Saturday 13 August 1664

Up, and before I went to the office comes my Taylor with a coate I have made to wear within doors, purposely to come no lower than my knees, for by my wearing a gowne within doors comes all my tenderness about my legs. There comes also Mr. Reeve, with a microscope and scotoscope. For the first I did give him 5l. 10s., a great price, but a most curious bauble it is, and he says, as good, nay, the best he knows in England, and he makes the best in the world. The other he gives me, and is of value; and a curious curiosity it is to look objects in a darke room with. Mightly pleased with this I to the office, where all the morning. There offered by Sir W. Pen his coach to go to Epsum and carry my wife, I stept out and bade my wife make her ready, but being not very well and other things advising me to the contrary, I did forbear going, and so Mr. Creed dining with me I got him to give my wife and me a play this afternoon, lending him money to do it, which is a fallacy that I have found now once, to avoyde my vowe with, but never to be more practised I swear, and to the new play, at the Duke’s house, of “Henry the Fifth;” a most noble play, writ by my Lord Orrery; wherein Betterton, Harris, and Ianthe’s parts are most incomparably wrote and done, and the whole play the most full of height and raptures of wit and sense, that ever I heard; having but one incongruity, or what did, not please me in it, that is, that King Harry promises to plead for Tudor to their Mistresse, Princesse Katherine of France, more than when it comes to it he seems to do; and Tudor refused by her with some kind of indignity, not with a difficulty and honour that it ought to have been done in to him.

Thence home and to my office, wrote by the post, and then to read a little in Dr. Power’s book of discovery by the Microscope to enable me a little how to use and what to expect from my glasse.

So to supper and to bed.

32 Annotations

First Reading

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Scotoscope article "That Curious Curiosity: The Scotoscope" by R. H. Nuttall,
available in "Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London", Vol. 42, No. 2 (Jul., 1988), pp. 133-138, which sadly must be purchased but the first page can be viewed here:

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Sam? Look at all this matter in the sample I took from Fancy's leg." Bess pushes scope.

"Is this with that modified lens you had me get Greatorex to work up?"

"Hmmn-hmm...Told you it would greatly increase the magnification."

"Indeed. My, the thing's loaded with them?"

"What do you suppose if we took some on a lancet and scratched a live hare's leg with it?"

"Not my dinner hare?!"

"Samuel...For Natural Philosophy..."

"Lets use the neighbor's dog. Can't stand the miserable thing anyhow."

"Sam'l?!"

"Fine. We'll get another hare. Wait. Are you suggesting these things floating here are a source of disease?"

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Well...That was a flat failure. And a waste of a good hare."

"He does seem fine. And the sample from him seems pretty clear."

"Of course, I don't intend to eat him."

"No."

"Sure you don't want to try with the neighbor's dog?"

"Sam'l!"

***

Terry F  •  Link

scotoscope

L&M identify a scotoscope as a portable camera obscura, but I have doubts.

cape henry  •  Link

"...I got him to give my wife and me a play this afternoon..." An ingenious ploy and one used recently on my wife and I by our daughter, only in reverse. Telling us she needed a sum of money with some urgency, we sent it. Then, when we next visited her, she "took" us to a Padres game. Really splendid seats, though.

Terry F  •  Link

Absent Dirk - from the Carte Calendar

Sir Robert Walsh to Ormond

Written from: Neston
Date: 13 August 1664

Shelfmark: MS. Carte 215, fol(s). 64-67
Document type: Holograph

Gives a report of a recent conversation upon public affairs, with a chance fellow-traveller of the writer, not before known to him. Mentions some recent political incidents and opinion. Adds suggestions as to the defence of Dunkirk, in relation to which he says that to his own knowledge (communicated, too, by him to Lord Teviot, then Governor there) a certain Marquess of Gulan was twice sent by the French Government upon an endeavour to corrupt an officer of rank in the Garrison, with a view to a surprise. The officer, he says, was a favourite of the Governor, whose position in the matter he likens to that of Mazarin, in his last days, towards Fouquet: - conscious of his favourite's maladministration; but unwilling to own that he had chosen ill. http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

jeannine  •  Link

"Journal of the Earl of Sandwich" edited by R.C. Anderson

13th. Saturday. This morning Rich. Mathews and the master and others concerned in the wool ship were cited and accordingly went to Dover. This night blew a storm of wind and the Count Grammont and Col. John Russell from Calais in the Drake came to an anchor by me.

(Having so enjoyed the Count of Grammont's Memoir's which were actually written by his brother in law, I can only imagine that Sandwich had a more than interesting evening anchored next to him. Even if they didn't connect for conversation I am sure that the "Karma" must have been a one of a kind experience!
http://www.pseudopodium.org/repre…

Bradford  •  Link

"a coate I have made to wear within doors, purposely to come no lower than my knees, for by my wearing a gowne within doors comes all my tenderness about my legs."

Is there a translator in the house? A coat would seem heavier than a "gown"; and is the tenderness from that chilly August, or material chafing his skin? (Pepys does not seem the sackcloth sort.)

Companion's Large Glossary quotes the OED about a scotoscope being a "spyglass for seeing objects in a dark room", some centuries in advance of night-vision goggles.

Charmed by his reading the book about "What to Expect from Your Microscope," much as me perusing the owner's manual to a modest Canon digital camera and realizing that if I devoted all my time to it I might master and use each feature once in this lifetime.

Mary  •  Link

".... to come no lower than my knees."

If Sam has got used to wearing a long house-gown when at home, then his lower legs will indeed feel chilly when he ventures out of doors - and we all know how wary he has become of getting chilled; that way lies the route to his 'old pain.' A knee-length jacket of some sort will, he hopes, render his lower extremities less sensitive and liable to chilling. At least, that's how I read it.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"lending him money"
Is he going to ask for his money back?:)

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"lending him money"
Is he going to ask for his money back?:)

Clement  •  Link

Scotoscope
Reading through the annotations the scotoscope that Sam refers to seems to be the light source to illuminate object examined with the microscope, thus,"...a curious curiosity it is to look (at?) objects in a darke room with."

This seems to be illustrated in the image of Hooke's microscope.

PHE  •  Link

As Bradford remarks on: Sam studying the user guide with excitement after acquiring his new toy. Yet another example of the uniqueness of the Diary's ability to show how consistent is human nature through the centuries.

Ruben  •  Link

What is special with Samuel, I think, is his modern way of investigating,before drawing conclusions, pervasive all over Europe in those days. Plato, etc., are still authorities for many, but Sam is interested in facts, not in authoritarian opinions. This is the reason that he tries to understand the world through his senses, augmented by the wonderful new glasses, exact watches, rules and the like.
Now he is in his way of becoming a member of the fledgling Royal Academy, the pinnacle of modern science. Not because of his knowledge or investigations, I am sure, but because of his way to see the world. Should I call this a philosophycal stance?

Terry F  •  Link

Another take on what a scotoscope is

"Good microscopic observations require adequate light. When Hooke started using microscopes, no one had figured out a good method for providing it. He amplified the light to his microscope by placing a brine-filled glass globe between the light source and the microscope. He called this invention the scotoscope." http://www.strangescience.net/hoo…

A lens?

JWB  •  Link

"bitter o salt" beat me to Hooke's drawing of his Scotoscope by a minute, see encyclopedia.

Maurie Beck  •  Link

Here is the full Scotoscope article "That Curious Curiosity: The Scotoscope" by R. H. Nuttall,
available in "Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London", Vol. 42, No. 2

http://0-www.jstor.org.innopac.li…

Terry F  •  Link

Well, JWB and Maurie Beck, from the US I cannot download the PDF'S.

Here's an image of what seems to illumine whatever is under Hooke's microscope (scroll down): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micr…

bitter o salt  •  Link

Jstor is for the literate with accreditation , not available for the illiterati or the illiciti.

horn  •  Link

As a long time lurker I'm finally forced to post, albeit a day late. I read the Diary a day late so I can get most of the anotations in one reading.

When I went to www.scotoscope.com I was surprised and highly amused that I fell for it.

well done.
horn

Australian Susan  •  Link

"...and so Mr. Creed dining with me I got him to give my wife and me a play this afternoon, lending him money to do it, which is a fallacy that I have found now once, to avoyde my vowe with, but never to be more practised I swear,..."
So does this mean, if I give my daughter money to buy me and her chocolate, I can then eat it as I haven't actually bought it myself, so can keep my resolution of not buying and eating chocolate? Sort of......

pepf  •  Link

Never build a doctrine on or draw a teaching from an unclear or debated hapax (Gilbert G. Bilezikian, Christianity 101: Your Guide to Eight Basic Christian Beliefs). However murky the source, the advice is sound.

"Hooke’s drawing of his Scotoscope"

"He called this invention the scotoscope."

Did he, actually? I can neither find that term in Hooke's Micrographia nor a connection with the bull's eye condenser depicted with his microscope as an early means of incident light illumination.
H.R.Nuttall is carefully indicating his inference as conjectural ("...it appears likely..., if this is the case...") while Lisa Jardine, though referring ultimately to his paper (fn. 30), is much more confident ("...a piece of scientific equipment Hooke invented and marketed - his 'scotoscope', a picture of which appears in Micrographia alongside his two-lens microscope").

Anyway, SP's remark ("The other he gives me, and is of value; and a curious curiosity it is to look objects in a darke room with.") sounds like he tinkered with Reeve's give-away even before acquainting himself with the "owner's manual", Dr. Power’s book of discovery by the Microscope. Perhaps I'm jaded by 40 years of microscopy but I can't imagine anybody beyond his teens playing with the light source and not using the real thing.

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Saturday 6 August 1664

✹ jeannine on 6 Aug 2007 • Link • Flag

"Journal of the Earl of Sandwich" edited by R.C. Anderson

6th. Saturday. ... I sent The Drake to Calias for the Count Grammont.

Capt. Nixon in the Elizabeth sent in a pink laden with wool from Ireland that was going for Holland on the back of the Goodwin.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Absent Dirk - from the Carte Calendar
Sir Robert Walsh to Ormond
Written from: Neston
Date: 13 August 1664"

Anyone know where Neston is? It may be in France since this intelligence is about a possible surprise attack on Dunkirk.

It is possible this is the same Sir Robert Welch (or Walsh as he commonly spelled his name), an Irish Officer, who was one of three officers who rescued the Royal Standard at the Battle of Edgehill after Varney fell and it was captured by Essex' troops on October 23, 1642.

If it is the same Robert Walsh, this might be an example of Charles II employing people who risked everything for his father.

For more about the Robert Walsh and his valor during the battle of Edgehill, see
http://www.britnumsoc.org/publica…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

My thought that Neston was in France was wrong. Poking around, I find a small port near Liverpool is a good candidate:

https://neston.org.uk/local-histo…

Arguably the most prosperous period of Neston’s development was in the mid 1500′s when it established itself as a port with important coaching links to London and became the principle departure point for Spain, France and Ireland.

http://neston.org.uk/wp-content/u…

Post-medieval pottery illustrates Neston’s strong domestic trade links with North Devon and international trade with Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands during the 17th and 18th centuries.

It must have been quite large because:

In 1690 the Hoyle or Hyle Lake, a deep water channel sheltered by sandbanks off what is now Hoylake, was the main point of embarkation for William III’s expedition to Ireland.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Poking hasn't helped me with the Marquess of Gulan. Anyone got any ideas?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... for by my wearing a gowne within doors comes all my tenderness about my legs. "

"There offered by Sir W. Pen his coach to go to Epsum ..."

Pepys was whining in the office, so Penn tried to send him to take the waters at Epsom. I think this would be more than an afternoon outing, so maybe Penn was trying to get the boy genius out of the way for a few days? We shall see ...

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ’ . . Scotoscope..a curious curiosity it is to see objects in a dark room with. . . ’

‘scotoscope, n. < scoto- < ancient Greek σκότος darkness . .

1. Microscopy. An instrument which illuminates an object so that it can be more easily viewed with a microscope, comprising a glass globe filled with brine for concentrating light from a lamp, a convex lens being used to focus this light on the object. Now hist. The invention of the scotoscope is attributed to Robert Hooke . .
1664 S. Pepys Diary 13 Aug. (1971) V. 240 There comes also Mr. Reeve with a Microscope and Scotoscope..a curious curiosity it is to see objects in a dark room with.
. . 1924 Nature 5 July 11/2 Can any of your readers explain the principle of the scotoscope which Pepys defines in his diary..as an instrument enabling objects to be viewed ‘in a dark room’? . .

2. A telescope incorporating an image intensifier, allowing use in dark conditions. rare. This sense probably developed from dictionary definitions of scotoscope which were based on Pepys's use of the term (see quot. 1664 at sense 1); for example, N.E.D. (1910) defines scotoscope as: ‘An instrument which enables the user to see in the dark’.
1964 Appl. Optics 3 671 The scotoscope can be arranged to give a color presentation; however, when this is done, it is at the expense of a fairly high percentage of the photons incident from the scene.’

(OED)

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