Such are the chief varieties of writing found in the MSS. produced
before the great revival of the arts and learning which took place
during the reign of Charles the Great (Karl der Grosse), known
familiarly as Charlemagne.
Wattenbach (_Schriftwesen_, _etc._) says that uncials date from the
second century A.D. From examples still extant of the fifth and
following centuries, it seems that while the Roman capitals were not
uncommon, in Celtic MSS. the form generally adopted was the uncial. It
was the form also usually chosen for ornamentation or imitation in those
Visigothic, Merovingian, or Lombardic MSS., which made such remarkable
use of fishes, birds, beasts, and plants for the construction of initial
letters and principal words, of which we see so many examples in the
elaborately illustrated Catalogue of the library at Laon by Ed. Fleury,
and in that of Cambray, by M. Durieux. Most of these pre-Carolingian
designs are barbarous in the extreme, dreadfully clumsy in execution,
but they evince considerable ingenuity and a strong predilection for
symbolism.
Before concluding this chapter perhaps something should be said
concerning the shape of books, though this is a matter somewhat outside
the scope of our proper subject.
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