The curious, and in some instances absurd terms, which now puzzle us so much in describing the different sorts and sizes of paper, may frequently be explained by reference to the various paper-marks which have been adopted at different periods. In ancient times, when comparatively few people could read, pictures of every kind were much in use where writing would now be employed. Every shop, for instance, had its sign, as well as every public-house, and those signs were not then, as they often are now, only painted upon a board, but were invariably actual models of the thing which the sign expressed—as we still occasionally see some such sign as a bee-hive, a tea-canister, or a doll, and the like. For the same reason printers employed some device, which they put upon the title pages and at the end of their books, and paper makers also introduced marks, by way of distinguishing the paper of their manufacture from that of others; which marks becoming common, naturally gave their names to different sorts of paper. And since names often remain long after the origin of them is forgotten and circumstances are changed, it is not surprising to find the old names still in use, though in some cases they are not applied to the same things which they originally denoted. One of the illustrations of ancient water-mark which I have given in the accompanying plate; that of an open hand with a star at the top, which was in use as early as 1530; probably gave the name to what is still called _hand_ paper. Another very favourite paper-mark, at a subsequent period 1540-60, was the jug or pot, which is also shown, and would appear to have originated the term _pot_ paper. The foolscap was a later device, and does not appear to have been nearly of such long continuance as the former. It has given place to the figure of Britannia, or that of a lion rampant, supporting the cap of liberty on a pole. The name, however, has continued, and we still denominate paper of a particular size, by the title of _foolscap_. The original figure has the cap and bells, of which we so often read in old plays and histories, as the particular head-dress of the fool, who at one time formed part of every great man’s establishment. I have met with the water-mark of a cap, much simpler than that which we have just noticed, somewhat resembling the jockey-caps of the present day, with a trifling ornamentation or addition to the upper part. The first edition of “Shakspeare,” printed by _Isaac Jaggard & Ed. Blount_, 1623, will be found to contain this mark, interspersed with several others of a different character. No doubt the general use of the term _cap_ to various papers of the present day owes its origin to marks of this description. The term _imperial_ was in all probability derived from the finest specimens of papyri, which were so called by the ancients. [Illustration: (Water-marks)]