There were always two divisions of handwriting: the formal hand, employed for clerk’s work, and a freer, less mechanical, less careful style, used for private correspondence. Writing was a profession, and, as late as the sixteenth century, when it was necessary to communicate with persons at a distance, a professional scribe was employed to write the letter. Even now in slums may be seen the notice of ‘Letters written here,’ though this chiefly refers to it being a shop address to which letters may be directed. But letter-writing was rare, and did not become general till after the sixteenth century; even then it was restricted to the upper classes of society. I have in Chapter IV. given a brief account of the paper used in England. Letter or post paper was made of a square uniform sheet, folded; it was known as ‘Pot paper,’ from its water-mark. This varied slightly, the jug or water-pot being much moreelaborate in some examples. It came principally from abroad, either the Low Countries or Germany; each separate factory very likely adopted a distinct shape; the makers’ initials are to be found upon the band across the pot, but are difficult to read, nor so far as I know is anything known about the manufacturers or their names.
(1561) (1563) (1623)
(1561) (1563) (1623)
The three above marks are taken from some old letters, and are good types of their kind; a more careful study of water-marks would show the dates of undated papers, and be a safeguard against forgery.
The writing of old letters I have placed after the chapter on registers, because the latter forms a link between the clerical and personal handwritings.The letters have changed entirely from the old black-letter style to a similar style, like that still in use in Germany, and assuming a distinct character.
SOME QUAINT LETTERS FROM OLD PARISH REGISTERS.
SOME QUAINT LETTERS FROM OLD PARISH REGISTERS.
Therefore, not only was the material for letter-writing (i.e., paper) of foreign manufacture, but also the handwriting bore close resemblance to foreign styles. This may have resulted from the original Anglo-Saxon element in the nationality of the people, aided by the constant immigration of merchants from the Low Countries, who came over to England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and established various branches of trade, chiefly in linen or woollen goods. They naturally introduced also the fashions and customs of their own nations. Added to this was the marriage of the King, Richard II., with the German Princess Anne of Bohemia, followed closely by the religious zeal of the Reformers, bringing Germans and German ideas strongly to the fore in English politics. The earliest printers were German, and about the time of this invention the small letter e written backwards first came into use. Family deeds are usually only legal matter, but here and there are found among them old letters and papers of value. Lifelong imprisonment was often the result of a thoughtless committal of ideas into tangible form. Letters were dangerous witnesses, and as such were destroyed as soon as read. Theposts and messengers were not safe from inspection; spies were employed freely on all sides, and men, not afraid to suffer for their opinions, nevertheless did not care to risk their necks by needless imprudence.
The earliest newspapers had a blank column left to be filled by the sender with the latest intelligence or local news. These were fitly called ‘News letters.’ The phraseology of a seventeenth-century letter seems to us strange on account of the conjugation of the verbs, the use of ‘hath’ in place of ‘has,’ and the absence of all unnecessary adverbs; the sentences, too, are longer. The commencing words and the final winding up of letters have both changed in the past two hundred years.
With the eighteenth century we see these changes gradually settling down and altering into the modern forms. The old English yefor ‘the,’ and the abbreviated & for ‘and,’ and thed(d) written in its antiquated shape, still remain, but the German letters by degrees are given up.
The writing of each generation is most distinctly marked; the dates from it may be approximately fixed without any difficulty, as well as the age and character of the writer.
It has been said that the introduction of cheap postage, and the immense increase of everyday correspondence, has ruined handwriting, while the typewriter is quickly becoming universal, andbanished for ever the art of composition. True, the short letters of to-day will not bear comparison with the neat, voluminous diary-letters, full of graphic scenic descriptions, which our grandparents were wont to compile for the benefit of relations left at home; now, when similar correspondence is undertaken, it is copied out by the typewriter or printed, for few people will take the trouble to read manuscript compositions. 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.
There is little to be said on the subject of old letters. Practice in reading them makes the lettering familiar, and gives facility which no guidebook could explain; letters, both ancient and modern, will assume a new interest when the little trifling, characteristic peculiarities of the writer are examined by their aid. Old receipts, expense-books, and farm accounts are found in plenty among old papers. These are valuable as giving long-lost field-names and other details of parochial history; but what we should prize now would be descriptions of people and places as they existed some hundreds of years ago.