found he had not the remotest ideas on orthography.

"But you can't write," said I to him. However, I saw he was mortified at
this, and I consoled him by saying that I would take him to his own
country at my expense. He kissed my hand, and assured me that I should
find a faithful servant in him.

This young fellow took my fancy by his originality; he had probably
assumed it to distinguish himself from the blockheads amongst whom he had
hitherto lived, and now used it in perfect good faith with everybody. He
thought that the art of a scribe solely consisted in possessing a good
hand, and that the fairest writer would be the best scribe. He said as
much while he was examining a paper I had written, and as my writing was
not as legible as his he tacitly told me I was his inferior, and that I
should therefore treat him with some degree of respect. I laughed at this
fad, and, not thinking him incorrigible I took him into my service. If it
had not been for that odd notion of his I should probably have merely
given him a louis, and no more. He said that spelling was of no
consequence, as those who knew how to spell could easily guess the words,
while those who did not know were unable to pick out the mistakes. I
laughed, but as I said nothing he thought the laugh signified approval.
In the dictation I gave him the Council of Trent happened to occur.
According to his system he wrote Trent by a three and a nought. I burst
out laughing; but he was not in the least put out, only remarking that
the pronunciation being the same it was of no consequence how the word
was spelt. In point of fact this lad was a fool solely through his
intelligence, matched with ignorance and unbounded self-confidence. I was
pleased with his originality and kept him, and was thus the greater fool
of the two, as the reader will see.