The Irish style of writing played an important part in development not only of the modern Irish hand, but of the style of writing practised for centuries in England and to some extent on the Continent also, hence the necessity of giving a brief account of its history. There is little doubt that Ireland modelled her national script on the Roman half-uncial hand, but, as Reeves has pointed out, the Greek and Roman letters as written by the Irish scribes mutually affected each other and gave the Irish alphabet, especially in the capitals that peculiar form which distinguishes it from all others.[294] The Roman half-uncial hand, however, was the basis from which the characteristic Irish had developed. In the words of a recognised authority,[295] “The Irish scribe adopted the Roman half-uncial script and then with his own innate sense of beauty of form he produced from it the handsome literary hand which culminated in the native half-uncial writing as seen in perfection in the _Book of Kells_ and contemporary MSS. of the latter part of the seventh century. But the round half-uncial hand thus formed was too elaborate for the ordinary uses of life. It was necessary to produce a script that would serve all the duties of a current hand. Therefore, taking the Roman half-uncial hand the Irish scribe adapted it to commoner uses, and writing the letters more negligently he evolved the compact, pointed minuscule hand which became the current form of handwriting of the country and which again in its turn was in the course of time moulded into the book hand which superseded the half-uncial.” The absence of an extraneous influence was an important factor in aiding the development of a strongly characteristic national hand which ran its uninterrupted course down to the late Middle Ages and is still retained with slight variations in the writing of Modern Irish. The high degree of cultivation of Irish writing did not result from the genius of single individuals, but from the emulation of various schools of writing and the improvements of several generations. “There is not a single letter in the entire alphabet which does not give evidence both in the general form and in its minutest parts of the sound judgment and taste of the penman.”[296] IRISH HAND ABROAD: Not only did the Irish perfect this script in the schools of their native land, but they carried it with them when they went abroad and taught it in the schools which they founded in foreign countries. Owing to the fact that the Irish schools kept up the tradition of Greek and Latin learning, philologists and palaeographers have studied the development of Irish writing very carefully with a view to determining the dates of classical MSS. which were transcribed by Irish monks or their pupils. The most important of these studies are those made by Keller[297] and Lindsey.[298] The work of these scholars has placed the question of the influence of the Irish style of writing beyond dispute.