Prof cracks 270-year-old Wesley code.A 270-YEAR-OLD diary, written in code, has been cracked by a Liverpool professor.After nine years of painstaking pains·tak·ing adj. Marked by or requiring great pains; very careful and diligent. See Synonyms at meticulous. n. Extremely careful and diligent work or effort. work, more than 1,000 handwritten hand·write tr.v. hand·wrote , hand·writ·ten , hand·writ·ing, hand·writes To write by hand. [Back-formation from handwritten.] Adj. 1. pages from 1736-1756 have been deciphered from the diary of Charles Wesley. The Rev Professor Kenneth Newport, Liverpool Hope University's pro vice-chancellor for research and academic development, used photocopies of the original manuscript to unlock the secrets of the code. As co-founder of the Methodist Church, with his brother, John, the long passages of "hidden" material give a fascinating insight into the personal life of the younger Wesley. Charles used his shorthand code to write about sensitive matters including his sharp disapproval of his brother's marriage. Prof New port, an Anglican priest, said: "When I started to study his manuscripts at Manchester's John Rylands John Rylands (February 7, 1801 – December 11, 1888) was an English weaver, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Born in St Helens Lancashire, to a weaving family, in 1819 he established a textile business with his father and two brothers. Library, I kept coming across sections written in some sort of code. "I was determined to unlock it and I'm delighted to have played a part in bringing the full range of his views to light." |
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