Hand: Four Glosses (31v, 33v, 34r, 40r), BL Cotton Vespasian B.x, fols. 31–124

Stokes, English Vernacular Script, ca 990–ca 1035, Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006)

The aspect is typical of a low-grade gloss from this period. The bodies of letters are fairly regular but are very small and were written without much pen-lift. Ascenders are three or four times longer than minims, and descenders are longer than minims but shorter than ascenders; in spite of these proportions, the glosses were written very high above the main text and so tend to run into the previous line. Ascenders can have small wedges or are tapering, and descenders are straight and also taper slightly. Minim-strokes are straight, usually slightly forward-leaning, and have rising ticks for feet. Although no a is found in the vernacular, the Latin glosses written by the same scribe show teardrop-shaped a with a very straight, vertical back and a triangular body. Round c has a short approximately horizontal hook and a longer lower curve. The body of e is very round; the tongue is very long and curved up if final, or otherwise is shorter and rising. The tongue can begin almost from the base-line, in which case the eye is quite open. The shoulders of m and n are quite angular, and the down-strokes straight and slightly forward-leaning.