"I with Mr. Wren, by invitation, to Sir Stephen Fox’s to dinner, where the Cofferer and Sir Edward Savage; where many good stories of the antiquity and estates of many families at this day in Cheshire, "
L&M: This was a boast frequently repeated. Savage (Gentleman of the Privy Chamber) came of a prolific Cheshire family.
New since your last visit JB about an hour ago • Link • Flag And, in an interesting coincidence given the timing, just ran across this at http://www.garrisonkeillor.com/ra… :
"On this date in 1660, a professional female actress appeared on the English stage in a production of Othello. It’s one of the earliest known instances of a female role actually being played by a woman in an English production. Up until this time, women were considered too fine and sensitive for the rough life of the theater, and boys or men dressed in drag to play female characters. An earlier attempt to form co-ed theater troupes was met with jeers and hisses and thrown produce.
But by the second half of the 17th century, the King’s Company felt that London society could handle it. Before the production, a lengthy disclaimer in iambic pentameter was delivered to the audience, warning them that they were about to see an actual woman in the part. This was, the actor explained, because they felt that men were just too big and burly to play the more delicate roles, “With bone so large and nerve so incompliant / When you call Desdemona, enter giant.”" https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
"spent the morning getting things ready against noon, when come Mr. Cooper, Hales, Harris, Mr. Butler, that wrote Hudibras, and Mr. Cooper’s cozen Jacke; and by and by comes Mr. Reeves and his wife, whom I never saw before: and there we dined: a good dinner, and company that pleased me mightily, being all eminent men in their way."
L&M: Besides Samuel Butler the author, Pepys's guests were Samuel Cooper the miniaturist, John Hayls the portrait painter, Henry Harris the actor, and Richard Reeve, foremost among English makers of optical instruments.
"The weather excessive hot, so as we were forced to lie in two beds, and I only with a sheet and rug, which is colder than ever I remember I could bear."
Apparently sleeping next to each other in the same bed would have been intolerably hot, but the alternative seems to have lacked appropriate bed-linen.
"and so abroad by water to Eagle Court in the Strand, and there to an alehouse: met Mr. Pierce, the Surgeon, and Dr. Clerke, Waldron, Turberville, my physician for the eyes, and Lowre"
L&M: All were physicians; Richard Lower the most distinguished of them.
"Thence to the Chapel, it being St. Peter’s day, and did hear an anthem of Silas Taylor’s making; a dull, old-fashioned thing, of six and seven parts, that nobody could understand: and the Duke of York, when he come out, told me that he was a better store-keeper than anthem-maker, and that was bad enough, too."
L&M: Taylor [Navy Storekeeper at Harwich) probably got his composition performed through his friendship with professionals. None were published. The King told Aubrey that he liked his anthems: Brief Lives (ed. Clark), ii. 254.
Robert Gertz posted (above): "Interesting side insight into John Locke's polymath interests regarding his role as Cooper's household physician in that cyst operation. I wonder if Sam will seek details." John Locke is not mentioned in the diary; here's the scoop about his medical qualifications and Cooper.
[At Oxford] Locke was introduced to medicine and the experimental philosophy being pursued at other universities and in the Royal Society, of which he eventually became a member.
Locke was awarded a bachelor's degree in February 1656 and a master's degree in June 1658.[16] He obtained a bachelor of medicine in February 1675,[17] having studied medicine extensively during his time at Oxford and worked with such noted scientists and thinkers as Robert Boyle, Thomas Willis, Robert Hooke and Richard Lower. In 1666, he met Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, who had come to Oxford seeking treatment for a liver infection. Ashley was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue.
Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667 moved into Ashley's home at Exeter House in London, to serve as hIs personal physician. In London, Locke resumed his medical studies under the tutelage of Thomas Sydenham. Sydenham had a major effect on Locke's natural philosophical thinking – an effect that would become evident in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Locke's medical knowledge was put to the test when Ashley's liver infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Ashley to undergo surgery (then life-threatening itself) to remove the cyst. Ashley survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…
"did receive a hint or two from my Lord Anglesey, as if he thought much of my taking the ayre as I have done; but I care not a turd; but whatever the matter is, I think he hath some ill- will to me, or at least an opinion that I am more the servant of the Board than I am."
Pepys seems to think Anglesey's misperception is to his own advantage. We will see.
"I hear of the ill news by the great fire at Barbados. "
A true and perfect narrative of the late dreadful fire which happened at Bridge-Town in the Barbadoes, April 18, 1668 as the same was communicated in two letters from Mr. John Bushel, and Mr. Francis Bond, two eminent merchants there, to Mr. Edward Bushel, citizen and merchant of London : containing the beginning, progress, and event of that dreadful fire, with the estimation of the loss accrewing thereby, as it was delivered to His Majesty by several eminent merchants concerned in that loss. Bushel, John., Bushel, Edward., Bond, Francis. London: Printed by Peter Lillicrap ..., [1668] Early English Books Online [full content] https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo…
"I to walk about the town, which is a very great one, I think bigger than Salsbury: a river runs through it, in seven branches, and unite in one, in one part of the town,"
L&M: At Swan Bridges: see Speed's map (1610). Maps by John Speed https://www.jpmaps.co.uk/maps/spe… The Kennet was later canalised and the site is now built over.
"another [house] of my Lord Craven’s, I think in Barkeshire."
L&M: Hampstead Marshall, Benham, nr. Newbury, Berks.: said to have been designed by Balthasar Gerbier (after Heidelberg Castle); built 1625-65; destroyed by fire, 1718: VCH, Berks., iv. 179. Craven was a distinguished soldier and a prominent figure at court.
"So on, and passing through a good part of this county of Wiltshire, saw a good house of Alexander Popham’s, and another of my Lord Craven’s, I think in Barkeshire."
"what is most singular is, their houses on one side having their pent-houses supported with pillars, which makes it a good walk."
L&M: A few pillars of the penthouses still remain on the n. side of the main street. Much of the town had been recently rebuilt after the disastrous fire of 1653.
"it was prodigious to see how full the Downes are of great stones; and all along the vallies, stones of considerable bigness, most of them growing certainly out of the ground so thick as to cover the ground, which makes me think the less of the wonder of Stonage, for hence they might undoubtedly supply themselves with stones, as well as those at Abebury."
L&M: All the Avebury sones and most of those at Stonehenge were of locak sarsen, Sarsen stones are sandstone blocks found in quantity in the United Kingdom on Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire; in Kent; and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, and Hampshire. They are the post-glacial[1] remains of a cap of Cenozoic silcrete that once covered much of southern England – a dense, hard rock created from sand bound by a silica cement, making it a kind of silicified sandstone. This is thought to have formed during Neogene to Quaternary weathering by the silicification of Upper Paleocene Lambeth Group sediments, resulting from acid leaching.[2]
The word "sarsen" (pronunciation ['sa:sǝn]) is a shortening of "Saracen stone" which arose in the Wiltshire dialect. "Saracen" was a common name for Muslims, and came by extension to be used for anything regarded as non-Christian, whether Muslim, pagan Celtic, or other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sar…
Comments
Second Reading
About Friday 14 August 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"I with Mr. Wren, by invitation, to Sir Stephen Fox’s to dinner, where the Cofferer and Sir Edward Savage; where many good stories of the antiquity and estates of many families at this day in Cheshire, "
L&M: This was a boast frequently repeated. Savage (Gentleman of the Privy Chamber) came of a prolific Cheshire family.
About Friday 7 December 1660
Terry Foreman • Link
New since your last visit
JB about an hour ago • Link • Flag
And, in an interesting coincidence given the timing, just ran across this at http://www.garrisonkeillor.com/ra… :
"On this date in 1660, a professional female actress appeared on the English stage in a production of Othello. It’s one of the earliest known instances of a female role actually being played by a woman in an English production. Up until this time, women were considered too fine and sensitive for the rough life of the theater, and boys or men dressed in drag to play female characters. An earlier attempt to form co-ed theater troupes was met with jeers and hisses and thrown produce.
But by the second half of the 17th century, the King’s Company felt that London society could handle it. Before the production, a lengthy disclaimer in iambic pentameter was delivered to the audience, warning them that they were about to see an actual woman in the part. This was, the actor explained, because they felt that men were just too big and burly to play the more delicate roles, “With bone so large and nerve so incompliant / When you call Desdemona, enter giant.”" https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 24 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
Chimneypiece 1667 English Google images
https://www.google.com/search?biw…
About Monday 20 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"here saw Mrs. Michell’s daughter married newly to a bookseller"
L&M: The Mitchells were themselves booksellers.
About Sunday 19 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"spent the morning getting things ready against noon, when come Mr. Cooper, Hales, Harris, Mr. Butler, that wrote Hudibras, and Mr. Cooper’s cozen Jacke; and by and by comes Mr. Reeves and his wife, whom I never saw before: and there we dined: a good dinner, and company that pleased me mightily, being all eminent men in their way."
L&M: Besides Samuel Butler the author, Pepys's guests were Samuel Cooper the miniaturist, John Hayls the portrait painter, Henry Harris the actor, and Richard Reeve, foremost among English makers of optical instruments.
About Friday 17 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"The weather excessive hot, so as we were forced to lie in two beds, and I only with a sheet and rug, which is colder than ever I remember I could bear."
Apparently sleeping next to each other in the same bed would have been intolerably hot, but the alternative seems to have lacked appropriate bed-linen.
About Friday 10 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"in a glass hackney-coach to the park"
L&M: For the introduction of glass windows in coaches, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 10 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"I understand his great skill in musick, his playing and setting to the French lute"
https://www.the-night-watch.org.u…
About Friday 10 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
Harvard Libraries says Matthew Poole has moved
https://www.fromreformationtorefo…
About Tuesday 7 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"as she brews, let her bake."
11 March https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
A traditional song about marriage contains a riff on the old saying
Wee Cooper of Fife audio versions - Ian Campbell followed by Burl Ives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w…
About Friday 3 July 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"and so abroad by water to Eagle Court in the Strand, and there to an alehouse: met Mr. Pierce, the Surgeon, and Dr. Clerke, Waldron, Turberville, my physician for the eyes, and Lowre"
L&M: All were physicians; Richard Lower the most distinguished of them.
About Monday 29 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"Thence to the Chapel, it being St. Peter’s day, and did hear an anthem of Silas Taylor’s making; a dull, old-fashioned thing, of six and seven parts, that nobody could understand: and the Duke of York, when he come out, told me that he was a better store-keeper than anthem-maker, and that was bad enough, too."
L&M: Taylor [Navy Storekeeper at Harwich) probably got his composition performed through his friendship with professionals. None were published. The King told Aubrey that he liked his anthems: Brief Lives (ed. Clark), ii. 254.
About Friday 19 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
Robert Gertz posted (above): "Interesting side insight into John Locke's polymath interests regarding his role as Cooper's household physician in that cyst operation. I wonder if Sam will seek details." John Locke is not mentioned in the diary; here's the scoop about his medical qualifications and Cooper.
[At Oxford] Locke was introduced to medicine and the experimental philosophy being pursued at other universities and in the Royal Society, of which he eventually became a member.
Locke was awarded a bachelor's degree in February 1656 and a master's degree in June 1658.[16] He obtained a bachelor of medicine in February 1675,[17] having studied medicine extensively during his time at Oxford and worked with such noted scientists and thinkers as Robert Boyle, Thomas Willis, Robert Hooke and Richard Lower. In 1666, he met Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, who had come to Oxford seeking treatment for a liver infection. Ashley was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue.
Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667 moved into Ashley's home at Exeter House in London, to serve as hIs personal physician. In London, Locke resumed his medical studies under the tutelage of Thomas Sydenham. Sydenham had a major effect on Locke's natural philosophical thinking – an effect that would become evident in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Locke's medical knowledge was put to the test when Ashley's liver infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Ashley to undergo surgery (then life-threatening itself) to remove the cyst. Ashley survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…
About Thursday 18 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"did receive a hint or two from my Lord Anglesey, as if he thought much of my taking the ayre as I have done; but I care not a turd; but whatever the matter is, I think he hath some ill- will to me, or at least an opinion that I am more the servant of the Board than I am."
Pepys seems to think Anglesey's misperception is to his own advantage. We will see.
About Wednesday 17 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"I hear of the ill news by the great fire at Barbados. "
A true and perfect narrative of the late dreadful fire which happened at Bridge-Town in the Barbadoes, April 18, 1668 as the same was communicated in two letters from Mr. John Bushel, and Mr. Francis Bond, two eminent merchants there, to Mr. Edward Bushel, citizen and merchant of London : containing the beginning, progress, and event of that dreadful fire, with the estimation of the loss accrewing thereby, as it was delivered to His Majesty by several eminent merchants concerned in that loss.
Bushel, John., Bushel, Edward., Bond, Francis.
London: Printed by Peter Lillicrap ..., [1668]
Early English Books Online [full content]
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo…
About Tuesday 16 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"I to walk about the town, which is a very great one, I think bigger than Salsbury: a river runs through it, in seven branches, and unite in one, in one part of the town,"
L&M: At Swan Bridges: see Speed's map (1610). Maps by John Speed
https://www.jpmaps.co.uk/maps/spe…
The Kennet was later canalised and the site is now built over.
About Tuesday 16 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"another [house] of my Lord Craven’s, I think in Barkeshire."
L&M: Hampstead Marshall, Benham, nr. Newbury, Berks.: said to have been designed by Balthasar Gerbier (after Heidelberg Castle); built 1625-65; destroyed by fire, 1718: VCH, Berks., iv. 179. Craven was a distinguished soldier and a prominent figure at court.
About Tuesday 16 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"So on, and passing through a good part of this county of Wiltshire, saw a good house of Alexander Popham’s, and another of my Lord Craven’s, I think in Barkeshire."
Berkshire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ber…
About Monday 15 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"what is most singular is, their houses on one side having their pent-houses supported with pillars, which makes it a good walk."
L&M: A few pillars of the penthouses still remain on the n. side of the main street. Much of the town had been recently rebuilt after the disastrous fire of 1653.
So probably no colonnade.
About Monday 15 June 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"it was prodigious to see how full the Downes are of great stones; and all along the vallies, stones of considerable bigness, most of them growing certainly out of the ground so thick as to cover the ground, which makes me think the less of the wonder of Stonage, for hence they might undoubtedly supply themselves with stones, as well as those at Abebury."
L&M: All the Avebury sones and most of those at Stonehenge were of locak sarsen, Sarsen stones are sandstone blocks found in quantity in the United Kingdom on Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire; in Kent; and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, and Hampshire. They are the post-glacial[1] remains of a cap of Cenozoic silcrete that once covered much of southern England – a dense, hard rock created from sand bound by a silica cement, making it a kind of silicified sandstone. This is thought to have formed during Neogene to Quaternary weathering by the silicification of Upper Paleocene Lambeth Group sediments, resulting from acid leaching.[2]
The word "sarsen" (pronunciation ['sa:sǝn]) is a shortening of "Saracen stone" which arose in the Wiltshire dialect. "Saracen" was a common name for Muslims, and came by extension to be used for anything regarded as non-Christian, whether Muslim, pagan Celtic, or other.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sar…