Mr. Adams:

I thought you were basing this proposition on a possible misreading of the
"ss" in Rosse when written in longhand (or printed?). The answer to that
suggestion is no, the use of the so-called "long s" does not produce
something that is easily mistaken for "lf". Two long s together look something
like two f (ff) when handwritten and almost exactly like "ff" when printed in
roman letters. If the long s is followed by the "regular" s in longhand, the
two together look something like "fs". In neither case does one mistake the
two s together for "lf".

It would be easiest to see what I'm saying if I could write and send this
message in longhand. I'm sure there are websites on paleography that would
be useful in this regard.

Douglas Deal
Professor of History and Chair of History Department
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
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(315)-312-5632

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