Last we heard of Mrs. Bagwell was 8 November, 1665:
“and by water to Deptford, and there did order my matters so, walking up and down the fields till it was dark night, that ‘je allais a la maison of my valentine, —[Bagwell’s wife]— and there ‘je faisais whatever je voudrais avec’ her, and, about eight at night, did take water, being glad I was out of the towne; for the plague, it seems, rages there more than ever, …”
"After dinner waiting on him I gave him the first notice of the Spaniards referring the umpirage of the Peace ’twixt them, & the Portugal to the French King, which came to me in a letter from France before the Secretaries of State had any news of it"
I read this as meaning that the Spanish have asked Louis XIV to mediate a peace between the Spanish and the Portuguese. Evelyn got the news before Secretary of State Joseph Williamson.
Glad to hear Evelyn's stroke wasn't serious yesterday, so he could travel and avoid the service wished on him by the Royal Society and Charles II. Being a Justice of the Peace was a big deal.
"So by coach home, it being the fast day and to my chamber and so after supper to bed,"
What does "So" denote the above sentence? I haven't the faintest idea ... and a fast must mean something different today than it did then. I think Pepys was scribbling an ending to his post without thinking too closely about syntax.
"... my new window in the boy’s chamber plastered. Then to supper, and after having my head combed by the little girle to bed."
So now we know the little girle didn't go with Bess to Brampton either. How about the boy went ... that way his chamber is available for these alterations.
"At night had Mercer comb my head and so to supper, sing a psalm, and to bed."
Any excuse for some music and singing, I suspect. And now we know Mercer was not chaperoning Elizabeth on her trip with Hewer to Cambridgeshire. Maybe their little girl went instead.
Steven Snipes brings to our attention that on May 31, 1669 -- 350 years ago -- Pepys decides to discontinue the Diary. To mark his achievement the Royal Mint has designed a memorial coin honoring him and his historic contribution to our understanding of the times, and included it with the 2019 commemoration coins. https://www.royalmint.com/discove…
You can order a set, but I don't see a way to get just his coin.
Perfect example of Pepys' new schedule: work til noon, visits and contrast in the afternoon, work in the evening. And I think that plotting business moves secure in your own bed, enjoying clean sheets, counts as work.
Pepys noted Alderman Blackwell going abroad in July 1665 to make payment to Christopher Bernard von Galen, Prince-Bishop of Münster to secure his invasion of the Netherlands by land:
"http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… “Sir G. Carteret told me one considerable thing: Alderman Backewell is ordered abroad upon some private score with a great sum of money; wherein I was instrumental the other day in shipping him away. It seems some of his creditors have taken notice of it, and he was like to be broke yesterday in his absence; Sir G. Carteret telling me that the King and the kingdom must as good as fall with that man at this time; and that he was forced to get 4000l. himself to answer Backewell’s people’s occasions, or he must have broke; but committed this to me as a great secret and which I am heartily sorry to hear.”'
This might explain the spiral of events leading to Carteret's inability to balance his business accounts right now. Probably borrowed from Peter to pay Paul.
In 1650 Christoph Bernhard von Galen was elected Prince-Bishop of Münster, succeeding Ferdinand of Bavaria. After restoring a degree of peace and prosperity in his principality, Galen had to contend with a formidable insurrection on the part of the citizens of Münster; but in 1661 this was solved by the occupation of the city. At the head of the largest ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire, the Prince-Bishop, who maintained a strong army, became an important personage in Europe.
In 1664, Prince-Bishop Galen was chosen one of the directors of the imperial army raised to fight the Turks, but his troops came too late to fight; after the peace which followed the Christian victory at the Battle of St. Gotthard in August 1664, Galen aided Charles II in the Second Anglo-Dutch War with the Dutch, until the intervention of Louis XIV and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg compelled him to make a disadvantageous peace in 1666 in Cleve.
To be really clear, this is in Bavaria, not Ireland.
"Thence took them to the cakehouse, and there called in the coach for cakes and drank, and thence I carried them to my Lord Chancellor’s new house to shew them that ..."
Meaning, I suppose, that they bought extra cakes which they left in the coach while they visited Hyde's mansion. Otherwise I have visions of a coach in the cakehouse.
These parties celebrate the last day before Lent begins -- in Venice they had Carnival. Such celebrations of "religion" had been forbidden for 9 or so years. People are letting off steam and probably toasting The King for the first time in years.
It wasn’t until the invention of the pendulum clock in the 1650s that it was possible to calculate the relationship between mean (clock) time and solar time.
In the early 1670s, John Flamsteed developed a formula for converting solar time to mean time, and published a set of conversion tables. Soon after he was appointed to be the first Astronomer Royal and he moved into the new Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
Here Flamsteed collected the best pendulum clocks, and set them to local Greenwich Mean Time, or the average time when the Sun crossed the meridian at Greenwich.
At first Greenwich time was only really important to astronomers. But in the next century the quest for longitude was taken up by the 5th Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne who brought Greenwich Mean Time to a wider audience.
In 1767 Maskelyn introduced the Nautical Almanac as part of the great 18th-century challenge to determine longitude. These were tables of ‘lunar distance’ data based on observations at Greenwich and using GMT as the time standard. This data enabled navigators to find their position at sea.
"Well, they all went down into the dining-room, where it was full of tag, rag, and bobtail, dancing, singing, and drinking, of which I was ashamed, and after I had staid a dance or two I went away."
Mrs. Jem was born in 1646, so she is about 14. That's way too young -- or too old -- for an unchaperoned dancing party. She knew she should have invited Sam and Elizabeth if it was above board, which is why she was hiding from him. I'd love to know where she met all these tag, rag and bobtail people.
Comments
Second Reading
About Wednesday 11 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Glad to hear Evelyn's stroke wasn't serious yesterday"
On second thoughts, it must have been D'Oyly who had apoplexy.
About Tuesday 10 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
(SPOILER) Turns out Evelyn is fine tomorrow, so it must be D'Oyly who had apoplexy.
About Wednesday 11 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Last we heard of Mrs. Bagwell was 8 November, 1665:
“and by water to Deptford, and there did order my matters so, walking up and down the fields till it was dark night, that ‘je allais a la maison of my valentine, —[Bagwell’s wife]— and there ‘je faisais whatever je voudrais avec’ her, and, about eight at night, did take water, being glad I was out of the towne; for the plague, it seems, rages there more than ever, …”
Apparently she went to Portsmouth.
About Wednesday 11 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"This noon Bagwell’s wife come to me to the office, after her being long at Portsmouth."
I see no sign of hanky-panky ... she stopped by the office to let Pepys know she was home and available. Great timing, Elizabeth being OOT.
About Wednesday 11 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"After dinner waiting on him I gave him the first notice of the Spaniards referring the umpirage of the Peace ’twixt them, & the Portugal to the French King, which came to me in a letter from France before the Secretaries of State had any news of it"
I read this as meaning that the Spanish have asked Louis XIV to mediate a peace between the Spanish and the Portuguese. Evelyn got the news before Secretary of State Joseph Williamson.
Glad to hear Evelyn's stroke wasn't serious yesterday, so he could travel and avoid the service wished on him by the Royal Society and Charles II. Being a Justice of the Peace was a big deal.
About Tuesday 10 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Oh dear, Evelyn is sick:
https://www.thefreedictionary.com…
ap·o·plex·y (ăp′ə-plĕk′sē) n.
1. Sudden impairment of neurological function, especially that resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage; a stroke.
2. A sudden effusion of blood into an organ or tissue.
3. A fit of extreme anger; rage: "The proud ... members suffered collective apoplexy, and this year they are out for blood" (David Finch).
[Middle English apoplexie, from Old French, from Late Latin apoplēxia, from Greek apoplēxiā, from apoplēssein, apoplēg-, to cripple by a stroke : apo-, intensive pref.; see apo- + plēssein, to strike; see plāk- in Indo-European roots.]
--- American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
About Wednesday 4 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"So by coach home, it being the fast day and to my chamber and so after supper to bed,"
What does "So" denote the above sentence? I haven't the faintest idea ... and a fast must mean something different today than it did then. I think Pepys was scribbling an ending to his post without thinking too closely about syntax.
About Tuesday 10 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... my new window in the boy’s chamber plastered. Then to supper, and after having my head combed by the little girle to bed."
So now we know the little girle didn't go with Bess to Brampton either. How about the boy went ... that way his chamber is available for these alterations.
About Sunday 8 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"At night had Mercer comb my head and so to supper, sing a psalm, and to bed."
Any excuse for some music and singing, I suspect. And now we know Mercer was not chaperoning Elizabeth on her trip with Hewer to Cambridgeshire. Maybe their little girl went instead.
About Wednesday 4 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
THANK YOU ... perfect for some Christmas gifts.
About Wednesday 4 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Steven Snipes brings to our attention that on May 31, 1669 -- 350 years ago -- Pepys decides to discontinue the Diary. To mark his achievement the Royal Mint has designed a memorial coin honoring him and his historic contribution to our understanding of the times, and included it with the 2019 commemoration coins.
https://www.royalmint.com/discove…
You can order a set, but I don't see a way to get just his coin.
About Saturday 7 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Perfect example of Pepys' new schedule: work til noon, visits and contrast in the afternoon, work in the evening. And I think that plotting business moves secure in your own bed, enjoying clean sheets, counts as work.
About Saturday 7 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys noted Alderman Blackwell going abroad in July 1665 to make payment to Christopher Bernard von Galen, Prince-Bishop of Münster to secure his invasion of the Netherlands by land:
"http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
“Sir G. Carteret told me one considerable thing: Alderman Backewell is ordered abroad upon some private score with a great sum of money; wherein I was instrumental the other day in shipping him away. It seems some of his creditors have taken notice of it, and he was like to be broke yesterday in his absence; Sir G. Carteret telling me that the King and the kingdom must as good as fall with that man at this time; and that he was forced to get 4000l. himself to answer Backewell’s people’s occasions, or he must have broke; but committed this to me as a great secret and which I am heartily sorry to hear.”'
This might explain the spiral of events leading to Carteret's inability to balance his business accounts right now. Probably borrowed from Peter to pay Paul.
and inaccurate rumors of Blackwell's location:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…...
News reports of Dutch fears of Bernard's invasion and intervention:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…...
About Christopher Bernard von Galen (Prince-Bishop of Münster)
San Diego Sarah • Link
In 1650 Christoph Bernhard von Galen was elected Prince-Bishop of Münster, succeeding Ferdinand of Bavaria. After restoring a degree of peace and prosperity in his principality, Galen had to contend with a formidable insurrection on the part of the citizens of Münster; but in 1661 this was solved by the occupation of the city. At the head of the largest ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire, the Prince-Bishop, who maintained a strong army, became an important personage in Europe.
In 1664, Prince-Bishop Galen was chosen one of the directors of the imperial army raised to fight the Turks, but his troops came too late to fight; after the peace which followed the Christian victory at the Battle of St. Gotthard in August 1664, Galen aided Charles II in the Second Anglo-Dutch War with the Dutch, until the intervention of Louis XIV and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg compelled him to make a disadvantageous peace in 1666 in Cleve.
To be really clear, this is in Bavaria, not Ireland.
About Saturday 7 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Thence took them to the cakehouse, and there called in the coach for cakes and drank, and thence I carried them to my Lord Chancellor’s new house to shew them that ..."
Meaning, I suppose, that they bought extra cakes which they left in the coach while they visited Hyde's mansion. Otherwise I have visions of a coach in the cakehouse.
About Monday 2 April 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"FFWD 200 years to a future CGS giving endless OED explanations of whatever the fk ‘Kool Aid Anyone’ is supposed to mean."
I trust Phil -- or his successor(s) -- have gone through and quietly removed some of our more inane and misleading postings long before then.
About Tuesday 6 March 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
These parties celebrate the last day before Lent begins -- in Venice they had Carnival. Such celebrations of "religion" had been forbidden for 9 or so years. People are letting off steam and probably toasting The King for the first time in years.
About Clocks and watches
San Diego Sarah • Link
It wasn’t until the invention of the pendulum clock in the 1650s that it was possible to calculate the relationship between mean (clock) time and solar time.
In the early 1670s, John Flamsteed developed a formula for converting solar time to mean time, and published a set of conversion tables. Soon after he was appointed to be the first Astronomer Royal and he moved into the new Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
Here Flamsteed collected the best pendulum clocks, and set them to local Greenwich Mean Time, or the average time when the Sun crossed the meridian at Greenwich.
At first Greenwich time was only really important to astronomers. But in the next century the quest for longitude was taken up by the 5th Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne who brought Greenwich Mean Time to a wider audience.
In 1767 Maskelyn introduced the Nautical Almanac as part of the great 18th-century challenge to determine longitude. These were tables of ‘lunar distance’ data based on observations at Greenwich and using GMT as the time standard. This data enabled navigators to find their position at sea.
More general information about GMT at
https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/ex…
About Monday 26 March 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
WOW -- and that was in 1661. He was surprisingly humble for a few years, then. Now he's grown into the role. Thanks for the reminder.
About Tuesday 6 March 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Well, they all went down into the dining-room, where it was full of tag, rag, and bobtail, dancing, singing, and drinking, of which I was ashamed, and after I had staid a dance or two I went away."
Mrs. Jem was born in 1646, so she is about 14. That's way too young -- or too old -- for an unchaperoned dancing party. She knew she should have invited Sam and Elizabeth if it was above board, which is why she was hiding from him. I'd love to know where she met all these tag, rag and bobtail people.