Army and Navy: These two forces became major military machines during this period. The Navy under the Tudors and Stuarts (partially thanks to Pepys), hence the Royal Navy. The army, however, became a large single fighting force rather than a collection of lords' men under Cromwell with the New Model Army, hence the British Army (not Royal), a distinction that remains today.
Zeeland or Zealand. On the 4th February 1660, the diary refers to Zealand meaning the Danish island of Sjaelland, but on 8th March 1660 refers to Zeeland. Zeeland is a Dutch province, though Pepys is obviously writing about Danish Zealand. (either a misprint or Pepys' spelling)
Zealand vs Zeeland Odd that the spelling of the Danish region - Zealand - on the 4th february, has changed to Zeeland, the Dutch province today, though both referring to Denmark. Is this SP's inconsistent spelling, contemporary usage, or a transcription error?
Fritters and pancakes Sorry to be pedantic, but I think we may be talking about different things here. The Oxford English Dictionary has: fritter /"frIt@/ n.1LME. [(O)Fr. friture f. Proto- Romance, f. L frict- pa. ppl stem of frigere FRY v.: see -ER2.] 1 A piece of (usu. specified) meat, fruit, etc., coated in batter and deep-fried. LME. LME = Late Middle English or up to 1500, so before Pepys' time, and it still has exactly that meaning in modern (British) English, so why would it have changed to mean pancake - for which there is already a word that is older than fritter - then changed back again? Just to be sure we are talking about the same thing:- Pancake: round, flat, about 10-12 inch diameter, shallow fried, first on one side then the other. Raw batter consistency of cream. Fritter: same shape/size as fruit (e.g. banana) or slice of vegetable/fruit, deep fried. Batter thicker and stickier, to stick to item being frittered. I'm not knocking Webster's, but it is concerned with modern American usage rather than British, so may not be your best guide to Pepys' usage. Being in Malaysia at present, I missed out on my Shrove Tuesday pancakes, but I can still get fruit fritters here.
Re: ...bespeak some firing... I think this means to order some fuel (coal, logs) for the fire. Bespeak is still in my dictionary of modern English, but is more often met in other tenses, such as bespoke (tailoring) and bespoken (engaged or ordered beforehand) though "spoken for" is now used more than bespoken in colloquial speech. With no central heating, or gas or oil fires, then the making of fires, keeping them fed and acquiring the fuel was a constant worry, especially in a British winter. We know Pepys' father wasn't well off, so it appears Sam is being a dutiful son and buying fuel to prevent his parents from freezing.
Modern catcalls A piercing whistle used to signal disapproval at a live performance (whether by entertainer or politician) is called a catcall in modern English, so perhaps Sam bought a whistle.
Re: Fritters Fritters are slices of apple or vegetable dipped in batter and deep fried, not pancakes. Nowadays they are usually potato, but probably apple in 1660.
Re: Commissioner’s despatch My reading of this phrase was that Montague was getting a commission. (General is a commissioned rank) Someone in the government - the Commissioner - was responsible for sending Montague a dispatch confirming this, thus the “Commissioner’s despatch”. A Commissioner is still a senior post in British public life, for example a Commissioner of Police, Civil Service Commissioner, Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, etc.
Sorry: stupid typo for "commission" read "Commissioner's despatch" I assume this is the official dispatch confirming the commission, which Montagu fears might go astray, thus stopping him taking up the post of General at Sea. He fears that Monk is plotting to be in the driving seat/saddle on his own.
Re: “how I should look after getting of his Commissioner’s despatch” The phrase “Look after” I read to mean “take care of” as in modern English, meaning how could SP help his lord get his commission.
To see the flags the ships of the commonwealth and Stuarts would have flown, go to http://tmg110.tripod.com/british1… and search on Stuart or Commonwealth.
The apostophe after the s was first used in 1823 and became official in 1831. In Pepys' time it would have had the same - Queen's - spelling as the Oxford college. See: http://www.quns.cam.ac.uk/Queens/…
A large bird like a turkey would have been roasted, probably on a spit over a fire. As long as cooked all through, any surface bacteria would have been killed by the heat. Modern poultry is dodgy because intensive rearing methods mean that salmonella gets into the muscle of the living bird, so can survive if the bird is not thoroughly cooked. Sam's turkeys would have been free range. However, meat served with dirty hands would have been a danger. I think it is fair to assume that (adult) people's immune systems back then would have coped better with a certain amount of infected food than ours would, after all many people survived smallpox without vaccinations. It is likely though that child mortality rates were high because an immature immune system could not cope with the daily bombardment of air, water and food borne pathogens.
Re:“After dressing myself, about ten o’clock” As was said yesterday, this is a continuation of yesterday’s entry. Reading them together, he arrived in Cambridge at 8 o’clock, went to the Falcon Inn, where he changed from his travel clothes to his good clothes, at 10 o’clock, for visiting Mr Widdrington. (looks like the “n” got transcribed to “ri” in the name) Dressing here I think is used in the sense of dressing up, into something smarter.
The London to Berwick (pronounced Berrick) road is approximately what is now known as the A1 and was The Great North Road. See http://www.biffvernon.freeserve.c… for more information. It passes well to the west of Cambridge. The road Pepys took to Hinchinbroke and Cambridge is: "From London to Lynn 98 Miles, thus reckoned. To Enfield Wash 10, to Hoddesdon 7, to Ware 4, to Puckeridge 6, to Barkway 8, to Fowlmere 7, to Cambridge 9, ...(chop)... to Lynn 5, an antient, large and well built Town in Norfolk, containing 3 Parish Churches; encompassed with a Wall and deep Trench; and otherwise called Lyn Regis, also Bishops Lyn, and Llyn by the Welsh, signifying a Lake, seated near the Mouth of Owse River. " From http://www.londonancestor.com/sto… Lynn is now known as Kings Lynn (Lyn Regis translated) and is a seaside resort.
Comments
First Reading
About General information
Grahamt • Link
Army and Navy:
These two forces became major military machines during this period. The Navy under the Tudors and Stuarts (partially thanks to Pepys), hence the Royal Navy. The army, however, became a large single fighting force rather than a collection of lords' men under Cromwell with the New Model Army, hence the British Army (not Royal), a distinction that remains today.
About Zeeland, Netherlands
Grahamt • Link
Zeeland or Zealand.
On the 4th February 1660, the diary refers to Zealand meaning the Danish island of Sjaelland, but on 8th March 1660 refers to Zeeland.
Zeeland is a Dutch province, though Pepys is obviously writing about Danish Zealand. (either a misprint or Pepys' spelling)
About Thursday 8 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Zealand vs Zeeland
Odd that the spelling of the Danish region - Zealand - on the 4th february, has changed to Zeeland, the Dutch province today, though both referring to Denmark. Is this SP's inconsistent spelling, contemporary usage, or a transcription error?
About Tuesday 6 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Fritters and pancakes
Sorry to be pedantic, but I think we may be talking about different things here. The Oxford English Dictionary has:
fritter /"frIt@/ n.1LME. [(O)Fr. friture f. Proto- Romance, f. L frict- pa. ppl stem of frigere FRY v.: see -ER2.]
1 A piece of (usu. specified) meat, fruit, etc., coated in batter and deep-fried. LME.
LME = Late Middle English or up to 1500, so before Pepys' time, and it still has exactly that meaning in modern (British) English, so why would it have changed to mean pancake - for which there is already a word that is older than fritter - then changed back again?
Just to be sure we are talking about the same thing:-
Pancake: round, flat, about 10-12 inch diameter, shallow fried, first on one side then the other. Raw batter consistency of cream.
Fritter: same shape/size as fruit (e.g. banana) or slice of vegetable/fruit, deep fried. Batter thicker and stickier, to stick to item being frittered.
I'm not knocking Webster's, but it is concerned with modern American usage rather than British, so may not be your best guide to Pepys' usage.
Being in Malaysia at present, I missed out on my Shrove Tuesday pancakes, but I can still get fruit fritters here.
About Thursday 8 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Re: ...bespeak some firing...
I think this means to order some fuel (coal, logs) for the fire. Bespeak is still in my dictionary of modern English, but is more often met in other tenses, such as bespoke (tailoring) and bespoken (engaged or ordered beforehand) though "spoken for" is now used more than bespoken in colloquial speech.
With no central heating, or gas or oil fires, then the making of fires, keeping them fed and acquiring the fuel was a constant worry, especially in a British winter. We know Pepys' father wasn't well off, so it appears Sam is being a dutiful son and buying fuel to prevent his parents from freezing.
About Wednesday 7 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Modern catcalls
A piercing whistle used to signal disapproval at a live performance (whether by entertainer or politician) is called a catcall in modern English, so perhaps Sam bought a whistle.
About Tuesday 6 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Re: Fritters
Fritters are slices of apple or vegetable dipped in batter and deep fried, not pancakes. Nowadays they are usually potato, but probably apple in 1660.
About Saturday 3 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Re: Commissioner’s despatch
My reading of this phrase was that Montague was getting a commission. (General is a commissioned rank) Someone in the government - the Commissioner - was responsible for sending Montague a dispatch confirming this, thus the “Commissioner’s despatch”.
A Commissioner is still a senior post in British public life, for example a Commissioner of Police, Civil Service Commissioner, Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, etc.
About Saturday 3 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Sorry: stupid typo
for "commission" read "Commissioner's despatch"
I assume this is the official dispatch confirming the commission, which Montagu fears might go astray, thus stopping him taking up the post of General at Sea. He fears that Monk is plotting to be in the driving seat/saddle on his own.
About Saturday 3 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Re: “how I should look after getting of his Commissioner’s despatch”
The phrase “Look after” I read to mean “take care of” as in modern English, meaning how could SP help his lord get his commission.
About Saturday 3 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
A tenuous link between that joke and Pepys:
http://www.tnsf.ca/bennyhill/lyri…
About Saturday 3 March 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Hence the old joke...
"A sheep's head please, and leave the eyes in. It's got to see us through the week"
About Billingsgate
Grahamt • Link
See:
http://www.billingsgate-market.or… for the history of Billingsgate market.
the current fish market is in Poplar.
The Billingsgate of 1749 is in the north east corner of this map:
http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/Se…
just below, i.e. downstream of, London Bridge.
On a modern map it was where the FB Office is in this map:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/street…
About General information
Grahamt • Link
To see the flags the ships of the commonwealth and Stuarts would have flown, go to http://tmg110.tripod.com/british1… and search on Stuart or Commonwealth.
About Magdalene College, Cambridge
Grahamt • Link
Both colleges - Magdelen (Oxford) and Magdelene (Cambridge) are/were pronounced 'maudlin'. The word maudlin is from the same root: (from SOED)
maudlin n. [(O)Fr. Madeleine f. eccl.L Magdalena: see MAGDALEN. In branch II f. the adj.]
1 = MAGDALEN 1. ME
About Queens' College, Cambridge
Grahamt • Link
The apostophe after the s was first used in 1823 and became official in 1831. In Pepys' time it would have had the same - Queen's - spelling as the Oxford college. See:
http://www.quns.cam.ac.uk/Queens/…
About Queens' College, Cambridge
Grahamt • Link
Queen's Oxford after Queen Philippa
Queens' Cambridge after Queens Margaret of Anjou and Elizabeth Woodville
About Turkey
Grahamt • Link
A large bird like a turkey would have been roasted, probably on a spit over a fire. As long as cooked all through, any surface bacteria would have been killed by the heat. Modern poultry is dodgy because intensive rearing methods mean that salmonella gets into the muscle of the living bird, so can survive if the bird is not thoroughly cooked. Sam's turkeys would have been free range.
However, meat served with dirty hands would have been a danger. I think it is fair to assume that (adult) people's immune systems back then would have coped better with a certain amount of infected food than ours would, after all many people survived smallpox without vaccinations. It is likely though that child mortality rates were high because an immature immune system could not cope with the daily bombardment of air, water and food borne pathogens.
About Saturday 25 February 1659/60
Grahamt • Link
Re:“After dressing myself, about ten o’clock”
As was said yesterday, this is a continuation of yesterday’s entry. Reading them together, he arrived in Cambridge at 8 o’clock, went to the Falcon Inn, where he changed from his travel clothes to his good clothes, at 10 o’clock, for visiting Mr Widdrington. (looks like the “n” got transcribed to “ri” in the name) Dressing here I think is used in the sense of dressing up, into something smarter.
About Maps of Britain
Grahamt • Link
The London to Berwick (pronounced Berrick) road is approximately what is now known as the A1 and was The Great North Road. See http://www.biffvernon.freeserve.c… for more information. It passes well to the west of Cambridge.
The road Pepys took to Hinchinbroke and Cambridge is:
"From London to Lynn 98 Miles, thus reckoned.
To Enfield Wash 10, to Hoddesdon 7, to Ware 4, to Puckeridge 6, to Barkway 8, to Fowlmere 7, to Cambridge 9, ...(chop)... to Lynn 5, an antient, large and well built Town in Norfolk, containing 3 Parish Churches; encompassed with a Wall and deep Trench; and otherwise called Lyn Regis, also Bishops Lyn, and Llyn by the Welsh, signifying a Lake, seated near the Mouth of Owse River. "
From http://www.londonancestor.com/sto…
Lynn is now known as Kings Lynn (Lyn Regis translated) and is a seaside resort.