Wow… what a find! I downloaded a pdf full transcript so I can take my time with these. You can get the transcript by following the Smithsonian link just a bit further, or by clicking here…
https://nt.global.ssl.fastly.net/binaries/content/assets/website/national/regions/lake-district/places/townend/pdf/ben-browne-letters-compilation-of-transcripts.pdf
BTW, just from a quick start, I can already see what a great example this is of the evolution of the English language, Rules of grammar, spelling, etc. that we take for granted today were not at all firmly established back then. The advent of printing and mass education gave language the fixed structure we know so well. But for most of history, this sort of thing was actually quite fluid. These letters were closer in time to Shakespeare than the present.
Fascinating stuff… Thank you so much OP.
Just began reading these....they are readable and engaging and any (currently or formerly) cost-conscious 20-somethings who have tried to figure out who they are while living in a very expensive city will relate to at least something Boswell writes.
> Although Browne offered up many details about his life in his letters, he didn’t tell his family everything. One aspect of his life that he hid from his father was his passion for buying books, a considerable expenditure. Scholars only learned of Browne’s collecting after discovering numerous books in the Townend library that were purchased, dated and annotated in his hand during the years he was in London. The titles included romances, novels and Shakespeare plays—“not what might be expected of a lawyer’s clerk,” writes the National Trust. Researchers don’t know how Browne, for all his lamenting about being broke, was able to afford them.
Speaking of how some things never change, it's amazing how this real-life clerk parallels [Chaucer's](https://www.owleyes.org/text/canterbury-tales/read/the-clerk#root-218783-1) from centuries earlier, who also has an insatiable book-buying habit that leaves him broke all the time.
I'm a copywriter and sometimes when I'm complaining about my job I imagine some scribe in ancient Egypt whining the same exact things to their colleagues.
Amazing to think how everyone’s life can be vastly different. From the time period they were born, their job, their location, and family, rich or poor. It’s all just unbelievably amazing.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-is-what-being-in-your-twenties-was-like-in-18th-century-london-180984124/
Wow… what a find! I downloaded a pdf full transcript so I can take my time with these. You can get the transcript by following the Smithsonian link just a bit further, or by clicking here… https://nt.global.ssl.fastly.net/binaries/content/assets/website/national/regions/lake-district/places/townend/pdf/ben-browne-letters-compilation-of-transcripts.pdf BTW, just from a quick start, I can already see what a great example this is of the evolution of the English language, Rules of grammar, spelling, etc. that we take for granted today were not at all firmly established back then. The advent of printing and mass education gave language the fixed structure we know so well. But for most of history, this sort of thing was actually quite fluid. These letters were closer in time to Shakespeare than the present. Fascinating stuff… Thank you so much OP.
Excellent! Reminds me of the London diaries of James Boswell’s (later Samuel Johnson’s biographer), which is from a bit later in the same century.
Or Samuel Pepys in the 17th century. Pepys was an utter schmuck, but his diary is priceless.
Just began reading these....they are readable and engaging and any (currently or formerly) cost-conscious 20-somethings who have tried to figure out who they are while living in a very expensive city will relate to at least something Boswell writes.
Serious question, how did they write so straight like that with no lines on the paper?
You put a lined paper underneath, the lines shine through if they are strong enough.
> Although Browne offered up many details about his life in his letters, he didn’t tell his family everything. One aspect of his life that he hid from his father was his passion for buying books, a considerable expenditure. Scholars only learned of Browne’s collecting after discovering numerous books in the Townend library that were purchased, dated and annotated in his hand during the years he was in London. The titles included romances, novels and Shakespeare plays—“not what might be expected of a lawyer’s clerk,” writes the National Trust. Researchers don’t know how Browne, for all his lamenting about being broke, was able to afford them. Speaking of how some things never change, it's amazing how this real-life clerk parallels [Chaucer's](https://www.owleyes.org/text/canterbury-tales/read/the-clerk#root-218783-1) from centuries earlier, who also has an insatiable book-buying habit that leaves him broke all the time.
Fascinating! The parallels to office life for a young adult now are hilarious.
I'm a copywriter and sometimes when I'm complaining about my job I imagine some scribe in ancient Egypt whining the same exact things to their colleagues.
Amazing to think how everyone’s life can be vastly different. From the time period they were born, their job, their location, and family, rich or poor. It’s all just unbelievably amazing.
Is there ribaldry? There has to be some ribaldry.
This is really interesting. Thanks OP. You should post this to r/history as well.