Re: ‘ . . I read over and approved a charter-party for carrying goods for Tangier . . ’
‘charter-party, n. < French charte partie . . †1. gen. An indenture; a contract written out in duplicate on a single sheet, and then divided so as to yield two counter-parts, fitting each other with their indented edges, or by the division being made through a rubric, title, or alphabet, written between the two. Obs.
2. In modern use confined to: The charter or deed made between owners and merchants for hire of a ship, and safe delivery of the cargo. It contains the name and burden of the vessel, the names of the master and freighters, the price or rate of the freight, the place and time of lading and unlading, and stipulations as to demurrage. . . 1623 R. Whitbourne Disc. New-found-land 37 Those which hire ships for that purpose are bound by conditions vnder hand and Seale, which we call Charter parties . . ‘
‘boot, n.1 < Common Germanic . . I. Good, advantage, profit, use. 1. a. . . besides, moreover. . . 1660 S. Pepys Diary 13 Feb. (1970) I. 54 For two books that I had and 6s. 6d to boot, I had my great book of songs . . ‘ (OED)
SUGAR! https://www.dentalhealth.ie/denta… .................... The human body is not ‘designed’ - it has been selected, by natural selection; read all about it in:
‘On The Origin Of Species or The Preservation Of Favoured Races In The Struggle For Life’ by Charles Darwin, M.A., Fellow Of The Royal, Geological, Linnaean, Etc., Societies; Author Of 'Journal Of Researches During H.M.S. Beagle's Voyage Round The World.'
Re: ‘ . . what a mad freaking fellow Sir Ellis Layton hath been . . ’
‘freaking, adj. < freak n.*. Addicted to freaks, freakish. . . 1665 S. Pepys Diary 25 Jan. (1972) VI. 21 He told me what a mad freaking fellow Sir Ellis Layton hath been . . ‘
* ‘freak, n.1 1. A sudden causeless change or turn of the mind; a capricious humour, notion, whim, or vagary. . . 1661 A. Cowley Vision Cromwell 70 Now the freak takes him, and hee makes seventy Peers of the Land at one clap . . ‘
Re: ‘ . . to treat about carrying some men of ours to Tangier . . ‘
‘treat, v. < Old French . . . . 1. b. trans. To handle or discuss (an affair) with a view to settlement; to negotiate, arrange, plan; rarely in bad sense, to plot (quot. 1622). In early use also with obj. clause. Obs. . . 1658 J. Bramhall Consecration Protestant Bishops Justified vi. 133 That these things should be treated, and concluded, and executed all at one meeting . . ‘
Re: "At night, late, they gone, I did get him to put out of this account our sums that are in posse [?? D.W.] only yet, which he approved of when told, but would never have stayed it if I had been gone."
‘in posse, adv. < post-classical Latin . . . . potentially. . . 1691 W. Wollaston Design Part of Bk. Ecclesiastes 94 Babes from the breast are torn, nay from the womb, And Life in posse killed . . . 1983 P. O'Brian Treason's Harbour ii. 57 In effect the absolute Roman emperor, even Marcus Aurelius, was a tyrant, if only in posse.’
‘great, adj., n., adv., and int. . . < Germanic . . . . 19. . . b. Of two persons: having a very close, friendly, or intimate relationship (frequently with together). Of one or more persons: very close, friendly, or intimate with another. Now chiefly Irish English. In earlier use sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 19a(a).* . . (1976) IX. 417 The Duchess of York and the Duke of York are mighty great with her . .
* a. With with. Much in use or request; in considerable favour; very popular . . ‘
‘A Plan of Principal Floor, New Palace of Westminster’ (found on the web) shows that what is now the Central Lobby started as the Central Hall. ‘The Lobby’ is the space before the entrance to the chamber. Members of the ‘Parliamentary Lobby’ have access to it but but not the rest of the press pack - now very numerous and to blow up every tit-bit of gossip to feed the 24-hr news machine. There are also two Division Lobbies east and west of the chamber.
Re: ’ . . with him, his wife, Jane, and a sweetheart of hers.’
‘sweetheart . . . . 3. A person with whom one is in love. . . c1597 N. Breton Figure of Foure ii. §89 Foure creatures goe willingly to their businesse: a Bride to Church, a boy to breckfast, an heire to his land, and a sweet-heart to his loue . . ‘
I think ‘admirer’ better describes the young man:
‘ . . 2. A person who is enamoured of or in love with another; a suitor, a wooer. 1640 W. Habington Queene of Arragon iii. sig. Ev I fear'd I might be lost ith' crowde Of your admirers. a1704 T. Brown Comical View London & Westm. (new ed.) in Wks. (1707) I. ii. 68 'Tis by your Beauty that you make so many of your Admirers hang and drown themselves every Year . . ‘
Sam is guilty of ‘sexing up’ (literally) this encounter for his future titillation - and, illicitly, ours.
The Dutch released them as a conciliatory gesture, to avoid giving the English Crown a casus belli - An act justifying, or regarded as a reason for, war. Their quarrel was with the English East India Company only.
Re: ’ . . the wind being easterly*, the wind that should bring our force from Portsmouth, will carry them away home . .
* L&M's footnote 1. reads "Recte, westerly . .
‘westerly, adv. wester, adj.< A word inherited from Germanic. 1. Towards the west; in a westerly direction. . . 1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 147 We began to Steer away Westerly . . ‘
2. With reference to the wind: from the west. . . 1643 W. Monson Naval Tracts i, in A. Churchill & J. Churchill Coll. Voy. (1704) III. 191/2 The Wind would chop up Westerly . . ‘ .……….. ‘southerly . . 2. Of the movement of the wind or a storm: from the direction of the south. . . 1888 L. A. Smith Music of Waters 118 Blaw the wind southerly, southerly, southerly, Blaw the wind southerly, south, or south-west . .
Re: ‘ . . that most pertinently and mister-like . . ‘
‘masterlike, adv. and adj. Now rare. A. adv.: In the manner of a master. . .. 1637 Earl of Monmouth tr. V. Malvezzi Romulus & Tarquin 294 He who writ of so many things, and writ so masterlike in all.
. . B. adj. Resembling or characteristic of a master; despotic, autocratic; authoritarian, magisterial. Also: exhibiting masterly ability or skill. . . 1666 S. Pepys Diary 23 Feb. (1972) VII. 53 I begin to doubt the picture..is not of his making, it is so master-like . . ‘
Re: this from TF 10.i.08: ‘ . . At Rome . . The footmen are on board wages at two pistoles each, a month. The Latin master & drawing master receive, for their lessons, one pistole a month, each.’
‘pistole, n. < Middle French . . Now hist. A Spanish gold double-escudo dating from the 1530s and surviving into the 19th cent.; (also) any of various coins derived from or resembling this from the 17th and 18th centuries, esp. the louis d'or issued in 1640 (during the reign of Louis XIII), an Irish coin issued in 1642–3 (in the reign of Charles II), and the Scottish twelve pound piece issued in 1701 (during the reign of William III). . . 1678 Philos. Trans. 1677 (Royal Soc.) 12 1005 Who both have commonly sold their Glasses at the rate of a Pistol (i.e. about 17 shillings and six pence) the foot.
and, NSFW:
‘1979 R. Thompson Unfit for Modest Ears 139 The Italian soldiers besieging Lyons during the civil wars..paid four pistolets to the local herdsmen to bugger their goats.’
Re: ‘ . . he do much doubt of the successe of this warr with Holland, we going about it, he doubts, by the instigation of persons that do not enough apprehend the consequences of the danger of it . . ’
‘doubt, v. < Middle English . . 2. a. trans. To be uncertain or divided in opinion about; to hesitate to believe or trust; to feel doubt about; to call in question; to mistrust. . . a1616 Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) v. v. 171 Doctors doubt that. 1680 Earl of Mulgrave & Dryden tr. Ovid in Dryden et al. tr. Epist. 163 He..The Beauty doubted, but believ'd the Wife.
. . 6. In weakened sense (apparently influenced by I.): c. With infin. phrase or clause: To apprehend; to suspect. arch. . . Remarks & Coll. 28 Sept. My Flax [was] I doubt willfully fir'd and burnt . . ‘ ………………. ‘apprehend, v. < French . . . . 8. To lay hold of with the intellect: a. to perceive the existence of, recognize, see. . . 9. a. To understand (a thing to be so and so); to conceive, consider, view, take (it) as. 1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre iv. ix. 183 They apprehended it a great courtesie done unto them.
11. To anticipate with fear or dread; to be fearful concerning; to fear. a. with obj. . . 1609 Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iii. ii. 71 O let my Lady apprehend no feare. 1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §54 Which makes me much apprehend the ends of those honest Worthies . .
‘Tory, n. and adj.< Irish *tóraidhe . . A. n. 1. a. In the 17th c., one of the dispossessed Irish, who became outlaws, subsisting by plundering and killing the English settlers and soldiers; a bog-trotter, a rapparee; later, often applied to any Irish Papist or Royalist in arms. Obs. exc. Hist. . . 1657 T. Burton Diary 10 June (1828) II. 210 Major Morgan... We have three beasts to destroy, that lay burdens upon us,— 1st, is a public Tory, on whose head we lay 200l., and 40l. upon a private Tory's... 2d. beast, is a priest, on whose head we lay 10l., if he be eminent, more. 3d. beast, the wolf, on whom we lay 5l. a head if a dog; 10l. if a bitch . . ‘
Re: ‘A very good mayde she is and fully to my mind, being neat . . ’
. . to one's mind: according to one's wish, to one's taste or liking . . Now somewhat arch. . . 1685 in J. G. Dunlop Dunlop Papers (1953) III. 18 Agnes Fergison..heath goten a master to her own myend . . ‘
Re: ‘ . . my wife’s being simply angry with Jane . .
‘simply, adv < Old French . . 5. In a foolish, silly, or stupid manner; without common sense or sagacity . . . . 1663 S. Pepys Diary 2 Jan. (1971) IV. 2 Sir W. Batten was paying of tickets, but so simply and arbitrarily..that I was weary of it . . ‘
Re: ‘ . . a good servant, though perhaps hath faults and is cunning . . ’
‘cunning < Old English . . . . 4. Possessing keen intelligence, wit, or insight; knowing, clever. 1671 J. Webster Metallographia vi. 106 Wiser heads, and cunninger wits. 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 . . ‘
‘Vere, Aubrey de, twentieth earl of Oxford (1627–1703), nobleman, was born in London on 28 February 1627, . . On 7 August 1632 the nineteenth earl was killed in the trenches before Maastricht, leaving his title, and very little else, to his five-year-old son.
. . Charles II's favours bolstered Oxford's anaemic fortune; the king granted him several offices which provided the earl enough revenue to support—at times precariously—his title . . he was chief justice in eyre of the forest south of Trent from June 1660 to January 1673. The office was, according to Roger North, of small use and great expense to the crown, but Charles II granted the place 'purely to gratify the Earl of Oxford who was one that ever wanted Royal boons' . . Oxford surrendered the office to the duke of Monmouth in 1673, in return for a gift of £5000 and an annuity of £2000 . .
Evidently Oxford did not use the profits of office to cultivate civility. He lived riotously on the Piazza at Covent Garden in the 1660s . . some contemporaries were scandalized by Oxford's sham marriage to the well-known actress Hester Davenport, who bore him a son, Aubrey (1664–1708), who later claimed, falsely, to be earl of Oxford. On 1 January 1673 he contracted a genuine marriage with Diana Kirke (d. 1719), daughter of George Kirke, groom of the bedchamber.
. . After William III's death Oxford was reappointed to the privy council and, for the last time, bore the sword at a coronation—Queen Anne's in April 1702. He died . . on 12 March 1703, aged 76 . . His only surviving legitimate child was a daughter—Diana, duchess of St Albans—and so with him ended the de Vere earldom of Oxford, a title which stretched back to the reign of King Stephen.’
‘leading-light n. Naut. (cf. (compare) leading-mark n.). 1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Leading-light.’
‘leading-mark n. Naut. one of ‘those objects which, kept in line or in transit, guide the pilot while working into port, as trees, spires, buoys, etc.’ (Adm. Smyth 1867). 1804 Ld. Nelson in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) V. 521 The leading mark for running in, is the Light-House.’
Comments
Second Reading
About Thursday 2 February 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . I read over and approved a charter-party for carrying goods for Tangier . . ’
‘charter-party, n. < French charte partie . .
†1. gen. An indenture; a contract written out in duplicate on a single sheet, and then divided so as to yield two counter-parts, fitting each other with their indented edges, or by the division being made through a rubric, title, or alphabet, written between the two. Obs.
2. In modern use confined to: The charter or deed made between owners and merchants for hire of a ship, and safe delivery of the cargo.
It contains the name and burden of the vessel, the names of the master and freighters, the price or rate of the freight, the place and time of lading and unlading, and stipulations as to demurrage.
. . 1623 R. Whitbourne Disc. New-found-land 37 Those which hire ships for that purpose are bound by conditions vnder hand and Seale, which we call Charter parties . . ‘
(OED)
About Friday 27 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . and a beggar to boot. . . ’
‘boot, n.1 < Common Germanic . . I. Good, advantage, profit, use.
1. a. . . besides, moreover.
. . 1660 S. Pepys Diary 13 Feb. (1970) I. 54 For two books that I had and 6s. 6d to boot, I had my great book of songs . . ‘ (OED)
About Thursday 26 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
SUGAR! https://www.dentalhealth.ie/denta…
....................
The human body is not ‘designed’ - it has been selected, by natural selection; read all about it in:
‘On The Origin Of Species or The Preservation Of Favoured Races In The Struggle For Life’ by Charles Darwin, M.A., Fellow Of The Royal, Geological, Linnaean, Etc., Societies; Author Of 'Journal Of Researches During H.M.S. Beagle's Voyage Round The World.'
Down, Bromley, Kent, October 1st, 1859.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1…
About Wednesday 25 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Royal Academy link: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/e… . Closes April 15 2018.
About Wednesday 25 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . what a mad freaking fellow Sir Ellis Layton hath been . . ’
‘freaking, adj. < freak n.*. Addicted to freaks, freakish.
. . 1665 S. Pepys Diary 25 Jan. (1972) VI. 21 He told me what a mad freaking fellow Sir Ellis Layton hath been . . ‘
* ‘freak, n.1 1. A sudden causeless change or turn of the mind; a capricious humour, notion, whim, or vagary.
. . 1661 A. Cowley Vision Cromwell 70 Now the freak takes him, and hee makes seventy Peers of the Land at one clap . . ‘
About Monday 23 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . to treat about carrying some men of ours to Tangier . . ‘
‘treat, v. < Old French . .
. . 1. b. trans. To handle or discuss (an affair) with a view to settlement; to negotiate, arrange, plan; rarely in bad sense, to plot (quot. 1622). In early use also with obj. clause. Obs.
. . 1658 J. Bramhall Consecration Protestant Bishops Justified vi. 133 That these things should be treated, and concluded, and executed all at one meeting . . ‘
About Wednesday 18 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: "At night, late, they gone, I did get him to put out of this account our sums that are in posse [?? D.W.] only yet, which he approved of when told, but would never have stayed it if I had been gone."
‘in posse, adv. < post-classical Latin . . . . potentially.
. . 1691 W. Wollaston Design Part of Bk. Ecclesiastes 94 Babes from the breast are torn, nay from the womb, And Life in posse killed .
. . 1983 P. O'Brian Treason's Harbour ii. 57 In effect the absolute Roman emperor, even Marcus Aurelius, was a tyrant, if only in posse.’
(OED)
About Tuesday 17 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ' . . where I am mighty great . . '
‘great, adj., n., adv., and int. . . < Germanic . .
. . 19. . . b. Of two persons: having a very close, friendly, or intimate relationship (frequently with together). Of one or more persons: very close, friendly, or intimate with another. Now chiefly Irish English. In earlier use sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 19a(a).*
. . (1976) IX. 417 The Duchess of York and the Duke of York are mighty great with her . .
* a. With with. Much in use or request; in considerable favour; very popular . . ‘
About Monday 16 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘A Plan of Principal Floor, New Palace of Westminster’ (found on the web) shows that what is now the Central Lobby started as the Central Hall. ‘The Lobby’ is the space before the entrance to the chamber. Members of the ‘Parliamentary Lobby’ have access to it but but not the rest of the press pack - now very numerous and to blow up every tit-bit of gossip to feed the 24-hr news machine. There are also two Division Lobbies east and west of the chamber.
About Friday 13 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . with him, his wife, Jane, and a sweetheart of hers.’
‘sweetheart . .
. . 3. A person with whom one is in love.
. . c1597 N. Breton Figure of Foure ii. §89 Foure creatures goe willingly to their businesse: a Bride to Church, a boy to breckfast, an heire to his land, and a sweet-heart to his loue . . ‘
I think ‘admirer’ better describes the young man:
‘ . . 2. A person who is enamoured of or in love with another; a suitor, a wooer.
1640 W. Habington Queene of Arragon iii. sig. Ev I fear'd I might be lost ith' crowde Of your admirers.
a1704 T. Brown Comical View London & Westm. (new ed.) in Wks. (1707) I. ii. 68 'Tis by your Beauty that you make so many of your Admirers hang and drown themselves every Year . . ‘
Sam is guilty of ‘sexing up’ (literally) this encounter for his future titillation - and, illicitly, ours.
To Be Continued . .
About Thursday 12 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: arby- the masts:
The Dutch released them as a conciliatory gesture, to avoid giving the English Crown a casus belli - An act justifying, or regarded as a reason for, war. Their quarrel was with the English East India Company only.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sec…
About Thursday 12 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . the wind being easterly*, the wind that should bring our force from Portsmouth, will carry them away home . .
* L&M's footnote 1. reads "Recte, westerly . .
‘westerly, adv. wester, adj.< A word inherited from Germanic.
1. Towards the west; in a westerly direction.
. . 1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 147 We began to Steer away Westerly . . ‘
2. With reference to the wind: from the west.
. . 1643 W. Monson Naval Tracts i, in A. Churchill & J. Churchill Coll. Voy. (1704) III. 191/2 The Wind would chop up Westerly . . ‘
.………..
‘southerly
. . 2. Of the movement of the wind or a storm: from the direction of the south.
. . 1888 L. A. Smith Music of Waters 118 Blaw the wind southerly, southerly, southerly, Blaw the wind southerly, south, or south-west . .
(OED)
Kathleen Ferrier, 1949: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W…
About Wednesday 11 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . that most pertinently and mister-like . . ‘
‘masterlike, adv. and adj. Now rare.
A. adv.: In the manner of a master.
. .. 1637 Earl of Monmouth tr. V. Malvezzi Romulus & Tarquin 294 He who writ of so many things, and writ so masterlike in all.
. . B. adj. Resembling or characteristic of a master; despotic, autocratic; authoritarian, magisterial. Also: exhibiting masterly ability or skill.
. . 1666 S. Pepys Diary 23 Feb. (1972) VII. 53 I begin to doubt the picture..is not of his making, it is so master-like . . ‘
About Tuesday 10 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: this from TF 10.i.08: ‘ . . At Rome . . The footmen are on board wages at two pistoles each, a month. The Latin master & drawing master receive, for their lessons, one pistole a month, each.’
‘pistole, n. < Middle French . . Now hist. A Spanish gold double-escudo dating from the 1530s and surviving into the 19th cent.; (also) any of various coins derived from or resembling this from the 17th and 18th centuries, esp. the louis d'or issued in 1640 (during the reign of Louis XIII), an Irish coin issued in 1642–3 (in the reign of Charles II), and the Scottish twelve pound piece issued in 1701 (during the reign of William III).
. . 1678 Philos. Trans. 1677 (Royal Soc.) 12 1005 Who both have commonly sold their Glasses at the rate of a Pistol (i.e. about 17 shillings and six pence) the foot.
and, NSFW:
‘1979 R. Thompson Unfit for Modest Ears 139 The Italian soldiers besieging Lyons during the civil wars..paid four pistolets to the local herdsmen to bugger their goats.’
(OED)
About Monday 9 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . he do much doubt of the successe of this warr with Holland, we going about it, he doubts, by the instigation of persons that do not enough apprehend the consequences of the danger of it . . ’
‘doubt, v. < Middle English
. . 2. a. trans. To be uncertain or divided in opinion about; to hesitate to believe or trust; to feel doubt about; to call in question; to mistrust.
. . a1616 Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) v. v. 171 Doctors doubt that.
1680 Earl of Mulgrave & Dryden tr. Ovid in Dryden et al. tr. Epist. 163 He..The Beauty doubted, but believ'd the Wife.
. . 6. In weakened sense (apparently influenced by I.):
c. With infin. phrase or clause: To apprehend; to suspect. arch.
. . Remarks & Coll. 28 Sept. My Flax [was] I doubt willfully fir'd and burnt . . ‘
……………….
‘apprehend, v. < French . .
. . 8. To lay hold of with the intellect:
a. to perceive the existence of, recognize, see.
. . 9. a. To understand (a thing to be so and so); to conceive, consider, view, take (it) as.
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre iv. ix. 183 They apprehended it a great courtesie done unto them.
11. To anticipate with fear or dread; to be fearful concerning; to fear.
a. with obj.
. . 1609 Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iii. ii. 71 O let my Lady apprehend no feare.
1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §54 Which makes me much apprehend the ends of those honest Worthies . .
About Sunday 8 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘Tory’:
‘Tory, n. and adj.< Irish *tóraidhe . .
A. n. 1. a. In the 17th c., one of the dispossessed Irish, who became outlaws, subsisting by plundering and killing the English settlers and soldiers; a bog-trotter, a rapparee; later, often applied to any Irish Papist or Royalist in arms. Obs. exc. Hist.
. . 1657 T. Burton Diary 10 June (1828) II. 210 Major Morgan... We have three beasts to destroy, that lay burdens upon us,—
1st, is a public Tory, on whose head we lay 200l., and 40l. upon a private Tory's...
2d. beast, is a priest, on whose head we lay 10l., if he be eminent, more.
3d. beast, the wolf, on whom we lay 5l. a head if a dog; 10l. if a bitch . . ‘
(OED)
About Friday 6 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘A very good mayde she is and fully to my mind, being neat . . ’
. . to one's mind: according to one's wish, to one's taste or liking . . Now somewhat arch.
. . 1685 in J. G. Dunlop Dunlop Papers (1953) III. 18 Agnes Fergison..heath goten a master to her own myend . . ‘
(OED)
About Thursday 5 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . my wife’s being simply angry with Jane . .
‘simply, adv < Old French
. . 5. In a foolish, silly, or stupid manner; without common sense or sagacity . .
. . 1663 S. Pepys Diary 2 Jan. (1971) IV. 2 Sir W. Batten was paying of tickets, but so simply and arbitrarily..that I was weary of it . . ‘
Re: ‘ . . a good servant, though perhaps hath faults and is cunning . . ’
‘cunning < Old English . .
. . 4. Possessing keen intelligence, wit, or insight; knowing, clever.
1671 J. Webster Metallographia vi. 106 Wiser heads, and cunninger wits.
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 . . ‘
(OED)
About Aubrey de Vere (20th Earl of Oxford)
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘Vere, Aubrey de, twentieth earl of Oxford (1627–1703), nobleman, was born in London on 28 February 1627, . . On 7 August 1632 the nineteenth earl was killed in the trenches before Maastricht, leaving his title, and very little else, to his five-year-old son.
. . Charles II's favours bolstered Oxford's anaemic fortune; the king granted him several offices which provided the earl enough revenue to support—at times precariously—his title . . he was chief justice in eyre of the forest south of Trent from June 1660 to January 1673. The office was, according to Roger North, of small use and great expense to the crown, but Charles II granted the place 'purely to gratify the Earl of Oxford who was one that ever wanted Royal boons' . . Oxford surrendered the office to the duke of Monmouth in 1673, in return for a gift of £5000 and an annuity of £2000 . .
Evidently Oxford did not use the profits of office to cultivate civility. He lived riotously on the Piazza at Covent Garden in the 1660s . . some contemporaries were scandalized by Oxford's sham marriage to the well-known actress Hester Davenport, who bore him a son, Aubrey (1664–1708), who later claimed, falsely, to be earl of Oxford. On 1 January 1673 he contracted a genuine marriage with Diana Kirke (d. 1719), daughter of George Kirke, groom of the bedchamber.
. . After William III's death Oxford was reappointed to the privy council and, for the last time, bore the sword at a coronation—Queen Anne's in April 1702. He died . . on 12 March 1703, aged 76 . . His only surviving legitimate child was a daughter—Diana, duchess of St Albans—and so with him ended the de Vere earldom of Oxford, a title which stretched back to the reign of King Stephen.’
(DNB 2017)
About Tuesday 3 January 1664/65
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘leading light’
‘leading-light n. Naut. (cf. (compare) leading-mark n.).
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Leading-light.’
‘leading-mark n. Naut. one of ‘those objects which, kept in line or in transit, guide the pilot while working into port, as trees, spires, buoys, etc.’ (Adm. Smyth 1867).
1804 Ld. Nelson in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) V. 521 The leading mark for running in, is the Light-House.’
(OED)