The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-05-21
CALLIGRAPHY AND CHARACTER.
Are They Recognizably Related ?--Notable
Examples Cited.

Are They Recognizably Related ?--Notable
Examples Cited.
Nobody contrasting the signatures of
Charles /. and Oliver Cromwell could doubt
which of the two men had the stronger will,
says the London Standard. Charles II.
wrote a much more pleasing hand when
Prince of Wales than after his accession to
the throne, but it is certainly true that
handwriting undergoes many transforma-
tions and reflects in many unexpected ways
the changes of mood of the writer. Nobody
need hesitate to recognize the temper in
which letter is written, and nothing is
more absurd than the incoherent haste with
which any one in a passion expresses him
self. Nothing, too, is more pathetic than
the trembling characters formed by old age
or ill-health. There is a signature of the
first Earl of Shaftesbury, the author Of
Museum, Which is eloquent Of the
infirmities from which he was suffering.
It is far cry from William III. to George
Washington, but one seems to have par
allel in the calligraphy of the two famous
captains, which is, perhaps, also to be
drawn between their characters as men of
action. Men of letters are VIGOROUSLY the
worst writer's of their time, and we look,
perhaps in vain, for indications of char
acter in the hurried scrawls which do duty
for their autographs. There are, of course,
here again, exceptions numerous enough to
rank as examples of the converse rule.
Addison, for instance, wrote beautifully
clear, if somewhat correct hand. Dean
Swift wrote legible but stiff hand, nearly
upright, sufficient indication of his indie
pendence of character. Richard B. Sher-
idan wrote an execrable hand, while poor
Shenstone might hay been writing mas
- I'll h Tod if h0 oofo
superscription. DIR. johnson, again, wrote a
very Grabbed hand, but no fault could be
found with it on the score of eligibility,
for nearly every letter was we'll formed, and
one can believe that he had the horror of
Corrections before his mind. Voltaire
seems to indicate that he must have been
distinguished by method and precision OF
character. There was certainly no indication
of genius in the handwriting of Edmund
Burke which is rather efeminate looking;
but nobody could doubt the individuality
Of Francis Bacon. Congreve wrote clear,
if somewhat school-boyish hand, and Thos.
Campbell, too, was fine and free writer.
There is q curious family likeness between
the handwriting of Wordsworth. Southey
and Coleridge, which tempts one to think
that they copied one another; but If SO,
they certainly did not succeed in producing
very remarkable hand. Lord byron was
a much more untidy writer, and if we COM
pare his handwriting with Southey s, we can
see at a glance what a gulf divided the two
poets. Robert Burns had an autograph
worthy of royalty. Dryden wrote scholarly
hand; but one can detect, one fancies, q
lack of decision in his tremulous curve and
thin down-strokes. The Italian school must
have been in fashion when Maria Edge.
worth was taught to write, for her hand
represents primness personiied, not ,un-
worthy of her tales. In the same way, too
few people, We imagine. have been led fal
astray by the handwriting of Oliver Gold.
smith. which, with all its Asauties, i
wholly lacking in decision, am seems te
curiously reflect his refined but wayward
temperament. But it would be interesting
to know what these modern soothsayers
would make of some historical handwrit
ings. 1t would be safe to predict that they
would make rare hash of such character
as Wellington or Napoleon.