Literature · 2
Which 17th-century English diarist wrote his famous personal diary in a shorthand code that took nearly 200 years to decipher?
Answer
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys kept his diary from 1660 to 1669 in a shorthand system (Thomas Shelton's tachygraphy), which remained undeciphered until Cambridge student John Smith decoded it in the 1820s. The diary is now one of the most important primary sources for life in Restoration England.
💡 Did you know?
Samuel Pepys encoded his diary in shorthand for 350 years until a Cambridge student finally deciphered it in the 1820s.
Other options people guess
- John Evelyn
- Daniel Defoe
- Samuel Johnson
Topics
- diary
- 17th-century
- british-literature
- restoration
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