 1199,—who had formed the house [or convent] of Henningham in Essex, and done many other acts of piety. This roll consists of many membranes or skins of parchment sewed together,—all of which, except the first, contain certificates from the different religious houses that the two monks had visited them, and that they had ordered prayers to be offered up for the Countess, and had entered her name on their bead-rolls. It is observable that time hath had very different effects on the various inks with which these certificates were written. Some are as fresh and black as if written yesterday; others are changed brown; and some are of a yellow hue. It may naturally be supposed that there is a great variety of handwritings upon this; but the fact is otherwise, for they may be reduced to three.