Ebook The Diary of Samuel Pepys, From 1659 to 1669

The original ms. Of the Diary, which gives so vivid a picture of manners in the reign of Charles II., is preserved in Magdalene College, Cambridge; it is in six volumes, containing upwards of 3000 pages, closely written in Rich s system of shorthand, which Pepys doubtless adopted from the possibility of his journal falling into unfriendly hands during his life, or being rashly communicated to the public after his death. The original spelling of every word in the Diary, it is believed, has been carefully preserved by the gentleman who de'ciphered it; and although Pepys's grammar has been objected to, it is thought that the entries derive additional interest from the quaint terms in which they are expressed.