well-selected set of patterns in a book will afford the customer an opportunity of examining the different characters before giving his order, and the sign-painter may be assured that this plan will be by far the most satisfactory one that could be adopted in the interests of all parties concerned.
A word is given in Fig. 83 in the Elizabethan character
Fig. 82.
which is perhaps the best adapted for business purposes. Church text is not well fitted for general inscriptions, as it is, of course, more or less associated with sacred things, and as it has varied from time to time a great amount of study is necessary in order to render it correctly.
In contrasting the Old English character with the German text. Fig. 84, it will be observed that, whilst the former is essentially angular and severe, the latter is rounded
Fig. 83.
and free. Thus, flourishes seem almost necessary to German text, whilst they are utterly out of place in Old English or Church text. They should always have some apparent connection with the letters themselves, and should not be used just to fill up a vacant space. A word or sentence is often too crowded at one part of the surface on which it is painted, leaving a blank space at the other,
