Any collection of old MSS. is interesting, as showing the various styles of writing in vogue at different periods. Fashion or circumstances had some influence on this point. Royal marriages with foreign princesses brought England into contact with different nations. Wars in strange lands introduced alien words into our vocabulary, some of which speedily became naturalized, while others, voted slang, remained only for a short while and then disappeared. New words are constantly being coined, and take the place of others. This may seem a trivial matter, and irrelevant to the subject of old writing, but any points bearing on the subject must throw new light upon it and help to elucidate it. The personality of a writer can never be wholly separated from his works. And in any question of date or authenticity of a document being called in question, the value of graphology and its theories will be found of the utmost importance; for the various changes in the style of handwriting, or in the spelling of words, although perhaps so minute and gradual as seldom to be remarked, are, nevertheless, links in a chain which it would be extremely hard to forge successfully so as to deceive those acquainted with the matter and well versed in its peculiarities. Marked characteristics are noticeable in the old Black Letter MSS. of the early days before printing, and the authenticity of a deed, etc., may be decided by some slight peculiarity in its lettering. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER III. ANGLO-SAXON, NORMAN-FRENCH, LATIN, AND OLD ENGLISH. Although we are always told that our present English language is directly derived from that of our Saxon forefathers, this information gives us very little, if any, help towards deciphering the old Anglo-Saxon documents. The Saxons, we are told, were not one nation, but rather composed of an aggregate of tribes of Germanic and Scandinavian origin, whose piratical instincts led them to seek adventure by sea and land and form new colonies, just as at the present day Englishmen go forth in search of fame and fortune in the uttermost parts of the earth. [Illustration: EXTRACT FROM DOMESDAY.[1]] Thus the Saxon language, although derived from one identical base, was a collection of dialects banded together, which, in its educated and scholastic form, greatly resembled German in its construction.