Re: ‘ . . Mr. Wheatly begins to look after him . . ‘
From the context this means ‘to vet him as a possible husband’; this would mean in particular to try to find out his net worth, debtors - minus creditors, a hard task in a business world that ran on giving and taking extended credit but essential to gauge the chances of a business thriving or failing.
‘Looking after’ has had in the past a range of meanings, all now obsolete, in addition to the one we use today but not this . Instead I found these:
‘ . . 2. b. To require, demand (a quality or attribute). . . 1822 S. T. Coleridge Lett., Conversat., & Recoll. (1836) II. 98 Those marks which too frequently are overlooked,..but which ought to be looked for and looked after, by every woman who has ever reflected on the words ‘my future Husband’.
‘ . . 3. b. To have as one's business or concern; to give consideration to; to manage, administer. . .1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome i. 430 He could not look after his Sons' Education.
‘ . . 5. 5. intr. To watch closely, keep an eye on. Now rare. . . 1672 C. Manners in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 25 Our Navy puts out again to sea..and wee shall then looke after the Holland Indian fleete . . ‘ .
Re: ‘ . . I would send his son to sea as a Reformado . . ‘
‘reformado, n. < Spanish . . Now chiefly hist. 1. a. A military officer left without a command . . Also: a volunteer serving in the army or navy without a commission, but with the rank of an officer. . . 1660 S. Pepys Diary 1 Oct. (1970) I. 256 Mr. Mansell (a poor Reformado of the Charles) who came to see me . . ‘ (OED)
‘altogether, adj., n., and adv. . . C. adv. 1. b. Used at the end of a clause or sentence for emphasis. Now colloq. and regional (chiefly Irish English ). 1876 J. H. Grover That Rascal Pat in New York Drama 3 32/2, I begs your pardon, sur. It's an optical delusion altogether . . ‘
(OED) ……… nothing to do with:
‘ . . 4. colloq. Usu. with the. The state of nakedness, the nude. Freq. in in the (also one's) altogether. The expression appears to have been popularized by the novel Trilby by G. du Maurier, although in that context ‘the altogether’ appears strictly to mean ‘(a portrait of) the full body’ (as opposed to the face, hands, etc.), with the idea of nudity being secondary or implicit. [1894 G. Du Maurier Trilby I. i. 25 ‘I'm posing for Durien the sculptor, on the next floor. I pose to him for the altogether.’ ‘The altogether?’ asked Little Billee. ‘Yes—l'ensemble, you know—heads, hands, and feet—everything—especially feet.’] . . ‘
Perhaps when he came to catalogue his library at the end of his life he opened this collection which he hadn’t looked at in decades and realised that it was full of smut - which did no credit to his public reputation as a dignified public servant - and also of gossip, true and false, about the great personages of the past age.
All of which would have delighted the students of Magdalene College, who would have lost no time in circulating the juicy libels to the wider public. Better to put it all beyond reach before it could do any harm. So into the fire it went. …………… Re ‘hard by:
‘From the updated OED Third Edition, June 2015:
‘ . .1935 Lincoln (Nebraska) Star 8 Jan. 12/2 The old red brick university hard by the Cambridge subway station. 1989 J. Conway Road from Coorain (1990) vii. 167 A few unpretentious blocks of flats, and one modest hotel, hard by the miles of quiet, uncrowded beach. 2003 Smithsonian July 48/1 Eventually, I repair to a teahouse..on a narrow, curving street hard by Insadong.
. . 2004 Church Times 28 May 36/1 They respond well to having the originals hard by, but the contemporary artist's response is not intended to copy the purpose of the Tuscan artist. ‘
Re: . . "Oh, s***! Now I'll have to find the real bill of loading...."’
‘bill of lading n. an official detailed receipt given by the master of a merchant vessel to the person consigning the goods, by which he makes himself responsible for their safe delivery to the consignee. This document, being the legal proof of ownership of the goods, is often deposited with a creditor as security for money advanced; cf. charter-party n. . . 1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 25 Come aboard..with your..cocket*, or bills of loading . . ‘
* ‘cocket, n.1 < Anglo-Norman . . . . 2. A document sealed by the officers of the custom-house, and delivered to merchants as a certificate that their merchandise has been duly entered and has paid duty. (Now disused.) . . 1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo 194 Commodities brought in, which haue payed Custome..may bee shipped out againe by Cocket, without paying any more Custome . . ‘
‘ . . The important thing to grasp and remember is that using ‘real price’ by itself vastly understates the status and power that came with what seem to us quite modest sums of money in the pre-industrial society of 1660 . . ‘
The appropriate multiplier for the cost of a ship is ‘relative share of GDP’ = 29,000. That is NOT a misprint.
Re: ‘ . . every man has a right of passage in, but not a title to, any highway . . ’
The reason is that it belongs to the Sovereign by right of conquest in 1066:
‘ . . 1597 Shakespeare Richard II iii. iii. 155 Ile be buried in the Kings hie way, Some way of common trade, where subiects feete May hourely trample on their soueraignes head.’ (OED)
This has nothing to do with the English system of footpaths and bridleways, not found in Scotland: it has its own legal system and the ‘right to roam’ modeled on Scandinavian practice: https://www.naturalbushcraft.co.u…
Hudibras Part 1 Canto 1 ------------------------------------------------- Sir Hudibras his passing worth, The manner how he sallied forth; His arms and equipage are shown; His horse's virtues, and his own. Th' adventure of the bear and fiddle Is sung, but breaks off in the middle. -------------------------------------------------
When civil dudgeon a first grew high, And men fell out they knew not why? When hard words, jealousies, and fears, Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk, For Dame Religion, as for punk; Whose honesty they all durst swear for, Though not a man of them knew wherefore:
When Gospel-Trumpeter, surrounded With long-ear'd rout, to battle sounded, And pulpit, drum ecclesiastick, Was beat with fist, instead of a stick;
Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling, And out he rode a colonelling . .
‘mulct, n. < classical Latin . . Now chiefly hist. 1. A fine imposed for an offence . . . . 1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity xix. 71 For multitude and frequency of Transgressours brings in Mulcts and Fees to the Ecclesiastick Officers . . ‘
‘When civil dudgeon a first grew high, And men fell out they knew not why? When hard words, jealousies, and fears, Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk, For Dame Religion, as for punk; Whose honesty they all durst swear for, Though not a man of them knew wherefore: . . ‘
‘Hudibras was written between 1660 and 1680 and is a satire on the Cromwellians and on the Presbyterian church written by a confirmed Royalist and Anglican. Hudibras, a colonel in the Cromwellian army, is involved in various comic misadventures and is shown to be stupid, greedy and dishonest.
The poem is very well written in Chaucerian couplets and was popular for about 150 years, as long as its political attitudes were also popular. The Nineteenth Century saw the re-invention of Cromwell in the popular imagination from usurper and tyrant to heroic upholder of English freedom, and Hudibras was out.’ http://www.exclassics.com/hudibra… ………. ‘In reading it, it is of the utmost importance to comprehend clearly and to bear constantly in mind the purpose of the author in writing it. This purpose is evidently not artistic but polemic, to show in the most unmistakable characters the vileness and folly of the anti-royalist party.’ http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/BUN…
‘Poor wife’ occurs 11 times in the OED but is not defined anywhere. So the sense must be:
‘poor, adj. and n.1 < Anglo-Norman . . . . 5. attrib. That provokes sympathy, or compassion; that is to be pitied; unfortunate, wretched, hapless . . . . 1691 J. Wilson Belphegor v. iii, Poor comfortless Woman; she's fall'n asleep at last. 1715 C. Bullock Woman's Revenge iii. 58 O my poor Dear Husband, I can't bear the Loss of you,—I shall, I shall break my Heart. 1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague III. cliv. 138 Pray let Emily be married; every body marries but poor little Emily . . ‘
Sam feels sympathy for his wife’s discontent but doesn’t know how to remedy it without spending money which he is loth to do until he has amassed a fortune sufficient to maintain them if he loses his livelihood. If he was a tradesman she could work in the family business and be happier but poorer and even more subject to ill-fortune. But he is a rising professional with pretension to gentry status, which requires that his wife do (or at least appear to do) nothing useful.
‘quarantine, n. < Anglo-Norman 1. Christian Church. The place where Jesus fasted for 40 days. Obs. . . 2. Law. A period of 40 days during which a widow who is entitled to a dower is supposed to be assigned her dower and has the right to remain in her deceased husband's chief dwelling; Obs. . . 3. A period of 40 days set aside or used for a specific purpose, as penance or service; a set of forty (days) (rare). Obs . .
4. a. Originally: isolation imposed on newly arrived travellers in order to prevent the spread of disease; a period of time spent in such isolation . . . . 1663 S. Pepys Diary 26 Nov. (1971) IV. 399 Making of all ships coming from thence..to perform their Quarantine (for 30 days as Sir Richard Browne expressed it..contrary to the import of the word; though in the general acceptation, it signifies now the thing, not the time spent in doing it) . . 1796 E. Darwin Zoonomia II. 265 This dreadful malady* might be annihilated by making all the dogs in Great Britain perform a kind of quarantine, by shutting them up for a certain number of weeks. . . 1855 Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) i. ii. 12 ‘Now, I ask you,’ said Mr. Meagles... ‘I ask you simply as between man and man..did you ever hear of such damned nonsense as putting Pet in quarantine?’ . . 2000 Independent 28 Feb. i. 5/1 The pet travel scheme, which came into effect at midnight last night, allows pet owners to bring their cats and dogs back into Britain from 22 countries without the need for quarantine.’ (OED)
Re: ‘ . . nothing in the world so hateful as a dog in the manger.’
‘dog in the manger*, n. A person who selfishly prevents another from having or enjoying something, even though he or she has no personal use for it.
1573 G. Harvey Schollers Loove in Let.-bk. (1884) 114 And as for the Syr Lowte That playdst inne and owte; A dogg in ye maunger, A very ranke raunger. . . 1836 F. Marryat Japhet III. xviii. 212 Why, what a dog in the manger you must be—you can't marry them both. . . 2007 P. Briggs in On the Prowl 49, I won't let you sleep around with anyone else. I won't be forced either... If that makes me a dog in the manger, so be it.’
* ‘1. < Anglo-Norman a. A long open box or trough in a stable, barn, etc., out of which horses and cattle can eat fodder . . . . 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Luke ii. 7 She..wrapped hym in swadlynge cloothes, and layed hym in a manger. . . 1986 Farmers Weekly 3 Jan. 10/4 We must do something about the troughing, both to improve intake by having feed constantly in the manger, and to cut down labour.’
Re: ‘ . . too good a dinner to eat alone, viz., a good goose and a rare piece of roast beef . . ’
More likely is:
‘rare, adj.1 < classical Latin . . . . 5. b. colloq. In weakened sense: splendid, excellent, fine . . . . 1668 Dryden Sr Martin Mar-all v. 67 Mill. You and I will disguise too... Mood. That will be most rare. 1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 59 He's a rare Fellow for giving a bad Captain a good Word . . ‘
but could be:
‘rare, adj.2 < Originally a variant of rear adj.1 . . 1. Of meat, esp. beef: lightly cooked; underdone . . 1615 G. Markham Eng. Hus-wife in Countrey Contentments ii. 54 To know when meate is rosted enough, for as too much rareness is vnwholsome, so too much drinesse is not nourishing . . ……………… Re: ’ . . he is a very painfull man, . .’
‘painful, adj. . . . . 4. b. Of a person: painstaking, assiduous, diligent. Now rare. . . 1632 Sir J. Oglander Mem. (1888) 141, I maye trulye saye of the man, I never knewe any more paynefull of bodye, or more industrious of minde. 1702 C. Mather Magnalia Christi i. v. 21/1 The more Learned, Godly, Painful Ministers of the Land . . ‘
Re: ‘ . . most of their discourse was about hunting, in a dialect I understand very little . . ’
‘Hunting’ here = stag-hunting, still pursued in the West Country but unknown in Pepys’ Cambridgeshire. I think these gentlemen were talking with a broad West Country accent (think ‘Talk like a Pirate’), which Pepys couldn’t interpret, and using some local vocabulary which was completely foreign to him. So it’s mainly:
‘dialect < διάλεκτος Greek . . . . 2. A form or variety of a language which is peculiar to a specific region, esp. one which differs from the standard or literary form of the language in respect of vocabulary, pronunciation, idiom, etc. . . 1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie 73 The Slavon tongue is of great extent: of it there be many Dialects, as the Russe, the Polish, the Bohemick, the Illyrian..and others. 1716 London Gaz. No. 5497/1 He made a Speech..which was answered by the Doge in the Genoese Dialect . . ‘
with a bit of:
‘ . . 3. a. Manner of speaking, language, speech; esp. the mode of speech peculiar to, or characteristic of, a particular person or group; phraseology, idiom; jargon; a particular variety of any of these. . .1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. i. 8 A Babylonish dialect, Which learned Pedants much affect. 1730 J. Clarke Ess. Educ. Youth (ed. 2) 172 The Lawyer's Dialect would be too hard for him . . ‘
Re: ’ . . He began this night the fomentation to my wife . . ’
‘fomentation, n. < late Latin . . 1. a. Med. The application to the surface of the body either of flannels, etc. soaked in hot water, whether simple or medicated, or of any other warm, soft, medicinal substance . . . . 1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια 289 Fomentation with sponges in vineger. . . 1714 J. Purcell Treat. Cholick 133 Flannel, or a Thin Woollen Cloth worn next to the Skin..is a lesser kind of perpetual Fomentation . . ‘ (OED)
‘shorthand, n. and adj. . . 1. A method of speedy writing by means of the substitution of contractions or arbitrary signs or symbols for letters, words, etc.; brachygraphy, stenography. 1636 Jeffrey Hudson's New Yeeres Gift (title-page), With a Letter as it was penned in short-hand. 1639 J. Mayne Citye Match i. iii, Shall I not learn Arithmetic too, sir, and Short~hand . . ‘ (OED)
The Diary was not in code, except for the sexual bits: it was in shorthand:
‘ . . The seemingly impenetrable shorthand of the six volumes marked ‘journal’ discouraged examination until, it seems, the successful publication of Evelyn's diary (1818) prompted Magdalene to have Pepys's manuscript deciphered.
An impecunious undergraduate of neighbouring St John's College, John Smith, was hired, and learned the characters by comparing Pepys's shorthand of Charles II's escape story with the longhand version. He did not know that the manual for the system, Thomas Shelton's Tutor to Tachygraphy* (1642), was in the library . . ‘ (DNB)
* ‘tachygraphy, n. < Greek ταχύς swift + -graphy ‘The art or practice of quick writing’ (Johnson); variously applied to shorthand, and (in palæography) to cursive as distinguished from angular letters, to the Egyptian hieratic, and to the Greek and Latin writing of the Middle Ages with its many abbreviations and compendia. 1641 Shelton (title) Tachygraphy. The most exact and compendious methode of short and swift writing . . 1778 Biographia Britannica (ed. 2) I. 538 (note) , Thomas Shelton became famous..for his Tachygraphy . . ‘
Not famous enough for Smith to think Pepys might have used it, evidently.
Re: ’ . . her great conflux of humours . . did in breaking leave a hollow‘
‘conflux, n. < Latin . . 1. a. Flowing together; flowing into a common body; = confluence n. 1 . .
b. quasi-concr. 1658 W. Johnson tr. F. Würtz Surgeons Guid i. vi. 24 A conflux of ill humours comes to it. 1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Reflect. Agric. x. 56 in Compl. Gard'ner Both being so stopt, there is a great Conflux of Water made in a certain Tract of Land.’ (OED)
Re: ‘ . . I am resolved to write to him very suddenly.’
‘suddenly, adv. (and adj. < Anglo-Norman . . . . 2. Without delay, forthwith, promptly, immediately, directly, at once. Obs. . . 1595 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 iv. ii. 4 Speake suddenlie my Lords, are we all friends? . . 1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xiii. 85 Be sure when you have Fired the Fuse, suddenly to cast it [sc. the grenade] out of your hand . . ‘ (OED)
Re: ‘Lay long in bed, indeed too long, divers people . . staying for me . .’
divers, adj. < Middle English divers < Old French < Latin diversus . . . . 3. Various, sundry, several; more than one, some number of. Referring originally and in form to the variety of objects; but, as variety implies number, becoming an indefinite numeral word expressing multiplicity, without committing the speaker to ‘many’ or ‘few’. Now somewhat archaic, but well known in legal and scriptural phraseology. . . b. with that of indefinite number more prominent: Several, sundry. . . 1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. viii. §3. 134 If Nimrod tooke diuers yeares to find Shinaar. 1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle II. lxxi. 266 The old gentleman..made divers ineffectual efforts to get up . . ‘
‘stay, v.1 < Old French . . . . 14. to stay for —— v. a. To remain or wait in a place for (a person or thing) . . . . 1616 Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 360 Thy Master staies for thee at the North gate. a1665 K. Digby Jrnl. Voy. to Mediterranean (1868) 9 But they steyed for us and made readie for fight . . ‘ (OED)
Comments
Second Reading
About Thursday 10 December 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . Mr. Wheatly begins to look after him . . ‘
From the context this means ‘to vet him as a possible husband’; this would mean in particular to try to find out his net worth, debtors - minus creditors, a hard task in a business world that ran on giving and taking extended credit but essential to gauge the chances of a business thriving or failing.
‘Looking after’ has had in the past a range of meanings, all now obsolete, in addition to the one we use today but not this . Instead I found these:
‘ . . 2. b. To require, demand (a quality or attribute).
. . 1822 S. T. Coleridge Lett., Conversat., & Recoll. (1836) II. 98 Those marks which too frequently are overlooked,..but which ought to be looked for and looked after, by every woman who has ever reflected on the words ‘my future Husband’.
‘ . . 3. b. To have as one's business or concern; to give consideration to; to manage, administer.
. .1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome i. 430 He could not look after his Sons' Education.
‘ . . 5. 5. intr. To watch closely, keep an eye on. Now rare.
. . 1672 C. Manners in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 25 Our Navy puts out again to sea..and wee shall then looke after the Holland Indian fleete . . ‘ .
(OED)
About Wednesday 9 December 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . I would send his son to sea as a Reformado . . ‘
‘reformado, n. < Spanish . . Now chiefly hist.
1. a. A military officer left without a command . . Also: a volunteer serving in the army or navy without a commission, but with the rank of an officer.
. . 1660 S. Pepys Diary 1 Oct. (1970) I. 256 Mr. Mansell (a poor Reformado of the Charles) who came to see me . . ‘
(OED)
About Monday 7 December 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . he dines there all together.’
‘altogether, adj., n., and adv. . . C. adv.
1. b. Used at the end of a clause or sentence for emphasis. Now colloq. and regional (chiefly Irish English ).
1876 J. H. Grover That Rascal Pat in New York Drama 3 32/2, I begs your pardon, sur. It's an optical delusion altogether . . ‘
(OED)
………
nothing to do with:
‘ . . 4. colloq. Usu. with the. The state of nakedness, the nude. Freq. in in the (also one's) altogether.
The expression appears to have been popularized by the novel Trilby by G. du Maurier, although in that context ‘the altogether’ appears strictly to mean ‘(a portrait of) the full body’ (as opposed to the face, hands, etc.), with the idea of nudity being secondary or implicit.
[1894 G. Du Maurier Trilby I. i. 25 ‘I'm posing for Durien the sculptor, on the next floor. I pose to him for the altogether.’ ‘The altogether?’ asked Little Billee. ‘Yes—l'ensemble, you know—heads, hands, and feet—everything—especially feet.’] . . ‘
About Saturday 5 December 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Perhaps when he came to catalogue his library at the end of his life he opened this collection which he hadn’t looked at in decades and realised that it was full of smut - which did no credit to his public reputation as a dignified public servant - and also of gossip, true and false, about the great personages of the past age.
All of which would have delighted the students of Magdalene College, who would have lost no time in circulating the juicy libels to the wider public. Better to put it all beyond reach before it could do any harm. So into the fire it went.
……………
Re ‘hard by:
‘From the updated OED Third Edition, June 2015:
‘ . .1935 Lincoln (Nebraska) Star 8 Jan. 12/2 The old red brick university hard by the Cambridge subway station.
1989 J. Conway Road from Coorain (1990) vii. 167 A few unpretentious blocks of flats, and one modest hotel, hard by the miles of quiet, uncrowded beach.
2003 Smithsonian July 48/1 Eventually, I repair to a teahouse..on a narrow, curving street hard by Insadong.
. . 2004 Church Times 28 May 36/1 They respond well to having the originals hard by, but the contemporary artist's response is not intended to copy the purpose of the Tuscan artist. ‘
About Friday 4 December 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: . . "Oh, s***! Now I'll have to find the real bill of loading...."’
‘bill of lading n. an official detailed receipt given by the master of a merchant vessel to the person consigning the goods, by which he makes himself responsible for their safe delivery to the consignee. This document, being the legal proof of ownership of the goods, is often deposited with a creditor as security for money advanced; cf. charter-party n.
. . 1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 25 Come aboard..with your..cocket*, or bills of loading . . ‘
* ‘cocket, n.1 < Anglo-Norman . .
. . 2. A document sealed by the officers of the custom-house, and delivered to merchants as a certificate that their merchandise has been duly entered and has paid duty. (Now disused.)
. . 1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo 194 Commodities brought in, which haue payed Custome..may bee shipped out againe by Cocket, without paying any more Custome . . ‘
(OED)
About Thursday 3 December 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: prices: see my entry in the Prices section of Money in the Encyclopedia: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
‘ . . The important thing to grasp and remember is that using ‘real price’ by itself vastly understates the status and power that came with what seem to us quite modest sums of money in the pre-industrial society of 1660 . . ‘
The appropriate multiplier for the cost of a ship is ‘relative share of GDP’ = 29,000. That is NOT a misprint.
About Tuesday 1 December 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . every man has a right of passage in, but not a title to, any highway . . ’
The reason is that it belongs to the Sovereign by right of conquest in 1066:
‘ . . 1597 Shakespeare Richard II iii. iii. 155 Ile be buried in the Kings hie way, Some way of common trade, where subiects feete May hourely trample on their soueraignes head.’ (OED)
This has nothing to do with the English system of footpaths and bridleways, not found in Scotland: it has its own legal system and the ‘right to roam’ modeled on Scandinavian practice: https://www.naturalbushcraft.co.u…
About Saturday 28 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Hudibras Part 1 Canto 1
-------------------------------------------------
Sir Hudibras his passing worth,
The manner how he sallied forth;
His arms and equipage are shown;
His horse's virtues, and his own.
Th' adventure of the bear and fiddle
Is sung, but breaks off in the middle.
-------------------------------------------------
When civil dudgeon a first grew high,
And men fell out they knew not why?
When hard words, jealousies, and fears,
Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For Dame Religion, as for punk;
Whose honesty they all durst swear for,
Though not a man of them knew wherefore:
When Gospel-Trumpeter, surrounded
With long-ear'd rout, to battle sounded,
And pulpit, drum ecclesiastick,
Was beat with fist, instead of a stick;
Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling,
And out he rode a colonelling . .
http://www.exclassics.com/hudibra…
About Monday 30 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . taking of a mulct upon a purser . . ’
‘mulct, n. < classical Latin . . Now chiefly hist. 1. A fine imposed for an offence . .
. . 1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity xix. 71 For multitude and frequency of Transgressours brings in Mulcts and Fees to the Ecclesiastick Officers . . ‘
About Butler's 'Hudibras'
Chris Squire UK • Link
The poem opens:
‘When civil dudgeon a first grew high,
And men fell out they knew not why?
When hard words, jealousies, and fears,
Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For Dame Religion, as for punk;
Whose honesty they all durst swear for,
Though not a man of them knew wherefore: . . ‘
‘Hudibras was written between 1660 and 1680 and is a satire on the Cromwellians and on the Presbyterian church written by a confirmed Royalist and Anglican. Hudibras, a colonel in the Cromwellian army, is involved in various comic misadventures and is shown to be stupid, greedy and dishonest.
The poem is very well written in Chaucerian couplets and was popular for about 150 years, as long as its political attitudes were also popular. The Nineteenth Century saw the re-invention of Cromwell in the popular imagination from usurper and tyrant to heroic upholder of English freedom, and Hudibras was out.’
http://www.exclassics.com/hudibra…
……….
‘In reading it, it is of the utmost importance to comprehend clearly and to bear constantly in mind the purpose of the author in writing it. This purpose is evidently not artistic but polemic, to show in the most unmistakable characters the vileness and folly of the anti-royalist party.’
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/BUN…
About Friday 27 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . dinner with my poor wife . . ’
‘Poor wife’ occurs 11 times in the OED but is not defined anywhere. So the sense must be:
‘poor, adj. and n.1 < Anglo-Norman . .
. . 5. attrib. That provokes sympathy, or compassion; that is to be pitied; unfortunate, wretched, hapless . .
. . 1691 J. Wilson Belphegor v. iii, Poor comfortless Woman; she's fall'n asleep at last.
1715 C. Bullock Woman's Revenge iii. 58 O my poor Dear Husband, I can't bear the Loss of you,—I shall, I shall break my Heart.
1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague III. cliv. 138 Pray let Emily be married; every body marries but poor little Emily . . ‘
Sam feels sympathy for his wife’s discontent but doesn’t know how to remedy it without spending money which he is loth to do until he has amassed a fortune sufficient to maintain them if he loses his livelihood. If he was a tradesman she could work in the family business and be happier but poorer and even more subject to ill-fortune. But he is a rising professional with pretension to gentry status, which requires that his wife do (or at least appear to do) nothing useful.
About Thursday 26 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re:‘ . . to perform their Quarantine . . ’
‘quarantine, n. < Anglo-Norman
1. Christian Church. The place where Jesus fasted for 40 days. Obs. . .
2. Law. A period of 40 days during which a widow who is entitled to a dower is supposed to be assigned her dower and has the right to remain in her deceased husband's chief dwelling; Obs. . .
3. A period of 40 days set aside or used for a specific purpose, as penance or service; a set of forty (days) (rare). Obs . .
4. a. Originally: isolation imposed on newly arrived travellers in order to prevent the spread of disease; a period of time spent in such isolation . .
. . 1663 S. Pepys Diary 26 Nov. (1971) IV. 399 Making of all ships coming from thence..to perform their Quarantine (for 30 days as Sir Richard Browne expressed it..contrary to the import of the word; though in the general acceptation, it signifies now the thing, not the time spent in doing it) . .
1796 E. Darwin Zoonomia II. 265 This dreadful malady* might be annihilated by making all the dogs in Great Britain perform a kind of quarantine, by shutting them up for a certain number of weeks.
. . 1855 Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) i. ii. 12 ‘Now, I ask you,’ said Mr. Meagles... ‘I ask you simply as between man and man..did you ever hear of such damned nonsense as putting Pet in quarantine?’
. . 2000 Independent 28 Feb. i. 5/1 The pet travel scheme, which came into effect at midnight last night, allows pet owners to bring their cats and dogs back into Britain from 22 countries without the need for quarantine.’
(OED)
* probably rabies
About Wednesday 25 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . nothing in the world so hateful as a dog in the manger.’
‘dog in the manger*, n. A person who selfishly prevents another from having or enjoying something, even though he or she has no personal use for it.
1573 G. Harvey Schollers Loove in Let.-bk. (1884) 114 And as for the Syr Lowte That playdst inne and owte; A dogg in ye maunger, A very ranke raunger.
. . 1836 F. Marryat Japhet III. xviii. 212 Why, what a dog in the manger you must be—you can't marry them both.
. . 2007 P. Briggs in On the Prowl 49, I won't let you sleep around with anyone else. I won't be forced either... If that makes me a dog in the manger, so be it.’
* ‘1. < Anglo-Norman a. A long open box or trough in a stable, barn, etc., out of which horses and cattle can eat fodder . .
. . 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Luke ii. 7 She..wrapped hym in swadlynge cloothes, and layed hym in a manger.
. . 1986 Farmers Weekly 3 Jan. 10/4 We must do something about the troughing, both to improve intake by having feed constantly in the manger, and to cut down labour.’
(OED)
About Monday 23 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . too good a dinner to eat alone, viz., a good goose and a rare piece of roast beef . . ’
More likely is:
‘rare, adj.1 < classical Latin . .
. . 5. b. colloq. In weakened sense: splendid, excellent, fine . .
. . 1668 Dryden Sr Martin Mar-all v. 67 Mill. You and I will disguise too... Mood. That will be most rare.
1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 59 He's a rare Fellow for giving a bad Captain a good Word . . ‘
but could be:
‘rare, adj.2 < Originally a variant of rear adj.1 . .
1. Of meat, esp. beef: lightly cooked; underdone . .
1615 G. Markham Eng. Hus-wife in Countrey Contentments ii. 54 To know when meate is rosted enough, for as too much rareness is vnwholsome, so too much drinesse is not nourishing . .
………………
Re: ’ . . he is a very painfull man, . .’
‘painful, adj. . .
. . 4. b. Of a person: painstaking, assiduous, diligent. Now rare.
. . 1632 Sir J. Oglander Mem. (1888) 141, I maye trulye saye of the man, I never knewe any more paynefull of bodye, or more industrious of minde.
1702 C. Mather Magnalia Christi i. v. 21/1 The more Learned, Godly, Painful Ministers of the Land . . ‘
(OED)
About Sunday 22 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . most of their discourse was about hunting, in a dialect I understand very little . . ’
‘Hunting’ here = stag-hunting, still pursued in the West Country but unknown in Pepys’ Cambridgeshire. I think these gentlemen were talking with a broad West Country accent (think ‘Talk like a Pirate’), which Pepys couldn’t interpret, and using some local vocabulary which was completely foreign to him. So it’s mainly:
‘dialect < διάλεκτος Greek . .
. . 2. A form or variety of a language which is peculiar to a specific region, esp. one which differs from the standard or literary form of the language in respect of vocabulary, pronunciation, idiom, etc. . .
1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie 73 The Slavon tongue is of great extent: of it there be many Dialects, as the Russe, the Polish, the Bohemick, the Illyrian..and others.
1716 London Gaz. No. 5497/1 He made a Speech..which was answered by the Doge in the Genoese Dialect . . ‘
with a bit of:
‘ . . 3. a. Manner of speaking, language, speech; esp. the mode of speech peculiar to, or characteristic of, a particular person or group; phraseology, idiom; jargon; a particular variety of any of these.
. .1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. i. 8 A Babylonish dialect, Which learned Pedants much affect.
1730 J. Clarke Ess. Educ. Youth (ed. 2) 172 The Lawyer's Dialect would be too hard for him . . ‘
About Wednesday 18 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . He began this night the fomentation to my wife . . ’
‘fomentation, n. < late Latin . .
1. a. Med. The application to the surface of the body either of flannels, etc. soaked in hot water, whether simple or medicated, or of any other warm, soft, medicinal substance . .
. . 1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια 289 Fomentation with sponges in vineger.
. . 1714 J. Purcell Treat. Cholick 133 Flannel, or a Thin Woollen Cloth worn next to the Skin..is a lesser kind of perpetual Fomentation . . ‘
(OED)
About Tuesday 17 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: "I did take a copy of it...in shorthand"
‘shorthand, n. and adj. . .
1. A method of speedy writing by means of the substitution of contractions or arbitrary signs or symbols for letters, words, etc.; brachygraphy, stenography.
1636 Jeffrey Hudson's New Yeeres Gift (title-page), With a Letter as it was penned in short-hand.
1639 J. Mayne Citye Match i. iii, Shall I not learn Arithmetic too, sir, and Short~hand . . ‘
(OED)
The Diary was not in code, except for the sexual bits: it was in shorthand:
‘ . . The seemingly impenetrable shorthand of the six volumes marked ‘journal’ discouraged examination until, it seems, the successful publication of Evelyn's diary (1818) prompted Magdalene to have Pepys's manuscript deciphered.
An impecunious undergraduate of neighbouring St John's College, John Smith, was hired, and learned the characters by comparing Pepys's shorthand of Charles II's escape story with the longhand version. He did not know that the manual for the system, Thomas Shelton's Tutor to Tachygraphy* (1642), was in the library . . ‘
(DNB)
* ‘tachygraphy, n. < Greek ταχύς swift + -graphy
‘The art or practice of quick writing’ (Johnson); variously applied to shorthand, and (in palæography) to cursive as distinguished from angular letters, to the Egyptian hieratic, and to the Greek and Latin writing of the Middle Ages with its many abbreviations and compendia.
1641 Shelton (title) Tachygraphy. The most exact and compendious methode of short and swift writing . .
1778 Biographia Britannica (ed. 2) I. 538 (note) , Thomas Shelton became famous..for his Tachygraphy . . ‘
Not famous enough for Smith to think Pepys might have used it, evidently.
About Monday 16 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . her great conflux of humours . . did in breaking leave a hollow‘
‘conflux, n. < Latin . .
1. a. Flowing together; flowing into a common body; = confluence n. 1 . .
b. quasi-concr.
1658 W. Johnson tr. F. Würtz Surgeons Guid i. vi. 24 A conflux of ill humours comes to it.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Reflect. Agric. x. 56 in Compl. Gard'ner Both being so stopt, there is a great Conflux of Water made in a certain Tract of Land.’ (OED)
About Saturday 14 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . I am resolved to write to him very suddenly.’
‘suddenly, adv. (and adj. < Anglo-Norman . .
. . 2. Without delay, forthwith, promptly, immediately, directly, at once. Obs.
. . 1595 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 iv. ii. 4 Speake suddenlie my Lords, are we all friends?
. . 1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xiii. 85 Be sure when you have Fired the Fuse, suddenly to cast it [sc. the grenade] out of your hand . . ‘ (OED)
About Thursday 12 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘Lay long in bed, indeed too long, divers people . . staying for me . .’
divers, adj. < Middle English divers < Old French < Latin diversus . .
. . 3. Various, sundry, several; more than one, some number of. Referring originally and in form to the variety of objects; but, as variety implies number, becoming an indefinite numeral word expressing multiplicity, without committing the speaker to ‘many’ or ‘few’. Now somewhat archaic, but well known in legal and scriptural phraseology.
. . b. with that of indefinite number more prominent: Several, sundry.
. . 1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. viii. §3. 134 If Nimrod tooke diuers yeares to find Shinaar.
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle II. lxxi. 266 The old gentleman..made divers ineffectual efforts to get up . . ‘
‘stay, v.1 < Old French . .
. . 14. to stay for —— v.
a. To remain or wait in a place for (a person or thing) . .
. . 1616 Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 360 Thy Master staies for thee at the North gate.
a1665 K. Digby Jrnl. Voy. to Mediterranean (1868) 9 But they steyed for us and made readie for fight . . ‘ (OED)