Thanks San Diego Sarah, for your depth of knowledge~ I have read the biography of the second Buckingham and Charles II, and found out the ridiculous deeds of Cambridge awarding master of arts degree to thirteen-year-olds. I supposed Buckingham was the perfect example of the first kind of the scholars while Charles never trouble himself to attend classes>-> Francis Bacon also attended Cambridge when he was twelve ,but he left without a degree. As for the other type,Robert Burton once complaint that after twenty years of study scholars like him still cannot find jobs and earn lesser than a falconer.
"chosen Schollar of the house" Samuel 's family are surprisingly well educated. A twenty years old becoming a scholar in Cambridge seems to be a great achievement.
"by strength of fancy" So Pepys was either at masturpation or imagining a romantic(obscene) experience. In my country we call the latter "意淫” , an exact vocabulary for such improper imagination. Speaking of masturbation , the celebrated Thomas Hobbes once found his student the teenage second Duke of Buckingham at masturbation at the middle of a math class. By God, Hobbes himself was teaching him, and he was masturbating...
Women in 17th century England really faced a horrible society totally lacking of gynaecological knowledge... There were talks about how Rochester disguised himself as a physician who can cure infertility of women and raped his patients. I am not sure whether those rumors were real. When reading the biography of James Stewart the duke of Richmond and Lennox there was also record of his wife Mary Villiers went to see a doctor for her infertility .But surely her physician possessed some skills as she later gave birth to a boy and a girl after more than a decade of having no offspring.
Thank you ,San Diego Sarah,for answering my question~ I too did my research and found there was no mentioning boiling water at home. That's totally unexpected. In that case Pepys should better stick to wine or beer. >_<
It is very interesting thinking how those people in 17th century were actually drunkards according to today's standard. Did people in restoration period boiled the water before they drink it , just like what my ancestors did in China? That could really help reducing pathogens in water.
"and would have me to ask the Duke’s letter, but I shall not endeavour it because it will spend much money, though I am sure I could well obtain it."Does this means Pepys would have to bribe the Duke of York to obtain the letter?
17th century life for officials are so entertaining...I mean,Sam Pepys and his fellow colleagues literally drink and dine and have fun every day.So what on earth does modernization brings us ,now we have to go to work at 9 A.M. and retired at 7 P.M. or later,even have to reply to the troublesome messages from our boss at home.
According to Arthur H.Scouten and Robert D. Hume: Pepys was a stout Yorkist and a passionate defender of Coventry, a bourgeois upholder of the proprieties who deeply disapproved of Buckingham. His righteous indignation can make us forget that James, Duke of York was a stupid bigot who was removed from the throne essentially by unanimous consent in 1688. The Duke of York was no angel, and Buckingham did not possess horns and a tail. So some of Pepys' narratives might be biased as he and Buckingham were of different sides.(But I had to admit my favouritism towards Buckingham ever since I read his rehearsal)
Thanks for Keith Knight's information. The website is amazing. I once got an album called "A 17th century musical pub tour", but it actually contains "The skye boat song"...
Thank you for the information. I doubt Cromwell himself would appreciate the gilded hinges and nails and the lavish funeral.He was a puritan ,after all.
Poor Mary Fairfax on discovering her husband being unfaithful (again): "What, hath all my faithfulness & all my tenderness merited no more than that another should reign in your heart? That heart which, belonging to me alone, & the only pleasure of my life, yet never ceases to take fresh engagements. My unhappy fortune today conducted me hither, to make me a witness of your transports for another, & to disgrace me before you. And I love you so dearly, so blindly, that at the very moment you outraged me most, I was so weak as to enter into your interests. Your pain was more grievous to me than mine.... Ah! once again I abandon my own feelings, let me share yours, & console me only with a word, a look—Ah, what am I saying ? ” she cried as she realised his coldness. ‘ Alas! you refuse me everything ! ” By D’aulnoy in her Memoirs of the court of England (Though I doubt she embellished the conversation)
"very full of gilded hinges and nails" sounds luxurious.Do 17th century nobilities bury their deads with sumptuous funerary goods?St. Peter would scorn this.
Comments
Third Reading
About Wednesday 27 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Thanks San Diego Sarah, for your depth of knowledge~
I have read the biography of the second Buckingham and Charles II, and found out the ridiculous deeds of Cambridge awarding master of arts degree to thirteen-year-olds. I supposed Buckingham was the perfect example of the first kind of the scholars while Charles never trouble himself to attend classes>-> Francis Bacon also attended Cambridge when he was twelve ,but he left without a degree.
As for the other type,Robert Burton once complaint that after twenty years of study scholars like him still cannot find jobs and earn lesser than a falconer.
About Tuesday 26 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Thank you San Diego Sarah~
About Wednesday 27 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
"chosen Schollar of the house"
Samuel 's family are surprisingly well educated.
A twenty years old becoming a scholar in Cambridge seems to be a great achievement.
About Tuesday 26 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Thanks Dai Aqua , I blend the 's' in the '40s' Pepys spend on his valentine's gloves days before with the 'l' here.
About Tuesday 26 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Also , "14l" here means 14 shillings ? Harpsicon are not that expansive.
About Tuesday 26 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
"by strength of fancy"
So Pepys was either at masturpation or imagining a romantic(obscene) experience. In my country we call the latter "意淫” , an exact vocabulary for such improper imagination.
Speaking of masturbation , the celebrated Thomas Hobbes once found his student the teenage second Duke of Buckingham at masturbation at the middle of a math class. By God, Hobbes himself was teaching him, and he was masturbating...
About Monday 25 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Women in 17th century England really faced a horrible society totally lacking of gynaecological knowledge...
There were talks about how Rochester disguised himself as a physician who can cure infertility of women and raped his patients. I am not sure whether those rumors were real.
When reading the biography of James Stewart the duke of Richmond and Lennox there was also record of his wife Mary Villiers went to see a doctor for her infertility .But surely her physician possessed some skills as she later gave birth to a boy and a girl after more than a decade of having no offspring.
About Sunday 24 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Thank you ,San Diego Sarah,for answering my question~
I too did my research and found there was no mentioning boiling water at home. That's totally unexpected.
In that case Pepys should better stick to wine or beer.
>_<
About Saturday 23 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Thanks a lot ,San Diego Sarah~
About Sunday 24 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
It is very interesting thinking how those people in 17th century were actually drunkards according to today's standard. Did people in restoration period boiled the water before they drink it , just like what my ancestors did in China? That could really help reducing pathogens in water.
About Saturday 23 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
"and would have me to ask the Duke’s letter, but I shall not endeavour it because it will spend much money, though I am sure I could well obtain it."Does this means Pepys would have to bribe the Duke of York to obtain the letter?
About Friday 22 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
I am very curious--can Sam's sister pall sit with her family at her own father's dinner table?She was servant to her brother ,but still his sister.
About Wednesday 20 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
17th century life for officials are so entertaining...I mean,Sam Pepys and his fellow colleagues literally drink and dine and have fun every day.So what on earth does modernization brings us ,now we have to go to work at 9 A.M. and retired at 7 P.M. or later,even have to reply to the troublesome messages from our boss at home.
About Thursday 7 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
According to Arthur H.Scouten and Robert D. Hume:
Pepys was a stout Yorkist and a passionate defender of Coventry, a bourgeois upholder of the proprieties who deeply disapproved of Buckingham. His righteous indignation can make us forget that James, Duke of York was a stupid bigot who was removed from the throne essentially by unanimous consent in 1688. The Duke of York was no angel, and Buckingham did not possess horns and a tail.
So some of Pepys' narratives might be biased as he and Buckingham were of different sides.(But I had to admit my favouritism towards Buckingham ever since I read his rehearsal)
About Monday 4 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Thanks for Keith Knight's information. The website is amazing. I once got an album called "A 17th century musical pub tour", but it actually contains "The skye boat song"...
About Sunday 3 February 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
The trumpets and drums sounds very Jean-Baptiste Lully to me.
About Wednesday 30 January 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
Thank you for the information. I doubt Cromwell himself would appreciate the gilded hinges and nails and the lavish funeral.He was a puritan ,after all.
About Mary Villiers (Duchess of Buckingham)
徽柔 • Link
Poor Mary Fairfax on discovering her husband being unfaithful (again):
"What, hath all my faithfulness & all my tenderness merited no more than that another should reign in your heart? That heart which, belonging to me alone, & the only pleasure of my life, yet never ceases to take fresh engagements. My unhappy fortune today conducted me hither, to make me a witness of your transports for another, & to disgrace me before you. And I love you so dearly, so blindly, that at the very moment you outraged me most, I was so weak as to enter into your interests. Your pain was more grievous to me than mine.... Ah! once again I abandon my own feelings, let me share yours, & console me only with a word, a look—Ah, what am I saying ? ” she cried as she realised his coldness. ‘ Alas! you refuse me everything ! ”
By D’aulnoy in her Memoirs of the court of England (Though I doubt she embellished the conversation)
About The Time Traveller’s Guide to Restoration Britain
徽柔 • Link
A really intriguing book,with a lot of materials from Pepys' diaries. More about fun facts concerning everyday lives rather than society analysis.
About Wednesday 30 January 1660/61
徽柔 • Link
"very full of gilded hinges and nails" sounds luxurious.Do 17th century nobilities bury their deads with sumptuous funerary goods?St. Peter would scorn this.