WRETCHED WRITERS.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXII, Issue 2791, 17 May 1911, Page 3

WRETCHED WRITERS.

The fact that the late Lord Wolver-

Hampton was very keen on promoting good handwriting has often been remarked upon ; but it may not be known that he used to recite one of the best

arguments in favour of his ideal. When the Reform Bill was being discussed in the House of Lords in 1867, the Clerk of the House one day announced that an amendment had been handed in, but the writing was so illegible that he was quite unable to say what it was about or who was the author. The latter, it then transpired, was Lord Lyttelton—and his proposal was to disfranchise all persons who could not write !

This is somewhat similar to a story of the Duke of Wellington, whose hatred of bad writing was hardly inferior to his

own caliefraphy. He once wrote in a perfect iury censuring an officer who had submitted an illegible report—and after the lapse of a week a reply was sent saying that all the officers in the gau'ison had endeavoured to peruse the indictment, but couid not properly distinguish the "nature oi the staff appoint-

ment " referred to !

His great rival, Napoleon, had the same defect —and, indeed, it has been said that he owed his crushing defeat at Waterloo to the same. He sent to Grouchy a message, and the latter was uncertain whether it read " Bataille engagee " (Battle is on) or " Bataille gagnee " (battle is won). He chose the latter meaning, accordingly took his ease, and arrived too late !

Charlotte Bronte wrote so small that a magnifying glass was needed to read her manuscripts. Her "Jane Eyre" was written on the backs of old envel-

opes, and on a piece of paper the size of a playing card she could write 500 words. On the other hand, Victorien Sardon owed his first success at playwriting to his excellent hand-writing. A play of his which had been refused by fifty managers at last attracted the attention of the great actress Mile.

Berengere, owing to the exquisitelywritten superscription. She read the play ; it was accepted; and Sardon's fortune was soon assured.