The temptation to show off by posting spoilers is strong - but should be resisted. Let us react to the day's events as it they'd just happened and we, like Samuel, have no idea what the morrow would bring.
Otherwise, what's the point of reading the diary as a blog? Anyone who wants to jump ahead and see what happens can do so.
Adam; probably the bedmaker was too weak to escape. A fit & desperate man in the prime of life [he was 41] like Lambert can easily climb down a rope - or in this case slide down it but a middle aged or indeed elderly woman cannot.
He was imprisoned on a Guernsey island until his death in 1684.
He was not a regicide but had been a leading man in the protectorate.
Adam Nicolson is the son of writer Nigel Nicolson and his wife Philippa Tennyson-d'Eyncourt. He is the grandson of the writers Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicolson.
‘gale, n.3 1. a. A wind of considerable strength; in nautical language, the word chiefly ‘implies what on shore is called a storm’ (Adm Smyth) . . in popular literary use, ‘a wind not tempestuous, but stronger than a breeze’ (Johnson) . . . . 1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 17 A calme, a brese, a fresh gaile, a pleasant gayle, a stiffe gayle. . . 1801 J. Capper Observ. Winds & Monsoons Pref. p. xxiii, The tempest..is..the same as a hurricane, or whirlwind: I shall therefore use these words synonimously, and place them in the first order, or degree of violent winds. The storm, or what the English seamen call a hard gale, is likewise, I believe, nearly the same; I shall, therefore, make use of the former for the land, and the latter for the sea term, and reckon these in the second class. . . 1899 Westm. Gaz. 24 Jan. 4/3 A gale is not a gale until it has reached Force 7 on the Beaufort scale, though many people lightly class all heavy winds as gales. 1923 W. N. Shaw Forecasting Weather (ed. 2) 456 As a result of the investigation of 1905 we now classify . . winds between 39 and 63 mph as gales. 1963 Meteorol. Gloss. (Meteorol. Office) (ed. 4) 109 Gale, a wind of a speed between 34 and 40 knots (force 8 on the Beaufort scale of wind force, where it was originally described as ‘fresh gale’) . . ‘
I think we/you should refrain from spoilers and assume that most readers are new - as I am to this part of the diary - and as most readers will be in the many years, centuries indeed, to come when this version of the diary will be read.
I remember the shock I felt when someone posted, quite casually and unnecessarily, that we had now only a year to go before the end of the diary. The motto should be: 'if in doubt, leave it out!'
‘scuttle-butt Etym: See scuttled adj. a. Naut. A cask of drinking-water on board ship; a drinking-fountain. Also fig. 1801 J. J. Moore Brit. Mariner's Vocab. sig. S2, Scuttle-butt, or cask, is a cask having a square piece sawn out of its bilge and lashed upon the deck. It is used to contain the fresh water for daily use . . ‘
‘scuttled, adj. Having a hole cut in it . . . . 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict., Scuttled-butt or (as it is generally abbreviated) Scuttle-butt, a cask with a square hole cut in its bilge, kept on deck to hold water for ready use.’
‘scuttle, v.2 < scuttle n.2 1. a. trans. To cut or bore a hole or holes in the sides or bottom of (a vessel, boat, etc. for the purpose of sinking her). 2. a. To cut a hole in (the deck of a vessel), esp. for the purpose of salving the cargo.’
‘scuttle, n.2 Of obscure origin; identical with French écoutille hatchway . . 1. a. Naut. A square or rectangular hole or opening in a ship's deck smaller than a hatchway, furnished with a movable cover or lid, used as a means of communication between deck and deck . .
b. A hole cut or bored through any part of a ship, esp. for salving the cargo.
‘Perspective glass = Perspective . . .a. An optical instrument for looking through, as a magnifying glass, telescope, monocle, etc. In early use also: any of various devices, such as an arrangement of mirrors, for producing an unusual optical effect, e.g. the distortion of an image ▸c1395 Chaucer Squire's Tale 234 They speke of Alocen and Vitulon And of Aristotle þat writen..Of queynte mirours and of perspectyues [v.rr. perspecsitiuis, prospectyues, prospecsatiuis; profectyues]. . . a1661 W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 60 Wm. Daviseon offered to furnish me with a couple of these perspectives, which shew the new-found motion of the stars about Jupiter. 1692 tr. C. de Saint-Évremond Misc. Ess. 280 By the means of great Perspectives, which Invention becomes more perfect every Day, they discover new Planets. . . 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. vi. 195 By means of our perspectives..we saw an English flag hoisted.’ [OED]
The ' toasted cakes' were of course 'hot cross buns', a seasonal food (for Easter):
‘hot cross bun, n. A type of sweet spiced currant bun marked with a cross and traditionally eaten hot or toasted on Good Friday . . 1733 Poor Robin sig. A7, Good Friday comes this Month, the old woman runs With one or two a Penny hot cross Bunns. . . 2001 Church Times 6 Apr. 12/5 The shops in St Albans tempt us with Easter eggs and hot cross buns.’ [OED]
This is not the first Sunday when he hasn't been to church, so evidently attendance every week was not in practice compulsory at this date. As for 'bands' OED has:
‘band n.2 . . 4. spec. a. The neck-band or collar of a shirt, orig. used to make it fit closely round the neck, afterwards expanded ornamentally. Hence, in 16th and 17th century, a collar or ruff worn round the neck by man or woman. 1568 Bible (Bishops') Exod. xxxix. 23 With a band round about the coller that it should not rent. . . 1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 264. ⁋2 A Taylor's Widow, who washes and can clear-starch his Bands. 1755 T. Smollett tr. Cervantes Don Quixote II. ii. i. 103 His band was collegian, neither starched nor laced.’
‘1. rag-tag . . and bob-tail . a. A disreputable or disorganized group of people; the lowest element of a community; the riff-raff or rabble; = tag, rag, and bobtail . . 1725 W. Teague Let. in Mist's Weekly Jrnl. 2 Oct., My Assistance in this Piece of Impudence, if it should ever succeed, will be esteemed Persons of Worth and Reputation, especially if they should be indicted, though they are Rag-Tag, and Bob-tail, and be thought witty. . . 1992 S. Holloway Courage High! iii. 36/1 Any rag, tag and bobtail who could reach a fire with a vehicle which might pass as a ‘fire engine’ was..getting in the way of the trained firemen.’
Re: 'she and I talked very high . . ' the meaning is:
‘ . . 14. a. Showing . . resentment, or the like; . . angry. Of words, actions, feelings, etc. . . 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 231. ⁋2 [She] had from her Infancy discovered so imperious a Temper (usually called a High Spirit) that [etc.] . . ‘
OED offers 10 distinct meanings for ‘to meet with’, 7 marked ‘Obs’ = obsolete but all, I think, current in Pepy’s day:
1. To come across, come upon by chance, find, encounter (a thing or person). Now rare with a personal or physical object. 2. To go to see, come together with (a person) intentionally; to have a meeting with. Now chiefly N. Amer. 3. To confront (an enemy); = sense 6a. Obs. 4. To come into or be in physical contact with; to reach; to strike. Also of a river: to merge with (another river). Obs. 5. To have sexual intercourse with. Cf. sense 8. Obs. 6. To experience, undergo (a particular fortune or treatment); to receive (a particular reaction); = sense 2. 7. To oppose, contend with (an error, objection, or malpractice), take precautions against (a danger); to provide for (an emergency). Also: to cope with (a person). Obs. 8. To agree or be in accord with. Obs. 9. To exact requital; to get even with, pay back, settle with. Obs. 10. Sc. To pay (a creditor). Obs. rare.’
The current meanings are 2. in N America and 6. in Britain.
OED offers: 'China-orange n. the Sweet Orange of commerce ( Citrus Aurantium), originally brought from China; freq. taken as a typical object of trifling value. 1666 S. Pepys Diary 5 Mar. (1972) VII. 67, I..made them welcome with wine and China oranges (now a great rarity) . . 1819 T. Moore Tom Crib's Mem. (ed. 3) 38 All Lombard-street to nine-pence on it. Note, More usually ‘Lombard-street to a China orange’ . . '
Hi there, Phil - thank you for sending the Diary out again and for all your sterling work in creating this site - and for restoring the comments: the challenge now is to think of something to add to the comments from 10 years ago . .
Comments
Second Reading
About Wednesday 18 April 1660
Chris Squire UK • Link
The temptation to show off by posting spoilers is strong - but should be resisted. Let us react to the day's events as it they'd just happened and we, like Samuel, have no idea what the morrow would bring.
Otherwise, what's the point of reading the diary as a blog? Anyone who wants to jump ahead and see what happens can do so.
About Saturday 14 April 1660
Chris Squire UK • Link
Adam; probably the bedmaker was too weak to escape. A fit & desperate man in the prime of life [he was 41] like Lambert can easily climb down a rope - or in this case slide down it but a middle aged or indeed elderly woman cannot.
He was imprisoned on a Guernsey island until his death in 1684.
He was not a regicide but had been a leading man in the protectorate.
About Wednesday 11 April 1660
Chris Squire UK • Link
Adam Nicolson is the son of writer Nigel Nicolson and his wife Philippa Tennyson-d'Eyncourt. He is the grandson of the writers Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicolson.
About Monday 9 April 1660
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘gale’; OED offers:
‘gale, n.3
1. a. A wind of considerable strength; in nautical language, the word chiefly ‘implies what on shore is called a storm’ (Adm Smyth) . . in popular literary use, ‘a wind not tempestuous, but stronger than a breeze’ (Johnson) . .
. . 1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 17 A calme, a brese, a fresh gaile, a pleasant gayle, a stiffe gayle.
. . 1801 J. Capper Observ. Winds & Monsoons Pref. p. xxiii, The tempest..is..the same as a hurricane, or whirlwind: I shall therefore use these words synonimously, and place them in the first order, or degree of violent winds. The storm, or what the English seamen call a hard gale, is likewise, I believe, nearly the same; I shall, therefore, make use of the former for the land, and the latter for the sea term, and reckon these in the second class.
. . 1899 Westm. Gaz. 24 Jan. 4/3 A gale is not a gale until it has reached Force 7 on the Beaufort scale, though many people lightly class all heavy winds as gales.
1923 W. N. Shaw Forecasting Weather (ed. 2) 456 As a result of the investigation of 1905 we now classify . . winds between 39 and 63 mph as gales.
1963 Meteorol. Gloss. (Meteorol. Office) (ed. 4) 109 Gale, a wind of a speed between 34 and 40 knots (force 8 on the Beaufort scale of wind force, where it was originally described as ‘fresh gale’) . . ‘
About Friday 30 March 1660
Chris Squire UK • Link
The link to: http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/a… doesn't work. The guidelines must have been moved.
I think we/you should refrain from spoilers and assume that most readers are new - as I am to this part of the diary - and as most readers will be in the many years, centuries indeed, to come when this version of the diary will be read.
I remember the shock I felt when someone posted, quite casually and unnecessarily, that we had now only a year to go before the end of the diary. The motto should be: 'if in doubt, leave it out!'
About Tuesday 27 March 1660
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘scuttle-butt Etym: See scuttled adj.
a. Naut. A cask of drinking-water on board ship; a drinking-fountain. Also fig.
1801 J. J. Moore Brit. Mariner's Vocab. sig. S2, Scuttle-butt, or cask, is a cask having a square piece sawn out of its bilge and lashed upon the deck. It is used to contain the fresh water for daily use . . ‘
‘scuttled, adj. Having a hole cut in it . .
. . 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict., Scuttled-butt or (as it is generally abbreviated) Scuttle-butt, a cask with a square hole cut in its bilge, kept on deck to hold water for ready use.’
‘scuttle, v.2 < scuttle n.2
1. a. trans. To cut or bore a hole or holes in the sides or bottom of (a vessel, boat, etc. for the purpose of sinking her).
2. a. To cut a hole in (the deck of a vessel), esp. for the purpose of salving the cargo.’
‘scuttle, n.2 Of obscure origin; identical with French écoutille hatchway . .
1. a. Naut. A square or rectangular hole or opening in a ship's deck smaller than a hatchway, furnished with a movable cover or lid, used as a means of communication between deck and deck . .
b. A hole cut or bored through any part of a ship, esp. for salving the cargo.
c. The lid of a scuttle-hole or hatchway.’
About Monday 26 March 1660
Chris Squire UK • Link
I agree with Sasha Clarkson.
About Friday 23 March 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘Perspective glass = Perspective . . .a. An optical instrument for looking through, as a magnifying glass, telescope, monocle, etc. In early use also: any of various devices, such as an arrangement of mirrors, for producing an unusual optical effect, e.g. the distortion of an image
▸c1395 Chaucer Squire's Tale 234 They speke of Alocen and Vitulon And of Aristotle þat writen..Of queynte mirours and of perspectyues [v.rr. perspecsitiuis, prospectyues, prospecsatiuis; profectyues].
. . a1661 W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 60 Wm. Daviseon offered to furnish me with a couple of these perspectives, which shew the new-found motion of the stars about Jupiter.
1692 tr. C. de Saint-Évremond Misc. Ess. 280 By the means of great Perspectives, which Invention becomes more perfect every Day, they discover new Planets.
. . 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. vi. 195 By means of our perspectives..we saw an English flag hoisted.’ [OED]
About Sunday 18 March 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
The ' toasted cakes' were of course 'hot cross buns', a seasonal food (for Easter):
‘hot cross bun, n. A type of sweet spiced currant bun marked with a cross and traditionally eaten hot or toasted on Good Friday . .
1733 Poor Robin sig. A7, Good Friday comes this Month, the old woman runs With one or two a Penny hot cross Bunns.
. . 2001 Church Times 6 Apr. 12/5 The shops in St Albans tempt us with Easter eggs and hot cross buns.’ [OED]
About Sunday 11 March 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
This is not the first Sunday when he hasn't been to church, so evidently attendance every week was not in practice compulsory at this date. As for 'bands' OED has:
‘band n.2 . . 4. spec. a. The neck-band or collar of a shirt, orig. used to make it fit closely round the neck, afterwards expanded ornamentally. Hence, in 16th and 17th century, a collar or ruff worn round the neck by man or woman.
1568 Bible (Bishops') Exod. xxxix. 23 With a band round about the coller that it should not rent.
. . 1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 264. ⁋2 A Taylor's Widow, who washes and can clear-starch his Bands.
1755 T. Smollett tr. Cervantes Don Quixote II. ii. i. 103 His band was collegian, neither starched nor laced.’
About Tuesday 6 March 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: "where it was full of tag, rag, and bobtail"
OED offers:
‘1. rag-tag . . and bob-tail .
a. A disreputable or disorganized group of people; the lowest element of a community; the riff-raff or rabble; = tag, rag, and bobtail . .
1725 W. Teague Let. in Mist's Weekly Jrnl. 2 Oct., My Assistance in this Piece of Impudence, if it should ever succeed, will be esteemed Persons of Worth and Reputation, especially if they should be indicted, though they are Rag-Tag, and Bob-tail, and be thought witty.
. . 1992 S. Holloway Courage High! iii. 36/1 Any rag, tag and bobtail who could reach a fire with a vehicle which might pass as a ‘fire engine’ was..getting in the way of the trained firemen.’
About Sunday 4 March 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: 'she and I talked very high . . ' the meaning is:
‘ . . 14. a. Showing . . resentment, or the like; . . angry. Of words, actions, feelings, etc.
. . 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 231. ⁋2 [She] had from her Infancy discovered so imperious a Temper (usually called a High Spirit) that [etc.] . . ‘
About Saturday 25 February 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
I am also reading an entry a day, thanks to Phil's email alerts. I didn't start until halfway through so this is all new.
About Wednesday 22 February 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED offers 10 distinct meanings for ‘to meet with’, 7 marked ‘Obs’ = obsolete but all, I think, current in Pepy’s day:
1. To come across, come upon by chance, find, encounter (a thing or person). Now rare with a personal or physical object.
2. To go to see, come together with (a person) intentionally; to have a meeting with. Now chiefly N. Amer.
3. To confront (an enemy); = sense 6a. Obs.
4. To come into or be in physical contact with; to reach; to strike. Also of a river: to merge with (another river). Obs.
5. To have sexual intercourse with. Cf. sense 8. Obs.
6. To experience, undergo (a particular fortune or treatment); to receive (a particular reaction); = sense 2.
7. To oppose, contend with (an error, objection, or malpractice), take precautions against (a danger); to provide for (an emergency). Also: to cope with (a person). Obs.
8. To agree or be in accord with. Obs.
9. To exact requital; to get even with, pay back, settle with. Obs.
10. Sc. To pay (a creditor). Obs. rare.’
The current meanings are 2. in N America and 6. in Britain.
About Thursday 16 February 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED offers: 'China-orange n. the Sweet Orange of commerce ( Citrus Aurantium), originally brought from China; freq. taken as a typical object of trifling value.
1666 S. Pepys Diary 5 Mar. (1972) VII. 67, I..made them welcome with wine and China oranges (now a great rarity) . .
1819 T. Moore Tom Crib's Mem. (ed. 3) 38 All Lombard-street to nine-pence on it. Note, More usually ‘Lombard-street to a China orange’ . . '
About Tuesday 14 February 1659/60
Chris Squire UK • Link
Hi there, Phil - thank you for sending the Diary out again and for all your sterling work in creating this site - and for restoring the comments: the challenge now is to think of something to add to the comments from 10 years ago . .