53 P75s -/«* A = ^^ r- ^^ O A = ly) — I— ^^^ — < r n — ^^^B m 8 "^ffli'' sp^i ^TiijoNvsm^ "^ajMNrt-aiw^ i^^l IC^ # ^OFCAllFOff^ ^OFCAllFO/?^ ,^WE•UNIVER5/^ CO ^^Anvyani^ >&Aiivaan-i^ '^j:?uonvso# "^/^aMiNa-awv^ %oi\m j^OFCAlIF "^OAHvaai ^^WM)^JlvER% >^lOSANGFlfX;> ^aaAiNn-a^w" ^10SANCEI% "^/^aiAiNn-JttV^ ^l-llBRAR \oi\m 4;0FCAlIFi 4^? ^^Aavaar . \WE UNIVER^//, >- < ^^slOSANCflfj> -^ILIBRARYC?/ ^•TiiDNvsoi^ "^/saaAiNnawv^ '^ii/ojnvjjo"^ ^.sojiivojo^ . x\UUNIVER5'/A ^1 o• en < m-wm ^ ^^.OFCAllFOfiU^ .^;OFCAIIFO% .\WEUNIVE: ^.i. of the Tercentenary of English Shorthand, JS87.] LONDON : 1 1 ;R VVADK, 18, TAVISTOCK RTREKT, COVENT GARDEN, W.C, ' i;i>ERICK PITMAN, 20, PATERNOSTER ROW, K.C., and VHK AUTHOR, 6), IMPKRIAL HUILD1N(;S, LUDOATK CIRCUS, E.C. <«T»«f»«r»,yf»^ri^ [Jeremiah Rich, 11. 1042-1 659.] TX. CARTWRirjifT A\D liicii. — AVilliain Cartwriwht was the rfal autlior of the well-known method whieli ffoes by the name of Jeremiah Rich'.s system. Rich was Cartwright's )iophew, and tlie publisher of the system after his uncle's death. Siibsequently he brought out the system as his owii, and so the woild has, up to tlie present date, been imposed upon. Of Cartwright we know nothing except that he invented his system some time prior to its publication by Rich in \C>\'2. We can trace Rich's connec- tion with the system \>y vaiious editions of it down to 1G59, when we lo.se sight of him. Ricli taught the system, and probibly used it for professional note-taking. At one time he whs a tutor to the Itight Jlon. Lady Mary Rich, and may be con- u jectured to have had some relationship to her family, as his book was dedicated to her. He lived at St. Olave's, South wark, at one time, and at another in St. Swithin's Lane. Rich's plagiarism is an interesting historical feature, yet not a very creditable one to his reputation. He, however, stimulated public curiosity about the art by various publications in Shorthand, notably the Psalms and New Testament, in very tiny volumes. BRIDGES. X. NoAii Bridges (fl. 1643-1661) was a follower of the Cartwright-Rich method. He was a remarkable man, educated at Oxford, and skilled in mathematics ; and when the Parliament sat at Oxford in 1643 and 1644, during the Civil War, he acted as Clerk of the Parliament. He was in attendance on King Charles I. at Newcastle and in the Isle of Wight. He was the victim of promise-breaking. Several offices under the King's 15 Government were promised him when monarchy had been restored, but when the Restoration liad come the promises were forgotten, and he retired to Putney, where, after keeping a school for some time, he died. Just a year before Charles II. returned in triumph to London, he published his " Stenographie and Cryptographie." He was also the author of some arithmetic books. ADDY. XT. William Addy ((1. 1064-1G95) was anothoi author of the same school as Bridges, and is remembered chiefly by his .Short- hand LJible, which he published in 1087. I>y profession he was a writing master in the City of Ijondon. Ho was a teacliei- of his system, and pupils had to apply for particulars " at yo Bible, in Newgate Street," 16 WILKINS. XII. John Wilkins (1614-1672) is not reckoned in the histories of Shorthand as a Shorthand author, though he undoubtedly was one. His system, however, is smothered up in a large folio volume, with the rather uninviting title of " An Essay towards a Real Character and Philosophical Language." He was educated at Oxford, and entered holy orders. He was chaplain to some distinguished personages. He took the side of the Parliament at the breaking out of the Civil War, and married a sister of Oliver Cromwell. He became warden of Wadham College, Oxford ; and Richard Cromwell during his brief rule made liim head of Trinity College, Cambridge. On the Restora- tion he was ejected, but afterwards became minister of St. Lawrence Jewry, London, and was chosen on the Council of the Royal Society then just established. At length he was appointed, first as Dean of Ripon, and then as Bishop of Chester. He died in Chancery Lane, in 1672. He was skilled in the mathematics, in astronomy, in mechanics, and in experimental philosophy. His "Mercury, or Swift Messenger, 1641," is a curious book, giving 17 instructions for the conveyance of secret messages by writing and by signals. His Shortliand liad three peculiarities — first, it was not for verbatim note-taking, but for universal communication between all nations using alphabetic signs ; secondly, its characters were not intended to be joined, but to be written, or printed, as separate letters, just as our printed letters are now set up in type ; and thirdly, the vowel signs were written into the signs of the consonants. Wilkins's system is probably entitled to rank between the ideagraplnc-alphabetical of Timothy Bright and the joining-alphabetical of John Willis. It was a purely phonetic method. He iiad cognate signs for the pairs of sounds ;^6, td, and the rest ; not omitting s/t and sh, dh and th, gh and c//, and some foreign sounds. HOPKINS. XTTI. William Hopkins |(H. 1G70) produced a be.iutifully engraved little book on the Cartwriglit-llich basi.s, called " The Flying Pen." We only know that he was a writing-master. 18 MASON. XIV. William Mason (tl. 1659-1719 1) has been esteemed by all Shorthand historians, and doubtless with much truth, as the most celebrated Shorthand author of the 17th century. He taught his system for many years in London. From his own book we learn that he studied the art several years before he ventured on authorsliip. His first system was founded on the Cartwright- Rich system, but afterwards he thought that basis too narrow, and set out to build on an original foundation of his own, which was so far successful that the system had a good run for 20 years, after which he again published an improvement of the latter. He had a school of writing at the Hand and Pen, in Gracechurch Street, and sold his first books at Is , but his last book was priced at 2s. 6d., both prices very low for that period ; and that pro 19 bably contributed not a little to the popularity which we are told his system gained. We must regret that we know nothing more of so shining a light in the phonographic firmament. BOTLEY XV. Samuel Botley (1 642-1 69G ?) was another author and teacher of the Cartwright-Rich .system, which somehow or othei- has managed to lead a struggling existence down to our own time, for letters have l)een written in the method by a clergyman, addressed to our friend Dr. Westby-Gib.son, during the past six months. Botley published a book curiou.sly engi-aved, and taught the .system in Tliames Street. Jle appears to have had scholars in Biistol and E.xeter also. He seems to have had other occupations besides teaching, but we are not awaro of their nature. iO STRINGER. XVI. Nathaniel Stringer (fl. 1676-1686) was another author of a system still on the Cartwright-Rich basis. This, too, is curiously engraved. He appears to liave been a pupil of Ricli. He undertook the publication of his system because others had tried to improve on his former master, Rich, but had, in his opinion," failed of that success which the world expected." Nothing is known of Stringer's life. 21 COLES. -.4^. /; ^^i -^-A XVII. Elisha Coles (16J0-1680), a schoolmaster in Russell Street, Covent Garden, w ho was the son of John Coles, schoolmaster at Wolverhampton, began life as a chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford, and matriculated at that University, but left it without taking a degree. He was the author of several Dictionaries, English and Latin, which were popular at the time. He published a Shorthand, but he is chiefly interesting to us as the suggester of a method of position in regard to the line. It was difficult in his time, as it is in our own, to be original, but his invention certainly had originality about it. Though we are now familiar with the principle of " position," in his day it was a daring novelty to suggest that vowel sounds should Vjc difierentiated according to the position of the consonant above, on, or through the line. Coles became second under- master in Merchant Taylors' School, but held afterwards an appointment in Galway School. After two years' service in the latter capacity, he died at (Jalway in 1680, aged 10, Northampton claiming the lionour of his nativity within her precincts. •79 WESTON. XVIII. James Weston (fl. 1727-1757 1) has produced perhaps the largest and bulkiest volume of a Shorthand system ever pub- lished ; yet nothing is known of his life except that he was a Scotchman and a teacher of his system at Manchester and London, and most probably a professional practitioner. He is chiefly known to students of Shorthand history on account of the disputes as to the best system that arose between himself and Dr. Byrom, in which also the Pvev. Philip Gibbs, our first historian, and Air. Anlay Macaulay, a rival author to Byrom, joined. The wordy war is interesting. He published the Common Prayer Book in his system. His Shorthand book, though not particularly scarce, fetches a high price, varying from 12s. 6d. to £2 2s. From what Weston says in the dedication of his " Stenography Com- pleated," we are led to infer that Shorthand was employed by the Government as early as 1724;. 23 GIBBS. XIX. Philip Gibbs (fl. 1736) was our first English Shorthand Historian. He ministered to a congregation of Protestant Dissenters at Hackney, London. He had been trained in the Calvinistic doctrines, but abjured them subsequently, and did not profess to belong to any particular sect. His book, entitled "An Historical Account of Compendious and Swift Writing," exhibits much learning and a research amongst the authors of antiquity for the purpose he had in hand. His account of Bright's and John Willis's books were adopted by subsequent historians, except that Mr. Levy, in 1862, gave an independent account of Willis's Shorthand. He was also the author of a Shorthand system entitled "An Essay towards a Farther Improvement of Shorthand." GURNEY. XX. Thomas Guknky (1705-1770), ih'i founder of the present iinii of W. 15. Gurney & Sons, official Slif>itliaiid writers to bolli 2'i Houses of Parliament, was for many years the ofEcial Short- hand writer at the Old Bailey, London, and was also employed in the House of Commons, though the appointment of W. B. Gurney »fe Sons, above noted, dates from 1802 and 1813. Thomas Gurney published an improvement of Mason's method, acknowledged by him as such in the editions pub- lished during his life from 1750 to 1770, during which time seven editions were published. Gurney was born in 1705, near Woburn, Bedfordshire. His father, descended from an .ancient family, was a substantial miller. Thomas was intended for a farmer, but ha\ing a turn for Ijooks and mechanics he deserted his original calling, and became a clockmaker and then a schoolmaster at Newport Paguell and Luton. In purchasing a parcel of books he found one to be Mason's Shorthand, and he studied it to such purpose that at the age of 1 6 he was able to take down sermons. At the age of 32 he was appointed to the Shorthand writership at the Old Bailey, and held it for 33 years until his death. He taught and practised Shorthand, but still pursued the clockmaking business concurrently, varied by designing patterns for calico printing. He has been described as a shrewd, humorous, and well-informed man. He had a literary passage of arms with John Angell, who, in a preface to his own Shorthand, animad- verted upon Gurney's method. This little quarrel is to be found in the postscript to the fourth edition of Gurney's " Brachy- graphy." XXI. Peteu Anxet (tl. 1G93-17(J'J) was bom at Liverpool, 1693, and, besides producing two systems of Shorthand, was at one time a schoohnaster and at another the liolder of some small public office. He wrote some deistical works, and published some numbers of a periodical called the Free Enquirer. He is the first Shorthand author known to have been sentenced to stand in the pillory, besides having to undergo a year's hard laljour on account of publishing in his paper what was called in those days a blasphemous libel. After that he kept a school at Lam- botli. CJurney has described him as " behaving with modesty and candour, not imposing incredulous stories about his Short- hand on the public." TIFFIN. XXII. WiLLiA.M TiKKlN (II. 17r)0? ) is creditf'd with Ixin- tlio tirst Phonetic Shorthand author by some of our historians ; but 26 that is an error, as it is clear the art was founded upon that principle by John Willis, who provided for an equal number of vowel sound? to those included in Tiffin's system. Tiffin was chaplain of Wigston's Hospital in Leicester, probably from 1735 to 1788. He doubtless held a living in the town also. He regarded his scheme of " suiting the alphabet to the utterances of the language" as entirely novel, and did not know that he had been anticipated by John Willis and the author of " Characterism." BYROM. XXIII. John BYROM,F.R.S.(1691-1763)isfanious;in Shorthand history for giving an entirely new feature to the art in the direc- tion of simplifying the characters and rendering them more easy of junction one with another, and of preserving greater lineality in writing. These features have been taken as a standard to be followed by all subsequent authors. Byrom was both poet and 27 r stenographer. He was born at Kersall, Manchester, in 1691-2, and educated at jNIercliant Taylors' School, London, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. Here is his portrait as a young man : — He became a fellow of his college, and contributed literary essays to the Spectator, besides writing poems, some of which have gained notoriety. He studied medicine in France, and was called " Doctor " by his friends, but never took the degree, or practised. He was for some years dependent on a small portion allowed him from the family estates, and was thus driven to teach his Short- hand privately in London, Manchester, and Cambridge ; but ultimately he succeeded to the whole of the estates by the death of Ills elder brother, and then lost a good deal of his interest in the pro- mulgation of tlie art. He left a collection of notes in Shorthand, published after his death under the title of "Byrom's Journal and Literary Remains." Two of his letters to the lloyal Society appear in their Transactions for the year 17I(S, in reply to propo.sals for a new Shorthand by INlr. Jeakc and for a new scheme for a universal language by Mr. Lodwick ; and thc^se show that Byrom had fully studied phonetic principles. Byrom's system was not published till 17'i7, four years after his death. He was the founder of a Hociety, open to his pupils, for the encouragement of thestudy of his iiietliod. His journal contains n)ucii interesting L 28 matter in reference to that society and upon Shorthand topics generally, including his professional disputes with James Weston and other rival Shorthand authors. TAYLOR. XXIV. Samuel Taylor (H. 1786) was a teacher and professional writer of a system he published under the title of " An Essay intended to Establish a Standard for an Universal System of Stenography," ikc, 1786. The system gained great popularity, and is still used by members of the " Institute of Shorthand Writers (Registered) " in our Law Courts. Taylor dispensed with the quadrant signs introduced by Byrom, and represented any vowel by a single dot in any position. By the subscription list appended to his book he appears to have been well known to contemporaries, but nothing can now be learned respecting him except that he was at one time engaged in taking notes of speeches in the Irish Parliament MOLINEUX. •'-V/;;, XXV. Thomas Molineux, of Macclesfield (1759-1850), a follower of Byrom's method, is remarkable for having lived to the age of 91 and for being an enthusiastic disciple of "The Grand Master," as he and others were wont to call Byrom. Molineux 29 was a native of Manchester, but at an early age became writing- master and teacher of accounts in King Edward the Sixth's Grammar School at Macclesfield, a post he held for 26 years. He lived the remainder of his days in retirement in the same town. He wrote a treatise on arithmetic in two volumes, and was a contributor on educational subjects to various magazines. For some years he carried on an interesting correspondence, chiefly on Shortliand matters, with Robert Cabell Roffe, an engraver, of London, a strong Byromite, and many of the letters were privately printed in 1860 by Rofle's sons, under the title of " The Grand Master " DODDRIDGE. I XXVI. Dr. Phtlih DoDDRiDfiE (1702-1 7r)l) was a well- known Nonconformist divine, born in London, 1702. He was educated at Kibworth, Leicestershire, and, having become minister (jf that place, removed in 172.") to Maiket Harborough, where he set up an academy. Thence he went to Northampton as ministei- and tutor, and acquirfd great reputation for learning and can- dour. He published a great many well-known and esteemed works, besides a modification of the old Cartwright-Rich systeu). The peculiarity of Doddiidge, most interesting to Shorthand writers, was that he insisted on all his pupils, who were chiefly in training for the Nonconformist ministry, acquiring the art of writing his Shorthand, .so that they might use it for taking down the lectures by means of which he imparted instruction to them. 450.. o-^ 30 A full account of his method, wintten by Dr. Westby-Gibsor , was publislied a few months since in the Phonetic Jo^irnal. Dod- dridge's intense application to study brought on a pulmonary complaint, from which he died at Lisbon, whither he had gone to seek relief in change of climate. Many MS. volumes in Dod- dridge's system, by himself or his pupils, are in existence. MAYOR. XXVII. Dr. William 'Mayor (1758-1837) was a compiler of educational works. Born in Aberdeenshire, he came to England at the age of 1 7, and commenced life in a school at Burford, Oxfordshire. He obtained a title for holy orders, and through the favour of the Duke of Marlborough, the junior members of whose family he instructed in writing, he became rector of Woodstock, where he wrote his " Universal Steno- graphy," and also a system of abbreviated longhand entitled " Macro-Stenography," He was elected 10 times mayor of the borough of Woodstock, and was buried in Woodstock Church. Tlie introduction to his Shorthand displays a close knowledge of his subject. The system was a popular one in his day and reached its 10th edition in 1820, but it is now almost forgotten, though MSS. in its character are sometimes met with, XXVIII. James Henry Lewis (1786-1853) was not only the author of a system of Shorthand called " The Ready Writer," but of a valuable and unbiassed Shorthand History, entitled " An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of Shorthand," published in 1816. The insinuation made in some quarters that Mr. Lewis had assistance in preparing his History is perfectly groundless and totally unworthy of belief. Mr. Lewis was born in the parish of King's Stanley, Gloucestershire, being the eldest son of a cloth manufacturer, mill and landowner, at Ebley. Stroud. He seems to have studied Taylor's system, and, deeming it to have defects, brought out his own. He opened business as a teacher of the system at 104, High Holboni, London, and afterwards travelled in England, lecturing in tlic larger towns and collecting old Shorthand books, of which he possessed a large number, many of them being very rare. Returning to London, he located himself, first in the Waterloo Road, and aftei-wards in th<» Strand, where his shop was a l.uidmark to passers-by. Hf retired to Milton Ho.id, Gravesend, a few montlis Ix'foi'c his death in IS.^.3. ilc founded a Society of Reporters, with the object of improving their status. FINIS. Printed by the Catherine Street Publishing Association, Limited, 12 and 14, Catherine Street. Strand, London, W.C. f LEGIBLE SHORTHAND, Constructed by Mr. EDWARD POCKNELL, after 30 years' practical experience of the defects of previous Systems for Reporting and Professional Shorthand Writing, As its name implies, is MORE easy to read (as well as JtORB easy to learn and WRITE) than any Sysrem that has preceded it. The principle on which it is based, viz., that of INDICATING THE VOWEL PLACES, which was favdured by the late celebrated Phonetician, Mr. ALEXANDER -MELN'ILLE BELL, has been followed by Mr. VALPY, in his recent " Audeography," and is destined to become the basis of every scientific SYSTEM OF THE FUTURE. ''Legible Shoktha.vd " is used by Clerks and IN NEWSPAPER REPORTING, :iiul it is nndonbtedly THE BEST SYSTEM, Iji^cause it is the only one which provides, by a methodical and easy arrangement, sejiarate signs for all the Double Consonants (or digraphs) that so frequently occur in the English language, and the representation of which, dixtiiictly, readily secures the legibility of the written notes : and because every consonant sign carries the indefinite vowel sound with and within it as an essential part of it. It is, therefore, THE MOST PHONETIC SYSTEM tliat has ever been published. •' LEGIBLE SHORTHAND " PUBLICATIONS. 1. COMI'KNIJILM OF "LEGIBLE ShOKTHAND," Id. -^ Pui.MEK, 16 pages, 9.^0 cuts, ;id. :;. .MoNOHVLi.ABic and Pkogkkssive E.xekcises, 40 pages, 1,500 cuts. Is. 1. C().mi'lete Lvstklction Book, 2nd ICdition, :j,:100 cuts, price 2s. •. CoMMO.v Shokthani), for Okkick Work, based on "Legible Shorthand" Alphabet, 1,010 cuts. Is. a. " Legiule .Shoktiia.mi " Vi.NDiCATKl) (a reply to the Plwnetlc Journul), Id. 7 1'ifiNcii'LE.s of "Legible Shorthand": An Explanatory Paper, 2d. Other Publications are :— 1. Origin ok En(;lish Siiokthanh Ciiakac teks, 2d. HUINCIPLES HiTHKKTO l.sEI) IN ShOKTHAM), 6d. Tmk Thkorv of J)aviii Lvlk's Phoneth' Shokthani) (1702), (id. SiioHTiiANi) Celeuritik-s OK THE Past, with 22 I'ortraits, .'12 p. 8vo.. Is TiMOTHV BrIGHT'.S SVSTE.M E.XI'LAINEO, ' University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. \dL UJi Qzim. o 6? V3J0-^ •^JO>^ ^Til^ONVSOV^^ ;;OFCALIF0% 1IF0% Mon.v^ yn.\ uwuan.iN^ m > so %d3AINn-3WV^ .V;lOSANCElfj> ,^MF"^ ^•riU3N <^\m ^OfCAl %13!)Ni i? S ^>^UIBII \^i\\\ .OFCA vr *'^0 I null Ill 1, ;l III II III 1 nil il J lill illlil ii I nil AA 000 482 613 7