Eric the Bish

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Eric the Bish has posted 77 annotations/comments since 9 July 2020.

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Third Reading

About Wednesday 30 October 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“I got him to shew me every hole and corner of the ship, much to my information”.

There is no substitute for crawling through every part of the ship: even a modern plastic yacht has its secrets (such as the large block of concrete I found in a Jeanneau 34 to trim the vessel) - for Pepys this sort of knowledge will surely be useful ensuring he is not bamboozled by unscrupulous contractors when repairs are needed.

About Sunday 20 October 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“… a sleepy Presbyter preached“

Not a Presbyterian but an Anglican priest - following the Restoration and the re-establishment of the Church of England, the term “priest”became more standard within the Anglican tradition. However, "presbyter" would still have been understood and used in theological discussions or to emphasise the role of ministers as "elders" within the church. Here Pepys is perhaps indicating the sleepy clergyman was in the reformed tradition of the C of E.

About Sunday 6 October 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

" ... heard a good sermon of Dr. Buck’s, one I never heard before, a very able man."

It is not unknown for clergy to re-use a well crafted sermon, and that is how I first read this entry, but on reflection the meaning must be that Pepys had not heard Dr Buck preach before. This appears to be James Buck, who was a learned man and an excellent preacher, but who was amongst those criticised in 1672 for his absence from St. James Garlickhythe - either because of the Great Fire, five years before, or because he held more than one living - thus providing the opportunity for nonconformism to flourish by depriving the local people of his good preaching - see link here: https://web.archive.org/web/20241….

About Tuesday 3 September 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

Signing with the cross.

The concern is undoubtedly that the baptism was not valid. But ritualism isn’t big in Anglicanism, and signing with the cross not essential - we know this from the provision for emergency baptism, which anyone could do:

“And also they shal warne them, that without great cause and necessitie, they baptyse not chyldren at home in theyre houses. And when great nede shot compel them so to do, that then they minister it on this fashion.
“First let them that be Present cal upon God for his grace, and saye the Lordes prayer, yf the tyme wyl suffre. And then one of them shall name the chyld, and dippe him in the water, or Powre water upon him, saying these wordes.

Ҧ N. I Baptyse thee in the name of the father, and of the sonne, and of the holy ghost. Amen.

“And let them not doubt, but that the child so Baptised, is lawfully and sufficiently Baptised, and ought not to be Baptized agayne, in the Church.”

The Parson may have simply forgotten, or if sympathetic to Presbyterianism he may have taken an expansive view of the word “suffyce” in the preceding rubric in the church service (to allow a weak child not to be immersed, but simply to have water poured on them):

Ҧ Then the Priest shal take the childe in his handes, and aske the name: and naming the chyld, shal dippe it in the water, so it be discretely and warely done, sayinge.

Ҧ N. I Baptyse thee in the name of the father, and of the sonne, and of the holy ghost. Amen.

Ҧ And yf the child be weke, it shall suffyce to power water upon it sayinge the foresayde wordes.

“N. I Baptyse thee in the name of the father, and of the sonne, and of the holy ghost. Amen.

“Then the Priest shall make a crosse upon the chyld's forehead, sayinge.

“WE receyve this child into the congregacion of Christes flocke, and doe signe him with the signe of the crosse, in token that hereafter he shal not be ashamed to confesse the fayth of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner agaynst synne, the world, and the devyll, and to continue Christ's faythfull souldiour and servaunt unto his lyves end. Amen.

“Then shall the Priest saye.

“SEEYNG nowe, derely beloved brethren, that these chyldren be regenerate and grafted into the bodye of Christes congregacion … “

About Thursday 22 August 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“… and staid out the sermon“

It was perhaps better than he had hoped for (I’m ever the optimist), or maybe for this sort of occasion leaving early was ok, but not to the point of missing a sermon which put the death in context and perhaps included some personal tribute to the deceased.

About Saturday 27 July 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

The joy of a perfect tide!

It’s the best way to travel through London: fast, safe (if it’s not the middle of a Spring Tide) … and going through the bridge is fun! Best of all, with the turn of the tide they get to do it all over again on the way back :)

Then … well the tide is now running fast the wrong way, so it’s back home by coach.

About Sunday 30 June 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“… trade of briefs is come now up to so constant a course every Sunday, that we resolve to give no more to them.“

This is an extra collection of money for a specific charitable purpose, on top of the normal two Church collections. The normal collections, then as now, had separate purposes, well expressed in the prayer book where God is asked to “accept our alms and oblations“: alms for the poor, and oblations for the administration of the Church.

In the UK context, today’s equivalent to the trade in briefs is the “retiring collection“ – “retiring“ because it is taken at the end of the church service as the congregation leave. Again, this is an additional collection over and above the normal Church collection (though the days of passing a bag or plate around the congregation are long gone in many UK churches because people give electronically and normally by standing order, with “one off“ gifts by scanning a QR code).

Retiring collections are often in response to an appeal from the archbishops of Canterbury and York, or the (secular) Disasters Emergency Committee. One example was the 2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal, which raised (from all sources) over £150 million. I imagine retiring collections were a small proportion of this.

About Thursday 20 June 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“… to my great content.”

Contentment is of great value, and Pepys knew it, although I sense that with his ambition and drive contentment was only ever temporary. As the diary continues, we shall find out whether he can enjoy the virtue which, biblically, should accompany it, leading to enduring fulfilment: “… godliness with contentment is great gain”. (1 Tim 6:6)

About Sunday 16 June 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

Sam’s original plan (plan A) had been to send the goods by land to Deal for Wednesday; thence to be taken out to the Downs by small boat. The arrival of the Duke’s purser in the evening offers a possibility of an excellent plan B: cheaper, faster and direct delivery. It’s not certain to work but would have been great if it had.

It didn’t. Time and tide - not to mention weather and Dukes - wait for no man: the non arrival of the purser to collect the goods in the morning gives Pepys a lesson in maritime risk management. He’s missed the daytime tide today, so nothing will happen until Monday.

He is now forced to reassess his Plan A; eventually judging the risks too great. Sending by sea buys out at least three risks: his Lord sailing early; mishap on the road to Deal (cart breakdown; theft, fraud); weather on Wednesday turning foul so delivery to the ship cannot take place.

Hence Pepys is willing to take time for some light reading while Will checks on various options … and in the evening Sam selects plan C: the hoy.

His frustration is twofold: his clever plan B did not come off, and his original plan A wasn’t a good one. But plan C seems ok.

About Friday 14 June 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

If the "Shipp [glass]" is indeed a telescope it is a precious object - the telescope had been invented only about 60 years before, and the reflector would not be invented for another eight years. The sort of telescope we are speaking of here might have a 3x magnification, and would give an upside down image.

About Sunday 21 April 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“… my work will be hindered but I must prevent it if I can.”

“”Prevent” here meaning “enable” the work to go forward without difficulty. The meaning is seen in the Book of Commpn Prayer collect which starts "Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, …". The word "prevent" there means "to go before" or "to precede." In that context, it's asking for God's guidance and protection to lead or go before us in all our actions or undertakings ensuring that we are directed and protected by divine grace. Here it will be by Pepys’ skills as a diplomatic wheeler dealer!

About Friday 19 April 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“ and then … to bed with my wife.” To bed, but not to “lie with”. This seems to mean no more than it says.

About Tuesday 16 April 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“ … and there lay with my wide.”

I posted about this a couple of days ago here: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/….

It’s not clear, and in context today’s entry doesn’t (to me) have the overtone of sexual intimacy which the previous entry seems (to me) to suggest.

He does keep us guessing!

About Sunday 14 April 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“… a lazy sermon“. My Latham/Matthews gives “lazy“. So, to understand the word we maybe take into account the context “like a Presbyterian“. But Presbyterian clergy in Samuel Pepys's day were typically well-educated individuals who had undergone formal theological training and held university degrees. so I doubt that the sermon was intellectually lazy.

I can only guess that the key is in the text for the sermon, and that the preacher did not do the hard work of applying “let us love one another” in the context of Christ’s sacrificial love for us. On this subject it is all too easy to take refuge in generalised platitudes and to avoid the real difficulties in the complexities and messiness of real life, of knowing what loving one another actually means in practice. But as to why this made Pepys think of Presbyterian clergy, I could not say.

About Sunday 14 April 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

In the (AV) Bible to “lay” / “lie” with someone often has the meaning “have sex with”, and it may be so here. Abstaining from sex during Lent was encouraged (in Roman Catholicism) in the 14th and 15th centuries, according to History of Christianity Professor, Denis Janz, and the practice may well have continued in later years, with some evidence from birth records showing a decline nine months after Lent. It’s been a difficult time with the house all ahoo, and the couple don’t seem to communicate well about such as issues. So the sort of strop we see here is entirely predictable.

About Saturday 13 April 1661

Eric the Bish  •  Link

The adjective “dirty“ to describe the weather is still used in the maritime context, though always with a noun: “ It’s a dirty night, we had better put a reef in …“ etc.