Letter Crossing

Some time ago I heard of a practice called "letter crossing." I stumbled across this bit of trivia online while learning a little bit about Jane Austin who is said to have crossed her letters at times. For those of you who have never heard of letter crossing, it was a practice of writing over a letter in a different direction. Once upon a time when paper was even more expensive than good paper is today, letter writers would sometimes cross their letters for the sake of economy. Postage also was expensive in the 19th century and was paid by the recipient (in England, anyway), not the sender as it is today. I've wondered how such a letter could be read and imagined a confusing jumble of ink. Only recently have I been able to find an example of a crossed letter. I share it with you now.

I notice the writing is small and the lines very straight and not too close together. I can not quite make out the writing from the picture but perhaps a real life letter wouldn't be as difficult to read as I had imagined.