"... his [Wilkins'] discourse of a universal character."
Wikipedia explains this sense of 'character':
'In the essay, Wilkins defines his "real character", which is a new orthography for the English language that resembles shorthand, and his "philosophical language" which is based on an early classification scheme or ontology (in what would later become the computer science meaning of the term).'
To Australian Susan: In the U.S. it's becoming increasingly common for the better restaurants to warm plates before service. It varies somewhat with the cuisine, more likely in French restaurants than Italian, for instance. In most Mexican restaurants the service plates come with a warning that they're too hot to touch. We always warm ours in the toaster oven before serving a meal we've put some extra work into.
Thanks to cgs for giving us the OED scoop on "naught", a new word to me. I don't understand, though, his comment "I suspect the more modern word naughty." The OED entries show that Sam was using "naught" entirely correctly according to the usage of the time.
Jesse, I had a more benign reading of that passage. It sounds to me as though it is written with a heavy heart. Sam is not "bailing" on Sandwich, he is being forced, because of Sandwich's current troubles, to lessen or end his dependence on his patronage. Sam has consistently risen to "my Lord's" defense, even angrily at times, when he hears people speak ill of him. I believe he would help him at once if he could think of any viable way to do so.
Of course, I always tend to give Sam the benefit of the doubt, so you have to take that into account in considering my argument.
This use of "table" was unfamiliar to me. OED explains:
2. a. A tablet bearing or intended for an inscription or device: as the stone tablets on which the ten commandments were inscribed, a memorial tablet fixed in a wall, a votive tablet, a notice-board, etc. [archaic]
c1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 327 Þæra ¼eara ¼etæl hæfð seo tabule þe we mearkian willað. c1175 Lamb. Hom. 11 Efter þan drihten him bi-tahte twa stanene tables breode on hwulche godalmihti heofde iwriten þa ten laŠe. c1250 Gen. & Ex. 3535 And gaf to tabeles of ston, And .x. bodeword writen ðor-on. a1300 Cursor M. 6541 Þe tables þat in hand he [Moses] bare To pees he þam brak right þar. c1400 Mandeville (1839) ii. 10 The table abouen his heued+on the whiche the tytle was writen, in Ebreu, Greu, and Latyn. 1543 N. Heath Injunctions in Frere Use of Sarum II. 236 Certain prayers+conteyned in Tabylles sett in the grammer scole. 1641 Evelyn Mem. 4 Oct., Divers votive tables and relics. 1720 Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. vi. 311 The last Laws of the Decemvirs engraved upon Tables of Brass. 1849 James Woodman viii, As stern as the statue of Moses breaking the tables.
"I recommended Poynter to him, which he accepts, and I by that means rid of one that I fear would not have been fit for my turne"
Who among us has not witnessed an unfit employee being foisted off on someone with a glowing recommendation. A practice that probably predates recorded history.
"by a fine glosse did bring him [Andrews] to desire tallys for what orders I have to pay him"
The OED tells us that this sense of "gloss(e)" means ... a deceptive appearance, fair semblance, plausible pretext.
1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xii. 1–7 Beware ye that all your life bee void of all cloking or countrefaicte glosse [L. ut omnis uita uestra fuco careat]. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Ep. 401 (margin) In the glosse of their glorie+that is, when they were most famous. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 15 He much more goodly glosse thereon doth shed, To hide his falshood, then if it were trew. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 17 King John+in furthering of this new waterwork+set a fresh gloss upon it [Yarmouth]. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 128 Yet all his vertues+Doe in our eyes, begin to loose their glosse. 1640 Yorke Union Hon. 1 The first Glosse that William Duke of Normandy had for this Crowne and Diadem of England, was thus. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic. (1809) 19 To put a gloss upon their practice, the physicians call an herb+Archangel. 1660 T. M. Hist. Independ. iv. 28 The better to cast a seeming gloss of legality upon his usurpation, he summons another Parliament. a1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 249 Art, That sets a Gloss on what's amiss. 1726 Swift Poems, To a Lady, You, like some acute philosopher, Ev'ry fault have drawn a gloss over. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Pref., There is a sort of gloss upon ingenious falsehoods, that dazzles the imagination. 1760–2 Goldsm. Cit. W. iii, The most trifling occurrences give pleasure till the gloss of novelty is worn away. 1761–2 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) III. xxxix. 278 A woman thus+provides only thin glosses to cover her exceptionable conduct. 1834 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1837) I. iii. 45 The false gloss of a mere worldly refinement makes us decent and amiable. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv, As the glosses and civilities of the honeymoon wore away, he discovered that [etc.]. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 24, I have used no gloss, no varnish To make fair things fairer look.
"He [Downing] would fain have me come in 200l. to lend upon the Act"
I think everyone has misconstrued the direction of the money here. Downing is asking Sam to *put up* 200L to lend to the Exchequer to help with military expenses. This is a follow-up to Downing's importuning on 12 December, when "he come to impose upon me that without more ado I must get by my credit people to serve in goods and lend money upon it and none could do it better than I, and the King should give me thanks particularly in it, and I could not get him to excuse me, but I must come to him though to no purpose on Saturday."
Sam is still in his accumulation phase, and doesn't want to see his end-of-month reckoning go down instead of up. Also, he knows enough about the government's finances to realize that he's unlikely ever to see the money again if he lends it. So he understandably wants to demur, without giving Downing grounds to spread the word that Sam is patriotically deficient.
Terry, thanks for providing the missing passage. As I read it, Sam had intercourse with the girl only in his imagination - safe sex, as you say, but I think I would have chosen a different way of translating the Frenglish.
OED has a plethora of definitions for "touch". The one that seems to fit Sam's sense best in this context is
25. a. To grieve, vex; to injure, harm: esp. in a slight degree. ? Obs.
1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 262 As ressone wald, it tuechit him full soir. 1581 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 401 Be the violatioun and brek of the same his Hienes is sumquhat twitchit and offendit unto. 1608 Yorks. Trag. i. ii, Shall I stand idle And see my reputation touch'd to death?
Evelyn refers to some of his troublesome charges as "Old-Men, tabid". OED defines tabid as "Affected with tabes; wasted by disease; consumptive; marcid." Tabes is a generic term for consumptive diseases, of which the one we know best today is tuberculosis.
Poor old guys. Now that they're useless for war or commerce, nobody wants to do anything for them, except for the super-responsible John Evelyn. His seething frustration leaps off the page.
Like cape henry I wondered about "vapourer." OED gives Sam a mention:
1. One who vapours; a bragging, grandiloquent, or fantastical talker. 1653 Gauden Hierasp. 223 This pusillanimous and frothy generation of vapourers+are the greatest enemies to+our Religion. 1665 Pepys Diary 3 Dec., A fortunate, though a passionate and but weak, man as to policy,+and one that is the greatest vapourer in the world. 1771 Fletcher Checks Wks. 1795 III. 238 That vapourer in favour of your perseverance, fairly and consistently builds on+the foundation of the Calvinists. 1816 J. Gilchrist Philos. Etym. 214 We might show how applicable to certain rhetorical metaphysical vaporers the descriptions are. 1843 Tait's Mag. X. 344 Not one of your old serene metaphysical vapourers.
Addendum - now that I've gone back to yesterday's entry, I've reread the following passage: "Our next discourse is upon this Act for money, about which Sir G. Carteret comes to see what money can be got upon it. But none can be got, which pleases him the thoughts of, for, if the Exchequer should succeede in this, his office would faile."
That would seem to put a different cast on Sir George's reaction than "titched," going by our modern meaning of "tickled." So I went to the OED to see whether the verb meant the same in Sam's time as now. Indeed it did, but it could also mean the opposite, as per definition 7:
†7. a. To excite, affect, move; also, to vex, irritate, provoke. Obs. 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 116 Some men there be, whom bodily lust tickleth not at all. a1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 204 These newes sodaynly brought to the kynge did not a littell vexe & tykil hym. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. iii. 153 Shee's tickled now, her Fume needs no spurres. 1693 Dryden Persius' Sat. i. 28, I cannot rule my Spleen; My Scorn Rebels, and tickles me within. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 316 What once tickled the Spleen of a Philosopher, might here hourly give him the Diversion.
I confess that I cannot recall whether the new law was in Carteret's interest or not, and I don't have the energy to go back and figure it out. Knowing that would probably clue us in to which meaning of "tickled" Sam intended.
Speaking of "tickled" (in the modern sense), that was my reaction to Australian Susan's remark about the Blackberry. My thought exactly.
19. lay, set, clap by the heels. To put in irons or the stocks; to fetter, arrest, or confine; also, fig. to overthrow, disgrace. So to have by the heels; and, of the person confined, to lie or be tied by the heels. c1510 Hickscorner in Hazl. Dodsley I. 170, I will go fetch a pair of gyves, For in good faith he shall be set fast by the heels. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iii. xv. (1886) 51 One of Q. Maries justices+laid an archer by the heeles. 1654 G. Goddard Introd. Burton's Diary (1828) I. 160 When they had seized upon him and clapped him by the heels. 1700 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 638 The lord cheif justice+will lay the undersherif by the heels. 1781 F. Burney Diary Aug., I supposed you would have finished it [a play] in your last fit of sickness+pray go on with it when you are tied by the heel next. 1865 Kingsley Herew. II. xvi. 274 Tell him Hereward has+half a dozen knights safe by the heels. 1889 Baltimore (Md.) Sun 19 Nov., The bold offender+would have been quickly set by the heels.
A little clarification regarding A. De Araujo's comment. The "my Lord" Sam is referring to here is Br[o]uncker, who consorts openly with a woman to whom he is not married, Mrs. Williams. Unlike Sandwich, whom Sam felt he owed an intervention, there would be no reason for him to chide Bruncker personally on the matter. He's just saying what everybody else is probably saying as well.
Comments
First Reading
About Thursday 11 January 1665/66
Paul Chapin • Link
"... his [Wilkins'] discourse of a universal character."
Wikipedia explains this sense of 'character':
'In the essay, Wilkins defines his "real character", which is a new orthography for the English language that resembles shorthand, and his "philosophical language" which is based on an early classification scheme or ontology (in what would later become the computer science meaning of the term).'
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_E…
for more.
About Wednesday 10 January 1665/66
Paul Chapin • Link
To Australian Susan: In the U.S. it's becoming increasingly common for the better restaurants to warm plates before service. It varies somewhat with the cuisine, more likely in French restaurants than Italian, for instance. In most Mexican restaurants the service plates come with a warning that they're too hot to touch. We always warm ours in the toaster oven before serving a meal we've put some extra work into.
About Tuesday 9 January 1665/66
Paul Chapin • Link
Thanks to cgs for giving us the OED scoop on "naught", a new word to me. I don't understand, though, his comment "I suspect the more modern word naughty." The OED entries show that Sam was using "naught" entirely correctly according to the usage of the time.
About Sunday 7 January 1665/66
Paul Chapin • Link
Jesse, I had a more benign reading of that passage. It sounds to me as though it is written with a heavy heart. Sam is not "bailing" on Sandwich, he is being forced, because of Sandwich's current troubles, to lessen or end his dependence on his patronage. Sam has consistently risen to "my Lord's" defense, even angrily at times, when he hears people speak ill of him. I believe he would help him at once if he could think of any viable way to do so.
Of course, I always tend to give Sam the benefit of the doubt, so you have to take that into account in considering my argument.
About Sunday 31 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
As somebody almost sang, "God said a fire, not a plague next time."
May your days be merry and bright, free of plagues and conflagrations. Happy 1666 to all.
About Saturday 30 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
"a learned and facetious gentleman" [Evelyn's description of Dr. Duke]
Per OED, not our current meaning of "facetious". Rather:
†1. [After L. facetus.] Of style, manners, etc.: Polished and agreeable, urbane. [Obsolete]
About Tuesday 26 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
"to hang up in Canterbury Cathedrall in tables"
This use of "table" was unfamiliar to me. OED explains:
2. a. A tablet bearing or intended for an inscription or device: as the stone tablets on which the ten commandments were inscribed, a memorial tablet fixed in a wall, a votive tablet, a notice-board, etc. [archaic]
c1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 327 Þæra ¼eara ¼etæl hæfð seo tabule þe we mearkian willað. c1175 Lamb. Hom. 11 Efter þan drihten him bi-tahte twa stanene tables breode on hwulche godalmihti heofde iwriten þa ten laŠe. c1250 Gen. & Ex. 3535 And gaf to tabeles of ston, And .x. bodeword writen ðor-on. a1300 Cursor M. 6541 Þe tables þat in hand he [Moses] bare To pees he þam brak right þar. c1400 Mandeville (1839) ii. 10 The table abouen his heued+on the whiche the tytle was writen, in Ebreu, Greu, and Latyn. 1543 N. Heath Injunctions in Frere Use of Sarum II. 236 Certain prayers+conteyned in Tabylles sett in the grammer scole. 1641 Evelyn Mem. 4 Oct., Divers votive tables and relics. 1720 Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. vi. 311 The last Laws of the Decemvirs engraved upon Tables of Brass. 1849 James Woodman viii, As stern as the statue of Moses breaking the tables.
About Friday 22 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
"I recommended Poynter to him, which he accepts, and I by that means rid of one that I fear would not have been fit for my turne"
Who among us has not witnessed an unfit employee being foisted off on someone with a glowing recommendation. A practice that probably predates recorded history.
About Friday 22 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
"by a fine glosse did bring him [Andrews] to desire tallys for what orders I have to pay him"
The OED tells us that this sense of "gloss(e)" means
... a deceptive appearance, fair semblance, plausible pretext.
1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xii. 1–7 Beware ye that all your life bee void of all cloking or countrefaicte glosse [L. ut omnis uita uestra fuco careat]. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Ep. 401 (margin) In the glosse of their glorie+that is, when they were most famous. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 15 He much more goodly glosse thereon doth shed, To hide his falshood, then if it were trew. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 17 King John+in furthering of this new waterwork+set a fresh gloss upon it [Yarmouth]. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 128 Yet all his vertues+Doe in our eyes, begin to loose their glosse. 1640 Yorke Union Hon. 1 The first Glosse that William Duke of Normandy had for this Crowne and Diadem of England, was thus. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic. (1809) 19 To put a gloss upon their practice, the physicians call an herb+Archangel. 1660 T. M. Hist. Independ. iv. 28 The better to cast a seeming gloss of legality upon his usurpation, he summons another Parliament. a1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 249 Art, That sets a Gloss on what's amiss. 1726 Swift Poems, To a Lady, You, like some acute philosopher, Ev'ry fault have drawn a gloss over. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Pref., There is a sort of gloss upon ingenious falsehoods, that dazzles the imagination. 1760–2 Goldsm. Cit. W. iii, The most trifling occurrences give pleasure till the gloss of novelty is worn away. 1761–2 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) III. xxxix. 278 A woman thus+provides only thin glosses to cover her exceptionable conduct. 1834 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1837) I. iii. 45 The false gloss of a mere worldly refinement makes us decent and amiable. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv, As the glosses and civilities of the honeymoon wore away, he discovered that [etc.]. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 24, I have used no gloss, no varnish To make fair things fairer look.
About Saturday 16 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
"He [Downing] would fain have me come in 200l. to lend upon the Act"
I think everyone has misconstrued the direction of the money here. Downing is asking Sam to *put up* 200L to lend to the Exchequer to help with military expenses. This is a follow-up to Downing's importuning on 12 December, when "he come to impose upon me that without more ado I must get by my credit people to serve in goods and lend money upon it and none could do it better than I, and the King should give me thanks particularly in it, and I could not get him to excuse me, but I must come to him though to no purpose on Saturday."
Sam is still in his accumulation phase, and doesn't want to see his end-of-month reckoning go down instead of up. Also, he knows enough about the government's finances to realize that he's unlikely ever to see the money again if he lends it. So he understandably wants to demur, without giving Downing grounds to spread the word that Sam is patriotically deficient.
About Saturday 16 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
Terry, thanks for providing the missing passage. As I read it, Sam had intercourse with the girl only in his imagination - safe sex, as you say, but I think I would have chosen a different way of translating the Frenglish.
About Monday 11 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
To whomever wrote the illuminating essay on Gresham's law, who are you, and what have you done with our cgs? I could understand every word.
About Friday 8 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
touched
OED has a plethora of definitions for "touch". The one that seems to fit Sam's sense best in this context is
25. a. To grieve, vex; to injure, harm: esp. in a slight degree. ? Obs.
1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 262 As ressone wald, it tuechit him full soir. 1581 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 401 Be the violatioun and brek of the same his Hienes is sumquhat twitchit and offendit unto. 1608 Yorks. Trag. i. ii, Shall I stand idle And see my reputation touch'd to death?
About Thursday 7 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
tabid
Evelyn refers to some of his troublesome charges as "Old-Men, tabid". OED defines tabid as "Affected with tabes; wasted by disease; consumptive; marcid." Tabes is a generic term for consumptive diseases, of which the one we know best today is tuberculosis.
Poor old guys. Now that they're useless for war or commerce, nobody wants to do anything for them, except for the super-responsible John Evelyn. His seething frustration leaps off the page.
About Sunday 3 December 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
Like cape henry I wondered about "vapourer." OED gives Sam a mention:
1. One who vapours; a bragging, grandiloquent, or fantastical talker.
1653 Gauden Hierasp. 223 This pusillanimous and frothy generation of vapourers+are the greatest enemies to+our Religion. 1665 Pepys Diary 3 Dec., A fortunate, though a passionate and but weak, man as to policy,+and one that is the greatest vapourer in the world. 1771 Fletcher Checks Wks. 1795 III. 238 That vapourer in favour of your perseverance, fairly and consistently builds on+the foundation of the Calvinists. 1816 J. Gilchrist Philos. Etym. 214 We might show how applicable to certain rhetorical metaphysical vaporers the descriptions are. 1843 Tait's Mag. X. 344 Not one of your old serene metaphysical vapourers.
About Tuesday 28 November 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
Addendum - now that I've gone back to yesterday's entry, I've reread the following passage:
"Our next discourse is upon this Act for money, about which Sir G. Carteret comes to see what money can be got upon it. But none can be got, which pleases him the thoughts of, for, if the Exchequer should succeede in this, his office would faile."
So I guess Sir George was tickled happy.
About Tuesday 28 November 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
"Sir G Carteret is tickled at this"
That would seem to put a different cast on Sir George's reaction than "titched," going by our modern meaning of "tickled." So I went to the OED to see whether the verb meant the same in Sam's time as now. Indeed it did, but it could also mean the opposite, as per definition 7:
†7. a. To excite, affect, move; also, to vex, irritate, provoke. Obs.
1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 116 Some men there be, whom bodily lust tickleth not at all. a1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 204 These newes sodaynly brought to the kynge did not a littell vexe & tykil hym. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. iii. 153 Shee's tickled now, her Fume needs no spurres. 1693 Dryden Persius' Sat. i. 28, I cannot rule my Spleen; My Scorn Rebels, and tickles me within. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 316 What once tickled the Spleen of a Philosopher, might here hourly give him the Diversion.
I confess that I cannot recall whether the new law was in Carteret's interest or not, and I don't have the energy to go back and figure it out. Knowing that would probably clue us in to which meaning of "tickled" Sam intended.
Speaking of "tickled" (in the modern sense), that was my reaction to Australian Susan's remark about the Blackberry. My thought exactly.
About Thursday 23 November 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
"laid by the heels"
OED on "heel" (n.), def. 19:
19. lay, set, clap by the heels. To put in irons or the stocks; to fetter, arrest, or confine; also, fig. to overthrow, disgrace. So to have by the heels; and, of the person confined, to lie or be tied by the heels.
c1510 Hickscorner in Hazl. Dodsley I. 170, I will go fetch a pair of gyves, For in good faith he shall be set fast by the heels. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iii. xv. (1886) 51 One of Q. Maries justices+laid an archer by the heeles. 1654 G. Goddard Introd. Burton's Diary (1828) I. 160 When they had seized upon him and clapped him by the heels. 1700 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 638 The lord cheif justice+will lay the undersherif by the heels. 1781 F. Burney Diary Aug., I supposed you would have finished it [a play] in your last fit of sickness+pray go on with it when you are tied by the heel next. 1865 Kingsley Herew. II. xvi. 274 Tell him Hereward has+half a dozen knights safe by the heels. 1889 Baltimore (Md.) Sun 19 Nov., The bold offender+would have been quickly set by the heels.
About Tuesday 14 November 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
"for fear of losing her neighbourhood" = for fear of losing her as a neighbo(u)r
About Wednesday 1 November 1665
Paul Chapin • Link
A little clarification regarding A. De Araujo's comment. The "my Lord" Sam is referring to here is Br[o]uncker, who consorts openly with a woman to whom he is not married, Mrs. Williams. Unlike Sandwich, whom Sam felt he owed an intervention, there would be no reason for him to chide Bruncker personally on the matter. He's just saying what everybody else is probably saying as well.