writing. But, nevertheless, this much we are inclined to believe, that if handwriting be studied as a science, taking always along with us the conviction, that numerous exceptions will continually present themselves to baffle our ingenuity, many curious glimpses may be got into character, and discoveries made, upon much sounder data than either phrenology or palmistry can | furnish. We do not go the length of supposing that the adept in this art would ever be able to ascertain, by its means, the minuter shades of character. We do not think that he could satisfy the banker, by directing his attention to the mere formation of the letters, that the name upon a bill was a good name; or that he could convince the lover, by an examination of the delicate scrawl of his mistress, that the manner in which she crossed her T's, or dotted her I's, rendered it quite evident that she would make a very unfitting spouse. We are not quite so chimerical as this. All that can ever be ascertained from handwriting, is some of the more apparent and strongly-marked traits of character. As the voyager along a coast can discover from a consider-wrote a fair open Italian hand, and more correctly, ble distance whether he is passing by a town, but cannot ascertain any of the minuter features of that town, so the philographist (if we may use the word) will be able to tell whether the temperament be sanguineous, melancholy, surly, phlegmatic, nervous, or choleric; but how these temperaments may be modified by circumstances, he will be unable to say. The delicate and more evanescent emotions of the soul, betrayed by a mantling blush or downcast eyelid, can never be scratched on paper by the point of the pen; but the more decided and more pervading character of the mind will communicate itself to the shape of the letters. Let us take an instance or two.

How marked a difference there usually is between the handwriting of females and of men! Both are taught by the same masters, and according to the same rules; but the leading feature of the one is feminine delicacy, and of the other masculine vigour. This rule holds so universally, that few are at a loss to discover the sex of a correspondent by the mere address on the back of a letter. There are, it is true, exceptions even here, but in this case exceptio firmat regulam. We know a lady of a certain age, prodigiously blue, and a stern disputant on religious topics in particular, who, having occasion to consult one of our Edinburgh Divines concerning a dispute between the Presbytery and the Lady Directresses of a free school, of which she was one, unfortunately used only the initial of her Christian name in the signature; and the consequence was, that the Rev. Gentleman, who was not personally acquainted with his correspondent, misled by the boldness of the handwriting, not to speak of the strength of the diction, returned an answer in due time, addressed to Esquire! But this, as we have already said, is a peculiar case. It is worth while noticing here, that the distinction between different female hands is much less marked than between different male hands. This is another fact which confirms our hypothesis. Pope has said libellously, "Most women have no character at all!" Had he said that there were fewer varieties in female character than in male, he would have been quite corThis arises from their peculiar education and habits, which are much more monotonous than ours; and this monotony has communicated itself in a remarkable degree to their handwriting. But to give still additional force to our argument, look at the handwriting of the same man when in different states of mind. Is it not evident that these have had an influence over the motions of his fingers? If he write under the influence of strong indignation, for example, will his pen trace lightly what he feels so forcibly? If, on the contrary, he is in a gay and careless mood, will there not be a flowery redundance in his style of writing, very unlike

rect.

the severe barrenness of his sterner moments. If these remarks hold good when applied to the same individual, they may, with equal propriety, be extended to the different predominating dispositions of different men. "Henry the Eighth," says Oldys, "wrote a strong hand, but as if he had seldom a good pen." Upon this D'Israeli has well remarked,-"The vehemence of his character conveyed itself into his writings: bold, hasty, and commanding, I have no doubt the asserter of the Pope's supremacy, and its triumphant destroyer, spoilt many a good quill." In an interesting little French work, entitled, “L'Art du juger de caractere des hommes sur leurs Ecritures," specimens are given of the handwriting of Elizabeth of England, and Mary of Scotland, and upon them the author remarks:-" Who could believe that these writings are of the same epoch? The first denotes asperity and ostentation; the second indicates simplicity, softness, and nobleness. The difference is in exact unison with the different characters of the two Queens.” "Charles the First," says Oldys, perhaps, than any prince we ever had." "Charles was the first of our monarchs," adds D'Israeli, "who in. tended to have domiciliated taste in the kingdom; and it might have been conjectured from this unfortunate prince, who so finely discriminated the manners of the different painters, which are in fact their handwritings, that he would not have been insensible to the elegances of the pen." In short, it may be laid down as a general rule, that handwriting is a symptom of character, though numerous circumstances must ever contribute to make it a very uncertain one. We fancy that we know something of the art de juger du caractère des hommes sur leurs Ecritures; but we are still so far from having reached perfection in this science, that we can assure our fair readers the album need not steal shuddering into the drawer at our approach, nor the billet-doux prefer a fiery death to the chance of being subjected to our piercing glance. Let us now, however, come a little nearer home, and see how the principles we have laid down will apply to the interesting autographs before

us.

Let us in the first place remark, that signatures will be found in general to differ a little from the common writing of the individual, having often a more carefully assumed and premeditated character. But at the same time they seldom deviate very widely from the general style of a person's ordinary penmanship. It is also proper to observe at the outset, that the time of life at which the writing was made must always be taken into consideration in judging of an autograph. Thus, if we compare the signatures of Mrs Grant, Joanna Baillie, and Henry Mackenzie, with those of Washington Irving, Catherine Stephens, and Felicia Hemans, we shall perceive at once, that besides the natural difference inherent in the character of the handwritings, the advance of years has in the three former instances produced a peculiar modification of style, which in the three latter does not yet exist. The handwriting of a young and of an old person may be always distinguished. Of the forty-three autographs, engraved for the LITERARY JOURNAL, we cannot help thinking, that, with two exceptions, there is something in all of them which more or less indicates the character of their respective authors. We shall proceed to particularize those which may either appear to bear most strikingly on the subject in question, or concerning which we may have something curious to say.

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE. We have placed the late Mr Constable's signature at the head of our list, both as a just tribute to a man whose memory the literary world of Scotland will long cherish, and as a compli ment due to the father and founder of the highly respectable house of Messrs Constable & Co., under whose auspices, to say nothing of its former achievements, the

LEIGH HUNT.-Leigh Hunt's writing is a good deal like the man ;-it is constrainedly easy, with an affectation of ornament, yet withal a good hand. The signature is copied from a letter written to a friend in Edinburgh in 1820; and as one part of this letter is curious and interesting, we have pleasure in presenting it to our readers. We are inclined to believe that there are many good points about Leigh Hunt, notwithstanding his having done some shabby things. We like the spirit of the following extract from his letter:

writing, than that presented by the autograph of Dr PERCY B. SHELLEY, B. R. HAYDON, D. WILKIE, Chalmers. No one who has ever heard him preach, can ALARIC A. WATTS, W. JERDAN, H. MACNEILL, fail to observe, that the heavy and impressive manner WASHINGTON IRVING. The autograph of all these in which he forms his letters is precisely similar to the eminent persons is in favour of the connexion between straining and energetic style in which he fires off his character and handwriting, though perhaps not so striwords. There is something painfully earnest and labo-kingly so as in the instances we have already enumerated, rious in his delivery, and a similar sensation of labo- and it is therefore needless to dwell upon them at much rious earnestness is produced by looking at his hard- length. Sir Walter Scott has the hand of one who writes pressed, though manly and distinct, signature. It is, a great deal,-unaffected, rapid, and at the same time in a small space, an epitome of one of his sermons. substantial. Dugald Stewart's is a hand worthy of a Moral Philosopher,large, distinct, and dignified. Brougham's hand is a good deal like his own style of oratory,-impressive and energetic, but not very polished. General Stewart of Garth has a free, bold, military hand; his signature is taken from a letter compliment. ing in high terms Mr Chambers's History of the Rebellion of 1745. Charles Lamb's writing is that of a gentleman, but it is somewhat cramped and anxious. Montgomery's hand is far more redundant in ornament than one would have expected from so gentle and ta"And this reminds me to tell you, that I am not the lented a Quaker; but the Quaker has been lost in the author of the book called the Scottish Fiddle, which I poet, as an old grey wall is concealed under a luxuriant have barely seen. The name alone, if you had known mantling of ivy. The autograph now engraved is copied me, would have convinced you that I could not have from the signature attached to the original of his beanbeen the author. I had made quite mistakes enough tiful poem on Night, beginning, "Night is the time for about Sir Walter, not to have to answer for this too. I rest." Wordsworth writes a good hand, more worthy took him for a mere courtier and political bigot. When of the author of the best parts of the "Excursion," I read his novels,-which I did very lately, at one large than of the puerilities of many of the "Lyrical Ballads." glut, (with the exception of the Black Dwarf, which I The signature of Percy B. Shelley is as free as its read before,) I found that when he spoke so charitably author's wild and beautiful poetry; but let it be obserof the mistakes of kings and bigots, he spoke out of an ved that, according to the rule formerly stated, it is not abundance of knowledge, instead of narrowness, and the hand of a very clear or accurate thinker. The handthat he could look with a kind eye also at the mistakes writing of Haydon and Wilkie seems peculiarly charac of the people. If I still think he has too great a lean-teristic of their different styles of painting;—the first is ing to the former, and that his humanity is a little too much embittered with spleen, I can still see and respect the vast difference between the spirit which I formerly thought I saw in him, and the little lurking contempts and misanthropies of a naturally wise and kind man, whose blood perhaps has been somewhat saddened by the united force of thinking and sickliness. He wishes us all so well, that he is angry at not finding us better. His works occupy the best part of some book-shelves always before me, where they continually fill me with admiration for the author's genius, and with regret for my petty mistakes about it."

66

the historical painter's, large and bold; the second is the painter's of national manners, smaller and more accurately defined. Alaric Watts writes an elegant hand, worthy of the editor of the most elegant of our Annuals. Hector Macneill's signature is from a letter dated 1806, in which, among other things, the poet says, "I beg, once for all, to assure you, that I shall never write a line in any Review as long as I live,”—an assurance which makes us regret the less that he was lost to his friends and the public before the appearance of the EDINBURGH LITERARY JOURNAL. We do not see any thing particularly worthy of remark in the other autographs already named.

FRANCIS JEFFREY, JOHN WILSON. These are two names which stand at the head of the periodical But we have stated that, in looking over these speciliterature of Scotland. The periodical writer must have mens of liandwriting, two startling exceptions have prea ready command of his pen and a versatile genius. He sented themselves to the truth of the general proposition, must be able to pass quickly from one subject to another; that the character of the mind communicates itself to the and instead of devoting himself to one continuous train penmanship of the individual. These exceptions will of thought, he must have a mind whose quick perception be found in the signatures of J. G. LOCKHART and of and comprehensive grasp enable him to grapple with a S. T. COLERIDGE. Lockhart writes a small, indistinct, thousand. See how this applies to the handwriting of hasty hand, not at all in unison with the vigour, preciJeffrey and of Wilson. The style of both signaturession, and originality of his style of thinking. Even his implies a quick and careless motion of the hand, as if hand, however, is less to be wondered at than that of the writer was working against time, and was much more Coleridge. Who would have expected so pigmy and anxious to get his ideas sent to the printer, than to cover finical a signature from the gigantic intellect and gorhis paper with elegant penmanship. There is an evident geous imagination of the translator of "Wallenstein," similarity in the fashion of the two hands; only Mr Jef- and the author of the "Ancient Mariner ?" It cerfrey, being much inferior to the Professor in point of tainly baffles all calculations; and though phrenologists physical size and strength, naturally enough delights in would doubtless attempt to get rid of the dilemma by a pen with a finer point, and writes, therefore, a lighter some ingenious quibble, all that we shall say upon the and more scratchy hand than the author of "Lights and subject is, that our science is one which, like all other Shadows." It will add to the interest of Mr Jeffrey's human sciences, admits of exceptions. The speculations, autograph to know that, as his hand is not at all altered, however, into which it leads, if not very instructive or we have preferred, as a matter of curiosity, to engrave profound, are curious and interesting; and we think our a signature of his which is twenty-three years old, being readers will readily forgive us for having thus directed taken from a letter bearing date 1806. their attention, at some length, to the conventional signs by which "thoughts that breathe" are taught to embody themselves in "words that burn."

WALTER SCOTT, ROBERT SOUTHEY, DUGALD STEWART, ROBT. TANNAHILL, J. SINCLAIR, H. MACKENZIE, T. CAMPBELL, H. BROUGHAM, D. STEWART, CHAS. LAMB, W. ROSCOE, BASIL HALL, J. MONTGOMERY, WM. WORDSWORTH, A. ALISON,

LITERARY CRITICISM.

Brown's Select Views of the Royal Palaces of Scotland. With Letter-press Illustrations. By Dr J. Jamieson, F.R.S. E., &c. author of the Dictionary of the Scottish Language. Parts I., II., III., and IV. Edinburgh. Cadell & Co. 1828 and 1829.

bation.

away, that their original shape and size can no more be
traced than those of the undefined and mysterious masses
which cover the Palatine, and which once constituted
the palaces of the Cæsars; others, like Falkland and
Linlithgow, still entire, so far as concerns the walls, but
with empty and roofless chambers, windows open to the
blast, grass-grown floors and courts, black and deserted
hearths, pillars, arches,-and armorial bearings half de-
faced or lost amidst ivy, wallflower, and lichen, and all
silent, and lonely, and mournful, all possessing that
indescribable charm which nothing but ruin gives, and
To which the palace of the present hour
Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower.

WE really take some shame to ourselves for not having sooner noticed a work which, in every point of view, has strong claims upon our attention. A work so perfectly Scotch, treating of Scotch subjects,-drawn, engraved, written, published, and, we trust, pretty extensively sold, by Scotchmen,-ought not, even if its These capabilities, we think, have been turned to the merits were less conspicuous, to be neglected by a Scotch best account in the present work, in which the pencil of review. But, besides all this, it is the first work of its Mr Brown, ably seconded by the grace of Miller, has kind, upon a subject alike interesting to the antiquary, produced a most beautiful series of views of these remthe poet, and the man of taste; and the execution is, in nants of our Scottish palaces. Of Mr Brown we know all respects, so worthy of the design, that, independently nothing, but that he is a teacher of drawing in Glasof nationality, these illustrations of the old royal glories gow, and, we believe, a young man. If we are not of Scotland well deserve a passing tribute of appro- mistaken, too, we recollect having seen a large drawing in water-colours by him in this season's Exhibition, reIn fact, it is rather singular that a work on this sub-presenting a ruin under a tranquil moonlight sky, (we ject has not appeared long ago, in this age of graphical, suppose some subject intended for a future number of topographical, and typographical illustration; and that, this work,) which possessed great strength and breadth while every hole and corner of the royal palaces of Eng- of effect, with a manner of handling considerably reland have been rendered familiar to the lieges in the sembling the style of Williams, and which indicated splendid volumes of Pyne-while the very arcana of the a promise of future excellence as an artist. Generally royal dressing-room and bed-chamber have been pub- speaking, he has displayed great judgment in the points lished to the day—it should have remained for the en- of view he has chosen in treating these subjects, and terprising conductors of the present work to embody, in considerable taste and feeling in the selection of those these handsome quartos, the fast-fading remnants of our lights and aspects under which he has represented them. Scottish magnificence, which are daily disappearing. It is needless to say, that his drawings have received It is true, we have here and there a scattered notice of every justice at the hands of the engraver, Mr Miller. some of our old palaces, illustrated by a so-so plate, in For small engravings, such as these and William's Gresome guide through Scotland or superannuated tour; cian views, his style, we think, is admirably adapted. but till now the subject of Scottish palaces has never, as In larger works, and, in particular, in historical subjects, far as we know, been separately treated, or exhibited in Stewart is certainly superior to him; but for a "picture what Mrs Malaprop calls "a concatenation according in little," some landscape gem of four inches by two and ly." And this is the more surprising from the very a half, the Quaker, for such we believe he is, is without great superiority which, in many respects, the illustra- a rival in Edinburgh. tion of such a subject in Scotland must possess over a similar work on English palaces; for the royal residences of the south are almost without exception still occupied as such,-still snug and comfortable, though occasionally old-fashioned or venerable. Even timehonoured Windsor itself looks so white-washed, so swept and garnished, so cheerful and trim, that all feeling of romance is excluded. You look along one of its arched passages, and perceiving a dim-looking figure at the end, you set him down as some old gallant of the court, revisiting the glimpses of the sun. You walk up to him, and he turns out to be a respectable beef-eater, or a gentlemanly servant in livery, who pockets your shilling with much politeness. You turn over a page of Mr Pyne's book, and in the first plate that meets your eye, a strange vaulted building displays itself, lighted from the top. Figures in white array are moving up and down the floor, some brandishing large knives in their hands, while victims of different kinds seem extended on the altar. The smoke of the sacrificial fire fills the pile and wraps the figures of the officiating ministers in dusky vapour. Is this a Dom Daniel, a sacrifice to the Grand Lama, or a scene in the Inquisition? Nothing of the kind. It is merely the "Interior of the King's kitchen at St James's," and that fat high priest is the master cook.

These eating, drinking, and paying associations are sadly unfavourable to the picturesque. But we mingle with other scenes in tracing the remains of the Scotch palaces; for it is long since these were discrowned and deserted, and their splendour transferred to another kingdom. Most of them are in ruins and uninhabited; some, like Dunoon and Carrick, so completely worn

Four numbers of the work have appeared, each containing three plates, with the accompanying letter-press. Of this latter part of the work, we may say at once that it is ably and learnedly treated, as indeed might have been expected from the author of the Hermes Scythicus, and the Scottish Dictionary; but, to our mind, the Doctor is occasionally rather too antiquarian and etymological; and we could willingly have exchanged a little of the discussion which takes place on these points for some additional picturesque description, or some of those fading traditions and dreadful legends of which there are always enough to be picked up among the ruins of old castles, more particularly in those princely halls which have been trod by the royal, the noble, and the beautiful; and which it is a pleasant, and not altogether a profitless task, to collect and preserve, before they have been entirely forgotten. A work of this kind is one, not of grave learning, but of amusement; and, in this department, we do not know a better model for imitation than Sir Walter Scott, who, amidst all his antiquarian descriptions, so gracefully interweaves these traits of superstition and chivalry, that even the dry bones of topography acquire life and motion in his hands. We daresay the Doctor, too, has seen a little German book by Gottschalk, on the subject of German ruins, (Ritter Vesten und Ritter Burgen,) in which we think a subject of this kind is very happily treated the volume forming a pleasing pasticco of matters picturesque, antiquarian, and poetical; speculations on an. tique buildings; the life of the middle ages; the historical exploits, feuds, tournaments, robberies, courtships, and executions of their possessors, with many little notices of those graceful or gloomy legends with

which German imagination has peopled the old castles of the Rhein-Gegend, and of which, no doubt, they have a much wider stock than we can pretend to. Still we have quite enough to blend very agreeably with the graver tissue of history; and we confess we should like very much to see a popular work on Scottish ruins in general, got up in Gottschalk's manner, with better illustrations, (for our friend Gottschalk, and most of his brethren, are lamentably deficient in that particular,) and embodying, in the light, garrulous, and picturesque style of Chambers, the elite of our Scottish traditions.

luted his Castle of Hermitage. It lies at the north-east foot of one of the Lomonds, and seems, at one time, to have been a building of great extent and magnificence. In one of these gloomy towers, which once occupied this site, did the unfortunate Rothesay fall a victim to the ambition of the Regent Albany. Inveigled under false pretences into Fife, the prince was shut up in the tower of Falkland, and consigned to a lingering death by famine. His life was for some time preserved in the manner described by Sir Walter Scott in the Fair Maid of Perth, by means of small cakes conveyed to him by a young woman, the daughter of the governor, through a crevice in the wall. Her brutal father, viewing the act in the light of perfidy to himself, gave her up to destruction. Sir Walter has not introduced, however, another effort made by a female employed in the family as a wet nurse, to preserve the life of the unfortunate prince. She actually, as mentioned by Boethius, Buchanan, and Pinkerton, sustained his life for some time with milk from her breasts, conveyed to him by means of a long reed. She also fell a sacrifice to her compassion.

Revenons à nos moutons, for we have almost allowed them to get out of sight. Number I. contains views of Dunstaffnage, Dunoon, and Falkland. Dunstaffnage, in point of accompanying scenery, is the most pleasing of these views. The ruin is situated on a rock, bathed by the waters of the Atlantic-skirted on the right by Loch Etive, and surrounded on all sides with rocks, wood, water, and every element of the picturesque. The view exhibits it under a tranquil and sunny glow, the palace forming only a small object in the middle distance. Very great dexterity is displayed in the engraving in avoiding the appearance of spottiness which, Here, also, the unfortunate Mary was a frequent vifrom the general diffusion of light, was not easy. Dun- sitor; and here, according to Buchanan, Bothwell and staffnage, however, though interesting from its natural the Hamiltons intended to seize her person, at the time situation, makes no very prominent figure in Scottish that they contemplated the removal of Murray by death. history, nor can it boast of those associations with re- The whole story, however, is extremely doubtful. Here, membered names, which lend a charm to Linlithgow, too, begins the first scene of that dark tragedy, the last Lochmaben, or Carrick. From the time when the fatal act of which closed in Gowrie Castle. It was in the chair of royalty was transferred to Scone, after the woods of Falkland that James received the strange mesunion of the Scots and Picts, under the son of Alpine, sage from Alexander Ruthven, which induced him inthe importance which Dunstaffnage had possessed as stantly, with his hunting party, to spur for Perth, and the favourite seat of the Dalriadic kings soon disappear-produced that mysterious catastrophe, on which no dised, and Dr Jamieson seems to think the castle soon became the prey of the invading Norwegians. It scarcely re-appears again in Scottish history except on the occasion of its being besieged and taken by Bruce in 1308, after his defeat at Dalree.

By the by, a whimsical instance of the fantastic tricks which etymologists do play with names, appears in the account of Dunstaffnage. There is another fortress, about two miles off, called Dunolly, or Dunollah, (probably, as the Doctor conjectures, Dun-Olaf, or the Fortress of Olave, or Olaus, a very common Norwegian name.) But it so happens, that in Gaelic, the word Ollanh, pronounced Ollah, signifies a physician, so tl at some ingenious etymologist makes this the Fort of the Physician, and gets up a very pretty theory of its being a castle allotted for the residence of the medical practitioner attached to the Royal Family. The notion of setting up a physician in a fortress, two miles off from the scene of action, is quite admirable, not to mention the extreme probability that his professional exertions would, in that age, have been so handsomely acknowledged.

Of Dunoon, which is situated in Argyleshire, on the right side of the Frith of Clyde, scarcely any thing remains; so that the artist has been obliged to give a sort of additional interest to the picture, by representing it under a stormy effect; and this he has done remarkably well. The dark and thundery sky opening in the centre with a watery gleam, the agitated sea, the boat sinking, and the fishermen clambering up the rock in the foreground, are strikingly grouped, and exhibited with remarkable clearness and force in Miller's engraving. The building, however, whatever may have been its extent, is now so entirely delapidated, that scarcely any vestiges remain of what it was. It is said, however, that there are still a number of vaulted apartments pretty entire under the ruins.

tinct light has yet been thrown by the voluminous discussion which the subject has undergone.

Gloomy and deserted as Falkland now appears, it was at one time a place of much revelry and merriment. In this character it is alluded to in the poem of our royal author:

at

Was never in Scotland hard nor sene
Sic dancin or deray,

Neither at Falkland on the Grene,

Nor Pebillis at the play.

But it is time to say, with the old "Lord Lyon King
Arms,”—

Fareweel, Falkland, the forteress of Fyfe,

Thy polite park under the Lowmound Law, &c.
and to turn to fresh fields and pastures new.
And here is the gem of Scottish palaces, Linlithgow.
tish Ariosto, imitating the Sternhold and Hopkins style
With much truth, though little poetry, did the Scot-
of old Sir David, exclaim-

Of all the Palaces so fair
Built for the royal dwelling
In Scotland, far beyond compare
Linlithgow is excelling.

For undoubtedly, in architectural magnificence, this is the noblest ruin of them all; and even now the solemn grandeur of its deserted square, still complete, though the windows and roof are gone, is one of the most striking objects we ever remember to have witnessed, and justifies the admiration which it extorted even from the travelled Mary of Lorraine. An excellent engraving of the court is given, with a more distinct prospect of the palace and loch, from the east. In yonder apartment, the window of which is ornamented by a crown, the unfortunate Mary first saw the light. Here, too, her father, scarcely less so, was born. Those blackened walls and rafters exhibit the traces of the fire in Next comes Falkland,-dark, dreary, melancholy 1745, occasioned by the carelessness of the royal army, Falkland, one of those piles which now look as if mur- that consigned the palace, which down to that time der and crime had inarked it for their own, and which had been habitable, to ruin. And in this adjoining is in fact stained with a murder unexampled in cruelty, church, tradition places the appearance of the pretended <xcept by that with which the Knight of Douglas pol-apparition, which in vain attempted to warn James IV.