Ruslan

Annotations and comments

Ruslan has posted 88 annotations/comments since 26 October 2022.

The most recent first…

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Third Reading

About Thursday 26 November 1663

Ruslan  •  Link

I found this quite difficult to parse:

"The plague, it seems, grows more and more at Amsterdam; and we are going upon making of all ships coming from thence and Hambrough, or any other infected places, to perform their Quarantine (for thirty days as Sir Rd. Browne expressed it in the order of the Council, contrary to the import of the word, though in the general acceptation it signifies now the thing, not the time spent in doing it) in Holehaven, a thing never done by us before."

So ran it through ChatGPT:

It seems the plague is worsening in Amsterdam. Consequently, there is a plan to enforce a thirty-day quarantine on all ships arriving from there, Hamburg, or any other infected places, at Holehaven. Sir Richard Browne described this in the Council’s order, though he used the term quarantine inaccurately to refer to the act itself rather than strictly to the time period. Nonetheless, the general meaning is understood, and this will be a first for us.

This is slightly different from the annotators interpretations in 2006, but makes good sense to me.

About Monday 16 November 1663

Ruslan  •  Link

On 18 Nov 2006 Bryan M posted "On Masts, Timbers and Office Politics".

The explanation, while excellent, is somewhat long, so I had ChatGPT summarize it:

In 1663, Samuel Pepys navigated escalating disputes at the Navy Board over two key contracts: a mast deal he negotiated with Sir William Warren and a timber contract arranged by Sir William Batten and Sir John Minnes with Winter. Pepys considered the mast deal highly advantageous to the King but faced criticism from Batten, prompting him to write to Sir George Carteret to defend his actions. Carteret reassured Pepys of his support, dismissing Batten’s claims.

The timber contract with Winter, which Pepys criticized as overpriced and poorly structured, led to heated exchanges. Batten and Minnes eventually shifted blame onto Anthony Deane, a capable officer Pepys respected, unfairly labeling him incompetent. While Pepys successfully defended his reputation and secured Carteret’s backing, he remained troubled by the scapegoating of Deane and the ongoing office politics.

---

I wonder what ChatGPT will be able to do 18 years from now.

About Sunday 8 November 1663

Ruslan  •  Link

> Is Rev. Josselin's wife pregnant again? That is a very strange diary entry.

I read it like this: "My wife is downcast, and I feel deep compassion for her, but Lord, how much greater is Your compassion."

About Wednesday 14 October 1663

Ruslan  •  Link

Broken link on the WaybackMachine.

Terry F's: "L&M locate the synagogue in Creechurch Lane, which is unmarked on the 1746 Rocque map, which has a Jewish Synague adjacent to the Mitre…"

https://web.archive.org/web/20060…

The Mitre and the synagogue appear to be in the top left-hand corner of the map.

About Thursday 25 June 1663

Ruslan  •  Link

tel on 26 Jun 2006, asked:

"So that taking up all the papers of moment which lead to the clearing of his accounts unobserved out of the Controller’s hand, which he now makes great use of; knowing that the Controller has not wherewith to betray him."

> Can anyone clarify this? It has a hint of blackmail about it.

I read it like so:

So, Creed took up all the important papers that help clear his accounts, doing so unnoticed from the Controller's possession. He is now making great use of these papers, knowing that the Controller has nothing with which to betray him.

About Wednesday 24 June 1663

Ruslan  •  Link

Quite a sentence here:

> From that we discoursed of the evil of putting out men of experience in business as the Chancellor, and from that to speak of the condition of the King’s party at present, who, as the Papists, though otherwise fine persons, yet being by law kept for these fourscore years out of employment, they are now wholly uncapable of business; and so the Cavaliers for twenty years, who, says he, for the most part have either given themselves over to look after country and family business, and those the best of them, and the rest to debauchery, &c.; and that was it that hath made him high against the late Bill brought into the House for the making all men incapable of employment that had served against the King.

I had ChatGPT translate this into more modern English:

> This led to a broader conversation about the current state of the King's party. He explained that, similar to the Catholics—who, despite being otherwise fine individuals, had been kept out of employment by law for eighty years and were now wholly unfit for business—the Cavaliers, kept out of employment for twenty years, had largely either focused on their country and family affairs or given themselves over to debauchery. This was why he was strongly against the recent Bill in the House that sought to make all men who had served against the King incapable of employment.

Which is rather more readable.