Annotations and comments

Terry Foreman has posted 16,447 annotations/comments since 28 June 2005.

Comments

First Reading

About Monday 10 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"pay Lord Peterborough" should be "My Lord Peterborough" say L&M

"(whom I have not seen before since his coming back)" from Tangier, where he's just finished a term as governor, he having been succeeded by Lord Andrew Rutherford, Earl of Teviot

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"now that I am become a better husband"

this statement having only tangentially to do with his relationship with Elizabeth; as Xjy suggested yesterday, perhaps ADHD..

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"and so to prayers and to bed."

Methinks this has been done nightly of late as a model in diligence and self-disciple for brother John - to encourage him in his studies, &c.; but we will see....

About Sunday 9 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

factor (n.)
1432, "agent, deputy," from M.Fr. facteur "agent, representative," from L. factor "doer or maker," from facere "to do" (see factitious). Sense of "circumstance producing a result" is from 1816; the v. use in mathematics is attested from 1837. http://www.etymonline.com/index.p…

About Saturday 8 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Why John doesn't know from Aristotle-

Descartes says:
"If you find it strange that I make no use of the qualities one calls heat, cold, moistness, and dryness…, as the philosophers [of the schools] do, I tell you that these qualities appear to me to be in need of explanation, and if I am not mistaken, not only these four qualities, but also all the others, and even all of the forms of inanimate bodies can be explained without having to assume anything else for this in their matter but motion, size, shape, and the arrangement of their parts (AT XI 25-26)." http://plato.stanford.edu/entries…

About Sunday 9 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Today's sermons' texts

"We are therefore ambassadors of Christ."

2 Corinthians 5
20 "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."

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"Remember Lot's wife"

Luke 17
32 "Remember Lot's wife! 33 Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it."

(supposing the pericope on which the sermon was based included verse 33)

About Saturday 8 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

”he can lay his finger upon the soare”

Patricia, thanks for putting your finger on my sore.

About Saturday 8 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Some vexations of today

"soare"

Unless the OED can help, this word concerning the trajectory of *rising* seems to be used in such a vexing way by Mr. Coventry that Pepys takes pains to record what he takes was meant by it.
(Of course, the OED can't help Pepys, but he helps it.)

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"I asking many things in physiques of my brother John, to which he gives me so bad or no answer at all, as in the regions of the ayre he told me that he knew of no such thing, for he never read Aristotle's philosophy and Des Cartes ownes no such thing, which vexed me to hear him say."

Descartes' modern physics isn't Aristotle's, to be sure -
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries…

About Friday 7 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

amuse
1480, from M.Fr. amuser "divert, cause to muse," from à "at, to" (but here probably a causal prefix) + muser "ponder, stare fixedly." Sense of "divert from serious business, tickle the fancy of" is recorded from 1631, but through 18c. the primary meaning was "deceive, cheat" by first occupying the attention. Bemuse retains more of the original meaning. Amusement "a pastime, play, game, etc." is first recorded 1673, originally depreciative. Amusement park is first recorded 1909. Amusing is noted late 1920s as a vogue word. http://www.etymonline.com/index.p…

Well, I am amused

About Friday 7 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"So to prayers, and to bed"

On a Friday, no less: this is his usual Sunday routine. I wonder whether he was joined by Hannah as well as John, and what form his prayers took?

Mary, thanks for clearing the Air about the Fire!

About Friday 7 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"Anyone else think it highly suspicious that Mrs Bagwell *always* accompanies her husband when they want to discuss Bagwell’s possible advancement with our Sam."

It has been so, Australian Susan! I'd have reported it, but hadn't yet attuned my moral antennae to what may be the way of that (the?) Restoration world, naíf that I am. Or, to change the metsphore a bit, I hadn't sniffed out the odour of bait (and me a native of Southern California where the casting couch is so legendary...)...!

About Friday 7 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Samuel asks his bro' about simple matters in Aristotle, at least 2 fours that he names. But before that he mentions "final," which I take to refer to what is usually taught first (in textbooks and in the classes I took and have taught), sc. the four causes - Material, Formal, Material and Final - the last being "that for the sake of which" = purpose or the "end" for which a thing exists, changes or is undertaken. (The Analyics are less elementary, however fundamental.)

About Friday 7 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"Sir Fairbrother" should be "Dr. Fairbrother"- so L&M, which makes sense of the later references to "Doctor."

About Thursday 6 August 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"and she to carve drink, and show me great respect."

carve?

carve
O.E. ceorfan (class III strong verb; past tense cearf, pp. corfen), from W.Gmc. *kerfan, from PIE base *gerebh- "to scratch," making carve the Eng. cognate of Gk. graphein. Once extensively used, most senses now usurped by cut. Meaning specialized to sculpture, meat, etc., by 16c. Strong conjugation became weak, but archaic carven is still encountered. In a set of dining chairs, the one with the arms, usually at the head of the table, is the carver (1927), reserved for the one who carves. http://www.etymonline.com/index.p…

Our Samuel Pepys has an itch that she begins to scratch.