It is long since our pages were illustrated with such characteristic
lineaments as those on the opposite page. The reader will, however,
perceive that we have not entirely forgotten the quaint motto from
Shenstone, in our earlier volumes--
"I want to see Mrs. Jago's handwriting, that I may judge of her temper."
Still the annexed Autographs have not been drawn from our own portfolio:
they come "frae North," being selected from an engraved Plate of
forty-three signatures, published with No. 28 of the _Edinburgh
Literary Journal_, and prefixed to a pleasing chapter on "the
connexion between character and handwriting"--from which we select only
a few anecdotical traits.
ANNE GRANT: "We have given Mrs. Grant of Laggan's _present_ hand,
in which may be discovered a little of the instability of advancing
life; but there is a well-rounded breadth and distinctness in the
formation of the letters, which seems to carry along with it evidence of
the clear and judicious mind of the talented authoress of 'Letters from
the Mountains.'"
D. STEWART:--"General Stewart of Garth, a free, bold, military hand;
his signature is taken from a letter complimenting in high terms Mr.
Chambers's History of the Rebellion of 1745."
ALLAN CUNNINGHAM:--an easy flow of tasteful handwriting. "Allan
Cunningham," observes the reviewer, "has raised himself like Hogg;
but, instead of the plough, he has handled the chisel; and there is
in his constitution an inherent love of the fine arts, which brings
his thoughts into more grateful channels. We are well aware that there
is a warmth and breadth of character about Cunningham which mark 'the
large-soul'd Scot;' but looking forward to his forthcoming Lives of the
British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, we do not conceive this
to be in the least inconsistent with the easy flow of his tasteful
handwriting."
F. HEMANS: "the very hand--fair, small, and beautifully feminine--in
which should be embodied her gentle breathings of household love, her
songs of the domestic affections, and all her lays of silvery sweetness
and soft-breathing tenderness."
F. LEVESON GOWER, the distinguished translator of Goëthe's Faust.
H. BROUGHAM: "a good deal like his own style of oratory--impressive and
energetic, but not very polished." We question the last; but, be this as
it may, polish is only desirable so long as it does not impair truth and
utility. Plain-speaking has been the best rule of conduct for public men
in all ages.
BASIL HALL: the observant traveller and very ingenious writer.
JOHN WILSON (the reputed editor of _Blackwood's Magazine_); and
beneath, F. JEFFREY (late editor of the _Edinburgh Review_), who
took his seat in Parliament not many days since.--"These are two names
which stand at the head of the periodical literature of Scotland. The
periodical writer must have a ready command of his pen and a versatile
genius; he must be able to pass quickly from one subject to another; and
instead of devoting himself to one continuous train of thought, he must
have a mind whose quick perception and comprehensive grasp enable him
to grapple with a thousand. See how this applies to the handwriting of
Jeffrey and of Wilson. The style of both signatures implies a quick and
careless motion of the hand, as if the writer was working against time,
and was much more anxious to get his ideas sent to the printer, than to
cover his paper with elegant penmanship. There is an evident similarity
in the fashion of the two hands--only Mr. Jeffrey, being much inferior
to the Professor in point of physical size and strength, naturally
enough delights in a pen with a finer point, and writes therefore a
lighter and more scratchy hand than the author of 'Lights and Shadows.'
It will add to the interest of Mr. Jeffrey's autograph to know that,
as his hand is not at all altered, we have preferred, as a matter of
curiosity, to engrave a signature of his which is twenty-three years
old, being taken from a letter bearing date 1806."
W. WORDSWORTH: "a good hand, more worthy of the author of the best
parts of 'The Excursion,' than of the puerilities of many of the Lyrical
Ballads."
DUGALD STEWART: "a hand worthy of a moral philosopher--large, distinct,
and dignified."
W. JERDAN: Editor of the _Literary Gazette_; free and facile as
his vein of criticism, and one of the finest signatures in the page.
J. BAILLIE: "it will be perceived that it has less of the delicate
feebleness of a lady's writing than any of the others. It would have
been sadly against our theory had the most powerful dramatic authoress
which this country has produced, written like a boarding-school girl
recently in her teens. This is decidedly not the case. There is something
masculine and nervous in Miss Baillie's signature; it is quite a hand in
which 'De Montfort' might be written."
PERCY B. SHELLEY: Free as its author's wild and beautiful poetry; but
it is not the hand of a very clear or accurate thinker.
THOMAS CHALMERS: "We know of few more striking examples of character
infusing itself into hand writing, than that presented by the autograph
of Dr. Chalmers. No one who has ever heard him preach, can fail to
observe, that the heavy and impressive manner in which he forms his
letters is precisely similar to the straining and energetic style in
which he fires off his words. There is something painfully earnest
and laborious in his delivery, and a similar sensation of laborious
earnestness is produced by looking at his hard pressed, though manly
and distinct, signature. It is in a small space, an epitome of one of
his sermons."
A. ALISON; the author of "Essays on Taste," and other works of sound
discrimination.
WASHINGTON IRVING; the graceful author of the "Sketch Book," free as a
crayon drawing, with all its exquisite light and shade.
JANE PORTER: a fully more masculine though less tasteful hand than
Washington Irving, with whom she happens to be in juxtaposition; and
the fair authoress of "Thaddeus of Warsaw," and "the Scottish Chiefs"
certainly appears to have as masculine a mind as the elegant but perhaps
somewhat effeminate writer of "the Sketch Book."
W. TENNANT: "full of originality, and in this resembles his own 'Anster
Fair.' The notion may be a fanciful one, but there seems to be a sort
of quiet humour in the writing, which makes its resemblance to 'Anster
Fair' still more complete. The principle upon which the letters are
formed is that of making all the hair strokes heavy, and all the heavy
strokes light."
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