art; and without which, though perhaps deemed fuperfluous by fome, a work of this kind might poffibly appear deficient.

It is neceffary that the learner be provided with the implements requifite for writing; a good pen, and good free ink; without which it is impoffible to write a fair copy; a round or flat ruler (the round one is ufed for difpatch, and the flat one for fureness), a leaden plummet, or black lead pencil, to rule the lines, without which the learner will never write ftraight; and fome pounce, or gum fandrack powder, to rub the paper with, if it be too thin to bear the ink, and when bold hands are to be written, as large text, German text, or the like; alfo when a word or fentence is fcratched out with the penknife, in which cafe, the place must first be rubbed fmooth with the haft of the knife, or a piece of clean paper, and then rubbed with the pounce, to enable it to bear the ink. A quarto-fized copy-book is the most proper, as each page will contain a copy of ten or a dozen lines, which will be fufficient to write at one time.

Being provided with thefe implements, the learner may proceed to practice. The lines fhould be ruled ftraight and even, and at the fame diftance from each other, at the dotted lines, marked No. 1, in the plate. The diftance between every two lines of writing should be about twice or three times the distance which there is between the two pencil lines that belong to the fame line of writing; though this is often more or less, according to the caprice of the writer.

The pen must be held in the right hand, between the thumb and the fore and middle fingers. The middle finger must be placed on the back of the pen, oppofite to the upper part of the cut or cradle of the pen, and the fore-finger close to it, and both held firaight. The thumb must be placed against the oppofite fide of the pen, called the belly of the quill, and must be bent a little in the joint. The top of the pen fhould point towards the right fhoulder. The elbow should be drawn in towards the body, but not too close. The

arm

arm may reft lightly on the edge of the defk, or table, be tween the elbow and the wrift; but the ftomach should not prefs against the defk. The peu must be held very lightly; for if it be griped hard, the learner will never acquire an ease and expedition in writing.

The learner, having acquired a juft habit of holding the pen, may copy the small letters i, e, o; having his lines ruled according to the dotted lines in the plate. He may next copy the other small letters; taking care to be perfect in each, before he proceeds to the next. Then the capital letters; ruling his copy in fquares, according to the pattern in the plate; and also join-hand copies, as foon as he can make the capitals. When the learner can write an indifferent good round-hand text, he may proceed to the small round-hand, and running hand; in writing which laft, the pen fhould never be taken off the paper till the word is finished.

The learner should imitate the best copies. Copper-plate copies are to be preferred to those written by the pen, as being more correct. Those small letters which have tops or ftems, as b, d, f, h, k, l, f, must all be of the fame height, And those with tails, as f, g, j, p, q, s, y, must be all of the fame length. A due distance must be observed between the words, and between the letters of the fame word. The capitals must be all of the fame fize. The upright ftrokes, or those that are formed by the upright stroke of the pen, must be fine or hair strokes; and the downright strokes must be fuller and blacker; but a conftant attention to the copy would in a great measure fuperfede the neceffity of moft of the foregoing rules. The learner fhould not fit long at one time, left he grow tired of learning, in which cafe. he will not improve; nor be ambitious of writing faft, for five or fix lines, well written, will improve the learner more than, fifty lines, written in the fame time, without attention to their correctness.

When the learner has arrived to fome proficiency in writing, it is requifite that he know how to make and mend

his pen. This is fooner to be acquired by an attentive obfervance of those who can make a pen well than by any verbal directions; the following rules, however, may be of fervice. Being provided with a good goofe quill (those called feconds are the beft), fcrape the fcurf from it, with the back of the penknife, fcraping the back of the quill moft, that the flit may be clear; then cut the quill half through, near the end, on the back part; and cut the other fide of the quill quite through, near half an inch from the end. The quill will now appear forked; next cut away a very short flit in the back notch, where the flit of the pen is to be; and putting the peg of the penknife haft, or the end of another quill, under this flit, and holding the nail of the left thumb pretty hard on the back of the quill, as high as it is intended the flit fhall go, with a quick fudden force rend up the flit: it must be very fudden and quick, that the flit may be clear and close; for if the flit be clear and close, that it cannot be feen through, it is done well. Then, by feveral neceffary cuts, the quill is to be brought into the form of a pen; and having brought it to a fine point on each fide of the flit, it is to be nibbed in this manner; place the infide of the nib on the left thumb nail, holding the pen between the fore and middle fingers of the left hand, and enter the knife at the extremity of the nib, and cut it through a little floping; then, with an almost downright cut of the knife, cut off the nib; laftly, by other proper cuts, the pen is to be brought into an handfome form. But the nib is not afterwards to be mended by any cutting or fcraping, for that caufes a roughnefs, and abfolutely fpoils it. If the nib, therefore, be altered or mended with the knife after it is nibbed, it must be nibbed again, as before directed. And obferve that the breadth of the nib must be equal to the breadth of the downright strokes of the letters.

Copies for Round Hand Text.

Avoid bad company.
Care deftroys the body.
Expect to recieve as you give.
God is perfect in his works.
Innocency need not fear.
Keep faith with all men.
Money corrupts many.
Opportunities are flighted.
Quiet men have quiet minds.
Sin produces fhame.
Value a good confcience.
Wifdom is valuable.

Yield patiently to fate.

Be wife betimes.

Do the things that are juft.
Frequent good company.
Hours fly fwift away.
Join experience to theory.
Learn in the time of youth.
No talk is too hard to learn.
Provide against poverty.
Remember your duty.
Time and tide ftay for none.
Understand

your trade. Xerxes wept at mortality. Zeal is fometimes proper.

Copies for Round Hand.

All letters even at head and tail must stand:
Bear light your pen, and keep a steady hand.
Carefully strive in each line to excel;
Do every thing, that is to be done, well.
Excel in each new line, in every part:
Faults for the future fhun, by rules of art.
Gripe not your pen, but hold it very flight,
Hold in your elbow, have a left hand light.
In all your writing at the copy look;

Join all your letters by a fine hair-ftroke:

Keep free from faults, and blots, your copy-book.
Learn the command of hand by frequent ufe,
Much practice will good penmanship. produce.
Never ftrive to write too faft at firft;
Of all a learner's faults, this is the worst.
Practice alone can produce expedition;
Quick writing is most learners' vain ambition.

}

Rule

Rule your lines ftraight, and make them very fine;
Set ftems of letters fair above the line,

The tops above the stems, the tails below,
Use pounce to paper, if the ink go through.
View well your copy, fee how much you mend;
Wipe clean your pen, your task being at an end.
Your fpelling mind, write each word true and well;
Zealously strive good writers to excel.

A Receipt for making black Ink.

To one quart of foft water, put four ounces of fresh blue galls of Aleppo, bruifed pretty fmall; two ounces of copperas; and two ounces of gum-Arabic. Bottle it up, and shake it once a day, and in three or four weeks it will be st for use.

The green peelings of walnuts, foaked in the water before the ink is made (if they be in feafon), will render it the ftronger, and more beautiful.

A Receipt for red Ink.

Simmer three pints of ftale beer, or vinegar, with four ounces of ground Brazil wood, for an hour; then strain it through a flannel, and bottle it up for use.

Or a little gum-water and vermillion will make a curious red ink for prefent purpose.

SECT. II.

OF SECRET WRITING.

SECRET writing may be performed feveral ways. Former ages were very fertile in inventions of this kind; and, by thefe means, intelligence has been obtained by countries, from