The American patriot., 1855-06-09
Punctuation, Psychologically.

Punctuation, Psychologically.
Our readers will find, in the annexed essay,
an old subject presented very cntertainingly in
new light:
PoE-less vigorously original, I think than,
with platitude that only the gold-beaters skill
might emulate, an expand ofthe hints and sug
gestions of others-came very near anticipa-
ting me. The flourish of pen, the dotting of
an ], or the crossing of t, may alone have di-
verted his attention from the punctu0tioia Cf
aoriters as indicative Of their characters! l
dare say the series of articles communicated by
him, several years since, to GraAam's Magd-
zine, in which he very ingeniously attempted
to illustrate the characters of number of au
thors, by minute observation of their auto
graphs, is familiar to the recollection of most
of my readers. Yet, even at that time, there
were itinerant lecturers on chirography who
astonished audiences in obscure towns by the
plausibity of psychological "charts," or maps
of minds, dcduced from an inspection of ord-
nary letters, or specimens of writing simply,
furnished without collusion, in which the Ian
guage was matter of Indifference, and from
which the signatures were erased 1t is true,
we judge others by everything appertaining
to them-dress, walk, intonation, physiognomy
genealogical conformation, etc.; and Poe, while
plagiariZing from the peripatetics deserves the
Credit of having reduced their vague and gen.
eral criteria into clearer, more portable, and
fewer formula, besides imparting an interest
to the subject from his literary ability, which
they would have hoped to do, in vain
Now, punctuation is the varnish of the wri-
ter--what emphasis is to the orator-bringing
out the fainter colours of his meaning discovc-
ring the bias of his temper, and revealing his
predominant mental habits In selecting it,
therefore, as an idiosyncratic index though
may be partially indebted for the idea to both
sources mentioned above, | secure myself wi
der scope than they.could have had, and, not
dwelling on what might have been attributable
rather to popularity of the stylus employed,
or an accidental deformity ofthc fingers WELD
lug it, than to special and unconscious meta
physical bctrayals of individuals, l preserve a
nearer proximity to the canons of legitimate
criticism, and, indeed, discuss the elementary
| formation, the grammatical construction, of
sentences, the gradual growth of paragraphs,
and the completion of sentences!
| 1t is evident that certain professions, as those
of the editor and the teacher, afford more op
portunity for the vcrification or rejection of
my test, than others. But the latter, though
seeing fewer manuscripts, may yet be referred
| to authors whose works have been published
taking it for granted that in the cases of all of
most repute, they assuredly, dictated their own
punctuation to the uncritical and mechanical
printer. Only in the application of the test to
humble, non-autorial personages, whose COM
positions could not be printed, ofcourse, with
out the assistance of the derit, is an actual in
vestgaton of MSS. Indispensable.
These necessary prolegomena stated l will
proceed to illustrate the characterization of
punctuation, treating of the several points par
ticularly;-and first Of the
Where the comma is absent, the writer is
a mere craftsman writing from copy, else he is
ignorant Of the initials of literature. When il
is substituted for other marks, the scribe is Ell
ther lady-a Miss Nipper-or one who has
read, perhaps much, but m:scellaneously, and
to little real profit: the sex, under these cir
cumstances, may be diagnosticated by the fact
that, if female, there will be numerous excla-
nation points in addition. The orator is be-
trayed by its repetition where, were the words
spoken, the voice would pause, or the speaker
breathe, although, herein, not justified by thu
written and printed page. A cedilla-lke flou
rsh of his commas exhibits the conscious ad
ept in the langue Franchise. 1t is requisite t.
the finished epistelator. Scott used it defect
lively. Story excessively, Southey correctly.
The Semico1on taken in connection with tn
repetition of the comma, distinguishes tn
+ proclaimer at once It is the sign Of the rythn
the pivot of the balance-recognized in
1 specch. Placed occasionally in the middle of
r sentence and associated with interchangin'
, marks of admiration and interrogation-be re
weren't, clergyman is revealed Dividing al
: most erery sentence thus, with now and the
n colon or dash, instead Of the interchangin
marks above, sensible arsumentative lawye
t is demonstrated, with whom you may entrus
your litigation. Seen more than once in tn
same sentence, and many sentences being
stitched together, you may be sure Of the a,ger
cy of prosy, Pathological demagoguc, who
guilty of amplificaton from paucity of IDEAS
l. or of one of those mere narrators, whose sty
: is necessarily cumulative from the confuse
1t multitude of his incidents; the former, SOM
It times putting an interrogatory, the latter, ne
er. The sign of rythIn, it is of absolute impo