Sentence:  Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer languagenb...; his clerks, however, understood him very well. If he had <WSD>written</WSD> a love letter, or a farce, or a "ballade", or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To be the author of (a book, article, poem, etc.).