The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1875-12-09
The Handwriting ofGreat Men.

1be LUKE vi Wellington Wrltln8
was large and forcible, with no att
tompt at decoration. During tho
last ten years Ct his life, however, his
writing was Indifferent and often
il!cgible. None but compositor in
newspaper office, accustomed to all
sorts of hioroglyphjcs, could possibly
dccipher the characters. A letter OF
his to minister in Lord Derby's
cabinet has not to this day been un-
ravclled. Nino out of every ten
of the Dukes letters treasured by au
tograph hunters were written by his
secretary, Mr.. Grevile, who wrote a
hand very much like that of the
Duke in his best days.
Lord Brongham's hand betrayed
much unconquerablo restlessness of
impulse, His manuscript was mass
OF hieroglyphics; and according to
DIR. Blenkisnop, in all Mr.. Cloves
extensive printing establishment in
London, there was only one man
competent to grapple with it, and lie
often gave up in despair.
Lord Palmerston wrote loose,
free hand, more definite in execution
than Dsraeli's. Lord Aberdeen
wrote q precise and beautiful letter,
betraying neither passion nor i'm
pulse The bold and careless freedom
of Bryon's handwriting, compared to
the elegant little preltiness of Tom
More's, reveals very clearly tho PEI
cnliar qualities of the two great poets
The elegant precision of ueman's
penmanship and he free bat clear and
eligible abandon of L. e. Landon's,
were equally characteristic of their
mcntal pccuiaritcs.
The royal family of England have
generally written good, clear and free
hand. William ~ wrote a remark
ably plain and logib!o hand, and
that of his brother George was showy
and fluent. Queen Victoria has an
elegant signature. Locke says that
the faster man writes, tic slower
others read what he has written. Ma
polcon could write fourteen pages in
& minute; unfortunately, however,
each page consisted of eight blots and
a splattor. Some of his lines to
Maria Louisa appear as if scattered
over the paper by the explosion Of D
bombshell.
Jules Janin, the famous feuilleton
writer is known in Paris as the jour
nalist who writes the most ilegible
hand. Only two old compoSitors at
the Journal des Debats are able to
decipher his hieroglyphics; and often
they have to send sheets of his manu-
script, which they cannot read, back
to it's author. Janin then never reads
the illegiblo words to them, but
quickly writes another sheet. George
Sand says she once received from
Janin a letter of which she and her
acquaintance, despite their most
strenuous effort, never were able to
docipher more than two words.
Horace Greeloy's manuscript is
very illegiblo. a wag once observed
that the sentence, "Virtuo is its own
reward" written by Mr.. Greely, was
rendered by the compositor into
"Washington with soap is wholly
absurd" Hon. Thad. Stevens, the
"Old Commoner," wrote an illogible
hand. His signature was little more
than the scrawled initials, with q
short zigzag line following each of
them. We once had occasion to
write to him, and received lottor in
rcpIy which we found impossible to
road, though protesting to be apt at
dcciphcring manuscripts. Two weeks
aftorward we handed Mr.. Stevens
the letter. lie could not read it himN