outward characteristics of another individual, still retains certain
personal peculiarities of which he is himself unaware and which render
it impossible for him to completely disguise his own individuality.

The introduction of cheap postage and the immense increase of
every-day correspondence has ruined handwriting and banished forever
the art of composition. The short, modern, business-like letters of
to-day will not bear comparison with the neat, voluminous letters full
of graphic scenic descriptions, which our forefathers were wont to
compile, and were worth keeping and rereading. Now, when similar
correspondence is undertaken, it is dictated to a stenographer, copied
on a typewriter, or printed, for few people will take the trouble to
read manuscript composition of any kind. Looking backward, we find a
marked paucity of ideas and carelessness of writing in correspondence,
getting worse the farther back we go. Few letters are preserved these
days, except those on business, which is a pity, for a letter is
always a unique production, being a correct reflect of a writer and
his times.

There are always two divisions of handwriting, the formal hand
employed for clerk's work, and a freer, less mechanical, less careful
style, used for private correspondence. Writing was a profession only
understood by a few, and as late as the sixteenth century, when it was
necessary to communicate with persons at a distance, a professional
scribe was employed to write the letter. But letter-writing was rare
and did not become general till after the close of the sixteenth
century, and even then it was restricted to the upper classes of
society.

Fashion changes in everything. Every generation had its own particular