It is hopelessly anachronistic to use the term ‘upper middle class’ in this context as it was first coined 200 years later; it’s meaning is disputed and is I think different here and in the US as this selection of quotes from the OED relating only to the British meaning illustrates:
‘upper middle class, n. and adj.: The social group between the upper and the middle class, esp. as considered to be made up of well-paid professionals, managers, and their families.
1864 Farmer's Mag. May 374/1 There are..many advocates for so extending these two systems as to embrace all the upper middle-class in the educational system of the gentry, and to absorb the remainder in that formed by the help of the State for the labourer . . 1906 J. Galsworthy Man of Prop. i. i. 3 Those privileged to be present at a family festival of the Forsytes have seen..an upper middle-class family in full plumage. 1955 T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences iii. 90 When ‘middle-middles’ become ‘upper-middles’ they..drop middle-class euphemisms. . . 1967 J. M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour iv. 80 English upper-middle-class speech includes considerable understatement; a person who fails to follow this convention is regarded as boastful. . . 1978 R. Westall Devil on Road xv. 111 When my parents quarrel, they..fight in hoarse whispers. But like a lot of upper-middles..Derek and Susan let it all hang out . . ‘
Pepys’ gross income puts him well into the top 2% of the middle class but he hasn’t yet accumulated the capital he needs to live as a gent, i.e. without working. Hence his relentless money-grubbing. This doesn’t matter now but would become a live issue if he had a child, particularly a daughter who would need a substantial dowry to be considered by a son of the gentry.
Re: ’ . . Down to dinner, where my wife in her new lace whiske, which, indeed, is very noble, . . ’
‘whisk n. < Scandinavian . . . . II. 2. A neckerchief worn by women in the latter half of the 17th century. Obs. exc. Hist. . . 1660 S. Pepys Diary 22 Nov. (1970) I. 299 My wife..bought her a white whiske and put it on. 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. ii. 17/1 A Womans Neck Whisk..is used both Plain and Laced, and is called of most a Gorgett or a falling Whisk . . ‘
‘jag < uncertain . . . . 2. trans. To slash or pink (a garment, etc.) by way of ornament. . . 1708 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) iv. lii. 211 His Journey-men..did jagg it and pink it at the bottom . .
3. To make indentations in the edge or surface of; to make ragged or uneven by cutting or tearing; to make rugged or bristling. to jag in, to indent with cuts. . . 1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 35 Jagged and torn by the impetuous assaults..of Waves. . . ‘
Re: "the hull of her will be wholly lost, as not being capable of being weighed."
‘weigh, v.1 < Germanic . . . . 6. a. To raise (a sunk ship, gun, etc.) from the bottom of the water. Also with up. . . 1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xii. 81 Rules to weigh Ships, or Guns, or any thing else in the Water . . ‘ (OED)
‘1. Originally, in Britain and Ireland: any of a class of grammar schools founded or endowed for public use . . Later: a fee-paying secondary school which developed from former endowed grammar schools, or was modelled on similar lines . . The term was officially used . . in 1867 in ‘An Act for the better government and extension of certain Public Schools’.
As this act applied to the ancient endowed grammar schools or colleges of Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Harrow, Rugby, Charterhouse, and Shrewsbury, these have sometimes been spoken of as ‘the Seven Public Schools’; but the name is generally used to include other schools of similar organization*. Traditionally, pupils in the higher forms were prepared mainly for the universities and for public service . . . . 1707 J. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia (ed. 22) 385 London. Publick Schools and Colleges. The first is Westminster School... St. Paul's School... Merchant-Taylors School... Belonging to Christ's Hospital is another famous Grammar Free-School.’
‘rage, n. . . < Anglo-Norman and Old French . . . . 5. d. Acute physical pain; an instance of this. Obs. rare. . . 1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique ii.xlii. 265 Called tormentill because the powder or decoction of the roote doth appease the rage and torment of the teeth.
Re: ' . . I had a mind in part to take away the strangenesse . . '
' . . 2. a. Absence of friendly feeling or relations; discouraging or uncomplying attitude towards others; coldness, aloofness. Obs. . . 1669 R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 452 The King here lives at so much distance and strangeness with me . . ' ................ Re: ' . . she took very stomachfully . . ' † ˈstomachfully adv. Obs. < stomach, n. < Latin < Greek στόμαχος . . . . 8. In various senses relating to disposition or state of feeling. . . †c. Anger, irritation; malice, ill-will, spite; vexation, pique. Obs. 1641 Milton Reason Church-govt. 35 Not suddenly to condemn all things that are sharply spoken, or vehemently written, as proceeding out of stomach, virulence and ill nature . . ' .............. Re: ' . . she is very cunning . . ' ' . . 2. a. Possessing practical knowledge or skill; able, skilful, expert, dexterous, clever. (Formerly the prevailing sense; now only a literary archaism.) . . 1690 J. Locke Two Treat. Govt. ii. xix The tools of Cunninger workmen. . . 5. a. In bad sense: Skilful in compassing one's ends by covert means; clever in circumventing; crafty, artful, guileful, sly. (The prevailing modern sense.) . . 1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures xvi. 54 Like cunning thieves, desiring that the prey..should not escape out of their hands. . . ' ............ Re: 'my being over-solicitous and jealous and forward . . ' 'solicitous, adj. < Latin . .
. . 5. Marked or characterized by anxiety, care, or concern: a. Of actions, study, etc. . .. 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 443 The Government of some of them is toilsom and sollicitous.'
Re: ’ . . and hath now choused this Colborne out of his house, . . ’
‘chouse, v.1 trans. To dupe, cheat, trick . . < chouse, n. < chiaus, n. (< . . Turkish chāush . . A Turkish messenger, sergeant, or lictor. . . 1666 Oxford Gaz. No. 57/3 Several Chiauses..have been returned with contempt..with their Noses and Ears cut off.)
trans. To dupe, cheat, trick; to swindle or defraud of or out of. . . 1669 Dryden Wild Gallant ii. i. 16 You shall chouse him of horses, cloathes and Money . . ‘
RSGII: ' . . We may be better educated than you . . '
Really? How's your Latin, your Greek, French, Spanish, and Italian? Where did you go to school?, to college . . ? Tell us about your personal library of 3000 books, with catalogued by you . .
I agree with San Diego Sarah - “I nominate Sir John, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, until recently a Commissioner of the Navy Board, who had fought his way through several wars by now . . ” and offer this from the DNB in support:
“ . . After returning to England at the Restoration, Sir John Berkeley was rewarded with a place as a commissioner of the navy . . (which) In 1665 he swapped . . for a post in the Ordnance.
Despite the fact that he had not yet paid off the debts previously incurred in royal service . . he began a spending spree, building a London house near Piccadilly . . and acquiring a country estate at Twickenham Park.
During the Second Anglo-Dutch War he allegedly spent a further £1000 of his own money in defensive operations at Chatham and in Suffolk. Income from office could have guaranteed only a part of this expenditure, even if one accepts the tales (told by Pepys among others) that he had systematically abused his position in the duke of York's household for his own profit.
His marriage, about 1659, to Christian(a) (bap. 1639, d. 1698), daughter of the wealthy East India merchant Sir Andrew Riccard, and widow of John Gayer and Henry Rich, Lord Kensington, seems also to have brought him an infusion of funds . . “
Re: ‘thralldom’ as in ‘my mind has continued still in thralldom’ (Robert Harneis on 15 Feb 2018):
= ‘thrall < Old English . . 2. The condition of a thrall; thraldom, bondage, servitude; captivity. . . 1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster Famous Hist. Thomas Wyat sig. D4 You free your Countrie from base spanish thrall . . ‘ ……..
Re: the Batters child: I don’t find it extraordinary: presumable Elisabeth and Mrs B cooked this up between then them, E agreeing that it was worth a try to see which way S would jump. However I don’t think Mrs B appreciated the width of the social gulf that now lay between the two families, whereas S must be acutely aware at all times of the rank of everyone he encounters.
So S must have bridled at the mere idea of the guardianship/adoption, which brought him nothing by way of status: it would cost him money to bring up the girl as a gentlewoman and then to provide a dowry to get her married. And we’ve encountered examples already of the harm done to a woman’s prospects by educating her to be a lady beyond her income.
Re: ‘ . . the loss of the “Royall Oake” coming home from Bantam . . ‘
‘bantam, n. < Supposed to be named < Bantam in the north-west of Java, whence perhaps the fowls were imported to Europe, though, according to Crawford, originally from Japan . .
1. a. A small variety of the domestic fowl, most breeds of which have feathered legs: the cocks are spirited fighters. 1749 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 518 We fed all the bantams, guinea-fowl, pheasants . .
b. fig. in reference to small size or ‘cockiness’. 1787 ‘P. Pindar’ Lyric Odes to Royal Academicians (ed. 5) iii. 9 And struts the veriest Bantam Cock of Paint.
c. bantam weight n. (Boxing): see quot. 1954. . .1954 F. C. Avis Boxing Ref. Dict. 8 Bantamweight, a standard weight division for professional boxers weighing more than 8 st. but not more than 8 st. 6 lb.; amateurs 8 st. and 8 st. 7 lb. respectively.
d. Applied to battalions, etc., of small-sized soldiers. 1914 Daily Express 20 Nov. 5/5 ‘Bigland's Bantams’ will probably be the pet name of a battalion which is being raised of men who are just too short to enlist under the ordinary conditions... The Bantams Battalion has been recognised by the War Office . . ‘ (OED)
Re: ‘ . . it is actually over 200 years since a Stuart descendant has made any claim to the throne.’ (tonyt 11.02.08)
This is nonsense:
‘Sophia of Hanover . . a granddaughter of James VI and I, was declared by the the Act of Settlement of 1701 . . to be ‘the next in Succession in the Protestant Line’ and so heir presumptive to the unified throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain . . (On her death) her claim to the throne passed on to her eldest son, George, who ascended as George I on 1 August 1714 . . ’ (wikipedia)
And from George the Crown has passed by descent to our own dear Queen Elizabeth II. So they are all ‘Stuart descendants’
‘accountant, adj. and n. < Anglo-Norman . . . . 2. a. A person who professionally prepares, maintains, analyses, or inspects financial accounts, esp. within the context of a business, a bookkeeper . . 1539–40 Ordinances Officers of Househ. in F. Thynne Animaduersions (1875) p. xxxiii And the said Booke shall be examined with the Accomptants and particular Clerkes for the perfecting of the same. . . 1720 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth VI. 329 A British Accountant that's Frolick and free, Who does wondrous Feats by the Rule of Three.
Re: ‘ . . they only complain'd that their bread was too fine . .‘
‘fine, adj., adv., and n.2 < Anglo-Norman . . III. Delicate, subtle, thin. . . 17.a. Delicate in structure or texture; made or formed of minute particles or slender threads or filaments; not coarse or rough . . c1440 (▸?a1400) Sir Perceval (1930) l. 453 He fande a lofe of brede fyne . . ‘
‘He. . . made for the Mediterranean in September 1650. Without a base, . . a regular source of income, or even much accreditation in the form of letters of marque from a recognized power, Rupert's sea adventures thereafter were construed by most nations and their merchants as 'mere piracy’ . .
Even governments hostile to the new republic feared reprisals . . if they harboured a pirate presence, for the Rump was strengthening the navy . . Faced with such difficulties one of Rupert's captains lamented:
'We plough the sea for a subsistence, and, being destitute of a port, we take the confines of the Mediterranean Sea for our harbour; poverty and despair being companions, and revenge our guide'.
‘Robert le diable’ was a suitable leader of such an expedition (but) . . Only two ships returned to France in March 1653. Since first setting out from the Netherlands in 1649 Rupert had sailed 15,000 miles in 1500 days, and taken thirty-one prizes. He came back ill and exhausted . . ‘
Re: ‘how is "Bellasses" pronounced?’ As written, as this Sam’s attempt to spell out what he heard others say. Forget about ‘Belasyse’, which he wouldn’t have seen.
Re: ‘ . . to see myself put upon businesses so uncertainly . . ’
1. a. . . at random, by chance or accident. . . 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe Pref. sig. ***2 That Motion of Sensless Atoms Declining Uncertainly from the Perpendicular . .’
This was probably a chimney fire, burning off the accumulated soot and tar from several hearths in daily use for several months since their last sweep. Mostly they burn out harmlessly but one that leaks through a brick chimney breast may set fire to the house timbers.
Comments
Second Reading
About Friday 31 March 1665
Chris Squire UK • Link
It is hopelessly anachronistic to use the term ‘upper middle class’ in this context as it was first coined 200 years later; it’s meaning is disputed and is I think different here and in the US as this selection of quotes from the OED relating only to the British meaning illustrates:
‘upper middle class, n. and adj.: The social group between the upper and the middle class, esp. as considered to be made up of well-paid professionals, managers, and their families.
1864 Farmer's Mag. May 374/1 There are..many advocates for so extending these two systems as to embrace all the upper middle-class in the educational system of the gentry, and to absorb the remainder in that formed by the help of the State for the labourer
. . 1906 J. Galsworthy Man of Prop. i. i. 3 Those privileged to be present at a family festival of the Forsytes have seen..an upper middle-class family in full plumage.
1955 T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences iii. 90 When ‘middle-middles’ become ‘upper-middles’ they..drop middle-class euphemisms.
. . 1967 J. M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour iv. 80 English upper-middle-class speech includes considerable understatement; a person who fails to follow this convention is regarded as boastful.
. . 1978 R. Westall Devil on Road xv. 111 When my parents quarrel, they..fight in hoarse whispers. But like a lot of upper-middles..Derek and Susan let it all hang out . . ‘
Pepys’ gross income puts him well into the top 2% of the middle class but he hasn’t yet accumulated the capital he needs to live as a gent, i.e. without working. Hence his relentless money-grubbing. This doesn’t matter now but would become a live issue if he had a child, particularly a daughter who would need a substantial dowry to be considered by a son of the gentry.
About Friday 31 March 1665
Chris Squire UK • Link
We have discussed this several times already:
Price Multipliers 1664-2015:
historic standard of living = 140
labour earnings = 1,600
economic status = 3,300
economic power = 33,000
Taken and simplified from https://www.measuringworth.com/ex…
About Sunday 12 March 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . Down to dinner, where my wife in her new lace whiske, which, indeed, is very noble, . . ’
‘whisk n. < Scandinavian . .
. . II. 2. A neckerchief worn by women in the latter half of the 17th century. Obs. exc. Hist.
. . 1660 S. Pepys Diary 22 Nov. (1970) I. 299 My wife..bought her a white whiske and put it on.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. ii. 17/1 A Womans Neck Whisk..is used both Plain and Laced, and is called of most a Gorgett or a falling Whisk . . ‘
About Friday 24 March 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: 'jag'
‘jag < uncertain . .
. . 2. trans. To slash or pink (a garment, etc.) by way of ornament.
. . 1708 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) iv. lii. 211 His Journey-men..did jagg it and pink it at the bottom . .
3. To make indentations in the edge or surface of; to make ragged or uneven by cutting or tearing; to make rugged or bristling. to jag in, to indent with cuts.
. . 1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 35 Jagged and torn by the impetuous assaults..of Waves. . . ‘
(OED)
About Saturday 11 March 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: "the hull of her will be wholly lost, as not being capable of being weighed."
‘weigh, v.1 < Germanic . .
. . 6. a. To raise (a sunk ship, gun, etc.) from the bottom of the water. Also with up.
. . 1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xii. 81 Rules to weigh Ships, or Guns, or any thing else in the Water . . ‘
(OED)
About Thursday 9 March 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘public school’:
‘1. Originally, in Britain and Ireland: any of a class of grammar schools founded or endowed for public use . . Later: a fee-paying secondary school which developed from former endowed grammar schools, or was modelled on similar lines . . The term was officially used . . in 1867 in ‘An Act for the better government and extension of certain Public Schools’.
As this act applied to the ancient endowed grammar schools or colleges of Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Harrow, Rugby, Charterhouse, and Shrewsbury, these have sometimes been spoken of as ‘the Seven Public Schools’; but the name is generally used to include other schools of similar organization*. Traditionally, pupils in the higher forms were prepared mainly for the universities and for public service . .
. . 1707 J. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia (ed. 22) 385 London. Publick Schools and Colleges. The first is Westminster School... St. Paul's School... Merchant-Taylors School... Belonging to Christ's Hospital is another famous Grammar Free-School.’
(OED); see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub…
* St Paul’s petitioned successfully to be excluded from the Act.
About Tuesday 7 March 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . it set me in a great rage again . . ’
‘rage, n. . . < Anglo-Norman and Old French . .
. . 5. d. Acute physical pain; an instance of this. Obs. rare.
. . 1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique ii.xlii. 265 Called tormentill because the powder or decoction of the roote doth appease the rage and torment of the teeth.
About Tuesday 28 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ' . . I had a mind in part to take away the strangenesse . . '
' . . 2. a. Absence of friendly feeling or relations; discouraging or uncomplying attitude towards others; coldness, aloofness. Obs.
. . 1669 R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 452 The King here lives at so much distance and strangeness with me . . '
................
Re: ' . . she took very stomachfully . . '
† ˈstomachfully adv. Obs. < stomach, n. < Latin < Greek στόμαχος . .
. . 8. In various senses relating to disposition or state of feeling.
. . †c. Anger, irritation; malice, ill-will, spite; vexation, pique. Obs.
1641 Milton Reason Church-govt. 35 Not suddenly to condemn all things that are sharply spoken, or vehemently written, as proceeding out of stomach, virulence and ill nature . . '
..............
Re: ' . . she is very cunning . . '
' . . 2. a. Possessing practical knowledge or skill; able, skilful, expert, dexterous, clever. (Formerly the prevailing sense; now only a literary archaism.)
. . 1690 J. Locke Two Treat. Govt. ii. xix The tools of Cunninger workmen.
. . 5. a. In bad sense: Skilful in compassing one's ends by covert means; clever in circumventing; crafty, artful, guileful, sly. (The prevailing modern sense.)
. . 1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures xvi. 54 Like cunning thieves, desiring that the prey..should not escape out of their hands. . . '
............
Re: 'my being over-solicitous and jealous and forward . . '
'solicitous, adj. < Latin . .
. . 5. Marked or characterized by anxiety, care, or concern:
a. Of actions, study, etc.
. .. 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 443 The Government of some of them is toilsom and sollicitous.'
(OED)
About Saturday 25 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . and hath now choused this Colborne out of his house, . . ’
‘chouse, v.1 trans. To dupe, cheat, trick . . < chouse, n. < chiaus, n. (< . . Turkish chāush . . A Turkish messenger, sergeant, or lictor. . . 1666 Oxford Gaz. No. 57/3 Several Chiauses..have been returned with contempt..with their Noses and Ears cut off.)
trans. To dupe, cheat, trick; to swindle or defraud of or out of.
. . 1669 Dryden Wild Gallant ii. i. 16 You shall chouse him of horses, cloathes and Money . . ‘
(OED)
About Thursday 23 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
RSGII: ' . . We may be better educated than you . . '
Really? How's your Latin, your Greek, French, Spanish, and Italian? Where did you go to school?, to college . . ? Tell us about your personal library of 3000 books, with catalogued by you . .
Talk about unmerited conceit!
About Friday 17 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
I agree with San Diego Sarah - “I nominate Sir John, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, until recently a Commissioner of the Navy Board, who had fought his way through several wars by now . . ” and offer this from the DNB in support:
“ . . After returning to England at the Restoration, Sir John Berkeley was rewarded with a place as a commissioner of the navy . . (which) In 1665 he swapped . . for a post in the Ordnance.
Despite the fact that he had not yet paid off the debts previously incurred in royal service . . he began a spending spree, building a London house near Piccadilly . . and acquiring a country estate at Twickenham Park.
During the Second Anglo-Dutch War he allegedly spent a further £1000 of his own money in defensive operations at Chatham and in Suffolk. Income from office could have guaranteed only a part of this expenditure, even if one accepts the tales (told by Pepys among others) that he had systematically abused his position in the duke of York's household for his own profit.
His marriage, about 1659, to Christian(a) (bap. 1639, d. 1698), daughter of the wealthy East India merchant Sir Andrew Riccard, and widow of John Gayer and Henry Rich, Lord Kensington, seems also to have brought him an infusion of funds . . “
About Thursday 16 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘thralldom’ as in ‘my mind has continued still in thralldom’ (Robert Harneis on 15 Feb 2018):
= ‘thrall < Old English . . 2. The condition of a thrall; thraldom, bondage, servitude; captivity.
. . 1607 T. Dekker & J. Webster Famous Hist. Thomas Wyat sig. D4 You free your Countrie from base spanish thrall . . ‘
……..
Re: the Batters child: I don’t find it extraordinary: presumable Elisabeth and Mrs B cooked this up between then them, E agreeing that it was worth a try to see which way S would jump. However I don’t think Mrs B appreciated the width of the social gulf that now lay between the two families, whereas S must be acutely aware at all times of the rank of everyone he encounters.
So S must have bridled at the mere idea of the guardianship/adoption, which brought him nothing by way of status: it would cost him money to bring up the girl as a gentlewoman and then to provide a dowry to get her married. And we’ve encountered examples already of the harm done to a woman’s prospects by educating her to be a lady beyond her income.
About Wednesday 15 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . the loss of the “Royall Oake” coming home from Bantam . . ‘
‘bantam, n. < Supposed to be named < Bantam in the north-west of Java, whence perhaps the fowls were imported to Europe, though, according to Crawford, originally from Japan . .
1. a. A small variety of the domestic fowl, most breeds of which have feathered legs: the cocks are spirited fighters.
1749 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 518 We fed all the bantams, guinea-fowl, pheasants . .
b. fig. in reference to small size or ‘cockiness’.
1787 ‘P. Pindar’ Lyric Odes to Royal Academicians (ed. 5) iii. 9 And struts the veriest Bantam Cock of Paint.
c. bantam weight n. (Boxing): see quot. 1954.
. .1954 F. C. Avis Boxing Ref. Dict. 8 Bantamweight, a standard weight division for professional boxers weighing more than 8 st. but not more than 8 st. 6 lb.; amateurs 8 st. and 8 st. 7 lb. respectively.
d. Applied to battalions, etc., of small-sized soldiers.
1914 Daily Express 20 Nov. 5/5 ‘Bigland's Bantams’ will probably be the pet name of a battalion which is being raised of men who are just too short to enlist under the ordinary conditions... The Bantams Battalion has been recognised by the War Office . . ‘ (OED)
About Monday 13 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: Don McCahill on 14 Feb 2008:
They were not yet at war on February 13 - it's finally declared by the English in March; the first battle (of Lowestoft) will be in June (wikipedia)
About Thursday 9 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . it is actually over 200 years since a Stuart descendant has made any claim to the throne.’ (tonyt 11.02.08)
This is nonsense:
‘Sophia of Hanover . . a granddaughter of James VI and I, was declared by the the Act of Settlement of 1701 . . to be ‘the next in Succession in the Protestant Line’ and so heir presumptive to the unified throne of the Kingdom of Great Britain . . (On her death) her claim to the throne passed on to her eldest son, George, who ascended as George I on 1 August 1714 . . ’ (wikipedia)
And from George the Crown has passed by descent to our own dear Queen Elizabeth II. So they are all ‘Stuart descendants’
About Wednesday 8 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: "...one of the most unhappy accountants.."
‘accountant, adj. and n. < Anglo-Norman . .
. . 2. a. A person who professionally prepares, maintains, analyses, or inspects financial accounts, esp. within the context of a business, a bookkeeper . .
1539–40 Ordinances Officers of Househ. in F. Thynne Animaduersions (1875) p. xxxiii And the said Booke shall be examined with the Accomptants and particular Clerkes for the perfecting of the same.
. . 1720 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth VI. 329 A British Accountant that's Frolick and free, Who does wondrous Feats by the Rule of Three.
Re: ‘ . . they only complain'd that their bread was too fine . .‘
‘fine, adj., adv., and n.2 < Anglo-Norman
. . III. Delicate, subtle, thin.
. . 17.a. Delicate in structure or texture; made or formed of minute particles or slender threads or filaments; not coarse or rough
. . c1440 (▸?a1400) Sir Perceval (1930) l. 453 He fande a lofe of brede fyne . . ‘
(OED)
I agree with Dirk 09.02.08 above.
About Saturday 4 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘He. . . made for the Mediterranean in September 1650. Without a base, . . a regular source of income, or even much accreditation in the form of letters of marque from a recognized power, Rupert's sea adventures thereafter were construed by most nations and their merchants as 'mere piracy’ . .
Even governments hostile to the new republic feared reprisals . . if they harboured a pirate presence, for the Rump was strengthening the navy . . Faced with such difficulties one of Rupert's captains lamented:
'We plough the sea for a subsistence, and, being destitute of a port, we take the confines of the Mediterranean Sea for our harbour; poverty and despair being companions, and revenge our guide'.
‘Robert le diable’ was a suitable leader of such an expedition (but) . . Only two ships returned to France in March 1653. Since first setting out from the Netherlands in 1649 Rupert had sailed 15,000 miles in 1500 days, and taken thirty-one prizes. He came back ill and exhausted . . ‘
(DNB)
About Tuesday 31 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘how is "Bellasses" pronounced?’ As written, as this Sam’s attempt to spell out what he heard others say. Forget about ‘Belasyse’, which he wouldn’t have seen.
About Tuesday 31 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . to see myself put upon businesses so uncertainly . . ’
1. a. . . at random, by chance or accident.
. . 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe Pref. sig. ***2 That Motion of Sensless Atoms Declining Uncertainly from the Perpendicular . .’
(OED)
About Wednesday 1 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
This was probably a chimney fire, burning off the accumulated soot and tar from several hearths in daily use for several months since their last sweep. Mostly they burn out harmlessly but one that leaks through a brick chimney breast may set fire to the house timbers.