"On February 18th, 1661, Edward, Marquis of Worcester, &c."
A year ago were introduced to Edward Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, and his *Century of Inventions" of 1663, from which the quotation comes, by JWB http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… . A month later, Nix quoted the DNB to the effect that, in multiple cases, Worcester was unable to give an account or show what he claimed to have invented or improved. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… .
Folks will need to get used to going to "Recent Activity" to catch the latest annotes.
One nifty feature of the Diary's new format is the links to the preceding/following day to the right of "Post an annotation." Very thoughtful.
Like Bradford, I find the site head does not read well with either IE 6 or Firefox 1.5. Very close scrutiny reveals "The Diary of Samuel Pepys." Is there more text?
"a very great contract with Sir W. Warren for provisions for the yeare coming"
Spoiler -
A fateful morning: the alliance that will prosper and later threaten Pepys's career is cemented. (See Pauline's annotation to "W. Warren" for details.)
"Scarronides: or, Virgile travestie" was "popular."
Thank you. Michael Robinson, for the bibliographic documentation!
L&M explain that the "mock-poem" was "[w]itty and obscene, with a strong appeal to all who had been put through Virgil at school," i.e., methinks, a strong appeal to the typical buyer of books in English -- hence its popularity.
And why? "*Discharge [from the eyes]* usually accompanies red eye and is commonly caused by allergic or infectious conjunctivitis, blepharitis, and, in infants, ophthalmia neonatorum. Infectious discharge may be purulent in bacterial infection, such as staphylococcal conjunctivitis or gonorrhea. Less common causes include dacryocystitis and canaliculitis." http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec09/c…
Pepys's eye, of course, might have been aggravated by particulate matter, esp. soot from fyres, it being still Winter. Cf. John Evelyn's *F U M I F U G I U M: or The Inconveniencie of the AER AND SMOAK of LONDON DISSIPATED.* http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Le…
"Lord! to see how Jane did tell the story like a foole and a dissembling fanatique, like her grandmother, but so like a changeling, would make a man laugh to death almost, and yet be vexed to hear her."
I read Pepys's' comment as his judgment of the (in)credibility of Jane's professions, given her overwrought affect that he regards as feigning, as put on, as not herself, hence "changeling" -- and, like the "fanatiques's" testimony, surely a pose. I take it Jane's grandmother was a religious enthusiast.
Our Sober Hero has his limits, and isn't exactly Mr. Empathy here.
"...so to Westminster Hall, and there talked with Mrs. Lane..., but the match with Hawly I perceive will not take, and so I am resolved wholly to avoid occasion of further ill with her."
What is the "further ill" Pepys now resolves to avoid occasion of with Betty Lane, whom, L&M note, Hawley had been wooing these four years?
"W. Howe...did of himself advise me to appear more free with my Lord and to come to him, for my own strangeness he tells me he thinks do make my Lord the worse."
Pepys fails to recognize the like of what he had himself urged Sandwich: come in from the country and attend Court....
Pepys has been angling for "Bagwell's wife" for a while
We first read of her and her husband at Deptford i9 July 1663 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… when we learned that Pepys had framed a resolve to seduce her at some point, "forcing her to come to the office again," where she had been earlier -- presumably with her husband, whom I envision as one of the sailors, etc., with whose plight Pepys had been sympathetic; that Pepys had done them favors earlier for which they thank him; that Bagwell, a carpenter, had worked to refurbish Sir W. Penn's quarters (on SP's recommendation?).
Will Robert Gertz provide Bagwell's wife a first or Christian name? L&M say none is known.
The Pepys's "inability to have children" (so far)...
...would, methinks, normally have been supposed the woman's -- Elizabeth's -- problem: cf. Henry VIII's serial search fo an appropriate heir; though in Samuel's case, there is the complicating matter of the effects of the operation to remove Ye Stone, which might include sterility, though it's not clear the notion is in play....
...the throng of players and onlookers having been such on that spectacular occasion ("Lady Castlemaine,...tho' a Protestant," attendant to the Queen, among the eye-candy) that Our Spectator was not singled out, and (leaving Pedro) wandered away when the Portuguese homily began.
"This day, by the blessing of God, I have lived thirty-one years in the world;"
Celebrating a new time-mark (how to avoid spatial figures of speech?), a brief self-assessment and summing-up: What is the life of this survivor of Ye Stone amounting to?!
A model for all of us who have survived near-death events....
I keep forgetting how young Pepys is - perhaps it's the periwigg....
sudden. n. *Obs.* an unexpected occurrence; energency. 'of a sudden' or 'on a sudden'. adv. sooner than was expected : at once : suddenly. (Webster's Third New International Dictionary)
Thanks for what the OED says,LH; to which I would add that what seems to be troubling to SP is any kind of "standing army," as we would say, which must be somewhere and do something.
(A navy can be at sea, and there are the Dutch....)
"what is worst of all, that he will alter the present militia, and bring all to a flying army."
L&M clarify: replace "the part-time milita officered bt the gentry (established 1662)," tied to the places of their residebcy, with a small professional force that could go wherever needed, such as had been created in Scotland in 1663 to enforce an Anglican occupation.
(A gloss, my fellow Yanks, on the Second Amendment to the Constitution.)
An hour's worth of gossip and speculation brought by Mr. Alsopp the King's brewer -- for which Pepys has a prodigious memory!
The Office -- where The Vows are kept when Mr, Pepys is in London; where he must go each Lord's day; which he cannot quit for the day without having read them.
Comments
First Reading
About Friday 4 March 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"On February 18th, 1661, Edward, Marquis of Worcester, &c."
A year ago were introduced to Edward Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, and his *Century of Inventions" of 1663, from which the quotation comes, by JWB http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… . A month later, Nix quoted the DNB to the effect that, in multiple cases, Worcester was unable to give an account or show what he claimed to have invented or improved.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… .
The Letters are in Appendix B of the *Century* - http://www.archive.org/details/ce…
Worcestor's pistol was an invention. L&M comment that the "new-fashion gun" brought Sandwich was probably by Abraham Hill.
About New design launched
Terry F • Link
Folks will need to get used to going to "Recent Activity" to catch the latest annotes.
One nifty feature of the Diary's new format is the links to the preceding/following day to the right of "Post an annotation." Very thoughtful.
Like Bradford, I find the site head does not read well with either IE 6 or Firefox 1.5. Very close scrutiny reveals "The Diary of Samuel Pepys." Is there more text?
About Thursday 3 March 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"a very great contract with Sir W. Warren for provisions for the yeare coming"
Spoiler -
A fateful morning: the alliance that will prosper and later threaten Pepys's career is cemented. (See Pauline's annotation to "W. Warren" for details.)
About Wednesday 2 March 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"Scarronides: or, Virgile travestie" was "popular."
Thank you. Michael Robinson, for the bibliographic documentation!
L&M explain that the "mock-poem" was "[w]itty and obscene, with a strong appeal to all who had been put through Virgil at school," i.e., methinks, a strong appeal to the typical buyer of books in English -- hence its popularity.
About Tuesday 1 March 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"my left eye being mightily troubled with rheum."
rheum - "a watery discharge from the mucous membranes (especially from the eyes or nose)". http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl…
And why? "*Discharge [from the eyes]* usually accompanies red eye and is commonly caused by allergic or infectious conjunctivitis, blepharitis, and, in infants, ophthalmia neonatorum. Infectious discharge may be purulent in bacterial infection, such as staphylococcal conjunctivitis or gonorrhea. Less common causes include dacryocystitis and canaliculitis." http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec09/c…
Pepys's eye, of course, might have been aggravated by particulate matter, esp. soot from fyres, it being still Winter. Cf. John Evelyn's *F U M I F U G I U M:
or The Inconveniencie of the AER AND SMOAK of LONDON DISSIPATED.* http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Le…
About Site disruption later today
Terry F • Link
Slick new look, Phil. I like it!
About Tuesday 1 March 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"walked home by moonshine"
"moonshine" has changed meaning in English. One wonders why. The OED probably dates it.
The German cognate has not changed: cf. Beethoven's "Mondschein-Sonate." language-hat?
About Monday 29 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"Lord! to see how Jane did tell the story like a foole and a dissembling fanatique, like her grandmother, but so like a changeling, would make a man laugh to death almost, and yet be vexed to hear her."
I read Pepys's' comment as his judgment of the (in)credibility of Jane's professions, given her overwrought affect that he regards as feigning, as put on, as not herself, hence "changeling" -- and, like the "fanatiques's" testimony, surely a pose. I take it Jane's grandmother was a religious enthusiast.
Our Sober Hero has his limits, and isn't exactly Mr. Empathy here.
About Monday 29 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
Betty not to be toused again? Surely not!!
"...so to Westminster Hall, and there talked with Mrs. Lane..., but the match with Hawly I perceive will not take, and so I am resolved wholly to avoid occasion of further ill with her."
What is the "further ill" Pepys now resolves to avoid occasion of with Betty Lane, whom, L&M note, Hawley had been wooing these four years?
About Monday 29 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"W. Howe...did of himself advise me to appear more free with my Lord and to come to him, for my own strangeness he tells me he thinks do make my Lord the worse."
Pepys fails to recognize the like of what he had himself urged Sandwich: come in from the country and attend Court....
About Saturday 27 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"Molly Bagwell"
Good, Robert - at least a tag not, like Betty, a byname of Elizabeth, but of Mary (to keep it in the Holy Family).
About Saturday 27 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
Pepys has been angling for "Bagwell's wife" for a while
We first read of her and her husband at Deptford i9 July 1663
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
when we learned that Pepys had framed a resolve to seduce her at some point, "forcing her to come to the office again," where she had been earlier -- presumably with her husband, whom I envision as one of the sailors, etc., with whose plight Pepys had been sympathetic; that Pepys had done them favors earlier for which they thank him; that Bagwell, a carpenter, had worked to refurbish Sir W. Penn's quarters (on SP's recommendation?).
Will Robert Gertz provide Bagwell's wife a first or Christian name? L&M say none is known.
About Friday 26 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"...I eat something and my wife -- I told all this day's passages...."
L&M's transcription is a tad clearer, but does not render the entry less fraught.
About Thursday 25 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
The Pepys's "inability to have children" (so far)...
...would, methinks, normally have been supposed the woman's -- Elizabeth's -- problem: cf. Henry VIII's serial search fo an appropriate heir; though in Samuel's case, there is the complicating matter of the effects of the operation to remove Ye Stone, which might include sterility, though it's not clear the notion is in play....
About Wednesday 24 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
The Q is: What is the meaning of "to be at Mass"?
Pepys at the Queen's first mass in her Chapel at St. James,
21 September 1662 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
...the throng of players and onlookers having been such on that spectacular occasion ("Lady Castlemaine,...tho' a Protestant," attendant to the Queen, among the eye-candy) that Our Spectator was not singled out, and (leaving Pedro) wandered away when the Portuguese homily began.
About Tuesday 23 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"This day, by the blessing of God, I have lived thirty-one years in the world;"
Celebrating a new time-mark (how to avoid spatial figures of speech?), a brief self-assessment and summing-up: What is the life of this survivor of Ye Stone amounting to?!
A model for all of us who have survived near-death events....
I keep forgetting how young Pepys is - perhaps it's the periwigg....
About Tuesday 23 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"of a sudden" - "for a sudden"
sudden. n. *Obs.* an unexpected occurrence; energency. 'of a sudden' or 'on a sudden'. adv. sooner than was expected : at once : suddenly. (Webster's Third New International Dictionary)
About Monday 22 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"a flying army"
Thanks for what the OED says,LH; to which I would add that what seems to be troubling to SP is any kind of "standing army," as we would say, which must be somewhere and do something.
(A navy can be at sea, and there are the Dutch....)
About Monday 22 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"what is worst of all, that he will alter the present militia, and bring all to a flying army."
L&M clarify: replace "the part-time milita officered bt the gentry (established 1662)," tied to the places of their residebcy, with a small professional force that could go wherever needed, such as had been created in Scotland in 1663 to enforce an Anglican occupation.
(A gloss, my fellow Yanks, on the Second Amendment to the Constitution.)
An hour's worth of gossip and speculation brought by Mr. Alsopp the King's brewer -- for which Pepys has a prodigious memory!
About Sunday 21 February 1663/64
Terry F • Link
"then, after reading my vows of course, home"
The Office -- where The Vows are kept when Mr, Pepys is in London; where he must go each Lord's day; which he cannot quit for the day without having read them.