Diary of John Byrom, who required them when writing short-hand. In a letter to his sister Phoebe, dated August, 1723, he mentions them as follows: 'Alas! alas! I cannot meet with a steel pen, no manner of where I believe I have asked at 375 places, but that which I have is at your service, as the owner himself always is."' (Remains, Vol. i., 39.)
Mr. Ralph N. James, writing to Notes and Queries, gives the following extract from the very amusing "journey to Paris," by Dr. Martin Lister, 1698:
"There was one thing very curious, and that was a Writing lnstrument of thick and strong silver wire, bound up like a hollow button or screw, with both ends pointing one way, and at a distance, so that a man might easily put his forefinger betwixt the two points, and the point divided in two, just like our steel pens."--_London Notes and Queries,_ vol. iii., page 346.
This note caused another writer, Mr. C.A. Ward, to send the following:
"STEEL PENS.--The extract giv
