NOTE, signs used in writing, which have the force of many letters. This contrivance for expedition is of great antiquity. It was known to the Greeks, and from them passed to the Romans. By whom the invention was brought to Rome has not been precisely ascertained; but the most general opinion is, that in matters of importance Tully first made use of notes or short-hand writing when Cato delivered an oration in opposition to Julius Caesar relative to the conspiracy of Catiline. Cicero, who was at that time consul, placed notarii, or expert short-hand writers, in different parts of the senate-house, to take down the speech; and this was the first public occasion which we find recorded of employing short-hand writers amongst the Romans. It is unnecessary to observe, that the name of notary, still in use, was derived from this practice. There were three kinds of notes for short-hand writing used by the ancients, either for despatch or secrecy. The first and most ancient was that of hieroglyphics, which are rather images or representations of things than of words. The second species were called singularia, from their expressing words by single letters. Sertorius Ursatus has compiled a very copious collection of such abbreviations. The third kind were called nota Tironiana, from Tiro the freedman of Cicero, who was particularly skilled in his art; and it is to him that we are indebted for the preservation of Cicero's letters, of which a great part still remain, one entire book having been addressed to Tiro himself.
It appears that notes were in frequent use amongst the Romans, and continued to be employed till the tenth and eleventh centuries. We have indeed but few books remaining which are written in short-hand; but this is not surprising, when such was the unhappy situation of early
times, that either superstition condemned them to the flames as the works of impious magicians, or they were left, through ignorance and stupidity, to be devoured by vermin. It is probable, however, that there are still extant writings of this sort, which might contribute to enrich the republic of letters.
There are several manuscripts and instruments written in these kinds of nota in the royal library of Paris. In the year 1747, the learned and ingenious M. Charpentier engraved and published at Paris a capitulary, and fifty-four charters of Louis the Pious, emperor and king of France, written in the nota Tironiana. To this work the learned editor has prefixed an Alphabetum Tironianum, together with a great number and variety of notes or marks for the different parts of speech, and rules for acquiring the art of writing in this kind of notes. Valerius Probus, in his book De Litteris Antiquis, explains many of the characters used by the short-hand writers; and there is a dictionary of them published by Gruterus.