Caligraphy considered as affording an exhibition of character : read at the meeting of the Psychological Society of Great Britain, November 26th, 1875 / by George Harris.

  • Harris, George, 1809-1890.
Date:
[1875]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Caligraphy considered as affording an exhibition of character : read at the meeting of the Psychological Society of Great Britain, November 26th, 1875 / by George Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    to conceal a false heart. So is it also in the case of cali- graphy. A disguised hand is not difficult to detect. Here and there the real hand will unawares display itself, as the real character will suddenly come out when the wearer of the false one is off his guard. The fable of the cat, whom Jupiter in a frolicsome fit changed into the form of a young lady, and who sprang out of bed the moment that a mouse was astir, is a good illustration of the truth of what I have been saying. Occasional absence of mind is another quality which appears to be directly and plainly indicated by caligraphy. When the writing, although of a grown-up person, deviates but little from the copper plate form, and assumes no peculiar type of its own, this may be taken as an indica- tion that the individual is deficient in force of character, and possesses no marked or peculiar features in this respect. It betokens, too, a want of energy. But a bold hand by no means indicates a bold person. And the character of the writing of great generals—as we shall presently see in the case of those of Napoleon and Wellington—often widely differs. Plain writing is by no means always indi- cative of a plain straightforward character; nor is an obscure hand a proof of the reverse. Sometimes, in- deed, the character of the handwriting seems to be the opposite of that of the writer. That great orator and genius. Lord Bolingbroke, wrote in a peculiarly formal, cramped, and pedantic hand, square small letters, squeezed together as though by some process of machinery, very unlike what we should expect from the intellectual character and acts of the man. But, as 1 said before, I believe that moral rather than intellectual character is what handwriting displays, and in this respect Bolingbroke’s writing was highly indicative of the intriguing, insidious, double-deal- ing conduct of the man. In this case, the handwriting, [114]