, 1872-11-24
PEGULlARlIIES OF HANDWRITING.

49,. EEtUAiHhl4t-o UT RAnURfni lvua
+ Thirty years ago Edgar 4. Poo published in
GrQharn's MagGzine 9 series Of Papers on Au-
tograph7." in which he 1nsIntained. With lis
usu albrill;ant originality, that the character Of
a man could be determined By his hendwriting
To establish his theory, jac-sinaics Of the auto
graphs of moro than one hundred American au-
duced we're convincing, If not in all cases cor
rect. Ny friend Mrs Anne Craue Seemulter.
The author of EMILY Chester" " Z" 0pportunity, "
ETC., is firm believer in the affinity existing be-
tween character and handwriting. She pos
sesEes the gift Of being able to read a per-
sons character by his handwriting. This
power have often tested by showing her the
writing Of people whom she did not know, and
asking her to give me & description Of them
from their chirography. She never failed in q
single instance in furnishing perfectly correct
description Of their character.
Chesterfield, whose handwriting displays that
graceful elegance we might expect to find in tie
most2polishod gentleman Of tue eighteenth cen
tury;dec1ared that every man who has the use
of his eyes and right hand can write whatever
II Byron, who had .s the use Of his eyes and his
right hand" could have written " whatever hand
hs- pleased" is it natural to suppose that he
would have written his wretched school-boy
acrawl2 OF would Alacaulay have written his
sprawlng hand? or would Napoleon I. have
N14ettI tA6 41a44NA VA to1oAo ." oAA +AtoS
his letters. to Josephine from Germany were
sometimes mistaken for mal1s OF tho seat OF
war ? They had not the same reason for writing
badly as that gwen py O. couege STUDENT TO hls
guardian, Wren reproFea LOT nus cnlfography, !,
i" IT is all very well to- tel me to write better,
said the young man, who found more pleasure in
using his hand in base ball than IL wr1ting, but,
i'll were to write better, people would flnd out
howl spell":.;
:!4efe are national pecnnat111es OF nano.
, wrlung, as there e. are ha!ionas; Pec4nnIlilss "
physlognomy. The VlVaclty OF the frsncnman, =,
the dallcacy OF tho Italian, and the PRIDE of the
spaniard, are as pefceptlnie N tnelr hand-
"fftlnB as the sto"ness OF sde pisieoinatiG Get7
man and the reserve OF the Enghshmanl IN tne1rs'
20 true II Ihls Iat Il as neen opseEseu o. Eh
cling to the English manner OF wiring; ri me
Americans, being made up from AZ nations o.
the earth, nave no natlon1 pecoua1l1y o1 nand-
writing. =, 49,;
Not to pc able to write at all was once the
boast OF knights and gentlemen. From the
original Magma Charta, which is preserved in
the British Nuseum, it would appear that neither
king John nor any Of his mobiles could sign their
own names: Indeed; at . much Later period m
England It WAS cons1aarea ne sign Of . gentle-
however, only prevailed among the silly court
tops and ."cIled- da5hngs OF. fashion. Ihe
statesmen OF England nave generally "ratten
excellent hanus Cannlngs was e1qulslao' t1e ~!
Duke q +MelAngtons 9 c!ear ana no1le; olf
Robert Peels was very leglble, but too mercan-
hand; Lord Pameretons 8 handwriting Vas
model Of penmanshlp; Earn RusseA writes very
hne Nlllam Fit wrote q very no"ln6 nano
Mr. Gladstone Wrltea beautifully neal and
regular 81 a; hand. :;
While Queen elizabeth vas Princess, she wrote
beautiful hand. clear and regular. after she
had been queen some time, amelancholy change
TOOK place Ihe letters became th1n ana spite
ful, the lines lrfegular--an ugly, Old malds Vef-
sion OF her former hand Mary Queen Of scots
wrote hne, graceful temlnlne nana, inoca1lne
sweetness and nobility. Anyone looking at the
writing Of these TWO Queens would very readlty
knoW which belonged to thee cruel t'hza6eth, M ana
which TO the gentle Mary. Vuesn Vlctorias 1871
signature is peaut1any formed, watn eacn tes, te.
ter clearly et In @ married contrast n sse ne the
wrote . mere scrawl, no letters formed, no
words completely written out; the second wrote
: falr, large, handsome hand; #hlle the talra ard
Napoleon writes neat, running, easy ana 7ery
steady hand. george ~, wrote magnlncens,
sweeping hand. Henry VAL: wrote sNong,
bold, and determined band, while ta,at OIL
Charles II. vas running scrnwl. ::.:,.
The poets have generally written chara:terlst1c
hands. Gray wrote with elaborate neatness and
regularity; Leigh Hunt, with the utmost g1ace
and beauty; rogers, VINO corrected nus 7erses
until the polish nearly we're out the thought,
wrote q careful and finished band; !om Moore,
an easy, running hand shakspeare's hand"T1t-
ing. like his poetry, is the most remarkable the
world has ever seen; Wordsworth w!ote q very
ordinary hand Ct has long been my private op1n-
ion that he wrote vary ordinary Poetry-th1s
opinion now take the liberty OF making pun,
.lc); Walter saTage Landor wrote . bold and
vigorous hand (hls middle name indicated his
nature); Edgar A. Poes handwriting WAS
strikingly beautiful and as clear, regular, and
leg1ble a8 paint ito h1s handsome penmanshlp ne
was indebted for his first success in literature,
the prize offered by q Baltimore lterary paper
Tor the best tale having been awarded to him a.
"the first OF Geniuses who had written leglbly' !;
7; Buchsnan Read wrotee picturesque and
pleasing hand, combining the grace OF the poet
with the freedom OF the painter n. +. W1l1e
wrote acareless, dashing hand; heats: hhnd, nd,
writing e was bold, but rnther cierhy, and
neither beautiful nor, picturesque, as
We might. expect from the T.. author Of
the = exquisite Eve of IT. agnes
the ch1rogEaphy Of slr Waiter Scott WILL alsap-
point all lovers Of hls delightful composltlons-,
It is utterly devoid Of character, beng 1ofmea
IN early manhood oy copying law=papere.
" living poets, Alfred Iennyson IS uni
verHa1fy regarded as tho hrst; Hls handwriting
as chasta and classlc, exhibiting ehe same
elaborate hnlsh that ls 80 characterlstlc ef nus
poetry. Gongfelow's handwriting d1spfays V1g-
+. or and poetical beauty; Ryant's penmanshlp
would make the fortune OF 8 merchants clerE,