Peculiarities of Handwriting [pp. 545-546]

1872.] r~c UIiAJ?iTI~S O~ ffAAF~ W~iri~~
54o
The education of so many leading young
men in this country will certainly exert a
wide influence at home. They carry back
not only the learning and culture which they
have acquired, but also liberal notions concerning the relations between the government and the people.
PECUHARITIEs OF HAND WRITING.
original Magna Charta, which is preserved in the chirography of Sir Walter Scott will dis.
the British Museum, it would appear that appoint all lovers of his delightful composi.
neither King John nor any of his nobles could tions-it is utterly devoid of character, besign their own names. Indeed, at a much lug formed in early manhood by copying law.
later period in England it was considered the papers.
sign of a gentleman to write a bad hand. Of living poets, Alfred Tennyson is uni.
This absurd notion, however, only prevailed versally regarded as the first. His handwrit.
among the silly court-fops and "curled dar- lag is chaste and classic, exhibiting the same
lings of fashion." The statesmen of England elaborate finish that is so characteristic of
have generally written excellent hands: Can. his poetry. Longfellow's handwriting disning's was exquisite; the Duke of Welling. plays vigor and poetical beauty; Bryant's
ton's clear and noble; Sir Robert Peel's was penmanship would make the fortune of a
very legible, but too mercantile for beauty; merchant's clerk, but it is not the graceful
Lord Derby wrote a beautiful hand; Lord hand we would look for in so fine a poet;
Palmerston's handwriting was a model of Aubrey do Vera writes a very gentlemanly
penmanship; Earl Russell writes very fine; hand, neat and elegant, but wanting in vigor
William Pitt wrote a very flowing hand; Mn and strength; Pani IL Hayne writes a most
Gladstone writes a beautifully neat and regu- dainty hand, with many quaint and curious
lar hand. little flourishes; Father Ryan, author of "The
~Vhile Queen Elizabeth was princess, she Conquered Banner," writes a charmingly grace.
wrote a beautiful hand, clear and regular. ful hand, most pleasing to read; Ralph ~Valdo
After she had been queen some time, a mel- Emerson's handwriting is sprawling, illegible,
ancholy change took place. The letters be- decidedly bad; that of Oliver Wendell Holmes,
came thin and spiteful, the lines irregular the genial "autocrat," is remarkably finished,
an ugly, old maid's version of her former with a graceful and picturesque quaintness
hand. Mary Queen of Scots wrote a fine, Some handwritings are ineffably bad.
graceful feminine hand, indicating sweetness Among these I ~~ill mention that of J. Feniand nobility. Any one looking at the writing more Cooper-it looks as if written with a
of these two queens would very readily know blunt pen; that of Reverdy Johnson, which
which belonged to the cruel Elizabeth, and is an illegible, unformed scratch, rivalling
which to the gentle Mary. Queen Victoria's Napoleon's in badness; that of Horace Greesignature is beautifully formed, with each let- icy, which is remarkable for its illegibility.
ter clearly ciit. In marked contrast are the i In this preeminence for bad handwriting,
signatures of the three Napoleons. The first James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, must
wrote a mere scrawl, no letters formed, no not be forgotten; he wrote like one more
words completely written out; the second familiar with the shears than the pen-ia
wrote a fair, large, handsome hand; while the truth, a vile ii and. Dickens wrote a very
third Napoleon writes a neat, running, easy, poor hasid, extremely illegible-what printers
and very legible hand. Cromwell wrote a call "bad copy."
large, bold, and steady hand. George IVWashington wrote a firm, dignified, manly
wrote a magnificent, sweeping hand. Henry hand. Franklin's handwriting was large and
VIlL wrote a strong, bold, and determined bold. Edward Everett's was exceedingly beau.
hand, while that of Charles IL was a runnilig tiful; it blended tlie deliberation of the states.
scrawl. man with the grace and cultivation of the
The poets Ii ave gonerally written charac. scholar. Washington Ails ton wrote a legible
teristic hands. Gray wrote with elaborate and picturesque,, hand. Chief-Justice Chase,
neatness and regularity; Leigh Hunt, with when a young man, wrote a hand of re'nark.
the utmost grace and beauty; Rogers, who able beauty; it has, of late years, lost some.
corrected his verses until the polish ii early thing of its original force and grace. With
wore out the thought, wroro a cireful and fin. him, a good handwriting, as Chesterfield asid
ished baud; Tom Moore, an easy, running of good manners, is the best letter of racom.
hand; Shakespeare's handwriting, like lila meadation. I know of a young man who was
poetry, 15 the most remarkable the world has appointed private secretary to the chief-jus.
ever seen; Wordsworth wrote a very ordi. tice on account of the excellence of his hand.
nary hand (it has long been my private opin. writing. Fortunately ho possessed all tlie
ion that he wrote very ordinary poetry-this other requirements for the position. General
opinion I now take the liberty of making pub. Robert E. Lea wrote an open, frank, and no
lie); Walter Savage Land or wrote a bold and ble hand.
vigorous hand (his middle name indicated his
nature); Edgar A. Poe's handwriting was
strikingly beautiful, and as clear, regular,
214]and legible as print (to his handsome pen.
inanship he was indebted for his first success
in literature, the prize offered by a Baltimore
HIRTY years ago, Edgar A. Poe pub.
lish ad, in Grekein's ~agezine' a series
of "Papers on Autography," in which ho
maintained, with his usual brilliant original.
ity, that the character of a man could be do.
terminad by lila handwriting. To establish
lila theory, fac-similes of the autographs of
in ore than one hundred American authors
"`era given; and tlie conclusions ha deduced
`vera convincing, if not in all cases correct.
My friend Mrs. Anne Crane Seemuller, the
author of "Emily Chester," "Opportunity,"
ate., is a firm believer in tlie affinity existing
between character and handwriting. She
possesses the gift of being able to read a per.
son's character by his handwriting. This
power I hava often tested by showing her the
writing of people whom she did not know, and
asking her to give me a description of them
from their ehirography. She never failed In
a single instance in turnishing"'a perfectly correct description of their character.
Chesterfield, whoa handwriting displays
that graceful elegance we might expect to
find in the most polished gentleman of the
algliteentli century, declared that "every man
who has the use of his eyes and his right
hand can write whatever hand ho pleases."
This is going a little too far. If Byron,
who liad "the use of his eye and his right
hand," could have writte, "whatever hand
ha pleased," is it natural to suppose that he
would have written his wretched school-boy
scrawl? or would Macaulay have written his
sprawling hand? or would Napoleon I. have
written the worst hand on record-so bad
that his letters to Josephine from Germany
ware sometimes mistaken for maps of the
seat of war? They had not the same reason
for writing badly as that given by a college.
student to his guardian, when reproved for
his chirography. "It is all very well to tell
me to write better," said the young man, who
found more pleasure in using his hand in base.
ball than in writing, "but, if I were to write
batter, people would find out how I spell."
There are national peculiarities of hand.
writing, as there are national peculiarities of
physi~gnomy. The vivacity of the French.
man, the delicacy of the Italian, and the pride
of the Spaniard, are as perceptible in their
handwriting as the slowness of the phlegmatic literary paper for the best tale having been
German and the reserve of tlio Eiiglishman in awarded to hiin-" the first of geniuses who
theirs. So true is this that it has been ob- had written legibly"); T. Buchanan Read
served of English boys educated iii France wrote a picturesque and pleasing hand, com- mistress~though, like B~s~amo among tlie
that they naturally cling to`he Eiigllsh man- bluing the grace of the poet with the freedom caskets, his happiness should be risked on
nor of writing. The Americans, being made of the painter; N. P. Willis wrote a careless, the choice-he would des pair of fixing on the
up from all the nations of the earth, have dashing hand; Keats's handwriting was bold, right one, all appearing to have come from the
no national peculiarity of handwriting. but rather c'ierky, and neither beautiful nor same rolling-press." There are, how ever, a
Not to be able to write at all was once the picturesque, as we might expect from the au- few brilliant exceptions to this general rule.
boast of knights and gentlemen. From the thor of the exqois~te "Eve of St. Agnes;" L.E.L. and the Hon. Mrs. Norton are re Feminine haudwAting displays little or no
individuality; a painful uniformity of style
has long been the prevailing characteristic of
female chirography. The elder Disraeli, in a
paper on "Autographs," in the "Curiosities
of Literature," says: "A bevy of beauties
will now write such fac-similes of each other
that, in a heap of letters presented to the
most sharp-sighted lover to select that of his