DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56869#0027
xxi
considered, he may reasonably be supposed to have taken no
little trouble, and to have resorted to many artifices, to
conceal the identity of his hand-writing, in the hope that
some, if not the whole, of his productions might escape de-
tection. It is a circumstance worthy of recollection in this
place, that Melancthon, when only a boy, was especially
patronized, and doubtless instructed, by Reuchlin; whom,
indeed, he appears to have closely followed in his avocations
as a public teacher throughout the remainder of his life. It
is recorded of Reuchlin, that when he was a young man,
studying the Greek literature at Paris, he gained his liveli-
hood by copying manuscripts. Is it not very reasonable to
suppose, that Melancthon profitted by the instruction of
his friend and patron in this, to him highly important art,
and learned the use of his pen in various styles, from the
imitation of type to the smallest and most fluent script cha-
racter which appears in the works now under consideration ?
In many cases, different styles are closely interwoven in the
same work, particularly in his Common Place-Book. Again,
there are many volumes which contain various styles of what
appears to have been his earlier writing, and which corre-
spond remarkably with his early manuscript collections (for
example see No. 1219 and 4628).
But, besides these inherent proofs, which appear on the
face of the writings, a very curious corroboration, in the nature
of analogy, has occurred since the compilation of the present
Catalogue was commenced. The artist employed to execute
the specimens of hand-writing- which appear upon the plates
illustrating the present volume, and who has devoted the
greater part of his life to this particular branch of handicraft,
after he had transcribed two or three specimens, spontaneously
asked of the compilers, whether the originals had not been
written by the same person. It should be observed, that this
individual was not at all aware of the nature of the writings,
nor of the object the compilers had in view; the thought of
the writings being identical struck him, simply upon finding
that when he had transcribed a few specimens, he did the
remainder with greater facility, even though apparently in a
different style to any of those which he had previously
considered, he may reasonably be supposed to have taken no
little trouble, and to have resorted to many artifices, to
conceal the identity of his hand-writing, in the hope that
some, if not the whole, of his productions might escape de-
tection. It is a circumstance worthy of recollection in this
place, that Melancthon, when only a boy, was especially
patronized, and doubtless instructed, by Reuchlin; whom,
indeed, he appears to have closely followed in his avocations
as a public teacher throughout the remainder of his life. It
is recorded of Reuchlin, that when he was a young man,
studying the Greek literature at Paris, he gained his liveli-
hood by copying manuscripts. Is it not very reasonable to
suppose, that Melancthon profitted by the instruction of
his friend and patron in this, to him highly important art,
and learned the use of his pen in various styles, from the
imitation of type to the smallest and most fluent script cha-
racter which appears in the works now under consideration ?
In many cases, different styles are closely interwoven in the
same work, particularly in his Common Place-Book. Again,
there are many volumes which contain various styles of what
appears to have been his earlier writing, and which corre-
spond remarkably with his early manuscript collections (for
example see No. 1219 and 4628).
But, besides these inherent proofs, which appear on the
face of the writings, a very curious corroboration, in the nature
of analogy, has occurred since the compilation of the present
Catalogue was commenced. The artist employed to execute
the specimens of hand-writing- which appear upon the plates
illustrating the present volume, and who has devoted the
greater part of his life to this particular branch of handicraft,
after he had transcribed two or three specimens, spontaneously
asked of the compilers, whether the originals had not been
written by the same person. It should be observed, that this
individual was not at all aware of the nature of the writings,
nor of the object the compilers had in view; the thought of
the writings being identical struck him, simply upon finding
that when he had transcribed a few specimens, he did the
remainder with greater facility, even though apparently in a
different style to any of those which he had previously