_beautiful_ as angels, and _sing_ and _dance_ like angels; but,
however intelligible these are, we do not so easily connect penmanship
with the other celestial accomplishments. This fanciful phrase, however,
has a very human origin. Among those learned Greeks who emigrated to
Italy, and afterwards into France, in the reign of Francis I., was one
Angelo _Vergecio_, whose beautiful caligraphy excited the admiration of
the learned. The French monarch had a Greek fount cast, modelled by his
writing. The learned Henry Stephens, who, like our Porson for
correctness and delicacy, was one of the most elegant writers of Greek,
had learnt the practice from our _Angelo_. His name became synonymous
for beautiful writing, and gave birth to the vulgar proverb or familiar
phrase _to write like an angel_!

FOOTNOTES:

[109] I have not met with More's book, and am obliged to transcribe
this from the Biog. Brit.

[110] Howes, in his Chronicle under date 1576, has thus narrated the
story:--"A strange piece of work, and almost incredible, was brought
to pass by an Englishman from within the city of London, and a clerk
of the Chancery, named Peter Bales, who by his industry and practice
of his pen contrived and writ, within the compass of a penny, the
Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, a prayer to God, a
prayer for the queen, his posy, his name, the day of the month, the
year of our Lord, and the reign of the queen: and at Hampton Court
he presented the same to the queen's majesty."

[111] This was written in the reign of Elizabeth. Holyoke notices
"virgin-perchment made of an _abortive skin; membrana virgo_."
Peacham, on "Drawing," calls parchment simply _an abortive_.

THE ITALIAN HISTORIANS.

It is remarkable that the country which has long lost its political
independence may be considered as the true parent of modern history. The
greater part of their historians have abstained from the applause of
their contemporaries, while they have not the less elaborately composed
their posthumous folios, consecrated solely to truth and posterity! The
true principles of national glory are opened by the grandeur of the
minds of these assertors of political freedom. It was their indignant
spirit, seeking to console its injuries by confiding them to their
secret manuscripts, which raised up this singular phenomenon in the
literary world.

Of the various causes which produced