“Before we depart out of Egypt, we must not forget the plant _papyrus_, but describe the nature thereof, considering that all civilitie of life, the memoriall, and immortalitie also of men after death consisteth especially in _paper_ which is made thereof. M. Varro writeth that the first invention of making paper was devised upon the conquest of Ægypt, achieved by Alexander the Great, at what time as he founded the city of Alexandria in Ægypt, where such paper was first made.”—_Holland_, _Plinie_, b. xiii. c. 21. We have alluded to the barks of trees being used. The thin peel which is found between the second skin of a tree was called _liber_,—from whence the Latin word, _liber_, a book; and we have derived the name of library and librarian in the European language, and in the French their _livre_ for book. _THE PEN._ The instruments employed by the ancients for making the letters on their tablets was a small, pointed piece of iron, or some other hard substance, called by the Romans a _style_: hence a man’s manner of composition was figuratively called his _style_ of writing. The use of the word still continues, though the instrument has long since passed away. Style derives its name from _stylus_, Latin, as also from a Greek word, _columna_, an instrument with a point. Reeds formed into pens were used to trace the letters with ink of some sort after the fashion that is now common; or else they were painted with a small brush, as was probably the general custom at first. Pens made of quills were not in use until the fifth century. The oldest certain account of writing with quills is a passage of Isidore, who died in 636, and who, among the instruments of writing, mentions “reeds and feathers.” In the same century a small poem was written on a pen, which is to be found in the works of Althelmus. He died in 709. We annex the following as giving a poetical original of the pen:— “Love begg’d and pray’d old Time to stay While he and Psyche toyed together; Love held his wings: Time tore away, But in the scuffle dropp’d a feather. Love seized the prize, and with his dart Adroitly work’d to trim and shape it, O Psyche, though ’tis pain to part, This charm shall make us half escape it. Time need not fear to fly too slow When he this useful loss discovers, A pen’s the only plume I know That wings her pace for absent lovers.” _PENCILS._ The ancients drew their lines with leaden styles; afterwards a mixture of tin and lead fused together was used. The mineral known under the name of plumbago is supposed to have been first employed for the purpose of drawing in the fifteenth century. In 1565, an old author notes that people had pencils for writing which consisted of a wooden handle, in which was a piece of lead; and a drawing is given of the pencil as an object of curiosity. They continued to be uncommon for upwards of a century, when we hear them spoken of being enclosed in pine or cedar.