Page:The History of Ink.djvu/51

Rh of William the Conqueror, whose reign commenced in England, A. D. 1066:—: , &c., —"William, by the grace of God, King &c.: Know ye that I have granted—"

Author:Isaac Disraeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, (vol. 2, page 180, of the Boston edition,) gives a treatise on the "Origin of the Materials of Writing". He commences it with these remarkable words:

"It is curious to observe the various substitutes for paper before its discovery."

Now, of all "curiosities of literature," this little sentence is, in many respects, the most curious. He talks of substitutes for a thing not in existence, and not even a subject of imagination, conjecture, or conception. The name of D'Israeli does not indicate an origin, but there is a strong affinity between this and those curiosities of literature commonly called "Irish bulls." As for instance, it reminds us of the couplet composed by an Irish officer of a garrison in the Scottish Highlands, in commemoration of the "good works" of General Wade, who had caused excellent military roads to be made through some of the previously almost impassable morasses of that region.