SHORTHAND

was practised by the ancient Greeks and Romans, on account of its brevity and its secrecy but all knowledge of the art was lost from the rotl i; to the 16th century, when Dr. Timothy Bright published his " Characterie ’* (in 1587), and Peter Bales his “ Art of Brachygraphie ” (in 1590), but the earliest system of any importance was that of John Will is, whose "Arte of Stenographic” (1602) became very popular. William Mason was the best shorthand writer of the 17th century, and in 1767 appeared the "Universal English Shorthand” of John Byrom, followed in 1786 by Samuel Taylor’s SIDNEY, “ Stenography," the best of the A, B, C systems, used almost universally until Isaac Pitman gave his “Phonography” to the world in 1827, which has never been surpa ed.