point between the side a. c. & the nearer of the two slender vertical limbs.

Or you may make the letter N in such fashion that its upper nigh extension shall remain within the square; or you may make from it an acute angle as shown overleaf.

THE LETTER O.

Now O you shall make this way in its square. Set in the square the diameter c. b. and bisect it in the point e., so that e. may form a middle point between the two points f. and g. which are to be your two centres; and from each let a circle be described touching two sides of the square; & where the circles cut one another, there with your hand you must shape the slender outline of the letter to a juster proportion, as below is shown.

THE LETTER P.

P you shall make in its square in this wise. Divide the square a. b. c. d. by the median horizontal line e. f.; then divide a. e. & b. f. equally by the line g. h. Next draw, first the broad vertical limb for this letter P, as you did a short while ago for K, and afterwards erect the line i. k. the distance of its own breadth to the right of your vertical limb; (here you must ever observe that in a lettered square we speak of the angle a. as the “hither” angle, that is, to the left; & the angle b. as the “farther” angle, that is, to the right). Then where the line i. k. cuts g. h. call the point l., and next draw two slender horizontal limbs, the upper below a. b., the lower above e. f., from the broad vertical limb as far as the line i. k. Set one leg of the compass on the point l., extending the other to the lower side of the lower horizontal limb near k.; then describe an arc through the line g. h. as far as the other slender horizontal limb of this same P, & where it cuts the line g. h. set the point m. Next, on the far side of m. measure the width of the large limb of the letter, along the line g. h. to the point n. and let your compass be stretched so that with one foot it may touch the line a. b. and with the other the point n.; then set one foot of the compass on n. & the other on the line g. h. to the right, in the point o., in which this foot is to be left standing immovable, and with the other is to be described an arc, passing through the point n. and touching the lines a. b. and e. f.

Or you may form the loop of this letter in the following manner. Set a leg of the compass under the transverse g. h. in the line i. k., in a place median between the line e. f. & the lower part of the upper transverse of the slender limb, in the point p. and describe an arc as before, passing through m. so that the loop will be acute at the bottom, and its tip will end in the middle space between the line i. k. and the broad vertical limb of the letter.

Or make this same P with a circular sweep, by shifting the compass upon the diameter, so that that sweep may be broader at the top (as though made with a pen) as will be shown in the diagram on the following page.

THE LETTER Q.

Make your Q in its square in the self-same manner as was prescribed for O; but add to it its tail thus: Draw a diameter of the square, the line a. d., about which, starting from the curved outline, begin to draw a long tail, producing it through the angle d. in such fashion that d. may be in the middle of the thickest part of the tail; but where the tail begins let it be a little narrower than in the angle d., where it should attain its real thickness. Then let it be drawn out, beyond the angle d. to the length of the entire diameter, and in a downward direction, yet so that it curves while it slopes, & that its tip shall not fall lower than a third of the side below the lowest side of the square, and shall tend, as it nears the point, to grow sharper little by little, and at length end in a very fine point indeed.

Or you shall give Q a shorter tail in this fashion, to wit: set your compasses to the length of the side c. d. and draw a tail from the bulge of the same letter, describing through the point d. its inner arc of the same length as c. d., taking care that the tail bend upwards until it again reach c. d. produced, in the point h.; then shift your compasses, & with the other leg again describe from the bulge of the letter an arc below d. & continue it until again it reach h., but in such fashion that the tail shall find its greatest thickness at the start, as in the following figure is doubly depicted.

THE LETTER R.

Moreover R you must make in its square just as was directed for P; but then erect a right line q. r. through the middle point of the square, & let it cut the exterior arc of the rounded limb in s., from which point, downwards towards the angle d., let there be drawn a broad tract, almost equal to that which you made above for the letter K., but this is to be somewhat bent in, and so shaped by your hand that its tip, well formed, may arrive directly on the angle d.

Or make R in such fashion that its rounded sweep, as though made with a pen, shall be above broader, & narrower below. To accomplish this, you must shift your compasses on the diameter q. e. & not allow the rounded limb to touch the vertical one, as was described in P. Besides, the oblique limb is to be deduced from the rounded one with a little more of a curve; just as I have drawn overleaf.

THE LETTER S.

Next, the letter S you shall make as follows in its square, a. b. c. d. First draw the horizontal line e. f. and the median & vertical one g. h. and let them bisect one another in the point m. Then choose the main thickness of the letter, and set it in the line g. h. so that the point m. may divide it, having one-third of the thickness below it; next, set the lesser thickness, at the top beneath g., indicating it by the point i., and at bottom, above h. in the point k.; and the thickness of the letter indicate above by n. and below by l.

Next, set a leg of your compasses on the line g. h. in the mid-point between i. and n., and with the other describe a circle passing