The 350th anniversary of the last entry in Samuel Pepys’s diary seemed a good occasion for a Twitter thread (with emojis). Here is the thread for those of you not on Twitter:
Pepys's diary is written in a special type of shorthand called Shelton's Tachygraphy. So I couldn't exactly *read* the entry – in fact in order to read it I would have needed either the key or plenty of decipherment time! More on this in this blog post https://t.co/ChGpDwZKA6
— CREWS Project (@crewsproject) May 31, 2019
(The blog post referred to is HERE)
Then a meeting with the Duke of York, went to the park with his wife and some friends, and then off for a drink: "Thence to “The World’s End,” a drinking-house by the Park; and there merry, and so home late." 🍻
— CREWS Project (@crewsproject) May 31, 2019
He goes on: "whatever comes of it, I must forbear: and, therefore, resolve, from this time forward, to have it [my diary] kept by my people in long-hand, and must therefore be contented to set down no more than is fit for them and all the world to know." 📖🖋️
— CREWS Project (@crewsproject) May 31, 2019
Then, with another saucy bit: "now my amours to Deb[orah Willet, a maid] are past, and my eyes hindering me in almost all other pleasures, I must endeavour to keep a margin in my book open, to add, here and there, a note in short-hand with my own hand." 😘
— CREWS Project (@crewsproject) May 31, 2019
When looking at the entry, one of the few words I could make out was 'grave', which was written in long-hand normal letters, not in the special short-hand used for almost all other words in the entry. I wonder why he wrote that out. For dramatic effect perhaps? ⚰️
— CREWS Project (@crewsproject) May 31, 2019
In fact, you can see the word 'grave' in long-hand on the coin, and get a good impression of what the short-hand signs look like, with his signature and the date at the end. A monument to a very interesting individual and his writing habits. pic.twitter.com/WE8AM6MC41
— CREWS Project (@crewsproject) May 31, 2019
But the truth is even better, because that last entry is very elucidating. It reveals the use of Shelton's Tachygraphy by Pepys as a personal matter, one not just driven by work-related needs for writing speedily, but by an instinct to record his life for his own secret pleasure.
— CREWS Project (@crewsproject) May 31, 2019
~ Pippa Steele (Principal Investigator of the CREWS project)
crewsproject.wordpress.com 