Sasha Clarkson

Annotations and comments

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

Comments

Second Reading

About Sunday 9 March 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

On John Kays/Caius: (According to Britannica, the name was "also spelled KEES, KEYS, KAY, or KAYE"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John…

As the article says, Latinising one's name was fashionable in those days. Descartes, (d 1650) published as Cartesianus (the genitive "of Cartes"), hence Cartesian coordinates, which he pioneered. Latin was still the language of scholarship in Western Europe. Newton's 'Principia', published in 1688 under Pepys' auspices (as President of the Royal Society), was written in Latin. An English translation did not appear until 1729

About Saturday 8 March 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Appesley and his accomplices were relatively fortunate. Apart from counterfeiting coins and forging royal seals, which had been High Treason since 1351, forgery was not yet a capital crime.

However, in the aftermath of the South Sea Bubble, any type of forgery, or "uttering forgery", that is knowingly passing a forged document as genuine, was made by the Perjury Act of 1728 to be a felony punishable by "Death without Benefit of Clergy". They remained capital offences until 1837.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?i…

About Wednesday 5 March 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Pepys' patron Lord Sandwich was Master of the Wardrobe and had lodgings therein. During his time abroad, Lady Sandwich was in residence there when not at their country seat of Hinchinbrooke. Sam calls there regularly to exchange news and dine, sometimes with 'My Lady', and sometimes with the servants. He does not always record with whom he dines.

People with the social position of the Sandwiches tended to keep 'open house' for their friends and retainers. Although less formal, I've always regarded the relationship between Sandwich and Pepys as being akin to the patron-client relationship of ancient Rome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patr…

About Sunday 2 March 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Braybrooke may have intended snobbery, but the facts do not justify it, as various Pepyses were already making their mark. Sam's contemporaries Talbot Pepys and his son Roger had both been MPs. Pepys' father's first cousin, Sir Richard Pepys, had been a knight and MP: by the time Braybrooke published his version of Pepys' diary, this branch held a baronetcy, gaining the Earldom of Cottenham before Braybrooke's death and thus outranking him.

With his family connections, education and industry, Sam had every prospect of achieving his ambitions: Indeed, as Terry F points out, he soon became much more wealthy than he had dared to anticipate with Elisabeth at this point.

I would imagine that the knighthood eluded him firstly because of the opprobrium attached to the Navy after the disasters of the Dutch wars, and then, despite Sam's illustrious career, because of his association with James Duke of York. During the exclusion crises, James' protégés were attacked whenever possible as a proxy for their master. It is perhaps somewhat surprising that James did not give Pepys some kind of title after his accession, but on the other hand James definitely preferred to promote Catholics and Sam, though loyal, never had Papist inclinations. As he had no children, nor prospect of them by the later stages of his career, a title might have become less important to him.

It is interesting that Sam became the sixth president of the Royal Society in 1686, and the first who was NOT a knight or an aristocrat.

About Friday 28 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

As one who has been on the receiving end of corporal punishment, and, as a teacher, has witnessed it in schools when it was still legal, I am very glad it's gone! :)

However, my personal feelings about twenty-first century society aren't relevant to commenting upon Sam's diary. Again and again in these annotations, we have (the same) people making anachronistic ethical judgements based upon modern social mores and a smug and condescending sense of their own moral superiority. Implicit in these judgements is that THEY would do better, whatever 'better' means. Who amongst US would be equipped to survive in Restoration England?

Of course, if any one of us were brought up in a seventeenth century environment, we would share the attitudes of Sam and his contemporaries, rather than look down upon them from a lofty pedestal of our own construction.

About Friday 28 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Sam's occasional punishment of Wayneman was neither cruel nor unusual by the standards of most of human history. It's perhaps apposite to note that flagellation and humiliation in the pillory and stocks were standard components of the British criminal justice system for adults until well into the 19th century. Flogging as a military punishment was not abolished until 1880, and in the prisons continued until 1948. Wayneman is the age of a schoolboy in a time without compulsory schooling: corporal punishment in British schools continued legally until the 1980s. And I should prefer not to think about the level of punishment which occurred in many loving family homes.

Wayneman was contracted to Sam both to be a servant and to be instructed and fitted for adult life. His subsequent history (if you take a sneak preview of future diary entries) begs the question as to whether or not Sam was too lenient a disciplinarian. Wayneman's brother and sister certainly thought that the Pepys household was a better place for him than any of the alternatives.

About Monday 24 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Re JWB's comment: I have seen no evidence anywhere that Robert Blackburne was a Quaker. Although George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (ie Quakers) was highly regarded by Cromwell personally, the Friends as a body were a thorn in the side of both Protectorate and Restoration governments. I think it highly unlikely therefore that if Blackburne had been a Quaker he would have been appointed Secretary of the Admiralty, or been interested in the post. Actually, all the evidence is that Blackwell was an orthodox Puritan: Quakers were something else entirely, and attracted equal hostility from all sides. It is even less likely that Will Hewer had had any Quaker sympathies: it would have completely incompatible with his station and subsequent career.

Hewer is now 20ish, not quite an adult in law. Pepys and Elizabeth are effectively in loco parentis to a young man at a difficult age, who is "feeling his oats". Will is Pepys' dependent, living under his roof. Despite there being less of an age gap, there would have been a flavour of "don't speak to your mother like that" in Sam's remonstrance.

About Thursday 20 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The word Edil, derived from aedile, is still used in Portugal and Spain today to denote a mayor, so I have do doubt that "Aidill" is the same word. The sound of vowels are always difficult to render into another language - especially in an era without standard spellings.

Changing the subject, a harquebuss, or arquebus is an early rifle. The name derives (because of its shape) from Dutch, "hook pipe" or "hook tube"; just as "blunderbuss" derives from "thunder pipe".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arqu…

About Monday 17 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"I find reason to fear that by my too sudden leaving off wine, I do contract many evils upon myself."

There is scriptural support for Sam's position:

"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities."
(1 Timothy 5:23, King James' Bible)

About Saturday 15 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"the Treasurer’s instruments" mean the clerks and officials working directly for Sir George Carteret as Treasurer to the Navy. This is a development of a story which came to our attention on 13th February:

"... Mr. Blackburne (whom I have not seen a long time) was come to speak with me, and among other discourse he do tell me plain of the corruption of all our Treasurer’s officers ... "

So now the Sir Williams, via Sam or otherwise, have become aware of this and are complaining about the flunkeys. They are careful not to throw mud at Carteret himself, as he is very high in favour at court. Sam, skilful at running with both hare and hounds, later develops a working relationship with Waith and respects his abilities. He also becomes close to Carteret, but believes him to be incapable of dealing with the complexities of his office.

"Lord! how fretfully Sir G. Carteret do discourse with Mr. Wayth about his accounts, like a man that understands them not one word. ...."

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

When, after censure by Parliament following the Second Dutch War, , Carteret is eventually replaced as Navy Treasurer, the clerks are removed too.

About Friday 14 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Ned was left the equivalent of 10 years of Pepys' salary to take care of SOME business for Sandwich. It seems - or at least the gossip is - that he spent a majority of that on himself and still managed to run up a significant debt.

About Saturday 8 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

So it's cold: if he takes the physic tomorrow, he will have a good excuse not to go to church. I imagine the pews were very cold to sit on at this time of year - especially during a long sermon!
(Can't do it on an office day - too much to do ;) )

About Friday 7 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

" ... Mr. Turner was much troubled at what I do in the office, and do give ill words to Sir W. Pen and others of me ..."

Interesting on two points. We know that, because of its potential profitability, Turner had previously offered to buy Pepys' position from him. We also know that as he gained more power and status Pepys was responsible for cleaning up much of the corruption in Navy procurement and contracts. If Pepys had already started to make a few waves, this might already be reducing Turner's potential income from graft: hence his dissatisfaction.

The other point is that someone is relaying the gossip to Pepys; either an office flunkey or perhaps Penn himself. If the latter, one wonders whether it was out of friendship, or out of malice to keep his ambitious young colleague off balance?

About Thursday 6 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Today is one of the most important entries in the diary.

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica: "... early in 1662 there came a change. The colleagues whose bacchanalian habits and social position had made them so attractive began to prove irksome, and their insistence on their superior experience and status galled Pepys's pride. In his isolation, he sought for ways by which he could show himself their equal. He had not far to look, for his fellow officers were anything but attentive to business. "So to the office," Pepys wrote, "where I do begin to be exact in my duty there and exacting my privileges and shall continue to do so." He had found his vocation."

The Britannica article was written by the historian Sir Arthur Bryant (1899 - 1985), author of a three-volume biography of Pepys, and other contemporary histories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arth…

About Wednesday 5 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

James failed as a King not only because of his religion and religious policy, but because he believed in the Divine Right of Monarchs, and tried to tear up the Restoration political settlement too. The Cavalier Parliament began as very loyal to Charles, but became more and more protective of its prerogatives and privileges as the years progressed.

Eventually compromise was reached after the "Glorious Revolution", where William III reigned, according to Simon Schama, "as chairman of the board": the true successor to Oliver Cromwell.