I am reading The Great Plague: A People’s History by Evelyn Lord (Yale UP), an account of how the plague came to Cambridge in 1665. She states that the day rate for casual labourers was 18d (£1 = 240d in old money) = 7.5p in current money = £0.075. The UK National Minimum Wage = £6.70/hour = £54/day approx. This implies that the wage multiplier = 720.
The price multiplier for a basic basket of commodities would be much higher, depending on what you decided to put in it, a knotty problem to which there is no correct answer. Taking 1000, for example, implies that 1/4d in 1665 = £1 now in purchasing power and hence importance to a poor person.
The price of non-essentials doesn’t matter to a poor person as they never buy them.
‘toast, n.1 < Old French tostée = Spanish tostada... 1. a. (With a and pl.) A slice or piece of bread browned at the fire: often put in wine, water, or other beverage. Now rare or Obs. exc. in India. . . a1616 Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iii. v. 3 Go, fetch me a quart of Sacke, put a tost in 't. 1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 53 All within the sound of Bow Bell, are in reproch called Cocknies, and eaters of buttered tostes. . . 1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 24. ⁋8 A Toast in a cold Morning, heightened by Nutmeg, and sweetn'd with Sugar, has for many Ages been given to our Rural Dispensers of Justice, before they enter'd upon Causes . . ‘
Applying an index of 500:1 to convert SP’s prices to ours gives us 1/4d = 125d = 11/- = 55p today. So Roger’s suggestion (the 5pence piece is the new farthing) is out by an order of magnitude - the 50p piece is a better fit: known briefly as a ‘wilson’ when it was introduced in 1969 (he was PM) it is now unloved and unnamed, as inconvenient for daily use as the rest of our coinage
‘candle < Latin candēla . . One of the Latin words introduced at the English Conversion, and long associated chiefly with religious observances . . . . II. 5. Phrases . . f. the game, play, etc. is not worth the candle: i.e. not worth the mere cost of supplying the necessary light . . ; not worth the labour expended. (Of French origin: cf. Cotgrave at Chandelle ‘Le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, it will not quit cost’.) a1699 W. Temple Ess. Health & Long Life in Miscellanea: 3rd Pt. (1701) 119 Perhaps the Play is not worth the Candle . . ‘
Gerald: yes but no discussion of that until we get to it in several years' time, please. ........ OED has:
‘ordinary n. . . 6. Navy. a. A group of officers, workers, etc., in charge of warships laid up in harbour. Obs. a1642 W. Monson Naval Tracts (1704) iii. 323/1 He is to take care to pay the Ordinary of the Navy every Quarter. . . 1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine (rev. ed.) Ordinary... These [persons] are..composed of the warrant-officers of the said ships,..and their servants. There is besides a crew of labourers enrolled in the list of the ordinary.’
I think a side-gate to the back premises is meant here; OED has:
‘hatch < Old English hæc . .1.a. lower half of a divided door, which may be closed while the upper half is open. Also formerly, and still dial., any small gate or wicket. . . a1616 Shakespeare King John (1623) i. i. 171 In at the window, or else ore the hatch. 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 336/1 An Hatch..is a diminutive Field Gate..only to let a single Beast in and out of the Field..also for Milk Maids to go in and out safely without Climing or going over Stiles. 1700 J. Tyrrell Gen. Hist. Eng. II. 900 A poor..Scholar begging for some Relief at the Kitchen-Hatch . . ‘
‘Light . . 13. Law. The light which falls on the windows of a house from the heavens, and which the owner claims to enjoy unobscured by obstructions erected by his neighbours. Usu. in pl. In England the inscription ‘Ancient Lights’ was frequently put on the face or side of a house adjacent to a site on which lofty buildings may be erected; the object being to give warning that the owner would have ground of action against any person who should obstruct the access of light to his windows .. . 1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 5 If a house or wall is erected so near to mine that it stops my antient lights,..I may enter my neighbour's land, and peaceably pull it down . . ‘
‘virtuoso, n. and adj. < Italian virtuoso . . 1.a. A learned person; a scholar; esp. a scientist, a natural philosopher. Also: spec. a member of the Royal Society . . . . 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso i. v. 8 The gallant Dispute which arose..between some Letterati of the State, deserves to be written; every one of these Vertuosie [It. virtuosi] defended their own Opinion as the best. . . 1709 T. Robinson Ess. Nat. Hist. Westmorland xii. 69 That new Hypothesis so stiffly maintained by some of our learned Virtuosi . . ‘
. . 5. a. A woman loved and courted by a man; a female sweetheart. Obs. By the late 19th cent. this usage was generally avoided as liable to be mistaken for sense 7. In proverbial use in quot. 1755. . . 1616 Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iv. iv. 174, I giue thee this For thy sweet Mistris sake, because thou lou'st her. . . 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 28. ⁋3 How few faults a man, in the first raptures of love, can discover in the person or conduct of his mistress. 1755 J. G. Cooper Lett. Concerning Taste xiii. 90 This grand secret..lies in this short Precept, Never lose the Mistress in the Wife; a Text of Bullion sense . . ‘
and here’s the sense NOT intended:
‘ . . 7. A woman other than his wife with whom a man has a long-lasting sexual relationship . . . . 1631 J. Donne Serm. (1959) V. 302 Those women, whom the Kings were to take for their Wives, and not for Mistresses, (which is but a later name for Concubines). 1675 W. Wycherley Country-wife i. i. 5 And next, to the pleasure of making a New Mistriss, is that of being rid of an old One. . . 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 184 Had he a mistress?—was she prettier than me?—could he love such a one as I was? . . ‘
The senses in OED number 15: how many can you think of?
‘ . . 1b. In interjectional and exclamatory phrases, as . . good riddance, good riddance to bad rubbish . . . 1627 T. Middleton No Wit (1657) ii. 58 Mr Low. They have given thee all the slip. Mrs Low. So a fair riddance! . . 1847 Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xliv. 438 A good riddance of bad rubbish!.. Get along with you, or I'll have you carried out! . . 1924 M. Irwin Still she wished for Company xviii. 220 If all they say downstairs is true..it's good riddance to bad foreign rubbish. 1988 S. Rushdie Satanic Verses i. iv. 79 He was glad to have seen the back of his badly behaved colleagues; good riddance to bad rubbish, he thought. 2004 A. Robbins Pledged 31 Caitlin appreciated that her Big Sister didn't say what she was sure the rest of the sisterhood was thinking: good riddance . . ‘
showing how old the phrase ‘good riddance to bad rubbish’ is.
Re: ‘I had liked to have begged a parrot for my wife’ - I read this as no more than a simple change of tense to how we would say it now: ‘I would have liked to have begged a parrot for my wife’. ‘Liked’ here = ‘lief/leave’ adv. dearly, gladly, willingly [OED] now obs.
This is indeed the season for culling the surplus deer from tame and semiwild herds such as those in our Royal Parks. This is now done by marksmen in the early morning with the pedestrian gates shut so no jogger gets shot by mistake. Males are culled in September and females in November.
“half-square n. Obs. (see quots.). 1662 S. Pepys Diary 18 Aug. (1970) III. 169 The whole mystery of off [half]-square, wherein the King is abused in the timber that he buys. 1674 W. Leybourn Compl. Surveyor (ed. 3) 345 Most Artificers when they meet with Squared Timber, whose breadth and depth are unequal..usually add the breadth and depth together, and take the half for a Mean Square, and so proceed..If the difference be great, the Error is very obnoxious either to Buyer or Seller.”
‘expropriate, v. < late Latin expropriāt- . . 1. trans. To dispossess (a person) of ownership; to deprive of property . . 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Exproprié, expropriated . . ‘
Superstorms are what we are in for from climate change says James Hansen: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mai… (August 2015). So it’s good to be reminded that we’ve had them before and survived. The last Big Blow in England was in 1987: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gre… It’s time we had another one.
‘cheap, n.1 < A common Germanic noun: Old English céap ‘barter, buying and selling, market, price, merchandise, stock, cattle’ . . Old English is the only language in which the noun has the sense ‘cattle’, so that there is no ground for taking that as the original sense; it was either, like the word cattle n. itself, a special application of the general sense ‘merchandise, stock’, or perhaps connected with the use of cattle as a medium of exchange . . Obs. I. As a simple n. 1. A bargain about the bartering or exchanging of one commodity for another, or of giving money or the like for any commodity; bargaining, trade, buying and selling. . . 2. a. The place of buying and selling; market. . . b. in place-names, as Cheapside, Eastcheap.) . . ‘
‘neat < Anglo-Norman neet . . . . 3. b. Of language or speech: well chosen or expressed; brief, clear, and to the point; pithy, epigrammatic. . . 1687 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) IV. 539 A very quaint neate discourse of moral Righteousnesse.
. . c. Of actions, etc.: involving special skill, accuracy, or precision; cleverly contrived or executed. . . 1663 S. Pepys Diary 11 Aug. (1971) IV. 272 We went in and there shewed Mrs. Turner his perspective and volary..which is a most neat thing . .
. . d. Of preparations, esp. in cookery: skilfully or tastefully prepared; choice; elegant. Obs. . . 1669 S. Pepys Diary 24 Feb. (1976) IX. 458 Had a mighty neat dish of custards and tarts . . ‘
‘wind n. . . 19. down (the) wind . . . b. fig. Towards decay or ruin; into or (commonly) in a depressed or unfortunate condition, in evil plight; to go down the wind , to ‘go down’, decline. Obs. 1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxxiv. 867 When they saw him downe the wind and fortune to frowne upon him. . . 1673 W. Cave Primitive Christianity ii. vi. 147 In the time of Constantine when Paganism began to go down the wind. .. . 1827 Scott Jrnl. 25 Apr. (1941) 45 The old Tory party is down the wind.’
Comments
Second Reading
About Friday 12 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
I am reading The Great Plague: A People’s History by Evelyn Lord (Yale UP), an account of how the plague came to Cambridge in 1665. She states that the day rate for casual labourers was 18d (£1 = 240d in old money) = 7.5p in current money = £0.075. The UK National Minimum Wage = £6.70/hour = £54/day approx. This implies that the wage multiplier = 720.
The price multiplier for a basic basket of commodities would be much higher, depending on what you decided to put in it, a knotty problem to which there is no correct answer. Taking 1000, for example, implies that 1/4d in 1665 = £1 now in purchasing power and hence importance to a poor person.
The price of non-essentials doesn’t matter to a poor person as they never buy them.
About Sunday 14 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘toast, n.1 < Old French tostée = Spanish tostada...
1. a. (With a and pl.) A slice or piece of bread browned at the fire: often put in wine, water, or other beverage. Now rare or Obs. exc. in India.
. . a1616 Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iii. v. 3 Go, fetch me a quart of Sacke, put a tost in 't.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 53 All within the sound of Bow Bell, are in reproch called Cocknies, and eaters of buttered tostes.
. . 1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 24. ⁋8 A Toast in a cold Morning, heightened by Nutmeg, and sweetn'd with Sugar, has for many Ages been given to our Rural Dispensers of Justice, before they enter'd upon Causes . . ‘
About Friday 12 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
Applying an index of 500:1 to convert SP’s prices to ours gives us 1/4d = 125d = 11/- = 55p today. So Roger’s suggestion (the 5pence piece is the new farthing) is out by an order of magnitude - the 50p piece is a better fit: known briefly as a ‘wilson’ when it was introduced in 1969 (he was PM) it is now unloved and unnamed, as inconvenient for daily use as the rest of our coinage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fif…
About Friday 12 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘candle < Latin candēla . . One of the Latin words introduced at the English Conversion, and long associated chiefly with religious observances . .
. . II. 5. Phrases . . f. the game, play, etc. is not worth the candle: i.e. not worth the mere cost of supplying the necessary light . . ; not worth the labour expended.
(Of French origin: cf. Cotgrave at Chandelle ‘Le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, it will not quit cost’.)
a1699 W. Temple Ess. Health & Long Life in Miscellanea: 3rd Pt. (1701) 119 Perhaps the Play is not worth the Candle . . ‘
About Thursday 11 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
Gerald: yes but no discussion of that until we get to it in several years' time, please.
........
OED has:
‘ordinary n. . . 6. Navy.
a. A group of officers, workers, etc., in charge of warships laid up in harbour. Obs.
a1642 W. Monson Naval Tracts (1704) iii. 323/1 He is to take care to pay the Ordinary of the Navy every Quarter.
. . 1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine (rev. ed.) Ordinary... These [persons] are..composed of the warrant-officers of the said ships,..and their servants. There is besides a crew of labourers enrolled in the list of the ordinary.’
About Wednesday 10 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
I think a side-gate to the back premises is meant here; OED has:
‘hatch < Old English hæc . .1.a. lower half of a divided door, which may be closed while the upper half is open. Also formerly, and still dial., any small gate or wicket.
. . a1616 Shakespeare King John (1623) i. i. 171 In at the window, or else ore the hatch.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 336/1 An Hatch..is a diminutive Field Gate..only to let a single Beast in and out of the Field..also for Milk Maids to go in and out safely without Climing or going over Stiles.
1700 J. Tyrrell Gen. Hist. Eng. II. 900 A poor..Scholar begging for some Relief at the Kitchen-Hatch . . ‘
About Monday 8 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘Light . . 13. Law. The light which falls on the windows of a house from the heavens, and which the owner claims to enjoy unobscured by obstructions erected by his neighbours. Usu. in pl. In England the inscription ‘Ancient Lights’ was frequently put on the face or side of a house adjacent to a site on which lofty buildings may be erected; the object being to give warning that the owner would have ground of action against any person who should obstruct the access of light to his windows .. .
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 5 If a house or wall is erected so near to mine that it stops my antient lights,..I may enter my neighbour's land, and peaceably pull it down . . ‘
About Friday 5 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘virtuoso, n. and adj. < Italian virtuoso . .
1.a. A learned person; a scholar; esp. a scientist, a natural philosopher. Also: spec. a member of the Royal Society . .
. . 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso i. v. 8 The gallant Dispute which arose..between some Letterati of the State, deserves to be written; every one of these Vertuosie [It. virtuosi] defended their own Opinion as the best.
. . 1709 T. Robinson Ess. Nat. Hist. Westmorland xii. 69 That new Hypothesis so stiffly maintained by some of our learned Virtuosi . . ‘
About Tuesday 2 September 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
This is the sense here:
‘< Anglo-Norman and Middle French maistresse . .
. . 5. a. A woman loved and courted by a man; a female sweetheart. Obs. By the late 19th cent. this usage was generally avoided as liable to be mistaken for sense 7. In proverbial use in quot. 1755.
. . 1616 Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iv. iv. 174, I giue thee this For thy sweet Mistris sake, because thou lou'st her.
. . 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 28. ⁋3 How few faults a man, in the first raptures of love, can discover in the person or conduct of his mistress.
1755 J. G. Cooper Lett. Concerning Taste xiii. 90 This grand secret..lies in this short Precept, Never lose the Mistress in the Wife; a Text of Bullion sense . . ‘
and here’s the sense NOT intended:
‘ . . 7. A woman other than his wife with whom a man has a long-lasting sexual relationship . .
. . 1631 J. Donne Serm. (1959) V. 302 Those women, whom the Kings were to take for their Wives, and not for Mistresses, (which is but a later name for Concubines).
1675 W. Wycherley Country-wife i. i. 5 And next, to the pleasure of making a New Mistriss, is that of being rid of an old One.
. . 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 184 Had he a mistress?—was she prettier than me?—could he love such a one as I was? . . ‘
The senses in OED number 15: how many can you think of?
About Sunday 31 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
Time was when every schoolboy knew:
‘324. The Diverting History of John Gilpin
William Cowper (1731–1800)
JOHN GILPIN was a citizen
Of credit and renown,
A train-band captain eke was he
Of famous London town.
John Gilpin’s spouse said to her dear,
‘Though wedded we have been
These twice ten tedious years, yet we
No holiday have seen.
‘To-morrow is our wedding-day,
And we will then repair
Unto the Bell at Edmonton,
All in a chaise and pair.
‘My sister, and my sister’s child,
Myself, and children three,
Will fill the chaise; so you must ride
On horseback after we.’
. . And now the turnpike gates again
Flew open in short space;
The toll-men thinking, as before,
That Gilpin rode a race.
And so he did, and won it too,
For he got first to town;
Nor stopped till where he had got up
He did again get down.
Now let us sing, Long live the King!
And Gilpin, long live he!
And when he next doth ride abroad
May I be there to see!
http://www.bartleby.com/41/324.ht…
Recommended if a poem to be learnt by heart for performance is wanted.
About Tuesday 26 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED also has:
‘ . . 1b. In interjectional and exclamatory phrases, as . . good riddance, good riddance to bad rubbish .
. . 1627 T. Middleton No Wit (1657) ii. 58 Mr Low. They have given thee all the slip. Mrs Low. So a fair riddance!
. . 1847 Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xliv. 438 A good riddance of bad rubbish!.. Get along with you, or I'll have you carried out!
. . 1924 M. Irwin Still she wished for Company xviii. 220 If all they say downstairs is true..it's good riddance to bad foreign rubbish.
1988 S. Rushdie Satanic Verses i. iv. 79 He was glad to have seen the back of his badly behaved colleagues; good riddance to bad rubbish, he thought.
2004 A. Robbins Pledged 31 Caitlin appreciated that her Big Sister didn't say what she was sure the rest of the sisterhood was thinking: good riddance . . ‘
showing how old the phrase ‘good riddance to bad rubbish’ is.
About Monday 25 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
'Reverted' is obviously a mistype for 'resorted'.
About Friday 22 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘I had liked to have begged a parrot for my wife’ - I read this as no more than a simple change of tense to how we would say it now: ‘I would have liked to have begged a parrot for my wife’. ‘Liked’ here = ‘lief/leave’ adv. dearly, gladly, willingly [OED] now obs.
About Thursday 21 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
This is indeed the season for culling the surplus deer from tame and semiwild herds such as those in our Royal Parks. This is now done by marksmen in the early morning with the pedestrian gates shut so no jogger gets shot by mistake. Males are culled in September and females in November.
http://teddingtontown.co.uk/2009/…
About Monday 18 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
“half-square n. Obs. (see quots.).
1662 S. Pepys Diary 18 Aug. (1970) III. 169 The whole mystery of off [half]-square, wherein the King is abused in the timber that he buys.
1674 W. Leybourn Compl. Surveyor (ed. 3) 345 Most Artificers when they meet with Squared Timber, whose breadth and depth are unequal..usually add the breadth and depth together, and take the half for a Mean Square, and so proceed..If the difference be great, the Error is very obnoxious either to Buyer or Seller.”
About Friday 15 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘expropriate, v. < late Latin expropriāt- . .
1. trans. To dispossess (a person) of ownership; to deprive of property . .
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Exproprié, expropriated . . ‘
About Thursday 14 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
Superstorms are what we are in for from climate change says James Hansen: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mai… (August 2015). So it’s good to be reminded that we’ve had them before and survived. The last Big Blow in England was in 1987: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gre… It’s time we had another one.
About Monday 11 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED agrees with Bill and has:
‘cheap, n.1 < A common Germanic noun: Old English céap ‘barter, buying and selling, market, price, merchandise, stock, cattle’ . . Old English is the only language in which the noun has the sense ‘cattle’, so that there is no ground for taking that as the original sense; it was either, like the word cattle n. itself, a special application of the general sense ‘merchandise, stock’, or perhaps connected with the use of cattle as a medium of exchange . .
Obs.
I. As a simple n.
1. A bargain about the bartering or exchanging of one commodity for another, or of giving money or the like for any commodity; bargaining, trade, buying and selling. . .
2. a. The place of buying and selling; market. . .
b. in place-names, as Cheapside, Eastcheap.) . . ‘
About Sunday 10 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘neat < Anglo-Norman neet . .
. . 3. b. Of language or speech: well chosen or expressed; brief, clear, and to the point; pithy, epigrammatic.
. . 1687 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) IV. 539 A very quaint neate discourse of moral Righteousnesse.
. . c. Of actions, etc.: involving special skill, accuracy, or precision; cleverly contrived or executed.
. . 1663 S. Pepys Diary 11 Aug. (1971) IV. 272 We went in and there shewed Mrs. Turner his perspective and volary..which is a most neat thing . .
. . d. Of preparations, esp. in cookery: skilfully or tastefully prepared; choice; elegant. Obs.
. . 1669 S. Pepys Diary 24 Feb. (1976) IX. 458 Had a mighty neat dish of custards and tarts . . ‘
About Wednesday 6 August 1662
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has
‘wind n. . . 19. down (the) wind .
. . b. fig. Towards decay or ruin; into or (commonly) in a depressed or unfortunate condition, in evil plight; to go down the wind , to ‘go down’, decline. Obs.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxxiv. 867 When they saw him downe the wind and fortune to frowne upon him.
. . 1673 W. Cave Primitive Christianity ii. vi. 147 In the time of Constantine when Paganism began to go down the wind.
.. . 1827 Scott Jrnl. 25 Apr. (1941) 45 The old Tory party is down the wind.’