Page:Theory and Practice of Handwriting.djvu/45

Rh base their strongest claims to public favour on this close approximation to the upright. And this is illustrated still further in the decrees of the Belgian and German Educational Cabinets which prescribe that no writing taught in the Government schools shall have a slope of more than 10° and 20° from the Vertical respectively. In order then to decide authoritatively and finally which (if either) is superior and which (if either) possesses such an excess of merit as to warrant its adoption and the ultimate condemnation and abandonment of its rival, an enquiry must be made into the very essentials or fundamentals of Good Writing.

What are the distinguishing qualities or the prime factors so to speak of a really good handwriting? In the first place it must be legible or easily read. Then it should be rapid and easily written. Moreover it must be easy to learn and easy to teach. Having already disposed of the Hygienic element we need not refer to it in this connexion at any length. The best system or style of Caligraphy then will be that which is at once the Most Legible, Most Rapid, Most Economical, and Most easy to learn, teach and produce. Of course it is taken for granted that the letters are well formed and in strict accord with the accepted principles of construction. Assuming that this definition of Good, or the Best, Writing is, if not critically the most perfect, at least generally correct and comprehensive, it is proposed to examine the two Systems on these lines and to test their individual merits by these four several standards.

First as to

which is the more legible, Sloping or Slanting writing? Which the more easily read? A very simple illustration will be sufficient to answer the question. In Fig. 10 there are five rows of right lines, eleven lines in each row. Now what is the optical effect produced in the observer, and what is the actual fact as regards these lines? The impression produced upon any one looking carefully at these rows is that the lines in the lowest rank are shorter than the others and that they are drawn closer together,