Annotations and comments

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

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First Reading

About Friday 26 December 1662

Terry F  •  Link

To complete the thought in the next couplet:

"Still so perverse and opposite,
As if they worshipp'd God for spite."

The verse then uses as an example where we were yesterday:

"The self-same thing they will abhor
One way, and long another for.
Free-will they one way disavow,
Another, nothing else allow:
All piety consists therein
In them, in other men all sin:
Rather than fail, they will defy
That which they love most tenderly;
Quarrel with minc'd-pies, and disparage
Their best and dearest friend, plum-porridge;"
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/ete…

About Friday 26 December 1662

Terry F  •  Link

"to see whether their country carrier be in town or no, for I am resolved to keep him no more."

Some pronominal ambiguities here, mayhap:
- "their"?
- "him" (seems to be Wayneman, but might it be "their country carrier"?)

About Friday 26 December 1662

Terry F  •  Link

"Would that be Chaucer’s Knight? And this a spoof of Chaucer?"

Something like that:
"Hudibras by Samuel Butler.
Hudibras was written between 1660 and 1680 and is a satire on the Cromwellians and on the Presbyterian church written by a confirmed Royalist and Anglican. Hudibras, a colonel in the Cromwellian army, is involved in various comic misadventures and is shown to be stupid, greedy and dishonest. The poem is very well written in Chaucerian couplets and was popular for about 150 years, as long as its political attitudes were also popular." http://www.exclassics.com/hudibra…

About Thursday 25 December 1662

Terry F  •  Link

Thomas Hobbes's connection to Charles II

During the runup to the Civil War in England, Hobbes was among many who fled to Paris, where, in "1647, Hobbes was engaged as mathematical instructor to the young Charles, Prince of Wales, who had come over from Jersey around July. This engagement lasted until 1648 when Charles went to Holland" where the *De Cive*, circulated privately since 1642 was published at the Elzevir press in Amsterdam. This defense of undivided sovereignty without divine right enabled Hobbes to be welcomed by Cromwell in 1651; in that year were published in London his English translation of it and the Puritan *Leviathan: or the Matter, Form and Power of a Commonwealth, ecclesiastical and civil*, in the Latin edition of which (1668) he made a few PC changes and declared himself a loyal subject of King Charles.

Sources: *Leviathan, Parts I and II*, "Editor's Introduction" by Herbert W. Schneider (Bobbs-Merrill, 1958) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thom…

About Thursday 25 December 1662

Terry F  •  Link

"to White Hall, where I intended to have received the Communion with the family" -- i.e. the professional family to which Pepys belongs (his personal family being yet at home and elsewhere).

About Thursday 25 December 1662

Terry F  •  Link

Further context for I.A.S's note that Thomas Hobbes states in Chapter IV. of *De Cive* "That the Law of Nature is a Divine Law," cites Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (KJV)” among other biblical texts to *parallel* the CLAIM that seeking PEACE is the law of nature; the *argument* therefor is provided by *Leviathan*, where the WAR of all against all prevails in a state of nature until a power that overawes compels all to recognize the prudence of seeking PEACE not WAR.

About Thursday 25 December 1662

Terry F  •  Link

The Groom-Porter was a title granted by the king of England to the official in charge of organizing gambling in the Tudor court. Later, he also regulated English gaming halls. Eventually, the term became used for the owner, or operator of a gaming hall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groo…

About Branle

Terry F  •  Link

"The Branle [Brahn-lee] is a French Renaissance dance that was well documented in the Festival of Nance in 1445,...and was a very gay and quick dance [in 4/4 time] (generally danced outdoors) by a group, either in line or circle.

"-- It was considered a Court Dance sometimes being referred to as a carole. The name comes from Branler (Shake) and Brander (Brandish). The English called the Branle 'the Brawl' and described it as 'a winging step and anterior kick and swing, the lifting of the leg, the twisting of the feet and the side fling of the foot are frills of past dances'. The dance was said to be based on the Kick of a Cow ('rû de vache').[...] The Charleston dance is said to have had its roots in the Branle" http://www.streetswing.com/histma…


About Courante

Terry F  •  Link

Courante - Michael Praetorius (1610)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Here is a reasonably simple 2 part arrangement of this dance from 'Terpsichore'....
Learning points :
- 6/8 rhythm
- Binary structure"
[with a midi file that allows you to click and hear the music] http://www.mtrs.co.uk/courante.htm

About Courante

Terry F  •  Link

"The truly noble Courant (koo-RAUNT) or Coronto (koo-RAUNT-o) which is considered a French Masque type Baroque & Renaissance dance (popular in 17th. Century England) as [the French] perfected it....Originally, the Courant came from Italy to France via Catherine de Medici (1518-1589)[...] The Elizabethan Courante was much quicker than the Courante of [of the reigns of] Louis XIV (1638-1715) and Charles II (1661-1700).[...] "Originally It was reported as a Pantomimic wooing dance.[...]"It has been compared to the Spanish Seguidilla, and is by some supposed to be the parent of the waltz and the precursor to the Minuet which was a Branles of Poitou, and was thus called because of its small steps and was derived from the Courante. When the pupil knew the steps of the Courante well, when he could turn his feet properly and control his movements, he was initiated into the mysteries of the graceful and ceremonious Minuet, which took three months to learn, and of which there were endless varieties (learning the courant was considered a prerequisite to the Minuet)...." http://www.streetswing.com/histma…

About Philip Stanhope (2nd Earl of Chesterfield)

Terry F  •  Link

Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield (1584-1656), son of Sir John Stanhope and his wife Cordell Allington, was an English aristocrat.

He was married in 1605 to Cathrine, daughter of Francis, Lord Hastings. He was the great-grandson of Anne Stanhope (1497-1587), the wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c.1506-1552). He was knighted in 1605 by King James I and made Baron Stanhope of Shelford. He was made 1st Earl of Chesterfield in 1628 by King Charles I. He was succeeded by his grandson, also Philip.

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil…