an ole one

I don’t understand the “ct” ligature. I’ve been trying to write “ct” in a bunch of different ways to see if it would make sense in handwriting to join them at the top, and it still doesn’t make any sense to me. How did the “ct” ligature ever make it into typography?

I am ſo pleaſed they ſtopped uſing theſe.

ending S had a different letter than an S at the end or inside a word.