fter passing examination, or admitting him to a degree.the science of diplomas, or of ancient literary monuments, public documents, &c. It does not, however, nor can it, absolutely extend its researches to antiquity; but is chiefly confined to the middle age, and the first centuries of modern times. For though the ancients were accustomed to reduce their contracts and treaties into writing; yet they grated them on tables, or covered them over with wax, or brats, copper, stone, or wood, &c. And all that in the first ages were not traced on brats or marble, has perished by the length of time, and the number of destructive events.

1. The word diploma signifies, properly, a letter or epistle, that is folded in the middle, and that is not open. But, in more modern times, the title has been given to all ancient epistles, letters, literary monuments, and public documents, and to all those pieces of writing which the ancients called Syngrapha, Chirographa, Codicilli, &c. In the middle age, and in the diplomas themselves, these writings are called Litterae, Precepta, Placita, Chartae indicule, Sagilla, and Bulla; as also Panchariae, Pantocharta, Trajectoria, Descriptiones, &c. The originals of these pieces are named Exemplaria, or Autographa, Chartae authenticae, Originalia, &c. and the copies, Apographa, Copiae, Particulae, and so forth. The collections that have been made of them, are called Chartaria and Chartulae. The place where these papers and documents were kept, the ancients named Scrinia, Tabularium, or Armarium, words that were derived from the tables of brats, and, according to the Greek idiom, Archleum or Archivum.

2. In order to understand the nature of these ancient papers, diplomas, and manuscripts, and to distinguish the authentic from the counterfeit, it is necessary to know that the paper of the ancients came from Egypt, and was formed of thin leaves or membranes, taken from the branches of a tree named Papyrus, or Bollum Aegyptiacum, and which were pasted one over the other with the slime of the Nile, and were pressed and polished with a pumice-stone. This paper was very scarce; and it was of various qualities, forms, and prices, which they distinguished by the names of charta hieratica, lucaria, augusta, amphitheatra, sativa, tamirica, emporistica, &c. They cut this paper into square leaves, which they pasted one to the other, in order to make rolls of them; from whence an entire book was called volumen, from volvendo; and the leaves of which it consisted, paginae. Sometimes, also, they pasted the leaves all together by one of their extremities, as is now practiced in binding; by this method they formed the back of a book, and these the learned call codices. They rolled the volume round a stick, which they named umbilicus; and the two ends that came out beyond the paper, cornua. The title, wrote on parchment, in purple characters, was joined to the last sheet, and served it as a cover. They made use of all sorts of strings or ribbands, and even sometimes of locks, to close the book; and sometimes also it was put into a case. But there is not now to be found, in any library or cabinet whatever, any one of these volumes. We have been assured, however, by a traveller, that he had seen several of them in the ruins of Herculaneum; but so damaged, the paper so stiff and brittle, by the length of time, that it was impossible to unroll them, and consequently to make any use of them; for on the first touch they fell into shatters.

3. We are ignorant of the precise time when our modern paper was invented: and when they began to make use of pens in writing, instead of the stalks of reeds. The ink that the ancients used, was not made of vitriol and galls, like the modern, but of root. Sometimes also they wrote with red ink made of vermilion; or in letters of gold, on purple or violet parchment. It is not difficult for those who apply themselves to this study, to distinguish the parchment of the ancients from that of the moderns, as well as their ink and various exterior characters: but that which best distinguishes the original from the counterfeit is, the writing or character itself; which is so distinctly different from one century to another, that we may tell with certainty, within about 40 or 50 years, when any diploma was written. There are two works which furnish the clearest lights on this matter, and which may serve as sure guides in the judgments we may have occasion to make on what are called ancient diplomas. The one is the celebrated treatise on the Diplomatic, by F. Mabillon; and the other, the first volume of the Chronicon. We there find specimens of all the characters, the flourishes, and different methods of writing, of every age. For these matters, therefore, we must refer our readers to those authors; and shall here only add, that,

4. All the diplomas are wrote in Latin, and consequently the letters and characters have a resemblance to each other: but there are certain strokes of the pen which distinguish not only the ages, but also the different nations; as the writings of the Lombards, French, Saxon, &c. The letters in the diplomas are also usually longer, and not so strong as those of manuscripts. There has been also introduced a kind of court-hand, of a very disproportionate length, and the letters of which are called Exiles litterae, criptae, ac protraitiores. The first line of the diploma, the signature of the sovereign, that of the chancellor, notary, &c. are usually wrote in this character.

5. The signature of a diploma consists either of the sign of the cross, or of a monogram or cipher, composed of the letters of the names of those who subscribed it. The initial letters of the name, and sometimes also the titles, were placed about this cross. By degrees the custom changed, and they invented other marks; as, for example, the sign of Charlemagne was thus:

``` R K—A V S L ```

They sometimes added also the dates and epoch of the signature, the feasts of the church, the days of the calendar, and other like matters. The successive corruption of the Latin language, the style and orthography of each age, as well as their different titles and forms; the abbreviations, accentuation, and punctuation, and the various methods of writing the diacriticals; all these matters united, form so many characters and marks by which the authenticity of a diploma is to be known.

6. The seal annexed to a diploma was anciently of white wax, and artfully impressed on the parchment itself. It was afterward pendent from the paper, and inclosed in a box or case, which they called bulla. There are some also that are stamped on metal, and even on pure gold. When a diploma bears all the characters that are requisite to the time and place where it is supposed to be written, its authenticity is not to be doubted; but, at the same time, we cannot examine them too scrupulously, seeing that the monks and priests of former ages have been very adroit in making of counterfeits; and the more, as they enjoyed the confidence of princes and statesmen, and were even sometimes in possession of their rings or seals.

7. With regard to manuscripts that were wrote before the invention of printing, it is necessary (1.) to know their nature, their essential qualities, and matter; (2.) to be able to read them freely, and without error; (3.) to judge of their antiquity by those characters which we have just mentioned with regard to the diplomas; and, (4.) to render them of use in the sciences. As there are scarce any of the ancient codes now remaining (see par. 2.), wrote on the Egyptian paper, or on wood, ivory, &c. we have only to consider those that are written on parchment or vellum (membranæ), and such as are wrote on our paper (chartææ). The former of these are in most esteem. With regard to the character, these codes are written either in square and capital letters, or in half square, or round and small letters. Those of the first kind are the most ancient. There are no intervals between the words, no letters different from the others at the beginning of any word, no points, nor any other distinction. The codes which are wrote in letters that are half square, resemble those we have in Gothic characters, as well for the age as the form of the letters. Such as are wrote in round letters are not so ancient as the former, and do not go higher than the ninth or tenth century. These have spaces between the words, and some punctuation. They are likewise not so well wrote as the preceding, and are frequently disfigured with comments. The codes are divided, according to the country, into Lombard, Italian, Gaulic, Franco-Gaulic, Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, &c.

8. In the ancient Greek books, they frequently terminated the periods of a discourse, instead of all other division, by lines; and these divisions were called, in Latin, versus, from vertendo: for which reason these lines are still more properly named versus than linea. At the end of a work, they put down the number of verses of which it consisted, that the copies might be more easily collated; and it is in this sense we are to understand Trebonius, when he says, that the pandects contain 150,000 pene verbum. These codes were likewise vel probæ vel deterioris nota, more or less perfect, not only with regard to the calligraphy or beauty of the character, but to the correction of the text also.

9. It is likewise necessary to observe, in ancient codes, the abbreviations, as they have been used in different centuries. Thus, for example, A. C. D. signifies, Aulus Caius Decimus; Ap. Cn. Appius Cneius; Aug. Imp. Augustus Imperator. The characters that are called nota, are such as are not to be found in the alphabet; but which, notwithstanding, signify certain words. All these matters are explained in a copious manner by Voilius, and in the Chronicon Gotvicense. Lastly, the learned divide all the ancient codes into codices minus raros, rariores, editos, &c. anecdotos. The critical art is here indissolubly necessary; its researches, moreover, have no bounds; and the more, as the use of it augments every day, by the discoveries that are made in languages, and by the increase of erudition.