Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-10-04


Office Lord Palnerston never relaxed IN
his efforts TO make all the clerks and
officials OF that great department OF
state adopt the large. round text
which he himself affected. il WAS
not the handwriting of the UNIVERSE
ties or that of scholars which commend
cd itself particularly TO Lord Palmer
ston's approtntion. but rather the big
fair text which the great DIR. Busby re-
ouired his pupils at Westminster to &C
dnire. and which, according to Dick
Steele, they seldom succeeded IN learn
ing. How much the character and per
spicuity OF mans handwriting has
TO do with his success IN life it
yould be rash to estimate, seeing that
the manuscript of some Of the
most successful statesmen, lawyers,
writer's, soldiers, sailors, poets, and
philosophers that ever existed was
absolutely illegible at first sight 10 those
who had never seen it before. There IS
a Widespread theory that the vorse-wrlt-
ten. the most slovenly, and the most
carelessly punctuated "copy" that can
be sent 10 the printer is generally better
set up in type than that which " he who
ruDs may read at q glance. IL would
be easy 10 disprove this erroneous i'm
preston bv quoting many instances to
the contrary, of which one will suffice
for our present purpose. Among
the literary men OF the present
century there was no more care
less and iHegible writer than the late
Dean Stanley. Sometimes his own let
ters. which at first sight seemed to Ire
mere smears or daubs. were returned TO
him by their beWildered recipients, With
@ request that he would dictate their
contents TO an amanuensis, and again
send the amended version to its original
destination. One story, however, which
was frequently on Dean Stanley's lips,
and which he told with great glee at his
own expense, will speak for itself. In
one OF his sermons, preached after his re-
turn from that visit to the Holy
Places which he paid in company
with the Prince OF Wales in the spring
Of 1862. the eloquent Dean OF West
minister laid himself out, or. as our
Transatlantic kinsmen would say
"spread himself. TO describe in glowing
language that view OF Jerusalem which at
o sudden turn of the road from Bethany
bursts upon the sight OF the traveller who
approaches the city from Mt Olivet. IL
will readily be understood by those who
have read his "Sinai and Palestine that
the richly-stored mind of tue Dean Of
Westminster found copious materials for
the indulgence of what he himself
called his "historical imagination in
the wealth OF objects which lay be
fore him. Sentence after eentence ran
from his pen, and page followed page.
until at last he wound up his enthuslas-
tic aDOstrophe to the "gunins lOci with
the final words, " Before him the stran-
ger viii behold Jerusalem. " The sermon
was sent 10 the printers, and In due
course the proof Came back Looking
languidly over ia task for which he
had dlstaste similar to that entertained
and often avowed 10y Mr.. Gladstone
Dean Stanley WAS hoT0r-struck to find
the word "Jeruellem y had been trans
muted into Clones
The story generally attributed to Lord
Chancellor Thurlow has often been told OF
other great lawyers, who when asked to
decipher their own handwriting have
replied that of what they traced with
their pens some portion was lcelblr to
the writers themselves and 10 their clerks,
other portions to the writers alone, while
not q little was inscuiable 20 both
writer's and clerks. Lawyers IN large
professional practice have often habit
Of writing a hand which at first sight
appears neat and PLEASING TO the
eye, but upon further examination
j. found to be very hard TO
read. This was the case with the
late Lord Westhury. who wrote with eX-
traordiuary rapidly. but soroiy per
picked many an attorney who was called
upon to decipher Cir Richard BethelI5
letters and opinions. Toward the eluci-
dation Of the work OF his pen the great
chauccry lawyer would himself contribute
no assistance, as he hated attorneys and
held that they were literally paid 10
overcome difficulties of all kinds That
1t should initiate against the advance
mcnt of q statesman whose hlcr0gly-
phics cannot be interpreted without
calling IN the aid of Champollion few
words ought to be needed to show. Yet
illcgibility and bad spelling could not ar
rest the meteor-bke river Of the great
Napoleon. OF whom Captain Bingham
SAYS that ut the commencement Of his
long military career he often wrote from
twenty to hye-and-twcnty long letters
daily, in addition % orders OF the day
and Drocamatious. The Ioye-letters
which the future Emperor of the French
addressed to bis first wife, Josephine,
whom he left TO assume command OF the
mmy OF ltoly immediately after marry
inc her, are said to be "uncxamped Tor
GEOGRAPHY, illcgibility, bad grammar,
vie spelling. eXtravagant passion, and
mseemIy improperly. Napoleon, 1t
must be remembered, was au ltai-
IAN 10y birth. and never, accord
ing 10 Nme. de Remusat, could speak or
write French accurately. Ills dazzling
career lasted for only twenty years,
during fourteen Of which he was r.
spouIblc to no human authority except
his own I,nperious will. Tor these rea-
sons ne wrote much less during the Inst
than during tho first half OF his aston
IshinR public life Yet be has left oe-
hind him an enormous correspondence,
most of 1t written in characters which
resemble 60 gridTon struck 10y light
ming, and OF which twenty-nme volumes
we're published before ine downfall OF his
nephew, Napoleon ILL.,, while much
auh remains unpublished. Anything
more differ, Mt IN style and character
than the letters and dispatches OF the
Duke f Wellington it would he impo-si-
ole to conceive. They also are very nu-
merous so much 50, indeed, that when
Colonel Gurwood brought the Iron Duke
another volume Of dispatches the latter
remarked: 81 believe, Gurwooi.
that L am already one OF the
most vOumInOus writers alive.
The snort, poremptory answers
sent by Field Marshal the Duke
of Wellington to his many core
spondents-some Of whom addressed
him solely with a view of getting the
great mans autograph still afford
amusement to many readers. The pen
msnship IS neat, with rather IA tendency