An unyielding will—fiery, and at the same time determined—draws a firm hooked line after the name.
A wavy line shows great variety in mental power, with originality.
Resolution is shown by a plain line; and extreme caution, with full power to calculate effect and reason a subject from every point of view, is shown by two lines and dots, thus——:——.
To sum up the matter briefly, it will be observed that a clever person cares very little about the form of his writing—it is the matter alone which concerns him; whereas, with a limited brain-power, great care as to appearance is taken. But human nature is never a simple combination of elements, it is dependable upon a complexity of changes and chances.
It is said that with everyone a complete change takes place every seven years. Motives and circumstances all leave decided marks upon the character and mind of an individual. Not perhaps for years will innate virtues or vices become apparent, which have lain dormant, awaiting circumstances to develop them.
A collection of any person’s old letters is very curious. Written from earliest childhood to extreme old age, a veritable life’s history lies in the faded ink; and to study character from handwriting fairly it can only be done from such authenticated examples.
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.
Any collection of old MSS. is interesting, as showing the various styles of writing in vogue at different periods. Fashion or circumstances had some influence on this point. Royal marriages with foreign princesses brought England into contact with different nations. Wars in strange lands introduced alien words into our vocabulary, some of which speedily became naturalized, while others, voted slang, remained only for a short while and then disappeared. New words are constantly being coined, and take the place of others. This may seem a trivial matter, and irrelevant to the subject of old writing, but any points bearing on the subject must throw new light upon it and help to elucidate it.
The personality of a writer can never be wholly separated from his works. And in any question of date or authenticity of a document being called in question, the value of graphology and its theories will be found of the utmost importance; for the various changes in the style of handwriting, or in the spelling of words, although perhaps so minute and gradual as seldom to be remarked, are, nevertheless, links in a chain which it would be extremely hard to forge successfully so as to deceive those acquainted with the matter and well versed in its peculiarities.
Marked characteristics are noticeable in the old Black Letter MSS. of the early days before printing, and the authenticity of a deed, etc., may be decided by some slight peculiarity in its lettering.