(Vol. v., p. 1.)
My enquiry into the use of stops in the early days of typography will,
if it prove nothing else, show that the _Tablet of Memory_ is not an
authority to be depended upon on that subject. I have arranged the
authorities which I have consulted in chronological order.
1480. _Epistola F. Philelphi ad Sextum IV._, printed at Rome.
1493. Politian's Latin translation of _Herodian_, printed at
Bologna.
In both these books the colon and period are used, but neither the comma
nor semicolon.
1523. _Dialogi Platonis_, printed at Nuremberg.
Here I find the comma and period, and also the note of interrogation,
but not the colon or semicolon.
1523. _Ascensius declynsons, with the playne Expositor_, without
date, place, or printer's name.
This publication is ascribed by Johnson to Wynkyn de Worde, and
therefore printed between 1493 and 1534. I find in it the following
amusing passage relative to the ancient art of punctuation:--
"_Of the Craft of Poynting._
"There be fiue maner poynts, and divisions most uside with cunnyng
men: the which, if they be wel usid, make the sentens very light,
and esy to understond both to the reder and the herer, and they be
these: _virgil_, _come_, parenthesis, playne poynt, and
interrogatif. A _virgil_ is a sclender stryke: lenynge forwarde
this wyse _,_ betokynynge a lytyl, short rest without any
perfetnes yet of sentens: as betwene the five poyntis a fore
rehersid. A _come_ is with tway tittels this wyse _:_ betokynynge
a longer reste: and the sentens yet either is imperfet: or els, if
it be perfet: ther cummith more after, longyng to it: the which
more comynly cannot be perfet by itself without at the lest summat
of it: that gothe a fore. A _parenthesis_ is with tway crokyd
virgils: as an olde mone, and a new bely to bely: the whyche be
set theton afore the begynyng, and thetother after the latyr ende
of a clause; comyng within an other clause: that may be perfet:
thof the clause, so comyng betwene: wer awey, and therfore it is
sowndyde comynly a note lower, than the utter clause. yf the
sentens cannot be perfet without the ynner clause, then stede of
the first crokyde virgil a streght virgil wol do very wel; and
stede of the later must nedis be a come. A _playne poynt_ is with
won tittel this wyse _._ and it cumeth after the ende of al the
whole sentens betokynynge a longe reste. An _interrogatif_ is with
tway tittels, the upper rysing this wyse _?_ and it cumeth after
the ende of a whole reason: wheryn ther is sum question axside.
the whiche ende of the reson, triyng as it were for an answere:
risyth upwarde. we have these rulis in englishe: by cause they be
as profytable, and necessary to be kepte in every mother tonge, as
in latyn. Sethyn we (as we wolde to god: every precher wolde do)
have kept owre rulis both in owre englishe, and latyn: what nede
we, sethyn owre own be sufficient unogh: to put any other
exemplis."
It is evident that what the writer of this book calls the _virgil_, is
our comma: and his _come_, our colon. There is nothing, however,
allusive to our semicolon.
1541. Cranmer's _Bible_. Here we find the comma, colon, and
period, and also the note of interrogation, but not the semicolon.
1597. Gerard's _Herbal_ contains the comma, colon, semicolon, and
period.
1604. First part of Shakspeare's _Henry IV._, 4to. Here the comma,
colon, and period are used, but not the semicolon.
1631. Baker's _Well-spring of Science_ also uses the comma, colon,
and period, but not the semicolon.
1636. Record's _Ground of Arts_. Here all the stops now in use are
found.
1639. Cockeram's _English Dictionary_ defines the comma, colon,
and period, but not the semicolon. The latter, however, is _used_
in the preface.
1650. Moore's _Arithmetic_ employs all the four common stops.
1670. Blount's _Glossographia_ defines the four common stops.
Generally speaking, the stops now in use may be found in books from
about 1630. So much concerning punctuation.