Annotations and comments

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

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First Reading

About Thursday 17 July 1662

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The "general acquittance from my Lord" = the major source of income is paid in full? A cleaner reading than my first, Pauline; thanks.

What is the physical circuit of this day? "To my office....I dined at home, and so to my Lord's….Home and found much business to be upon my hands, and was late at the office….[home] and so to bed.”

What did he at home after he was paid in full by Sandwich? Stash his loot, realize what he yet needed to do at the office, and dash out to it?

About Prisons

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Prisons
For prisons in London, see Background information > Places > Other London buildings http://pepysdiary.com/background/…

Newgate Prison
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Tower of London
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Concerning the meaning of the prison as an expression of social values, a key and controversial text is Michel Foucault (1975). Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc…

About Tuesday 7 February 1659/60

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Fox, or some other ‘weighty’ friend”

Though notably egalitarian, Quakers recognize as “weighty” those whose integrity and spiritual influence lend weight to their opinions.

About Thursday 17 July 1662

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Mr. Coventry took his leave...to go over for the Queen-Mother."

L&M note: "I.e. to France. Sandwich sailed too: hence the 'general acquittance' with Pepys that follows." -- evidently a change in the terms of Sam's contract, elevating his status and, we would say, reducing his span of control on an organizational chart -- relieving him of duties to be delegated -- or so I read it. (But will this run counter to Sam's natural interactive style?)
Sandwich's imminent departure explains why yesterday Sam was so eager to present to him the "true state of all his accounts to last Monday."

About Wednesday 16 July 1662

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"and so I lost my labour"
Does Sam mean he did't get to show the fruit of his morning's work and the praise he deserves? or...? Apparently Moore's request thate he do Sandwich's accounts didn't reflect a sense of anxiety on the latter's part, since he left after dinner with Mr. Edward Montagu and his brother, and Mr. Coventry at least. Surely there will be a time at which he can report, etc. Has he not done this later in the day previously?

About Wednesday 16 July 1662

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"she is a whore"
Yes, Sam may use “whore” loosely, but would that be, ah, inappropiate?
OED “whore” 1b “More generally: An unchaste or lewd woman [Lady Castlemaine, I wot, is that]; a fornicatress or adultress [aye]…. Occas….applied opprobriously [tho not by Sam, or by him with regret, as he says]to a concubine or kept mistress,” which she seems to have been and perhaps thought herself when she was at Hampton Court, or apparently at home. [Very complex and interesting person — screwed-up and therefore the more attractive, we might say from some experience.]

About Wednesday 16 July 1662

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"But strange it is how for her beauty I am willing to construe all this to the best and to pity her wherein it is to her hurt, though I know well enough she is a whore."
Ah, me, sometimes life imitates theatre -- recalling Sam's viewing John Ford's "Tis Pity She's a Whore” Mon. 9 Sept 1661 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

About Calais, France

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Calais

..."was founded as a fishing village some time prior to the 10th century. In 997, it was improved by the Count of Flanders and fortified by the Count of Boulogne in 1224. Its strategic position made it a key target for the growing power of the kingdom of England, and the town was besieged and captured by King Edward III of England in 1347, after a siege of eleven months.... He drove out most of the French...and settled the town with people from England, so that it might serve as a gateway to France. In 1360 the Treaty of Br

About Tyburn

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Glyn's link shows Tyburn gallows'location most clearly
http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/Se…
"The link above shows the location of Tyburn gallows, which was the main execution site in London and was at the end of Oxford Street roughly where Marble Arch is now.
"If you look at the little drawing you will see that the Gallows was triangular, enabling up to thirty felons to be hanged simultaneously"

Glyn on Thu 30 Oct 2003, 5:54 pm http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
Cf. Government and Law > Law > Executions

About Tobacco

Terry Foreman  •  Link

tobacco
1.Any of various plants of the genus Nicotiana, especially N. tabacum, native to tropical America and widely cultivated for their leaves, which are used primarily for smoking. 2. The leaves of these plants, dried and processed chiefly for use in cigarettes, cigars, or snuff or for smoking in pipes. 3. Products made from these plants. 4. The habit of smoking tobacco: I gave up tobacco. 5. A crop of tobacco.
ETYMOLOGY: Spanish tabaco, possibly of Caribbean origin.
The American Heritage

About Spinet

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"A stringed keyboard instrument resembling a harpsichord but with only one manual, and one set of jacks and strings. The spinet is closely related to the virginal, but it is strung diagonally, and is generally wing-shaped rather than square. It is of Italian origin, but was very popular in England in the late 17th century."
[WARNING: This website will pronounce (BARK) it at you SUDDENLY!]
http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdict…

About Canon law

TerryF  •  Link

Canon [i.e. standard] law in Roman Catholic context

"Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members."

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/0…

About Umbles

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Umbles \Um"bles\, n. pl. [See Nombles.]
The entrails and coarser parts of a deer; hence, sometimes,
entrails, in general. [Written also humbles.] --Johnson.
Humbles \Hum"bles\, n. pl. [See Nombles.]
Entrails of a deer. [Written also umbles.] --Johnson.
http://dict.die.net/umbles/