SOURCE: Marambaud, Pierre. “Diarist.” In William Byrd of Westover, 1674-1744, pp. 106-16. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1971.

In the following excerpt, Marambaud examines Byrd's diaries, which, the critic maintains, are examples of intimate self-expression but also valuable historical documents.

Byrd's diaries were not published until recently. According to family traditions, he never failed to keep a detailed journal in shorthand when absent from home.¹ In fact, as we now know, he kept it at Westover as well as when he was away, and it is fairly probable that he did so throughout most of his adult life, but that a great part of it has been lost.

Three portions have come to light in our century. The earliest known diary, covering the period from February 1709 to September 1712, was purchased from the estate of R. A. Brock in 1922 by Henry Huntington as part of a collection of Virginia manuscripts...