The companions of Pickle: Being a sequel to 'Pickle the spy'Lang, Andrew
History
The companions of Pickle: Being a sequel to 'Pickle the spy'
Lang, Andrew
Jacobites
Glengarry wrote two hands; one is a sprawling scrawl, sloped much to the
right, in his rough drafts of letters, preserved in his Letter Book; the
other is merely the same hand written smaller, closer, not so sloped, in
his letters, for example, to James and Edgar. The Windsor Letters, the
neater and more careful, I could not compare with those of Pickle at the
British Museum. But I took Glengarry’s Letter Book, or folio of scrawled
drafts, thither, and Mr. Millar (author of the criticism in the _Scottish
Review_) kindly compared the two sets of documents, he having much
experience in such studies. I append what is essential in his report,
contributed to the _Dundee Advertiser_ of April 28, 1897.
‘Mr. Lang has come into possession of much new evidence upon
the subject. Amongst other documents he has the Letter-book
in which Glengarry frequently copied his letters with his own
hand and signed them. This book comes from an unchallengeable
source. By Mr. Lang’s invitation I had to-day the pleasure of
comparing the handwriting of Glengarry in this book with the
Pickle letters in the British Museum. At the first glance one
would say that the manuscripts are so unlike superficially
that they were not both written by the same person. Glengarry
wrote a wide, sprawling hand, with a very distinct slope
towards the right. The Pickle letters are all written in
the vertical style, and the lines are small and neat. When
examined more closely, however, there is a striking similarity
in the details. Having selected Pickle letters that contained
similar words to those in the Letter-book, I have made a
careful comparison of them minutely. It is beyond question
that whoever Pickle was he wrote in a feigned handwriting to
prevent identification should any letter miscarry. If Glengarry
wished to feign another hand than his own, the most obvious
way of effecting his purpose would be to change the sloping
style into the upright style. When Pickle wished to disguise
his hand he used the upright style. There are several letters
which Glengarry wrote in a very peculiar manner. The capital
letter “T,” for instance, was distinctly Glengarrian. But
the capital “T” written repeatedly by Pickle is absolutely
identical with that used in the Glengarry book. Such words as
“most,” “humble,” “Sir,” “I,” and “Tho’” are precisely the same
in form in both cases, the only difference being the change of
the slope. There is only one curious fact which comes out after
careful examination. When Glengarry is writing adjectives that
begin with the letter “d” he generally uses a capital. Tickle
never does this, but uses the small “d” instead, yet that small
“d” is exactly similar in form to the same letter written by
Glengarry. This is certainly minute criticism, and might not
be sufficient alone to establish the case against Glengarry;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account