The City to Uxbridge, then back via Paddington to Lisson green is quite a trip. It is at least 35 miles, plus another 2 back to Whitehall. And all this after 3 pm, then back to work. The coach must have gone at quite a trot. I am not a horseman, but I estimate at least 3-4 hours, though I am sure watering the horses and other stops must have extended that. His excursions through Shoreditch, Hackney and Kingsland are much shorter, by distance, but he writes about them as though they are The Grand Tour and yet doesn't mention the distance covered here for the sake of a few kisses. I assume from the lack of French and Spanish that it didn't go further than kissing.
When I read about this varnished paper I thought it was to be varnished after printing to protect the print - like modern laminating - but it seems this is blank or lined paper. In which case it must be for pencil (or charcoal), as water or oil based ink wouldn't bind to the surface and would smear. Modern glossy printing papers have a layer of gelatine, gypsum, or other absorbant material to hold the ink. Perhaps the idea is to write on the unvarnished side then fold it so that the varnished side protects the contents when sealed along its edges. I like Andy's idea of all us Pepys readers experimenting by varnishing sheets of paper over the weekend.
Re: "Perhaps on some subconscious level at least Sam does fear God’s justice for these poor men" Probably not. These men are fighting for "God and Country" so, although he is upset that they are not getting their fair dues, he probably believes it is their proud fate to fight and die in defence of their homeland. Does anyone think the various officials that sent conscripted men to die in their millions in the two World Wars, Vietnam and other modern conflicts, feared God's justice? I don't imagine that Robert McNamara - the "Architect of the Vietnam War" - thought he would burn in the fires of hell for the 60,000 young Americans that died in Vietnam, nor would Pepys for his small part in the impressment of men for defence against the Dutch.
Nix, there was a discussion about this back in June 1664: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… I thought that receiving a letter telling you "go to war or go to gaol", wasn't so different to getting a tap on the shoulder and being told "go to war or go to gaol", but not everyone agreed.
Handfull: As Hooke is talking about the size of a beast of burden, doesn't handfull here equate to the modern Hand used to measure horses, i.e. 4 inches? So , "5 yards long wanting a handfull. 2 yards & an handfull high. 3 yards & ... one handfull girth) " would be 14'8"(14foot 8inches ) long, 6'4" high, 9'4" girth (4.47m x 1.93m x 2.84m) Of course, he could be using it in the same way as we use "a bit", so a bit less than 5 yards long and 2 and-a-bit yards high, which is a bit (handfull?) vague for a scientist.
Re: "chopping and changing of my tallys " It is interesting to see a literal use of this phrase. I have used the figurative sense, of something constantly being changed, as in "He's forever chopping and changing his plans.", without ever thinking of its literal meaning.
I'm with Glyn on this. Sam shows true compassion for the loss of Mercer: "...what with the going away of my father today and the losse of Mercer, ... and there could have cried to myself." I can't imagine Pepys crying at losing the opportunity of a letch and/or grope, after all, he seems to have plenty of other opportunities. It appears we are seeing noble feelings presented here, beyond the baser lusts he often displays.
I have often suspected that betimes meant around dawn. Adding on the days for the Julian calendar, dawn is around 03:50 this day in 1666, so "Up between 4 and 5 o’clock... " almost fits. The sun has risen, the cock has crowed and Sam is setting the world - I mean his papers - to rights, while the rest of London lies abed.
“I just can’t imagine how to do this without differential calculus and differential equations” Maybe he used a scale model, which we know shipbuilders made to show their clients, calculated the weight it was expected to be from the amount of timber used and standard hardware, scaled the weight to the model by adding lead, and then floated it in a tub and measured the draught. This could then be scaled up to life size. Or, maybe he had an empirical formula for measuring the hull volume which was more accurate than other shipbuilders' formulae. If you know the displacement (volume of water equivalent to weight of ship) and the volume of the hull at different draughts, then the final draught can be calculated. I don't think counting squares on 2D graph paper would work for a 3D problem, but maybe if you used a sheet for each cross-section through the hull it would work.
If you don't have Newton and Liebnitz, you use Euclid and Archimedes. We have computers and advanced mathmatics, so forget there are often simpler ways of doing complex sums.
However unless Deane left documentation, we will never know for sure how he did it, but it is fun to guess.
Daytime, Although Sunset is around 20:00 GMT at this time of year, the twilight lasts for a considerable time. In June, when sunset is nearer 21:00 GMT there is still enough light in the sky at 22:00 GMT (23:00 BST) to see clearly. Note also that dawn is about 04:00 GMT, so even when same arises "very betimes" it will probably already be full daylight.
So poor Susan didn't have the plague, it was "only" malaria.
One assumes that malaria (ague) was so widespread in the 17th C. that the people had some immunity to its worst effects, though it was still oftentimes fatal: "Coastal southern and eastern England had unusually high levels of mortality from malaria from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century (Dobson, 1994)." [http://www.cambridge.org/catalogu…]
It would be another 200+ years before it was discovered that it was carried by mosquitoes and not caused by 'mala aria' (bad air)
Hackney vs Shoreditch. Not that much of an error: I go to an evening class in Hackney and the nearest Tube station is in Shoreditch - a 10 minute walk. The driver probably went up Commercial street and Bishopsgate instead of the Whitechapel road ("We miss the road-works and one-way system this way, mate"), but from Pepys' home/office it would be almost the same distance to go through Shoreditch to get to Hackney. The Whitechapel road was in the countryside then, so maybe it was considered a safer route away from the Moorfield and Finsbury highwaymen. (but why would it make them merry that he took them the more dangerous route?) By one of those strange coincidences, last time Pepys mentioned Shoreditch, Elizabeth also had a toothache. (http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…) Shoreditch is now well known for its pole dancing pubs; I'm sure Pepys' would have been a regular, like the modern city boys, if they had existed then. (cue Robert Gertz)
"…with mighty pleasure to ourselves and neighbours, by their casements opening …” The fact that the neighbours opened the casements, rather than slamming them shut, suggests that they enjoyed the free entertainment.
Doesn't Sam realise that if Mrs Turner is gossipping about the neighbours, and "tells [him] the faults of all of them", then she is probably doing the same thing about him to the neighbours?
Terry, "Perfidious England" (la perfide Angleterre) goes back to the 13th C., but it only became "Perfidous Albion" (la perfide Albion) in the 18th C. Wikipedia agrees with the OED in this. Even if it didn't agree, I would still trust the OED over Wikipedia, useful as it sometimes is.
Re: "One year to the day, time for greener pastures" It is perhaps no coincidence that Alice starts and leaves within days of Lady Day. This was the traditional day for hiring and firing of help, especially in the country, being the old style New Year. (Note that in the diary, 1665/66 changed to plain 1666 a few days ago on 25th March - Lady Day.)
Comments
First Reading
About Thursday 12 July 1666
GrahamT • Link
The City to Uxbridge, then back via Paddington to Lisson green is quite a trip. It is at least 35 miles, plus another 2 back to Whitehall. And all this after 3 pm, then back to work. The coach must have gone at quite a trot.
I am not a horseman, but I estimate at least 3-4 hours, though I am sure watering the horses and other stops must have extended that.
His excursions through Shoreditch, Hackney and Kingsland are much shorter, by distance, but he writes about them as though they are The Grand Tour and yet doesn't mention the distance covered here for the sake of a few kisses.
I assume from the lack of French and Spanish that it didn't go further than kissing.
About Monday 9 July 1666
GrahamT • Link
When I read about this varnished paper I thought it was to be varnished after printing to protect the print - like modern laminating - but it seems this is blank or lined paper.
In which case it must be for pencil (or charcoal), as water or oil based ink wouldn't bind to the surface and would smear. Modern glossy printing papers have a layer of gelatine, gypsum, or other absorbant material to hold the ink.
Perhaps the idea is to write on the unvarnished side then fold it so that the varnished side protects the contents when sealed along its edges.
I like Andy's idea of all us Pepys readers experimenting by varnishing sheets of paper over the weekend.
About Friday 6 July 1666
GrahamT • Link
Re: "Perhaps on some subconscious level at least Sam does fear God’s justice for these poor men"
Probably not. These men are fighting for "God and Country" so, although he is upset that they are not getting their fair dues, he probably believes it is their proud fate to fight and die in defence of their homeland.
Does anyone think the various officials that sent conscripted men to die in their millions in the two World Wars, Vietnam and other modern conflicts, feared God's justice?
I don't imagine that Robert McNamara - the "Architect of the Vietnam War" - thought he would burn in the fires of hell for the 60,000 young Americans that died in Vietnam, nor would Pepys for his small part in the impressment of men for defence against the Dutch.
About Saturday 7 July 1666
GrahamT • Link
Re: "Property could not be robbed."
No, but it being 1666, we will soon see there are other ways to lose property.
About Saturday 30 June 1666
GrahamT • Link
Nix, there was a discussion about this back in June 1664: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
I thought that receiving a letter telling you "go to war or go to gaol", wasn't so different to getting a tap on the shoulder and being told "go to war or go to gaol", but not everyone agreed.
About Wednesday 27 June 1666
GrahamT • Link
Handfull:
As Hooke is talking about the size of a beast of burden, doesn't handfull here equate to the modern Hand used to measure horses, i.e. 4 inches? So , "5 yards long wanting a handfull. 2 yards & an handfull high. 3 yards & ... one handfull girth) "
would be 14'8"(14foot 8inches ) long, 6'4" high, 9'4" girth (4.47m x 1.93m x 2.84m)
Of course, he could be using it in the same way as we use "a bit", so a bit less than 5 yards long and 2 and-a-bit yards high, which is a bit (handfull?) vague for a scientist.
About Monday 25 June 1666
GrahamT • Link
Re: "chopping and changing of my tallys " It is interesting to see a literal use of this phrase. I have used the figurative sense, of something constantly being changed, as in "He's forever chopping and changing his plans.", without ever thinking of its literal meaning.
About Sunday 24 June 1666
GrahamT • Link
Sir Francis Prujean:
"...hath writ nothing to leave his name to posterity"
but you have done it for him, my dear Pepys.
About Saturday 23 June 1666
GrahamT • Link
I'm with Glyn on this. Sam shows true compassion for the loss of Mercer:
"...what with the going away of my father today and the losse of Mercer, ... and there could have cried to myself."
I can't imagine Pepys crying at losing the opportunity of a letch and/or grope, after all, he seems to have plenty of other opportunities.
It appears we are seeing noble feelings presented here, beyond the baser lusts he often displays.
About La Rochelle, France
GrahamT • Link
The old port of La Rochelle as it is today:
http://www.travisnet.org.uk/LeRoc…
About Monday 21 May 1666
GrahamT • Link
I have often suspected that betimes meant around dawn. Adding on the days for the Julian calendar, dawn is around 03:50 this day in 1666, so "Up between 4 and 5 o’clock... " almost fits. The sun has risen, the cock has crowed and Sam is setting the world - I mean his papers - to rights, while the rest of London lies abed.
About Saturday 19 May 1666
GrahamT • Link
“I just can’t imagine how to do this without differential calculus and differential equations”
Maybe he used a scale model, which we know shipbuilders made to show their clients, calculated the weight it was expected to be from the amount of timber used and standard hardware, scaled the weight to the model by adding lead, and then floated it in a tub and measured the draught. This could then be scaled up to life size.
Or, maybe he had an empirical formula for measuring the hull volume which was more accurate than other shipbuilders' formulae. If you know the displacement (volume of water equivalent to weight of ship) and the volume of the hull at different draughts, then the final draught can be calculated.
I don't think counting squares on 2D graph paper would work for a 3D problem, but maybe if you used a sheet for each cross-section through the hull it would work.
If you don't have Newton and Liebnitz, you use Euclid and Archimedes. We have computers and advanced mathmatics, so forget there are often simpler ways of doing complex sums.
However unless Deane left documentation, we will never know for sure how he did it, but it is fun to guess.
About Sunday 13 May 1666
GrahamT • Link
Sorry: "same arises..." should of course be "Sam rises...".
About Sunday 13 May 1666
GrahamT • Link
Daytime,
Although Sunset is around 20:00 GMT at this time of year, the twilight lasts for a considerable time. In June, when sunset is nearer 21:00 GMT there is still enough light in the sky at 22:00 GMT (23:00 BST) to see clearly.
Note also that dawn is about 04:00 GMT, so even when same arises "very betimes" it will probably already be full daylight.
About Saturday 12 May 1666
GrahamT • Link
So poor Susan didn't have the plague, it was "only" malaria.
One assumes that malaria (ague) was so widespread in the 17th C. that the people had some immunity to its worst effects, though it was still oftentimes fatal: "Coastal southern and eastern England had unusually high levels of mortality from malaria from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century (Dobson, 1994)." [http://www.cambridge.org/catalogu…]
It would be another 200+ years before it was discovered that it was carried by mosquitoes and not caused by 'mala aria' (bad air)
About Thursday 10 May 1666
GrahamT • Link
Hackney vs Shoreditch.
Not that much of an error: I go to an evening class in Hackney and the nearest Tube station is in Shoreditch - a 10 minute walk. The driver probably went up Commercial street and Bishopsgate instead of the Whitechapel road ("We miss the road-works and one-way system this way, mate"), but from Pepys' home/office it would be almost the same distance to go through Shoreditch to get to Hackney.
The Whitechapel road was in the countryside then, so maybe it was considered a safer route away from the Moorfield and Finsbury highwaymen. (but why would it make them merry that he took them the more dangerous route?)
By one of those strange coincidences, last time Pepys mentioned Shoreditch, Elizabeth also had a toothache.
(http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…)
Shoreditch is now well known for its pole dancing pubs; I'm sure Pepys' would have been a regular, like the modern city boys, if they had existed then. (cue Robert Gertz)
About Saturday 5 May 1666
GrahamT • Link
"…with mighty pleasure to ourselves and neighbours, by their casements opening …”
The fact that the neighbours opened the casements, rather than slamming them shut, suggests that they enjoyed the free entertainment.
About Friday 20 April 1666
GrahamT • Link
Doesn't Sam realise that if Mrs Turner is gossipping about the neighbours, and "tells [him] the faults of all of them", then she is probably doing the same thing about him to the neighbours?
About Sunday 1 April 1666
GrahamT • Link
Terry,
"Perfidious England" (la perfide Angleterre) goes back to the 13th C., but it only became "Perfidous Albion" (la perfide Albion) in the 18th C. Wikipedia agrees with the OED in this. Even if it didn't agree, I would still trust the OED over Wikipedia, useful as it sometimes is.
About Friday 30 March 1666
GrahamT • Link
Re: "One year to the day, time for greener pastures"
It is perhaps no coincidence that Alice starts and leaves within days of Lady Day. This was the traditional day for hiring and firing of help, especially in the country, being the old style New Year. (Note that in the diary, 1665/66 changed to plain 1666 a few days ago on 25th March - Lady Day.)