would certainly never
think of signing your name. You might have it transcribed by your
secretary. But then this would be to commit your safety and your fame to
the keeping of another. No, my lord, there are schemes worth a hundred
of this. Consider the various hands in which a letter may be written.
There is the round hand, and the Italian hand, the text hand, and the
running hand. You may form your letters upon the Roman or the Italic
model. Your billet may he engrossed. You may employ the German text or
the old primero. If I am not mistaken, your lordship studied all these
when you were a boy for this very purpose. Yes, my lord, I may be in the
wrong, but I am confidently of opinion, that this is absolutely the
first, most important, and most indispensible accomplishment of a
statesman. I would forgive him, if he did not know a cornet from an
ensign, I would forgive him, if he thought Italy a province of Asia
Minor. But not to write primero! the nincompoop! the numbscul!

If it were not that the persons with whom your lordship has to
correspond, can some of them barely spell their native tongue, I would
recommend to your lordship the use of cyphers. But no, you might as well
write the language of Mantcheux Tartars. For consider, your letters may
be intercepted. It is true, they have not many perils to undergo. They
are not handed from post-house to post-house. There are no impertinent
office-keepers to inspect them by land. There are no privateers to
capture them by sea. But, my lord, they have perils to encounter, the
very recollection of which makes me tremble to the inmost fibre of my
frame. They are ale-houses, my lord. Think for a moment of the
clattering of porter-pots, and the scream of my goodly hostess. Imagine
that the blazing fire smiles through the impenetrable window, and that
the kitchen shakes with the peals of laughter. These are temptations, my
lord, that no mortal porter can withstand. When the unvaried countenance
of his gracious sovereign smiles invitation upon him from the weather
beaten sign-post, what loyal heart but must be melted into compliance.

From all these considerations, my lord, I would advise you to write with
invisible ink. Milk I believe will serve the purpose, though I am
afraid, that the milk that is hawked about the streets of London, has
rather too much water in it. The juice of lemon is a sovereign recipe.
There are a variety of other preparations that will answer the purpose