Part 4: Distinguishing the Scribes on the Northumberland Manuscript

[This is in progress, posting just to give people an update who are following this research closely. I have not settled any of these questions. It is possible there were multiple scribes it is also possible there is one scribe who varied their handwriting.]

There are two major sets of of writing on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. On the right-hand side is a sort of table of contents that lists titles, many of which are still included in the manuscript. Interspersed throughout this are many scribbles and pen trials. On the left is a Latin poem, a quote from Rape of Lucrece, and other things scribbled every which way. Turning the document upside down reveals many more pen trials and scribbles.

Examining the Table of Contents - The Four Essays from Bacon

The table of contents is divided into two major parts. The first part, on the top right of the document, is written in a very neat and careful calligraphic italic hand. It lists four essays written by Francis Bacon. Here is the manuscript and Burgoyne's chart:

All of these essays are still included with the manuscript, and the handwritten header of the manuscript itself matches the calligraphy on the flyleaf:

It's quite a close match between the writing on the flyleaf and the manuscript itself:

I think it is safe to assume that the manuscript was initially prepared with these four essays, and the calligraphic table of contents was written by the same scribe who wrote a similar heading on the manuscript itself.

 The Table of Contents - Additional Material

On the right, written below these four essays, are the titles of other manuscripts. Some of the documents referenced are still included with the Northumberland Manuscript and some are not. The handwriting of these additions is not similar in style to the top four. It seems like it may have been added later by one or more different scribes.

Here are the additional entries:

And here is the chart:

It has been assumed that the four plays listed at the bottom, Richard II, Richard III, Asmund and Cornelia, and Isle of Dogs were at one point included with the manuscript. It's a reasonable assumption, since they are listed below other documents which are still included with the manuscript. However, we cannot be sure.

Identifying a Scribe for the Table of Contents

Beginning with Folio 47 of the manuscript, a scribe appears who seems to have some distinct handwriting characteristics. These idiosyncrasies seem to be reflected in some of the writing and scribbling on the flyleaf. One of the strongest characteristics is this capital "I" which often has a closed loop on top and extends over and down to the left with very flowing lines:

This seems different from the other capital "I" letters on the flyleaf which either do not have a closed loop on top or have a more wedge shaped curved body. The third one on this list might be by the same person, however:

The scribe also sometimes make an "r" that looks like an epsilon or an "e". I have marked that in red; I marked in blue another type of "r" they also made:

Compare to this Graies Inne reuells" Where the "I" in "Inne" and the "r" in "revells" seems to match the scribe's idiosyncrasies:

The word-final "s" in "Graies" also seems like quite a good match for the scribe:

It seems reasonable to think that this scribe wrote this line. They were also likely responsible for some other scribbles on the flyleaf and some of the other entries in the table of contents. More to come on this. It is unclear whether this is a different individual or the same person writing with a slightly different style.

Other Characteristics of the Scribe

The scribe usually, but not always, tends to have full separation between "t" and "h" in "th" word-initial combinations. Most of the writing on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf is more cursive in style, with the "t" and "h" forming one connected letter, often with the line from the "h" extending to the next word. It is quite unlike this, where each letter is separate:

Compare a similar situation, "wh", where the scribble on the Northumberland Manuscript has a completely connected pair of letters and this scribe has them distinct:

Untangling Sussex

These examples give some idea of the mess that needs to be untangled in figuring out who exactly wrote on the cover of the Northumberland Manuscript and who wrote the body of the text. 

A and F are from the body of the manuscript. B and G are from the cover. C, D, and E are Henry Neville. 

I have underlined the word-final "x" in blue in each case. A and F seem like a good match for G, suggesting that the scribe of that portion of the manuscript wrote the table of contents too. This makes sense. However, the "S" in D is quite a close match for the cover though A and F are quite different. As far as the "u", Neville's Example E is probably the best match. For the double-s, A and F are definitely a better match for B and G than C and E are. but the "e" is a good match and the variation matches too.

What is going on here? Just normal secretary hand looking alike? The variation in the body of the manuscript matches Henry Neville's own variation in "e" and capital "S". 

More research with higher resolution images of the body of the manuscript will be necessary to figure this all out.

Compare these examples of "shall". The left are the body of the manuscript. The top right is the cover. The bottom three are Henry Neville. 

Untangling the "r"

There are two types of lower-case "r" common on the covers of the Northumberland Manuscript. One is the one Neville most commonly used in his handwriting. But there is a second type of "r" that also occurs frequently. I have found a document certainly handwritten by Neville, in French, that has this second type of "r". It was a common way of writing the letter, and it seems that Neville used it on certain occasions. See below:

Conclusion

It's not quite clear how many scribes wrote and scribbled on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. I will continue working on this issue to clarify everything.

Part 3: Documenting Henry Neville's Handwriting and the Northumberland Manuscript

In Part 1 and Part 2 I compared the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf with Henry Neville's handwriting. I claim that Henry Neville could write in several different styles, including a formal and much more formal secretary hand.

There is a letter from 1590 which, I believe, demonstrates this clearly. I want to go into detail on this letter, explaining all of the circumstances surrounding it. This level of detail is necessary to establish the baseline for Henry Neville's handwriting. First we must establish clearly what Henry Neville wrote with his own hand, and then we can start comparing those samples to the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf.

The Details of the 1590 Letter at the British Library

Here is the catalog entry from the British Library, you can access the entry via this permalink:

Title: Sir Henry Nevell's complaint to Lord Burghley, that he is rigidly used by Lord Warwick for casting iron ordnance, 1590.
Collection Area: Western Manuscripts
Reference: Lansdowne MS 65/22
Creation Date: 1590

This letter is available on State Papers Online, it is Document Number: MC4305085404. Here is a complete transcription of the letter done by John O'Donnell.

The British Library entry says "Sir Henry Nevell" because that is how the letter is signed. (Note, at that time, Neville's father was a "Sir" but he wasn't.) Here is the signature:

Note how he signs it "Neuell". This is the earliest letter we currently have from Henry Neville. His later signatures are identical in style but he write "Neuill" with an "i". His father spelled his name with an "e", but he consistently -- from at least 1594 on -- always spelled it with an "i".

The Folger Library has a letter from Henry Neville's father to Nathaniel Bacon. Neville's stepmother was Elizabeth Bacon, so this is a letter from Henry Neville's father to his brother-in-law at the time. Elizabeth and Nathaniel were older half-siblings to Francis Bacon. You can read the whole letter from Henry Neville's father at the Folger website. The signature is completely different:

So it is very clear this 1590 letter is from the son, not the father, even though it is signed "Nevell." In addition, the contents of the letter relate to Henry Neville, the son's, business casting iron ordnance. In 1590 he was running an ironworks in Sussex at Mayfield, which his family inherited from Thomas Gresham, his mother's uncle.

Style Variation Throughout the Letter

There are 31 lines total in the letter, but you can see how the writing gets spottily less formal as the letter progresses. The scribe also seems to be realizing that they are running out of space. The last 7 lines take up as much space as the first five:

However, it does not appear that there are two different people writing this letter. It appears to be the work of one individual who has a style that can vary. Here are examples of "that" and "That" taken from the letter. Note especially how line 1 and line 16 vary. The capital "T" is different and the "h" is different. But line 8 and line 26 and 28 are quite close matches.

As far as I can tell, Henry Neville had two ways of writing an "h". Example 1 above is his formal "h" and example 16 shows his informal "h".

Compare to this letter of 1594 where the capital "T" varies in the exact same word and the exact same way  as the capital "T" in examples 1 and 16 above:

Later, I will have more on this variation in the "T" and how it relates to Henry Neville's scribbles and the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. There is a great deal of consistency in variation across the documents.

Comparing "the"

Here are some examples of "the" that make this very clear. For almost the whole letter he  maintains a fancy "the" until line 26 and 28 where a less fancy version slips in with a different "h" and a different "e". At first one might think that a different scribe had started writing the letter at this point. But if you look at lines 26 and 28 you can see the writer maintains the fancy "that" in lines 26 and 28. It does not appear that there are two individuals here; rather there is one person who is able to vary their handwriting:

Here is a portion of the end of the letter. You can see how the "th" and "e" vary though it doesn't appear to be the handwriting of two individuals. It appears that one individual at the close of the letter is not maintaining the "fancy style" consistently:

Conclusion

it is very clear that the 1590 letter was written by only one person, and that person varied their handwriting in very specific ways. That matches Henry Neville's other letters as well as the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. I will provide more details on all of this later. But this is very important evidence to establish baseline samples for further comparisons.

Part 2: Henry Neville, Shakespeare, and the Northumberland Manuscript

In Part 1 I described the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf and explained how it relates to William Shakespeare. I went into great depth comparing Henry Neville's handwriting to the scribbles on the flyleaf. Since the handwriting is such a close match, and since the Neville surname and family motto are written on the flyleaf, it seems reasonable to think that Henry Neville might have owned it and made the scribbles.

Now, I will offer new evidence that, I believe, provides confirmation that it is, indeed, Henry Neville's handwriting. Henry Neville made scribbles that almost exactly match the scribbles on the flyleaf. I discovered this while examining his papers at the Berkshire Record Office.

Henry Neville's Pen Trials on a Draft Letter from 1598

Henry Neville had the practice (as was common at the time) of saving drafts of important letters as copies for his own records. We have about a dozen examples of these drafts from him. In the Berkshire Record Office, there is a draft letter from 1598, clearly written in Henry Neville's handwriting.

On the back of the letter there are some scribbles (or "pen trials"). Likely this was practice writing done before starting to write a letter and/or to test out a new pen nib. Here are the scribbles, note the section marked with the red arrow:

(You can download a zoomed-in version of the scribble at NevilleResearch.com.)

The Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf is covered in scribbles too. That alone is not evidence that it is Henry Neville's writing; pen trials and similar scribbles were common at the time. What *is* notable, however, is that the exact same letter forms are scribbled on both documents. 

If you turn the front of the flyleaf upside down, many scribbles become legible. Here is the broad view of one part of the flyleaf with many "h" scribbles. Note especially the section marked with the arrow:

Compare this cluster of "h" scribbles from the flyleaf with the 1598 scribbles. It is almost an exact match:

Note how both sets of scribbles vary in similar ways. Some have a loop at the top; some don't. Some have an open bowl at the bottom; others are more closed. The handwriting appears to be the same, and the habit is the same. Another section of the flyleaf (also upside down orientation) has a similar group of the letter "h", some as part of words and some by themselves. I have underlined the letters:

There appears to be another cluster of the letter "h" on the front of the flyleaf:

Please compare these again. These three clusters on the flyleaf and the cluster on the 1598 pen trials are not just scribbles of the letter "h"; the letter forms vary in a similar way.

There is another cluster of "h" pen trials in the body of the Northumberland Manuscript on Folio 54:

And on Folio 64 there are some pen trials of "the" that are remarkably close to Henry Neville's above.

John Casson discovered a book inscribed by Henry Neville in 1600.There are  "h" scribbles:

So it is very clear that Henry Neville had the habit of scribbling "h", just like the person who scribbled on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. 

Making sense of the scribbles

Reading the words on these scribbles, it immediately becomes apparent what Henry Neville is writing. "After my harty" and "After my harty commendacions" and "after my" are written on the right. 

On the left we have "To the right" and then "ho ho the the". Henry Neville often wrote "To the right honorable" when he was addressing a letter, sometimes abbreviating "honorable" with simply "ho".

Look at this section of the 1598 scribble:

Compare to these addresses he wrote. They all vary in different ways, most notably in the letter "e" which Neville varied depending on the formality of the letter. The capital 'T" varies as well in "To". But you can see how the 1598 scribbles are obviously practice writing for this type of address:

Now compare this from the text "To the" written on the back of the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. Once again we see variations (especially in the capital T which varies tremendously in Neville's handwriting and on the flyleaf) but is an obvious match. It's not just the handwriting that matches, it's the habit of scribbling "To the". Compare with the three examples above:

Compare two examples of "the" from 1598 scribbles with this from the back of the flyleaf. The "h" letters vary in the shape somewhat and their formality, but otherwise the pen strokes of how letters are formed are exactly the same. 

Comparing "h"

We have been looking at one style of "h", but Neville had a completely distinct type of "h" he used in more formal correspondence. Look at these examples of "ho" from his letter to Cecil from 1600:

This second, more formal type of "h" is *also* in the 1598 scribbles and *also* on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. Compare the "h" in this word "harty" from the 1598 scribbles with the flyleaf. The letters are almost a perfect match:

To repeat an example from Part 1, look at these at these five examples of the less formal type of "h" Henry Neville used in his correspondence, compared with the flyleaf:

The variation in the style of "h" is a match along with the habit of scribbling the letter "h". This is very strong evidence of a single person writing all of these documents, someone with a tendency to vary the same letter forms in the same specific ways.

Henry Neville's Pen Trials on a Draft Letter from 1594

I discovered another set of scribbles at the Berkshire Record Office on a draft letter from 1594. These also seem to  match quite closely the writing on the flyleaf. (Download a higher res version at NevilleResearch.com)

Comparing the letters

The word "And" is written twice with a capital "A" on the scribbles above. Compare to an example of a capital "A" on the flyleaf. It seems like an almost perfect match:

Something that looks like it might be the word "offer" appears on the 1594 scribbles. The common secretary hand double-f appears like an "A" with a loop on the top right to a modern eye. Those same letter forms are found on the flyleaf. When rotated upside down, there is a scribble of those letter forms; see the top right image below. The bottom two images are written as part of a Latin poem on the flyleaf. All four of these seem to be quite close matches:

A letter "h" is written, not connected to any other letters, on the flyleaf. It is the same style as Henry Neville uses in his formal letters (see above). Compare to the "h" in the word "that" written on the 1594 scribble. It appears to be an exact match.

Conclusion

Even before doing any handwriting or other comparisons, there is strong reason to believe the Henry Neville of Billingbear (d. 1615) owned the Northumberland Manuscript and scribbled on it. First, his family name is written twice on the flyleaf along with his family motto. These don't appear to be scribbles; they are quite nicely aligned with the rest of the normal writing on the document. In addition, the documents, such as essays by Francis Bacon and a letter from Philip Sidney, match closely his family and political alliances of the time. The timing of the document, 1594-1598, also matches Henry Neville's biography; he did not leave for France until 1599.

The handwriting analysis in Part 1 provides additional strong evidence to think that the writing is Henry Neville's. Many of the letter forms are almost precisely the same, and Henry Neville's handwriting varies in many of the same ways the flyleaf also varies.

When you add in this new evidence of Henry Neville's scribbles, especially the "h" scribbles which match so closely the ones on the flyleaf, it seems to me very likely that Henry Neville was indeed the owner and scribbler of the Northumberland Manuscript.

Feel free to contact me via email for source materials or further discussion of this issue. My email address is my name, kenfeinstein (at) gmail  . com.

Part 1: Henry Neville, Shakespeare, and the Northumberland Manuscript

[Note: Part 2 of this article offers substantial new evidence that Henry Neville made scribbles exactly like those found on the Northumberland Manuscript Flyleaf. Part 3 gives more detail on the variation in Henry Neville's handwriting. Part 4 begins to explore exactly how many scribes wrote on the flyleaf.]

The Northumberland Manuscript has confounded researchers for over a century. The flyleaf has the name of William Shakespeare written on it several times as well as the names of two Shakespeare plays (Richard II and Richard III) and a quote from Rape of Lucrece. Visit the Folger Library Website for a high res facsimile. Also read this book from 1904 which offers a detailed description of the flyleaf and included documents. This article from the Lost Plays Database also has a lot of valuable information.

The Odd Handwriting on the Northumberland Manuscript Flyleaf

The flyleaf seems to have been written between 1594-1597. The name "Nevill" appears to be written twice on the top left and the Neville family motto "ne vile velis" is also written twice, once as a scribble and once prominently Therefore, it has long been suggested that the collection of manuscripts might have belonged to Henry Neville. Here are the two names and the  prominent motto. They are very hard to read, but appear to be in the same handwriting. (Note, this is not Henry Neville's signature. He signed his name in italic, not like this, though it still appears to be his handwriting):

Interestingly, if you look carefully, it appears that the names might actually say "Nevills". It could be that Henry Neville wrote it that way to mark his ownership of the manuscripts. It looks clearer if you invert the colors on the image (I did this using the "Invert" feature on the GIMP photo-editing software). I have underlined the possible "s" in red; the letter looks very much like a current-day"6":

Here are some similar word-final "s" letters from Neville's handwriting to compare:

Look at these enhanced images from retroreveal.org of the second, clearer "Nevill". It really seems like there is an "s" at the end, suggesting perhaps ownership:

A large number of scribbles and pen trials cover the flyleaf. Through my archival research, I have found many correspondences between these scribbles and the handwriting of Henry Neville. This is new evidence not examined or presented by anyone previously, as far as I know. I believe this provides strong reason to believe Henry Neville may have, in fact, done some or all of the scribbles on the flyleaf.

William Shakespeare and the contents of the Northumberland Manuscript

This handy chart from the 1904 book shows the major words and phrases found on the flyleaf. There are also many letters and incomplete words scribbled every which way on the paper.

This gives you a sense of how it actually looks with the scribbles (visit the Folger Library Website for the much higher resolution facsimile I have used in this analysis):

As you can see in the chart above, there are many variations on the name William Shakespeare written on the page. The spelling and style of these examples vary.

The name "Francis Bacon' is also written several times. The flyleaf seems to have covered several manuscripts written by Bacon. Not only was Francis Bacon the first cousin of Henry Neville's wife Anne Killigrew Neville, Francis Bacon's older half-sister Elizabeth Bacon was Henry Neville's stepmother. Neville was also close to the Sidney family. So the the inclusion of manuscripts by Francis Bacon and Philip Sidney would also be consistent with his ownership.

Henry Neville's Handwriting

Though almost all of the writing on the flyleaf is in a standard secretary hand, it varies a great deal in terms of letter forms. Henry Neville's handwriting *also* was a standard secretary hand that varied a great deal within those norms. As far as I can tell, he could write in at three different styles. I will call them:  "draft or cursive secretary hand," "formal secretary hand," and "super formal secretary hand". He also could write in italic and his signature is always in italic.

Here is an excellent example of his formal secretary hand in a letter from 1600 to Robert Cecil:

And here is an example of his draft or cursive secretary hand  from 1594 (read the transcription):

Here are examples of his italic signature:

Henry Neville also appears to have been able to write in a super formal secretary hand. We have about a dozen examples of this style. It is similar to his formal secretary hand, except for a few letter forms that are different. For instance, "I", "e",  and "h" are written differently.

This letter from 1600, from Henry Neville to Robert Cecil, is reproduced here with permission of the Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House. The letter concerns John Thorpe, the architect. It is described in this Calendar of Manuscripts at Hatfield House as a "holograph" letter, meaning it was written by Henry Neville himself, not just signed by him. This is an excellent example of the "super formal" style.

Here is a draft letter from 1599 that has some of the same characteristics as this "super formal secretary hand"; it might even be considered a fifth category, "draft super formal secretary hand":

See these examples below of "Right Honorable" which Henry Neville often wrote at the beginning of letters to William Cecil (Lord Burghley) and Robert Cecil. What is important to note is how he varies the "h" at the beginning of "honorable" and in the word "right". The examples on the right from 1594-1600 show his formal style "h" and the ones on the left show the more informal. The "e" at the end of "honorable" also shows a formal/informal variation. Note how consistent these are despite this point of variation:

In February 1601, Henry Neville wrote a letter to Robert Cecil right before being arrested for the Essex Rebellion. We have both the draft and the final version. I have created this comparison to demonstrate, first, that Henry Neville could write with a very practiced secretary hand. Second, how much his handwriting could vary. If you compare these carefully, they are certainly by the same person, and are consistent with Henry Neville's handwriting over a 20+ year period:

Variation in Henry Neville's Handwriting

Henry Neville varied his handwriting substantially and to an unusual degree. See these two examples of "Thomas" written in his formal secretary hand in 1594. He writes the capital T two different ways in the same word in the same letter on the same page:

Here he varies the "e" in the same word in the same letter on the same page:

See how he varies even the spelling of the style of  the place he lived, Billingbear, in two letters a year apart (1594/1595) to the same person (Thomas Windebank). At first it might even seem like the handwriting of two different people, but if you look carefully, he has only modified the style of specific letters (the initial letter and "e") and the spelling of the first letter. Everything else is the same.

The profound variation in handwriting style is what makes the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf so strange. To quote the Lost Plays Database, "The title [Asmund and Cornelia] appears again in a different hand (although possibly by the same scribe) to the left of this list." There are many "hands" on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf, but that doesn't mean necessarily that there were multiple scribes. The same is true for Henry Neville letters, which are written in several different hands, but only one scribe. (Note, though, we do also have examples where other people wrote out his letters and he only signed them, particularly his secretaries Ralph Winwood and John Packer.)

Look at these pen trials. He writes the word "them" in three completely different ways with different "t" and different "h" and different "e" letters. The word "selves" is written with an "e" that looks like an epsilon; this is very unusual in Henry Neville's letters, but it is something that occurs on the Northumberland Manuscript. He even appears to write the number "3" three different ways. This style of playing with letter forms is demonstrated in other places and is clearly demonstrated on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. This is one of the most important keys to unraveling its mysteries:

Comparing "william"

At the National Archive there is a sample of Henry Neville's handwriting where he writes the name "willaston". The "will" portion of that name is remarkably similar to three examples of how "william" written on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf. Here is the letter in question. Henry Neville wrote some notes on the back of the letter when he was ambassador to France.

There are several references to a Mr. Willaston in Winwood's Memorials; he was involved in delivering letters for Neville and perhaps money as well. What's important however is how closely the "will" of his name matches the "will" on the Northumberland Manuscript. The "w", the "i", and the double-"l" all seem like very close matches. Compare Examples 1-4 with Henry Neville's Example B.

We also have an example of Henry Neville writing his son's name "william" in 1601, Example A above (see below) and in Example C in 1612. 

There is a great deal of variation in all of these samples, from the flyleaf and in Neville's handwriting. For instance, the double-"l" is differs in all six of the above examples. But there is a clear consistency overall.

There are two more examples just "will" written at the very bottom of the flyleaf. It is a bit hard to see, but they seem to be extremely close matches for the "will" of "willaston"; the inverse (blue) really shows it very clearly:

You can compare these other examples from Neville's letters. The variation in the Northumberland Manuscript is matched with Neville's variations:

Capital "N"

Henry Neville signed his name in italic and often wrote capital "N" with a similar italic letter. However, I have found a capital "N" from a letter he wrote to Robert Cecil in April 1602 which matches quite closely the examples on the flyleaf:

honorificabiletudine

The flyleaf has the word "honorificabiletudine" written on it. This is of particular interest because the play Love's Labour's Lost has the word "honorificabilitudinitatibus" in it. 

The letter forms of "honorificabiletudine"  match very closely the forms found in the 1600 letter to Robert Cecil reproduced above. The "ho" matches Neville's super formal style as does the "a" and the "b". the "d" is similar to his normal formal style, though he varies his "d" greatly in different documents. The rest of the letters are consistent with Neville's handwriting.

Here is a detailed comparison of the letter forms with the 1600 letter, a similar comparison could be done with other super formal letters with a similar result:

I encourage people to analyze the letter forms carefully for themselves and come to their own conclusions. It seems to me that the handwriting is largely consistent. 

Compare these examples from a 1594 letter. It is an extremely close match:

The letter "f" in the middle of the word  "honorificabiletudine" is in a different style than the rest of the word. I have found several quite close examples. 

This note, written on the back of a draft letter, shows the variety of styles Henry Neville employed. The italic "f" in "certificate" is close to the "f" in "honorificabiletudine":

Or compare this "f" in "pacificus":

Here is another comparison with a letter from 1600:

Comparing "h"

Here is one "h" from a letter Henry Neville wrote in 1600 with "h" written on the front and back covers of the manuscript. These seem like remarkably close matches.

Comparing "your"

First, look how closely this "yo" from the flyleaf matches this closing from a letter from 1594. It's almost a precise match:

The word "your" also occurs many times on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf, both oriented  right-side up or upside down. There is a great deal of variation among the examples. I have compared it with three letters written in Henry Neville's "super formal style". The light-colored samples of "your" below are from those letters. The dark letters are the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf.  They seem very consistent, including the flourish found in the top right sample from the Manuscript (flourishes are found throughout the manuscript of a similar style): 

To emphasize this point, compare these two examples of "your" pay very close attention to the flourish coming off the y and the ligature connecting to the o. This is a very close match.

And here is another match from another letter:

Here are all of the "your" examples I could find on the flyleaf one the left with the examples from Neville's letters on the right. 

For comparison, here are six different examples of "your" written by people with typical secretary hand in the same period (around 1600). As far as I can tell, a large majority of writers of the period abbreviated "your" in letters, but Henry Neville almost always wrote it out. As you can see above, it is written out many times on the flyleaf as well. Here are some control samples to compare:

Capital "I" on the Back of the Manuscript

There is a curious capital "I" on the back cover of the manuscript that is quite different from the other capital "I" letters found on the front. Henry Neville usually didn't write capital "I" that way. In his collection of letters from his time as ambassador to France, he appears to have copied a letter in French. The handwriting is clearly his, though there are some variations from his normal writing -- including this capital "I" which seems like a close match for the Northumberland Manuscript.

"the" scribbles

If you turn the flyleaf upside down, there are several examples of "th" or "the" scribbled. Here is the section of the document, turned upside down, which has the scribbles:

And here is a comparison with Henry Neville's letters. I have put the closest matches to the left of each example from the flyleaf. Please examine these very closely. The correspondences are extraordinary. It is extremely unlikely that two separate individuals would be demonstrating the exact same variability in their handwriting in this way. This is extremely strong evidence that Henry Neville made these scribbles, especially since his name and family motto are written on the flyleaf:

"z"

On the back of the flyleaf is the letter "z" and this from a document Henry Neville wrote in 1600 in France is a remarkably close match along with three examples from a copy of a French letter written by Neville in his own hand:

"places"

If you look at the flyleaf upside down, there is a word that begins with "pl" and appears to say "places". It seems to be almost an exact match from a letter to Robert Cecil on May 1598. There is an example of "pl" that is an exact match with the writing on the flyleaf:

Their/Than

This comparison of "their" and perhaps "than" from the Northumberland Manuscript shows clearly how Henry Neville's handwriting varied but how it is unmistakably the same as the manuscript. Neville wrote the "t" with and without a base, and he wrote "e" two different ways as we have discussed previously. But the consistency across time and the similarity with the Northumberland Manuscript is obvious:

"Thomas"

We have the name "Thomas" on the manuscript at least six times. Once as part of "Thomas Nashe" (top left in the image below) and fully and partially in many scribbles. Compare to the super formal handwriting from Neville's 1594 letter. The other examples are from letters Neville wrote to Thomas Windebank and have the less formal "h", which seems to be the form used in the flyleaf. This is a particularly nice example since we have four separate examples from Neville's letters. It's all a bit hard to read, and there is a great deal of variability, but it's obviously a very close match.  

Below is a third "Thomas" on the flyleaf. To the right I have an example from a 1594 letter. The capital "T" is obviously different, but compare the flyleaf "T" with the "T"s in the examples above. The rest of the name is quite a close match. The "h" used on this example on the flyleaf is the same formal "h" in this example from Neville's 1594 letter:

"and"

These three scribbles of "and" are very useful. The first two were written upside-down on the flyleaf and the third right side up. Below that is an "nd" from another word on the flyleaf. Here I compare them with the "and"s in one formal letter from 1594 and two formal letters from 1599. This shows clearly just how much Henry Neville's handwriting could vary just within one letter. Compare the three samples from the flyleaf which also vary, but the commonalities are clear. The writing and scribbles on the flyleaf vary in the exact same ways Henry Neville's handwriting varied. 

Compare to the four ways Neville wrote "and" in this document from 1591. The handwriting is italic instead of secretary hand, but you can see the variation of Neville's handwriting within a single document:

"hon/hom" 

Henry Neville began his letters to Robert Cecil with "Right Honnorable", so we have many examples of that. There is a scribble "hom" on the flyleaf written in very clear and dark ink (perhaps as part of "Thomas"). It is an obvious match for Neville's handwriting. This is Neville's less formal way of writing an "h":

Here is another very similar example from the flyleaf that is an extremely close match for the rest:

Capital A

This example from the back of the flyleaf seems quite distinctive and remarkably similar to Neville's handwriting. This is more of a stylized "A" than Neville usually wrote:

Here is an example from the front of the flyleaf that seems to match Neville's handwriting extremely well:

Comparing "I"

The capital letter "I" (equivalent to "J") occurs at least five times on the front of the manuscript. Here is one of the closest matches of the five:

Here are complete comparisons with the 5 capital "I" letters. I think that two of them may be in someone else's handwriting, I begin to explore this in Part 4.  

"many"

This is a very strong comparison with Neville's 1594 letter. Every letter matches, the "a" is particularly distinctive. There is always going to be some variability in handwriting, but the styles exhibited in the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf match the styles of handwriting Henry Neville used -- and look similar. That is the most important point here. 

"M"

Compare this "M" with the huge flourish to these three samples from two of Henry Neville's letters. The flourish is missing from the ones from the letters but otherwise seems to be a close match:

"fee taile shall"

This is difficult to read. The first word appears to be "fee" with an italic "f" and secretary hand "ee". The second word and third words are almost definitely "taile" and "shall" in secretary hand, though is not clear if they were meant to be read together.

According to Rastell's 1595 An Exposition of Certain Difficult and Obscure Words, "fee tail" is  "where land is given to a man and his heirs of his body begotten." Henry Neville was personally concerned with issues like this, since some land was left to him in this manner and he intended to leave land to his children in this manner.

The "shall" on the flyleaf extends down very far with a bold straight line. This is exactly how Henry Neville wrote the word. This match is extremely strong, especially the third on the bottom:

"wher..."

This word is written by itself in the top corner of the flyleaf. It begins "wher". Compare to Neville's 1601 draft letter "whereby". The letter formation is almost exactly the same, especially the shape of the "h", the line going from the bowl of the "h" to the "e", and the line from the "e" to the "r" which are also very close matches, as well as the line extending out of the "r". 

Self

I have found two examples of "self" or "self" written on the flyleaf. These examples from Neville's letters seem to be extremely close matches. Remember, we are comparing letters with scribbles, so there is bound to be a certain amount of variation. Also remember, Neville himself varied his writing a great deal.

The Quote from Rape of Lucrece

One of the most interesting aspects of the flyleaf is a quote written out which almost exactly matches a line from Rape of Lucrece. The handwriting is different from most of the other handwriting on the flyleaf. It seems to read: "revealing day through euery crany peepes and". Lucrece has almost exactly the same line: "Revealing day through every cranny spies, And"

In some ways this is similar to Henry Neville's draft handwriting and in some respects it seems to differ. The way "peepes" is written matches almost exactly the way he writes "p" and double-"e", though he varies both a great deal from context to context. Here are some samples, I am comparing the "e" on the left and the "p" on the right:

Conclusion

What can we conclude from this analysis? It's is a good start at establishing that Henry Neville did, indeed, write the scribbles on the Northumberland Manuscript. Please see Part 2 of this article offers substantial new evidence that Henry Neville made scribbles exactly like those found on the Northumberland Manuscript Flyleaf.

Bonus Material - Many More Comparisons

This example of "ing" from the back of the flyleaf seems very consistent with this letter from 1594 and 1598:

The name "ffrancis" and "ffrancis Bacon" is written several times on the flyleaf. Compare this example with the word "ffrance" in a 1599 draft letter from Henry Neville. Seems like quite a close match except the "r" which differs:

Look at this "g". The match is stunning. Plus the angular "p". These are from the back of the flyleaf.

The "fo" seems like a good match, these are five different letters over a 10 year period:

"loving(e)"

The flyleaf has an "e" at the end and a very exaggerated "v" but you can see the clear similarities, particularly with the "in" that looks like an "m" and the loop on the "g". The formation of the "lo" is also identical:

Most

Here is how Henry Neville wrote "most" over time. The angle of the "S" is almost exactly the same in all the examples and they all show a ligature between the "s" and "t" which is a characteristic of Neville's handwriting in general. Close match for the two examples here from the flyleaf. (Note: Neville wrote "most" differently in his "super formal" letters.)

Capital R

The "R" in "Rychard" seems like a close match, though it's hard to see:

This is a little easier to see the details:

by

This looks like a close match. Neville's way of writing the word seems to be quite consistent.

"K"

This K seems like a particularly good match with this example from 1594.

We can also compare the "b". Remember we are comparing a scribble with formal letters, but the handwriting is obviously consistent in style:

Compare these two examples of "my lord" from the flyleaf with these 1594 examples of Henry Neville's writing, all taken from a single letter. Seems like a very close match.

"But"

From the back of the flyleaf, here is the word "But" twice. The writer appears to be practicing it or doing some other type of pen trial. Here are two examples, one from 1594 and just the letter "B" from 1600. Seems very consistent. It's important to note that this is only one of many ways that Henry Neville wrote a capital B. The Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf also shows many variations on the style of the capital B.

Here are examples from the 1590 letter that are even better:

And this example of "pen trials" from the back of a 1599 note makes the point even more clearly:

"Earle"

The flyleaf has the word "Earle" written on it at least three times, one right side up and twice upside down, the top example is from Neville's letter to the Earl of Dorset in 1606:

It's important to note how much the examples on the flyleaf vary, but the top two especially seem to be a good match for Neville. The final "e" is different, but as we have seen above, Neville varied how he wrote "e" depending on the the formality of the situation. Compare also the "E" from "England" which in some ways an even closer match. These two examples are taken from the header of a letter so they are written with particularly thick line as opposed to the scribbles on the flyleaf which are not. The "r" is different however so whether that indicates a different scribe or is just a variation in Neville's handwriting I do not know yet.

Capital "S"

The flyleaf has the word "Shakespeare" written on it many times with a capital "S" as well as some examples of capital "S" written by themselves. Sometimes it's hard to tell if an "S" is even intended since the letter forms vary so wildly. The scribe was obviously playing around with letter forms intentionally. I have collected five definite "S" letters and compared them with Neville's handwriting. Neville varied his "S" a great deal especially in draft letters. There is an extraordinary correspondence here in the variation of forms:

The Second "ne vile velis"

There is a second "ne vile velis" written just above the first one. It is a little hard to see, but it is unmistakably there, and it is noted in the chart below:

This shows how close the two mottos are to each other:

Acknowledgments

Thank you to John O'Donnell for his helpful discussions and transcription skills.

Brenda James and William Rubinstein suggested that Henry Neville wrote the text on the Northumberland Manuscript flyleaf in their 2005 book Truth Will Out. John Casson also did extensive research on the watermarks and handwriting of the manuscript, though I differ with much of his analysis. See this article. 

The 10th Duke of Northumberland’s Will Trust retains sole ownership of the images on the Folger Library Website.