Annotations and comments

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

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First Reading

About Sunday 3 May 1663

TerryF  •  Link

No report on either the sermon or the Solemn Oath today.

Cherchez les femmes? No, rather, the consciousness and conscience of their perturbed pursuer, whose search for happiness is tied up in knots by the psycho-somatic conundrum of his relation to women, and love through/of obstacles, similar to the love/fear of God.

(Not restricted to Samuel Pepys, the age and centrality of this affliction is well-documented in Denis De Rougemont’s *Love in the Western World*. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/… )

About Sunday 3 May 1663

TerryF  •  Link

“She reproached me that I had rather talk with anybody then her—-“

is how L&M render it in Vol. 4 (1663).

About Saturday 2 May 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Inscription tantalizingly close to legible.

but not quite using Microsoft Photo Editor. Perhaps someone adept in Photoshop can make it out and transcribe it, then a superior Latinist can translate it for the rest of us.

About James Hamilton (a, Bishop of Galloway)

TerryF  •  Link

"1661. JAMES HAMILTON, A.M., promoted from Cambusnethan, appointed by his Majesty's letter 14th Aug., pres. 14th Nov., and consecrated (at London) 15th Dec.; again pres. 19th March 1662, and died 14th Aug. 1674, in his 64th year, and 40th min. Kirkton, Burnet, and Wodrow, represent him as a very ordinary person; though Birnie, a relation (and perhaps more partial), represents him as 'a man of sprightly but ordinary stature, well seen in divinity, especially polemicks and the languages, with a good memorie, accurate in the fathers and church historie; very pious and charitable, though strict in his morals, kind to his friends, and affable and courteous to strangers. A BOANERGES in the pulpit, and everie way worthie of the sacred character.' He marr. 26th Aug. 1635 Margaret only daugh. of Mr Alex. Thomson, one of the min. of Edinburgh, she died 16th April 1667, and had three sons Alexander, Mr James, an advocate, and John, both of Broomhill, the latter was served heir 7th April 1681, and four daugh., Margaret, spouse of John Burns, merchant, late Provost of Glasgow, Jean, spouse of Mr John Birnie, of Broomhill, min. of Carluke, Isobell, spouse of Mr John Alexander min. of Durrisdeer, and Ann spouse of Mr Alex. Milne, one of the min. of Glasgow.-[Written authorities cited.]" http://www.dwalker.pwp.blueyonder…

About Saturday 2 May 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"new, fair, low dining-room" is what L&M have; methinks a transcription error by Wheatley.

Thanks for the heads-up, Australian Susan.

About Saturday 2 May 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Pricklouse \Prick"louse`\, n. A tailor; -- so called in contempt. [Old slang] --L'Estrange
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
http://dict.die.net/pricklouse/

also language hat, whose source, the OED, fails to quote Elizabeth Pepys or her amanuensis, Samuel Pepys, Esq., late-night diarist (day-job: Clerk of the Acts to the Admiralty):

January 26, 2003
WORD OF THE DAY.
Pricklouse 'tailor.' From the OED:
pricklouse (‘prIklaUs). Now dial. Also [19th century] prick-the(-a)-louse. A derisive name for a tailor.
1500-20 Dunbar Poems xxvii. 5 Betuix a tel3our and ane sowtar, A pricklouss and ane hobbell clowttar [telyour 'tailor'; souter 'shoemaker, cobbler'; hobble 'cobble, mend (shoes) roughly'; clooter 'patcher, cobbler']. 1668 R. L'Estrange The Visions of Don Francisco Quevedo Villegas (1708) 151 The poor Prick-Lice were damn'dly startled at that, for fear they should not get in. 1709 O. Dykes Eng. Proverbs with Moral Reflexions (ed. 2) 117 What an ignorant Presumption..for an impudent Prick-lowse to set up for a Lawyer, or a Statesman. A. 1796 Burns Answ. to Tailor ii, Gae mind your seam, ye prick-the-louse, An' jag-the-flae. [jag 'prick, pierce' (hence the nickname "the Jags" for the Partick Thistles, a Glasgow football team familiar to fans of the wonderful Jack Laidlaw detective novels of William McIlvanney); flae 'flea' (ie, "jag-the-flae" is modeled on the traditional "prick-(the-)louse")]
http://www.languagehat.com/archiv…

John Pepys humiliated again, today by proxy.

About Friday 1 May 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Thanks to Lynn a cycling videoclip of Ravensbourne Morris Men (fd. 1947) dancing The Upton Stick Dance Boxing Day 2003 straight-faced. http://www.ravensbourne.org/upton…

The wikipedia article cites several theories about its origin in several places, including "the Romanian 'morisca', which means 'little mill'", etc., which leads me to wonder whether it is Roma?

About Coranto

TerryF  •  Link

Coranto

Coranto singles and doubles aren't understood very well, but they were definitely very athletic.
Andrew Draskoy suggests this as a low-impact version:

Single left: Leap forward onto left foot, then hop bringing your right foot together with your left.

Double left: Leap forward onto left, forward onto right, forward onto left, in place bringing your right foot together with your left.

If you're feeling athletic, you move twice as much: Add in a hop in place before each leap or hop above.
http://www.themiddleages.net/life…

About Coranto

TerryF  •  Link

See Courante
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

"By 1700 the Courant was no longer danced except as a basis of dance used by the dancing masters and became known as "Doctor Dance" through the use of its teaching techniques applied to other dances.
[...] Musically, the Courante was the second movement (Suites de Danses) of the classical baroque suite, typically following the allemande with the accompaniment in triple time (3/4).
[...see] Court Ayres, Pavins, Corantos, &c., Playford, John 1655 "
http://www.streetswing.com/histma…

About Coach and Horses ("Game's", Aldgate )

TerryF  •  Link

Coach and Horses (“Game’s”, Aldgate ) was both a popular tavern, oft-frequented by Pepys, and a hostelry after which it was named, run by John Game, as Phil Gyford says, and can still be found in 1746 near the NE corner of this segment of the Rocque map, running W off Aldersgate Street, just N of Half Moon Alley and S of Smish (?) C[ourt]. http://www.motco.com/map/81002/Se…

About Ussher's 'A Body of Divinitie'

TerryF  •  Link

A body of divinitie, or The summe and substance of Christian religion catechistically propounded, and explained, by way of question and answer: methodically and familiarly handled. Composed long since by James Usher B. of Armagh: and at the earnest desires of divers godly Christians now printed and published. The fifth edition; corrected and much enlarged by the author. Whereunto is adjoyned a tract, intituled Immanuel. Or The mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God; heretofore written and published by the same author.
by James Ussher; James Ussher London : Printed by William Hunt for Theodore Crowley, at his shop in S. Dunstands [sic] Church-yard in Fleet-street, M DC LVIII. [1658] http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/…



About James Ussher

TerryF  •  Link

"James Ussher (sometimes spelled Usher) (4 January 1581–21 March 1656) was Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625–1656 and a prolific religious scholar who most famously published a chronology which dated the Creation from 4004 BC." More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jame…

"James Ussher stands somewhat apart in principles from the dominant school of his time. He was an Irishman, a distinguished son of the great Irish university. In his own family, he had closer acquaintance with Roman Catholicism than had his English contemporaries, and the Calvinism of Dublin was much more definitely puritan than that of Oxford or Cambridge. His experience, as learner, as divinity professor, as bishop, was almost wholly Irish. Yet he, too, fell under the influence of Laud, was his constant correspondent for twelve years, was active in winning for him the chancellorship of Trinity college, Dublin, and shared his aims of anti-Roman defence and traditional reverence for Catholic antiquity. It was he who most boldly advised Charles not to consent to Strafford’s execution and reproached him for yielding. Yet Cromwell ordered him a public funeral. 'Learned to a miracle,' as Selden calls him, Ussher, perhaps, was the last of the Calvinists in high place. His influence was very great, and it was all exercised in favour of peace and charity. Of his sermons, it was as true as of his personal influence that 'he had a way of gaining people’s hearts and touching their consciences that look’d like somewhat of the Apostolical age reviv’d.' He was a voluminous writer, learned and exact; in manner an Elizabethan, who did not mark any important step in English letters. His contributions were to learning rather than to literature. Men used his information and incorporated it in their own works, but they did not copy his style; and it is significant, perhaps, that, while his contributions to historical study, in regard to subjects so different as the Ignatian letters and the early history of Ireland, have never lost their value, the only book of his which can reasonably be described as popular was *A Body of Divinitie* (1645), which was little else but a commonplace book that by no means always represented his own opinions. The prominent place which Ussher’s name occupies in contemporary accounts of the literature of the seventeenth century is a proof, if one were needed, how much more influential, at the period of crisis which led to the civil war, were personal than literary influences. Learning pursued its way and scholars paid attention to it and, after their manner, unduly exalted its achievements. Men who had won the public ear kept it even when they had ceased very definitely to teach their age. The 'gentle soul' of Ussher made men love him and attach more importance to his writings than they deserved: such may well be the view of posterity, and it would not be wholly unfair." http://www2.bartleby.com/217/0608…

About Tower Street

TerryF  •  Link

Streets of London: Tower Street
By Ian Youngs, BBC News Online

"During the 17th Century Tower Street - a typical if not famous London address - was a place of drama and destruction.
[...}
Leading to the Tower of London, Tower Street was at the heart of London's maritime community, close to the Thames, the Navy Office, Custom House and wharves.
[...]
Diarist Samuel Pepys lived round the corner in Seething Lane in the 1660s.

He was a regular at the Dolphin Tavern, where he would take in a morning draught or a "very merry" dinner of oysters, lobster, beef or smoked herrings. It was a place where business mixed with pleasure.

It was also on Tower Street that in 1666, Pepys saw the Great Fire of London advance and finally be extinguished...." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_new…