Sasha Clarkson

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

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Second Reading

About Sunday 22 December 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I doubt whether Elizabeth was actually DOING anything in the kitchen: on a normal day it would not befit her station either: her role was supervisory. There were two maids in the house, Sarah and Nell. I suspect that it was Nell, "the simple/lazy slut", with whom Elizabeth fell out a few days ago on 15th December, whom Sam berated with his missus.

"Mr Pepys rose early and went to the early service. I arose and, having ordered Sarah's tasks in the parler and the Master's study, then instructed Nell as to turning the meat for dinner on the spit. Then I to dress in my Sunday clothes to accompany the master to church this afternoon, only to find that though Nell's inattention the meat was burned. Mr Pepys very angry with both of us, and regarded me with a cruel eye: methinks he blames me for having chosen such a plain maid as Nell. I shall put this slut in her place later when Mr Pepys is out; tis a pity we are bound to keep her for six whole months. Finding good servants is so difficult .... etc."

About Friday 20 December 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Although, in 1661, the Winter Solstice was on the 11th December in the Julian Calendar, because the sun is close to perihelion at this time of year, an astronomical day is longer than 24 hours: therefore the sun rises a little later each day until about 10 days after the solstice at this latitude.

About Monday 16 December 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Modern Technology is wonderful: Seething Lane is 51°30'(51.5°)N, 0°04'W. Adding 10 days, today is 26th December in the Gregorian Calendar: therefore the Sun rises about 8:05 and sets around 15:56 by GMT, which would have been close enough to the local time used in Pepys' day. Of course, the Greenwich Meridian had not been though of yet: the first one being set up by Edmond Halley in 1721.

http://sunrisesunsetmap.com/

I guess that by "Lord Sandwich’s lodging", Pepys means the 'Grace and favour' apartment which Sandwich had in Whitehall. It seems that he was still maintaining this, despite Lady S moving in at the Wardrobe.

About Tuesday 10 December 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I'm confused here about the identity of "my Lord" Crew: Thomas Crew is an MP, and is not yet Lord Crew, as his father, Baron Crew of Stene, is still alive until 1679. "The House" could mean the Commons or the Lords.

"My Lord" could of course merely be a courtesy extended by Pepys to Crew (fils), but he is referred to as "Sir Thomas" on 13th November, and his father, Baron Crew, is referred to as "My Lord Crew".

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Although Baron Crew "retired from public life" after the restoration, can we conclude that he never attended the Lords? The History of Parliament website also states that "He was reckoned an opposition peer from 1675 till his death"?

http://www.historyofparliamentonl…

About Saturday 7 December 1661

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Pepys describes the altercation between Ferrers and the watermen in a very matter-of-fact manner, without overt partisanship, except perhaps indicated by the words "soundly beaten". He was generous to his patron's footman though for attempting Ferrers' defence. A crown, 5 shillings (20 shillings to the pound), was a not insignificant tip.

Sam, would have been well known by the watermen as a local and a regular customer, and probably in the tavern too. I expect he will have been able to sort things out diplomatically, without needing to appeal to his authority as a magistrate (Justice of the Peace), which in any case did not run in the City itself.

About Thursday 5 December 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Christmas was not abolished under the Commonwealth/Protectorate as an egalitarian measure. Indeed, although the Leveller faction of the Army was egalitarian, Cromwell himself was not; even less so were the original military Parliamentary leaders like Sandwich's cousin Manchester. At best, the interregnum regime was more meritocratic and less corrupt.

People who campaign to "keep Christ in Christmas" always make me smile. Christmas is on 25th December because the Church in the later Roman empire simply rebranded the local pagan winter solstice festivals, from Saturnalia to Yule. Many Norse pagan traditions are subsumed into an English Christmas. For example, the ancient Boar's Head Carol refers to the tradition of sacrificing a wild boar to the fertility god Freyr. Mistletoe is is of great Celtic pagan signnificance, and Santa Claus is the modern manifestation of Jolnir, the Yule god, an aspect of Odin.

The Puritans were not motivated by a desire for misery, but by a desire to "Purify" and remove the Papist sanctioned pagan traditions from their religion. They failed, just as the early church did, because ritual midwinter excess served several useful social functions.

The restrictions on Christmas should also be seen in the context of the long tradition of European sumptuary laws, from ancient Rome, through mediaeval England and also Tudor times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sum…

About Tuesday 3 December 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

On 20th November, Pepys wrote of Anne Wright " a witty but very conceited woman and proud." Today's entry sheds a little more light on the reasons therefor.

Although the daughter of a puritan Commonwealth family, the good Lady's attitudes firmly reflect the values of the restored court. Some of Sam's own values were undoubtedly a product of Cromwell's era and, although a supporter of the new regime, he is still uneasy about its stability and "public relations".

About Sunday 1 December 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Of course, many "disapproved of Charles as a ruler" - even Clarendon at the start of his political career. Up to the beginning of the the second civil war in 1648, Cromwell himself was a moderate, and wished for a constitutional agreement with Charles I, only turning against the King when his untrustworthiness led to renewed bloodshed.

About Thursday 28 November 1661

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Will Hewer gets a rareish mention today. Will lives wth Pepys at the moment of course, being the equivalent of a paid intern. Today's mention should remind us that Will is there, but that Pepys doesn't record everything in his diary: it's nowhere near a complete record of his life, merely those things he finds in some way remarkable (in the original meaning of the word).

As ye years pass, Will grows up and becomes much more valuable to Sam, and is correspondingly mentioned much more in the later years of the diary.

About Thursday 28 November 1661

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"... it being a fine moonshine night..."; this confirms what I posted a couple of days ago. Today is December 8th Gregorian: according to NASA's historical data, two days after the full moon. So close to the equinox, the nearly full moon will be high in the sky, like the sun in summer.

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phas…

About Tuesday 26 November 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Ha - I've just played with the link above: if it is to be believed, and I don't see why not, there was a full moon for Pepys today!

About Tuesday 26 November 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Today is December 6th in the Gregorian Calendar, so, at the latitude of Seething lane (51°30'N - longitude 000°04'W), there would be just over eight hours of daylight, plus twilight depending upon the weather. So from about 3:30 - 4pm on, candles or lanterns would have been an absolute necessity for reading - or even for cutting bread or meat. BTW 04' means 4 minutes of arc, 4/60 = 1/15 degree west of Greenwich.

http://sunrisesunsetmap.com/

About Sunday 24 November 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

A Imperial (British) quart today is 1.136 litres, a US quart is 0.946 litres. When and how the British and colonial measures diverged is another question.

In Pepys' day there were different measures for different goods. It seems that the American Gallon is the same as what used to be the "wine gallon", which implies that Pepys' company would have been drinking an American quart. The modern Imperial gallon of 4.54 litres was not defined until 1824, and was based on the older "ale gallon" of 4.62 litres.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall…

About Sunday 24 November 1661

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

St Clement's, Eastcheap was just round the corner for Pepys.

St Clement Danes is well away from where Pepys lived and socialised casually, being at the Westminster end of Fleet Street, almost in the Strand. I sang there with The King's College London Music Society during the 1970s. The bells do (very delightfully) chime 'Oranges and Lemons', but as both of the current churches are Wren churches replacing older ones, and the rhyme is much older, the eponymy of the rhyme is disputed!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_C…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_C…