Emma Elizabeth Thoyts

“ Ambition and gratified happiness give to the whole writing an upward tendency. Hopefulness lacks the firmness of ambition, and appears only in the signature which curves upwards, while the rest of the writing is impulsive, without much firmness.
Sorrow gives every line of the writing a downward inclination. Temporary affliction will at once show in the writing: a preoccupied mind, full of trouble, cares little whether the letter then written is legible or neat; hence the writing is erratic, uncertain, and the confusion of mind is clearly exhibited in every line. ”

“ Surely, if in those old days, when education was so sparsely distributed, and even reading and writing looked upon as sciences—if then it was possible to find men able and capable of directing local affairs, it seems strange that now so few are considered fit for the post, when every day-labourer’s son is taught drawing and essay-writing in addition to his elementary studies. ”

“ MANOR AND COURT ROLLS. The oldest account of an estate is to be obtained, not from deeds of purchase and mortgage, but from its own private records, called court rolls, a most curious class of documents, puzzling to the antiquary because they contain local words obsolete and not recognisable through derivation. Manor rolls are a study in themselves, a subject hitherto overlooked. ”

“ In all cases of paralysis the writing is temporarily affected, and the patient is usually at first deprived of the power of writing; when the mind recovers its consciousness and the muscles their strength, the power returns, but with a feebleness not formerly observed. Writing depends upon so many things—a firm grasp of the pen, a pliability of the muscles, clearness of vision and brain-power—even the writing materials, pens, ink and paper, all make a difference. ”

“ Old letters written two or three hundred years ago are of great value for the purpose, because, so far as they are concerned, all party spirit and prejudice is dead, buried, and forgotten. Their biographers no longer fear the consequence of a too candid and personal account, and are therefore more likely to give a just and calm criticism of character, weighing evenly in the balance both virtues and vices. With historical characters it is curious to contrast the contemporary biographies with the graphologist’s opinion of their handwriting, given without knowing whose the writing was. ”

“ In painting three things are absolutely necessary to produce an artist. Form, colour, light and shade—all these three will influence the writing; but art of any kind is very complex. Success implies a certain degree of ambition, and consequent upon it is vanity and egotism; hence the artist’s signature is generally peculiar and often unreadable, from its originality, egotism, and exuberance of creative power.
Imagination and impulse do not tend to improve handwriting. The strokes are too erratic, and the capital letters never follow the copy-book pattern. Over-haste is visible in every line. ”

“ Perhaps, for purposes of character delineation, it will be better to give the characteristics, pointing out the style and form of the letters peculiar to each.
Plain, neatly-formed handwriting shows an orderly mind, the result of education. The whole tendency of education is to regulate the mind and restrain the impulses. Education checks conceit, for the more anyone knows, the more aware does he become of the wide amount there is to be learnt, and how little is the knowledge possessed by the cleverest scholars in the world. ”

“ The actual spelling of words remained fairly constant. Certainly to us they look very curious, for English orthography has undergone innumerable changes; in course of time new words are being coined, and old words alter not only in spelling, but also in meaning and significance. If we wish for an example of Old English phraseology, we have our present version of the Bible—which, being translated into English in the seventeenth century, now sounds quaint, and in many parts the sense of the words is a matter of dispute. ”

“ Self-education will often alter a vulgar, ill-formed writing to a better, more studied style; [3] and writing is the clearest proof of both bodily and mental condition, for in cases of paralysis or mental aberration the doctor takes it as a certain guide. The writing of feeble-minded persons is like that of a scarcely-educated child.
Looking back to the days when writing was a profession of itself, it can easily be understood how it is that we find less variety among old writings. ”

“ Many of the deeds of mortgage are sad and silent witnesses of the gradual decay and downfall of old families. The squire raised money to pay off trusts, legacies, and dowers. He pledged his mansion; and in the inventory of his household effects we can study many queer facts. Our ancestors’ homes were scantily furnished; such lists surprise us, for they show what a very small amount of furniture was formerly considered necessary to render a house habitable.
Among family papers there is often another class of deeds altogether: one is a small square piece of parchment, with a huge seal attached ”

“ Indeed, a transcriber’s work properly consists chiefly in correctly putting into modern handwriting the deeds which are only illegible to those unfamiliar with the handwriting; in consequence an actual acquaintance with the Latin grammar is less important than a correct eye, quick to note every minute difference in letters. Every stroke of the pen means something; bars or curves are the representatives of absent words or syllables, and are never dashed down hap-hazard or by accident. ”

“ Some day, maybe, writing will die out altogether; every year fresh improvements and inventions are increasing; now type-writers and multiplying machines are used in place of handwriting in many offices, while sooner or later typing by machine will be universal.
A hundred years ago, very few if any of the labourers could either read or write; even now, in out-of-the-way country places, there exist people ignorant of these (to us) necessary arts. The marriage registers of the eighteenth century prove to us the ignorance of the country folk ”

“ PARISH REGISTERS. The study of parish registers is quite apart from that of old deeds. The writing of the former begins at the period where the latter usually end, for deeds written in the seventeenth century are regarded by the antiquary as ‘modern’; but then comes the most difficult handwriting of all to decipher, because the old race of scholarly clerks had died out and been replaced by less educated men. ”

“ A court roll is always written throughout in one handwriting, without any private marks or signatures. From the writing, they are generally the work of a professional scribe or clerk who must have had a regular education—first as a Latin scholar, secondly as an accountant, and thirdly probably learnt to write before he learnt Latin. Mistakes or erasures are seldom to be detected; therefore the rolls must have been carefully copied at leisure from rough notes made at the time; moreover, the spelling of the surnames is fairly constant, which would not be if written from dictation. ”

“ With all our modern Poor Law organization and schemes of education, I believe in the end we shall eventually return to the old system of juvenile apprenticeships—a far more practical method of teaching than any mere class instruction. ”

“ The true alphabet for beginners lies in the contracted words, whose missing portions must be supplied by the reader from the few letters given, which are often not even one connected syllable, but instead merely one or two letters out of the missing syllable clustered together.
The reason for this style of writing was to save time and material. With use, it grew into a complete system, a language of its own. At the time it was penned, these contractions were no doubt perfectly familiar to all, just as our modern abbreviations are. ”

“ Worse and worse the state of things became, till towards the end of the last century the climax was reached; there were then whole families of paupers who, generation after generation, made no effort towards self-support either for themselves or their offspring. ”

“ In the former the letter ‘t’ is hooked at the top, and also its stroke has a dark curved end, showing that when once an idea has been entertained no earthly persuasion will alter or eradicate it. Such writers have strongly-defined prejudices, and are apt to take very strong dislikes without much cause.
Calmness and patience also are frequently linked together—more often in later life, when adversity has blunted the faculties, or the dull routine of uneventful existence has destroyed all romance. Then the writing has short up-and-down strokes, the curves are round, the bars short and straight ”

“ The earliest deeds are very small, and have very small insignificant seals. There are some very fine seals in the Record Office Museum (formerly the Rolls Chapel) .
It is said that neither the Saxon nor Norman noblemen could sign their own names, but instead employed the Christian sign of the cross (still in use among the illiterate) as their pledge of good faith, and to witness their consent and approval. The use of seals as appendices to deeds was a further proof that the deed itself was approved and executed. A man’s seal or signet was always regarded as his most sacred possession. ”

“ There seems to be no doubt that the reign of King Alfred did much to promote study and an increased attention to literature, [32] previously neglected except among a few professed scholars.
A learned King would naturally set the fashion to his subjects, and Alfred must have possessed immense energy. It was an extraordinary thing for a middle-aged man to be able to educate himself sufficiently to master the difficulties of a foreign language so opposed in construction to his own native tongue as Latin, which in nowise resembles Saxon. ”

“ A quick brain suggests words and sentences so fast, one upon another, that though the pen races along the page it cannot write down the ideas quickly enough to satisfy the author. With a calm, calculating disposition this frantic haste is neither known nor understood—such persons do not rush to conclusions, but ponder over every subject. ”

“ For in all kinds of shorthand the least stroke or dot, or even a change in the position of a line, will entirely alter the spelling or meaning of a word.
Next, I would advise the careful study of an old deed, one of those written late in the seventeenth or early in the eighteenth century, because these deeds give the phraseology or form of sentences, and are often written in English in a fairly clear hand, freer from contractions than earlier manuscripts, and the beginner has so many new things to discover and learn that it is well to commence by not attempting too much at the first start. ”

“ Very round even writing in which the vowels are not closed, denotes candour and openness of disposition, with an aptitude for giving advice, whether asked or unasked, not always of a complimentary kind. Blunt, crabbed writing suggests obstinacy and a selfish love of power, without thought for the feelings of others. True selfishness gives every curve an inward bend, very marked in the commencement of words or capital letters. ”

“ Little or no distinction is observable between the writing of young men and women nowadays. Even the graphologist dare scarcely hazard an opinion as to the sex of the writer, but indulges in vague wording, avoiding any direct use of personal pronouns.
Capital letters tell us many points of interest. By them originality, talent, and mental capacity [19] are displayed, as well as any latent vulgarity or want of education. There are two styles of capital letters at present in use. The high-class style employed by persons of education is plain and often eccentric, but without much ornamentation. ”

“ The spreading desire to know something of paleography is very remarkable, and is much to be commended. For all persons who interest themselves in the documents to which they may have access in the possession of private persons, or in repositories not generally known, are helping in the grand work of making clear the laws and customs and mode of living of our ancestors, and thus constantly come across information, not to be found in our more public collections of records, which often throws light on many dark passages of history. ”

“ Looking beyond the opening years of the nineteenth century, we see a marked paucity of ideas and carelessness of calligraphy in the correspondence. In the seventeenth century men were the chief correspondents on matters of business; few letters are preserved except on such topics, which is a pity, for a letter must always be a unique production, the best evidence procurable of the writer and his times. ”

“ The owner of a manor was at first start the tenant of some wealthy and powerful nobleman, who, owning vast tracts of land, sublet it out in manors, which were after some generations bought outright, or looked upon almost as freehold. The tenant was the resident squire of the place, living on the land, and farming it with the assistance of his children and dependents. After a time the family grew up, the sons married and needed homes of their own. ”

“ One of the best methods of learning to read courthand is first to devote a short time to the study of shorthand; any system will do, it being merely a means of training the eye and brain into speedily noticing small shades of difference, undetected except by comparison. ”