Sasha Clarkson

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

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Second Reading

About Tuesday 4 February 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

On Monday 24 September 1660, Pepys and Batten "were sworn justices of peace for Middlesex, Essex, Kent, and Southampton". JPs, (magistrates) had considerable discretion in local law enforcement, but were also subject to the law themselves. To be a JP in several counties was probably not usual, but one can infer that this wide remit was to deal specifically with matters involving the Navy and the discipline of seamen where the ships and dockyards were based. The City of London was technically in Middlesex, but the writ of Middlesex magistrates did not run there, as the City appointed its own JPs. Hence today's subpoena against Pepys, as committing a man to prison within the City was "ultra vires" (beyond their powers) for Middlesex magistrates. Hence the 1664 Act, referred to above by Terry F, giving the Navy Board extra powers.

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

About Calendar

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For the whole of Sam's diary, it's quite simple: add 10 days to Sam's dates to find Gregorian dates, and if necessary subtract the total days in this month to find the date next month:

(eg: Julian 23rd January + 10 days = 33rd January, - 31 days = 2nd February Gregorian.)

The previous links to find 17th century moon phases are dead; the current NASA resource is below:

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phas…

About Thursday 23 January 1661/62

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The above links to find moon phases are dead. The current NASA page for the 17th century is below; dates being given by the Gregorian Calendar. For the whole of Sam's diary, it's quite simple: add 10 days to Sam's dates to find Gregorian dates.

(23rd January + 10 = 33rd, - 31 = 2nd February.)

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phas…

According to NASA the full moon is at 05:42 on 3rd February, so this is effectively the night of the full moon. The full moon will be fairly high in the sky: where you'd expect the sun to be in late July/early August, because the full moon in winter follows the approximate path of the sun in summer and vice-versa.

About Wednesday 22 January 1661/62

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To dot this particular "i", Charles Fleetwood was not a regicide: he did not have any role in the trial of Charles I and did not sign the death warrant. As Cromwell's son-in law, and a senior and popular army commander, he was too prominent to leave free but, like all of the very closest of Cromwell's surviving family and friends, he was allowed to live out his life.

The bodies of the deceased regicides were ritually punished and humiliated, but, apart from a few high profile examples, the living were treated with relative circumspection compared with the savage regime changes under the Tudors. That's why history speaks of a 'Bloody Mary', but not of a 'Bloody Charles'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List…

About George Mountagu

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It's clear from the family tree that George was the younger brother of the second Earl of Manchester, and the first cousin of Sandwich, not a "distant" cousin.

About Monday 20 January 1661/62

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Calais or Cadiz? I would guess that the good gentlemen know perfectly well where sherry comes from, but that this particular shipment has been brought in from/via Calais.

It's also interesting that Sam is topping up his sherry barrel with Malaga wine. Most sherries are naturally dry. Medium dry and cream sherries are sweetened by adding varying amounts of very sweet wine, usually made from the Pedro Ximenez grape, or occasionally Muscatel. The latter two grape varieties are also grown in the Malaga region, as well as Jerez, and used to make the intensely sweet fortified Malaga wines. So Sam was anticipating modern practice, even if his two wines came from different Spanish regions.

4 gallons of Malaga to top up a wine-hogshead of 70 or so gallons would mean that the wine should not be over sweet.

About Col. Henry Honywood

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Mary Honywood (1527 – 1620), their great-grandmother "had 367 descendants in her lifetime".

"She achieved this by having sixteen children herself who in turn had 114 grandchildren. In her lifetime they had 228 great grandchildren and they had nine great great chandchildren. Honywood died at the age of 93."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary…

About Monday 13 January 1661/62

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@Louise: the lady was widowed at 49, certainly old enough to have had ten surviving children. At ninety-three, some of her descendants might well have been great-great grandchildren. say on average each generation had 6 offspring: 6x6x6x6 = 1296.

I remember once on a coach tour in Ireland, our guide pointed out a farm where the wife had had 25 children: "all of them alive": the mind boggles!! :)

About Sunday 12 January 1661/62

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Why did Pepys not beat the maid? Firstly he was "troubled" and not "angry". Secondly, he was troubled at the disturbance as much as the cause. He has felt in the past, though not in this case, that Elizabeth was not entirely reasonable with her staff. Thirdly, I don't believe he's beaten any of the maids, only his boy servants - perhaps because the maids come under Elizabeth.

Fourthly and finally, on the very few occasions when Sam has beaten a boy, he has shown no sign of enjoying it: au contraire. There is nothing to suggest that Sam is inclined to violence, except as a very last resort. And then it troubles his conscience.

About Friday 3 January 1661/62

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This is at least the second time recently that Lady Sandwich's father, Lord Crew (John Crew, Baron Crew of Stene), has been mis-labelled as his son Thomas. Thomas did not become Lord Crew until his father died in 1879. Lady Jemima is of course John's wife not Thomas'.

Also, is there a confirmation somewhere of when Thomas was knighted?

About Thursday 26 December 1661

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@Matthew: I think its a bit more complicated than the etymology site suggests.

The 13 volume OED gives almost a page on 'wassail' and derived terms. The root it gives is from the Middle English 'wæs hæll', deriving from Old English 'wes hal'. This, and the Old Norse (and other Germanic equivalents) were widely used as a greeting, and as you say, not originally as a toast. The use as a toast started in Britain, not on the continent.

The OED states "It seems probable that this use arose amongst the Danish speaking inhabitants of England, and became more or less common among the native population; in the 12th C it use was regarded by the Normans as markedly characteristic of Englishmen." The OED then says that the earliest known occurrence of the phrases (wes hail and drinc heil) is in Geoffrey of Monmouth's story of Rowena from c 1140.

The fusion of the Angle, Viking and Saxon cultures was complex, both in usage and pronunciation. In this case it seems that the usage started out in the Danelaw, but the pronunciation which survived derived from Saxon.

BTW "Wes þu hal" reminds me of Gandalf's salutation to Theoden in 'The Two Towers' "Westu Theoden hal." (Tolkien was using the words in the original sense.) :-)

I admit I was somewhat fanciful in my interjection of 'wax': I suspect that "wax hale" or something like it occurs in Tolkien too and that may have influenced me subconsciously. Although 'wax' originally meant increase, it also acquired the meaning 'become' in late ME.

About Thursday 26 December 1661

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Wassail - from "Waes Hael" - a traditional Anglo-Saxon toast particularly common at Yuletide, to which the response was "Drinc Hael!" The Viking equivalent was "vess heil". The meaning in archaic English is 'wax hale', meaning 'be healthy or 'grow healthy' as in 'hale and hearty'. In time, “Wassail” became the name of a Yuletide hot punch drink, and “wassailing” the act of singing at your neighbours' ( or the lord of the manor's) doors hoping for a wassail reward!

The link below is to the words of the very traditional 'Gloucester Wassai'l. The Vaughan Williams version is particularly beautiful.

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchrist…

There's also The Wassail Song: there are several good versions of both songs on YouTube.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her…

So Waes Hael everyone - cheers! :)