Do not ponder too long over a word which puzzles you, but go on, leaving gaps in your copy with a stroke underneath corresponding with or leaving sufficient space for the missing word. These spaces can then be filled in afterwards, when the general sense of the document has been mastered, and the aspect of the particular style of writing has become familiar. Then it will be found that words hitherto seemingly unintelligible resolve themselves into readable form, and although apparently impossible to decipher at the first reading, later on they present no difficulty. A little practice and patience soon overcome the difficulties of the first start, and after that the progress is rapid. To begin by learning a variety of old alphabets seems to me so much waste of time, although it would be a valuable groundwork to commence with. The true alphabet for beginners lies in the contracted words, whose missing portions must be supplied by the reader from the few letters given, which are often not even one connected syllable, but instead merely one or two letters out of the missing syllable clustered together. The reason for this style of writing was to save time and material. With use, it grew into a complete system, a language of its own. At the time it was penned, these contractions were no doubt perfectly familiar to all, just as our modern abbreviations are. Of these last there are more contractions in use nowadays than would at first be realized--our daily correspondence is full of them; these may have originated from the older system of contractions, relics of it, still left lingering on. A few examples of modern abbreviations will not be out of place here, as showing that a contracted form of writing is not so very difficult or extraordinary after all. =&=, and, derived from the Latin _et_; the second example, which is still in use, can be traced in very old documents from et, till gradually it assumed its modern shape. =M^r=, mister or master; =S^r= for sir was formerly in common use. =C^o=, company; =C^{ie}=, _compagnie_ (French). =etc.=, derived from the first three letters of the Latin word _etcetera_. The words ‘with, which, whereof, where,’ etc., were formerly abbreviated; also =yr= for your, =ye= the, and many others now obsolete. Pounds, shillings and pence we still designate by the Latin £ s. d. The long word ‘affectionate’ is seldom written in full; so, too, with many other words there are recognised forms of contraction, and when this is borne in mind the abbreviations of old deeds appear in quite a different light, and we attack their difficulties with less dread of failure. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER II. HANDWRITING. Many books have been recently published on the subject of ‘Character by Handwriting,’ but they are not very descriptive in detail, although the theories and rules for character-describing by this means are both clear and decided.