Sasha Clarkson

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Sasha Clarkson has posted 752 annotations/comments since 16 February 2013.

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Second Reading

About Saturday 30 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"... and there a good while with Mr. Pett upon the new ship discoursing and learning of him."

And here is the key to Pepys' success as an administrator: however full of himself he seems to be in his diary entries sometimes, he is always willing to listen and learn more from those who do the real work. In my own experience, this is a relatively rare quality amongst would-be high-fliers!

About Saturday 30 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"We all seem to desire it ...."

Perhaps Sam is using the word 'seem' is a slightly archaic way, meaning a false show of support in company, whatever one's private misgivings.

About Wednesday 27 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

To dot a couple of "i"s etc.

Until 1831, there was effectively "separation of powers" in the governance of the Navy.

* Operational matters were decided by the Lord High Admiral (currently James), in consultation with the Board of the Admiralty.

* Administration, procurement, pay, etc were the province of the Navy Board. So, the Sir Williams were administrators like Pepys, and therefore not involved in "issuing most of the command orders to captains, and so forth" Penn was not even an officer of the Navy board, but an advisor/helper, there for his experience. James' later use of Penn as a strategic advisor was in a personal capacity.

Pepys may well have been the "colleague from hell" for some, but was also clearly trusted by others, and loyal to underlings like Hayter and Hewer. As an administrator, he didn't hide behind his desk, but was prepared to get his hands dirty, and listen to the opinions of those on the ground doing the work. Indeed, one of the great pleasures of his life seems to have been listening to others with an interesting tale to tell, or information to impart. Perhaps this is why, despite lack of combat experience, he was later trusted enough to be promoted to the post of Secretary to the Admiralty.

About Monday 25 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"my Lord pays use": cf the word "usury".

"52-55 Newington Green have survived the Great Fire of London ...."

Hmm, I think Historic UK is being a bit disingenuous here Sarah, by implying that the houses were in any way threatened in 1666, or part of London. :)

Newington Green did not "survive" the Great Fire Of London, because it was neither in London, nor anywhere near the fire, most of which was within the city walls, or a few hundred yards to the west of it, but still within the jurisdiction of the City. In fact, Newington Green was then properly in the country, about 2½ miles due north of Moorgate, which the fire approached but did not reach.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir…

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wiki…

About Friday 22 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

2nd May Gregorian: sunrise would be about 4:30 am. If the sky was fairly clear, there'd be a long twilight, certainly decent light for 45 minutes or more. The rest of the entry suggests that it had been a clear night; the mist being caused by the fact the the river was warmer than the cool air above it until the sun was risen.

About Thursday 21 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Lady Sandwich is of course six months or so pregnant by now, so soon-to-be-born James may have been pressing on her bladder!

About Wednesday 13 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I assume there's a large amout of plate, a long established method of the nobs for storing wealth. Some was, perhaps, out of fashion, some, as cumgrano suggested, tainted by association. So he's doing a part exchange with the goldsmiths, who will melt the old plate down to be reused, presumably retaining a portion as their share.

About Tuesday 12 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Robert's comments remind me of of the newly-crowned Hal's rejection of Falstaff at the end of Henry IV part 2:

....Presume not that I am the thing I was;
For God doth know, so shall the world perceive,
That I have turn’d away my former self;
So will I those that kept me company. ...

This is one of Shakespeare's greatest speeches.

http://www.shakespeareforalltime.…

I don't think it's as extreme as that with Sam. As we go through life, we grow closer to some, and more distant from others. Familiarity may bring contempt in some cases, but in others it leads to lifelong friendship.

About Sunday 10 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Assuming that Dorothy was a Kingsmill, she must surely be related to the celebrated English poet, Anne Finch (née Kingsmill), Countess of Winchilsea (1661–1720)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann…

Here is an article comparing her poetry with that of Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of Sandwich's grandson Sir Edward Wortley-Montagu

http://www.jimandellen.org/finch/…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lad…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edw…

Poems by the two ladies can be found at the links below:

https://allpoetry.com/Anne-Kingsm…

https://allpoetry.com/Mary-Wortle…

About Saturday 2 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"it being now moonshine and 9 or 10 o’clock at night"

It's 12th April Gregorian, and the moon is waning gibbous, rising at about 8pm, so the moon would have been shining from the south-east.

About Friday 1 April 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Sarah - I suspect it was the Privy Council, of which Sandwich was a member. And of course Creed was his treasurer on the Portugal trip. M'Lord would not have been pleased about this kind of question rearing its ugly head: it would have been rather more compromising than a bit of petty corruption!

Creed's brother Richard had been a Fifth-Monarchist, and a servant of Major-General Thomas Harrison the Regicide. Creed eventually married Sandwich's niece, Elizabeth Pickering, daughter of Northhamptonshire neighbour Sir Gilbert, the regicide for whom Sandwich had obtained a pardon.

About Thursday 31 March 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

A cursory glance at Povy's bio reveals him as a less than competent administrator, though with the patronage of the Duke of York.

Peterborough has at this stage already been recalled from Tangier, pensioned off, and replaced by Rutherford. So Pepys is attacking an already failed administration, I suspect with the encouragement of Coventry, also James' man.

Loyal servants of Charles and James tend to be rewarded for failure but, in some cases at least, are eased out of positions where their ineptitude does damage. So James, via Coventry, may be tweaking Sam's strings, setting up Povy for a fall, whilst also intending him to be protected from the full consequences of his failures.

This is a rather kinder age than the Henry VIII monarchy of the previous century!

About Tuesday 29 March 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Which reminds me of a rather snarky poem/epigram:

A Portrait Painter

Good Mr Fortune, A.R.A.,
Rejoiced in twenty sons.
But even there he failed, they say,
To get a likeness once.

Sir George Rostrevor Hamilton (1888 - 1967)

About Tuesday 29 March 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

There are some fine portaits by Lely, but others from his "factory" are very formulaic: especially the females, who all-too-often seem to look like Stuart women. (Maybe that was what they wanted?)

An example is the writer and poet Aphra Behn, whose Lely portrait bears little resemblance to her others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aph…

His two portraits of Nell Gwyn seem to be of different women. I would guess that the later one is all his own work.

Anyway, several of his portraits can be viewed as a slide show on Wkikimedia Commons: make your own minds up! :)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wik…

About Monday 28 March 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Before a will is executed, one needs a 'grant of probate'; legal authority to deal with the deceased's property, goods and chattels. 'Letters of administration', mentioned by Terry, are the equivalent of a grant of probate to the legal next of kin if there is no will.

About Sunday 27 March 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Re Lady Day: when the Gregorian calendar was finally adopted in Britain, in1752, the Julian Calendar had slipped another day back, making 11 days' difference between the two. As the Treasury wanted to make sure it collected 365 days of revenue for that year, the tax year was moved forward by 11 days, now starting on 6th April, and ending on 5th April - sometimes known as "Old Lady Day".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lad…

About Sunday 27 March 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Today, for Sam, is 6th April Gregorian, and the moon is waxing gibbous, with the full moon due in four day's time.

The Navy Office garden faces west.
Sunset would be at about 7:40pm, and moonset would be approximately 4 am (no daylight saving time). Therefore, after sunset, the moon would be bright but not full, fairly high in the sky, and shining from the southwest, illuminating the walls of the Navy building, an the pale stones of St Olave's north end. Perfect for an hour in the garden before retiring.

As it happens, the moon phases this year (2017) are fairly close to those of 1664, Gregorian dates, pretty closely; so all of this can be checked. :)

http://www.astropixels.com/epheme…
http://sunrisesunsetmap.com/