EDITORIAL NOTE

Extract

The spelling, punctuation, and capitalization of Woodford's diary have been left unchanged as the sense is generally clear. Wellingborough he spells as variations on ‘Wellingborow’; Towcester as ‘Toucester’. Christ (either standing alone or as part of Antichrist) is shortened to ‘Xt’, except in such words as Christian and christened or when forming part of the name Christopher; these he spells as follows: ‘xxian’, ‘xxned’, ‘xxofer’. The only letter that I have altered is his ‘j’, which I have changed to ‘i’ where necessary. In the introduction, Woodford's surname is spelled without a final ‘e’ because this is the way that he spells the word throughout the diary; the only exception to this applies to later generations of the family. Where editorial additions and explanations have been made they appear either in square brackets or in a note. Some of Woodford's abbreviations and contractions have been expanded in this way: Northampton, which he writes ‘Northton’, has been rendered ‘North[amp]ton’.