-l/Atl»1 
 
 ■min- 
 
 J jiijr*vbui'^ 
 
 ■ iin> 
 
 VERS//, 
 
 o 
 <Til3DNV-S01^ 
 
 ^E-INIVERS/a 
 
 o 
 <rjU3NV-S0V^ 
 
 o^lOS /\NCELfj> 
 
 O 
 
 ^mainihwv* 
 
 vvlOSAMCELfj> 
 
 o 
 
 "%J3AINI1-3^ 
 
 ^tllBRARYQ^ 
 
 ^fOJITVJ-JO^ 
 
 ^.0FCAUFC%, 
 
 v^UIBRARYQa 
 
 ^fOdlTVJHO^ 
 
 ^OFCAIIFO/?^ 
 
 y 0Aavaain^ 
 
 y 0AHvaain^ 
 
 ^lllBRARYQ-r -jAUIBRARYO/ 
 
 ^OJIIVJJO^ ^f/OJUVJJO^ 
 
 tft-UNIVERS/A 
 
 .v-lOSANCElfj> 
 
 = < 
 
 <ril30NVS01^ "fySMAINIHWV 
 
 .^0F-CALIF(% 
 
 OfCAUF0% 
 
 ^Aavnan-^ ^AHvaaiH^' 
 
 ^E-UNIVERS/a 
 
 vvlOS-ANCElfj> 
 
 o 
 
 ^TiUDNV-SOl^ 
 
 ^/SMAINd 3UV* 
 
 ^E-UNIVERS/a 
 
 ^lOSANCElfj^ 
 
 o 
 
 r?130NV-S01^ %a3AINn-3WV 
 
 \MEUNIVERS/a 
 
 .vlOSANCElfj> 
 
 <fil3DNYS0V^ "%83AIN(13\\V 
 
 ^UIBRARYQr ^UIBRARYQr 
 
 ^tfOJIlVD-JO^ ^KMITCHO^ 
 
 ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^0F-CALIF(%, 
 
 ^AHvaaii-^ ^Aavaain^ 
 
 ^•IIBRARYO^ ^UIBRARYQ^ 
 
 S ^E UNIVERS/a, vjJOSANGEt£j> 
 
 ^OJIIVJJO^ ^OdllVJJO^ %30NYS0^ "^/S^AINiUW^ 
 
 , ^OFCAIIFO/?^ .^.OF-CALIF0% 
 
 .^E-UNIVERS/a vvlOVANGElfr> 
 
 g!~0 1(S£1
 
 't/Aflvami-iv- 
 
 'JiUJNV-bUr* 
 
 </iajAINI|-jV\> 
 
 'c/Aavaaiw 
 
 Or 
 
 ^lOS-ANGElfr^ 
 
 > =3 
 
 "%i3MNfl 3\\v 
 
 v$aOSANGElfr> 
 
 3 
 
 "%3AINfl3\W 
 
 ^•IIBRARYQ^ 
 
 ^UIBRARYtf/^ 
 
 ^OJITVDJO^ 
 
 ^OFCAIIFO^ 
 
 \oum^ 
 
 ^.QFCAIIF(%, 
 
 sommw^ 
 
 
 AWEUNIVERS/a 
 
 o 
 
 ^E-UNIVERS/a 
 
 ^TJUONV-SOI^ 
 
 =Qr «^UIBRARYQr 
 
 0^ "^fOJIlVD-JO^ 
 
 ^ ^OF-CALIFOfy* 
 
 i^ 7 ^Aavngni^ 
 
 m UNIVERS/a 
 
 o 
 <Til33NV-SOl^ 
 
 \\\E t'NIVERS//, 
 
 ^lOS-AMCElfj> 
 3 
 
 -< 
 %H3AINfl-3WV S 
 
 vvlOS-ANCElfj> 
 
 o 
 
 <ril30NVS01^ ^a3AINn-3WV 
 
 ^UIBRARYOr 
 
 ^OJIIVD-JO^ 
 
 ;j.0F-CALIF(% 
 
 ^Aavnaii^ 
 
 F/A jAclOS-ANCElfj^ 
 
 l^ ^]AINn-]\W S 
 
 &A ^lOSANGEUj^ 
 
 ^UIBRARYQ^ 
 "-3 1 -\ i C"" at 
 
 ^UIBRARYQ^ 
 
 ^KHITCHO 3 ^ 
 
 ^OFCALIFO/?^ 
 
 %OJI1V3JO^ 
 
 AWEUNIVER^/a 
 
 „ o 
 % N — ^ .2? 
 <Tii33NV-S01^ 
 
 ^OFCA1IFO% aWEUNIVERS//, 
 
 ^maim-jv^ ^AavaaiH^ ^AavaaiH^ "fyMNv-so^ 
 
 '0* ^■lIBRARYQr 
 
 v? 
 
 ^ ^OFCALIFO/?^ 
 
 ^E-UMIVERJ/a 
 
 ^OJIIVJJO^ <TiiJ3NV-S0^ 
 
 ^E UNIVER5//) 
 
 r Jr 
 
 
 ,vvlOS-ANGElfj> 
 o 
 
 %a3AiNn-3\\v s 
 
 vj<lOSANCElfj> 
 
 O 
 
 ^IIIBRARY^ 
 ij 1 ir" ^ 
 
 ^OJIIVDJO^ 
 ^.OF-CALIFORto 
 
 s@=i to
 
 LECTURES 
 
 I 
 
 Mk 
 
 Comprehending a Variety of Observations 
 
 ON THE 
 
 IMPEDIMENTS WHICH RETARD THE PROGRESS OF THE LEARNER; 
 
 INCLUDING A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ART ; 
 
 AND ALSO OF THE MATERIALS THAT HAVE BEEN IN USE FROM THE EARLIEST 
 
 AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME; 
 
 WITH EXCELLENT RECEIPTS 
 
 FOR 
 
 MANUFACTURING INK OF VARIOUS COLOURS ; 
 
 And likewise Methods of Extracting Ink from Paper after it has been written upon. 
 
 To which are added, 
 
 SEVERAL METHODS OF ACQUIRING IMPROVEMENT IN 
 
 BUSINESS HAND WRITING, 
 
 BY 21 PECULIAR MOVEMENT OF THE PEN, 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A CURIOUS CLASSIFICATION of the LETTERS of the ALPHABET, 
 
 And combining - the excellence and uniform neatness of 
 
 ©ngltelj i&anu<scrtpt. 
 
 Interspersed with a great number of Plates and Examples, 
 WITH FULL AND COPIOUS INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO PERFORM THE SAME. 
 
 DEDICATED (BY PERMISSION) TO 
 
 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF SUSSEX. 
 
 BY J. CARSTAIRS, 
 
 Author qf'Tachygraphy, or the Flying Pen — Abreviated Arithmetic— Writing Made Easy-.. 
 
 Elements of Short Hand— Letters on Politics, Education, Religion, &c. — 
 
 Short Hand made Easy —Writing Exercises, &c- &c. 
 
 — *>&«— 
 
 ftontron : 
 
 Printed by F. Warr, Red Lion Passage, Ilolbom ; 
 
 AND PUBLISHED BY J. TAYLOR, 116, HIGH HOLBORN ; AND SOLD BY COLBURN & 
 
 CO. CONDUIT STREET ; LONGMAN AND CO ; BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY } 
 
 AND SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES, PATERNOSTER ROW; SIMPKIN 
 , AND MARSHALL, STATIONERS' COURT; AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1822.
 
 TO 
 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 MOST OBEDIENT, 
 
 AND HUMBLE SERVANT, 
 
 J. CARSTA1RS. 
 
 117, High Holboun, 
 January, 1822. 
 
 
 >kJ^>
 
 The following Testimonials have appeared in Favour of the 
 First, Second, Third, and Fourth Editions of this Work. 
 
 " Mr. Carstairs's title is so explicit, that we have little occasion to 
 dilate on the contents or object of his book. His system of easy 
 writing- is founded on the looping of letters and words tog-ether. 
 Learners, and persons desirous of improvement will be able to consult 
 the work with advantage." — Critical Revieiv, March, 1814. 
 
 "The author appears to bean ingenious and assiduous teacher of 
 the science ; the instructions are given with plainness and perspicuity, 
 and we feel no hesitation in recommending it strongly to the perusal 
 of our readers."— The Reasoner, March, 1814. 
 
 "Among the improve" 1151115 lu a ' 1 that conduces to the convenience 
 of life, and to the extention and perfection of art, which have dis- 
 tinguished the present age, we strongly recommend the new principle 
 of movement adopted by Mr. Carstairs, in his system of writing, as 
 being really useful and ingenious." — European Magazine, June, 1814. 
 
 " The work contains evident indications of sagacity, taste, and 
 industry, and deserves the encouragement it has so extensively 
 received." — Theatrical Inquisitor and Monthly Mirror, April, 1814. 
 
 " The author hath the merit of having supplied an interesting 
 desideratum in literature, and of having invented an admirable system, 
 by which not only excellence in writing may be acquired with ease, 
 but a wretched hand be corrected, and bad habits be reformed by 
 those, who from long practice may be considered as incapable of 
 deriving any benefit from rules, or improvement from examples." — 
 
 ixkvu aivnihly Magazine ^ April, 1815. 
 
 " Grown persons who are not fortunate in the use of the pen, and 
 who have still to acquire the grace of legibility in their hand writing, 
 will do well to purchase this book, and excercise themselves after the 
 manner suggested. The old associations between vicious contours of 
 letter, and habitual movement of the fingers, will be much disturbed 
 and broken by practising repeatedly on Mr. Carstairs's Seventeen 
 Elementary Flourishes." — Monthly Review, March, 1815. 
 
 " One of the ingenious productions of the day is Carstairs's Analysis 
 of the Art of Writing. He dissects our written character into Seven- 
 teen Elementary Strokes, or primitive flourishes, proposes to exercise 
 the pupil, not in forming the entire letters, but of forming the parts of 
 which they are composed."— Monthly Magazine, March, 1815. 
 
 " Mr. Carstairs appears possessed of considerable ingenuity and 
 diligence, and to have devoted his faculties to the improvement of the 
 Art of Writing, no less successfully than meritoriously. We have
 
 VI. 
 
 looked over his labours with much pleasure, and feel authorized in 
 saying, that our sentiments on the first edition of the work are equally 
 applicable to the present." — Critical Review. August, 1815. 
 
 "The praise which in a former number we thought it our duty to 
 bestow upon this teacher's improved system of the Art of Writing, 
 may be repeated and applied with great truth to his present publica- 
 tions, in which that system is simplified and practically elucidated 
 in such a way, that any person of ordinary capacity, may at once 
 comprehend the principle, and adopt it, both for his own benefit and 
 the instruction of others. To combine fluency and quickness with 
 elegance in writing, is the avowed object of the first treatise, and 
 herein the author has been successful in an eminent degree of use- 
 fulness, by laying down plain rules which are exemplified and ren- 
 dered obvious in graphical delineations, accompanied by familiar 
 directions." — New Monthly Magazine, Sept. 1815. 
 
 k 'Mr. Carstairs is very different from our modern quacks, who kill" 
 where they profess to cure, inasmuch, that he not only promises, but 
 performs wonders. He professes to teach men who write a bad hand, 
 to write a good hand in six lessons; and, we are assured, he has fully 
 succeeded in accomplishing his object." — Anti jacobin Review, Oct. 
 1815. 
 
 " It is with peculiar pleasure that we again advert to this ingenious 
 production, the merits of which, on a perusal of the last edition, 
 appear to us, if possible, yet more obvious; and to our former unequi- 
 vocal praise we can now merely add the assurance, that sequent 
 reflection and observation have convinced us that we did the author 
 no more than justice, with the intuitive boldness of a master he has 
 resolved our written alphabet into its elementary principles of seven- 
 teen primary lines and curves; and the pupil being first exercised in 
 tracing, and secondly, in combining these into letters, must necessa- 
 rily acquire the great, and indeed, only foundation of excellence in 
 penmanship, a purity and distinctness of formation, combined, too, 
 with the fundamental requisites of promptness and celerity. The 
 actuating principle throughout is the looping of letters and words 
 together; and those who have not perused the work can form little 
 idea how its excellence is exemplified in six lessons. Even those 
 who have long contracted the most vicious habits, may, in a short 
 time, attain purity and elegance — this in fact, appears to us his 
 greatest triumph. Upon the whole, we feel that in recommending 
 this production, we perform a duty to all classes. Mr. Carstairs's 
 system is organized with peculiar happiness, and illustrated with 
 distinctness and perspicuity." — Nciv Monthly Magazine, June, 18-21.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Public Exawiiintrons- of Mr. - Carstairs's Systems, &c 9 
 
 The Author's Address to Schoolmasters 13 
 
 The Author's reasons for deviating from all previous Me- 
 thods of Teaching 11".' « IS 
 
 Address to Adults, or Grown Persons 25 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 Impediments of Writing, &c * 27 
 
 Observations, &c 41 
 
 The Penmanship of Ladies %, 48 
 
 Observations addressed to Medical Gentlemen, (especially 
 
 Physicians and respectable Surgeons) 49 
 
 LECTURE 11. 
 
 Review of Dr. Bell's System or Teaching, &c 56 
 
 A Method adapted to large Schools 64 
 
 Copy of a Letter addressed to the Editor of the Morning 
 
 Chronicle 67 
 
 A newly invented Method of Writing in the Dark, or 
 
 the Blind Man's G uide to Penmanship I 69 
 
 LECTURE 111. 
 History of W riling, fee 73 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Materials made use of in Writings 85 
 
 Composition of different Inks 93 
 
 Common Ink (two methods) 94 
 
 To make White Ink for Writing on Black Paper ibid-
 
 Vlll. INDEX. 
 
 Pace. 
 
 Yellow Ink, Blue Ink 95 
 
 Red Ink 96 
 
 To make Writing Ink disappear from Paper or Parchment ibid. 
 
 Two other Methods 96 & 97 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 General Observations, &e 98 
 
 To young Gentlemen 163 
 
 To young Ladies ibid. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS, &e. 
 
 A New and Universal Method of acquiring the Art of Wri- 
 ting, &c 100 
 
 Instructions for Plate A ibid. 
 
 Instructions for Plate marked B 112 
 
 An entirely new Plan of acquiring Improvement in Business 
 
 HandWriting 1 114 
 
 Lesson 1 116 
 
 Lesson II 121 
 
 Lesson III 124 
 
 Lesson IV 12G 
 
 Lesson V 130 
 
 Lesson VI. . 137 
 
 Directions for preparing Paper to Trace on , 144 
 
 Observations on Plate Marked 7 145 
 
 The Capital Letters (two Plates) 149 
 
 An entirely New Method of Improving Writing, by means 
 
 of Squares 151 
 
 Instructions for the small Squares « 153 
 
 Instructions for the long Squares 155 
 
 Instructions for the Plate commencing with large m's &c. 157 
 
 Instructions for Plates 9 and 10 159 
 
 Instructions for Plates 1 1 and 12 I60 
 
 On the Positions of the Hand and Pen l6l 
 
 Instructions for Plate IS 167 
 
 Tabula Perennis, or Economical Writing Tablet 168 
 
 Directions, &c for using the Carstairian Writing Tablet .. 171
 
 PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 Systems of Teaching the Art of Writing. 
 
 On the 9th of July, 1816, a numerous meet- 
 ing* of ladies and gentlemen took place at the 
 Freemason's Tavern, at which Mr. Carstairs 
 explained the principles of his New Method 
 of Teaching Writing ; and demonstrated the 
 advantages which it possesses over every other 
 now in use. His Royal Highness the late 
 DUKE OF KENT, who presided on that oc- 
 casion, informed the company that he had been 
 induced to give his attention to the subject, in 
 such a manner, as to be able to bear witness to 
 its utility, convinced, that any improvement in 
 the methods of education was a benefit to so- 
 ciety ; and that whatever tended to abridge the 
 process of acquiring instruction, was equivalent 
 to a considerable pecuniary gift to the poor. 
 
 B
 
 10 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES OX 
 
 Public Examinations. 
 
 I'pon this principle, when the system of Mr. 
 Carstairs was explained to him, he became 
 anxious to judge of its merits himself, and 
 with this view, he had directed several poor 
 boys, who had made but little progress in wri- 
 ting, to be placed under the superintend ance 
 of that gentleman. Of their rapid and extra- 
 ordinary progress, he could speak in the most 
 confident manner. Indeed, the company them- 
 selves might judge by inspecting their books, 
 by which it would be seen how very cramped 
 their writing was when they commenced with 
 Mr. Carstairs, compared with the freedom, 
 quickness, and beauty, which they attained in 
 the course of only six weeks under his care. 
 
 Several gentlemen were present, who having 
 received lessons, also bore testimony to the same 
 effect ; and Mr. Hume informed the company 
 that the great object of making the Pupils ex- 
 hibit their proficiency was, to remove a preju- 
 dice which prevailed against the practicability of 
 what Mr. Carstairs held out ; and therefore, if 
 the company were satisfied with what they had 
 heard, and convinced by what they saw, they 
 would not refuse their testimony of approba-
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 11 
 
 Public Examinations. 
 
 tion, by endeavouring by every means in their 
 power, to recommend the system to the adop- 
 tion of Schools, and other public Seminaries. 
 
 Mr. Hume then proposed that the meeting 
 should come to some resolutions expressive of 
 the satisfaction which was felt at witnessing- the 
 self-evident advantages of Mr. Castairs' Sys- 
 tem ; and it was accordingly 
 Unanimously Resolved, 
 
 That Mr. Carstairs* Method of teaching 
 Penmanship appears to this Meeting very sti- 
 perior to any now in use ; and therefore highly 
 worthy of Public Attention. 
 
 (Signed) EDWARD (Duke of Kent.) 
 
 J. Hume, M. P. W. Corston, 
 
 J. Bond, D. D T. Benson, 
 
 J. W. Taplin, J. HunsoN, 
 
 W.Millar, J. Collier, D. D. 
 
 R.Lloyd, C. Downie, K. C. 
 
 J. Rudge, M. A. M. Gibbs. 
 J. Galt, 
 
 Resolved Unanimously, 
 
 That the free use of the fingers, hand, and 
 arm, as taught by Mr. Carstairs' Method, af- 
 fords such facility to the Art of Writing, 
 that if generally introduced into Schools, will 
 
 b 2
 
 12 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Public Examinations. 
 
 be a saving both of time and expense : and 
 this Meeting do therefore strongly recommend 
 it to the favourable attention of the Public 
 in general, and in particular to all persons in- 
 terested in Teaching that Branch of Education. 
 
 (Signed) EDWARD (Duke of Kent.) 
 
 J. Collier, D. D. M. Gibb, 
 
 J. Rudge, M. A. T.Benson, 
 
 W. Corston, J. Campbell, 
 
 J. Millar, J. Bond, D. D. 
 
 R. Lloyd, J. Galt, 
 
 J. Hume, M. P. J. Hudson, 
 C. Downie, K. C.
 
 THE AUTHOR'S ADDRESS 
 
 TO 
 
 a® in ©©assail a ©ana a* 
 
 Lux in tenebris lucet. 
 
 J. HERE are in every art professors who lay 
 claim to celebrity, and there are very few Avho 
 do not pretend to be possessed of some secret 
 and original method attached to their profes- 
 sion, and perhaps, at the same time, they can 
 only rest their claims on having, in some degree, 
 advanced, or added something to the general 
 stock of what has been already received, or 
 made public. 
 
 No plan, however useful, beneficial, or advan- 
 tageous, can, all at once, attract the notice of 
 the majority of the public, (particularly when it 
 is treated in a way very different from the com- 
 monly-received opinion), neither can it be ex- 
 pected to receive a decided preference until it 
 be generally diffused, and its merits promul- 
 gated and extended. 
 
 b 3
 
 14 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 An Address to School-masters. 
 
 Among" all the arts, and particularly those 
 which are most useful to mankind, hardly any 
 can be compared to that of the Art of Writing 
 for the evolutions it has undergone, since its 
 first introduction from the most simple outline, 
 to its present perfection. 
 
 Since the commencement of the present cen- 
 tury, it has been more attended to, and assumed 
 more changes than for several centuries before. 
 The reason, I suppose, that it has been ho- 
 noured thus, is from its general utility in every 
 civilized nation, and more particularly so in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 The English manuscript perhaps excels every 
 other for the beauty of its form, its concise- 
 ness, its bold appearance, its legibility and 
 neatness. Indeed, for the last two hundred 
 years, the English writing has stood pre-emi- 
 nent in a high degree, and no country can 
 produce finer engravings from writing, nor 
 specimens of manuscript, than are to be found 
 in almost every part of Great Britain. 
 
 Edinburgh stands very high indeed for ex- 
 cellent penmen. The late celebrated Writing 
 Master, Mr. Butterworth, was one among a 
 great number who contributed very much to 
 the perfection of this admirable art ; and 
 London may at this time, boast of eminent 
 penmen, hardly to be equalled in any part
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 15 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 of the world. Is it not singular, that there 
 are so many teachers who excel in penman- 
 ship, and yet how often do we find that their 
 pupils write very indifferently ? It is evident, 
 that the plan of teaching must be defective. 
 I have had a great number of pupils who 
 have been taught by masters of eminence, yet 
 they wrote very bad indeed for want of com- 
 mand and freedom. 
 
 In most schools a great deal of time is appro- 
 priated to the acquisition of writing, and is it 
 not remarkable, that hardly any leave school 
 with a fluent hand ? The chief impediment, I 
 believe, is from the pupil being allowed at 
 school to take off the pen at almost every turn 
 of each letter, merely on this consideration, that 
 each letter may be better shaped, and that the 
 learner may be more enabled to imitate the 
 uniform stiffness of the copy which is intended 
 for imitation. 
 
 Another great impediment to the acquire- 
 ment is, that there are generally too many 
 pupils for one writing master, frequently fifty or 
 more, which are decidedly too many for one to 
 do justice to, and also to have proper attention. 
 If the learner does not make much improve- 
 ment, it is sometimes said, that he has not a 
 taste for writing. In many instances, the pupil 
 is punished, or found fault with for inattention ;
 
 16 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES O.N 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 but it is not the learner's fault in most cases, 
 but actually for want of a progressive plan or 
 method to proceed upon. 
 
 Let it be understood here, that no disparage- 
 ment is intended to any individual as a teacher, 
 nor, to teachers in general. These are only 
 hints intended to point out the defections of 
 the old established methods of instruction. 
 
 The author has a particular respect for tea- 
 chers in general, and believes that there is not 
 any class of men that ought to be more re- 
 spected and countenanced than schoolmasters. 
 "What would mankind in general be, without 
 learning ? and this is seldom to be acquired 
 without proper teachers. I am sorry to say, that 
 no men on earth are more neglected, or less 
 rewarded than schoolmasters. A great number 
 of them have spent ten, fifteen, or twenty years 
 of their youth to the acquirement of such learn- 
 ing as may be necessary for their professional 
 duties as teachers, yet how often do we find, 
 that it is with great difficulty that they can 
 make a bare subsistence. 
 
 Oh, ye masters of eminence ! It is to you I 
 call. Why do you hesitate to try the systems 
 that have been of such use to many ? Why do 
 you exclaim against them ? Is it because they 
 have not been in existence a few hundred years 
 ago ? Are you afraid that your pupils would
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 17 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 learn too fast ? Why stand aloof from them ? Can 
 you suppose that they will not become universal? 
 and that in a short time? Do you think 
 that they are altogether quackery ? They may 
 be so in the hands of some who go about from 
 place to place, and dispose of them in lessons, 
 as a quack doctor does his pills and bolusses, 
 &c. that promises to cure any one in a few mi- 
 nutes ! Ye writing masters who have spent 
 years of study and labour to the art which you 
 profess, it is to you I appeal for your candid 
 opinion on my Systems, which are with due re- 
 spect, now laid before you for inspection. If 
 you are convinced of their utility, why not in- 
 troduce them into your seminaries, into your 
 private teaching ? 
 
 Many eminent Penmen have risen to a won- 
 derful degree of excellence in ornamental pen- 
 manship, and amongst the moderns may be 
 noticed, Tomkins, Butterworth, Milns, Patons, 
 Atkinson, Gouinlock, &c. (the two latter gen- 
 tlemen teach and perform all or most of the 
 ornamental hands, and reside at Newcastle upon 
 Tyne.) 
 
 If upwards of twenty years experience, in 
 addition to a close and assidious application 
 to the improvement of the Art of Writing- 
 can be considered as being worthy of recom- 
 mendation, the Author and Inventor of the
 
 18 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 systems laid down in this work, may fairly be 
 allowed to have some claim to public patronage. 
 The number of respectable ladies and gen- 
 tlemen who have taken lessons in his different 
 systems of teaching the Art of Writing, and 
 the enconiums he has received, added to the 
 high testimonials of some of the Royal Family, 
 the eulogiums of the Reviewers, and many other 
 literary characters eminent for their learning 
 and virtue, are sufficient proofs of the utility of 
 the Author's various methods of instruction. — 
 With such tests of his Systems, he may say, 
 that he need not fear the abuse or snarling 
 epithets of selfish Egotists, nor the illiberal 
 attacks of ignorant Pedagogues ! 
 
 The Author s reasons for deviating from all 
 previous methods of teaching — If pretentions 
 were to keep pace only with innovation, some 
 excuse might be alleged for every novelty that 
 has been brought to light. Nothing however, 
 can be more ridiculous than obtruding upon 
 the public attention, " trifles light as air," 
 which, like artificial meteors, only appear 
 for a short period, and are soon forgotten. 
 Many useful inventions, though slow in their 
 growth, and requiring mature deliberation in 
 their adoption, nevertheless may not be less 
 admired when their utility is fairly appreciated,
 
 THE ART OF WHITING. 19 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 especially if their promulgation and general 
 acceptance have rested chiefly on their own 
 merits. 
 
 Many individuals of superior acquirements, 
 as well as natural talents, are often buried in 
 oblivion for want of the proper means of making 
 themselves known ; and great abilities are too 
 frequently lost, which might benefit mankind, 
 for want of some kind friend to give energy to 
 exertion, and reward to merit. 
 
 " As the internal notions of virtue can only 
 be truly discovered by external action — as a 
 real genius can only be made apparent by 
 bringing out its hidden qualities — as the pro- 
 perties, uses, and intrinsic value of ore, are 
 best known by the refiner, who makes it his 
 business to extract or separate the dross from 
 the purer metal, so does education, when pro- 
 perly employed, discover the inherent beauties, 
 and intellectual capacity of the mind. Many 
 Newtons, Locks, Miltons, Burkes, Johnsons, 
 &c. &c. in embryo, are obliged to pass through 
 life, like a bird through the air, and leave not 
 a trace behind !"* Thus it has been, is now, 
 and perhaps will continue to be, until the 
 commandment " love thy neighbour as thyself" 
 
 * This Quotation is taken from the Author's Pamphlet on Literary 
 Debating Societies.
 
 20 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 be universally practised ! — Many useful inven- 
 tions perhaps have been lost to mankind and 
 have only existed in the minds of the inventors, 
 and died with them — Should my humble en- 
 deavours in the least possible way, have a 
 tendency to benefit mankind, it would be a 
 pleasing reflection to think that I had been the 
 humble instrument to contribute to their hap- 
 piness. 
 
 If I have taken the great liberty of deviating 
 from my ancestors, as noticed in the following 
 Lectures, I hope I shall be excused, when it is 
 understood that my motives have not been 
 founded on caprice, or any improper intention ; 
 but chiefly from a desire to benefit society, and 
 do good in my day and generation. Perhaps 
 it will be necessary to remark here, that the 
 systems laid done in this epitome, have been 
 the work of many years study, aud personal 
 observations, combining in them the fruits of 
 long experience, and persevering industry. 
 
 The common practice has been for many 
 centuries, to commence at the left side of the 
 page, and to write towards the right, or in other 
 words, people have been taught to write from 
 left to right. I do not mean to contend that 
 this practice should be discontinued in a 
 finished state of their writing, nor indeed for 
 a considerable time previous to finishing, but I
 
 THE ART OF WRITING- 21 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 assert that it is an erroneous mode to pursue, 
 more especially in the outset, that is to say, 
 when the learner is first commencing. We 
 know that a learner of the old method is told 
 to keep the pen pointing to the shoulder; but 
 how can it be possible to retain this position, 
 when, by the very first movement, the pen 
 will immediately point in another direction. 
 And this variation will assuredly be more or 
 less, in proportion to the distance the pen is 
 moved on the paper, because the under fingers 
 remain fixed, and therefore the hand will posi- 
 tively be thrown over towards the right side, in 
 order to allow for the action of the pen on the 
 paper, (without, as is sometimes the case, the 
 pen is to be taken off every half letter,) or the 
 hand and pen must hop from one character or 
 stroke to another, as a bird from twig to twig ! 
 There are other material objections to teach- 
 ing the pupil to take the pen off in writing 
 from left to right. Lifting the pen often in a 
 word or line, has a tendency to make the wri- 
 ting uneven or crooked ; and also the letters 
 cannot be slanted equally from the different 
 positions of the radius, from the point where 
 the under fingers rest, and the point of the 
 pen, which would form, if the pen is kept on 
 in each word, imaginary curves, or circular 
 lines, by the varying position of the hand.
 
 22 CARSTAIRs' LFXTURES ON 
 
 An Address toScltoolmaster.s. 
 
 Other objections might be adduced, such as 
 acquiring a bad method ever after of holding 
 the hand completely over. Thus, many write 
 as if they were writing with a cat's paw, with 
 the fingers all drawn together. 
 
 If the hand is allowed to move from left to 
 right, which is done by all who learn the An- 
 gular System, the hand has a very great ten- 
 dency to be thrown over in the movements, as 
 1 can fully prove, from having taught many 
 pupils in the said System. 1 contend that the 
 pen should always have one and the same 
 position while writing, in every letter, word, 
 and sentence. 
 
 That this may be really accomplished, I re- 
 commend the learner to commence with writing 
 up and down the page of his copy book, in a 
 perpendicular direction, according to the exam- 
 ples given in this work, observing to adhere 
 strictly to the method of holding the pen, which 
 is distinctly treated on in its proper place. 
 
 By pursuing this plan, the learner may posi- 
 tively obtain a true and certain habit of holding 
 the pen, which is seldom acquired, if acquired 
 at all, by any other plan hitherto published, as 
 I can prove by various trials and examinations 
 of pupils, who have been taught in the old 
 way, or indeed, by any other modern method 
 besides, which I have seen. However, let the
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 23 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 methods herein stated be fairly tried and per- 
 severed in, and I have no doubt but the result 
 will be satisfactory. 
 
 As the learner becomes more settled and 
 confirmed in the true position of the hand, he 
 may be allowed to write by degrees from the 
 left to the right ; but by no means to increase 
 in the practice from left to right, until the hand 
 is confirmed in the position. It may be ob- 
 served, that I have made use of repetitions in 
 many places ; but I hope the candid reader 
 will forgive me, that if I have done so, it is 
 from the best of motives, that my explanations 
 might be sufficiently explicit, and easy to be 
 understood. 
 
 The Angular System, commonly termed lines 
 and angles, shove hand, wide writing, pointed 
 writing, German writing, &c. which cannot 
 answer any good purpose, where bold and dis- 
 tinct writing is desirable, and if it can be said 
 to be useful at all, it would be most applicable 
 for those who wish to write a delicate or effem- 
 inate running hand. 
 
 It must appear evident, however, to every 
 one who may be competent to judge that the 
 Angular System is not only foreign to the cha- 
 racter of the English writing, but it has also a 
 direct tendency to destroy the beauty and sym- 
 metry for which the English writing is so 
 remarkable .
 
 24 CARSTAIRS LECTURES OX 
 
 An Address to Schoolmasters. 
 
 Is it possible, that those who wish to obtain 
 fine and beautiful round turns in writing, 
 can accomplish this, by practising a system, 
 the general tendency of which is to make the 
 turns quite pointed ? The letters m, ?*, u, and 
 2, are often written by those who have learnt a 
 pointed style of writing without distinction, 
 and those letters appear so much alike in cha- 
 racter, that they are often mistaken for each 
 other ; for instance, when u and i come toge- 
 ther in a word, if great care is not taken, t hey 
 will appear precisely like an m ; the same thing 
 will happen when n and i come together. In 
 fact, the Angular System will absolutely cre- 
 ate defects, which the masters of the old method 
 have been endeavouring to guard against for 
 the last two or three centuries, as are evident 
 from old publications on the Art of Writing, 
 by Champion, Clarke, Snell, and many others. 
 Besides the writing of many persons is apt to 
 recede into a scrawl some months after the) 
 have learnt the Angular System, and therefore 
 the remedy is sometimes worse than the dis- 
 ease. I have been asked, why I have taught 
 the Angular System ? My answer was, and is 
 now, because it has been admired by some, and 
 because it has one property of altering a per- 
 son^ hand very rapidly ; but this is no proof 
 of any real superiority in it for producing a
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 25 
 
 To Adults, or {frown Persons. 
 
 really well formed hand. It is true, it may be 
 in many eases preferable to very bad, stiff, 
 clumsey, vulgar looking- writing. 
 
 I had intended to have given some whole 
 length portraits of some of the quacks and 
 puffers ; but as people will be able, if they are 
 cautious, to distinguish them by their fruits, (for 
 every tree is known by its fruit,) it will save me 
 considerable trouble, and I shall not have oc- 
 casion to soil the pages of this work with a 
 description of their conduct ! 
 
 To Adults , or Grown Persons. 
 
 Many individuals, from the age of twenty to 
 sixty, feel great diffidence in putting them- 
 selves under a course of instruction, (though 
 the imperfection of their writing requires it) 
 from the idea, that they are too old to learn, or, 
 that they are ashamed to go to school again, 
 (as it is termed). They ought, certainly, to be 
 ashamed to remain ignorant of a useful or ne- 
 cessary accomplishment ; but never ashamed 
 of endeavouring to improve. Presumption, and 
 false delicacy, are often formidable enemies to 
 improvement ; and the very great dread some 
 people have of exposing themselves to others, 
 by expressing the least desire to learn any 
 thing, may assuredly be classed in the list of 
 
 c
 
 20 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 To Adults, or grown Persons. 
 
 absurdities which exist in the world. But the 
 very idea of being considered ignorant, if we 
 would take the trouble to think rationally and 
 calmly, ought to raise us far above all the 
 groundless fears, of what falsehood, misappre- 
 hension, prejudice, or the vague motives pro- 
 duced by pride, or the decrepitude of fashionable 
 folly, might oppose to the contrary ; and ought 
 to be a stimulus to exertion, rather than a 
 hinderance.
 
 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES 
 
 Mm (DIP WBQMXSNh 
 
 LECTURE I, 
 
 Impediments of Writing, 8?c. 
 
 While the people of the United Kingdom' 
 have been from time to time instructed and 
 gratified by lectures on almost every other 
 branch of a regular and liberal education, it is 
 remarkable, that the Art of Writing has seldom 
 attracted the public attention, or become the ob- 
 ject of interesting enquiry, beyond the immedi- 
 ate circle of professional men. A circumstance, 
 apparently so unaccountable, may be ascribed 
 to two causes; the universal diffusion of the 
 art, and the impossibility of giving an air of 
 novelty to a science that had long been sta- 
 tionary, and with the theory of which we are all 
 acquainted from the age of childhood, however 
 deficient many of us may afterwards be found 
 
 c 2
 
 28 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 in its practical execution. Familiarity accus- 
 toms us to look on the most important subjects 
 with indifference ; and when a curious and use- 
 ful art appears unsusceptible of improvement, 
 the lecturer can have nothing to communicate 
 that has not been said before. Curiosity is not 
 excited by dissertations on a common and fa- 
 miliar subject, nor if it were excited, could it 
 be gratified. Had I been able only to descant, 
 therefore, on those common modes and princi- 
 ples of penmanship which are commonly taught 
 at school, and by which the school-boy, after 
 the labour of many years, is enabled to write a 
 slow, stiff, and formal manuscript, I should 
 have refrained from obtruding my professional 
 studies on the notice of the public ; — content 
 to pursue the beaten path of tuition in humble 
 obscurity, and to fulfil the duties of a writing- 
 master according to the system of my prede- 
 cessors, with industry and perseverance ; but, 
 having in the course of my professional labours, 
 been led to the invention and perfection of a 
 new mode of writing, facilitating to an unex- 
 pected and almost incredible degree the acqui- 
 sition of that art ; and communicating to the 
 youngest scholar the freedom and dispatch that 
 were formerly considered as the desiderata of 
 the art, and frequently defied the skill of the 
 master, and patience of the scholar ; I am not
 
 THE ART OP WRITING. 29 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 without hope, that my appeal to the public will 
 be encouraged, as demonstrating only a just 
 sense of duty to the numerous pupils, (for 
 whom these observations were originally in- 
 tended), and a proper and honourable enthu- 
 siasm in the propagation of a system which has 
 already proved of general and invaluable utility. 
 In attempting to elucidate a subject so little 
 understood, and so totally neglected by the 
 learned and intelligent, as the Art of Penman- 
 ship, the individual who now presumes to soli- 
 cit the public indulgence, is assured, that his 
 imperfections will be excused, in consideration 
 of the peculiar disadvantages under which he 
 necessarily labours ; as the art which he pro- 
 fesses has never been embodied into any regular 
 and practical system, as the views of the sub- 
 ject which he has maturely adopted, are at 
 considerable variance with the old established 
 prejudices of the public ; and as he has been 
 unable, therefore, to derive any assistance of 
 real utility from his predecessors, and is com- 
 pelled to oppose and counteract the preposses- 
 sions of many of his auditors, he ventures to 
 hope, that much indulgence will be granted for 
 those errors that necessarily attend the elucida- 
 tion of a novel subject, and those difficulties 
 that accompany the exposition of every truth 
 that may be inconsistent with the pre-conceived
 
 30 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 ideas, or the common practice of mankind. 
 Engaged for a considerable period in the ex- 
 ercise of tuition, and in the preparation of a 
 number of respectable pupils for the desk or 
 the counting-house, and having obtained, there- 
 fore, many opportunities of witnessing and con- 
 firming the success of his own peculiar method 
 of teaching, he should have felt himself defi- 
 cient in that laudable enthusiasm which every 
 man should feel in the promotion of a science 
 which he has contributed to perfect or extend, 
 as well as that common duty to the public, 
 which is encumbent upon the humblest indivi- 
 dual, when his labours may conduce to the 
 improvement or happiness of mankind, had he 
 sat down, inactive or unconcerned, to enjoy, in 
 selfish tranquillity, the fruits of his exertion. 
 Feeling, as he does, for the honour and progress 
 of the art, to which he has devoted so much of 
 his attention, and anxious to testify his grati- 
 tude to his friends, and his earnestness in the 
 cause of learning and morality, to which all 
 instruction is subservient, he throws himself, 
 with humility, on a generous and candid audi- 
 ence. Of the importance of the object he has 
 in view, no doubt can be entertained by those 
 who compare the expedition and facility with 
 which the Art of Penmanship may be obtained ; 
 with the lapse of time that is required in our
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 31 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 public seminaries, to teach even the most intel- 
 ligent and the most industrious pupil a formal 
 manuscript, that is apt (on his entrance into 
 active life) to degenerate into an inelegant and 
 illegible scrawl. Every vacation sends home 
 to their parents, boys, who, having devoted 
 four or five years to the instruction of what is 
 called a flourishing writing master, are unable 
 either to write an ornamental hand with toler- 
 able precision or correctness, or to attempt the 
 exleusion of a single line of business, or run- 
 ning hand. When it is considered that both 
 these objects are attainable to grown up per- 
 sons in a fortnight, and to children in a couple 
 of months, by a moderate application, nothing- 
 more will be expected, it is presumed, to con- 
 vince the public of the importance of the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 It is with pleasure that I have observed the 
 rapid progress of a System of Writing, which I 
 have the honour to say, was entirely my own 
 invention. It instructs the pupil in the analysis 
 of the art, and enables him to perform on sim- 
 ple and unerring principles, what has hitherto 
 been accomplished, if accomplished at all, after 
 vague and laborious imitation. By the mode 
 adopted at our public schools, a boy may be 
 taught in three years to write a formal, stiff, 
 text-hand, from copies placed before him ; but
 
 32 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 the modification of this hand, or the substitution 
 of another, for the purposes of business or ge- 
 neral correspondence, is left entirely to himself. 
 It is my object to point out a method by which 
 the whole alphabet may be formed from the 
 combination of a few simple principles, with 
 ease to the pupil. The same movement for 
 instance that produces the m, will form the h, 
 y, u, n. and p, and to the plain and flourished 
 d, the g, the a, and the q. To obviate the 
 stiffness so frequently retained after leaving 
 school, or writing from the want of system, and 
 to render the writing free, expeditious, elegant, 
 and well formed, several requisites are indis- 
 pensable: 
 
 First, That the pupil should be able to move 
 to every corner of the paper, and in all direc- 
 tions, with equal facility. 
 
 Secondly, That an habitual movement should 
 be communicated and acquired to the hand and 
 arm, equally applicable to every letter of the 
 alphabet, and producing by its own tendency 
 the same inclination and distance between all 
 the letters. 
 
 Thirdly, That the pen should not be taken 
 off in any single word, and may be continued, 
 if required, from one word to another. 
 
 Fourthly, That the pressure of the pen on 
 the paper should be light and easy, to add to 
 an uniformity of motion,
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 33 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 The simplicity and facility with which all 
 these objects are accomplished, will best be 
 estimated by an appeal to a majority of my 
 pupils who have attended to them, and given 
 them a fair trial. 
 
 When the importance and utility of the Art 
 of Writing are compared with the difficulties 
 that impede the progress of the pupil, and the 
 time that is usually wasted in its imperfect 
 acquisition, a system of free and expeditious 
 writing, by which the most illegible scrawl may 
 be converted, in a few lessons, into an elegant 
 and legible manuscript, and which enables the 
 school boy to write in less than two months 
 with fluency and correctness, may be presumed 
 to deserve the attention, and may be expected 
 to obtain the encouragement of the educated 
 and commercial classes of the community. 
 
 Notwithstanding the reformation that I have 
 effected in the Art of Writing, and the facilities 
 I have afforded in its tuition, I indulge in no 
 chimerical views, uncertain speculations, or 
 fanciful experiments ; my improvements will 
 stand the test of the most rigid examinations, 
 and require only to be exhibited to the obser- 
 ver, to be admitted and understood. To fathers 
 of families, therefore, who are unwilling- that 
 their children should devote three or four years 
 of tedious, and sometimes unprofitable labour,
 
 34 CAUSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 to the acquisition of an art, which may be 
 learned by the present system in the course of 
 a few weeks — to commercial men, with whom 
 the easy and immediate attainment of a legible 
 and elegant hand is an object of the first neces- 
 sity — to individuals, whose education has beer* 
 neglected, or imperfectly acquired ; and to 
 ladies of respectability, who have acquired only 
 the illegible and unfinished hand that is usually 
 taught at female boarding schools ; my Lectures 
 will communicate the most interesting and ne- 
 cessary information ; expressed in a simple and 
 intelligible form, and elucidated by practical 
 illustrations and examples. 
 
 The Art of Writing, though of the utmost 
 importance in business and commerce, both 
 foreign and domestic, and even in the more 
 humble concerns of life, is often considered as 
 only secondary, when compared with the va- 
 rious branches of what is called a liberal edu- 
 cation. The truth of this assertion may easily 
 be conceived, from the general plan usually 
 pursued at some of the great establishments 
 of learning. As soon as a boy has attained to 
 write a kind of formal, stiff hand, his writing 
 is generally neglected for the acquirement of 
 the ancient languages. His Latin exercises 
 must be attended to ; and if he only write them 
 gl amniaticallv, it is of no consequence whether
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 35 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 the writing be legible or otherwise ; and we fre- 
 quently find, that after boys have left school, 
 if intended for business, their Latin and Greek 
 are laid aside, and writing becomes their em- 
 ploy. Need we wonder then, that there are so 
 many who write so indifferently ? hardly one 
 out of five writes a decent business hand. 
 Young ladies seldom, if ever, attain any degree 
 of perfection in writing, as music, drawing, 
 needle-work, Italian and French, &c. (accom- 
 plishments commendable in themselves, but not 
 to be acquired at the expense of more useful 
 attainments) are generally predominant ; and 
 though they will indispensably want the use of 
 writing more that these acquirements, yet it is 
 often almost completely neglected .. 
 
 I have known many young ladies, who have 
 frequently hesitated to write, because they wrote 
 so bad a scrawl, and were ashamed that their 
 bad writing should be noticed. Many there 
 are, both ladies and gentlemen, who write so 
 illegible, and so imperfectly, that it is extremely 
 difficult to decipher their manuscripts. The 
 method now exhibited to observation, will en- 
 tirely counteract the pernicious tendency of 
 former habits, and will correct the most shape- 
 less and illegible writing by a few days appli- 
 cation . 
 
 The improvement of many who have had two
 
 36 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 or three lessons in this system, and had occa- 
 sion to correspond, after receiving these lessons, 
 appeared so rapid, that their friends conceived 
 it could not be the writing of the persons them- 
 selves, but that they had employed some one 
 else to write for them. 
 
 As every art is more or less valuable in pro- 
 portion to its extensive usefulness, so the Art of 
 Writing claims our highest esteem, it being one 
 of the greatest blessings man can enjoy. Every 
 attempt, therefore, to improve and bring it 
 nearer to perfection, as it is a public good, is 
 doubtless, entitled to public encouragement. 
 Through the medium of writing, the joys and 
 sorrows of friendship may be interchanged ; the 
 hopes and fears of the lover communicated and 
 rewarded ; and every social and benevolent 
 feeling expressed. It alleviates the miseries of 
 absence, and relieves the anxieties of the hus- 
 band, the relative, aud the friend. It enables 
 even the solitary prisoner to hold occasional 
 couverse with the world, and soothes the sor- 
 rows of the melancholy poet, or the unfortunate, 
 but contemplative philosopher. Unaided by 
 the Art of Writing, the observer of passing- 
 events could never have assumed the office of 
 an historian, and science itself would have been 
 confined to its solitary speculations. Philoso- 
 phy and literature, all that has enlightened or
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 37 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 embellished life — that has contributed to pro- 
 mote the comfort of mankind — to improve our 
 intellectual powers — or to awaken our noblest 
 and most amiable sympathies, would have re- 
 mained undiscovered or unknown, had not the 
 Art of Writing been vouchsafed by heaven for 
 the happiness of the world. 
 
 In the present state of society, writing- has 
 become ar science, not only of public utility, but 
 of absolute necessity, to private individuals. — 
 Many of the gentlemen who have placed them- 
 selves under my tuition, have had occasion to 
 feel, and to acknowledge, the usefulness of an 
 art, of which they best know the value, who 
 have felt the want. 
 
 A gentleman, who, before calling on me, was 
 obliged to employ his wife to write his letters 
 of business, as he was unable to write them 
 himself, after having a few lessons in the pre- 
 sent system, is now able to carry on his own 
 correspondence. Another gentleman, with 
 whom I am acquainted, has been debarred, in 
 the earlier part of his life, from several situa- 
 tions, in consequence of his inability to write a 
 decent hand, or conduct a correspondence. 
 How advantageous must have been a system to 
 him at that period, which he might have ac- 
 quired in the course of a few weeks. I have no 
 doubt that similar instances may have fallen 
 within the notice of some of my auditors.
 
 38 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 Under these, and similar circumstances, it 
 would be useless to point out the utility of a 
 system, by ^hich, an art so necessary in the 
 common business of life, may be obtained in a 
 few weeks by the meanest capacity, and a mode- 
 rate portion of time and labour ; which having 
 once attained themselves, the master may teach 
 to his servants, and the mother to her children. 
 This system, also, improves the appearance of 
 writing, as much as it contributes to its facility. 
 
 It is evident, that any one entirely depending 
 on the movement of the fingers alone, will not 
 be able to write a word of an inch long, inde- 
 pendent of the movement of the arm ; yet we 
 find, that it is the great object of the teacher, 
 to inculcate the movement of the fingers as the 
 first grand and desirable object worth attain- 
 ment. 
 
 The free use of the pen is of such great import- 
 ance to mankind in general, and so indispensa- 
 bly necessary for the man of business, that I 
 think it needless to make any apology for intro- 
 ducing the Art of Writing in a more modern 
 form, than that in which it has hitherto been 
 handled. Writing is the first step, and very 
 essential, in furnishing out the man of business, 
 and this qualification is more excellent, as it 
 is more useful in commercial affairs. 
 
 When writing is well performed, it gives a
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 39 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 beautiful and pleasing effect to the eye, and 
 may not improperly be considered in two re- 
 spects, as it proceeds from the eye and the 
 hand ; from the one we have size and propor- 
 tion ; from the other, boldness and freedom. 
 For, as the exactness of the eye fixes the heights 
 and distances, so the motion and position of 
 the hand determine the black and fine strokes, 
 and give the same inclination and shape in the 
 standing and turn of the letters But in order 
 to write well, there must be just rules and fixed 
 principles, as well as practice, to put them into 
 execution. Bold and free writing, as it best 
 answers the design for use and beauty, so it has 
 been always most encouraged and recommended 
 by men of business. Free and open writing, 
 performed at once, without lifting the pen, as it 
 discovers more of nature, so it gives so much 
 more masterly beauty to the writing, and as 
 usefulness as well as beauty are the excellencies 
 of writing, that, which will with the greatest 
 facility contribute to these, must be assuredly 
 the best method of teaching ; supposing, there- 
 fore, the shape and proportion of the letters to 
 be once well fixed and properly understood, 
 and the pupil have good and correct examples 
 to copy from, the hand will be confirmed and 
 realized in an aptitude and readiness, which 
 will insensibly and progressively arrive at per-
 
 40 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES 0X 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 fection, freedom, and dispatch; and display 
 in writing, what we admire in those who have 
 an easy gesture and disengaged air, which is 
 imperceptibly caught from frequently convers- 
 ing with the polite and the well-bred. Among 
 all the inventions of mankind from age to age, 
 none is more admirable, necessary, useful, or 
 convenient, than writing ; by which we are 
 enabled to delineate our conceptions, commu- 
 nicate our minds without speaking, and cor- 
 respond with our friends at any distance ; and 
 all this may be done by the contrivance of 
 twenty-six letters. 
 
 'Tis to the pen and press we mortals owe 
 All we believe, and almost all we know. 
 Hail, mystic art ! which men like angels taught 
 To speak to eyes and paint embody 'd thought ; 
 Tho' deaf and dumb, blest skill, reliev'd by thee, 
 We make one sense perform the task of three. 
 We see, we hear, we touch the head and heart, 
 And take, or give, what each but yields in part ; 
 With the hard laws of distance we dispense, 
 And without sound, a part commune in sense. 
 View, though confin'd, nay rule this earthly ball ! 
 And travel o'er the wide-expanded all ! 
 Dead letters thus with living notions fraught, 
 Prove to the soul the telescopes of thought ; 
 To mortal life a deathless witness give, 
 And bid all deeds and titles last and live. 
 In scanty life, eternity we taste, 
 View the first ages and inform the last.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 41 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 Arts, hist'ry, laws, we purchase with a look, 
 
 And keep, like fate, all nature in a book. 
 
 Whether the Memphian priests, or Hebrew sage 
 
 First painted language on the leafy page, 
 
 The vast invention, doubtless, came from heav'n, 
 
 And with it half humanity was giv'n. 
 
 Hail, happy art ! to science near allied, 
 
 The scholar's treasury, and the merchant's guide. 
 
 Learning, thro' thee, descends to distant times, 
 
 And commerce travels o'er remotest climes ; 
 
 Thou chaio'st events which ages widely part, 
 
 Convey'st the lover's wish, reliev'st the lab'ring heart. 
 
 But use alone was what they first pursu'd, 
 
 The characters were few, their figures rude ; 
 
 Succeeding masters heighten'd up th' intent, 
 
 Gave the free stroke, and added ornament. 
 
 Observations, fyc. 
 
 It is extremely necessary that each letter in 
 the alphabet be well formed, and a right and 
 just idea of each part separately, combining- 
 the true shape and proportion of every individ- 
 ual letter, be correctly understood by the 
 learner. Inattention to the shape, proportion, 
 slanting, position of the letters, method of 
 sitting, and the movement, and holding of the 
 pen, not unfrequently retard the progress of 
 the pupil, and give such bad habits in writing, 
 as are often retained through life. Every 
 teacher or professor ought to be very careful, 
 
 D
 
 42 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES OX 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 when*' the learner first commences, not to 
 admit the least inaccuracy to escape his notice 
 and correction, however trifling, and however 
 small. — Man) sit, lie forward, and lean on the 
 desk or table, as if they were short-sighted. 
 Those who are in the habit of writing a great 
 deal, must not only allow, that to lean too 
 much forward is very ungraceful, but also in- 
 jurious to the constitution, and brings on 
 phthisical complaints ; at the same time, they 
 are not aware, perhaps, of the cause, although 
 they feel the effect. Some who have not been 
 taught the easy movement of the pen, seem to 
 write as if their fingers were tied together, and 
 from this cause, write a small, imperfect, stiff, 
 and illegible hand. 
 
 Some lay their right hand down so much to 
 one side, as to come completely in contact with 
 the paper, and in that case, the pen is thrown 
 so much over, as to make it impossible to 
 write any otherw ise than w ith the side of it. 
 
 The pen ought to point exactly to the shoul- 
 der, and to be held so as to come between the 
 second and third joints of the fore- finger, the 
 extremity of the thumb to be kept directly 
 opposite the first joint of the fore-finger. Keep 
 the slit of the pen always even with the down 
 stroke, and take up the fine stroke with the 
 right side of the nib.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 43 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 Those who find it difficult to keep the pen 
 pointing to the shoulder, may take a small 
 cane about a yard long, and fix it in the bar- 
 rel of a short pen, and hold it so as to let the 
 upper end of the cane rest on the shoulder. If 
 any difficulty should be found in making the 
 cane rest easily on the shoulder, let an open 
 loop be fixed to the shoulder, so as to admit 
 the upper end to run freely within the loop. 
 The loop may be made of broad tape, or a slip 
 of paper, as may be most ready or convenient, 
 and fastened with a pin. 
 
 The pupil who has acquired a bad method 
 of sitting, would do well to bring a string 
 round the back of the chair on which he sits, 
 and let it come round the middle of the waist, 
 and tie it in front. This will serve as a check 
 when he is inclined to lean forward. This 
 ought always to be done when children first 
 begin to learn the Art of Writing, and by per- 
 severing with it, sitting up right will become 
 a habit. I believe, that all parents, teachers, 
 and guardians, will acknowledge the necessity 
 of attending to the above observations, and will 
 endeavour to put them into practice. 
 
 I appeal to the judgment of the candid au- 
 ditor, if it is, or is not absolutely incumbent on 
 every teacher or professor of any art or science, 
 to attend to those things which are indispen- 
 
 d 2
 
 44 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 sable to perfection, however simple the means 
 employed to facilitate its acquirement. 
 
 If the different establishments of learning 
 were to adopt an easy method of teaching wri- 
 ting by a mechanical process, founded on sys- 
 tematic principles, and to proceed by gradual 
 lessons, one connected with the other, both the 
 teacher and pupil would become interested in 
 their pursuits, from seeing an uniform advance- 
 ment towards practical perfection : the teacher 
 would be pleased with the perceptible improve- 
 , ment of his pupil ; the learner would be grati- 
 fied, and become eager and assiduous, industri- 
 ous and attentive, from a conception of his own 
 good qualifications in the certainty and rapidity 
 of acquiring the object of pursuit. It is rarely 
 the case, that either the master or pupil can 
 discover real or visible improvement at the 
 end of each practice or lesson, according- to 
 the common plan. — If I understand what is 
 meant by teaching, it implies a method of 
 conveying a knowledge of some art or accom- 
 plishment to the learner, which he did not pre- 
 viously comprehend. Can it be supposed, that 
 the merely writing a page, or indeed two pages 
 of a common sized copy book, in the space of 
 one day, will, or can be sufficient exercise for 
 a boy at school ? In learning Military Exer- 
 cise, Dancing, Music, Fencing, &c. people
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 45 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 are advanced from the first elements of tuition 
 by perceptible progression, by systematic les- 
 sons, combined by continual, frequent, and 
 daily practice of many hours, but this has not 
 been the case with learning the Art of Writing. 
 
 W hen a youth has left school, and is taken 
 into a merchant's office, he is kept copying let- 
 ters, &c. for four or five years, to make his 
 hand-writing fit for the day-book and ledger ; 
 whereas, if he had acquired a good business 
 hand at school, he might be employed with 
 greater effect, would merit encouragement, and 
 be advanced in his office. Gentlemen, who 
 have not the business of a counting-house to 
 attend to, ought to write a free, easy, flowing*, 
 small running-hand, not too cramped, nor too 
 confined, suitable either to literary pursuits, or 
 epistolary correspondence ; not flourished, nor 
 to partake of that stiffness or formality which 
 generally appears in the hand-writing of a 
 common clerk, or hackneyed writing-master, 
 who may depend for a living from driving the 
 pen (as is sometimes called.) 
 
 Gentlemen, who in after-life may write indif- 
 ferent scrawls from habit, or from original tui- 
 tion, seldom think it worth while to pay any 
 attention to the improvement of their writing, 
 because they have made a shift with their old 
 method, and therefore conceive it to be altoge-
 
 46 CA11STAIRS* LECTURES OX 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 ther unnecessary ; or that they cannot bear the 
 idea of putting themselves under a teacher at 
 the age of forty or fifty ; or they suppose, from 
 being advanced in years, they cannot from that 
 circumstance make the least improvement ; 
 but I believe this diffidence arises chiefly from 
 a false delicacy, or a want of condescension to 
 a subject they ought to have been fully posses- 
 sed of in earlier years. 
 
 Perfection in writing cannot be acquired 
 without some regular system, deduced from 
 some first principle. This observation is quite 
 contrary to Lord Chesterfield's opinion, for 
 he says, " that any one may form his wri- 
 ting to any character he chooses ;" but I can 
 positively speak from real experience, (and it is 
 from this alone that correct conclusions can be 
 drawn) that Lord Chesterfield's decision is 
 altogether erroneous, and that he certainly was 
 never a teacher of the art, and therefore his 
 observation can only be founded on opinion, 
 and not on experience, or from a knowledge of 
 the art. It has been frequently observed, that 
 to bean excellent poet, it is absolutely neces- 
 sary' that a man should be a poet born ; the 
 same observation has been applied to the paint- 
 er, but the same cannot, in its fullest extent, be 
 applicable to the penman, because writing is 
 generally produced by mechanical operation ;
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 47 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 yet it certainly requires judgment, as well as 
 taste, to form the various turns and combina- 
 tions of the letters with symmetry and uni- 
 formity. Some are of opinion, that writing 
 may be acquired by imitation and practice 
 only ; it may be accomplished to a certain 
 extent by many, and even by some to a great 
 degree of excellence, but this can never be 
 general or universal. Neither practice nor 
 imitation can be depended on alone, without 
 the combination of method. — If long and la- 
 borious practice would avail much, and if this 
 were the only requisite to be enabled to ad- 
 vance to the summit of perfection, all the 
 clerks in the various offices and writing depart- 
 ments ought to write well. Some have indeed 
 been in the habit of writing for ten, twenty, or 
 thirty years together, yet the writing has not 
 been much improved : in several instances, 
 writing a great deal often spoils the hand, and 
 il degenerates into illegibility. Individuals 
 whose writing is indifferently formed, stiff or 
 unsightly, are generally considered as persons 
 who have been badly educated : a letter im- 
 perfectly written, for instance, from one of 
 whose education we may have no previous 
 information, would argue strongly as a certain 
 indication of a prescribed and superficial one. 
 The writing of letters enters so much into all
 
 48 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 the occasions and transactions of life, that no 
 one can avoid exposing his writing at one time 
 or other, and therefore, if writing be so neces- 
 sary, I think it highly requisite for every one 
 to be able to have some command of the pen, 
 at least to be able to write legibly. It will not, 
 perhaps, be thought altogether superfluous, nor 
 considered a material digression from this sub- 
 ject, to relate one instance, out of a great many 
 similar ones, that have occurred from my own 
 knowledge. 
 
 The head clerk of a banking house in the 
 country, having received a letter from one of 
 the proprietors on important business, after 
 trying a long time to read the letter without 
 succeeding, he was obliged to give it to the 
 rest of the clerks, none of whom were able to 
 read it ; at last he was under the necessity of 
 engaging a person to take the letter back to 
 the gentleman, who was not many miles dis- 
 tant ; but strange to tell, when he put it into 
 the gentleman's hands again, he could not 
 read it himself! 
 
 The Penmanship of Ladies. 
 
 It is but too common to see the writing of 
 ladies written imperfectly, clumsy, and fre- 
 quently a vulgar stiff hand, like that of a cook
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 49 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 maid ; others write a complete scrawl, and so 
 illegible, as to be almost impossible to know 
 the intention of the writer, from having been 
 taught to write a formal hand either at a board- 
 ing school, or from the instruction of a private 
 tutor, from copies designed according to the 
 old school. Thus, no attention is paid to form 
 their hand properly, into an easy, flowing, and 
 free hand. When they begin to write letters, 
 cards of invitation, &c. they are obliged to 
 write a kind of running hand of their own for- 
 mation, and by this means, too often get into 
 a scrawling habit without attention to the right 
 formation of their letters. From my foregoing- 
 observations, the following conclusion may be 
 drawn ; that it is undoubtedly necessary to do 
 every thing according to rule and method, and 
 not by chance, uncertain practice, or imperfect 
 imitation, in which writing is concerned, and 
 also to be correct in the conception, as it 
 respects the form, neatness, and beauty of pen. 
 manship. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED TO MEDICAL GENTLE- 
 MEN, (ESPECIALLY) PHYSICIANS, AND 
 RESPECTABLE SURGEONS. 
 
 I am now engaged in a task the most 
 difficult that could be imagined, on ac- 
 count of the deep rooted prejudices which
 
 50 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES OJC 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 exist in favour of established forms, and old 
 rooted systems ! Fashionable prejudices, and 
 what is still more to be dreaded, selfishness, 
 often become incurable evils. From the latter, 
 great inconvenience often arises, and impedi- 
 ments of gigantic prowess become substantial 
 and firm barriers, obstructing the progress of 
 wisdom and universal knowledge. It has been 
 the object of the Faculty for many generations, 
 to throw obstacles in the way to advancement 
 in knowledge, that the hidden treasure might 
 only be displayed in the most lively colours to 
 those who had the means of attending places 
 of erudition, such as the colleges, &c. They 
 are not satisfied with their unmeaning Latin 
 and Greek contractions, but are even extremely 
 indifferent about the legibility of their writing. 
 When their prescriptions are sent to the apo- 
 thecary or chemist, he must either be com- 
 pelled to unravel the grand secret, or be con- 
 sidered an ignoramus. Now, let us reflect, 
 on the situation of the chemist ! Will he not, 
 rather than be accounted ignorant, be willing 
 to guess at the ingredients ? and the life of the 
 patient is at stake and in jeopardy, between the 
 physicians, hieroglyphics, and the chemist's 
 want of knowing the doctor's self-created cha- 
 racters !! I have been told by some respectable 
 chemists, that they were frequently compelled
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 51 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 to take some physicians prescriptions back 
 again to them to unriddle their imperfect 
 manuscripts, rather than hazard the life of 
 the patient. It certainly must be conclu- 
 sive, and evident to all unprejudiced minds, 
 that the physician ought of all others, to write 
 in legible and distinct characters ! 
 
 It has been frequently observed that the gen- 
 tleman, and the man of learning ought not to 
 write well, that their writing should not appear 
 too much like a hired quill driver ! — What then 
 is the physician to forego the advantages of a 
 legible and decent manuscript, and write like 
 a dustman, or common footman ? What ab- 
 surdities arise in this age of refinement ! 
 
 As the letters of the English alphabet are 
 sufficiently correct, and will answer all the 
 purposes of legibility when written distinct!}', 
 and as a habit of writing them uniform, and 
 with perfect decision, can easily be obtained 
 with very little trouble ; it is wonderfully 
 strange that professional men should be so 
 extremely careless, and I might say indolent, 
 about the formation of their writing', through 
 the instrumentality of which, they are also 
 obliged to convey their knowledge to others of 
 their own profession ! 
 
 The following observations of a certain au- 
 thor are justly conclusive, *viz. " that the same 
 
 * Mortice.
 
 52 
 
 CARSTAIRS LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 precision and correctness which enter into coin - 
 position^ ought also to form principle ingredi- 
 ents in writing or penmanship itself, can hardly 
 admit of a doubt ; and those flowers and beau- 
 ties of expression which form the ornaments of 
 the former, should be analagously interwoven 
 in the latter, by those expressive beauties of 
 symmetry, fair proportion, and exactness of 
 which the art is capable, cannot likewise admit 
 of much argument." 
 
 It is the business of the teacher "to lay 
 down such rules, and make such general obser- 
 vations on the practice of the art, as will 
 enable the pupil, whether teacher, parent, or 
 other, to form a right judgment on the subject, 
 and point out the errors of the young penman, 
 as well as instruct and shew him how to mend 
 them, for example in this case is far more 
 effectual than precept; and it is much better 
 to delineate with a pencil or otherwise, how 
 such and such a stroke or letter should have 
 beeu formed, than merely to tell him of it : 
 this is the practice I have always observed, and 
 have found it particularly effectual, even in 
 teaching large classes, where the trouble is 
 proportionably much greater than in teaching 
 a single pupil." 
 
 .My present system of writing, however sanc- 
 tioned as it has been by the approbation of a
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 53 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 great number of learned and respectable pupils, 
 and founded on principles so simple and self- 
 evident, that must be understood by the most 
 ignorant, and approved by the most inquisitive, 
 is widely different both in movement and 
 method from any former system ; instead of 
 depending on the entire motion of the fingers, 
 it confines the pupil chiefly to the collective 
 motion of the hand and arm. 
 
 It is with this principle, therefore, constantly 
 in view, that I now proceed to an elucidation 
 of the rudiments of my system, requesting the 
 attention of the juvenile portion of my audience 
 to the truths that I shall endeavour to convey ; 
 and the indulgence of those of mature age and 
 intelligent understanding, to the errors and 
 deficiencies that are equally inseparable from 
 the most exalted, and the most humble under- 
 taking. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, having thus endea- 
 voured to elucidate the causes by which the 
 attainments of excellence in penmanship is 
 usually impeded, and to point out the most 
 simple and elementary principles on which the 
 present system of instruction is chiefly founded, 
 it only remains, that I should thank you for the 
 flattering and polite attention with which I 
 have been honoured, and to indulge the hope, 
 that as I proceed in the elucidation of this
 
 54 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 useful and important art, I shall not be wholly 
 unsuccessful in my endeavours to instruct the 
 intelligent and attentive auditor. 
 
 Before I conclude these observations, let me 
 here observe, that a great deal of time is 
 thrown away at school in acquiring this most 
 invaluable art. If it could be acquired in as 
 many weeks as it takes years in the old method 
 of teaching, how desirable Mould be the attain- 
 ment, as other branches of useful learning 
 might by that means be obtained, which in 
 many instances are often found wanting, even 
 in those who have the best opportunities of 
 learning. The fact is this, from being kept so 
 long- at one thing, the mind becomes callous, 
 and at last disgusted. On the contrary, if any 
 art or science can be acquired by a regular 
 and perceptible improvement, so as to be 
 obtained within the compass of a short period 
 of time, it has less the appearance of a task, 
 and we attend to it with more pleasure and 
 satisfaction, which will certainly give greater 
 energy to emulation, diligence, and industry ; 
 and without these three requisites, we never 
 can arrive at any degree of perfection, whatever 
 may be our pursuit. 
 
 As Dr. Bell and Lancaster's systems of edu- 
 cation have been admired and sanctioned by a 
 great majority of public approbation, for their
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 55 
 
 Impediments of Writing. 
 
 simplicity and great utility, so this new system 
 of writing has been recommended and ap- 
 plauded above every other method for its 
 facility of acquirement. I have known chil- 
 dren from five years old and upwards, who did 
 not even know a single letter of writing, but 
 were enabled in a few weeks to write with 
 as much ease as some who had written for 
 many years ; and persons of all ages who had 
 been accustomed to write a peculiar hand, 
 which they had practised for upwards of twenty 
 years, have, by only five or six weeks appli- 
 cation, completely forgot their former manner 
 of writing.
 
 56* CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 A Review of Dr. Bell's System of Teaching, 
 
 *c. 
 
 Ix the year 1789, a school was opened at 
 Egmont, near Madras, for the orphans and 
 distressed male children of the European mili- 
 tary. Dr. Bell, who was then chaplain at that 
 establishment, undertook the superintendence 
 of this charitable institution, for the sake of 
 being more useful in his station than he other- 
 wise could be ; he had to work upon the most 
 unpromising materials. It was an established 
 opinion, that the half-cast children was an 
 inferior race, both in moral and intellectual 
 faculties. This opinion was like one of those 
 prophecies which bring about their own accom- 
 plishment. Dr. Bell well knew how deeply it 
 was rooted and saw but too plainly, that it 
 rested on apparent experience ; he knew also
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 57 
 
 Review of Dr. BelVs System of Teaching, <fc. 
 
 that these children learnt from their unhappy 
 mothers, that cunning, selfishness, and deceit, 
 which become the defensive instincts of a de- 
 spised and degraded generation. 
 
 The boys placed under his care, were in 
 general stubborn and perverse, addicted to 
 trick, lying, duplicity, and chicanery ; and 
 those among them who were farther advanced 
 in age, were, for the most part, trained in hab- 
 its and customs incompatable with that method, 
 without which no system of education could 
 proceed. 
 
 I soon found, (says he) that if ever the school 
 was to be brought into good order, it must be 
 done, either by instructing ushers in the eco- 
 nomy of such a seminary, or by youths from 
 among the pupils trained for the purpose. 
 For a long time I kept both of these objects 
 in view ; but was in the end compelled, after 
 the most painful efforts of perseverance, to 
 abandon entirely the former, and adhere solely 
 to the latter. My success, (says he,) in train- 
 ing my young pupils in habits of strict dicipline 
 and prompt obedience exceeded my expecta- 
 tion, and every step of my progress has con- 
 firmed and riveted in my mind the superiority 
 of this new mode of conducting a school 
 through the medium of the scholars themselves. 
 — Experiment, Jirsl edition, published in 1797. 
 
 8
 
 58 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES OX 
 
 Jieciew of Dr. Bell's System of Teaching, <$-c. 
 
 The first attempt which Dr. Bell made to 
 introduce a new practice in the school, proved 
 to him the necessity of proceeding upon this 
 principle, which is in fact the key-stone of the 
 system Simple as the practice was, he could 
 not fully establish it till he had trained boys, 
 whose minds he could command, and who 
 only knew to do as they were bidden, and were 
 not disposed to dispute or evade the orders 
 given to them. This practice, which is that of 
 teaching the letters in sand, Dr. Bell borrowed 
 from the natives, having at first sight been 
 struck with its simplicity and utility. It is 
 mentioned by Pyrard de Lavel, and is noticed 
 m conjunction, even with the principle of Dr. 
 Bell's school, by Pier Delia Yalle, one of the 
 best and most amusing of the old writers. These 
 boys told me (says he,) thai in this way (in 
 sand,) they learned to read or write without 
 paper, pens, or ink 5 when I asked who taught 
 them, and who set them right when they were 
 wrong, seeing they were all scholars, and no 
 master among them ? they replied very reason- 
 ably, that it was not possible the same diffi- 
 culty should impede them all at the same time, 
 so as to be insurmountable, and for that rea- 
 son, they all learned together ; that if one 
 were to make a mistake, the others might assist 
 him. It appears from this passage, that even
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 59 
 
 Review of Dr. Belts System of Teaching, 4 c. 
 
 the main principle of the new system might 
 have been discovered in the practice of the 
 Hindoos. Not that this in the slightest man- 
 ner affects the merit of the discoverer, more 
 than the use of monitors among ourselves, or 
 the custom in some of our public schools, of 
 placing a new comer under the care of a sub- 
 stance whom he attends as a shadow, till he 
 has become familiar with the business of his 
 form . 
 
 The person who first introduced into the 
 business of a school this principle, as a mode 
 of conducting' it bv means of the scholars them- 
 selves, is as much the discoverer of that prin- 
 ciple, as Franklin of electricity, or Jenner of 
 vaccination. The facts were known before 
 them, but in an insulated and unproductive 
 form ; they systematized them, and communi- 
 cated to us a new power. The principal cha- 
 racteristics of Dr. Bell's plan, were to make the 
 scholars, as far as possible, do every thing for 
 themselves ; and to make them the judges, the 
 guides, and the directors of each other. Every 
 class had its teacher and assistant chosen for 
 itself. " Give me four and twenty children to 
 day," was a saying of Dr. Bell, " and I will 
 give you as many teachers to-morrow as you 
 want." The advantage of thus teaching boys, 
 by the agency of boys, was very great. There 
 
 f. 2
 
 60 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES OX 
 
 Review of Dr. Bell's System of Teaching, 4c 
 
 was no hesitation in degrading a teacher, who 
 failed in any of the tasks required of him, and • 
 making trial of another, till one was found 
 fit for the office. These teachers had no other 
 occupation, no other pursuit, nothing to em- 
 ploy their minds, but this single object; they 
 could do that only which they were assigned 
 to do, and they did it the better because they 
 themselves knew nothing more than what was 
 perfectly level to the capacities of their pupils. 
 The rule of the school was, that no boy could 
 do any thing right the first time, but he must 
 learn when he first sets about it, by means of 
 his teacher, so as to be able to do it himself 
 ever after. An annual saving of not less than 
 2400 pagodas, or 960 pounds, English money, 
 upon the education of 200 boys, was produced 
 in the institution at Madras, by Dr. Bell's 
 regulations and improvements. After super- 
 intending the school for seven years, he found 
 it necessary for his health, to return to Europe. 
 The directors of the charity passed a resolution 
 for providing him with a passage in any ship 
 which he might wish to sail in ; but as he had, 
 when he accepted the superintendence of the 
 institution, declined all salary or remuneration 
 of any kind, he felt it consistent to refuse this 
 mark of approbation. Lord IJobart, who was 
 president of the charity, expressed his opinion
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 61 
 
 Review of Dr. BelVs System of Teaching, 4'C 
 
 that the promulgation of a system so good, and 
 so well calculated to promote the purposes of 
 education in general, might be attended with 
 the most beneficial effect ; and of such conse- 
 quence was it deemed by that nobleman, and 
 the other members of the Madras government, 
 that copies of Dr. Bell's report were officially 
 sent by them to the government of Bengal and 
 Bombay, saying that as the Military Male 
 Orphan Asylum had flourished under a system 
 of education altogether new, they were desirous 
 of diffusing the mode of teaching practised 
 there, which they recommended as deserving 
 the attention of those who interest themselves 
 in the welfare of the rising generation. The 
 report, with the high testimony prefixed, Dr. 
 Bell published on his arrival in Europe, in a 
 small duodecimo volume, under the title of an 
 Experiment in Education, made at the Male 
 Asylum of Madras, suggesting a system by 
 which a school or family may teach itself under 
 the superintendence of the master or parent. 
 It is evident, that the principles of the pre- 
 ceding system are applicable to the mode of 
 writing now introduced to notice, as to any 
 other branch of tuition. The father of a 
 family, or the head of a charitable or scholastic 
 establishment, may not only superintend the 
 improvement of his pupils or the scholars in
 
 62 
 
 CAKSTAIRS LECTURES ON 
 
 ^Rerieic of Dr. Bells System of Teaching, <£-c. 
 
 the Art of Writing, as well as their practice in 
 sand, but will find his own labour relieved, 
 and the utility of the subordinate monitors 
 extended, by the conformity of the plan and the 
 simplicity of its principles. It has been justly 
 observed, indeed, of writing in sand, that 
 though it may teach the boy the rough and 
 general outlines of the letters, it cannot instruct 
 him in the rapid or correct formation of a hand 
 adapted for the counting-house. The present 
 system, on the contrary, as it occupies but 
 a small portion of time in its attainment, 
 compensates by that circumstance for the dif- 
 ference in value between books and sand, and 
 enables the pupils to attain every possible per- 
 fection in the Art of Writing-. 
 
 A boy, who, by the present system is able, 
 at the expense of four or five shilling's worth 
 of common writing paper, in a few weeks to 
 write an elegant and beautiful manuscript, has 
 the advantage, even with respect to economy, 
 over the pupil who has been taught by writing 
 in sand for more than two years, to form a stiff 
 and formal hand. Nor is the system less 
 delightful to the teacher than profitable to the 
 scholar ; it may be communicated with facility, 
 as it is learned with expedition. It appears, 
 therefore, that the pupils of Dr. Bell who write 
 on the old system in sand, have an advantage
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 63 
 
 Review of Dr. BeWs System of Teaching, fyc. 
 
 over the learners of the old system who write on 
 paper, in proportion to the difference of price 
 in the materials. Yet this is the only advan- 
 tage. According to the present system, how- 
 ever, even when written on paper, there is an 
 equal economy of expense, and the same object 
 is accomplished in a few weeks, as by the other 
 in two or three years. At the same time, even 
 those who are partial to writing in sand, on 
 account of its economy, may apply the present 
 system to that purpose as well as the old : and 
 in that case, if Dr. Bell reduces the expense to 
 one tenth of its former amount, the teacher of 
 this system reduces it to the one hundred and 
 twentieth part, and accomplishes his object in 
 one fortieth part of the time. Let us suppose, 
 for instance, that there is a school of one hun- 
 dred scholars superintended by one master, 
 and that they are instructed in writing alone. 
 According to the system of Dr. Bell, they 
 cannot be educated for less than the master's 
 salary, and supposing that they be completed in 
 two years, and that the master have only 100/. 
 a year for his services ; at the end of the two 
 years, each of these boys will have cost one 
 pound a year, and can only write, after all, a 
 stiff and formal hand. Now, with the use of 
 the present system on paper, at the expense of 
 live shilling's worth of that article, they will
 
 64 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 A Method adapted to large Schools. 
 
 have been completed, and the master's salary 
 for the same period, will be about 15/. or 
 among a hundred boys, about 3s. each. In 
 other words, the same school, that with the aid 
 of sand could perfect, according to the old 
 system, a hundred boys in two years, for two 
 pounds each, will be able, according to the 
 present system, to perfect, in three or four 
 months, 1,200 boys, at 3s. each. So great, 
 indeed, is the facility of teaching according to 
 the present system, that several gentlemen from 
 Jamaica, Scotland, Newfoundland, &c. have 
 learned this easy method of writing, that they 
 might be able to teach it to their own chil- 
 dren. 
 
 A Method adapted to large Schools. 
 
 The advantages arising from being enabled 
 to convey instruction in large schools by means 
 of the scholars themselves, are sufficiently obvi- 
 ous, if we take a survey of the plan introduced 
 by Dr. Bell. That the utility of writing to all 
 ranks of society, is of the first consequence in a 
 commercial country like this, cannot for a 
 moment be denied. 
 
 The easiest and best method of teaching 
 writing to a great number at once, (in my
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 65 
 
 A Method adapted to large Schools. 
 
 opinion) would be to have boards placed upon 
 poles at y equal distances from each other, so 
 that when written upon with chalk, or any 
 substance of sufficiently soft consistency to 
 write or mark with, they might be distinctly 
 seen by at least fifty boys at a time. Let a boy, 
 who has a tolerable notion of writing-, be taken 
 to instruct fifty others, who may write indiffer- 
 ently, or who cannot write at all ; and let the 
 boy thus chosen be denominated the Teacher. 
 Let every one of the fifty boys have slates 
 before them, placed on the table or desk 
 designed for writing on. Then the teacher 
 may be desired by the overseer, master, or 
 guardian, to write with chalk on the board, 
 and let the other boys imitate it with slate 
 pencils. I should recommend for imitation the 
 characters in this book, which compose the 
 most essential forms of the English alphabet ; 
 observing to have the figures placed above each 
 character, and thus proceed according to the 
 instruction given with these characters, until 
 the whole is completed. When the board is 
 covered with writing, it may be erased with a 
 wet sponge, and dried with a linen or woollen 
 cloth, and then proceed as before. 
 
 It will be observed, while the teacher is 
 attending to the business of teaching, he Mill 
 be insensibly improving himself. After the
 
 f)6 CARSTAIKS' LECTURES OX 
 
 A Method adapted to large Schools. 
 
 large hand is well accomplished, the method 
 of teaching- the small hand may be performed 
 (on boards or slates) according to the instruction 
 given to each lesson in this epitome. When 
 the children have arrived at some degree of 
 perfection on slates, paper may be introduced to 
 finish upon ; such use may be still made of the 
 slate and pencil, as may be thought necessary, or 
 according to the option of the teacher. Boards 
 painted black will be found most fitting for 
 the purpose, if common chalk is made use of. 
 The size of the boards ought to be at least five 
 feet in length, and two in breadth. It is evi- 
 dent, that by the plan thus suggested, the 
 opposite advantages so irreconcilable to each 
 other, according to the present system of Dr. 
 Bell, of easy and rapid acquisition and refined 
 execution are combined, and that after the 
 scholar has attained with the utmost facility, 
 the general outline and formation of the letters, 
 he will be able to perform even the delicate 
 and beautiful parts of penmanship with as 
 much facility as its earlier rudiments. The 
 introduction, therefore, of this improvement 
 into our national and benevolent seminaries, 
 is an event to which I look forward with pride 
 and confidence.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 67 
 
 Copt/ of a Letter. 
 
 Copy of a Letter 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE, 
 RELATIVE TO THE ABOVE SUBJECT. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " The Art of Writing in sand, though form- 
 ing one of the chief features of Mr. Lancaster's 
 System of Education, and conducive in a great 
 degree to the purposes of economy, does not 
 appear to afford within itself any new facilities 
 by which the Art of Writing may be acquired, 
 or promise any diminution of expense, except 
 that which may arise from the difference in 
 value between the sand, and the common ma- 
 terials of penmanship. The attention, therefore 
 of the promoters of economical tuition, and the 
 friends of education in general, cannot but be 
 interested in the adoption of a system of wri- 
 ting, by which the school-boy is enabled to 
 make as rapid progress in a month, as is 
 usually effected in the course of several years ; 
 and the adult whom imperfect tuition, or the 
 negligence of after-life may have habituated to 
 an illegible or unsightly manuscript, may be 
 taught in two or three weeks to write with 
 elegance, ease, and expedition. 
 
 " When it is considered that more than three 
 years are usually expended at school in endea-
 
 68 cakst airs' lectures on 
 
 Copy of a Letter. 
 
 vouring to acquire a legible band, wbile Mr. 
 Carstairs, the inventor of tins system, under- 
 takes to teacb the youngest and most unlettered 
 boy in a few weeks, the Art of Writing in a 
 running or business hand, and to modify the 
 most illegible manuscript of an an adult pupil, 
 into beautiful and regular form of writing, no 
 other stimulus can be wanting to the governors 
 and benefactors of the Lancasterian and similar 
 institutions, to introduce into the schools esta- 
 blished under their superintendence, a system, 
 compared with which, either in point of eco- 
 nomy or utility, the practice of writing in sand, 
 is useless and unproductive. 
 
 " The simple principle of moving the arm, so 
 obvious in itself, and yet so directly contrary to 
 the established practice, would of course be most 
 effectually exemplified by the inventor himself: 
 — but whatever may be the share in which his 
 assistance is thought worthy of encouragement, 
 or his discovery regarded as deserving of com- 
 pensation, the number of witnesses to the suc- 
 cess of his exertions as a tutor, preclude the 
 possibility of doubt with regard to the system 
 itself.' , 
 
 I remain, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 Tachygrapiius."
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 69 
 
 Method of Writing for the Blind, 4c- 
 
 A NEWLY INVENTED METHOD OF WRITING IN THE 
 
 dark; or the blind man's GUIDE TO 
 
 PENMANSHIP ! 
 
 Invented by the Author. 
 Take as many square pieces of paste-board, 
 thin wood, or suitable substance, &c. of such 
 size as may be considered the most convenient 
 for the size of the sheets of paper which may 
 be intended to be written upon ; I would recom- 
 mend that the paste-board, or boards, &c. 
 should be of the usual superficial dimensions 
 of post paper, but this may be done according 
 to fancy, or the option of the writer. Then 
 let small lines of cord or wire be placed at 
 proper distances from each other, the whole 
 way from top to bottom of each paste-board or 
 thin pieces of wood ; that is to say, let them 
 be placed about half an inch apart, or be of the 
 same distance that lines are generally ruled for 
 writing upon ; and fasten the end of each cord 
 or wire with pins, or otherwise, at each side of 
 the board. When the boards are prepared as 
 above directed, let sheets of writing paper, 
 about the same size as the boards, or some- 
 what less, be drawn or passed under the cords 
 or wires, so as to cover the whole surface of 
 each board, and they will then be ready for
 
 70 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Method of Writing for the Blind, <$-c. 
 
 use. Now when any person who is blind, or 
 other persons who wish to write in the dark, 
 or have occasion to do so, let them place the 
 little finger, or both the under fingers, on one 
 of the wires or cords, and then find out the 
 middle of any two wires above, which may be 
 at the most convenient distance for the pen or 
 pencil to write between the lines, and be sure 
 to keep as nearly as possible in the middle of 
 this space, which will be of sufficient width 
 for all the long letters, namely tops and tails. 
 Thus, any one may write with the greatest 
 certainty, exactness, and distinctness, though 
 he were blindfolded, or in the greatest darkness . 
 Those persons who prefer it, as the effect 
 would be nearly the same, may place the 
 paper so as to lay on the wires, as the 
 wires could be easily felt, though the wires in 
 that case, would be under the paper. In fact, 
 both ways may be practised at pleasure. Again, 
 if the paper were to be drawn tight and kept 
 so, while writing, there certainly would be 
 greater scope for making the letters that come 
 below the line, as well as for those which go 
 above, as the tails and tops of the long letters 
 might be made longer or shorter, without any 
 fear of obstruction from the wire lines. But 
 this last way would be more applicable to large 
 hand, capital letters, &c.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 71 
 
 Method of Writing for the Blind, Sec. 
 
 By the above contrivances, a person may 
 write with decision and correctness, either a 
 small hand, or large. It may be so made that 
 the capital letters of large hand, may be formed 
 also exactly proportioned to the other writing", 
 by having' the upper wire of each line shorter 
 than the under one, at the beginning of each 
 line. This plan must be a treasure to those 
 who wish to commit their midnight thoughts, 
 or silent meditations of the night, in indelible 
 characters, which might be otherwise lost, not 
 only to the individual, but to the community, 
 and I might add, to future generations ! 
 
 How many fine and sublime ideas are en- 
 gendered, when solemn silence surrounds the 
 thoughtful mind, but long ere the dawn ap- 
 pears, often take their flight with Somnus into 
 the regions of forgetfulness, never more perhaps 
 to return ! The inventive genius is often 
 curbed in its career, and steers its course but 
 slowly onward, for want of the ready pen, and 
 unerring tablet, to preserve the productions of 
 reason's undisturbed and brightest powers. 
 The mind when unshackled, and not distracted 
 with variety, may calmly employ its faculties 
 with more lively energy and successful efforts 
 to accomplish any peculiar object, whilst the 
 body remains at rest, and the busy scenes of 
 life are hushed in the peaceful shades of night,
 
 72 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Method of Writing for the Blind, Sfc. 
 
 and stillness pervades the soul. Then it is, 
 when the soul is enabled to put forth its in- 
 herent qualities, and triumph over obstacles, 
 however formidable, and its powers shine forth 
 with resplendent rays, and it distinguishes by 
 just reasoning, and concludes with undeviating 
 certainty its investigations. 
 
 To facilitate the acquirement of Writing to 
 those who are blind, letters may be engraved, 
 or indented on copper, lead, or brass plates, so 
 that the indented lines of the letters may serve 
 for tracing, and be a guide for acquiring the 
 general outlines of the letters of the whole 
 alphabet.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 73 
 
 LECTURE III, 
 
 History of Writing, SfC. 
 
 When the general diffusion of any art or 
 accomplishment has rendered its principles and 
 practice familiar to every class of society, the 
 difficulties that attend its first advancement 
 and impede its future progress, are too fre- 
 quently forgotten. Simple and easy as the 
 expression of our thoughts and actions by the 
 combination of alphabetical characters may 
 now appear, it was not till after the lapse of 
 many ages, and the adoption of many experi- 
 ments, that it was reduced to a perfect system, 
 and generally practised : — of this my auditors 
 will be convinced by a brief recapitulation of 
 the history of writing, from the most prQbable 
 era of its invention to the present time. 
 
 Writing is beautifully defined by the verses 
 of the celebrated French author, Brebeuf : — 
 
 Cet art ing6nieux 
 De peindre la parole & de parler aux yeux : 
 Et par des traits divers de figures tracers, 
 Donner de la couleur & du corps aux pense'es. 
 
 E
 
 74 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 History of Writing, <$ c. 
 
 Writing is a method of giving colour, body, 
 or (to speak more plainly) some kind of exist- 
 ence to our thoughts, and is performed by 
 tracing or delineating with a pen small figures 
 or characters which are called letters, upon a 
 white, thin, and slender substance, commonly 
 called paper : those figures have names, and 
 those names, when joined together, represent 
 the sounds of words. 
 
 I shall endeavour to develope the origin of 
 this admirable art, its varieties and progressive 
 changes, until the invention of an alphabet. 
 It is a fine philosophical subject, and deserves 
 the attention of the most refined intellect, both 
 of our own and every other nation. We have 
 two modes of communicating our ideas, the 
 one aided by the help of sounds, and the other 
 by means of characters or letters. Instan- 
 ces daily occur, and frequent opportunities 
 offer, of perpetuating our thoughts to posterity, 
 and also of communicating them to persons far 
 distant from us ; and as sounds do not extend 
 far beyond the moment and place where they 
 are uttered, figures or characters have been 
 invented after the sounds, in order that our 
 ideas might participate of extention and dura- 
 tion. The mode of communicating our ideas by 
 signs and figures at first consisted in designing 
 naturally the form or outline of things; thus,
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 75 
 
 History of Writing. 
 
 to express the idea of a man or a horse, the 
 form of the one or the other was represented. 
 We learn from the ancients, that the first stage 
 of writing consisted merely of a rough outline 
 or simple picture ; they knew how to paint 
 before they knew how to write. We find 
 among the Mexicans a remarkable proof of 
 this, they employed no other method than that 
 of conveying their sentiments by means of 
 painted pictures ; in this way they preserved 
 and transmitted their laws and history. 
 
 There remains to the present time, a very 
 curious model of this writing in painting, of 
 the Indians, composed by a Mexican, and ex- 
 plained by him in his own language. 
 
 Since the Spaniards had taught him the use 
 of letters, this explanation was afterwards trans- 
 lated into Spanish, and from that language into 
 English, and afterwards the work, which is a 
 history of the empire of Mexico, was engraved, 
 to which was subjoined an explanation. It is 
 thought that the original is in the library of the 
 king of France. 
 
 Such was the first method, and at the same 
 time the most simple, that could be suggested 
 to perpetuate the ideas. But the inconveni- 
 ences that resulted from the enormous size of 
 the volumes of such works, soon induced the 
 ingenious in civilized nations to invent shorter 
 
 f2
 
 76 CARSTAIR9' LECTURES ON 
 
 History of Jr'riting, $c. 
 
 methods ; the most celebrated of all is that 
 which the Egyptians invented, to which they 
 gave the name of hieroglyphics ; by this means, 
 writing-, which was nothing else &«J a simple 
 painting- among the Mexicans, became in 
 Egypt both painting- and character, which pro- 
 perly constitutes hieroglyphical writing-. 
 
 Such was the first degree of perfection of 
 which this gross method consisted of conveying 
 the ideas of men : they made use of it in three 
 different manners, which, when we consult the 
 nature of the subject, proves their being in- 
 vented only by degrees, and at different peri- 
 ods. The first mode consisted in employing 
 the principal circumstance of a subject to hold 
 the place of the whole. When the Egyptians 
 were desirous to represent two armies arranged 
 in battle array, they painted two hands, one of 
 Which held a buckler, and the other a bow. 
 
 The second manner, imagined with more art, 
 consisted in substituting the real or metaphy- 
 sical instrument of the thing for the thing 
 itself; for instance, an eye and a sceptre repre- 
 sented a monarch. 
 
 Lastly, to represent one thing, they made use 
 of another, in which they saw some resem- 
 blance or analogy. Thus the universe was 
 represented by a serpent rolled in the form of a 
 circle, and the diversity of its spots represented 
 the stars.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 77 
 
 History of Writing, Sf-c. 
 
 A lion was emblematical of courage ; a sheep 
 of mildness ; a dove, of innocence ; and the 
 bull, of strength. But this description of wri- 
 ting was necessarily confused, imperfect, and 
 obscure, and notwithstanding all the aids that 
 modern learning and science have been able to 
 supply, has yet defied the investigation and 
 sagacity of the scholar and the antiquarian. 
 
 The first object of those who invented hiero- 
 glyphical painting, was to preserve the events, 
 to make their laws known as well as that which 
 relates to the regulation of the times and sea- 
 sons, &c. and all that referred to civil matters. 
 For this reason they invented symbols relative 
 to the winds and particular productions of 
 
 Egypt- 
 
 For example, the great interest of the Egypt- 
 ians was to know the return and duration of 
 the Etesian wind, which collected the vapours in 
 Ethiopia, which caused inundations by blow- 
 ing about the end of the spring from the north 
 to the south. 
 
 They afterwards had an interest to know the 
 return of the south wind, which made the 
 waters flow towards the Mediterranean sea. 
 But to paint the wind, they chose the figure of 
 a bird. 
 
 The hawk who extends his wings in looking 
 to the south to renew his feathers at the return
 
 78 CARSTA1RS* LECTURES ON 
 
 History of Writing, Sfc. 
 
 of the heat, was a symbol of the Etesian wind, 
 which blows from north to south. 
 
 From hieroglyph ical writing-, the human 
 mind advanced to the employment of arbitrary 
 characters unrecommended by analogy or re- 
 semblance, as the representatives of external 
 objects, as well as several intellectual and 
 conventional operations ; of this kind was the 
 method of writing practised among the Peru- 
 vians, who made use of small cords of different 
 colours ; and by knots upon them of various 
 sizes, and differently arranged, contrived signs 
 of exchanging information and communicating 
 their thoughts to one another. Of this nature, 
 also, are the written characters which are used 
 in China. Every single character which they 
 use in writing is significant of an idea ; it is a 
 mark which stands for some one thing or ob- 
 ject, and consequently the number of their 
 characters amounts to more than eighty thou- 
 sand. 
 
 At length, however, men became sensible of 
 the imperfection, the ambiguity, and prolixity 
 of these methods of communicating with each 
 other, and began to consider the advantage of 
 employing signs, which should not stand di- 
 rectly for things, but for the words employed in 
 speech to designate those things, and observing 
 that though the number of words in every
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 70 
 
 History of Writing, fyc. 
 
 language be very great, the number of articu- 
 late sounds employed in their formation is 
 comparitively small, they were led to invent 
 signs, not for each word by itself, but for the 
 syllables of which it was composed, and they 
 afterwards proceeded, step by step to simplify 
 this invention, till at last it terminated in the 
 adoption of an alphabet of letters. 
 
 It is evident from the books of Moses, that 
 letters had been invented prior to the age he 
 lived in, and in all probability by the Egypt- 
 ians. The united testimony of antiquity con- 
 duces to prove, that they were first imported 
 into Greece by Cadmus, the Phenician, who, 
 according to the common system of chronology, 
 was contemporary with Joshua. But as the 
 Phenicians were more remarkable for diffusing 
 in their various commercial voyages the know- 
 ledge they had already acquired, than for in- 
 vention, it may be presumed that Cadmus de- 
 rived his acquaintance with the alphabetical 
 characters from the Egyptians. 
 
 Plato in his Phedo expressly attributes the 
 invention of letters to Theuth orThoth, the 
 Egyptian, who is supposed to have been the 
 Hermes or Mercury of the Greeks, and Cad- 
 mus himself was originally of Thebes, in Egypt. 
 It is curious to observe, that the letters which 
 we use at this day may be traced up to the
 
 SO CARSTAIRS' LECTURES OX 
 
 History of Writing, &rc. 
 
 alphabet of the Phenician. The Roman al- 
 phabet is formed on the Greek, with a few 
 variations ; and if the Greek characters be in- 
 verted from right to left, according to the Phe- 
 nician maimer of writing, they will appear to 
 be nearly the same with the Hebrew, the Phe- 
 nician, and the Samaritan ; the names too, by 
 which they are distinguished, are nearly simi- 
 lar. 
 
 The letters were at first written from the 
 right haud to the left, and this manner of wri- 
 ting was practised among the Assyrians, Phe- 
 nicians, Arabians, and Hebrews ; and from some 
 very old inscriptions, it appears at one time to 
 have been practised by the Greeks themselves. 
 Afterwards the Greeks adopted the practice of 
 writing alternately from right to left, and from 
 the left to the right, called by them Boustro- 
 phedon. At length the motion from the left to 
 the right being found more natural and com- 
 modious, the practice of writing in that direc- 
 tion prevailed throughout all the countries of 
 Europe. 
 
 Is it not astonishing we have no ancient pro- 
 fane history beyond the period of three thou, 
 sand years back ? The revolutions of this 
 globe, and principally the long universal igno- 
 rance of the art of writing, which evidently 
 transmits those facts, may be attributed as the
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 81 
 
 History of Writiny, Sfc. 
 
 cause of it. There are still to the present time 
 several nations that make no use of it. This 
 art was common only among- a very small 
 number of civilized nations, and was only in a 
 very few hands : nothing was more rare among 
 the French and Germans, than to know how 
 to write ; before the 13th and 14th centuries 
 almost all the acts were testified by witnesses 
 only. It was in France under Charles the VII. 
 in 1454, that they began to write the laws of 
 the provinces. The art of writing was yet 
 more rare in Spain ; hence it arises that their 
 history is so barren and so uncertain until the 
 reign of Ferdinand and Isabel. There are na- 
 tions who have subdued a portion of the Globe 
 without knowing how to write. We know 
 that Gengis-Kan conquered part of Asia in the 
 beginning of the 13th century ; but it is not 
 through him nor the Tartars that we know of 
 it. Their history, written by the Chinese, and 
 translated by Pere Gaubil, mentions that these 
 Tartars knew nothing of the Art of Writing. 
 However, writing was an invention too inter- 
 esting, says Mr. Paillasson, not to be consi- 
 dered in its beginning as the greatest blessing 
 that could be conferred on mankind. All the 
 nations who have successively obtained a know- 
 ledge of it, could not help admiring it, and 
 were sensible that men would draw at all jimes
 
 82 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 History of Writing, §c. 
 
 great advantages from this art simply in itself. 
 
 Writing bad become too useful to all civil- 
 ized nations, to experience the fate of several 
 other discoveries which have been entirely lost. 
 
 Since its discovery up to the time of Augus- 
 tus, it appears that several learned persons had 
 made it the peculiar object of their studies and 
 brought it to that degree of perfection to which 
 it arrived under this Emperor. 
 
 On the revival of the arts and sciences, wri- 
 ting was the first to which mankind applied 
 most, as an useful art, and conducive to the 
 understanding of others. 
 
 Is it not singular that the Art of Writing, so 
 necessary to men in all situations, that they 
 cannot be ignorant of its utility without be- 
 coming despicable in the opinion of others, an 
 art to which we are indebted for so much 
 knowledge, that enlightens the understanding-, 
 and polishes the manners ? Is it not remarkable 
 that an art of such great utility should be con- 
 sidered at the present time with as much indif- 
 ference, as it was sought for with avidity, when 
 it was in its unpolished state, and deprived of all 
 the beauties which refinement has introduced ? 
 
 It would be useless to trace the progress of 
 English writing through all the ages of ignor- 
 ance and barbarism that succeeded the expul- 
 sion of the Romans from the shores of Britain.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 83 
 
 History of Writing, <$•<:. 
 
 They deduced their alphabet from the Greeks, 
 and left behind among the people, whom they 
 had conquered, the traces of their arts and lit- 
 erature. The invaders, also, to whom Britain 
 was indebted for its liberation from the yoke 
 of the Romans, had imbibed, previous to their 
 descent on Britain, a considerable portion of 
 Roman learning from the invasion of Italy by 
 their forefathers. Every circumstance con- 
 spired, therefore, to establish the Roman alpha- 
 bet in England under some varieties of form ; 
 and the Saxon, the old English, and other 
 characters, exhibited to view in our ancient 
 books and records, are all derived directly or 
 indirectly from the same source — the Hebrew, 
 or original alphabet of mankind. 
 
 It may not be entirely without its use or en- 
 tertainment, however, to compare the estimation 
 in which writing has been held at different pe- 
 riods of European history. Since the com- 
 mencement of the christian era, it has been 
 encouraged by the patronage, and ennobled by 
 the most powerful monarchs, and the most 
 celebrated philosophers. Suetonius tells us in 
 the life of Augustus, that the emperor taught 
 his son the Art of Writing. Constantine the 
 Great, was an admirer and cultivator of the art, 
 and makes it one of his preliminary admoni- 
 tions to Eusebius, that his books should be
 
 84 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 History of Writing, frc. 
 
 written by skilful penmen, as they had been 
 composed by able and learned authors. One 
 of the favourite pursuits of the emperor Char- 
 lemagne, was the formation of the Roman capi- 
 tals. 
 
 Charles the Fifth, and Charles the Seventh, 
 kings of France, were great critics in penman- 
 ship. The ministers Colbert and Desmerets, 
 were connoissuers in the art, and the patronage 
 bestowed by the latter on Corbeille, whom he 
 advanced for his skill in penmanship to an 
 advantageous office, sufficiently demonstrates 
 his attachment to its professors.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 85 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Materials M2lde use of in Writing. 
 
 The materials that Avould most obviously 
 present themselves to the mind of the inventors 
 of letters, would be stone, wood, and metals ; 
 and while writing- was only hieroglyphic or 
 symbolic, those materials might answer their 
 purpose, We have an instance before us in 
 the two tables on which the commandments 
 were inscribed of writing upon stone. This 
 event is said to have taken place two thousand 
 five hundred and thirteen years after the 
 creation. The most ancient books among the 
 Romans were called tabulae, because they were 
 composed of thin pieces of wood, or boards, 
 finely sliced. The laws of Solon were inscribed 
 on tables of wood, and Hesiod's works were 
 written on lead, and preserved, though much 
 defaced, by the inhabitants of the plain near 
 Helicon, till the time of the Pausanias. We 
 are informed in historical records, that Ezekiel 
 the prophet, and Solon,were contemporary near- 
 ly six hundred years before the birth of Christ 
 — and rolls must have been in frequent use
 
 86 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Materials made use of in Writing. 
 
 when Ezekiel lived, as he makes mention of 
 them occasionally in his prophecies. " *And 
 when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto 
 me ; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein ; and 
 he spread it before me : and it was written 
 within and without: and there was written 
 therein lamentations, and mourning and woe. " 
 again, " ^Eat this roll, (or volume,) and he 
 caused me to eat that roll." It is probable, 
 however, that wooden or stone tables, or table 
 books, were more generally used than rolls, 
 not only among the ancient Jews, but also 
 among the heathen. 
 
 To represent by visible characters, therefore, 
 the thoughts of man on materials of this kind, 
 must have required the art of the engraver, 
 rather than of the writer ; and when we read 
 in the Old Testament of words written upon 
 stone, written with an iron pen, and written 
 with the point of a diamond, we must under- 
 stand them of engraving rather than of writing, 
 in the proper sense of the word. In process of 
 time, mankind discovered the Art of Writing 
 on the leaves of palm trees, or of mallows. 
 Pier de Valle informs us, that 150 years ago, 
 the Indian Brahmins wrote on the leaves of 
 palm trees, and that they made him a present 
 
 *Ezekiel, Chap. ii. — verses 9th and 10th. 
 tEzekiel, Chap. Hi.— verses 1st and 2nd.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING- 87 
 
 Materials made use of in Writing. 
 
 of a book composed of these leaves. It was 
 the custom of the ancient Sybils to write their 
 prophecies on leaves ; and the judges of Syra- 
 cuse, in Sicily, were accustomed to write the 
 names of those whom they sent to banishment 
 on the leaves of the olive tree. Another in- 
 vention of the ancients, was that of table books, 
 made of various sorts of wood, but perhaps 
 most commonly of box. They cut them into 
 thin slices and finely planed or polished, and 
 they usually consisted of two, three, or five 
 leaves, which being waxed over, were written 
 upon by an instrument called a stylus. These 
 tables were in use among the Jews at an early 
 period of history, for Solomon advises his son 
 to write his precepts on the tablet of his heart ; 
 and the prophet Habbakkuk had a command 
 to write a vision and make it plain on tables, 
 that he may run who readeth it. The other 
 most common materials, of which books were 
 made, and which succeeded the wooden tablets, 
 were the Egyptian papyrus, and the skins of 
 beasts dressed and prepared for the purpose. 
 The custom of writing upon skins is much 
 more ancient than the use of papyrus. At 
 the time that Alexander built Alexandria, in 
 Egypt, the use of papyrus for writing on was 
 first discovered in that country, on the invention 
 of which all the other modes of writing were
 
 8S CARSTAIRS* LECTURES OX 
 
 Materials made use of in Writing. 
 
 superceded. When, therefore, Ptolemy Phila- 
 delphia conceived a plan for the establishment 
 of an extensive library, he caused the books of 
 which it was composed, to be copied out on 
 this sort of paper. It was exported also for the 
 use of other countries, till Eumenes, King of 
 Pergamus, endeavoured to erect a library at 
 Pergamus, which should outvie that of Alexan- 
 dria, occasioned a prohibition to be put on the 
 exportation of the papyrus. Ptolemy, to defeat 
 the project of Eumenes, forbade the transmis- 
 sion of so necessary a material. In this delem- 
 ma, Eumenes had recourse to the prepared 
 skins of beasts ; and parchment is therefore 
 called pergamena, from the\ city Pergamus. 
 The papyrus was called by the Egyptians by 
 the additional name of biblos, a word adopted 
 by the Greeks. It was a kind of water bull- 
 rush, with a slender even stem, surrounded by 
 a large tuft ; the rind was merely dried, and 
 then drawn, after being made into a paste with 
 water, into the shape of leaves ; and from this 
 circumstance, liber, denoting in Latin the rind 
 of a tree, was afterwards employed to designate 
 a book. 
 
 After the Egyptian paper had continued in 
 use some time, the making of paper was found 
 out in the East; and from that time, the use 
 of the Egyptian paper began to decline. It was
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 89 
 
 Materials made tise of in Writing. 
 
 in common use seven hundred years ago, and 
 within a century after that period, the papyrus 
 fell into total disuse. By whom or where the 
 paper from linen was first made, we have no 
 certain account, but most writers on this subject 
 agree that it was introduced into England about 
 the end of the fourteenth century. It was 
 not known in Germany till the year 1470, when 
 two men carried the art thither from Gallicia in 
 Spain. It is probable that the use of this paper 
 was adopted from the eastern nations, who had 
 learned it of the Chinese, especially as it is the 
 basis of most of the ancient Eastern M.S.S. 
 
 The conversion of large quantities of linen 
 to the purposes of commerce having considera- 
 bly enhanced the value of paper made from that 
 material, several endeavours have been made to 
 restore paper that had been already used for 
 the purposes of writing or printing, to its ori- 
 ginal whiteness, by extracting the ink by the 
 use of acids ; and a number of speculative in- 
 dividuals are known to have expended consi- 
 derable sums in the establishment of a manu- 
 factory of paper from straw. All these attempts, 
 however, have been only productive of loss and 
 disappointment, though there seems no reason 
 to doubt that a pulp may be obtained from vari- 
 ous species of the vegetable world, fully ade- 
 quate to all the purposes of the manufacturer. 
 
 G
 
 90 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Materials made use of in Writing. 
 
 Our modern books are extremely different in 
 form from those of the ancients, which were 
 properly termed rolls or volumes, from the verb 
 volvere. The several sheets were glued or 
 pasted end to end, and usually written only on 
 one side. At the bottom of the last sheet, 
 a round stick was fastened, on which the 
 volume was rolled in the same manner with 
 our modern maps : several of these rolls were 
 found at Herculaneum, but previous to the 
 discovery of that ancient city, scarcely more 
 than one or two remained to gratify the curio- 
 sity of the learned. The greatest inconvenience 
 that attached to their use, was the necessity to 
 which they subjected the reader of unrolling 
 the whole volume, in order to consult a single 
 passage, that might be towards the end of the 
 manuscript. The instruments that men first 
 made use of were suited to the materials they 
 wrote upon, which being in the first ages of 
 the world, stone or metals, instruments of the 
 form and nature of gravers would be most 
 suitable for the purpose. In the book of Job, 
 as was before observed, is mentioned an iron 
 pen, meaning in that passage a graving tool. 
 But in after times, when writing began to be 
 common on tables of wood, covered over with 
 coloured wax, men made use of a sort of 
 bodkin of iron, brass, or bone : this instrument
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 91 
 
 Materials made use of in Writing. 
 
 was called a stylus, by the Romans, and by the 
 Greeks, a graphian. The leaves of the table 
 books being waxed over, they were written 
 upon with the style ; and when they were sent 
 by way of letter, the tables were tied together 
 with thread, and a seal was set upon the knot : 
 the style was made sharp, and like a pointed 
 needle at one end, for the purpose of writing ; 
 the other end was blunt and broad, to erase 
 what had been hastily or incorrectly written. 
 As the iron styles became dangerous weapons in 
 the hands of evil-minded and quarrelsome per- 
 sons, they were after some time prohibited, and 
 styles of bone or ivory were alone permitted. 
 Erixo, a Roman Knight, having scourged his 
 son to death, was attacked in the forum by the 
 mob, who stabbed him in various parts of his 
 body with the styles attached to their table 
 books, so that he narrowly escaped being killed, 
 though the Emperor himself interposed his 
 authority. Prudentius describes, in the most 
 eloquent language of which he was capable, 
 the tortures inflicted on Cassianus, by his 
 scholars, with the styles with which he had 
 taught them to write. 
 
 Some o'er his face the ratling tables play'd, 
 By which the leaves within were bloody made ; 
 While others with their writing styles maintain 
 The fierce attack, and mangle every vein. 
 
 g2
 
 92 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Materials made rise of in Writing. 
 
 From this passage, it would appear that some 
 of these table books were verv large and heavy, 
 a supposition which is confirmed by Platus, 
 who describes a boy of seven years old, as 
 breaking his master's head with Instable book. 
 
 When softer materials than wood or metals 
 began to be written upon, such as the inner 
 rinds of trees, and the leaves of the palm and 
 mallow, skins, or paper made of the Egyptian 
 bullrush rags, other kinds of instruments were 
 employed for the purposes of writing'. Calami, 
 or reeds, were the first and most general sub- 
 stitutes, and these afterwards gave way to the 
 quills of geese, ravens, turkeys, and peacocks. 
 Pens were mentioned as being in frequent use 
 about 400 years ago, though even then, ivory 
 table books were not uncommon. Goose quills 
 are now in common use throughout Europe, 
 except in Turkey, were small canes are preva- 
 lent. The Persians write with small Indian 
 reeds, and the Chinese employ a kind of tube 
 which contains the ink within itself, and which 
 fills the nib, on pressure, with the requisite 
 quantity of ink. The ink that the ancients 
 wrote with, was of various kinds in its colours, 
 and composition. The Romans in general 
 made their ink of soot taken from furnaces and 
 baths, though some of them wrote with the 
 black liquid that is found in the sepiee, or cut- 
 tle fish.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 93 
 
 Composition of different Inks. 
 
 Composition of different Inks. 
 
 The materials composing the principle in- 
 gredients from making the black ink, are 
 generally gallnuts, copperas, and Arabic gum. 
 The best gallnuts are hairv on the surface and 
 hard and solid both within and without ; good 
 copperas is known by being of a sky-blue 
 colour. Good Arabic gum is clear and trans- 
 parent, and can easily be broken. The ink 
 gets this blackness (which on white paper 
 becomes fluent) from the ferruginous substance 
 of the copperas, which is separated from its 
 acidity by the gallnuts, a vegetable substance, 
 the utility of which is to give the iron a blacker 
 colour by means of adding to it an oily phlo- 
 gistic. It is stated from a curious experiment, 
 that the ink receives its blackness chiefly from 
 the iron contained in the copperas ; to prove 
 this, let the nitrous acid be infused among the 
 ink ; immediately it will become white and 
 transparent, because the same acid dissolves 
 the iron, and from the different arrangement of 
 its parts, proceeds its transparency ; if after this 
 an alkaline substance be infused to the liquid, 
 the acid joins the alkahne and separates from 
 the iron, and makes the ink appear in its ori- 
 ginal blackness.
 
 94 carst airs' lectures on 
 
 Composition of different Inks. 
 
 Common Ink. 
 
 Take six ounces of the best gallnuts, and let 
 them be pounded in a mortar, or otherwise ; 
 take four ounces of logwood, and let it be cut 
 or grinded into very small pieces, these mixed 
 with four quarts of rain or river water, must be 
 boiled together until half diminished. Then 
 take two ounces of copperas made into a pow- 
 der, and three ounces of Arabic gum, let these 
 be also mixed and strained through a linen 
 cloth ; after this mixture has stood a few hours, 
 it may be written with. The ink thus prepared 
 is very fine, and makes the writing appear 
 beautiful and shining. 
 
 Another Method. 
 Take three quarts of rain water and sixteen 
 ounces of pounded gallnuts, boil these on a 
 slow fire until the liquor has diminished two- 
 thirds, then throw into it two ounces of Arabic 
 gum, which has been already dissolved in half 
 a pint of vinegar, then add six ounces of pow- 
 dered copperas, let this mixture boil for two 
 hours longer, and then it may be bottled for 
 use. 
 
 To make White Ink for writing on Black 
 Paper. 
 
 Take the shells of fresh eggs, perfectly free
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 95 
 
 Composition of different Inks. 
 
 from dirt, take out the inner rind, and grind 
 the shells to the finest powder possible with 
 clean water upon a marble stone well cleaned, 
 the water and powder thus mixed must be put 
 into a clean vessel and remain in it until the 
 powder is settled to the bottom, then pour the 
 water off, and let the powder be dried in the 
 sun or gradually by the fire, and take gum 
 ammony of round or oval pieces, white in the 
 inner, and yellowish on the outside, well wash- 
 ed, and deprived of the yellow rind that covers 
 it, let these be put into distilled vinegar, which 
 will be found to become quite white within the 
 space of twelve hours, this must be strained 
 through a clean linen cloth and mix it with the 
 powder of egg shells. This ink is so white 
 that it can be distinguished even on common 
 writing paper. 
 
 Yellow Ink. 
 To make yellow ink is only required to boil 
 a little saffron and gum mixed. 
 
 Green Ink. 
 This ink is produced from buck thorn seed, 
 boiled in water, wherein a little rock alum is 
 dissolved. 
 
 To make Blue Ink. 
 
 Blue ink is made by dissolving indigo, white 
 lead, and gum, together.
 
 96 CARSTAIHS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Composition of different Inks. 
 
 Red Ink. 
 
 Take four ounces of Brazil wood, a penny- 
 worth of Roman alum, a pennyworth of Arabic 
 gum, and two pennyworth of candied sugar. 
 Let these be boiled together about half an 
 hour over a slow fire in a pint of water, and 
 then it will be ready for use. 
 
 It is quite easy to make inks of any colour 
 that may be required. They are generally 
 procured from strong decoctions of coloured 
 substances used in dying, and mixed with a 
 little alum and Arabic gum. 
 
 To make Writing Ink disappear from 
 Paper or Parchment. 
 
 Let equal quantities of quick lime and burnt 
 bones reduced to powder be mixed well toge- 
 ther, and this mixture being laid or spread on 
 the paper or parchment for twenty-four hours, 
 the characters will be completely effaced. 
 
 Another Method. 
 If half an ounce of grey or yellow amber be 
 ground with an ounce of oil of vitriol, or of 
 aquafortis, and this mixture be brought with a 
 pencil on each letter, they will immediately be 
 effaced ; but some water must afterwards be 
 put on them, or the paper will become yellow.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 97 
 
 Method of extracting Ink from Paper. 
 
 Another .Method. 
 
 Rub a little oxide acid, first diluted in clear 
 water on the writing, and then immediately rub 
 it over with alum water, this will make the 
 writing- disappear rapidly. 
 
 This last method was given to me by my 
 worthy and respected friend R. M. Piper, Esq. 
 of Shepherd's Bush. 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to give my auditors 
 a correct, but hasty, review of the materials by 
 which the Art of Writing has been embodied 
 and extended ; had it been consistent with the 
 general tenor of my professional pursuits, it 
 would have been easy to accumulate a cumber- 
 some and shapeless mass of all such reading as 
 was never read on the subject before us ; but 
 my observations are not intended to instruct 
 the students in their own peculiar topics of 
 enquiry, nor confound the auditor of less ob- 
 trusive pretensions, by a display of useless 
 erudition. It is my wish to combine, with the 
 minute elucidation of the practical principles of 
 the art, a popular exposition of its general his- 
 tory, and of the various forms it has assumed 
 in different ages, and among various nations.
 
 98 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 General Observations, Sfc. 
 
 Having had occasion to descant on the utility 
 of writing, as it applies to the common pur- 
 poses of life, and the absolute necessity of its 
 cultivation to the extention and perfection of 
 the various departments of human knowledge, 
 I should trespass too heavily on the patience of 
 my auditors, were I to indulge in the repetition 
 of sentiments so obvious and so easily under- 
 stood ; yet I cannot resist the temptation of in- 
 troducing to notice a few cursory observations 
 on the prepossessions that are usually entertained 
 by some, against the Art of Writing, as the 
 mere result of mechanical labour, neither de- 
 serving the honours, nor requiring the display, 
 of mental excellence. The art of penmanship 
 has been too frequently regarded by^the idle, 
 the ignorant, and the self-important classes of 
 mankind, as the employment of patient drud- 
 gery, or frivolous perseverance — as the object 
 of cultivation to those alone, who mistake a 
 continued attention to minute and unini-
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 99 
 
 General Observations, Sfc. 
 
 portant objects, for the assiduity of legitimate 
 study, wasting their labour and their time 
 in the formation of lines and curves, de- 
 manding no effort of the mind, and equally 
 easy of performance to the philosopher and the 
 school-boy. Within the last few years, indeed, 
 these prejudices have been so widely circulated, 
 that to write a correct and elegant hand, has 
 been regarded in the circles of fashionable life, 
 as a decisive proof of dulness and vulgarity. 
 
 The student and the man of letters found it 
 necessary to comply with the general prepos- 
 session, by couching their correspondence in 
 illegible characters ; and so notorious was the 
 aversion of the clergy to a legible and decent 
 manuscript, that any individual in the middle 
 ranks of life, whose penmanship was remarka- 
 ble for incorrectness and inelegance, was said 
 to write like a parson. The fop, who devotes 
 one fourth of the day to the polish of his boots 
 and the arrangement of his cravat, affects to be 
 astonished that any individual of common sense 
 should descend to so mean and so frivolous an 
 art as that of penmanship, and the virtuoso, who 
 investigates the antiquity of an Egyptian mum- 
 my, and composes dissertations on the webs of 
 spiders, is afflicted and surprised at the devotion 
 of mankind to pursuits so destitute of intrinsic 
 dignity. To objectors such as these, it would
 
 100 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 General Observations, fyc. 
 
 be easy to reply, that no art which contributes 
 materially to the convenience and the happiness 
 of mankind, is beneath the attention of the 
 most exalted intellect ; that if any thing be 
 worth learning at all, it is worth learning well ; 
 and that if the Art of Writing be despised as 
 frivolous and mechanical, by none but the able, 
 the intelligent, and persevering, it will seldom 
 be exposed to censure or derision. All excel- 
 lence that depends on delicacy of external pro- 
 portion, and on the just and elegant combina- 
 tion of those qualities that address themselves 
 merely to the eye, might be termed mechanical 
 by the superficial or the envious. The archi- 
 tect, when he decorates his columns, or propor- 
 tions the various compartments of a lofty struc- 
 ture, might be denied the praise of intellectual 
 exertion, because he operated on inanimate 
 materials, and had recourse to the common laws 
 of mechanical construction ; nor as far as re- 
 gards the mental power required for their con- 
 ception, is there any intrinsic difference between 
 the penman, who produces a piece of writing 
 remarkable for its chastity of style, its simpli- 
 city and elegance, and he, who, by the arrange- 
 ment and combination of stone and mortar, 
 presents a fabric to the eye, according with the 
 purest principles of art, astonishing the vulgar 
 by its magnificence, and the man of genius and
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 101 
 
 General Observations, $c, 
 
 of taste by the beauty of its outline. Is it true, 
 indeed, that the impression of an architectural 
 edifice on the mind of the spectator, is more 
 solemn and more pleasing than the effect of a 
 beautiful specimen of penmanship ; but this 
 impression is in a great degree independant of 
 the skill or science displayed in its construction. 
 The very magnitude of an architectural mass 
 contributes to excite the pleasure, the wonder, 
 or the veneration of the spectator, and the mind 
 naturally associates with the contemplation of 
 such a structure, the idea of expenditure of 
 human labour necessary to its completion. But 
 whatever delight is communicated by the con- 
 templation of a beautiful specimen of penman- 
 ship, arises exclusively from the skill of its 
 author. There is no reflection of well-known 
 objects, as in the production of the painter, nor 
 any materials of intrinsic expression, as in the 
 works of the architect, to communicate those 
 incidental, yet pleasing, emotions which are 
 easily mistaken for the result of the artist's 
 genius. Whatever merit the penman may claim, 
 is exclusively his own, and in the formation of 
 his letters, he is left to the operation of his 
 individual task and skill, as freely and decidedly 
 as the painter or the architect. It is to a com- 
 parison with the latter, however, that the pen- 
 man has the most obvious pretention • and if
 
 10*2 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 General Observations, 4-c. 
 
 it can be said with truth, that little talent is 
 required to form a beautiful combination 
 adapted to the convenience of life, and the ex- 
 tension of letters from lines, angles, and curves, 
 as little merit can be claimed by him, who, 
 with a combination of pillars and arches, con- 
 tributes to adorn our dwellings, and communi- 
 cate magnificence and beauty to our sacred 
 edifices. 
 
 But the assertions of those, who contend that 
 the Art of Writing requires for its improve- 
 ment or perfection, only the patient drudgery 
 of the ploughman or mechanic, is most strik- 
 ingly and decisively refuted by a singular fact 
 in the history of mankind. Notwithstanding 
 the absolute necessity of the art to the common 
 purposes of life, to the extension of intelligence, 
 and the preservation of whatever discoveries 
 have been useful, or whatever precepts have 
 been instructive to mankind ; though every 
 age, and every nation ; every rank of life, and 
 every scale of capacity, has been equally inter- 
 ested in its progress and perfection ; and though 
 the philosopher and the statesman have been 
 indebted for their importance to its use, yet the 
 united wisdom and ambition of four thousand 
 years were necessary to its gradual advance- 
 ment, even to comparative utility; and the 
 inhabitants of modern Europe alone have en- 
 joyed the full benefits of the Art of Writing.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 103 
 
 General Observations, Sfc. 
 
 Among the modern nations of the eastern 
 world, the Persians and Arabians are con- 
 demned to the employment of alphabets ex- 
 tremely complex in themselves, and so encum- 
 bered by the use of points and auxiliary signs, 
 as to be burthensome to the memory, and 
 unadapted to the purposes of expedition and 
 facility. The Hebrew letters were only calcu- 
 lated for historical records, and other writings 
 requiring stability, rather than expedition. 
 Their letters were incapable of combination, 
 and in some instances so little distinguished 
 from each other, that a sprinkle of the pen 
 would so disfigure their form as to involve a 
 whole passage in obscurity. The Greeks, the 
 most refined and ingenious people of the an- 
 cient world, had no other alphabet for the 
 common purposes of life, than their historical 
 characters, and so unsusceptible are they of 
 rapid combination, that many of their letters 
 require two or three distinct risings and fallings 
 of the pen. So sensible were the Greeks of 
 these imperfections, that being unable to adopt 
 any complete and regular system of joining, 
 they invented a number of arbitrary and com- 
 plex abbreviations, which had no resemblance 
 to the letters for which they stood, and which 
 still form one of the most serious obstacles to 
 the attainment of the language. The Chinese
 
 104 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES OX 
 
 General Observations, Src. 
 
 have no alphabet at all, but by the intricate 
 combination of a few hundred characters, in- 
 tended as the lineal representatives of particular 
 modes of thought and external object, are only 
 able to express their ideas upon paper obscurely 
 and imperfectly. — Their written composition 
 has all the complexity of arbitrary characters, 
 and all the obscurity of hieroglyphics. The 
 alphabet of the Greeks was adopted by the 
 Romans, with such alterations only, as by re- 
 ducing the letters to shapes more perfectly 
 mechanical, rendered their combination and 
 formation still more difficult. Embarrassed by 
 the imperfection of their alphabet, and by the 
 slowness of the process with which the writing 
 or engraving of long inscriptions was effected, 
 they substituted in some instances the initials of 
 the words for the words themselves, and arbi- 
 trary marks for the terminations. This mode 
 of writing was adopted in the dark ages by the 
 monkish poets and historians, and though some 
 antiquarians have attempted to deduce our 
 present alphabet from the intermixture of the 
 Saxon with the Roman, yet it was in reality 
 accomplished by a different process. The 
 clerks in our courts of law, and the revivers of 
 learning, endeavoured for convenience to round 
 off the angular points, and run into each other 
 the perpendicular or horizontal projections of
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 105 
 
 General Observations, $c. 
 
 the Roman letters, this process in time, gave 
 origin to the present engrossing hand, and that 
 hand was refined by degrees into the present 
 alphabet. 
 
 On the taste, the perseverance, and industry 
 of the individuals by whom this change has 
 been gradually effected, it is needless to descant. 
 An ardent zeal for the excellence and progress 
 of the art, and an indefatigable perseverance in 
 its cultivation and improvement, were the cha- 
 racteristics of these eminent men. They per- 
 mitted no difficulty to overcome their enthusi- 
 asm; no obstacles to retard their pursuit of 
 practical perfection. In their farthest advances, 
 struggling to go forward ; in their highest nights, 
 still wishing to be higher ; always comparing- 
 the future with the past ; always imagining 
 more than they could do. 
 
 Emulation secured them from the chilling 
 influence of neglect, while patronage and pros- 
 perity only tended to excite them to still more 
 splendid and successful efforts. The excellence 
 that they had cultivated in adversity ; the opu- 
 lence that awaited their latter exertions enabled 
 them to display ; and a Johnson and a Shelly, 
 after surmounting the obstacles presented to 
 their exertions by the domestic troubles of the 
 seventeenth century, were enabled in a future 
 period of peace and patronage, to raise a great 
 
 n
 
 106 CARSTAIKS' LECTURES OX 
 
 General Observations, Arc- 
 
 and permanent reputation on the materials pro- 
 vided during the interval of obsuritv and se- 
 clusion. 
 
 To the candid and liberal enquirer, the ex- 
 ertions of these eminent individuals will present 
 the most cogent claim, to those who have ven- 
 tured to tread in their footsteps by attention and 
 laudable industry : when so much excellence 
 has been attained, even perfection in their suc- 
 cessors will lose its just applause, from the 
 effect of comparison. The inventor of the pre- 
 sent system, while he rejoices in his good for- 
 tune, cannot but be aware how much more 
 ably and successfully it would have been en- 
 forced and developed by his learned predeces- 
 sors. If he has done something, how much 
 more might have been effected by superior 
 talents and undistracted application? In an 
 enthusiastic zeal, however, for the extention of 
 the art, he will not yield to the most able of its 
 professors ; nor while he is conscious of the 
 talents and the application requisite to its im- 
 provement, will he easily admit that even the 
 most exalted intellect is debased or degraded 
 by an application to the art. Even those who 
 can pay their tribute of admiration to none but 
 the abstruce and scholastic accomplishments, 
 need not be ashamed of an occasional attention 
 to more useful, but les* dignified, pursuits.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 107 
 
 General Observations, Sfc. 
 
 In my preliminary observations, after tracing 
 the slow and gradual progress of the Art of 
 Writing through a long succession of ages, and 
 been taught by the evidence of history, how 
 rarely the exertions of the most industrious 
 students are rewarded by any unexpected dis- 
 covery in the paths of knowledge, the individ- 
 ual whose humble efforts have been submitted 
 to the public, may surely congratulate himself 
 on the success that has attended his endeavours, 
 without incurring the imputation of egotism or 
 impertinence. 
 
 Having been the fortunate promulgator of 
 new facilities towards the acquisition and com- 
 pletion of the art, I do not regard it as the 
 least of my rewards, that I have now the oppor- 
 tunity of addressing so respectable and numer- 
 ous an auditory ; the attention with which you 
 have listened to my observations, is at once a 
 proof of the interest you feel in the art which I 
 have attempted to elucidate, and of that can- 
 dour with which every fair and honest attempt 
 to instruct or to gratify a British public, is 
 uniformly encouraged. 
 
 I take my leave, therefore, Ladies and Gen- 
 tlemen, with sentiments of the most sincere and 
 ardent gratitude ; and not without an anxious 
 hope, that between you and me, the pleasure 
 and advantage have been mutual. 
 
 h2
 
 108 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 To Young Gentlemen and Ladies. 
 
 TO YOUNG GENTLEMEN. 
 
 Ye British youths, our age's hope and care, 
 You whom the next may polish or impair, 
 Learn by the pen those talents to insure, 
 That fix e'en fortune, and from want secure. 
 You with a dash in time may drain a mine, 
 And deal the fate of empires in a line ; 
 For ease and wealth, for honour and delight, 
 Your hand's your warrant, if you well can write. 
 
 TO YOUNG LADIES. 
 
 Ye sparkling fair, whose gentle minds incline 
 To all that's curious, innocent and fine ; 
 With admiration in your works, we read 
 The various textures of the twining thread. 
 Then let the fingers, whose unrivall'd skill 
 Exalts the needle, grace the noble quill. 
 An artless scrawl the blushing scribbler shames ; 
 All should be fair that beauteous woman frames. 
 Strive to excel, with ease the pen will move, 
 And pretty lines add charms to infant love.
 
 ^t\. 
 
 r^im 
 
 / 
 
 ( 

 
 //> // /.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 109 
 
 Instructions for Plate A. 
 
 NEW AND UNIVER9AL METHOD OF ACQUIRING 
 
 THE 
 
 Slnalgste anD iWcmorg : 
 
 By which a great deal of Labour and Time may he saved 
 in its Acquisition ; 
 
 INVENTED BY J. CARSTAIRS. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLATE MARKED 
 A. 
 
 The method of writing laid down in the fol- 
 lowing pages is recommended to teachers in 
 general as peculiarly adapted to children, to 
 persons of slender capacities, and to all who 
 are unacquainted with the first elements of 
 penmanship. It has been the endeavour of the 
 author to resolve the alphabet into some of its 
 first principles, and thus to assist the concep- 
 tions, and exercise the ingenuity of the learner ; 
 while he has avoided the extreme of prolix and 
 unnecessary simplification. The pupil having
 
 110 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Instructions for Plate A. 
 
 been taught to make with facility the strokes 
 attached to each particular number, will com- 
 bine them to each other, and form them into 
 letters with promptitude and pleasure. The 
 figures of reference too, being carried no far- 
 ther than twelve and seventeen, the shape and 
 position of the strokes will be more readily 
 ascertained and perfectly remembered in the 
 case of tuition by the monitor, than if the 
 whole alphabet were numbered. 
 
 The characters in the first line of the large 
 plate (A.) comprehending the elements form- 
 ing a majority of the letters of the alphabet 
 must be got by heart, by writing them fre- 
 quently, so that the learner may be enabled 
 to know the form of each character separately 
 as they stand under each individual figure. 
 When this is accomplished, the teacher must 
 desire the pupil to set the character that stands 
 under any figure that he may request ; until 
 the pupil can sufficiently retain the whole of 
 the characters in his mind. The pupil may 
 then be taught to join the different characters 
 together, so as to form the letters in the alpha- 
 bet; thus the characters under the numbers 1 
 and 2, form the letter a, — those under 3, 2, 
 and 4, form the letter, b, — 5, 6, and 7, the c, 
 —1, 3, 2, the </, — thus go on to join the cha- 
 racters together, which will most readily form
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. Ill 
 
 Instructions for Plate A. 
 
 into letters. Then the pupil may be made to 
 join the letters into words, as the words uncom- 
 mon, union, or any other easy word in the se- 
 cond line of the same plate, always observing to 
 write a few copies of the characters every day, 
 so large as to be at least four inches in height. 
 This will give the free use to the fingers and 
 pen, and enable the pupil to write a smaller 
 hand with uncommon ease and steadiness. 
 
 When the instructionsgiven for the plate A, 
 have been attended to, and the pupil has ar- 
 rived at some degree of freedom in the use of 
 the pen, he may occasionally attempt to form 
 the whole alphabet from the characters in the 
 plate (marked B.) The author has, from long 
 experience in teaching, found that great advan- 
 tage is derived from tracing the writing through 
 a fine sheet of paper, by laying it over the wri- 
 ting intended to be copied. Bank post paper 
 will generally answer best for this purpose, as 
 it is of a very fine texture, and will also bear 
 the ink well when written upon. Large hand 
 will commonly admit of tracing in this manner, 
 and it can be distinctly seen through the fine 
 paper. This latter method is rather expensive, 
 and would not be economical enough for chari- 
 table institutions ; yet writing would be sooner 
 acquired in this way, and the pupil attain 
 greater perfection in its right formation. Jf
 
 112 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 Instructions for Plate B. 
 
 this plan be faithfully followed by the master, 
 he will find its ultimate advantage. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLATE MARKED 
 
 B. 
 
 The characters in the plate (marked B.) when 
 properly combined, form the whole of the al- 
 phabet. They are on a smaller scale than the 
 former, but ought frequently to be written at 
 first commencement, two or three inches in 
 height, as may be thought most convenient, 
 and when the pupil is drawing towards comple- 
 tion, he may be allowed to finish his large hand 
 the same size as in this plate. Here the learn- 
 er must be taught to form the letters from the 
 characters, aud the letters into words, as in the 
 former plate. An example is given in the se- 
 cond line. The whole alphabet may be former 
 thus : — 
 
 1 and 2, form the a, — 16 and 4, the b> — 5, 
 the c, — 1 and 16, the d, — 7 and 5, the e, — 13 
 and 14, the/, — 1 and 15, the g, — 6 and 8, the 
 h, — 2, the i, — 15, the/ — 6 and 9, the A, — 16, 
 the /, — 10 twice repeated, and 8, form the wi, 
 — 10 and 8, the w, — 1, the o, — 3 and S, the ;;, 
 — 1 and 17, the <y, — 7 and 11, the s, — 16, the 
 t, — 2 and 2, the u, — 8 and 4, the v, — 2, 2, and
 
 . - *> 
 
 t*
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 113 
 
 Instructions for Plate B. 
 
 4, the to,— 12 and 5, the x,S and 15, the y, — 
 4, 7, and 12, the 2. 
 
 When the learner is proficient in forming 
 the letters readily from the characters, he must 
 then endeavour to know the numbers of each 
 character without having the numerals placed 
 above them. As soon as this is properly attend- 
 ed to and accomplished, the master should ex- 
 cercise his pupils in writing any word that he 
 may chuse to dictate by the numbers of each 
 character, until the word is completed ; thus, for 
 instance, we shall take the word command ; the 
 letter c, is number 5, and the 0, number 1, — 
 the m, 10, 10, and 8, — the next m, the same, — 
 the a, 1 and 2, — the n, 10 and 8, — the c?, 1 and 
 16 ; and so on for any other word. 
 
 From being able to write any character from 
 the number proposed, the pupil will have ac- 
 quired the just form and proportion in his 
 mind of each character or letter. This object, 
 which is seldom attained in two or three years 
 by the common mode of teaching, the author 
 will engage to accomplish by this method in a 
 few weeks. Any teacher of writing who tries 
 this method will find it a pleasure to himself 
 while his pupils are improving ; at the same 
 time it will be more an amusement to them, 
 than considered a task.
 
 114 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 An Entirely A'eic Plan, Src. 
 
 AN ENTIRELY NEW PLAN 
 
 OP ACQC1RING 
 
 IMPROVEMENT IN BUSINESS HAND WRITING 
 
 By a peculiar movement of the Pen. 
 
 Containing a curious Classification of the Letters combining the excel- 
 lencies and uniform neatuess of English Manuscript ; 
 
 Invented and taught by J. Carstairs. 
 
 When the time, the labour, and the expense 
 that have hitherto been expended in the culti- 
 vation of the Art of Writing, and the frequent 
 failure of talent and perseverance beneath the 
 instruction of the most able masters, are justly 
 estimated, the utility of a publication, elucida- 
 ting the principles on which the author has 
 taught a great number of pupils to write with 
 correctness, elegance, and rapidity, is sufficient- 
 ly evident. To the fathers of families, there- 
 fore, to those who have derived but trivial 
 advantage from the old system of tuition, to
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 115 
 
 An Entirely New Plan, SfC. 
 
 the masters of academies, who wish to promote 
 the rapid improvement of their scholars at the 
 least expense of time and labour, and to all who 
 are anxious to accomplish in a few weeks, what 
 is now, according to the old systems of pen- 
 manship, imperfectly acquired in two or three 
 years, the method laid down in the following- 
 pages, will be found a valuable and useful ac- 
 quisition. The number of pupils who have 
 experienced, and are willing to testify, the bene- 
 fit of these instructions, is the best security, 
 the author hopes, for the correctness of his 
 principles, and the acommodation of his system 
 to every degree of knowledge and capacity.
 
 116 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson First. 
 
 LESSON I. 
 
 To produce the command of the arm, so 
 necessary to free writing, I find it expedient in 
 the beginning to tie up the fingers, in order to 
 prevent the motion of the joints — I tie a piece 
 of tape, about eight inches long, round the first 
 and second fingers, and the first joint of the 
 thumb, with the pen held betwixt them, the 
 pupil in consequence is compelled to move the 
 arm to form the letters. 
 
 In like manner, the third and fourth fingers 
 are tied up, that they may be kept in their 
 proper position. I tie tape to them also, so as to 
 bring them sufficiently under the hand, that 
 the surface of the nails may run on the paper ; 
 — this is done by taking a piece of tape and 
 tying the middle of it just immediately between 
 the nails, and the first joints of the third and 
 fourth fingers, then with the two ends of the 
 tape, bring the fingers under the hand, so as to 
 admit the tape to be fastened round the wrist.
 
 8 v \ V 
 
 $ ■ I ( I ( I 
 
 ->v x 
 
 -: 
 
 "*l 
 
 
 
 3 
 ;> 
 
 ^
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 117 
 
 Lesson First. 
 
 (See the plates for the genuine positions of the 
 hand.) The chief intention of tying the upper 
 fingers and thumb, is to hinder the too flexible 
 motion of them when the pupil is endeavouring 
 to learn the larger movements. Each move- 
 ment ought to be acquired distinctly and cor- 
 rectly. Now if the fingers were allowed to 
 move, while the learner is acquiring the larger 
 movements of the arm and hand, the conse- 
 quence would be that the pupil would seldom 
 or ever obtain any one of the movements com- 
 pletely from the natural tendency every one 
 has, (especially those who have learnt the old 
 methods of writing) , of using the thumb and 
 first and second fingers 
 
 The next thing that must be attended to by 
 all those who wish to gain the right command 
 of the pen, will be to have the free and easy 
 movement of the arm, at the same time, the 
 learner must take peculiar care to sit in a right 
 posture. The best position is to sit perfectly 
 upright. Those who have a desire to lean for- 
 ward (which I do not at all recommend) ought 
 to lean on the left arm, and to keep the right 
 arm light, and at full liberty, so as to move in 
 any direction at pleasure. Do not let the right 
 arm rest at all, or in other words, as light as 
 possible. Place the copy-book, or sheet of pa- 
 per you intend to write upon, straight before
 
 118 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES OX 
 
 Lesson First. 
 
 you, so as to be parallel with the (able or desk : 
 begin the first line or column in plate No. 1, 
 and endeavour to form the loops, (which are in 
 the shape of a long s,) uniform with each other, 
 observing while you are performing this, that 
 in every motion made by the pen, the arm must 
 move easily on the surface of the nails of the 
 third and fourth fingers. (See my observations 
 on the positions of the hand, &c.) The pen is 
 not to be taken off from beginning to end : 
 both up and down strokes must be made fine 
 in this line. 
 
 When a free and easy movement is in some 
 measure acquired in the practice of the charac- 
 ters in form of the long s, proceed to the line 
 of the m's. Here in this line, as in the former, 
 the pen must not be taken off until finished, 
 and continue each succeeding m by means of 
 the loops. In the line of h's it will be observed 
 that they loop each other without having re- 
 course to the additional loop. The fine strokes 
 must be taken distinctly from the bottom of 
 each turn. The whole arm must move in a 
 back direction by the flexile movements of the 
 elbow and shoulder joints. A greater number 
 of each letter may be continued in each co- 
 lumn than is given in the plate ; the more the 
 better, as will conduce to still greater freedom. 
 
 Three m's are given in the next column for
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 119 
 
 Lesson First. 
 
 the practice of the pupil, the loop is rather dif- 
 ferent, but will join equally easy. Proceed with 
 them's and ns in the same manner as the other 
 lines. 
 
 Do not squeeze the pen too much between 
 the fingers ; keep it quite easy, without press- 
 ing too hard on the paper. Very large sheets 
 of paper will be best to practise upon (not less 
 than two feet square), and the columns conti- 
 nued from top to bottom without lifting the pen ; 
 and the pupil must be careful to have sufficient 
 ink in the pen at the commencement of each 
 column. 
 
 If learners should find it difficult to keep the 
 pen on down the whole column, let them take 
 a dry pen, that is to say, a pen without ink in 
 it, and exercise the arm down the columns, this 
 will give the pupil confidence ; or he may trace 
 over the copy of the teacher, or if he thinks 
 proper he may trace the columns (with a dry 
 pen), in the plates of this work. 
 
 By frequently tracing or imitating with a 
 dry pen, the pupil will naturally perform with 
 less reluctance, being aware in that case, that he 
 is not spoiling the pages of his copy-book, as 
 would be the case in many instances, when ink 
 is used, and the pupil finds himself awkward in 
 the performance. Those who find that they 
 cannot keep the columns straight down the
 
 120 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson First. 
 
 paper, let perpendicular lines be ruled at pro- 
 per distances down the paper, and let the pupil 
 write down between them, and be sure to write 
 each letter or word exactly in the middle of the 
 lines with the extremity of the long s, touching- 
 the ruled lines on each side, all the way down 
 the page.
 
 > 
 
 \v vv^^^
 
 THE ART OF WRITING 121 
 
 Lesson Second. 
 
 LESSON II. 
 
 In this lesson, Plate No. 2, the long letters 
 are made use of, and the pupil will generally 
 find them rather difficult at first, on account of 
 their length, but a little practice will make 
 them uncommonly easy if the movement be 
 properly attended to, which I have noticed in 
 the first lesson — Before the learner commences 
 with this lesson, he ought to be thoroughly 
 master of the former. The same must be ob- 
 served in every succeeding lesson. Every letter 
 must be imitated correctly as in the plate. Inat 
 tention in this particular might give the learner 
 an inclination to a careless hamx; in shaping 
 each letter in his general writing. Each line 
 in this lesson must also be written without lift- 
 ing the pen from the paper. 
 
 The b's and /*s join each other. Clear and 
 open loops to the b's and/'s, &c *& indispensa- 
 bly necessary on two accounts, Jirst, because 
 they join the more readily ; and secondly, as 
 it is agreeable to modern taste.
 
 122 CAKSTAIlts' LECTURES OX 
 
 Lesson Second. 
 
 All the letters formed from the o, namely, 
 the a, d, o-, and q, great attention is necessary 
 to make them perfect, and the chief difficulty is 
 in the formation of the o part, in joining the 
 fine stroke to the o, the pen frequently goes to 
 the right, or the left of the fine stroke, and 
 gives the a the appearance of two letters, 
 namely, like e, i ; and the g often has the shape 
 of e, j or a long s ; this I wish the learner to be 
 very particular in, and to mind when he has 
 taken the fine stroke of the o up, to come ex- 
 actly back upon it, in the practice of g, </, and 
 a, in this lesson. I have given a line of a's, and 
 a line of r*s, to practise these with the assistance 
 of the loop, to prepare for the next lesson, 
 which is done entirely upon the principle of 
 looping. It will be seen that the system is 
 completely founded on the looping of letters 
 and words together. 
 
 The pupil ought to practise from twenty to 
 one hundred pages at each lesson. Some ob- 
 jections may be raised against this, on account 
 of the great waste of paper, but those who are 
 anxious for economy in paper, may let the 
 learner practise on slates, as one or two pages 
 can never answer the purpose, because the 
 learner ought to have sufficient exercise in 
 the system to familiarize him in it; and this will 
 not only give confidence, (which is a grand
 
 THE ART OF WRITING 123 
 
 Lesson Second. 
 
 object obtained whatever is learnt), but a more 
 rapid improvement is to be expected by exten- 
 sive practice. The quantity of practice I have 
 recommended in this lesson, ought also to be 
 followed in every lesson. 
 
 The teacher must be extremely careful to 
 make the learner move on the surface of the 
 nails of the under fingers throughout all the 
 exercises, and to this end, the under fingers must 
 be continually tied, until the learner has ob- 
 tained a habit of holding the hand correctly ; 
 without which, no person can attain a true 
 method of writing. 
 
 i2
 
 124 
 
 CARSTAIRS LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Third. 
 
 LESSON in. 
 
 It will first be requisite to consider the dif- 
 ference between the formation of the x a in the 
 first column, and the common mode of making- 
 it. — The old method of making the .r, is to give 
 it the shape of two c's, one inverted, and the 
 other in its right position. As the manner of 
 forming the x is always found difficult without 
 taking off the pen, the form of the x, given in 
 plate No. 3, will generally answer the purpose 
 in running-hand, and can be made with great 
 ease, without lifting the pen from the paper. 
 Let it be noticed here, that the first part of the 
 x resembles very nearly the first part of a small 
 m, rather turned to the left at the bottom, the 
 second part is like a small i, a little turned at 
 the top towards the right. The pupil should 
 commence with the first part of the or, as if he 
 intended to form the first part of an m, obser- 
 ving to return upwards on the stroke he came 
 down with ; then return down again on the 
 stroke he went up with, forming the second
 
 
 
 
 > SN^NJ N J > 
 
 • v S 
 
 5 * 
 
 I 
 
 
 S 
 
 }} ^ * ^* ^ ^ N 
 
 
 
 kVmn 
 
 - 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 125 
 
 Lesson Third. 
 
 part something like the shape of an i, as men- 
 tioned above, without taking off the pen, and 
 so continue keeping on the pen from x to .r, by 
 the help of the loops, until the column is com- 
 pleted. The e is so very simple, that it will 
 not be necessary to give a long direction about 
 it, only be particular to make a clear, open 
 loop in the e itself. The o I have already suf- 
 ficiently explained in the second lesson. Learn- 
 ers often find the s rather difficult when the pen 
 is kept on. It is nearly as easy as any other let- 
 ter, if we attend properly to the bringing of the 
 pen back, round the turn at the bottom. When 
 the s is formed, return steadily round the bottom 
 in a retrogade movement from the dot of the s, 
 so as to keep on the line. A little practice will 
 soon confirm this into a habit. In making the 
 t, the pen must return up the down-stroke, and 
 form a small loop like an o in the middle of it, 
 and continue the fine stroke, which serves as a 
 crossing to the t, and admits of being joined 
 readily with any letter that may follow it. In 
 the u, which is commonly in the form of two z's, 
 the down-stroke returns upon the up-stroke, as 
 in the o, but is not turned at top. The u and 
 w are made nearly on the same principle.
 
 126 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Fourth. 
 
 LESSON IV. 
 
 In the classification of the letters in this 
 lesson, recourse is had to the long letters, to 
 serve instead of loops to join with the small 
 ones ; but if the loops be preferred, they may be 
 used as often as the pupil pleases. Any letter 
 in the alphabet can be connected, in the same 
 manner as in plate 3, according to the fancy or 
 inclination of the learner. The first line in 
 this lesson is nearly the same, either from the 
 top or bottom of the column. Writing is always 
 said to be the most correct, when the letters 
 appear well shaped, even, and uniform, when 
 viewed upside down : in performing this line, 
 the bottom of the A must come nearly opposite, 
 or rather below that part of the y, where the 
 fine stroke crosses it; otherwise the perpendi- 
 cular position of the line of movement cannot 
 be preserved, nor will the letters stand under 
 each other. A single trial will convince the 
 pupil of this. The same position of sitting, 
 movement of the pen, holding of the pen, and
 
 N 
 a 
 S 
 
 fe 
 
 h 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
 4 
 >,
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 127 
 
 Lesson Fourth. 
 
 not taking off the pen until each column is 
 finished, as have been requested and recom- 
 mended in the foregoing observations, must 
 invariably be persisted in. Let it be understood 
 here, that I am the more strenuous that these 
 things should be most rigidly acquiesced in, on 
 account of the freedom and quickness which is 
 thereby acquired ; without these requisites, the 
 learner need not expect much success ; but on 
 the contrary, by adhering strictly to the instruc- 
 tions given, he may look forward with hope to 
 gain all possible degree of perfection. The plia- 
 ble motion of the fingers may be used through- 
 out the whole of the lessons, but not without 
 the free movement of the arm at the same time. 
 
 In the second line, or column, great care 
 must be taken to form the a directly opposite to 
 the middle looping of the/. The as are to be 
 placed perpendicularly under each other, and 
 the/'s to run parallel. In the third line, con- 
 taining the he, some difficulty may arise in 
 giving the c its proper shape, by having to 
 return back on the fine stroke round the top 
 after the dot is made. 
 
 The c ought commonly to be made on the 
 same principle as the o, except in making the 
 dot, which a little practice will soon perfect. In 
 the line hd, be very careful to join the long 
 stroke of the d close in contact with the back
 
 128 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Fourth. 
 
 of the o. When the d is made in the form it 
 has in the plate, some are apt, in coming down 
 with the back stroke, to go to one side of the 
 fine stroke that is taken up from the o part, 
 and in this case, the d has the form of two 
 letters in the shape of o/, which must be avoided 
 as much as possible. The k is made every way 
 like the h, except in the middle of the last 
 part, which is in the form of an r, often made 
 by many. If there should be any difficulty in 
 making the last part of the &, that part should 
 be practised by itself, until it can be written 
 uniformity. 
 
 The following Monosyllables may be joined 
 together by the assistance of the loop given 
 in the first Lesson, viz. 
 
 Ak, ek, ik, ok, al, el, il, ol, am, em, im, om, 
 an, en, in, on, ap, ep, ip, op, up, ar, er, or, ur, 
 as, es, os, us, at, et, it, ot, ut, av, ev, iv, ov, uv, 
 aw, e\v, ow, ax, ex, ix, ox, ux, ay, ey, oy, az, 
 ez, iz, oz ; bla, ble, bli, bio, blu, bra, bre, bri, 
 bro, bru ; cha, che, chi, cho, chu, cla, cle, cli, 
 clo, clu, era, ere, cri, cro, cru ; dra, dre, dri, 
 dro, dru, dwa, dwe, dwi ; fla, fle, fli, flo, flu, 
 fra, fre, fri, fro, fru ; gla, gle, gli, glo, glu, 
 gra, gre, gri, gro, gru ; kna, kne, kni, kno, 
 knu ; pha, phe, phi, pho, phu, pla, pie, pli, plo,
 
 
 
 
 
 /// // 
 // / // 
 / / / // 
 ///// 
 
 Y. 
 
 '0, 
 
 
 /■/;/> 
 
 • . ■ o 
 
 f / / / y r 
 
 
 ,/.,/„■ ///'/■'/,///, /'//, 
 
 , /y 
 
 ////■>(/> ///*/',■ /t /.'/' 
 
 '/Y> ft . 
 
 / ' .' 
 
 
 
 •v.v/ % 
 
 v 
 
 < 
 
 ////// // / ■ r / s 
 
 : ■ 
 
 ////'/■'■ 5 / 
 
 
 /// / // 1" 
 
 As///' 
 
 / / / S / / f> 
 
 /// / ///, 
 
 
 
 // 
 
 7 ' 
 
 7/ ; 
 
 /VA.W . /,»
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 129 
 
 Lesson Fourth. 
 
 plu, pra, pre,pri, pro, pru ; qua, que, qui, quo; 
 sea, see, sci, sco, scu, sha, she shi, sho, shu, 
 ska, ske, ski, sko, sku, sli, slo, slu, sma, sme, 
 smi, smo, smu, sna, sne, sni, sno, snu, spa, spe, 
 spi, spo, spu, sla, ste, sti, sto, stu, swa, swe, 
 swi, swo, swu ; tha, the, thi, tho, thu, tra, tre, 
 tri, tro, tru, twa, twe, twi, two, wha, whe, whi, 
 who, wra, wre, wri, wro, wru. 
 
 From the foregoing classification and com- 
 bination, every individual letter of the alphabet 
 is kept in continual practice, while a continua- 
 tion of each letter separately is always in com- 
 mand. Freedom, regularity, and quickness, 
 are consequently the result, for by writing the 
 letters one perpendicularly under the other, 
 without lifting the pen, the learner is constrain- 
 ed to keep the arm easy and light, and the hand 
 is not drawn out of its proper position, as it 
 frequently is in the common mode of writing in 
 a horizontal direction, where the true position 
 of the hand has not been inculcated by training, 
 and confirmed by habit.
 
 130 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Fifth. 
 
 LESSON V. 
 
 When the pupil has gone through the differ- 
 ent combinations of the letters in the plates 1, 
 2, 3, and 4, and can do them with facility, 
 without lifting the pen in each column, he may 
 commence with the words in the plate marked 
 5. Be particular that the up-strokes are taken 
 from the bottom of each turn of the m's, by 
 doing so, it will give the writing a free and 
 open appearance. I recommend here, that the 
 pupil should write a great many more words 
 than are given in the columns of the plate .'not 
 less than 20, without taking the pen off ; this 
 will assist very much towards gaining a free use 
 of the arm. In coming round with the strokes 
 that join the words together, be sure to move 
 the whole arm, and bear the pen quite light, so 
 as to make the joining strokes as fine as they
 
 X 
 
 \ 
 
 X 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 s 
 
 N 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 131 
 
 Lesson Fiffh. 
 
 are in the plate. When the words in the plate 
 have been written repeatedly, the following easy 
 short words may be written in columns in the 
 same manner : — amend, mind, many, men, 
 mine, wind, come, then, whom, want, wine, 
 land, time, tame, fame, home, lame, poem, 
 mend, mild, mine, minim, mint, round, money, 
 mourn, morn, main, mental, rind, roman, 
 grand, game, form, found, frame, member, 
 move, mount, warm, commend. 
 
 Also the following may be practised if thought 
 necessary ) viz. 
 
 Abase, abhor, abide, about, abroad, abrupt, 
 absent, absolve, absurd, accept, acquire, addict, 
 address, adjourn, admit, adore, adorn, advance, 
 afar, affair, affirm, affright, against, alarm, 
 alike, allude, alode, amaze, amend, amends, 
 amidst, among, amuse, anoint, apart, approach, 
 approve, arise, arrest, ascend, aspire, astray, 
 atone, attack, attempt, attire, avail, avenge, 
 avoid, await, awake, away ; because, become, 
 before, befriend, begin, behave, behead, behold, 
 belief, believe, belong, belove, beneath, benight, 
 bequeath, beset, beside, bespeak, betwixt, be- 
 wale, blaspheme, bureau; canal, carouse, collect,
 
 132 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Fifth. 
 
 commerce, complain, complaint, compound, 
 compel, comply, compose, compute, conceit, 
 concert, conduct, confine, consume, contempt, 
 contend, content, contemn, convey, correct, 
 corrupt, create ; debar, deceit, deceive, decide, 
 declare, decoy, decease, deduce, deduct, defect, 
 defend, defence, defer, defy, define, deform, 
 defraud, degrade, delight, denote, depart, 
 depose, depress, depute, derive, describe, desire, 
 despite, despond, destroy, detect, detest, devise, 
 direct, disarm, disband, disburse, discard, dis- 
 claim, discount, discourse, disjoint, dislike, dis- 
 lodge, dismay, dismiss, disown, .dispel, displace, 
 display, dispose, dispraise, disprove, disrobe, 
 dissent, disserve, distaste, distinct, distort, dis- 
 trust, distract, disturb, disuse, divert, divine, 
 dragoon; effect, elope, emblem, embark, em- 
 broil, emit, enchant, enclose, encroach, endear, 
 endorse, endure, enforce, engage, enjoy, en- 
 large, enrage, enrich, enrol, ensue, enthral, 
 enthrone, entice, entire, entreat, espouse, evade, 
 event, evince, exalt, excel, excuse, excite, ex- 
 claim, excise, exempt, exert, exist, expand, 
 expanse, expend, explode, expose, extend, ex- 
 tort, extract, extreme ; fifteen, forearm, fore- 
 seen, foreshew, forespeak, forethink, forget, 
 fourteen, forsworn, fulfil; gallant, gazette; 
 henceforth, hereby, herein, hereof, himself; im- 
 brue, imbuse, innnerge, immerse, impair, im-
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 133 
 
 Lesson Fifth. 
 
 pale, impend, implant, impress, imprint, im- 
 prove, infect, infest, infirm, inflame, inflict, 
 infuse, ingraft, ingrate, inject, inscribe, inslave, 
 insnare, instil, instruct, insure, intense, intrigue, 
 intrude, intrust, inverse, invert, invest, invite; 
 mischance, miscount, misdeed, misdoubt, mis- 
 give, mishap, mislead, mislike, misname, mis- 
 pend, misplace, misprint, misrule, mistake, 
 mistrust, molest, morose ; neglect, nineteen ; 
 obstruct, obtain, occur, offence, omit, oppress, 
 outdo, outlive, outstrip ; partake, pearmain, 
 perform, permit, perspire, pertain, perverse, 
 pervert, polite, portend, predict, prepare, prevail, 
 prescribe, preserve, pretend, project, promote, 
 pronounce, propose, propound, prorogue, pro- 
 tect, protest, purloin, pursuit ; rebate, rebuke, 
 recant, receipt, recite, recline, recourse, reduce, 
 refer, refit, regain, rejoice, relate, relax, rely, 
 remark, remind, remit, repair, repass, replete, 
 repose, repress, reprieve, reprint, repulse, 
 reprove, restraint; resume, retail, retract, re- 
 trench, revere, revolve, reward, robust, romance; 
 scrutoir, sedan, seduce, select, shalot, sixteen, 
 subject, subjoin, sublime, submit, suborn, sub- 
 tract, supine, suppose, supreme, surmount, sur- 
 pass, survey, survive, suspense ; themselves, 
 thereof, thirteen, traduce, transact, transcend, 
 transcribe, transform, transgress, translate, 
 transplant, transport, transpose, trepan ; unapt,
 
 134 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES OX 
 
 Lesson Fifth. 
 
 unarm, unbar, unbend, unbind, unbolt, unclasp, 
 unclothe, unclose, uncut, undress, unfair, unfit, 
 unfold, ungain, unglue, unhasp, unheard, un- 
 hinge, unhook, unhorse, unhurt, unkind, unlace, 
 unlike, unlock, unmade, unman, unmask, 
 unpaid, unripe, unsafe, unsay, unscrew, unseen, 
 unsound, untaught, unteach, untie, untrue, un- 
 truth, untwist, upon ; whereas, whereby, where- 
 in, whereat, whereto, wherewith, withal, with- 
 draw, without, withstand. 
 
 When the movement of the whole arm is 
 well accomplished, and the position of the hand 
 is completely acquired by the learner, the next 
 step will be to acquire the movement of the 
 hand, and the part of the arm from the elbow 
 to the hand. The learner must commence this 
 movement by making characters in the form of 
 ovals, or similar to the letter o ; continuing the 
 pen on the paper, and going round repeatedly 
 on the same out-line as quick as possible. (See 
 the plates J. When the pen has gone round one 
 of these ovals, or o's, for about twenty, or thirty 
 times, the learner must apply the same facility 
 of movement to the writing of easy letters ami 
 short words, then to return to the same process 
 of making o as before, until he has confirmed 
 this movement by being able to write quick and 
 easy. Thai the learner may arrive as much as
 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 N 
 
 \ 
 
 
 x^ 
 
 K 
 
 Si 
 
 V 
 
 \ 
 
 {I 
 
 s 

 
 //.'I 
 
 >'•>,,,,*,'/ '■" ^ //" *wt/&ae '■/ s/" >"" 
 
 ■■■'■tasks' System. 
 
 i 
 
 ' 
 
 ////// f> //////(' ///////' /S////T /////A 
 
 ;/// //r ///'//< ///<//<■ ///f/// /////// 
 
 • ////// /////. ////// ///// ////A/////" /////// 
 {■r////////fiy' rr///'/////Av ctfmmlmt > 
 
 ^//////// / ///////// ///////// ////// //^ /// 
 
 
 //'/// //// /// ' *2 '/// //A /// ' < > /// //// AV ' //// 
 
 N f //VV / 
 
 
 V • , 
 
 // J //,> s s ;,,.,'" f / s/ < j 
 
 
 ''•,, s / / * j , y s / / s j / t^ 
 
 ... ttrtf 
 
 ,, A , 
 
 A * f t ■ ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■,/,,,,,, f 
 
 ,„,/,■„> „,?,. 
 
 '/:?■ 
 
 ,, y A 

 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 135 
 
 Lesson Fifth. 
 
 possible at perfection in the Art of Writing, he 
 may be allowed to use the motion of the 
 fingers, in combination with the movement of 
 the arm, and this will assist very much in giving 
 a true shape to the letters, but the use of the 
 fingers must never be allowed, until after a 
 confirmed habit of the former movement is 
 acquired. When words are introduced for 
 practice in large hand, short and easy words 
 will be found most suitable at first. Every 
 word must be written without lifting the pen, 
 and this will be found to give great command 
 and freedom. Lon? words mav be next intro- 
 duced, but in all cases each word must be writ- 
 ten without lifting the pen. When the learner 
 is confirmed in writing a good large hand, he 
 may then proceed to the acquirement of a 
 running or business hand, but even when he is 
 learning running hand, he ought to keep up 
 the practice of large hand in all the movements, 
 as this will assist him much in giving a true 
 shape to the letters in running hand ; as well 
 as boldness, firmness, and stamina in the gen- 
 eral writing. 
 
 The horizontal ovals with the words improve- 
 ment, and monumental^ included, are intended 
 to give a free action of the hand from left to 
 right. The learner ought to practise several of 
 these ovals in the first instance, indeed several
 
 136 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Fifth. 
 
 pages should be filled with them previous to 
 commencing with the words. Then endeavour 
 to write the words by the very same movement, 
 (I mean the free motion of the hand with the 
 under fingers in full play on the paper), that is 
 to say, as the pen moves on the paper, the under 
 fingers must move just as much at the same 
 movement, so that if a pen were fixed to the 
 under fingers, it would produce the same word 
 at the same time, that the pen which is held 
 with the upper fingers is made to produce.
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \* S S N s 
 
 \ N 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 ■v.
 
 
 //////'/ r 1 / 'r /; / c / / / / ;// // '/ f / v /// /' // / 
 
 **?ppp?>?v 
 
 /-' 
 
 /„ ,, s / 
 
 7 r* s / / r* 
 
 
 /re j ' / " s s <• 
 
 / ^* s s 

 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 137 
 
 Lesson Sixth. 
 
 LESSON VI. 
 
 The words of this lesson (plate rnarked 6,) 
 must be done precisely in the same manner as 
 the former lesson. The only difference between 
 this and the preceding lesson is, that longer 
 words are given here to combine with the up 
 and down movement of the arm? and the side 
 movement also from the left to the right. 
 
 The following words are to be practised in those 
 given in the plate. 
 
 Improvement, comprehend, grammarian, 
 commissioner, commonwealth, innumerable, 
 inconvenience, leamington, bombardment, tri- 
 umphant, commendation, remuneration, im- 
 portance, monumental, decamptment, country- 
 man, countermand, tantamount, symmetrical, 
 countenance, Wellington, commandment, com- 
 pliment, contemperament, contemplation, com- 
 munication, necromancer, remember, misem- 
 ploy ment, immoveable, immortalize, &c. 
 
 K
 
 138 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Sixth. 
 
 Likewise all, or any of the following, viz. 
 
 Acceptable, accessary, accuracy, accurately, 
 admirable, admiralty, adversary, alabaster, ami- 
 able, amicable, annually, answerable, apoplexy, 
 applicable ; caterpillar, ceremony, charitable, 
 comfortable, commentary, commonality, compe- 
 tency, conquerable, controversy, cordial ty, 
 courtiously, cowardliness, creditable, critically, 
 customary ; damageable, difficulty, disputable, 
 efficacy, elegancy, eminency, exemplary, ex- 
 quisitely, formidable, gentlewoman, gilliflower, 
 governable, graciously, habitable, honourable, 
 literature, luminary, malefactor, matrimony, 
 measurable, melancholy, memorable, merce- 
 nary, miserable, momentary, multiplicand, 
 multiplier ; navigator, necessary, numerable ; 
 ordinary ; palatable, pardonable, parliament, 
 passionate, penetrable, pensioner, perishable, 
 persecutor, personable, pin-cushion, practicable, 
 preferable, profitable, promisary, prosecutor ; 
 reasonable, reputable ; sanctuary, seasonable, 
 secretary, separable, serviceable, solitary, sove- 
 reignty ; speculative, stationer, statuary, sublu- 
 nary ; temporary, territory, testimony, tran- 
 sitory ; valuable, variable, variously, violable, 
 virtually, voluntary, utterable ; warrantable, 
 weather-beaten, abstemious, absurdity, accep- 
 tion> accommodate? accompany, accountable,
 
 THE ART OF WRITING 13i) 
 
 Lesson Sixth. 
 
 addition, adventure, adversity, affection, affinity, 
 affirmative, affliction, agreeable, allowable, am- 
 bitious, anatomist, annuity, antagonist, antiqui- 
 ty, apology, apostolic, apprenticeship, arithme- 
 tic, ascension, asparagus, assertion, astonish- 
 ment, astrologer, astronomer, attraction, rever- 
 sion, audacious, authority ; barbarity, benevo- 
 lent ; calamity, captivity, carnation, chronology, 
 collection, combustion, commendable, commis- 
 serate, commission, commodious, commodity? 
 communicate, communion, companion, compas- 
 sion, conclusion, condition, confession, confu- 
 sion, continual, contributor, convenient, con- 
 version, conviction, convulsion, correction, 
 corruption, courageous, creation ; declension, 
 deduction, deformity, deliberate, delicious, 
 deliverance, deplorable, desirable, destruction, 
 devotion, digestion, discernable, discover}, 
 distinction, distraction, divinity, division, domi- 
 nion, doxology, duration ; edition, effectual, 
 enumerate, erroneus, executor, executrix, expe- 
 riment, experience, expostulate, expression, 
 extortion, extravagant ; felicity, felonious, for- 
 getfulnessj formality, foundation, fraternity, 
 frugality, futurity ; geography, geometry, gra- 
 tuity ; habitual, harmonious, historian, histori- 
 cal, humanity, hypocrisy ; idolater, idolatry, 
 illustrious, immediate, immensity, immoderate, 
 immovable, impatience, impenitent, impiety, 
 impression, impurity, incessantly, inclinable ; 
 
 k2
 
 140 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Sivih. 
 
 encouragement, incredible, industrious, infec- 
 tion, infirmity, ingenious, ingredient, inheri- 
 tance, iniquity, instruction, interpreter, inven- 
 tion, invincible, invisible, irregular; luxuriant, 
 magician, majority, malicious, melodious, 
 memorial, methodical, minority, miraculous, 
 morality, mortality, mysterious ; nativity, ne- 
 cessity, nobility, notorious ; obedient, objection, 
 obscurity, observable, obstruction, occasion, 
 omission, opinion, oppression, original, out- 
 rageous ; particular, peculiar, perfection, per- 
 mission, perpetual, persuasion, petition, philo- 
 sophy, physician, plantation, possession, pos- 
 terity-, precarious, preservative, presumptuous, 
 prevaricate, prodigious, production, profession, 
 promiscuous, prophetical, proportion, rebellion, 
 reception, recovery, redemption, reduction, re- 
 flexion, relation, religious, remarkable, ridicu- 
 lous ; salvation, satyrical, security, severity, 
 significant, sincerity, society, sobriety, subjec- 
 tion, submission, superfluous, superior, super- 
 lative, suspicious ; temptation, tobacconist, 
 transaction, transgression, tumultuous, tyranni- 
 cal, vain-glorious, variety, vexatious, victorious, 
 virginity, voluminous, unanimous, unblamable, 
 unavailing, unchangeable, undutiful, unfortu- 
 nate, unmannerly, unmarried, unmerciful, un- 
 natural, unsavory, unsearchable, unspeakable, 
 unusual, unworthy ; accidental, altogether, ana-
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 141 
 
 Lesson Sixth. 
 
 baptism, apprehensive ; benefactor ; calimanco, 
 commentator, comprehensive? correspondence ; 
 detrimental, disadvantage, disaffected, disagree- 
 ment, discomposure, discontented, discontinue, 
 disinherit ; everlasting ; fundamental ; incohe- 
 rent, inconsistent, independent, inoffensive, in- 
 strumental, intercessor, intercession, intermed- 
 dle, intermixture, introductive ; legislative; 
 manufacture, memorandum, misdemeanor, 
 moderator ; operator, opportunely, over-burden ; 
 regulator ; sacramental, semicolon, superstruc- 
 ture, supervisor ; unacquainted, unadvised, 
 unbecoming, undefiled, undertaker, undivided, 
 universal, unprepared, unprovided ; whensoever; 
 animadvert ; legerdemain ; misapplied, misap- 
 prehend, misrepresent, misunderstand ; never- 
 theless ; superabound, superinduce, superintend; 
 actionable ; circulatory, conscionable, customa- 
 rily ; dedicatory, dictionary ; expiatory ; fash- 
 ionable ; figuratively ; judicatory ; marriage- 
 able ; ordinarily ; passionately, pensionary ; 
 questionable ; stationary, supplicatory, volun- 
 tarily ; abominable, affectionate, apothecary ; 
 commemorable, commendatory, commission- 
 er, compassionate, conditional, considerable, 
 continually ; degeneracy, deliciously, dis- 
 honourable ; effeminacy, episcopacy ; ima- 
 ginable, imaginary, immediately, impenetrable, 
 impracticable, incomparable, incorrigible, iu-
 
 142 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Sixth. 
 
 estimable, innumerable, insatiable, inseparable, 
 intolerable, inviolable, irregularity ; malicious- 
 ly ; notoriously ; observatory, occasional ; pa- 
 rishioner, preparatory, recoverable ; traditional, 
 tyrannically, victoriously, unalterable, unans- 
 werable;, uncharitable, unconquerable, unfortu- 
 nately, ungovernable, unnecessary, unpardon- 
 able, unreasonable, unrighteously, unseason- 
 able, unsufferable, unutterable ; absolution, 
 acceptation, acclammation, accusation, admira- 
 tion, admonition, advantageous, affection, affir- 
 mation, aggravation, alphabetical, alteration, 
 ammunition, apparition, apostolical, application, 
 apprehension, approbation, arithmetical, artifi- 
 cial, avocation ; benefaction; calculation, cate- 
 chetical, celebration, ceremonial, Christianity, 
 chronological, circulation, circumcision, com. 
 mendation, composition, comprehended, con- 
 demnation, condescension,* confirmation, con- 
 gregation, conscientious, consternation, consti- 
 tution, consummation, contraction, conversa- 
 tion, corporation, crucifixion ; declaration, de- 
 lineation, demonstration, deprivation, desola- 
 tion, detestation, deviation, diminution, disa- 
 greeable, disobedience, disputation, distribu- 
 tion ; education, evangelical, exaltation, ex- 
 clamation, excommunicate, expeditious, expli- 
 < aiion, exportation ; fallibility, fomentation ; 
 genealogy, generality, generation, geographical,
 
 THE AR.T OF WRITING. 143 
 
 Lesson Sixth. 
 
 geometrical ; habitation? hospitality, hypocriti- 
 cal ; imitation, immaterial, immorality, imper- 
 fection, importunity, imposition, impossible, 
 imprecation, impropriety, incarnation, incivility, 
 inclination, inconceivable, inconsiderate, incon- 
 venient, incorruption, indignation? inequality, 
 inexpressible, infidelity, ingenuity, insignifi- 
 cant, inspiration, insufficient, insupportable? 
 intermission, interruption, introduction, inun- 
 dation, invitation, invocation, irreligion ; justi- 
 fiable ; lamentation, liberality ; matrimonial, 
 mediator, meditation, meritorious, ministerial, 
 ministration ; navigation, nomination ; obliga- 
 tion, observation, operation, opportunity ; 
 penitential, perpendicular, persecution, pers- 
 piration, philosophical, popularity, prejudicial, 
 preparation, presentation, preservation, pro- 
 bability, proclamation, profanation, proposi- 
 tion, prosecution, provocation ; recollection, 
 reconcileable, recreation, reformation, regu- 
 lation, representative, reputation, resignation, 
 resolution, respitation, restitution, resurrec- 
 tion, ruination ; salutation, satisfaction, sensi- 
 bility, sensuality, supernatural, superscription ; 
 transportation, transposition ; valuation, vene- 
 ration, violation, visitation, unaccountable, 
 uniformity; administration, characteristic, co- 
 operator ; denominator ; ecclesiastic, experi-
 
 144 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Lesson Sixth. 
 
 mental ; impropriator ; multiplicator ; super- 
 abundance ; uncircumcised. 
 
 To those who have a desire to excel in wri- 
 ting, I strongly recommend the method of 
 tracing, which I have hinted at in a former 
 part of this work, but as small-hand writing 
 cannot be so distinctly seen through the paper 
 in an unprepared state, it would be advisable 
 to make use of sheets of paper qualified by the 
 following method ; in this case, the pupil must 
 trace each letter, word, or line, with a black 
 lead pencil ; Middleton's pencils, (marked H. 
 H. H.) are the best for this purpose. 
 
 Directions for preparing Paper to trace on. 
 
 Take a sheet of bank post paper, and rub it 
 well all over on both sides with a feather dipt 
 in sweet oil j take a small linen cloth, and rub 
 the sheet perfectly dry, and then hold it before 
 the fire a few minutes, when it will be ready for 
 use. 
 
 Then lay the prepared sheet upon the copy 
 you intend to trace, and the writing will appear 
 clear and perfect through it. In this manner, 
 any form of writing whatever may be copied or 
 imitated.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 145 
 
 Observations, §-c. 
 
 Observations on Plate marked 7. 
 The lines in this plate serve as a specimen of 
 the style in which the pupil may be enabled to 
 write, if he pursues with industry, attention, 
 and perseverance, the instructions laid down in. 
 the foregoing pages. If the pupil should, from 
 negligence, or any other cause, find that his 
 writing is not sufficiently improved after he has 
 gone once regularly through the lessons, he 
 must begin and practice the lessons repeatedly 
 from beginning to end, until he can with 
 certainty write equal to the style of the plate 
 [7]. When the pupil can write in the above 
 manner, he may for his general practice, write 
 the following easy sentences, or any other he 
 may think proper to adopt : — 
 
 A mans actions commonly speak his mind. 
 Beauty and money many admire. 
 Candour and judgment are not always com- 
 portions.
 
 146 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Obtervations, Src. 
 
 Devouring time makes monuments undurable 
 
 Employment in something useful deserves 
 commendation. 
 
 Fortune common ly favours the brave. 
 
 Gaming ruins many thousands. 
 
 Humility commands respect. 
 
 Innumerable inconveniences accompany man' 
 kind. 
 
 Kings may command, but cannot conquer,, 
 Death. 
 
 Learning improves the understanding. 
 
 Monuments of learning are durable. 
 
 Necessity commonly quickens invention. 
 
 Opportunity neglected often brings severe 
 repentance. 
 
 Patience and humility become every christian. 
 
 Quietness and contentment are great bles- 
 sings.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 147 
 
 Observations, fyc. 
 
 Remember thy Maker in thy youth. 
 
 Strive to amend in every line. 
 
 Temperance generally promotes health. 
 
 Vain and transitory are all earthly enjoy- 
 ments. 
 
 Wickedness and vice are the companions of 
 idleness. 
 
 'Xamples may prevail, while many precepts 
 jail. 
 
 Youth and age frequently disagree. 
 
 Zealously endeavour to improve.
 
 V
 
 iS 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 > / 
 
 N \ 
 
 $ 
 
 X 
 
 ^X 
 
 V 
 
 \ 
 
 > 
 
 
 > 
 
 \ 
 
 i j 
 
 * 
 
 i
 
 V 
 
 v v 
 
 > 
 
 ^ 
 
 s 
 
 S2 
 
 v v 
 
 V 
 
 - 
 
 X. 
 
 <* 
 
 v 
 
 v 
 
 ^ 
 
 . 
 
 
 N.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 149 
 
 The Capital Letters. 
 
 The Capital Letters. 
 I have given a specimen of the manner in 
 which the capital letters may be made by the 
 movement of the arm, without lifting- the pen 
 from the paper, by looping them together, by 
 which means a wonderful freedom is acquired. 
 It will be observed, that the corner letter at 
 the beginning of each square, is made sepa- 
 rate from the rest, and the pen taken off. The 
 next step is that of joining two letters together, 
 and then three, four, &c. By joining one more 
 letter every time until they begin to grow 
 gradually less in number ; the difficulty is not 
 so great, as if the pupil Mere to join a greater 
 number at the first movement. The pupil 
 may join any of the letters in the same way if 
 he pleases. The directions of the movement 
 it will be perceived, runs obliquely from the 
 left to the right.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 151 
 
 An Entirely New Method, Sfc. 
 
 ENTIRELY NEW METHOD 
 
 IMPROVING WRITING, 
 
 BY MEANS OF SQUARES. 
 
 m — ooo — 
 
 It is a well-known fact, that to be able to 
 write with freedom and dispatch, is a most 
 desirable acquisition, and must be particularly 
 useful to those engaged in commercial af- 
 fairs. No country, without exception, can vie 
 with Great Britain for trade and commerce ; 
 every advance, therefore, towards improvement 
 in an art so generally wanted and made use of, 
 cannot but be sanctioned by every Englishman 
 of a discerning mind. Every one, from the 
 king to the meanest subject, wants writing 
 more or less. This work now submitted to
 
 152 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 An Entirely New Method, <$*c 
 
 the public, may be compared with Dr. Bell's 
 and Mr. Lancaster's systems of teaching to 
 read, which embrace the advantages of great 
 economy, and wonderful facility of acquirement, 
 and at the same time, ease, despatch, and uni- 
 versal utility. Copiers of law concerns would 
 find the principle, as well as the movement of 
 the following method, to be of infinite benefit 
 as it regards quickness and freedom.
 
 I 

 
 THE ART OF WRITING 153 
 
 Instructions, Sfc. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SMALL SQUARES, 
 
 (Marked in the Plate with Y). 
 
 Rule the page you intend to write into 
 squares of as nearly equal dimensions as pos- 
 sible. There will not be any necessity to write 
 the figures as in the plate ; they are merely 
 written at the corner of each square, for the 
 purpose of explaining' the direction in which 
 the pen is to move. When the page is ruled 
 as above directed, the following instructions 
 must be attentively pursued, viz. — Begin with 
 making two m's (as in the plate) between the 
 figures 1 and 3; then without lifting the pen, 
 move down the line from 3 to 4, still continu- 
 ing the pen on, make two m's between 4 and 6 ; 
 then move up the line from 6 to 5, and make 
 two m's between 5 and 7 ; then move the pen 
 down the line from 7 to 8, and so on for the 
 rest to the end of the first line of squares. 
 
 Begin the next line of squares and write 
 two m's between 2 and 4 ; then move the pen 
 down the line from 4 to 29, and write the m's 
 from 29 to 31, and so on until the whole of the 
 squares are filled up in the same manner, 
 
 L
 
 154 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES OX 
 
 Instructions, 4c- 
 
 always observing in moving up and down the 
 lines, to do it by the movement of the whole 
 arm. This method has many advantages over 
 every other that has been published on the 
 subject pf \ writing. In the first place, the per- 
 pendicular movement is preserved by taking 
 the pen up and down the side of each square, 
 and the arm is always kept to its right position 
 the same at the end of the line as at the begin- 
 ning. 
 
 Secondly. By this method a great deal of 
 paper is saved, for, by reversing the position 
 of the paper, the sides of each of the squares 
 may be written on the same as before. Large 
 hand may be written between the lines. I 
 should recommend, that each word or line of 
 large hand be written from beginning to end 
 without taking the pen off, which will give 
 great freedom. The middle of each square, 
 which may be left vacant after the large hand 
 is written, may be filled by writing small 
 capital letters in them. 
 
 Thirdly. The squares assist greatly to give 
 an uniformity and neatness to the writing, and 
 also makes it compact and close ; and will 
 completely counteract and correct a wide, 
 straggling, and effeminate running hand, too 
 much in use at this time, and frequently made 
 worse by a system introduced within these few
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 155 
 
 Instructions, Sf-c. 
 
 years, commonly called, A system of Lines and 
 Angles, or Wide Writing, which can never 
 answer any good purpose for the books of a 
 counting-house, as it generally takes up two 
 lines for that which ought to be written in one, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE LONG SQUARES, 
 
 (Marked in tlie Plate with Z). 
 
 The squares may be ruled of any length and 
 width according to the length of the word 
 intended to be written, agreeing with the 
 option of the master or pupil. The same is to 
 be attended to in these squares as in the former, 
 with regard to the movement, the manner of 
 sitting, &c. To enable the pupil to go on 
 correctly, I shall go through part of the squares. 
 Commence with the word commandment, (or 
 any other word), and write it between 1 and 3 ; 
 then, without taking off the pen, move down 
 the line from 3 to 4 ; then write the word 
 commandment again between 4 and 6 ; then 
 move the pen up the line from 6 to 5 ; and then 
 write the word as before, and the last word will 
 end at 10: proceed in like manner until the 
 whole be finished. 
 
 l2
 
 ! 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 -/ 
 
 ■^xZ^T^Z
 
 -^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 157 
 
 Instructions, SfC. 
 
 Instructions for the Plate commencing with 
 large m's, gradually decreasing in size. 
 
 In writing the m's in this plate, the learner 
 must bear the arm up about two inches above 
 the table or desk, and move the whole 
 arm up and down the paper on the surface 
 of the nails of the third and fourth fingers, 
 in a perpendicular direction. Take a pen 
 without any ink in it, and trace the ra's on 
 the plate several times over as quick as possi- 
 ble, and by this means the perpendicular move- 
 ment which this method of writing requires, 
 will be sooner acquired than by imitation, 
 observing at the same time that the pen is not 
 to be taken off in the whole page.* Be parti- 
 cular to make every turn at the bottom sharp, 
 and the top round when imitated and written 
 with ink. When this plate can be copied 
 correctly, and can be performed with ease 
 and with great speed, words may be written 
 in the same manner by beginning large, and 
 
 * Mr. Butterworth of Edinburgh, says, that he has found 
 this method of not lifting the pen from the paper of great 
 advantage for freedom and ease.
 
 158 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Instructions, <J-c. 
 
 writing them less every line, until they become 
 as small as the last line of the m's in the plate. 
 I recommend this method strongly to the 
 notice of the pupil, as it gives great command 
 to the hand, and also wonderful freedom as 
 well as expedition. 
 
 ■ 
 
 ; 
 
 i 
 ■ 
 
 i 
 
 ; 
 ■
 
 ,./..x.„y 
 
 '. ,. ,/ 
 
 
 ,„;>./,„./ 
 
 
 /,;, /,,,,/ 
 
 ,,.^^/^-y 
 
 A*~4~A 
 
 
 ,,,/ 
 
 
 „,/
 
 ^ 
 

 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 159 
 
 Instructions, $-c. 
 
 Instructions for Plates 9 and 10. 
 
 The learner must keep the arm entirely off 
 the table or desk in practising words as they 
 stand in these plates, (the words are joined 
 together by continuing a line straight or curved, 
 from one word to another on any part or 
 corner of the paper) and not even to lean upon 
 the little finger, nor touch the paper at all, but 
 Avith the pen, and try to write each word by the 
 same movement as a capital letter is thrown. 
 If the learner should find it difficult to do this, 
 by bearing the arm entirely up, recourse must 
 be had to the following methods : — Let a string 
 or cord be suspended from an eminence vertical 
 to his hand, tied to a nail or peg, or if he chuse, 
 tied to a hook in the ceiling : let the arm be 
 slung in the string, that it may bear the 
 whole weight of the arm, so as to admit the 
 pen to touch the paper, and the arm thus slung 
 will move in any direction at pleasure : or if 
 he should find the above method inconvenient, 
 he may have some person to bear the arm by 
 holding the string, The string must be fast- 
 ened round the wrist.
 
 160 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 Instructions, fyc. 
 
 Instructions for Plates 11 and 12. 
 
 It will be noticed in plate eleven, that the 
 words are first written large, and gradually 
 diminished by means of a diagonal line drawn 
 from one corner of the page to the other. I 
 have found this method of great use to my 
 own pupils, as it is a kind of scale to enable 
 the pupil to write the words of any size and 
 width, from very large hands to the smallest 
 possible, by almost insensible gradations. This 
 simple, yet useful contrivance, is of infinite use 
 to all those who write a straggling and effemi- 
 nate running hand, because, from this scale, 
 they can accommodate their writing to any size 
 they please. 
 
 In plate 12, I have given a specimen of my 
 plan of writing on squares, which are to be 
 written the same as the other squares which 
 I have mentioned in a former part of this work. 
 The only difference between these and the 
 former, is, that these shew the proper slanting 
 of the letters, &c They are also intended to 
 assist in giving the right position of the pen,
 
 // 
 
 "/v 
 
 ^f//s/ // / , 
 
 ^^////z ? 
 
 /^ ^^ ^ / 
 
 ^"^'^^.^ 
 
 / 
 
 
 & 
 
 / 
 
 A 

 
 
 '///// 
 
 v////// 
 
 6 y 
 
 /" 
 
 z y y 7 s / i £ 
 
 yy y y/ ; ^ ' / / / / / / / y/s 
 
 y y y /y / / y 7 , ^, y y , y //,- // | 
 
 y 
 y y y yy y y x y / 
 
 yy y y y y z 
 
 ? y / /y y 
 
 / , 
 
 f ", -.-,
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 s 
 
 
 X 
 \ 
 
 
 x 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 v 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 \ N 
 
 
 1 v 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 > 
 
 :
 
 
 
 - / / / , I 
 
 t /„ / 
 
 ./ -/ ./ 
 
 ////'/ / / , 
 
 , , / , , , ; / /
 
 
 
 ..-'''■'■. 
 
 
 5 
 

 
 £ 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 *a 
 
 «5 
 
 5j 
 
 >.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 101 
 
 Instructions, $c. 
 
 viz. by keeping the pen parallel with the lines, 
 it will naturally point to the shoulder. 
 
 On the Positions of the Hand and Pen. 
 
 Since I have written my former observations 
 on the position and holding of the pen, I have 
 found it more convenient, as well as more grace- 
 ful, to keep the wrist laying flat with the table 
 or desk, and to move on the surface of the 
 nails of the third and fourth fingers ; and this 
 will be found to assist the movement more than 
 by leaning' entirely on thf pnd of the fingers, 
 from the smoothness of the nails. This posi- 
 tion of the hand maybe used or not, according 
 to fancy or inclination. I now, however, always 
 teach it to my pupils, as it gives a wonderful 
 steadiness to the hand and arm. 
 
 It certainly must appear very evident, that the 
 hand and pen ought as much as possible to be 
 kept in one uniform elevation or position, at 
 the beginning, middle, and end of the same 
 word, and of the same line ; but I am persuaded, 
 we shall hardly find one out of ten persons, 
 (who have learnt from the old mode), when 
 writing running hand, having one and the same 
 position of the hand and pen in every part of a 
 word ; and if they have not, the writing cannot 
 appear regular, consistent, and good.
 
 162 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Instructions, 4*c. 
 
 For instance, in writing a formal hand, the 
 little finger is generally used as a fixed prop, 
 and sometimes several letters in succession are 
 formed by the motion of the upper fingers only, 
 without moving the little finger. When wri- 
 ting a running hand, the consequence is, that a 
 line of writing is composed of a number of 
 successive and uncertain curves and shifts of 
 the hand and pen ; therefore, the hand, before 
 it makes a move in this way, is gradually drawn 
 over while in the action of writing, so as to 
 show the inside of the hand. The pen being 
 thus continually useu at diifcrcnt angles of 
 inclination, gives varying characters to the 
 letters, and the writing is unequal in style and 
 drawn out of the direct line. 
 
 To accomplish the object of free writing, 
 great attention is necessary to be paid to the 
 different movements of the arm, hand, and 
 fingers, because the grand principle of im- 
 provement, perfection, and quickness, chiefly 
 depend on these, throughout the whole of the 
 learner's practice. The first and greatest 
 movement is the movement of the whole arm ; 
 the next is the movement of a part of the arm 
 and hand from the elbow, resting on the table 
 or desk, at the elbow ; and the least and last 
 movement is, that of the fingers. 
 
 But after the learner has acquired each
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 163 
 
 Instructions, Sfe. 
 
 separate movement thoroughly, he ought then 
 to be taught the combination of the movements 
 of the fingers and arm. Keep the third and 
 fourth fingers under the handy so as to move on 
 the surface of the nails, and this will be found 
 to assist the movement more, than by leaning 
 entirely on the end of the little finger, from 
 the smoothness of the nails ; and also at the 
 same time, observe to keep the wrist laying 
 parallel with the surface of the table or desk. 
 The above position, in my opinion, is the only 
 true position of the hand and arm that ought to 
 be taught, for several reasons — First, because 
 all other elevations of the hand and arm are 
 altogether uncertain and unsteady — Secondly, 
 if the hand varies in its position while writing-, 
 the point of the pen must evidently be changed 
 in position, and the strokes made by the pen 
 cannot be uniform with each other, nor all 
 equally slanting — Thirdly, if the learner is 
 not taught at first commencement a certain and 
 sure position, it often happens, that when he 
 leaves school and commences writing quick, 
 his hand goes to the right side, comes in con- 
 tact with the paper, table, or desk, and in this 
 case, the pen is thrown so much over, as to 
 make it impossible to write any otherwise than 
 with the side of it — Fourthly, inattention to the 
 true position of the hand, and the holding of
 
 164 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 Instructions, Sf-c. 
 
 the pen, frequently retard the progress of the 
 pupil, and give such bad habits in writing, as 
 are generally retained through life — Lastly, if 
 the slit of the pen is not kept even with the 
 down strokes, they cannot have an uniformity 
 of thickness. My method is to teach my pupils 
 to write in a perpendicular direction, that is to 
 say, instead of writing from left to right, I 
 teach the pupil to commence at the top of the 
 page, and to descend gradually in a perpendi- 
 cular direction, (without lifting the pen) to the 
 bottom of the page ; and by this method, the 
 
 hand and pen can bo kept in the same elevated 
 
 position, the same at the end as at the begin- 
 ning. The foregoing method of retaining a 
 true position of the hand and pen in practice, 
 while it gives a wonderful freedom, I am con- 
 vinced is a complete desideratum in the Art, 
 and is well worthy the attention of every per- 
 son. The great advantages to be derived from 
 this discovery, and its importance and utility, 
 will best be estimated by practical experience. 
 The method made use of in running from 
 one letter to another, or from one word to ano- 
 ther, by a continuation by means of curved or 
 straight lines, must evidently and decidedly 
 give a free and easy motion or movement to 
 the pen, and will, if persevered in, eventually 
 give great command in writing.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 165 
 
 Instructions, <J-c. 
 
 The lines that run from each letter or word, 
 should be made quite light, and to this end, the 
 arm ought to rest easy on the table or desk, 
 and the pen ought not to be pressed too heavily 
 on the paper, so that the pen may not be forced 
 to form the down and up strokes stronger than 
 what the pen would form them naturally with- 
 out any pressure. The same method, (that of 
 keeping the pen light), must be pursued in 
 large hand. If the pen does not make the 
 down strokes strong enough, it is the fault of 
 the pen, and not of the writer. The nib of the 
 pen ought to be nibbed to answer the thickness 
 or fineness of the writing intended to be written. 
 
 When the pen is pressed too hard on the 
 paper, it generally forms an unnatural down 
 stroke, and produces a rough and uncertain fine 
 stroke.
 
 K 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 k 
 
 
 \ 
 
 >8 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ x 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 k 
 
 K 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 S! 
 
 >5 
 
 \
 
 ////// r //////////// 
 
 "" ///' //r //////////// 
 
 
 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 
 
 r I itsmjjts STS7XM 
 
 5 ■ ///„, //a,. ///- / 
 
 & £t & S> ti /' 
 
 \ //„ //„ /A,//,,//,,//,, 
 
 ',',,, />,,, S» ^ ^L 
 
 s ;s, .//,/ y /,' y/z/.y^y 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 '. „.■ //■ ,. ,/ yy„ / /y- y y- y , .,,/,/. y . -.> 
 
 /,V '/ A // 4 // / './/.if vi t Z / / /// '//, '//// 1 
 
 
 • 
 
 s,, 
 
 
 .trm.s System 
 
 tent 
 
 // / / / 
 
 
 
 
 
 \STgM 
 
 • - -' 
 / / /, , . ,,//,, //,. / 
 
 ■ srsrett 
 
 rsr£M 
 
 „ / / / ,<//,/,, y >f//i ' 
 
 y / / ' ■ ■ >
 
 . 
 
 Alls .V tf W*./tn M/A**t t#*IH 
 
 I J 
 
 /// 
 
 /// 
 
 /// 
 
 ////// 
 
 / 7 
 
 /// ■■" //// £ 
 
 / /// £ (/// //// 
 
 trt .>/?Jf,fA# f t,
 
 /j, A 
 
 K 
 
 ( . * i ■ i 1,1 < i ■ , i )i / . > / /',,"'/ 
 
 
 s <s ? / // f y s / / / s y s / / s / / /■/ . 
 
 Ss / v / / 
 
 / 
 
 J, 
 
 / s / < </'/ ' f '/ *' '' /' '' '' 
 
 
 <%_ ez ss s/ 
 
 ;, „ „ 
 
 y? 
 
 A 
 
 / / 
 
 i 1 IS SYSTEM, 
 
 // r r- s ? > s f Ss/ < S' J '■ r ' '" c "" C 
 
 ,,■> i /, s,.y / 2 -J / -S 6 'j (TO (7. 
 
 " System. 
 
 // / r / / / 
 
 <■ v > v v v > t t 
 
 ff f Or. > // ■> r - s £ r f / /// C- / SS ■' / 
 
 ' /' C Sf <■ J ' /? ' ss/ s / ■ s f 
 
 y s / < / *
 
 / f 
 
 /;,„,s y .w x r -4- ' //>y ^ 
 
 iA>/ ;</y '/' /^ ',„,, 
 
 '/-' 7 -' // " ' / f / //; 
 
 /A ,„// /,„•., „//,„,/ ,* y*£L 
 
 XCiy y < £ /„/ *.S .;.y..S,:„// 
 
 //, /., ,./ /,„,,,/,,,, „,. ,/.,,„//, . /A 
 
 j 
 
 {'J( A, ■,/„,, /A, „.,//,,/,,/'//,,, /,,,,,;.. >,,,,, 
 
 f// . 
 
 ;/ 
 
 SP< /-> /^ /<> /„ //,,■ y,,. ///„,„, 
 
 
 "y 
 
 /, ., A , „ / //, 
 
 '^~yy» 
 
 * A '/ • 
 
 v/ >^.y.,y. ~ ^ ~. ry * f^-y 
 
 l*,,,,,/,/, - At /„///. y/.,. 
 
 / / 
 
 /,/,/„/ 
 
 
 / / / / / 
 
 //////// 
 ■■-■/■ rf r / " / '~' 
 
 
 y 
 
 
 /. A,/,,,,/ /,.,.. /.-,„,, .,/,/,„ 
 
 S/.s. y „ /„,.., ,/,...//. //. „ 
 
 / ,/ //. ,„.,/ 
 
 >v '/^v 
 
 <■ Sy*' '.^y^ '..../>.'..'...■/>■
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 167 
 
 Instructions, 4* c - 
 
 Instructions for Plate 13. 
 
 The lines in this plate, are given to shew how 
 letters and words may be joined together with- 
 out moving the pen from the paper in each, 
 and may be continued even to the extent of a 
 whole page, by the lines running from one line 
 to the next following. Thus, any word or 
 letter may be done in the same manner. In 
 like manner, the whole alphabet may be writ- 
 ten from beginning to end without lifting the 
 pen.
 
 168 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Tabula Perennis. 
 
 OR 
 
 ECONOMICAL WRITING TABLET. 
 
 Invented uy the Author. 
 
 From the great waste of paper in schools, 
 particularly where the number of children is 
 very large, any discovery, however simple, that 
 will supercede the usual expenditure of that 
 article, must be acceptable to all those who are 
 desirous of extending necessary and useful 
 learning, amongst the lower classes of the 
 community. The discoverer of the Tabula 
 Perennis, has, from various experiments, 
 found that it will answer all the purposes where 
 paper is generally used, for the acquirement of 
 useful as well as ornamental penmanship, and 
 therefore conceives it will be a valuable acqui- 
 sition in our National Schools.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 169 
 
 Tabula Perennis. 
 
 The Tabula Perennis, may be written 
 upon with ink made of Water and Indigo, 
 mixed with Frankfort black, in the same 
 manner as any other writing- paper, and with 
 a common pen, except that the pen ought 
 generally to be made with a longer and finer 
 nib than is usually written with. When the 
 Tabula Perennis is covered with writing, 
 take a wet sponge and rub it all over until the 
 writing disappears ; then take a linen rag and 
 rub it again, and after this, rub it all over with 
 a piece of dry flannel, or woollen cloth, and 
 then it may be written upon the same as before. 
 It will admit of lines ruled with a black lead 
 pencil, which cannot be easily erased, except as 
 according to the common practice of applying 
 Indian rubber to ruled paper, so it may be 
 applied with equal effect to the Tabula Pe- 
 rennis, as the lines of the pencil will as 
 readily disappear ; but the lines will not be 
 erased in the process of cleaning with a sponge, 
 which must be a great advantage, from saving 
 the trouble of ruling every time it is written 
 upon, as the same lines may serve as before, at 
 the option of the learner or teacher. Pencil 
 outlines of landscapes, or figures, may be 
 drawn as on paper, and erased with Indian 
 rubber. 
 
 Proper elementary copies for tracing or 
 
 M
 
 170 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Tabula Perennit. 
 
 imitation, either in Penmanship or Drawing 
 lessons, may be imprinted on the Tabula 
 Perennis. It will also answer all the purposes 
 of slates, by having a small inkstand attached to 
 it, a boy may use a pen in writing his figures, 
 and on this account it must be decidedly pre- 
 ferable to a slate, because the use of the pen 
 is more wanted than the slate pencil, in the 
 general routine of business. Lastly — The 
 Tabula Perennis may be made of any 
 colour, (but a white ground will make the 
 best contrast when dark coloured ink is used), 
 or of any size, according to fancy. 
 
 The Tabula Perennis is simply a piece of 
 tin or thin iron, varnished or japanned over 
 quite smooth, then gently scraped or ground 
 over with a fine stone, so as to give it a proper 
 consistency for writing upon ; or it may be 
 finely shaved or scraped with a knife.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 171 
 
 Directions, fyc.Jor using the Carstairian fVriting Tablet. 
 
 DIRECTIONS, &c. 
 
 FOR USING THE 
 
 CARSTAIRIAN WRITING TABLET. 
 
 In the present age, many discoveries have 
 been made by various individuals, to expedite 
 the improvement of youth in every department 
 of literature, some of which have great merit, 
 and therefore claim, as well as deserve, public 
 support, in proportion to their utility in facili- 
 tating the attainment of universal knowledge, 
 by extending the ideas, refining the taste, assist- 
 ing the memory, or enlarging the conceptions. 
 Notwithstanding the many attempts to econo- 
 mize expense in the materials used in educa- 
 tion, yet many useful inventions may still be 
 introduced for the accomplishment of economi- 
 cal plans already proposed. The invention now
 
 172 CARSTAIRS* LECTURES ON 
 
 Directions^ 4'c/or using the Carstairian Writing Tablet. 
 
 brought before the notice of the public, though 
 simple in its design, is beautiful in effect, and 
 cannot be less dignified, or less acceptable, on 
 account of its operations not being complex, 
 abstruse, chimerical, or metaphysical. 
 
 Take a small earthen white plate, and hold it 
 over a lighted candle or lamp, until the whole 
 plate be completely covered with smoke ; or 
 smoke as much of the plate as may be deemed 
 necessary for writing upon, observing while in 
 the process of smoking, the plate must be 
 moved to and fro over the light, so as to give 
 the smoke an equal adhesion, and the moving 
 will also prevent the plate from cracking. 
 
 Take a pen, without ink in it, and trace 
 or write with it on the smoked part of the 
 plate, and the strokes or letters will immediately 
 appear in the contrast of white letters and black 
 ground. Thus may landscapes and figures of 
 every- form be delineated or depicted on the 
 surface of the plate, and by the hands of the 
 professional Artist, an effect may be produced 
 even to surpass the finest engraving, from its 
 rich and luxuriant appearance. 
 
 Other materials may be made use of for 
 Writing upon after being smoked ; such as 
 tin, glass, plates, silver, copper, white metal, 
 &c. &c.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 173 
 
 Directions, fyc.for using the Carstairian Writing Tablet. 
 
 If the plate or pallet be rubbed with a very 
 small quantity of sweet oil, so that the oil pro- 
 duces a thin silky smooth surface previous to 
 smoking, it will add greatly to the beauty of 
 the surface, and assist the pen to glide along 
 with greater ease, and will give a fine effect to 
 the writing, drawing, &c. 
 
 F. WARR, Priuter, Red Lion Passage, Holborn.
 
 Directions to the Binder. 
 
 The small Plate commencing with the words "Bold and Free 
 
 Writing," &c. to face the Title page. 
 The large Plate, marked A. to face page 109. 
 The small Plate, marked B. to face Page 112. 
 The small Plate, No. 1, to face page 1 16. 
 The small Plate, No. 2, to face page 12 1. 
 The small Plate, No. 3, to face page 124. 
 The small Plate, No. 4, to face page 126. 
 The large Plate, commencing with the words " me, mi, mo", &c. 
 
 proceeding down the page, to face page 128. 
 The small Plate, No. 5, to face page 131. 
 The large Plate, commencing with ovals, or characters in the 
 
 form of the letter 0, with the word " Movement," in the 
 
 middle of each, to face page 134. 
 The small Plate, marked No. 6, to face page 1S7. 
 The large Plate, commencing with horizontal ovals, with the 
 
 words " Improvement," ** Monumental," in the middle of each, 
 
 to face page 1 37. 
 The small Plate, marked No. 7, to face page 145. 
 The large Plate, commencing wilh " A man's manners, &c." to 
 
 face page 146. 
 The two small Plates, " Capital Letters," to face page 149- 
 The Plate marked " Y and Z," to face page 153. 
 The Plate with large m's gradually decreasing in size, to face 
 
 page 157. 
 The large Plate, commencing with the words " Recommend good 
 
 and virtuous men," &c. to face page 157. 
 Plates marked 9 and 10, to face page 159- 
 The Plates marked 1 1 and 12, to face page 160. 
 The two Plates of the " Genuine Positions of the Hand," to face 
 
 page 161. 
 The Plate marked 13, to face page 167. 
 The Plate commencing with large and small m's, in the hist line ; 
 
 and in the second line the word " Mine," large and small, to 
 
 face page 167.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 175 
 
 Brief Recapitulation, with occasional Remarks, in- 
 cluding a retrospective Review of the Instructions 
 already given, with additional matter, intended 
 chiefly for those to whom the Author cannot have 
 the opportunity of giving personal instruction. 
 
 An individual who has been at a great deal 
 of labour and expense to complete an edifice, 
 must be naturally anxious towards the conclu- 
 sion, to survey every compartment of the super- 
 structure, to ascertain whether each component 
 part is properly proportioned ; and also, with a 
 view to add any little embellishment which 
 might have a tendency to improve the appear- 
 ance of the building, or make it more covenient 
 and useful. — The painter, who has employed 
 every precaution, and has seemingly given 
 every symmetry and beauty that could be ima- 
 gined to a picture, when viewed as a whole, 
 may yet find it to be incomplete, when every 
 minutise of it has undergone a careful and cri- 
 tical examination. The artist, however cautious 
 or careful he may be, may overlook many de- 
 fects which the amateur, or even the common 
 observer would readily discover. — An author, 
 who may have handled his subject with consi- 
 derable care and attention, may nevertheless 
 (from a fear of being too superfluous in his 
 
 N
 
 176 ( ARSTAIRS' LECTURES OV 
 
 Brief Recapitulation, fre. 
 
 remarks,) lose sight of many important objects, 
 though they appear trifling omissions, yet would 
 perhaps be sincerely regretted, especially in a 
 subject that required great nicety of investiga- 
 tion. 
 
 With these considerations in view, I am will- 
 ing to hope, that the candid reader will not 
 think any additional remarks are altogether 
 unnecessary, when he is reminded, that as the 
 author and inventor of any new system cannot 
 have the opportunity, on all occasions, to ex- 
 plain every thing he might wish in a verbal 
 manner, it is therefore necessary to write more 
 than usually explicit, than to omit one single 
 word, where the author's personal elucidations 
 cannot possibly be obtained. 
 
 There are many persons who are apt to con- 
 demn at first sight what they do not under- 
 stand ; and that they may not appear ignorant, 
 or rather, that they may seem to be wise, are 
 generally ready and willing to despise or un- 
 dervalue what they will not be at the trouble 
 to examine. 
 
 Thus my System of Teaching has been 
 treated with illiberal epithets, by a few illit- 
 erate and selfish pedants, who were totally 
 unacquainted with it, and who not only thought 
 it irksome to enter into the merits or demerits 
 of the subject fairly, but have endeavoured to
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 
 
 177 
 
 Brief Recapitulation, fyc. 
 
 persuade others to have the same opinion, 
 who were desirous of proving its efficacy ! 
 
 That every one may judge properly of the 
 intentions of this work, the author recommends 
 a careful perusal of it, and trusts the reader 
 will withhold his opinion, and divest himself of 
 all prejudice, until he has arrived at the end 
 of the book, and in that case, the author is 
 willing to stake his credit as a teacher on the 
 result. 
 
 It will perhaps not be considered an obtrusion 
 here, to insert a question which was put to the 
 author by one of his pupils. The question was, 
 " Who was considered the best Penman ?" for 
 the querist understood that the specimens 
 usually exhibited, could scarcely be called 
 penmanship, but rather a display of the graphic 
 powers of the artist. To which the author made 
 the following reply. It cannot always be said 
 with truth, that all those who exhibit what 
 they wish the world to understand as penman- 
 ship, under the title of ornamental, are real 
 penmen. 
 
 If sketching or drawing the outlines of letters 
 with a black lead pencil, and filling those out- 
 lines with ink, can be called penmanship, then 
 may the engraver have equal claims to cele- 
 brity in the art of penmanship, as those who 
 purely profess the art. For the artist or en- 
 
 n2
 
 178 CARSTAlils' LECTURES OX 
 
 Brief Recapitulation, Src 
 
 graver first draws the outlines with an instru- 
 ment adapted to that purpose only, while the 
 ornamental writers, as they are termed, use the 
 pencil with the same intention, to give form and 
 symmetry to the letters. The engraver finishes 
 his letters by slow degrees, and not by one 
 stroke of the tool he uses, but cuts the copper 
 gradually ; and the ornamental writers put ink 
 on by degrees, to give shade or body to their 
 letters and flourishes, &c. which is frequently 
 miscalled fine penmanship ; and the persons 
 themselves obtain the appellation of fine pen- 
 men. By this tedious process, some have em- 
 ployed many weeks, and some even years, to 
 produce six or eight tolerable sized specimens. 
 I have been informed, that one gentleman had 
 employed seven years to produce four or five 
 such specimens ! 
 
 Those specimens may serve as pictures, but 
 cannot in my opinion be of any real utility in 
 business, and the authors of them cannot 
 strictly be called penmen from such produc- 
 tions alone, merely because they put on the 
 appearance of penmanship, they ought rather 
 to be classed amongst artists. 
 
 It is evident that penmanship is the art of 
 producing and joining letters into words, by the 
 free action of the fingers, hand, arm, and pen, 
 without having any occasion to add to, or di-
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 179 
 
 Brief Recapitulation, 4'C- 
 
 minish any letter, when it has been once form- 
 ed by the pen. 
 
 It has been frequently observed, that engra- 
 vers write very indifferent running hands, and 
 indeed, in some cases, hardly legible ; yet a 
 great many of them can draw letters on copper 
 with a style, or hard pointed instrument, and 
 can generally delineate flourishes as well as 
 letters with a degree of exactness, which in 
 many instances, cannot be excelled by the most 
 expert penman. No one can with propriety 
 call such kind of practice, penmanship. That 
 can only be called penmanship, which is pro- 
 duced by one effort of the pen. Professors of 
 ornamental penmanship are seldom excellent 
 in quick and business hand writing. Their 
 writing generally appears formal, stiff and 
 laboured, however correct or well proportioned. 
 
 To answer the question correctly, by naming 
 the best penman, the author, if he were to 
 attempt it, might be considered presumptuous, 
 having already mentioned in the Introduction, 
 some whom he considers as being equal to any 
 he recollects to have seen.
 
 180 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES OX 
 
 Continued Directions for Plates A. and B. 
 
 Continued Directions for Plates A and B. 
 
 Before the learner proceeds to the small 
 hand lessons, after the instructions have heen 
 strictly attended to in pages 110, 111, 112, and 
 113, the master ought to provide the pupil 
 with a complete set of large hand copies, and 
 make him exercise several pages of his copy 
 hook, in each lesson he takes, by writing earh 
 line without lifting the pen in the whole word, 
 (which I have particularly noticed at page 135) 
 just in the same manner as free running hand 
 is written. Every line must he at least an inch 
 in the height of the letters. Be sure to let the 
 arm be free and easy while in this exercise, 
 and not to bear too heavy on the table or desk. 
 Keep the learner exercising in this manner for 
 about a month, previous to his commencing 
 with the small hand exercises. It would be 
 well to make the learner follow this practice for 
 a considerable time. It may even be done all 
 the time he is learning, as it will always have 
 a tendency to give boldness, command and free- 
 dom.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 181 
 
 Continued Instructions on the Movements, <$c, 
 
 Continued Instructions on the Movements noticed at 
 pages 134, 135, and 136. 
 
 When the learner is exercising the o's, or 
 ovals, to obtain the proper movements of the 
 hand and arm, the arm must rest on the table 
 at the elbow, and that part of the arm from the 
 elbow to the hand, will become the lever, and 
 the elbow must be the centre or fulcrum of the 
 movement ; consequently, while the arm has a 
 firm rest at the elbow, the fore part of the arm, 
 that is, all that part of the arm from the elbow 
 to the hand must be free, and capable of a free 
 action, so that though the arm be resting at the 
 elbow, it will admit of a free movement of the 
 hand ; observing always to keep the third and 
 fourth fingers under the hand, so as to run on 
 the surface of the nails. This must be attend- 
 ed to without an exception. This movement 
 ought of all others to be particularly regarded 
 by the teacher ; I conceive it to be of such con- 
 sequence, that I would not undertake to teach 
 a free running hand without it. Observe that 
 the wrist is to move as little as possible. The 
 movement is to be performed exclusively with 
 the hand and the fore part of the arm, moving 
 conjointly at the same instant, and be sure that 
 the arm rests firmly at the elbow also at the 
 same time.
 
 182 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Instructions on the positions of the Hand, Sec. 
 
 Instructions on the positions of the Hand and Pen 
 explained. 
 
 That my observations at page 161, may not 
 be misunderstood in that part where I have 
 said, " I have found it more convenient, &c. to 
 keep the wrist laying flat with the table or 
 desk," I do not mean by that expression, that 
 the wrist is to touch the table or desk, but to 
 lay parallel with the table, &o. The wrist 
 should always be elevated about an inch from 
 the table or desk, for if the wrist were to touch 
 or rest, it would greatly retard the movement 
 of the hand, (see the plates.) 
 
 The teacher, as well as the learner, must be 
 extremely careful about the elevation of the 
 wrist, because almost every advancement in the 
 Art of Writing, will greatly depend on having 
 the wrist at a proper height. — And a habit of 
 running on the nails, will be sooner obtained, 
 by a strict adherence to this rule. The learner 
 should always have the third and fourth fingers 
 tied, until he has confirmed the true position. 
 The fingers should be tied in this way, for at 
 least two or three months.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 183 
 
 Instructions for plate commencing with large and small wi's. 
 
 Instructions for plate commencing with large and small 
 m's facing page 167. 
 
 The effect produced by writing large and small 
 alternately by the same movement, will give 
 additional freedom to the small hand. Large 
 letters require a large movement, and conse- 
 quently if the pen is continued on the paper, 
 the learner will acquire more power to make 
 the small letters. By combining the capitals 
 with small letters, it will be found to give great 
 facility to writing. The teacher may make his 
 pupils practise on slates all the capitals in the 
 alphabet (observing the exceptions noticed in 
 the plate) previous to their writing them on 
 paper, and this will give more confidence. 
 Joining words together with the assistance of 
 the long s, is extremely useful, and for occa- 
 sional practice, the alphabet of small letters 
 joined together alternately with the long s, in 
 the whole line, without lifting the pen, will be 
 fonnd to have great efficacy. 
 
 The plate commencing with the sentence, 
 " Recommend good and virtuous men," facing 
 page 157, will be good practice for the learner, 
 in conjunction with the above exercises, but 
 the pen must be kept extremely light, which is 
 done to counteract the tendency which most 
 people have when learning, to bear so heavy 
 on the pen.
 
 184 CARSTAIRs' LECTURES ON 
 
 ADDITIONAL DIRECTIONS FOR USING 
 
 CARSTAIRIAN WRITING TABLET. 
 
 The author conceives that some apology is 
 necessary to be made here for having entirely 
 left out the method of cleaning or re-preparing 
 the Tablet after being filled with writing. He 
 has only one excuse to plead, and he humbly 
 hopes that the generous reader will deem it 
 sufficient. Most of the instructions have been 
 produced amidst the hurry of business, the 
 author having to attend to his professional 
 avocation in teaching the systems laid down 
 in this work in a general way, about twelve or 
 sixteen hours every day, he therefore cannot 
 be said to have much time to spare for extra 
 performances. 
 
 The most convenient mode of rubbing the 
 oil on the Tablet, would be to have some sweet 
 oil in a cup or saucer, and dip a fine linen cloth 
 or rag in the oil, rub the Tablet softly over
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 185 
 
 Additional Directions for using the Carstairian Writing Tablet. 
 
 where the smoke is intended to adhere, and be 
 careful that too much oil does not adhere to 
 the surface, because the letters will not appear 
 so distinct if too much oil is used, as it is apt 
 to make the letters run together or disappear, 
 or they would not appear so fine and beautiful. 
 The method of making the writing disappear, 
 is to have balls made of kid leather, and stuffed 
 with wool, and a small stick or round piece 
 of wood with one end placed in the balls, to 
 hold them with, to keep the hands clean. 
 The balls are precisely the same as printers' 
 balls, but considerably smaller. The ball ought 
 not to be larger than a child's common playing 
 ball, and the stick or handle should be made 
 with a notch at one end to go within the ball 
 to hinder it from slipping out of the ball. The 
 stick may be made about four or five inches 
 long. When the ball is completed, rub it over 
 with a little sweet oil to soften and moisten the 
 leather, and then beat the Tablet gently with 
 it, just in the same manner the printers do 
 their types, and the letters will soon disappear. 
 A little using will make the ball act with more 
 effect, and the person using it, will find, by a 
 little practice, more dexterity both in preparing 
 the Tablet for use, and will improve in the 
 method of using the ball. Various composi- 
 tions may be made to put on the Tablet besides
 
 186 CARSTAIRS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Additional Directions for using the Carstairian Writing Tablet. 
 
 smoking it ; as Frankfort black, ground very 
 fine, with sweet oil, &c. &c. but smoking has 
 been found by the author to produce the finest 
 effect. 
 
 Dutch tiles, about ten or twelve inches square, 
 or larger, would be more desirable than smaller 
 plates, and would make the best Tablets for 
 writing upon. 
 
 If the Tablet is square which is written upon 
 a space of about two inches in width at top and 
 bottom, should remain clean, that is to say, not 
 to be smoked, to allow the under fingers to run 
 upon, to keep the fingers clean ; and observe 
 that the first line written on the Tablet must 
 be written about the middle of it, and fill up 
 one half first of the smoked part, then turn the 
 Tablet round and fill up the other half in like 
 manner. The above manner of filling the 
 Tablet, is done for the purpose of allowing a 
 proper distance for the purchase of the fingers, 
 to avoid soiling them.
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 187 
 
 Concluding Remarks. 
 Having devoted upwards of twenty years to 
 the study and practice of the Art of Writing, 
 the author can look back and dwell with 
 delight on that part of his life, which he con- 
 siders to have been usefully employed, as his 
 labours now appear not to have been entirely 
 in vain, or unprofitable. The great number of 
 individuals who have received benefit therefrom, 
 and from which many are now enjoying a 
 comfortable subsistence, and soar above the 
 trammels of want, are gratifying, as well as 
 pleasing to his feelings- The author feels 
 confident therefore that his systems are firmly 
 established, and no possible doubt remains in 
 his mind, that as they become more known, 
 their adoption will be proportionably increased, 
 beyond impotent envy, or prejudicial malig- 
 nancy ! 
 
 When the author reflects on the number of 
 respectable advocates for his methods of teach- 
 ing, who have become personally attached to 
 him, he feels impressed with the most lively 
 emotions of thankfulness and gratitude — among 
 whom, are many gentlemen who have excelled 
 in science and literature, and many also of 
 noble birth, who will adorn the future annals
 
 188 CARSTAIKS' LECTURES ON 
 
 Concluding Remarks. 
 
 of English history by their talents and philan- 
 thropy ! 
 
 All who know the author, are sufficiently 
 aware that his views are far removed above the 
 selfish, mean, and unprincipled artifices of 
 deception or empiricism. 
 
 Some are so extremely sceptical in their 
 opinions, and so possessed with the old 
 fashioned notions of their forefathers, it is a 
 difficult matter to convince them that any 
 improvement can be made beyond the old 
 established modes of tuition. Ought im- 
 provements and new discoveries in teaching to 
 be lost sight of, for old hacknied rules or 
 ancient usages, because they have been admired 
 or approved of by our ancestors? But the 
 greatest checks any new improvements meet 
 with in this country, of late years, are when 
 individuals possessed of sterling merit and 
 inventive powers, are treated with neglect, and 
 their efforts being generally foiled for want of 
 encouragement. The inventors are often heed- 
 lessly forgotten, and suffered to feel the bitter- 
 ness of penury, and the fruits of their labours 
 are frequently enjoyed by others. 
 
 What makes one nation superior to another ? 
 May it not be chiefly attributed to the difference 
 of encouragement in the Arts and Sciences, and 
 in universal knowledge ; and from using a 
 proper discrimination of talent ?
 
 THE ART OF WRITING. 189 
 
 Concluding Remarks. 
 
 Since my labours have been crowned with 
 success, many low professors have availed 
 themselves of such improvements as my long 
 experience have enabled me to suggest, and 
 thereby reformed their own practice, without 
 candidly acknowledging from whence they had 
 taken them, and when the author remonstrated 
 with them on such conduct, they not only 
 resisted the evidence of facts, but raised their 
 voices against innovation, and ridiculed and 
 used all manner of calumny that inveterate 
 obloquy could surmise against the author. 
 
 it is not those who have the greatest abilities 
 that get rewarded, but those who have the most 
 daring assurance, and who can, on all occasions, 
 put forth the most plausible pretexts. 
 
 If any thing would tend to bring the Art of 
 Writing into contempt, nothing would be more 
 likely to do it, than the advertisements which 
 are every day displayed by puffing advertisers ! 
 
 The author now takes leave with the follow- 
 ing memento. 
 
 Noclurna versale manu, versate diurn&. 
 
 I I N I S. 
 
 1<\ Wart; Printer, Red Lion Pjissuge, llolborn
 
 I
 
 "%3AIN(HlW 
 
 -< 
 
 
 |.Vf7\| i^L/f 
 
 ^OJITVD-JO^ 
 
 <TiH0NV-S01^ 
 
 ^lOSANGElfr^ 
 o 
 
 "^MAINUM* 
 
 ^OF-CALIFOftfe, 
 
 ^OKALIFOfy* 
 
 y tfAavaan# y 0Ayvaaii# 
 
 -\\\E UNIVERS/yV 
 
 <fiH0WSO^ N 
 
 ^UIBRARYQa 
 
 ^OJI1V>JO^ 
 
 MK-UNIVERS/a 
 
 o 
 
 *>:10SANGFI% 
 
 ^•UBRARYQr, 
 
 "^/flHAIM-JV^ ^OJIIVDJO^ 
 
 ^OF-CALIFORto 
 
 ^•Aavaan-^ 
 
 <AWE-UNIVERS//v 
 
 ^:lOS-ANCElfJ^ 
 
 o 
 
 <TJ130NY-S01^ %HAINIH^ 
 
 ^OFCALIFOM^ 
 
 ^ahv^ii-v^ 
 
 ^:lOS-ANCElfj> 
 
 o 
 
 %a3AINQJWV N 
 
 ^•lOS-ANCElfj^ 
 
 o 
 
 ^HIBRARYQ? 
 
 ^UIBRARYQ^ 
 
 ^ojiiv>jO' ^ojuvj-jo*- 
 
 ^.OFCAIIFO^ 
 
 WtfUNIVERS//, 
 
 <rii30NVsm^ 
 
 ^OFCALI FOfy* S \WE UNIVERS/4 
 
 %a3Ait»v N ^Aavaain^ 7 ^Auvaanv^ <rji»soi^ 
 
 ^nuibraryq^ 
 
 ^OJIIVD-JO^ 
 
 \WUNIVERfyv 
 
 o 
 %UDNVS01* N 
 
 vvlOSANCElfj> 
 
 o 
 
 %a\ 
 
 ^HIBRARYtf^ 
 
 ^/ojiiviho^ 
 
 S.OF-CALIF0% ,^E UNI VERS - //, 
 
 Vy <?AMvaan-#' 
 
 vvlOS-ANCFlfx> 
 
 vj,:lOS-ANCElFj> 
 
 <T?U3NV-S01^ "fyHHAINIHtf* 
 
 *v\UIBRARY^ 
 
 **U!BRARY0* 
 
 ^•OF-CAIIFOR^ 
 
 y 0AaVH8ll-V^ 
 
 , \\\E-liNIVERS//,
 
 it^\I t^v§ 
 
 ^OJIIVJJO^ %)JITV>JO*' 
 
 
 .^OFCALIFO/?^ ^OF-CAllFORfc 
 
 ^Aavaan-v^ y <?Aavaaiiv^ 
 
 ^ji&a 
 
 
 *V\E -UNIVERS//, 
 
 o 
 
 ^lOS-ANCElfj^ 
 
 o 
 
 "%3AIN(V]^ 
 
 <AUIBRARYQ? A <AUIBRARY0/ A 
 
 ^»ojiw3-jo^ ^aojiivj-jo-^ 
 
 ^\E UNIVERS//, 
 
 o 
 <r?i30NV-SOV^ 
 
 ^lOSANGElfj> 
 
 MNft-lW^ 
 
 ^OF-CALIFOfcfc 
 
 ^OFCAIIFO/?^ 
 
 ry <?Auvnan-^ ^AHvaaii-v^ 
 
 *\tf LIBRARY^ 
 
 ^•LIBRARYQr 
 
 \\tf -UNIVERto 
 
 ^lOS-ANGElfj^ 
 
 o 
 
 ^0JllV3JO v ^KtfOdnVJJO^ <rjnow-SOl^ %MAINil3\\V 
 
 ^OKALIFOftfc 
 
 y 0AHvnan-3^ 
 
 ^OFCAIIFO/?^ 
 
 \WEUN'IVER% 
 
 ^Aavjian-v^ ^tjuow-soi^ 
 
 ^lOS-ANGElfj> 
 %H3AIN(H\\V 
 
 \WUNIVERS/a 
 
 <Tii30NVSOV^ 
 
 v V V0SA»4CFlfj> 
 
 o 
 
 "%HAI 
 
 ^I-IIBRARY^ ^UIBRARYQ? 
 
 o 
 
 AWE-UWVERS/a 
 
 vVlOSv\NCElfj> 
 
 o 
 
 <TJi33NV-SOl^ '^/JMAINiH^ 
 
 A0F-CALIF(%, .^OF-CALIFOftfe, 
 
 '^Ativyain^' ^AHvaan-i^ 
 
 ^■IIBRARYQ* 
 
 -stfHIBRARYfl/- 
 
 .AWE-UNIVERS/a ^vlOS-ANCElfj>
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 MM)