Graham's Magazine, Vol. XIX, No. 5, November 1841Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XIX, No. 5, November 1841
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Francis Lieber is Professor of History and Political Economy in the
College of South Carolina, and has published many works distinguished by
acumen and erudition. Among these we may notice a “Journal of a
Residence in Greece,” written at the instigation of the historian
Niebuhr; “The Stranger in America,” a piquant book abounding in various
information relative to the United States; a treatise on “Education;”
“Reminiscences of an intercourse with Niebuhr;” and an “Essay on
International Copy-Right”—this last a valuable work.
Professor Lieber’s personal character is that of the frankest and most
unpretending _bonhommie_, while his erudition is rather massive than
minute. We may therefore expect his MS. to differ widely from that of
his brother scholar, Professor Anthon; and so in truth it does. His
chirography is careless, heavy, black, and forcible, without the
slightest attempt at ornament—very similar, upon the whole to the
well-known chirography of Chief Justice Marshall. His letters have the
peculiarity of a wide margin left at the top of each page.
[Illustration: signature of Sarah J. Hale]
Mrs. Hale is well known for her masculine style of thought. This is
clearly expressed in her chirography, which is far larger, heavier, and
altogether bolder than that of her sex generally. It resembles in a
great degree that of Professor Lieber, and is not easily deciphered.
[Illustration: signature of Edward Everett]
Mr. Everett’s MS. is a noble one. It has about it an air of deliberate
precision emblematic of the statesman, and a mingled grace and solidity
betokening the scholar. Nothing can be more legible, and nothing need be
more uniform. The man who writes thus will never grossly err in
judgment, or otherwise; but we may also venture to say that he will
never attain the loftiest pinnacle of renown. The letters before us have
a seal of red wax, with an oval device bearing the initials E. E. and
surrounded with a scroll, inscribed with some Latin words which are
illegible.
[Illustration: signature of Robert M. Bird]
Dr. Bird is well known as the author of “The Gladiator,” “Calavar,” “The
Infidel,” “Nick of the Woods,” and some other works—Calavar being, we
think, by far the best of them, and beyond doubt one of the best of
American novels.
His chirography resembles that of Mr. Benjamin very closely; the chief
difference being in a curl of the final letters in Dr. B.’s. The
characters, too, have the air of not being able to keep pace with the
thought, and an uneasy want of finish seems to have been the
consequence. A vivid imagination might easily be deduced from such a MS.
[Illustration: signature of John Neal]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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