Sasha Clarkson

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

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Second Reading

About Wednesday 20 May 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Ah yes, I remember coming up with a proof of Pell's (eponymous) equation for a number theory assignment once :)

Sir John Pell had nothing to do with the Petts, but he was connected with the Hartlibs, Pepys former Axe Yard neighbours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…

Google sometimes gives results for possible mis-spellings.

About Friday 15 May 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Sam's man, and office ally, Hayter is off the hook. I suspect that this decision by the Duke contributed to/reinforced Pepys' strong loyalty to James. This would cause Sam great problems and eventually bring a premature end to his career in 1688.

About Thursday 14 May 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

If Sandwich were to lose £50 per week, it would add up to £2500 per year: no wonder Sam doesn't like it!

Still, it's very clever of Charles to get his courtiers to help support his mistress: no wonder they need to solicit bribes in order to survive!

About Saturday 9 May 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

If, in the late 17th century, soap had been in general use for personal hygene, I'm sure we would have heard about it in the diary.

In fact, after the fall of the Roman Empire soap vanished from personal use in much of Europe until the 18th/19th century. Such soap as *was* manufactured was used in cloth manufacture, to prepare fabric for dyeing.

Hence, suggesting that Sam wash his hair with soap is like advising that he calm down with a cold beer from the fridge!

I would not be particularly happy with using some early soaps on my skin either, because of potential excess alkalinity!

http://www.todayifoundout.com/ind…

Here's a fascinating snippet from the OU about the link between soap and explosives:

"In 1853, Gladstone repealed the British tax on soap that had been imposed centuries earlier and the industry flourished. It was made even more profitable by Nobel’s invention of dynamite in the same year: dynamite was made from the explosive nitroglycerine, a chemical derived from glycerine, hitherto a waste product of soapmaking."

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/his…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soa…

About Wigs

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"... Oh, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters ..."

from Hamlet's advice to the players, Act 3, scene ii - an absolutely wonderful speech!
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet…

One's pate is the top of one's head.

About Slide rule

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

It seems very likely that Sam's slide rule would have been one of WilliamOughtred's, or a copy thereof.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil….

The crucial invention was that of logarithmic scales. Let me see whether I can make sense of it for a lay person.

1) "logarithm" is really a fancy name for power: eg as in 2 to the power 3, so as 2³ = 8, the logarithm to the base 2 of 8 is 3.
Remember, the power of logarithms is that the logarithm is the power.

2) if you times/divide numbers expressed as a common base to different powers, you can just add/subtract the powers. eg 32×8 = 2⁵×2³ = 2⁵⁺³ = 2⁸ = 216; and 32÷8 = 2⁵÷2³ = 2⁵⁻³ = 2² =4.
These powers could be represented by lengths on a piece of paper or a ruler.

3) you can have fractional powers: eg 2 to the power ½ (0.5) is the square root of 2; 2 to the power of 0.1 (one tenth) is the tenth root of 2.

4) Common logarithms use 10 as a base, so, as 10² = 100, the logarithm to the base of 10 of 100 is 2. Using fractional powers, you can find a logarithm for any positive number. eg 10⁰·³⁰¹⁰ is 10⁰·¹×10⁰·¹×10⁰·¹×10⁰·⁰⁰¹ (remember, add the powers up) and approximately equals 2. Hence - the common logarithm of 2 is approximately 0.3010: (REMEMBER- the logarithm IS the power.)

5) A logarithmic scale on a ruler is very non linear for the numbers: that means that the distance between 1 and 2 is not the same as the distance between 2 and 3, and both are different from the distances between 3 and 4, etc etc. BUT the differences between powers of 10 are equal. So, for example, the differences between 10⁰, 10¹, and 10², that is 1, and 10, and 10 and 100 (0r 10⁰·¹,10⁰·²,10⁰·³; that is approx 1.26,1.58, 1.99 respectively) ARE the same.

A slide rule is marked in real numbers, but with the common logarithms of their differences between them. As to multiply/divide you add/subtract powers, that is logarithms (the logarithm IS the power), moving forward or backward on the scale is multiplying/dividing rather than adding and subtracting.

6) Because the Hindu-Arabic number system we use is based on ten digits, and place value is determined by powers of ten, you only need a limited range on the slide rule to do any calculation; the rest can be done by moving decimal points.

About Tuesday 5 May 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

It seems very likely that Sam's slide rule would have been one of WilliamOughtred's, or a copy thereof.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil….

The crucial invention was that of logarithmic scales. Let me see whether I can make sense of it for a lay person.

1) "logarithm" is really a fancy name for power: eg as in 2 to the power 3, so as 2³ = 8, the logarithm to the base 2 of 8 is 3.
Remember, the power of logarithms is that the logarithm is the power.

2) if you times/divide numbers expressed as a common base to different powers, you can just add/subtract the powers. eg 32×8 = 2⁵×2³ = 2⁵⁺³ = 2⁸ = 216; and 32÷8 = 2⁵÷2³ = 2⁵⁻³ = 2² =4.
These powers could be represented by lengths on a piece of paper or a ruler.

3) you can have fractional powers: eg 2 to the power ½ (0.5) is the square root of 2; 2 to the power of 0.1 (one tenth) is the tenth root of 2.

4) Common logarithms use 10 as a base, so, as 10² = 100, the logarithm to the base of 10 of 100 is 2. Using fractional powers, you can find a logarithm for any positive number. eg 10⁰·³⁰¹⁰ is 10⁰·¹×10⁰·¹×10⁰·¹×10⁰·⁰⁰¹ (remember, add the powers up) and approximately equals 2. Hence - the common logarithm of 2 is approximately 0.3010: (REMEMBER- the logarithm IS the power.)

5) A logarithmic scale on a ruler is very non linear for the numbers: that means that the distance between 1 and 2 is not the same as the distance between 2 and 3, and both are different from the distances between 3 and 4, etc etc. BUT the differences between powers of 10 are equal. So, for example, the differences between 10⁰, 10¹, and 10², that is 1, and 10, and 10 and 100 (0r 10⁰·¹,10⁰·²,10⁰·³; that is approx 1.26,1.58, 1.99 respectively) ARE the same.

A slide rule is marked in real numbers, but with the common logarithms of their differences between them. As to multiply/divide you add/subtract powers, that is logarithms (the logarithm IS the power), moving forward or backward on the scale is multiplying/dividing rather than adding and subtracting.

6) Because the Hindu-Arabic number system we use is based on ten digits, and place value is determined by powers of ten, you only need a limited range on the slide rule to do any calculation; the rest can be done by moving decimal points.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sli…

About Friday 1 May 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

So Sam's dissembling to his dad and Tom about the true state of the accounts: he obviously thinks that Papa can't keep track of what's coming in OR going out.

This sounds unkind, but it's based on sober reality: remember that a couple of years ago, Sam audited his dad's affairs before he retired to Brampton and concluded:

"I find that all he hath in money of his own due to him in the world is but 45l., and he owes about the same sum: so that I cannot but think in what a condition he had left my mother if he should have died before my uncle Robert."

That is, after a lifetime of work, his net worth was zero. The implication is that even then, John senior was neither managing his finances, nor aware of his precise situation.

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

About Thursday 30 April 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I expect that the Royal Exchange would be a good place to meet people casually and swap news and gossip. Although, in 1662, it was estimated that "384,000 people lived in the City of London, the Liberties, Westminster and the out-parishes"*, I would imagine that number of prosperous people in "The square mile" of the City, would be small enough for there to be a good chance of Sam casually meeting friends and acquaintances in the Exchange.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London#The_recording_of_deaths

About Monday 27 April 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I suspect that Wayneman is an orphan, as it's his big brother Will and sister Jane who both advise him and plead his case.

Note that the beatings do not seem to concern his siblings: they still think that the Pepys household is the best place for him. This does not surprise me. Corporal punishment was the norm in British homes and schools until the 1980s, since when attitudes have changed vastly. They were already changing slowly in my own childhood in the 1960s, but practice varied between schools and communities. The worst experiences I have heard of were from friends who went to Roman Catholic schools in the North of England. Interestingly enough, the most deliberate cruelty was always from the teaching nuns.

About Monday 27 April 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The end of Captain Browne: I wonder what happened to the seaman who struck him? There's no mention in the diary of his fate.

The penalty for murder was hanging of course, but an experienced seaman might well be able to escape and find a berth.

About Monday 27 April 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

A week taking "physique" - ie laxative: the mind boggles!

BTW San Diego Sarah: those were good and very helpful annotations you put on Captain Browne's page! :)

About Friday 24 April 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"Was it the beating he gave the boy that gave him so much pleasure?"

It does help to read the full entry: it's very clear from the context what gave Sam the pleasure!

About Friday 24 April 1663

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The world was harsh in the seventeenth century. Sam would undoubtedly have been beaten at St Paul's. Military discipline, especially in the navy, was brutal for adults: Wayneman will grow up all too soon, and if Sam can't offer him a place, then the navy might be one of his few options.

Although the principle was established with the Cardwell reforms of 1868, flogging was not finally abolished in the British military until 1880. Even the Russians got there first, with Alexander II's "great reforms" of the 1860s.