FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26  
27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   >>  
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 Goethe'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 mat
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26  
27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   >>  



Top keywords:
Jeffrey
 

writer

 

handwriting

 
periodical
 

editor

 

Lights

 
subject
 

quickly

 

continuous

 
devoting

Shadows

 

genius

 

thought

 
command
 
preferred
 

Parliament

 

autograph

 

perception

 
interest
 

Scotland


altered

 

literature

 

versatile

 

delights

 

naturally

 

writes

 

printer

 

elegant

 

strength

 

Professor


fashion

 

inferior

 
similarity
 

evident

 

penmanship

 
physical
 

anxious

 

Review

 

applies

 

Wilson


thousand

 

grapple

 
enable
 

author

 

signatures

 
working
 

lighter

 
implies
 
careless
 
scratchy