Kew Gardener

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Kew Gardener has posted 14 annotations/comments since 23 May 2020.

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Third Reading

About Saturday 26 October 1661

Kew Gardener  •  Link

Happy memories of Sam and Sir Robert discussing poetry or reforms of the navy or the reproduction of insects over the past year or so, over a coffee or glass of sack. No wonder Sam is upset, Sir Robert could have been a great mentor to him. RIP.

Second Reading

About Tuesday 23 February 1668/69

Kew Gardener  •  Link

During the height of the 2020 pandemic, when the Orthodox Metropolitan bishop of Montenegro died, people were still going up to kiss his body.

About Walking Pepys's London

Kew Gardener  •  Link

The book and walks are interesting but the layout is a pain for reading while navigating. It could have used better layout; more spacing/paragraph breaks, and also some bold highlighting of the locations, as trying to skim through dense text while you're standing on a busy street corner trying to find the next location is awkward. This book seems more designed to be read at home on a comfortable sofa.

About Tuesday 20 October 1668

Kew Gardener  •  Link

@Sarah. Re. Earl of Nottingham. The papers are probably referring to Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Nottingham, brother of Charles Howard the 2nd Earl, and son of Charles Howard, the 1st Earl. He had a reputation for wildness and married badly. When he died the earldom was recreated for the Finch family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha…

About Wednesday 11 March 1667/68

Kew Gardener  •  Link

Just a small correction to the notes above about dining in the French style; this was actually the style of serving all dishes at once. From Wikipedia:

"Service à la française ("service in the French style") is the practice of serving various dishes of a meal at the same time, with the diners largely helping themselves from the serving dishes. That contrasts to service à la russe ("service in the Russian style") in which dishes are brought to the table sequentially and served individually, portioned by servants.

Formal dinners were served à la française from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, but in modern times it has largely been supplanted by service à la russe in restaurants. Service à la française still exists today in the form of the buffet, and remains popular for small and large gatherings in homes, companies etc. It is also similar to the Chinese style of serving used for large groups in many Chinese restaurants."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ser…

About Sunday 26 January 1667/68

Kew Gardener  •  Link

Re: Archippus Col; 4.17:

Probably reference to the biblical verse, Colossians 4:17. "And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it."

About Sunday 21 July 1667

Kew Gardener  •  Link

I love how he's always singing, either at home with his wife, or with friends. I realize there's no TV and this is what they did for entertainment, but it's still a very pleasant and homely image. Do we know what songs they sang, and/or what Pepys preferred?

About Thursday 20 June 1667

Kew Gardener  •  Link

Pretty sure he's mentioned writing and rewriting his will a few times, leaving his money to his father and his wife?

About Thursday 13 June 1667

Kew Gardener  •  Link

Can we compare people's reactions to Covid19 to Pepys' (and others) reaction to the Dutch invasion? The way that those who could fled London is very similar.

About Thursday 13 June 1667

Kew Gardener  •  Link

What about the invasion of England by Henry Tudor? He had been living in France and used Welsh and French troops. And then during his reign England suffered invasions by the foreign pretender Perkin Warbeck, who together with James of Scotland invaded England in the late 1490s.

About Wednesday 22 May 1667

Kew Gardener  •  Link

Sam goes to see the last two acts of The Goblins and then seems surprised he could make nothing of the play; seems odd walking in halfway like this!