11. We do not intend to dwell much on the cursive handwriting. No books of the Greek Scriptures earlier than the ninth century in this style are now extant(36), though it was prevalent long before in the intercourse of business or common life. The papyri of Hyperides (e.g. No. 9) and the Herculanean rolls, in a few places, show that the process had then commenced, for the letters of each word are often joined, and their shapes prove that swiftness of execution was more aimed at than distinctness. This is seen even more clearly in a petition to Ptolemy Philometor (B.C. 164) represented in the “Paléographie Universelle” (No. 56). The same great work contains (No. 66) two really cursive charters of the Emperors Maurice (A.D. 600) and Heraclius (A.D. 616). Other instances of early cursive writing may be found in two Deeds of Sale, A.D. 616, and 599, a Manumission in 355, an Official Deed in 233, a Deed of Sale in 154, in Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, about 100, in a Farm Account in 78-79, in a Receipt in A.D. 20, in the Casati contract in B.C. 114, in a Letter on Egyptian Contracts in 146, a Treasury Circular in 170, in a Steward’s letter of the third century B.C., in various documents of the same century lying in the British Museum, at Paris, Berlin, Leyden, and elsewhere, of which the oldest, being amongst the papyri discovered by Dr. Flinders Petrie at Gurob is referred to B.C. 268, and the Leyden papyrus to 260(37). Yet the earliest books of a later age known to be written in cursive letters are Cod. 481 (Scholz 461, dated A.D. 835) the Bodleian Euclid (dated A.D. 888) and the twenty-four dialogues of Plato in the same Library (dated A.D. 895)(38). There is reason to believe, from the comparatively unformed character of the writing in them all, that Burney 19 in the British Museum (from which we have extracted the alphabet No. 8, Plate iii), and the minute, beautiful and important Codex l of the Gospels at Basle (of which see a facsimile No. 23), are but little later than the Oxford books, and may be referred to the tenth century. Books copied after the cursive hand had become regularly formed, in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries, are hard to be distinguished by the mere handwriting, though they are often dated, or their age fixed by the material (see p. 23), or the style of their illuminations. Colbert. 2844, or 33 of the Gospels (facsim. No. 39), is attributed to the eleventh century, and Burney 21 (No. 15)(39), is dated A.D. 1292, and afford good examples of their respective dates. _Beta_ (l. 1 letter 4), _when joined to other letters_, is barely distinguishable from _upsilon_(40); _nu_ is even nearer to _mu_; the tall forms of _eta_ and _epsilon_ are very graceful, the whole style elegant and, after a little practice, easily read. Burney 22 (facsimile No. 37) is dated about the same time, A.D. 1319, and the four Biblical lines much resemble Burney 21(41). In the