capital letter, but this rule does not apply to the turned-over words of a line or a verse of too many syllables for the measure. The early printers of Italy put small capitals at the beginning of lines of poetry, and these small capitals were separated by a wide space from the letters in lower-case that followed. When literal exactness is intended in a quotation this mannerism may be followed.
E t plebs in medijs latina campis
H orrebat mala nauigationes.[1]
The first letter of every proper noun should have a capital. Here the printer may be puzzled. John Smith and James Brown, America and England, are unmistakably proper nouns, but there are personified abstractions, like Government, Goodness, Heaven, etc., which in some senses need a capital, and in others do not. Rules for giving or withholding the capital may be gathered from the following remarks.
THE DEITY, SYNONYMS, AND PRONOUNS
The name of the Deity in every person, and in every synonym or attribute, should begin with a capital, as Father, Son, Holy Ghost, God, Lord, Jehovah, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Saviour, Almighty, Heaven, Creator, Providence, etc. In the Bible the words God and Lord, when they
- ↑ From an edition of Statius by Aldus, 1502.
