Volume 2

Universal palaeography, or, Fac-similes of writings of all nations and periods, copied from the most celebrated and authentic manuscripts in the libraries and archives of France, Italy, Germany, and England / by M.J.B. Silvestre ; accompanied by an historical and descriptive text and introduction by Champollion-Figeac and Aimé Champollion, fils ; translated from the French and edited, with corrections and notes, by Sir Frederic Maddan ... in two volumes.

Joseph-Balthazar Silvestre

Date:: 1849-1850

Credit: Universal palaeography, or, Fac-similes of writings of all nations and periods, copied from the most celebrated and authentic manuscripts in the libraries and archives of France, Italy, Germany, and England / by M.J.B. Silvestre ; accompanied by an historical and descriptive text and introduction by Champollion-Figeac and Aimé Champollion, fils ; translated from the French and edited, with corrections and notes, by Sir Frederic Maddan ... in two volumes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

270/458 page 628

$Excarpsym de canonibvs catholicorym patry[m] YEL P^ENITENTIAE, AD REMEDIYM ANIMARVM, DOMXI EGGBERHTI ARCHIEPI EBYRA[ci] CIYITATIS. Some of the letters of this title, as the c, a, and g, are of the peculiar forms belonging to the Anglo-Saxon writing, and the whole constitutes, according to the Benedictines, the third species of Anglo-Saxon capitals. They are tall, square, well- proportioned, and regular. This kind of writing was in use from the eighth century. The title is terminated by three wedge-shaped dots. The text of the second page is to be read :— INSTITUTIO ILLA QUAE EIEBAT in diebus patrum nrorum \nostro- rum\ rectas vias numquam deseruit, qui instituerunt penitentibus atque lugentibws suas passiones ac vitia medicamenta salutis seterne. Quia diversitas culparum diversitatem facit penitentibus medicaraentum, vel sicut medici corporum diversa raedicamina vel potiones solent facere contra diversitatem infirmitatum, vel judices ssecularium causarum diver- sarum. Igitur judicia qui boni sunt et qui recti pensant, adque tractant, quomodo recti judicent inter miseros et divites, inter causam et causam. Quanto magis 6 sacerdotes di \Dei\, diversa medicamenta ani\marum hominibus pensare oporteat]. The text is written in Gallican Anglo-Saxon minuscule writing, with thick strokes, round and massive, and with the words divided; the e open, the ae united ; the r has the form of n, with the first stroke prolonged below the line, as is also the /. There is no mixture of uncial letters. This very fine writing bears evident marks of successive advances to perfec¬ tion, which justifies the date assigned to this manuscript. Although the writing of this volume is the Gallican Anglo- Saxon, the Pontifical of Egbert was, nevertheless, executed in England. The Anglo-Saxon minuscule writing was in general use among the English from the reign of Alfred the Great, but it is well known that they made frequent use of cerptiones Ecgberti ex dictis et canonibus sanctorum patrum, etc., with which it has no connexion. See the latter in Thorpe’s Monumental Ecclesiastica Anglicana, 8vo., Loud. 1840, p. 343.—Ed.$

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