Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	letter_n	proportion_n	stem_n	54	3	16.9164	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50276	Fax nova artis scribendi, or, An introduction (by way of dialogue) to the best forms and proportions of all letters, in each hand most useful, and excellent for all business both in clerkship and trade : to which is added, rules for spelling and pointing : as also, a table of abbreviations, so large that it will facilitate both the writing and reading of any business at common or civil law : together with some directions which may be beneficial for a clerk in the progress of his whole clerkship / by John Matlock ....	Matlock, John.	1685 (1685)	Wing M1292A; ESTC R19209	24,285	50

and I have received a great deal of Satisfaction from your Three Principles together with their Existences and I hope I have a right Understanding of them But Sir Has the Scribe Liberty by these Principles to change or invent Characters for Hands as he pleases Mr. No But he may alter any useful Hand to make it accord with the said Principles provided his Alteration do not render the Hand more illegible I will now proceed to give you the Knowledge of the best way of Writing and according to the fore-recited Principles in each particular Hand And I think it most convenient to begin with the English-Ingrossing-Hand commonly called Set-Secretary And that I may not do and undo I will First set down the General Branches considerable in each Hand Which springing from the said Three Principles of this Art and being followed perfectly will reduce Hands to their highest Excellencies The Rules founded upon these Three Principles have Respect either to the Proportion or Forms of Letters As for the Proportion of the several Characters of this Hand I have already proved That they must be so Firm as that they may endure Legible for ever But how Firm this Hand ought to be that it may thus endure it remains yet to be considered And that I may not give you the Proportion too small which would prejudice the End of its Use nor too full which would render it the more slow I have considered this That Hand which has endured Firm and Legible for several Centuries will endure Legible for ever Now how Large and Firm those Hands are that have thus continued may be seen both by Printed Authors and Antient Writings Sc. Sir There are several sorts of Prints and those of several Proportions Mr. The Smallest of any sort will endure for ever if it be well Printed which doth not only appear by the duration of Books extant in the smallest Prints published both for the Instruction of the present and future Ages but we may also see these Books thus Printed an hundred Years or more after their Publication to remain Firm and Legible as they were the First Day of their Printing Sc. There is a great Difference between that which is Printed and that which is Written Mr. As to the Manner there is but as far as it concerns that which I here argue for there is no Difference a Stroke of the Pen being altogether as durable as a Stroke from the Press they bearing both one Fulness Sc. But that which is Printed seems more firm than that which is Written Mr. The Print is the blacker because it admits of no Hair-strokes but this is Nihil ad rem if you consider First That the Difference of Letters in this Hand depends upon a full Stroke Secondly That their several Forms by which they may be known depends also upon a Full. Sc. I observe from hence That as all Letters are known by some Difference so that Difference must be made by the Full of the Pen that the Difference may remain Mr. It 's well observed Now if the smallest Print be judged of a sufficient Firmness for perpetual Duration sure an Hand as full again cannot be thought too small Now that I may give you the right Proportion of every Letter in this Hand and of every thing that has relation thereunto First I will set down in what particulars Proportion is to be considered in this Hand I. It has respect unto the Length and Breadth of every part of a Letter both Great and Small II. In the joyning of these Letters viz. In the distances between Letters and Words III. In the Ruling viz. The distance of Lines For the First viz. The Proportion of Letters You are to observe That some Letters are made with Stemms and some without Those without Stemms are those Letters that are wholly made within the Ground and upper-line And I chose the rather to give you first the Proportion of these Letters within these Lines because those with Stemms take their Proportions from thence First then Observe to make these said Letters One Fourth of the Third of an Inch or One Fourth of a Grain which i● all one in Heighth and the Breadth viz. The White and two-side Lines of each of these Letters must be equal to their Heighth All the Letters of this Hand depending upon a Circle and Perpendicular Line Secondly Observe that the Length of each Stemm must be longer by one half than the other Letters within the Lines excepting q whose Stemm must be equal in Length to the Minnum Strokes and p which must be but One Half of the Minnum Strokes and the Compass of each of these Stemms must be equal in Compass with the other Letters within the Line except h and k which must be as wide again Thirdly Observe that the Fulness of each Stroke be equal to One Fourth of the Wideness Fourthly Observe the White of the small Letters for your Distance between Letter and Letter and the double thereof between Word and Word except Two Circular Letters come together in a Word and then those Letters must be joyn'd closer by One Half Fifthly Observe that your Lines be ruled distant from each other the space of One Third of an Inch which will prevent your Stemms from falling into each other Sixthly Observe that you set all your Letters upright this being the best way for all English Hands And by reason this Last thwarts the Opinion of Mr. Cocker I will inform you what were the Reasons that induced me thus to contradict him I have observed That the Hand naturally and freely will tend only that way that it 's most accustomed to and that is the cause that when any accustom themselves to write Court which ignorantly of late has been lean'd towards the Left-hand they lean all the other Hands alike which is no small Prejudice to them And therefore upon good Reason it is my Opinion That all our English Hands are ●est when set upright which will not in the least be to their Prejudice but very much to their Advantage Sc. Pray Sir How do you judge the Sett-Hand was wrote before Mr. Cocker's Time Mr. Before Mr. Cocker our English Hands were all set upright as it appears by the Manuscripts of Mr. Davy's written Anno Dom. 1590. Sc. It 's strange Men should be thus forward to vary unless their Alterations were for the bettering the Hand altered Mr. I judge that the Alterations of Hands was intended for the bettering of them though in many things their Design miscarried And it was impossible it should be otherwise for they never prescribed to themselves any certain Principles of Writing which would have reduced their Writings to a Certainty as Standards to examine their Writing by but invented and altered every Hand according to their own roving Phancies And what was newest among them was deemed Best as appears by the Words of Mr. Cocker in his ARTS GLORY And I wonder what Hand-Writing would have been

out the Premises Habendum Tenendum and each particular Covenant so that if you have a long Deed before you you may look to any Part you desire without reading any more than the Part looked for And now I have done with the Four Hands used for Ingrossments It remains yet to speak of Hands fittest and best for Book-Entries Hands said I There you might oppose me and answer That there is but one Best For two Superlatives cannot accord with several Operations to one Effect And seeing there cannot be but one best for this Business I will inform you from Three undeniable Principles of this Art what sort of Hand is Best That Hand is Best that is as Firm as the Duration thereof requireth and also is the most Expeditious and Beautiful These Three Principles are the only Touch-Stone to try all Hands So that if you be to judge of a Piece of Writing first Observe whether it be written so Firm that it may endure so long as the Business therein written requireth Then observe the Expeditiousness of the Hand And then the Neatness or Beauty thereof And let your Judgment ever pass for that Hand that cometh the nearest these Three Principles Sc. You have I thank you enlightned my Judgment very much in these Three Principles or Fundamentals But it will be a very difficult and tedious Search to find out the best Hand for the Use last before-mentioned if I were to search it out amongst the almost innumerable Engraven Hands extant Therefore pray be so kind as to let me know the Name of the Hand Mr. If I should tell you Secretary you would nevertheless be very much puzzled to find out the Best for your Use there being so great a number of differing Hands called by the name of Secretary But if you were so great a Critick as to find amongst the Hands extant whether it were Secretary Mixt or Italian or any other the very Best of all amongst them for your use yet let me tell you That it will fall short of answering these Three Principles before-mentioned For neither Mr. Cocker nor any other Penman either Antient or Modern ever reduced Writing to any Certainty either in respect of Firmness or Expedition before my self I think I may truly say Therefore for your Satisfaction I will shew you a Hand of my own ordering according to the Three Principles afore-mentioned for Book-Entries or any other Business excepting Ingrossments and I would advise you to make use of That till you meet with a Better And now I have I hope sufficiently proved That there are but Five Hands Best for the Writing of all sorts of Business Sc. I am very well satisfied and I desire I may Write these Five Best and I care not who Writes the rest But Sir seeing you have been so kind as to inform me with the Fundamentals or Principles pray let me also know wherein they consist Mr. I will insist upon them very plainly and fully for in them consisteth the whole Marrow of Writing they being the Basis upon which the whole Structure is built For the First which is Firmness I Answer That Firmness consisteth in the Fulness of Strokes So that that Hand is most Firm and Durable whose Characters are in their several Differences performed by the Full of the Pen. And how Firm each Hand ought to be I have already proved For the Second which is Expedition I say That the lesser Compass the Pen doth move in performing any Letter that it 's the more Expeditious And that the taking off the Pen in the making of any Letter or in the joyning of Letters and in the making of Letters that require an extraordinary Poize of Hand and also the turning of the Pen from any Part of a Circle to a straight Line or Angle or from a straight Line or Angle to a Circle makes the Hand more slow And the Reason of this last will plainly appear if you do but consider the great Contrariety that is between a straight Line and a Circle or the great Opposition that every thing meets with that is upon a swift Circular Motion in turning to a straight Line or Angle For the Third which is Beauty I Answer That it 's impossible to prescribe satisfactory Rules for this Excellency the Opinions and Phancies of Men being so various that there are scarce Two of one Judgment concerning it one deeming that Beauty which another condemns for Deformity Notwithstanding I will give you my Judgment herein which will extend to every Part of Writing wherein Beauty may be considered Then First I conclude That every Letter ought to have its Natural Full and Small I mean by Natural such Strokes as are made at one Motion Secondly That every Letter in a Hand stand alike Thirdly That all the Letters without Stemms be of one heighth and depth and that all the Letters with Stemms be of one heighth and depth provided the Form of the Letters will admit of it Fourthly That every Full bear one proportion of Fulness and that every small Stroke be as fine as is possible Fifthly That all Letters or Parts of Letters of one kind or name do in all their Dimensions remain the same Sixthly That all the Letters or parts of Letters within the Ground and upper-lines of those Hands that depend upon the Circle and Perpendicular Line be of the same Breadth with their Heighth and then all their Whites will be alike Which will much add to the Lustre of an Hand Seventhly That the White of the o be observed between Letter and Letter and the double thereof between Word and Word These Three Principles being thus considered they give you a certain Method for the making of every Character Sc. Now Sir I thank you I understand what it is that makes an Hand Firm Expeditious and Beautiful But methinks Firmness and Expedition are inconsistent with each other For you say That the larger the Hand is it 's the more slow Therefore Firmness and Expedition cannot accord Mr. I shall very easily Answer this Objection if you will but consider first the Use of the Hand and if it be for Perpetuity then the Character must as I have said before be so Firm that it may continue Legible for ever So that in such like Hands viz. Hands of Ingrossments Firmness is the chiefest Excellency But notwithstanding that Hand is Best that is most Expeditious and Beautiful and yet answers the end of Firmness But my Rule for Expedition is The lesser Compass the Pen doth move in performing any Letter it 's the more Expeditious But from thence you gather a false Notion For though you say true in saying The larger the Hand in Compass the more slow Yet it doth not follow that Expedition doth oppose Firmness For the Firmness of an Hand doth not consist in the large Compass of the Hand but in Firmness of Stroke as is before alledged Sc. I confess I was under a Mistake for which I crave your Pardon