Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-04-24
Good ana Bad Hand writing.

i have heard illegible writing justi-
fled as q mark of genius. That of
course is a very fiattering theory. /
wish / could think it true. But like
most of those fiattering theories about
disagreeable eccentricities, 1t has one
fatal fault. 1t is inconsistent with
notorious facts. Men of genius do
not, / believe, as a rule, scribble.-
They write legibly. Thackeray, we
all know, was beautiful penman.-
He prided himself on his writing. He
could write the Lords prayer in a leg
ible hand, OH a bit of paper not big
ger than a siXpence. l never heard
that Charles Dickens had contribu-
ton returned because 1t was illegible.
douglas Jerrold's copy was almost
as good as copperplate; and my
friend, i'm his own graphic style Is
sketching the career of "ChristOpher
Kendrick," in these pages in a mas
culine, clear and flexible hand, tells
me that one of Jerrold's friends,
"Shirley Brooks, writes plainly, and
with very ylittlerevision." Lord Lyt-
toms manuscript is written i'm care
less scrawl, but 1t is not illegible,
though from interlineations and cor
rectiOns, perhaps now and then puz-
zling to printers and Mr.. Disraeli
writes in large and angular running
hand, legible enough If not particu-
larly elegant. And most of our lead
ing politicians are excellent penmen.
Mr.. Gladstone seems to write as he
generally speaks, I'm a hasty, impetu-
Gus manner. But with all his haste
and impetuosity his writing is per-
fectly legible. 1t is an Oxford hand.
Lord Derby writes, what L may per-
haps call an aristocratic hand, at once
elegant and legible. Lord Russell
writes ladylike hand. 1t is like ev-
eryihing else about the Earl, small
and occasionally puzzling, but not in
elegant. Mr.. Bright's letters are as
distinctly and regularly formed as
his print. Lord Stanley's dispatches
are as legible as large plea. You may
run and read them. Every character
is fully formed, every an Is dotted,
every at" crossed. You will find no
sign of haste or slovenliness i'm his MS.
l might go on in this style through a
dozen more names. But 1t Is not nee
essary. | have cited enough cases to
prove my point, that illegible hand
writing Is not mark of genius, OF
even of superior intelligence. / know
on the other hand, that there are
many men of genius who write and
have written eXecrably. Sir John
Bowring is one of these. 1t is said
that Lord Palmerston once sent back
an important dispatch of Sir Johns
to China, with the request that II
might be copied in a readable hand
writing; and Lord Crowley, our late
Ambassador at the court of France
wrote SO hastily and illegibly that
Lord Granville, | believe, once asked
his lordship to keep the originals o.
his dispatches for his own informa'
ton, and send copies TO the Foreign
offices. Lord Lyttleton, who moved
n clause To the reform bill that no
body should have IA vote who coul6
not write legible hand, writes 81
illegibly that the clerks at the table
could not read the resolution which
he handed I'M" and Christophel
Kendrick adds, that "rom Taylol
writes as if he had wool at the heaC
of his pen" And these men are tn,
types, l fear, of II far larger class thar
the first set of politicians and author
whom ! have enumeratcd.-G Gentle
mems Magazine.
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