10 old letter-writing tips that work for

emails
Continue reading the main story
In today's Magazine
The woman who saved a man with an SS tattoo
The world's toughest religious tet!
"hy is #road#and more epensive in the $S!
% &ussian mayor at war with addi'ts
(efore email) letter-writing guides were #est sellers) the faddy self-
help #ooks of their day* There are still many things that we 'an learn
from them #efore pressing +send+) says Simon ,arfield*
1* -eep it #rief) make it simple. This advice first appeared in a Latin tract
somewhere between the 4th Century BC and 4th Century AD. A letter
should be "restricted" it advised. "Those that are too lon! not to mention
too inflated in style are not in any true sense letters at all but treatises."
Correspondents were told to be both !raceful and plain. "A letter"s aim is
to e#press friendship briefly and set out a simple sub$ect in simple terms.
The man who utters sententious ma#ims and e#hortations seems to be
no lon!er chattin! in a letter but preachin! from the pulpit."
.* "rite as you speak. This advice much favoured by %ane Austen is
believed to have been initially promoted by Aristotle in about &'(BC. )is
precise instructions do not survive but Artemon the editor of Aristotle"s
letters maintained that "a letter should be written in the same manner as
a dialo!ue".
Aristotle carryin!
the mornin!"s post
/* 0on't #e afraid to !rovel. *ant to say thanks for dinner+ Look to the
writin! manual by )u!h of Bolo!na from the ,-th Century. .ne of
/urope"s epistolary masters )u!h"s compliments knew no ceilin!. 0n a
letter to another scribe he observes how under his !uidance "the
uneducated are immediately cultivated the stutterers are immediately
elo1uent the dull2witted are immediately enli!htened the twisted are
immediately made strai!ht". 3ay also do the trick when applyin! for a $ob
or a loan.
Continue reading the main story
%#out the author
4imon 5arfield is a $ournalist and author of To The Letter6 A %ourney Throu!h A 7anishin!
*orld
1* (e spontaneous) #e free. 8ro!ressive 9rench ,'th Century essayist
3ichel de 3ontai!ne su!!ested that formality spelled death to authentic
correspondence. )e mistrusted letters that "have no other substance than
a fine conte#ture of courteous words". 9ar better to be spontaneous and
not think too much. "The first word be!ets the second and so to the end"
he wrote. 3ontai!ne really would have loved email not least our !rowin!
tendency to dispense with formal !reetin!s and endin!s. "The letters of
this a!e consist more in fine ed!es and prefaces than in matter" he
ar!ued. And for the closin! niceties "0 would with all my heart transfer it
to another hand to add those lon! haran!ues offers and prayers that we
place at the bottom and should be !lad that some new custom would
dischar!e us of that trouble."
Continue reading the main story
It is a very great in'ivilitie not to answer all the letters we do re'eive)
e'ept they 'ome from our servants or very mean persons2
8hilip 4econd /arl of Chesterfield
3* Tell it like it is. 0n the !uide Cupids 3essen!er of ,'-: the
anonymous author told his readers how to write to an unfaithful partner.
There was really no point bein! polite. 9ar better to be bilious and
ven!eful. "Leprosie compared to thee is all health... neither thy bodie nor
thy soule are free from the disease of shame and dis!race of the world."
Try this ancient advice first and only then revert to the more modern
solution of a letter from a solicitor.
4* "rite #a'k swiftly) but carefully. 0n ,';' 8hilip second /arl of
Chesterfield wrote a book of instruction for his eldest dau!hter. 4ome of
it concerned the layout of a letter <"0f you write to a =ueen be!in your first
line within three fin!ers breadth of the bottom of the paper"> but there
was also advice we may heed today. )e advised his dau!hter to carefully
re2read what she had written before sendin! it checkin! her spellin! with
a dictionary and makin! sure not to repeat words. But above all be
prompt. "0t is a very !reat incivilitie not to answer all the letters we do
receive e#cept they come from our servants or very mean persons."
Continue reading the main story
Take out a lot of the vinegar and pepper) and put in honey instead2
Lewis Carroll
5* 6motional #la'kmail may work with your parents. The Ladies
Complete Letter2*riter of ,?'& offered "polite and improvin!" advice on
all matters "that usually interest the 9air 4e#". There were template letters
about the lastin! impact of scandal and the dan!ers of over2flirtatious
behaviour and details of how to write to a woman who had lost her
beauty to smallpo#. But within the -?@ pa!es there was also somethin!
that may be emailed today <albeit with sli!htly modified lan!ua!e> to an
overbearin! parent determined to match2make. "8unish me by any other
means provoked authority can invent" an unidentified dau!hter pleads
with her mother. "Condemn me to pass the whole remainder of my days
in lonely solitudeA shut me from all society or banish me where only lions
and ti!ers dwell. 9ate cannot reach me in any shape so horrid as the
embraces of Andru!io."
Think before you
post
7* (e more polite than you really want to be. Lewis Carroll loved letter2
writin! so much that in ,;;; he patented somethin! called The
*onderland a special case with a pocket to house every denomination of
posta!e stamp. Bou bou!ht the case and you !ot a free booklet entitled
/i!ht or Cine *ise *ords About Letter2*ritin! some of it concerned with
not missin! the last post. But there was also somethin! we can use today
2 advice on showin! restraint. Cotwithstandin! rule five 2 tell it like it is 2
Carroll warned his readers to think very carefully before !ettin! involved
in a Trollopian war. "0f you have written anythin! that may offend put the
letter aside for a day and then read it as if you were the recipient" he
wrote. "This will often lead to your writin! it all over a!ain takin! out a lot
of the vine!ar and pepper and puttin! in honey instead." Carroll"s other
rules6
if your correspondent makes a severe remark either i!nore it or soften your
response
if your friend is friendly make your reply ever friendlier
8* 0on't forget the paper clip. Carroll had one more piece of wisdom as
applicable now as ,-@ years a!o. 0f you write that you"re enclosin! a
che1ue or someone else"s letter "leave off writin! for a moment 2 !o and
!et the document referred to 2 and put it into the envelope. .therwise
you are pretty certain to find it lyin! about after the post has !oneD" 9or
"che1ue" read "email attachment".
Dickens6 "9olios
of trash are lavished on bosom friends"
10* The young get all the blame. 0n All The Bear Eound the 7ictorian
$ournal "conducted" by Charles Dickens a contributor wrote a letter2
writin! !uide that contained the one nu!!et common to almost all the
!uides that had preceded it 2 write le!ibly. But what of those who can
write but don"t+ "This is more !enerally the fault of youn! people and
arises chiefly from thou!htless selfishness. Their thou!hts and their time
are en!rossed with their own pleasures and pursuits. 0t is more amusin!
and interestin! to write to youn! people of their own a!e than to write
duty letters to parents and relatives." Do these terrible people not write at
all+ "A shabby ill2considered stilted letter is written at wide intervals to
those whose whole life has been spent in their service while folios of
trash are lavished on bosom friends to whom they owe no duty
whatsoever." Te#tin! was only a century awayF
9S If all else fails send fish. Gey To /n!lish Letter *ritin! was a !uide
that could have been written by Dou!las Adams. But it appeared in ,:&;
in China and its authors were Chen Gwan Bi and *han! 4hih. Hnlike
An!lo2American !uides its letter templates did not consider how best to
address a duchess. 0nstead the e#amples were both more mundane and
conceptually more profound. )ow for e#ample should one write to a
newlywed+ Like this6 "0 have heard from 3r B that you were married to
3iss C last *ednesday. 0 be! your acceptance of the accompanyin! fish
as a triflin! token of my affection." And when that marria!e proves
fruitful+ "Allow me to con!ratulate you on the birth of a child in your
family. 0 be! you will accept the accompanyin! basket of mi#ed fish which
0 send you in celebration of the happy event." *ould a promotion
perhaps in the le!al profession also yield a fish !ift+ 4adly not. "4ir 0
learn with pleasure that you have been admitted to the bar and have
established yourself in private chambers. 8lease accept the
accompanyin! bicycle as a sli!ht token of my wishes for your future
success."
This !iftin! advice has a modern e1uivalent in the form of dreaded e2
cards and te#t emoticons. Eather less satisfyin! than a !ood piece of cod
or a ,-2speed thou!h.