The Goodwin Sands lie in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and posing a serious threat to shipping. The lack of navigational aids in the early days of sail contributed to the toll of shipwrecks as ironically, did the presence of the calm anchorage called The Downs that is also created by the presence of these treacherous sandbanks.
The first markers warning mariners of the threat were the North and South Foreland lighthouses situated just north of Broadstairs and at St. Margaret’s Bay respectively. The first North Foreland light was mentioned in 1499 and consisted of a wooden pole with a basket at the top in which a fire was lit.
In 1634 two lighthouses were placed at South Foreland to create a transit light enabling ships to steer clear of the Sands.
The first chart was drawn in 1583 by Dutchman Lucas Janszoon Wagenaer but attempts to erect warning beacons did not happen until 1840.
The Goodwin Sands have earning the nickname of ‘the shippe swallower’. The glutinous, quicksand nature of the Goodwins means that a ship foundering on the Sands quickly ‘swaddle down’ to a watery grave, often breaking its back before disappearing.
In a 2015 report written by the Historic England, Wessex Archaeology the Goodwin Sands area was described as ‘archaeologically extraordinary’ as they ‘hold the highest density of heritage assets in UK waters with all these wrecks having the reputation of being abnormally well preserved’.
The first recorded wreck was in 1298 when ship owner William Martyn appealed to Edward I for a jury to investigate a claim of plunder near Sandwich. Since then, over 2,000 shipwrecks have been recorded with the true number probably nearer 3,500. As many as 50,000 souls have drowned there.
Ironically, it is the safe anchorage of The Downs that often led to the loss of ships as they dragged their anchors onto the Sands during bad weather. One occasion was the Great Storm of 27 November 1703 when 130 ships and 1,200 sailors were lost in one night.
During the Great Storm, 4 warships, HMS Northumberland, Mary, Restoration and Stirling Castle all sank with the loss of most of their crews. The 4 warships are all listed as Protected Wrecks. (Protected Wrecks are the marine equivalent of Listed Buildings and are managed by Historic England.)
A number of Protected Wrecks lie around the Goodwins – including HMS London which lies in the Thames and is currently undergoing conservation work.
For more info on ships that went down on the Goodwin Sands see the website below.
It is surprising to think the town of Sandwich was an important port with an "enormous" harbor which could accommodate the fleet.
Two notable naval battles took place here were the 1457 Battle of Sandwich (against the French) and the 1639 Battle of the Downs (the Dutch against the Spanish, with England trying to remain neutral).
Hello Ashley -- The Downs is the name of the sheltered and comparatively safe anchorage which lies between the Goodwin Sands and the coast of England. The sandbanks are 10 miles long (16 km), at the southern end of the North Sea, lying 6 miles (10 km) off the Deal coast in Kent. You can see some of the Goodwin Sands at low tide, so sailors can easily go aground on them. This part of the Channel is comparatively shallow, and the sandbanks do move. Sailors have to know what they are doing, and employ local pilots to navigate safely when possible. https://goodwinsands.org.uk/why-s…
Therefore, when The Naseby and the fleet leaves Deal, it can't sail straight east to the Coast of the Dutch Republic -- they are going to Schevelingen, not Calais.
Montagu tells us "in the afternoon anchored again, the South Foreland bearing W.S.W. about four leagues off."
That means they left Deal and sailed west (to evade the Goodwin Sands), and anchored there for the night. Presumably they will sail out into the Channel (south) and then east to Schevelingen tomorrow.
For more about the destruction of Basing House, the fortress/palace which had controlled the traffic on the Great Western Road for 600 years, read a blog based on Rev. Hugh Peters' first hand account of Cromwell's assault and victory at the end of the third seige.
The Fate of a Grand House in the English Civil War -- by Deborah Swift http://englishhistoryauthors.blog… Honora de Burgh Paulet, Marchioness of Winchester, is the name of the Roman Catholic lady reduced to her underwear, and later subjected to a couple of years in the Tower of London. She died 10 March, 1661/2.
The comments at the end ignor the Wars of the Roses! The Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639 to 1653) were not Britain's first civil war. Arguably there are more than these two: the Brits are a warlike crowd once you get them going.
"... during May 1660 the Naseby was anchored in The Downs off Deal, where her laurel-crowned figurehead of Oliver Cromwell was removed before sailing to the Dutch Republic at the head of the fleet sent to bring Charles II back to England, captained by Sir Edward Montagu and still under her Parliamentary name.[2]
2 Parliamentary Intelligencer, April 30 to May 7, 1660, in Random Edition References
In 1662 Robert Boyle formulated Boyle's Law (also called the Boyle–Mariotte law, or Mariotte's law), which is an experimental gas law that describes the relationship between pressure and volume of a confined gas.
The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson posted this explanation of its fundermentals, which I think we'll all understand:
Is Hell Exothermic or Endothermic? The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term: "Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Support your answer with a proof."
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant. But one student wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities. 1) If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2) Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it ? If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Therese Banyan during my Freshman year that "It will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then (2) cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic.
"As we were sitting down to dinner, in comes Noble with a letter from the House of Lords to my Lord, to desire him to provide ships to transport the Commissioners to the King, which are expected here this week."
I suspect this wasn't Pepys' father's servant, Jack Noble. That the House of Lords would entrust such a document to the servant of a tailor sounds highly unlikely to me. Or did he work for the House of Lords, get fired probably, and years later go to work for John Pepys Snr.? Again, it's highly unlikely my question will ever be answered.
Punch & Judy Professors and Puppeteers from all over Britain and abroad gather to perform in the Garden of St. Paul’s Church on the second Sunday in May near the spot where Samuel Pepys first recorded sighting Mr. Punch in May 1662.
In 2023 the day starts at 11am with a Grand Procession around the neighbourhood led by the Superior Brass Band.
At 12 noon there is a Special Church Service with Mr. Punch in the pulpit, followed by Shows, Stalls and Workshops, Folk Music and Maypole Dancing. The British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild, The Punch & Judy Fellowship and the Punch & Judy Club will all be represented alongside local community groups including the Covent Garden Community Association. The day ends at 5.30pm.
Halloween and May Day are 6 months apart. Pepys lived in "modern" London, but in the Highlands things were a bit different: they still lived in "old" Scotland.
The night of April 30 was Beltane -- and they had some ceremonies designed to protect the crops being sown to ensure a healthy harvest. They also ate burned oatcakes, so pay attention and see if Pepys complains to his dinner being burned on the night before May Day: https://www.atlasobscura.com/arti…
True. And he was a good musician and singer, so he could give pleasure to others by peforming. That was an important contribution to the harmony on board. The tars all over the ship could hear their Admiral and Pepys harmonizing and enjoying themselves, and the happy noise would fill the time otherwise spent complaining about the food and thinking about going home to their wives and children.
“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast.” That famous line was uttered by a character in William Congreve's 1697 play The Mourning Bride.
"Mountagu is taking his pre-teen heir along on the big trip to pick up the King. Must be nice to be in charge."
There was a tradition of using heirs as pages, much in the way Pepys' boy is employed. Young Hinchingbrooke will be doing "go fetch" chores which would have to be done by an adult otherwise. He can sleep in the Admiral's quarters and won't need a bunk or private cabin. And yes, he'll meet Charles II and Princes James and Henry, and a lot of the incoming regime. It's sort of a dangerous Take Your Child To Work week or fortnight. Maybe he'll like being a sea Captain and take up the profession?
Terry stole my scoop on the debate about blasphemy in the House of Commons on this day in 1666.
Today I was reading an old article in the New Statesman about the Covid lockdowns in the UK, and the author made this point:
"In 1666-67, parliament debated a bill that would have made denying the central theological doctrines of Anglicanism punishable by imprisonment and exile. One of the books mentioned in the bill that prompted atheism and blasphemy was "Leviathan". Understandably, the bill sent Hobbes into spasms of fear. But ironically, this fear arose from the sovereign doing the same thing Hobbes had said in "Leviathan" it should do." https://www.newstatesman.com/poli…
Charles II was tutored by Thomas Hobbes, briefly, in Paris during the 1650's. Apparently Charles was paying attention; and many in Parliament had also read Hobbes' works to pay attention.
No one answered j a gioia's question prompted by "After I was in bed Mr. Sheply and W. Howe came and sat in my cabin ... and sat laughing and very merry, till almost one o’clock in the morning.
"it's been noted here before, still i find it remarkable how much business/socializing at the time was done while one party was abed. it certainly indicates an overall lack of a modern sense of privacy and one is left wondering how and why the custom changed."
Many Tudor and Stuart houses had connecting rooms upstairs and down with no passages, so you walked through one room to get to another. It was the Georgians who wanted passageways, and to make their servants invisible. Not so common to find that in the UK in old houses now, because walls have been altered to create private spaces.
And j a g assumes a level of privilege, then and now. I recall that it's estimated that in Stuart times about 1/4 of the population slept under hedgerows -- they were homeless. I trust it's not that bad these days, but it's still way too high.
In Inns you paid extra not to have strangers share your room. Poor families all slept in the same bed, for warmth amongst other things. There was a trundle bed under Pepys' bed for his boy, mentioned occasionally.
But j a g's talking about entertaining guests while in bed. Again, wealthy men still do it when it's convenient. Women were and are chaperoned, by butlers and ladies-in-waiting, even in Pepys' day.
Charles II is about to introduce a French court custom: getting dressed and undressed in public. You paid a lot extra to get into that room!
The relationship between the Post Office and the intelligence service run by Secretary of State Joseph Williamson during Diary times is explored in a long article at https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
During the second Anglo-Dutch war Col. Silus Titus was in command of a mixed force of regulars, new army and militia on England’s classic ‘invasion coast’ from Deal to Thanet. https://www.historyofparliamenton…
On 7 Dec. he seconded Prynne’s motion for more executions, specifying Sir Hardress Waller as a royal pensioner who had voted for his benefactor’s death.
On 10 Dec. he moved for reimbursing the corporation of London for their expenditure on Charles II’s reception, and 3 days later he brought in a bill to defray their militia costs.
On 19 Dec. it was Titus’ turn to be voted £3,000 by the House. The motion was ‘for his fidelity and service, not for any debt’, and it was resolved to lay the charge on the excise.
Still acting as spokesman for the City, he defended them against charges of reluctance to lend money to the restored monarchy, and on 29 Dec. wound up the session with a venomous attack on the Cromwellian soldier-diplomat Sir William Lockhart, saying that ‘there was not a verier villain upon earth’ and regretting that he had not been excepted from the Act of Indemnity.
Silus Titus lost his seat at the general election, and was out of Parliament for 9 years. He had some difficulty in collecting his £3,000 from the excise, and complained to his Puritan friends that he had become ‘a mere cipher’; but his post at Court (groom of the bedchamber to Charles II 1650-1, by May 1660-75), where his Mediterranean vivacity was more appreciated than in the Commons, brought him some compensation.
During the second Anglo-Dutch war he was in command of a mixed force of regulars, new army and militia on England’s classic ‘invasion coast’ from Deal to Thanet.
He was returned for Lostwithiel on the government interest at a by-election in 1670.
He was very involved in investigating the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis debates.
‘Suspected by some and censured by more’, Titus was soon disillusioned with James II, especially over the remodelling of the army, and tried to reinsure himself with William of Orange.
But he could not escape from the consequences of collaboration; in the summer he was made a Privy Councillor, attending 10 meetings between July and William’s landing at Brixham.
He visited William at Windsor in December, but was refused an audience, after which he returned to Whitehall and attended the last meeting of James II’s Privy Council on 16 Dec. 1688. With no family connections to support him, his political career was at an end, although he sat for Ludlow as a country Whig and contested both Huntingdonshire and Hertfordshire under William III.
He died in December 1704.
A colourful and entertaining speaker in the House, it is hard to credit Silus Titus MP with serious political principles, unless perhaps for toleration. His experiences during the Interregnum gave him a love of intrigue, to which his miscalculations of 1687 may be attributed.
Silius Titus (1623–1704), was the grandson of an Italian immigrant. His father became a member of the Salters’ Company and went into the soap trade, leasing ‘the best soaphouse in London’ in 1603. He had a small estate in Hertfordshire by 1625, but more important was the house off Holborn, which was reckoned to bring in £180 p.a.
Titus received a good education, and may have been intended for the law; he was still the nominal joint occupant of a chamber in the Temple in 1652, although it was ‘very ruinous and offensive’. He did not like most of the Puritanically-inclined young lawyers.
In 1642, he volunteer for the Earl of Essex’s bodyguard at the outset of the Civil Wars, preferring to accept a commission from the Hertfordshire committee. His military record was not distinguished, although he was present at the siege of Donington Castle in 1644. A Presbyterian, he was not required to serve in the New Model Army, and was appointed by Parliament to attend King Charles at Holdenby. He soon became a royalist partisan, involved in organizing an attempted escape from the Isle of Wight, and had to go into exile.
Titus accompanied Charles II to Scotland in 1650, and undertook several hazardous missions as a royalist agent during the Interregnum. It was chiefly as a propagandist that he was valued, although his part in the production of "Killing No Murder" appears to have been largely editorial.
Early in 1660 he was in England with Edward Massey who wrote on 27 Mar.: "I have been exceedingly angry at him that he could never be got to write anything in season. He hath wrote something concerning the elections, but so late ere we could get him to it that it will now signify nothing."
Hyde wished Titus would ‘scatter abroad some sheets of paper to make a republic, its constitution, tyranny and burden, as ridiculous and odious as the argument will bear’.
Massey ‘spent much time getting Titus into the Commons’; he believed through the kindness of a Mr. Browne of Shefford he had a sure seat for him, presumably at Ludgershall, but whether Titus went to the poll at the general election is not known.
Silus Titus was returned to the Convention Parliament at a by-election, and became an active Member. He was named to 16 committees, acted 4 times as teller, and made 12 recorded speeches.
He was appointed to examine a Lords’ amendment to the indemnity bill on 17 Aug. Throughout the debate he took the harshest line against the regicides, acting as teller for the exception of Sir Arthur Hesilrige from pardon and calling on his former commanding officer Richard Browne to repeat to the House the words which brought Col. Adrian Scrope to the block.
On 4 Dec. he moved for the exhumation of the regicides from Westminster Abbey.
Gov. Berkeley appointed him to the Council in April 1670, made him a lieutenant general of the militia in July 1672, and arranged for Charles II to name him lieutenant governor in 1674.
Chicheley’s influence with the Master General of Ordnance, his brother Sir Thomas Chicheley MP [https://www.historyofparliamenton… ] resulted in the dispatch of some much-needed great guns and ammunition during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674).
During the frontier unrest that preceded Bacon’s Rebellion, Berkeley gave Chicheley command of a force that was supposed to attack marauding Indians. Chicheley never took the field because Berkeley countermanded the order. Berkeley’s change of heart was one in a series of missteps that inspired Nathaniel Bacon (1647–1676) to revolt. Chicheley and others unsuccessfully tried to settle the disagreements between Gov. Berkeley and Bacon, but when the rebellion began, Chicheley stood by Berkeley. The Baconians considered him a traitor and held him hostage until the insurgency failed.
On December 30, 1678, Chicheley succeeded Herbert Jeffreys as acting governor.
Chicheley was alarmed by the Crown’s aggressive attempt to regain control of the colony, although few shared his cautious disposition as he awaited the coming of Berkeley’s replacement, Thomas, 2nd baron Culpeper of Thoresway [https://encyclopediavirginia.org/… ], who finally arrived and took up his duties on May 10, 1680, only to depart on August 11.
It fell to Chicheley to steer the colony through a troubled period of political and economic readjustment. Commandments from Charles II prevented him from using the General Assembly in the spring of 1682 to improve tobacco prices by limiting crop size. In response to falling prices, gangs of frustrated planters cut down tobacco seedlings on more than 200 plantations. Prompt action by local officials prevented the plant-cutting riots from spreading. Unlike Gov. Culpeper, who returned for another administration from December 1682 to May 1683, Chicheley saw the plant cuttings as fairly insignificant, and most of the offenders were only lightly punished. His instinct for circumspection kept the riots from turning into an insurrection and spared the colony from more intervention from London.
Quelling the plant cutters was Chicheley’s last important act as deputy governor. Gov. Culpeper erred with his characterization of Chicheley as “that Lumpe, that Masse of Dulnesse, that worse then nothing.”
Sir Henry Chicheley died on February 5, 1683, probably at Rosegill, several weeks after Culpeper’s second arrival. He was buried “neare the Comunion Table” in the chancel of Christ Church, in Middlesex County, VA. Excerpted from https://encyclopediavirginia.org/…
Comments
Third Reading
About Saturday 12 May 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Also a question on cards. What games did they play?"
Check out our accumulated knowledge to date:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Cards
San Diego Sarah • Link
We also have Encyclopedia pages for card games:
Beast https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… and
Gleek https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Basset was another popular game, but I know nothing about it.
About The Downs
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Goodwin Sands lie in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and posing a serious threat to shipping. The lack of navigational aids in the early days of sail contributed to the toll of shipwrecks as ironically, did the presence of the calm anchorage called The Downs that is also created by the presence of these treacherous sandbanks.
The first markers warning mariners of the threat were the North and South Foreland lighthouses situated just north of Broadstairs and at St. Margaret’s Bay respectively.
The first North Foreland light was mentioned in 1499 and consisted of a wooden pole with a basket at the top in which a fire was lit.
In 1634 two lighthouses were placed at South Foreland to create a transit light enabling ships to steer clear of the Sands.
The first chart was drawn in 1583 by Dutchman Lucas Janszoon Wagenaer but attempts to erect warning beacons did not happen until 1840.
The Goodwin Sands have earning the nickname of ‘the shippe swallower’.
The glutinous, quicksand nature of the Goodwins means that a ship foundering on the Sands quickly ‘swaddle down’ to a watery grave, often breaking its back before disappearing.
In a 2015 report written by the Historic England, Wessex Archaeology the Goodwin Sands area was described as ‘archaeologically extraordinary’ as they ‘hold the highest density of heritage assets in UK waters with all these wrecks having the reputation of being abnormally well preserved’.
The first recorded wreck was in 1298 when ship owner William Martyn appealed to Edward I for a jury to investigate a claim of plunder near Sandwich.
Since then, over 2,000 shipwrecks have been recorded with the true number probably nearer 3,500. As many as 50,000 souls have drowned there.
Ironically, it is the safe anchorage of The Downs that often led to the loss of ships as they dragged their anchors onto the Sands during bad weather. One occasion was the Great Storm of 27 November 1703 when 130 ships and 1,200 sailors were lost in one night.
During the Great Storm, 4 warships, HMS Northumberland, Mary, Restoration and Stirling Castle all sank with the loss of most of their crews. The 4 warships are all listed as Protected Wrecks. (Protected Wrecks are the marine equivalent of Listed Buildings and are managed by Historic England.)
A number of Protected Wrecks lie around the Goodwins – including HMS London which lies in the Thames and is currently undergoing conservation work.
For more info on ships that went down on the Goodwin Sands see the website below.
It is surprising to think the town of Sandwich was an important port with an "enormous" harbor which could accommodate the fleet.
Two notable naval battles took place here were the 1457 Battle of Sandwich (against the French) and the 1639 Battle of the Downs (the Dutch against the Spanish, with England trying to remain neutral).
Highlights from https://goodwinsands.org.uk/why-s…
About Saturday 12 May 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Hello Ashley -- The Downs is the name of the sheltered and comparatively safe anchorage which lies between the Goodwin Sands and the coast of England.
The sandbanks are 10 miles long (16 km), at the southern end of the North Sea, lying 6 miles (10 km) off the Deal coast in Kent. You can see some of the Goodwin Sands at low tide, so sailors can easily go aground on them.
This part of the Channel is comparatively shallow, and the sandbanks do move. Sailors have to know what they are doing, and employ local pilots to navigate safely when possible.
https://goodwinsands.org.uk/why-s…
Therefore, when The Naseby and the fleet leaves Deal, it can't sail straight east to the Coast of the Dutch Republic -- they are going to Schevelingen, not Calais.
Montagu tells us "in the afternoon anchored again, the South Foreland bearing W.S.W. about four leagues off."
That means they left Deal and sailed west (to evade the Goodwin Sands), and anchored there for the night. Presumably they will sail out into the Channel (south) and then east to Schevelingen tomorrow.
About Saturday 3 April 1669
San Diego Sarah • Link
For more about the destruction of Basing House, the fortress/palace which had controlled the traffic on the Great Western Road for 600 years, read a blog based on Rev. Hugh Peters' first hand account of Cromwell's assault and victory at the end of the third seige.
The Fate of a Grand House in the English Civil War -- by Deborah Swift
http://englishhistoryauthors.blog…
Honora de Burgh Paulet, Marchioness of Winchester, is the name of the Roman Catholic lady reduced to her underwear, and later subjected to a couple of years in the Tower of London. She died 10 March, 1661/2.
The comments at the end ignor the Wars of the Roses! The Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639 to 1653) were not Britain's first civil war. Arguably there are more than these two: the Brits are a warlike crowd once you get them going.
For more 17th century context, see
http://bcw-project.org/biography/…
About Royal Charles (was Naseby)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Another version of what the Naseby/Royal Charles looked like
https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections…
About Monday 7 May 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... during May 1660 the Naseby was anchored in The Downs off Deal, where her laurel-crowned figurehead of Oliver Cromwell was removed before sailing to the Dutch Republic at the head of the fleet sent to bring Charles II back to England, captained by Sir Edward Montagu and still under her Parliamentary name.[2]
2 Parliamentary Intelligencer, April 30 to May 7, 1660, in Random Edition
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS…
Off with his head!!!???
About Robert Boyle
San Diego Sarah • Link
In 1662 Robert Boyle formulated Boyle's Law (also called the Boyle–Mariotte law, or Mariotte's law), which is an experimental gas law that describes the relationship between pressure and volume of a confined gas.
The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson posted this explanation of its fundermentals, which I think we'll all understand:
Is Hell Exothermic or Endothermic?
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term:
"Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Support your answer with a proof."
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant.
But one student wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving.
I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to Hell.
With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities.
1) If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2) Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it ?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Therese Banyan during my Freshman year that "It will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then (2) cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic.
The student got the only A.
About Wednesday 9 May 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"As we were sitting down to dinner, in comes Noble with a letter from the House of Lords to my Lord, to desire him to provide ships to transport the Commissioners to the King, which are expected here this week."
I suspect this wasn't Pepys' father's servant, Jack Noble. That the House of Lords would entrust such a document to the servant of a tailor sounds highly unlikely to me.
Or did he work for the House of Lords, get fired probably, and years later go to work for John Pepys Snr.? Again, it's highly unlikely my question will ever be answered.
About Covent Garden
San Diego Sarah • Link
Punch & Judy Professors and Puppeteers from all over Britain and abroad gather to perform in the Garden of St. Paul’s Church on the second Sunday in May near the spot where Samuel Pepys first recorded sighting Mr. Punch in May 1662.
In 2023 the day starts at 11am with a Grand Procession around the neighbourhood led by the Superior Brass Band.
At 12 noon there is a Special Church Service with Mr. Punch in the pulpit, followed by Shows, Stalls and Workshops, Folk Music and Maypole Dancing. The British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild, The Punch & Judy Fellowship and the Punch & Judy Club will all be represented alongside local community groups including the Covent Garden Community Association.
The day ends at 5.30pm.
@@@
Check for the schedule other years.
https://alternativearts.org.uk/ev…
About May Day
San Diego Sarah • Link
Halloween and May Day are 6 months apart. Pepys lived in "modern" London, but in the Highlands things were a bit different: they still lived in "old" Scotland.
The night of April 30 was Beltane -- and they had some ceremonies designed to protect the crops being sown to ensure a healthy harvest.
They also ate burned oatcakes, so pay attention and see if Pepys complains to his dinner being burned on the night before May Day:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/arti…
About Tuesday 8 May 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"he does love his Musique!"
True. And he was a good musician and singer, so he could give pleasure to others by peforming. That was an important contribution to the harmony on board. The tars all over the ship could hear their Admiral and Pepys harmonizing and enjoying themselves, and the happy noise would fill the time otherwise spent complaining about the food and thinking about going home to their wives and children.
“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast.” That famous line was uttered by a character in William Congreve's 1697 play The Mourning Bride.
About Thursday 10 May 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Mountagu is taking his pre-teen heir along on the big trip to pick up the King. Must be nice to be in charge."
There was a tradition of using heirs as pages, much in the way Pepys' boy is employed. Young Hinchingbrooke will be doing "go fetch" chores which would have to be done by an adult otherwise. He can sleep in the Admiral's quarters and won't need a bunk or private cabin. And yes, he'll meet Charles II and Princes James and Henry, and a lot of the incoming regime. It's sort of a dangerous Take Your Child To Work week or fortnight. Maybe he'll like being a sea Captain and take up the profession?
About Wednesday 17 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Terry stole my scoop on the debate about blasphemy in the House of Commons on this day in 1666.
Today I was reading an old article in the New Statesman about the Covid lockdowns in the UK, and the author made this point:
"In 1666-67, parliament debated a bill that would have made denying the central theological doctrines of Anglicanism punishable by imprisonment and exile. One of the books mentioned in the bill that prompted atheism and blasphemy was "Leviathan". Understandably, the bill sent Hobbes into spasms of fear. But ironically, this fear arose from the sovereign doing the same thing Hobbes had said in "Leviathan" it should do."
https://www.newstatesman.com/poli…
Charles II was tutored by Thomas Hobbes, briefly, in Paris during the 1650's. Apparently Charles was paying attention; and many in Parliament had also read Hobbes' works to pay attention.
About Monday 7 May 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
No one answered j a gioia's question prompted by "After I was in bed Mr. Sheply and W. Howe came and sat in my cabin ... and sat laughing and very merry, till almost one o’clock in the morning.
"it's been noted here before, still i find it remarkable how much business/socializing at the time was done while one party was abed. it certainly indicates an overall lack of a modern sense of privacy and one is left wondering how and why the custom changed."
Many Tudor and Stuart houses had connecting rooms upstairs and down with no passages, so you walked through one room to get to another.
It was the Georgians who wanted passageways, and to make their servants invisible. Not so common to find that in the UK in old houses now, because walls have been altered to create private spaces.
And j a g assumes a level of privilege, then and now. I recall that it's estimated that in Stuart times about 1/4 of the population slept under hedgerows -- they were homeless. I trust it's not that bad these days, but it's still way too high.
In Inns you paid extra not to have strangers share your room. Poor families all slept in the same bed, for warmth amongst other things. There was a trundle bed under Pepys' bed for his boy, mentioned occasionally.
But j a g's talking about entertaining guests while in bed. Again, wealthy men still do it when it's convenient. Women were and are chaperoned, by butlers and ladies-in-waiting, even in Pepys' day.
Charles II is about to introduce a French court custom: getting dressed and undressed in public. You paid a lot extra to get into that room!
About Post Office
San Diego Sarah • Link
The relationship between the Post Office and the intelligence service run by Secretary of State Joseph Williamson during Diary times is explored in a long article at https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Deal, Kent
San Diego Sarah • Link
During the second Anglo-Dutch war Col. Silus Titus was in command of a mixed force of regulars, new army and militia on England’s classic ‘invasion coast’ from Deal to Thanet.
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Capt. Silius Titus
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
On 7 Dec. he seconded Prynne’s motion for more executions, specifying Sir Hardress Waller as a royal pensioner who had voted for his benefactor’s death.
On 10 Dec. he moved for reimbursing the corporation of London for their expenditure on Charles II’s reception, and 3 days later he brought in a bill to defray their militia costs.
On 19 Dec. it was Titus’ turn to be voted £3,000 by the House. The motion was ‘for his fidelity and service, not for any debt’, and it was resolved to lay the charge on the excise.
Still acting as spokesman for the City, he defended them against charges of reluctance to lend money to the restored monarchy, and on 29 Dec. wound up the session with a venomous attack on the Cromwellian soldier-diplomat Sir William Lockhart, saying that ‘there was not a verier villain upon earth’ and regretting that he had not been excepted from the Act of Indemnity.
Silus Titus lost his seat at the general election, and was out of Parliament for 9 years. He had some difficulty in collecting his £3,000 from the excise, and complained to his Puritan friends that he had become ‘a mere cipher’; but his post at Court (groom of the bedchamber to Charles II 1650-1, by May 1660-75), where his Mediterranean vivacity was more appreciated than in the Commons, brought him some compensation.
During the second Anglo-Dutch war he was in command of a mixed force of regulars, new army and militia on England’s classic ‘invasion coast’ from Deal to Thanet.
He was returned for Lostwithiel on the government interest at a by-election in 1670.
He was very involved in investigating the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis debates.
‘Suspected by some and censured by more’, Titus was soon disillusioned with James II, especially over the remodelling of the army, and tried to reinsure himself with William of Orange.
But he could not escape from the consequences of collaboration; in the summer he was made a Privy Councillor, attending 10 meetings between July and William’s landing at Brixham.
He visited William at Windsor in December, but was refused an audience, after which he returned to Whitehall and attended the last meeting of James II’s Privy Council on 16 Dec. 1688.
With no family connections to support him, his political career was at an end, although he sat for Ludlow as a country Whig and contested both Huntingdonshire and Hertfordshire under William III.
He died in December 1704.
A colourful and entertaining speaker in the House, it is hard to credit Silus Titus MP with serious political principles, unless perhaps for toleration.
His experiences during the Interregnum gave him a love of intrigue, to which his miscalculations of 1687 may be attributed.
Excerpted from https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Capt. Silius Titus
San Diego Sarah • Link
Silius Titus (1623–1704), was the grandson of an Italian immigrant. His father became a member of the Salters’ Company and went into the soap trade, leasing ‘the best soaphouse in London’ in 1603.
He had a small estate in Hertfordshire by 1625, but more important was the house off Holborn, which was reckoned to bring in £180 p.a.
Titus received a good education, and may have been intended for the law; he was still the nominal joint occupant of a chamber in the Temple in 1652, although it was ‘very ruinous and offensive’. He did not like most of the Puritanically-inclined young lawyers.
In 1642, he volunteer for the Earl of Essex’s bodyguard at the outset of the Civil Wars, preferring to accept a commission from the Hertfordshire committee.
His military record was not distinguished, although he was present at the siege of Donington Castle in 1644.
A Presbyterian, he was not required to serve in the New Model Army, and was appointed by Parliament to attend King Charles at Holdenby.
He soon became a royalist partisan, involved in organizing an attempted escape from the Isle of Wight, and had to go into exile.
Titus accompanied Charles II to Scotland in 1650, and undertook several hazardous missions as a royalist agent during the Interregnum.
It was chiefly as a propagandist that he was valued, although his part in the production of "Killing No Murder" appears to have been largely editorial.
Early in 1660 he was in England with Edward Massey who wrote on 27 Mar.: "I have been exceedingly angry at him that he could never be got to write anything in season. He hath wrote something concerning the elections, but so late ere we could get him to it that it will now signify nothing."
Hyde wished Titus would ‘scatter abroad some sheets of paper to make a republic, its constitution, tyranny and burden, as ridiculous and odious as the argument will bear’.
Massey ‘spent much time getting Titus into the Commons’; he believed through the kindness of a Mr. Browne of Shefford he had a sure seat for him, presumably at Ludgershall, but whether Titus went to the poll at the general election is not known.
Silus Titus was returned to the Convention Parliament at a by-election, and became an active Member. He was named to 16 committees, acted 4 times as teller, and made 12 recorded speeches.
He was appointed to examine a Lords’ amendment to the indemnity bill on 17 Aug. Throughout the debate he took the harshest line against the regicides, acting as teller for the exception of Sir Arthur Hesilrige from pardon and calling on his former commanding officer Richard Browne to repeat to the House the words which brought Col. Adrian Scrope to the block.
On 4 Dec. he moved for the exhumation of the regicides from Westminster Abbey.
About Sir Henry Chicheley
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
Gov. Berkeley appointed him to the Council in April 1670, made him a lieutenant general of the militia in July 1672, and arranged for Charles II to name him lieutenant governor in 1674.
Chicheley’s influence with the Master General of Ordnance, his brother Sir Thomas Chicheley MP [https://www.historyofparliamenton… ] resulted in the dispatch of some much-needed great guns and ammunition during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674).
During the frontier unrest that preceded Bacon’s Rebellion, Berkeley gave Chicheley command of a force that was supposed to attack marauding Indians. Chicheley never took the field because Berkeley countermanded the order.
Berkeley’s change of heart was one in a series of missteps that inspired Nathaniel Bacon (1647–1676) to revolt.
Chicheley and others unsuccessfully tried to settle the disagreements between Gov. Berkeley and Bacon, but when the rebellion began, Chicheley stood by Berkeley.
The Baconians considered him a traitor and held him hostage until the insurgency failed.
On December 30, 1678, Chicheley succeeded Herbert Jeffreys as acting governor.
Chicheley was alarmed by the Crown’s aggressive attempt to regain control of the colony, although few shared his cautious disposition as he awaited the coming of Berkeley’s replacement, Thomas, 2nd baron Culpeper of Thoresway [https://encyclopediavirginia.org/… ], who finally arrived and took up his duties on May 10, 1680, only to depart on August 11.
It fell to Chicheley to steer the colony through a troubled period of political and economic readjustment.
Commandments from Charles II prevented him from using the General Assembly in the spring of 1682 to improve tobacco prices by limiting crop size.
In response to falling prices, gangs of frustrated planters cut down tobacco seedlings on more than 200 plantations. Prompt action by local officials prevented the plant-cutting riots from spreading.
Unlike Gov. Culpeper, who returned for another administration from December 1682 to May 1683, Chicheley saw the plant cuttings as fairly insignificant, and most of the offenders were only lightly punished.
His instinct for circumspection kept the riots from turning into an insurrection and spared the colony from more intervention from London.
Quelling the plant cutters was Chicheley’s last important act as deputy governor.
Gov. Culpeper erred with his characterization of Chicheley as “that Lumpe, that Masse of Dulnesse, that worse then nothing.”
Sir Henry Chicheley died on February 5, 1683, probably at Rosegill, several weeks after Culpeper’s second arrival.
He was buried “neare the Comunion Table” in the chancel of Christ Church, in Middlesex County, VA.
Excerpted from https://encyclopediavirginia.org/…