CANON.—The Canon of the Mass was, in the service-books of the Church, printed in a large letter, and it is generally supposed that, this size of letter being ordinarily employed in the large Missals, the type-body took its name accordingly: a supposition which is strengthened by its German name of Missal. Mores, however (who objects equally to the epithets of Great or French as unnecessary and delusive), considers this derivation to be incorrect, and quotes the authority of Tory, who uses the term Canon to apply to letter cut according to rule—_lettres de forme_—as distinguished from letters not so cut, which he terms _lettres bastardes_. So that the _lettre qu’on dict Canon_ was originally a generic term, embracing all the regular bodies; and subsequently came to be confined to the largest size in that category. The theory is ingenious and interesting; but it seems more reasonable to lay greater stress on the actual meaning of a word than on its equivocal interpretation. In other countries two-line Great Primer was commonly called Canon, and our French Canon was called by the Dutch Parys Kanon; by which it would seem that both England and Holland originally received the body from the French. In modern letter-founding the name Canon applies only to the size of the face of a letter which is a three-line Pica cast on a four-line Pica body. Passing the next four bodies, which with us are merely reduplications,[64] we note that― DOUBLE PICA, which at present is Double Small Pica, was in Moxon’s day, what its name denotes, a two-line Pica. When the irregular Small Pica was introduced, Double Pica was the name given to the double of the interloper, the double of the Pica being styled two-line Pica. In Germany, Double Pica was called Text or Secunda—the former name probably denoting the use of this size in the text of Holy Writ, while the latter indicates that the body was one of a series, the Doppel Mittel, corresponding to our two-line English, being probably the Prima. PARAGON, the double of Long Primer, though a body unnamed in Moxon’s day, was a size of really old institution; it having been a favourite body with many of the earliest printers, and particularly affected by Caxton in this country. Its name points to a French origin; and, like most of the other fanciful names, proves that the appellation had reference in the first instance, not to the depth of its shank, but to the supposed beauty of the letter which was cut upon it. It was a body which did not take deep root in this country, and for the most part {37} disappeared with the first quarter of the present century. It is noteworthy that Paragon and Nonpareil are the only bodies which have preserved their names in all the countries in which they have been adopted.