About this Hand

 

Bibliographical Information

Sidney Psalms
Trinity College Library MS R. 3. 16, p. 78

 

Description and Dating

The main text of this manuscript page is in a transitional mixed hand, very elegant and suitable for presentation, datable to the early seventeenth century. The angularity of the hand and many of its letter forms (in particular, 'gallows' c,, reverse and two-stroke e, k, twin-stemmed r, terminal 'sigma' s; the approach strokes to m, n, and r, v, and w; and majuscules such as C, or the ornamented forms of W and S that begin the first two stanzas) show a strong secretary vestige; and yet h, some instances of ss ('blessed', l. 15; but see for the contrary 'addressed' at l. 16), alternate initial m ('man', 3 lines from the bottom) and the rounded infralineal bowls of f, g, p, long s, y, and G, in particular, are characteristic of the italic style that would develop into the English round hand of the mid-seventeenth century. A concise example of this mixing is apparent in g (as in 'songe', l. 11), where the rounded lower bowl turning neatly back on itself suggests italic, while the completion of the upper body of the letter, in a flat bold rightward stroke, is characteristic of secretary. One result of this mixing is the dubious status of terminal s/es in 'heart(e)s' (l. 13), 'bend(e)s' (l. 17), and 'thought(e)s' (l. 22), where the final graph may represent a terminal form influenced by italic long s, or a cursive, presentation form of the terminal -es abbreviation. The title and 'Peacock' (l. 18), by contrast, are in a large, slim italic hand, itself characteristic of the copybook italics of the late-Elizabethan/early-Jacobean period. Other habits especially characteristic of early Jacobean secretary include the otiose clubbing on terminal d (often and easily to be mistaken for a compacted terminal e). Punctuation includes the period, virgule, moderate use of the comma, occasional parentheses, and the question mark. Abbreviations are scarce and modest, restricted on this page to the common w^th and the ampersand. The layout is clear and includes functional indentation (lines indented according to rhyme). Lines are regularly spaced, and written with geometric exactitude. The text is written within a ruled margin, double on the left, in red ink (showthrough from the recto of the leaf confuses the picture). Catchwords are used on both recto and verso (see follow-up images of this manuscript). All these features suggest a professional scribe.