The Transcript

Deciphering 21 handwritten pages from the 18th century posed a number of challenges, not the least of which was simply reading the author’s handwriting. Eighteenth-century letterforms are sometimes much different from modern-day cursive script. A common difference is the use of the long "s", which appears very similar to a lower case "f" to the modern eye. The short "s", which is similar to the modern cursive form, was also in use, and the two are often mixed, sometimes within the same word. For more information on paleography, the study of old handwriting, from the National Archives of the UK, click here.

A second challenge was spelling. Although English spelling was becoming standardized in the eighteenth century, it is common in these notes to find "y" used where we would use "i" today, or vice versa. The name of British historian John Strype was a particular problem. Not only did my modern eyes at first interpret his name as "Hupe," but the writer made things even more puzzling by spelling the name with an "i"—"Stripe." Other differences include the use of single consonants where we would use double consonants today ("embarasments") and words that are simply spelled inconsistently, such as "Robynson" and "Robinson."

Abbreviations were a stumbling block at first. The past tense of verbs is often shortened with the use of an apostrophe, much like modern contractions: "oblig’d." Words are also abbreviated by the use of superscript, and sometimes only the context gives any indication of their meaning: "md" equals "married" and "Ricd" is the name "Richard." Three frequently-used abbreviations that caused no end of puzzlement were simply terms unfamiliar to a twenty-first century American transcriber:

Esqr (first misread as "Msgr")—Esquire
Ebor—Eboracum, the Latin name for the county of Yorkshire
Bart—Baronet

The writer's narrative was sometimes difficult to follow. The same given names were used in many generations in these families, and the writer frequently inserts additional information about family members pages after he has first introduced them with no indication that the Thomas Robinson in this line is the same Thomas mentioned two pages before. Readers will notice that many of the hyperlinks inserted in the transcript text lead back to a person who has been mentioned in a previous passage. Sorting these out is an ongoing task.

A final challenge was punctuation, or more accurately, the lack of punctuation. There are apostrophes, though not always used as we would today. There are occasional commas. But mostly one is left to interpret where sentences begin and end, or where commas might be inserted today. The wonderful thing was that reading the notes became easier as I grew accustomed to the author’s script and phrasing, so that by the end it was almost as if I were reading a long letter from an acquaintance, with only the occasional stumble over an unfamiliar word. Unfortunately, there are still places where faded spots, ink blots, or simple inability to tease out the words left me unsure of words or phrases. In those places I have inserted question marks.

Happily, the hours of work with notebook and magnifying glass proved to be worthwhile when, at the very bottom of the third-to-last page, the author identified himself: Morris Robinson, 3rd Baron Rokeby (1757-1829)—almost certainly a former owner of this volume.