and this is usually filled up with a meaningless flourish. By the method already pointed out for spacing the letters, this ugly expedient is rendered unnecessary.
The Old English and German text do not look well when rendered with thickness. They are so essentially writing characters that fine lines are indispensable to them, and the beauty of these and the contrast of them with the thick
Fig. 84.
lines are diminished when both are viewed from the side, and are seen to be equal in solidity, both characters, however, look well when outlined with a darker color than that in which they are painted, but in that case, more than ever, the absolute correctness of form must be insisted upon.
Italics, as in Fig. 85, are not by any means the easiest
Fig. 85.
characters with which the sign-painter has to deal, the main difficulty being the uniformity of slope. In the letter M, the right-hand down stroke, which in the Roman character would be upright, must take the slant of the general mass of letters.
The A and V afford subjects for some study and trial. They may either be drawn so that their down strokes slant
