_Stops, when first introduced_ (Vol. v., pp. 1. 133., &c.).--In order to
assist SIR HENRY ELLIS in his inquiry into the use of stops in the early
days of typography, I examined some of the earlier specimens of printing
which my library afforded, and made the following notes. P. T. had not
found the semicolon earlier than 1636, with the exception of Gerard's
_Herbal_, 1597. It is, however, probable that the communication of A. J.
H. (p. 164.), by which it appears that the semicolon was used in 1585,
may render my notes of no use. However, I send my contribution, such as
it is.
In an edition of Latimer's _Sermons_, small 4to., black letter, judged
to be the edition of 1584, the stop in question is not found. The note
of interrogation is very curiously formed,--a colon surmounted by a
comma, thus [,:] I might also observe that, to one of such limited
knowledge as myself, the paging is singular,--only one numeral on each
leaf.
In _Caroli Sigonii de Republica Hebræorum_, libri vij, Hanoviæ, 1608, no
semicolon occurs. But in Purchas' _Pilgrimage_, 1613, all the four stops
are used. So also in _The Spanish Mandevile of Myracles_, 1618.