"Charles never trouble himself to attend classes." That's a bit harsh, 徽柔
And yes, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham was one who "earned" an MA at aged 14. He was a few years older than Charles, who was sitting on the battlefield at Edgehill with his kid brother, aged 12, in 1642. Later Charles also lived in Oxford with the Court and what was left of the university faculty, but I don't think debating current events in Latin for critique was foremost on their minds, even if he was being schooled by the best.
Charles II was surrounded by remarkable literary minds while in exile, even if they couldn't afford the books. Hobbes taught him for a short while, until Queen Henrietta Maria caught wind of his politics. Charles travelled and talked with leaders all over Europe, which exposure probably was more useful to a king than Latin declensions. But the best part of Charles' education was the 6 weeks he rode around England, dressed as a servant, in fear for his life, when he met his subjects, one-on-one,
I don't think we have to worry about Sir Francis Bacon's lack of education! Evidently he was paying attention by the time he got to the Inns of Court, after which he sparred with Sir Edward Coke for years as they established the basics of English Common Law, and his mighty intellect went on to sew the seeds which helped to change education for ever. Look at what he and John Evelyn tackled in their spare time: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
In the 17th century as now, not everyone learned in the same way. Oxbridge would have been wasted on Charles. I don't think he benefitted from Edgehill at 12 either. It did focus his mind on the cost of losing a battle and that made him cautious about fighting when the odds were against him -- which happened at second Worcester. As king, his caution is evident. He;s always looking for an edge. James must have internalized a callousness so that he took risks and didn't care much about the cost. Buckingham became a charming, but murderously callous, courtier who aspired to be king. We'd probably call him a psychopath today.
But poor, young, brilliant, repressed Rochester, who loved his classics, both Latin and Greek according to Anthony Wood, just wanted money and love, not necessarily in that order. He's easy to figure out. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/…
The month of March has an interesting name history. It is the only month to have had alternative names in different English dialects until relatively recently. March owes its current name to the Roman god Mars, because festivals in his honour used to be celebrated at this time. Like the other month-names now used in British English, this name was established during the Anglo-Saxon period as part of the Julian calendar.
In the Middle Ages, March had another name in some regions of England: Lide. Lide is recorded mostly in southwest England sources. In the 13th century it appears in the "South English Legendary", a collection of saints’ lives. It was also used by the chronicler Robert of Gloucester.
Lide also seems to have featured in proverbs about March weather. One 14th-century poet, lamenting the evil times he felt had befallen England under Edward II, comments on the suppression of the Knights Templar by saying they are an example of how wealth ‘cometh and goeth as weathers do in Lide’. By this he meant that earthly prosperity is as changeable, as unpredictable, as the storms of March.
‘Lide’ was still in common use in the southwest in the 17th century. The antiquarian John Aubrey, a Wiltshire man, observed that: ‘The vulgar in the West of England do call the month of March, Lide.’ He also recorded a proverb about how to ward off illness: ‘Eat leeks in Lide, and ramsins [wild garlic] in May, and all the year after physicians may play.’ Other 17th-century sources record the name ‘Lide-lily’ for the daffodil, appropriate for this flower of early spring.
In Cornwall, the first Friday in March was known as ‘Friday in Lide’ and was a holiday for tin-miners (it falls near the feast of St. Piran, patron saint of miners, on 5 March).
‘Lide’ dates back to the Old English name Hlyda. By the late Middle Ages it was the only survivor of what had been a variety of names for the months in the many Anglo-Saxon dialects. Hlyda seems to be connected to the Old English word hlud, ‘loud, noisy’, so it might be a reference to the blustery winds of March. An Old English poem refers to March as ‘hlyda healic’, ‘loud-voiced Lide’, and says that this month journeys through the world will be accompanied by frost and hail-showers. In Anglo-Saxon sources, Hlyda references are concentrated to what was then Wessex. Elsewhere in England the month seems to have been called Hreðmonað (perhaps named after the goddess Hreða).
There is no obvious reason why Lide and Hlyda should have survived long after the other Old English month-names were forgotten.
HA!!! -- I think you're right: There must be two "Halfway" Houses in Pepys' life. Next time he makes this reference, we'll have to pay more attention and -- later when it's clear -- correct our Encyclopedia.
In the 21st century, you would be correct, 徽柔 -- John would be a genius. But not so in the 17th century. I found out the details of what a University education entailed in those days at https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
There were 2 types of students: the noble youngsters usually left Oxbridge without taking the exams, and went on to a few years being exposed to the law in London, as the Inns of Court functioned as a sort of finishing school -- the nobility employed people like the Pepys, who were the other type of student, and who needed to do the scholastic work in order to be employable as the noblemen's clerks.
Therefore, I suspect most of the real scholars were older, like John Pepys Jr. Dr. John Owen must have been one of the geniuses.
Another type of genius is at Oxford now: John Wilmot, 2nd Duke of Rochester. He's 14, and enjoying the confusion created by the Restoration to write poetry, drink too much, and be initiated into sexual activities. I don't think he was given a favor when, on 9 September, 1661, he was awarded an honorary M.A. by the recently-elected Chancellor of the University, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, a close family friend. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
A few months ago we had a brief exchange about -- very belatedly -- standardizing how to represent "£" and lbs., since using "pounds" for them both has lead to confusion. It's at at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… .
The vote was for using "l" for pounds sterling as "£" is not available on many computers.
This lead to also not using the "/" for shillings as Pepys never does. He uses an "s".
We can't undo 20 years of previous annotations; we can avoid confusing each other going forward.
The Cavalier Parliament was funding the Waldensian resistance?
Yes they were. The English were keen to support the on-going Protestant resistance in Europe.
However, in COLONEL JOHN SCOTT OF LONG ISLAND 1634(?) - 1696 By WILBUR C. ABBOTT, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN YALE UNIVERSITY NEW HAVEN, YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS MDCCCCXVIII https://archive.org/stream/colone…
On page 49 it says that the chief business of the Regicides who were hiding in the Dutch Republic in 1668 was fermenting disturbance against the government of Charles II; their chief hope was to overthrow that government; their chief means of support lay in contributions taken up among the faithful in England under the guise of sending aid to the Waldensians, the persecuted Vaudois, or the "Poles"; and there is evidence that Col. John Scott benefitted by this "Polish fund."
I'm not reading this as saying the Partliamentary resources voted for today were diverted to these Cromwellian plotters -- I suspect that fund-raising was done by fraudsters who went to wealthy widows and told them horror stories of burned babies, etc., and then took their money and valuables under false pretenses. But you never know -- I suppose it's possible this was sometimes diverted into a slush fund for the Stuart Brothers escapades.
Either way, it shows the outward-looking awareness of the people of England that they were voting to support overseas religious causes, even when the cupboard was bare.
This book available free on-line, and is a good source of information, if you have the time. Lots of details which explains Pepys and his times and the Diary going forward.
'Peter the elder was born in France, came to England with his father like other Huguenot refugees. In the words of Dr. Aveling, he "rewarded our country for its shelter, by bestowing upon us the priceless and beneficent bounty of his skill and genius."
'In this connection it may be added, that our Dr. Chamberlen brought up his sons, Hugh and Paul, in his own profession, and they both achieved a material prosperity ...' https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pd…
But I think you're asking about treatments for 'the clap' or female gyne problems -- it would be easy to fall into the hands of Dr. Alexander Bendo who in the 1670's could be found some afternoons making a 'snake oil' presentation on Tower Hill: http://www.pseudopodium.org/repre…
"What was the condition of gynecological medicine at this time?"
Primitive, Ray.
Wealthy women, including Queen Henrietta Maria, employed the Chamberlen family of male gynecologists who used top secret tools to assist with birthing for at least 3 generations. The mothers were blindfolded throughout the process so they couldn't see the tools, which were carried in and out of the birthing chamber in a very large chest, and while they were in use, an assistant banged drums and made strange noises so no one could guess what was going on. http://fn.bmj.com/content/81/3/F2…
Most women still used midwives.
'"A writer in the "Dictionary of National Biography" censures Dr. Peter Chamberlen for having used secret processes in his work as a physician, and thus indulges in a criticism that is essentially unfair. On this point; Dr. Aveling speaks with judgment: "At that time the possession of a nostrum was not looked upon as degrading or derogatory to its owner; and the custom of not publishing secret modes of practice was very common. Only a little more than 100 years since, Smellie writes, "I have heard a gentleman of eminence in one of the branches of medicine affirm that he never knew one person of our profession who did not pretend to be in possession of some secret or another."
'When the forceps were invented, the age delighted in mystery. All that can be fairly said against the Chamberlen family is that they were no better than their neighbors when they failed to recognize the obligation imposed upon all members of our noble profession to immediately publish any new method of alleviating human suffering, which, by their industry or genius, they were able to discover.
'Living in the 17th century, Dr. Peter Chamberlen was of the Puritan period, and shared its limitations on the one hand; its strength of purpose on the other.
'In some respects, Chamberlen was ahead of his time -- in political, social and religious proposals; but in other respects, he was not one whit above his more ordinary contemporaries. It is evident that the Chamberlen family endeavored to improve the instruments to which they owed so much of their professional fame. He did not pretend to be the inventor of the forceps, but claimed to be an expert practitioner of midwifery. On the evidence, Dr. Aveling has concluded that Peter the Elder was the inventor, and from him the instruments passed from hand to hand in the family.
Interesting you mention boiling the water. Once tea became an affordable and widespread drink of choice -- about 100 years in the future -- some people noticed a change in the Bills of Mortality statistics, but they didn't know why the incidents of certain illnesses had changed.
Not only the Chinese but also the Egyptians had figured out how to purify water, but the quantity needed in towns of any size made these methods inffective.
"Sir Francis Bacon revealed his ideas about desalination in his writings "A Natural History of Ten Centuries". He had come across an experimenter who had succeeded in purifying seawater by passing it downward through 20 vessels, and he assumed that if he dug a hole close to seashore, he would get pure water after the seawater had passed through the sand.
"Also in the 17th century, an Italian physician by the name of Lucas Antonius Portius provided details of a multiple sand filtration method in his writings entitled "Soldier’s Vade Mecum". This method employed the use of three pairs of sand filters, each of which had an upward-flow filter and a downward-flow filter. Water would enter the settling compartment of the system after it had been strained through a perforated plate.
"Between the 17th and 18th centuries, filtration became the preferred water purification method for many communities, and more and more town officials were considering the possibility of providing clean drinking to all their residents.
"In 1703, French scientist La Hire proposed to the French Academy of Sciences that every household in Paris should have a rainwater cistern and a sand filter. His system included a covered and elevated cistern, which could prevent the growth of moss and freezing.
"About a century after La Hire’s proposal was made, Paisley in Scotland introduced the first municipal water purifying plant in the world. Established in 1804, this plant used gravel filters and concentric sand to treat water, and the water is distributed with the use of a horse and cart." Taken from https://www.freedrinkingwater.com…
But none mention just plain old boiling the water at home.
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection) 24.2.1661 (Sunday 24 February 1661) document 70012935
Feb. 24. God good to us, yet our little Bett's ague continues, sanctify lord the stroke and remove it, this day we broke bread together without any disturbance(.) poor Mr R.H. very sad, and backward to receive, lord heal his melancholy temper, *said on this match proffered by Portugal that the King is married to the Princess de Ligne. oh lord what is doing in the world.*
The rumors about Charles II's marriage have reached the wilds of Essex. As usual with rumors, there is a kernal of truth and a lot of erronious speculation. They can't blame Facebook or X/Twitter or Fox News: it's a function of human nature to seek out the latest news -vs- try to keep possibilities secret until decisions become certainties.
What is making the Rev. Ralph despair is that the royal family of Portugal and the family of Claude Lamoral, 3rd Prince of Ligne are all Catholics. Either way, he fears this influence cannot be good for his Puritan flock.
* my emphasis. Mr. R.H. is Richard Harlakenden, the local Puritan gentry and Josselin's friend, who evidently fears the worst.
There was a further benefit to these sleeping boxes: warmth. Without modern heating or insulation, in the winter bedrooms could be literally freezing; it was standard practice to go to bed wearing a cap, so only your face was exposed. It was significantly colder then. Roger Ekirch, a university distinguished professor of history at Virginia Tech, and the author of "At Day's Close: A History of Nighttime", explains that from the 14th to the 19th Century, Europe and portions of North America experienced the Little Ice Age. In London, the Thames froze over on 18 occasions. "Diaries spoke of sap from burning logs in fireplaces freezing as soon as it seeped from the bare ends... inkwells would freeze overnight," he says. This not only made bedmates an appealing prospect, but also sleeping in the sheltered environment of a box bed where warm air became trapped was welcome.
The box bed eventually became associated with poverty and country life, and fell out of fashion. By the mid-20th Century they were rare. However, similar pieces of furniture are making a comeback, so it's possible to buy bed tents, which turn sleeping areas into snug caves, while wooden sleeping "nooks" that look like box beds are being sold for "cottage style" homes.
Another type of bed that isn't common today is the Wardrobe, or box, bed:
At a museum in Wick, in the north of Scotland, is what looks like a large pine wardrobe, with a pair of full-length double doors at the front. It wouldn't look out of place in a modern bedroom. It's assembled like regular flat-pack furniture – each piece slots together, so it can easily be moved and rebuilt. But this cupboard is not for storing clothes; there are no hangers or shelves inside. This is a box bed – and it's designed to hold sleeping people.
Otherwise known as a closet bed or close bed, the box bed was surprisingly popular across Europe from the medieval era to the early 20th Century. These heavy pieces of furniture were made of wood that contained a bed. Some were plain and humble; others were elaborately decorated, with carved, panelled or painted sides. Often the cupboards had doors that closed, or a little curtained window. The fanciest had a variety of uses, with bonus drawers and a seat at their base.
For centuries, farm-workers, fish-gutters, and even members of the nobility would crawl inside these cosy wooden dens at night, and shut themselves in. Often, they were used almost as miniature bedrooms, spillover places for people to sleep where there otherwise wouldn't be enough space.
In 1890 a family living in the Scottish Highlands was too large for their single-room house, so some members slept in a box bed in the barn, amongst the dogs and horses, according to the Wick Society.
It was also common to use box beds for migrant workers, such as for the overflow of herring-gutters who descended on the region of Wick during the fishing season, with 5 or 6 people sharing a bed.
Sharing a box bed with family members or co-workers was not unusual. In the 1825 melodrama "The Factory Lad", workers slept in stacks of box beds, with 2 or 3 people in each one. Some had holes for ventilation, but cramming too many people in may have carried a risk of suffocation – one tale from 13th-Century France involves a woman hiding 3 secret guests inside a bed, who then perish in its stuffy interior.
Box beds were used by a wide section of society in Britain and on the continent, including farmers, fisherpeople and members of the nobility. According to one account from 1840, most cottages in Brittany, France, included them, which were typically made from oak and piled up to 4 ft (1.2m) high with bedding. There might be several to a room, and each one would have a long wooden chest placed at their base.
After a debate on the Irish cattle bill, Ossory challenged Buckingham for insulting the whole Irish nation, and he reminded the Lords (contrary to order) of the past record of Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley, under the Protectorate.
Ossory accompanied Charles II to Dover in 1670, although he took no part in the negotiations with Henrietta Anne, "Minette", the Duchess of Orleans. He commanded William of Orange’s naval escort later in the year.
Ossory reluctantly served under Sir Robert Holmes in the attack on the Dutch Smyrna fleet which preceded the declaration of the third Anglo-Dutch war in 1672, and later in the year was wounded at Sole Bay.
His most distinguished naval action was under Sir Edward Spragge at Texel in 1673, but his proposed attack on the Dutch fleet at Helvoetsluys was vetoed by Charles II, probably at the insistance of Buckingham.
When his brother-in-law Lord Arlington was in danger of impeachment by the Commons in 1674, ‘Lord Ossory stood every day like a solicitor in the lobby, pressing the Members with the most earnest entreaties, and stirring heaven and earth in his behalf, till he carried the point in his favour’.
Ossory was appointed to the Admiralty board in 1675, and was given £14,000, ‘in consideration of the great losses and charges sustained, and the many debts contracted by him’, allegedly in Charles II’s service, but really at the gaming table.
He served with distinction under William of Orange in the Flanders campaign of 1677-8.
As chamberlain to Queen Catherine, Ossory strenuously defended her against the insinuations of Titus Oates during the Popish Plot, and he was the only courtier who did not spurn Lord Treasurer Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby on his dismissal.
Ossory lost his other offices in the spring of 1679, when Charles II was trying to conciliate the Whigs; but when Lord Ashley (now the Earl of Shaftesbury) attacked his father (now the Duke of Ormonde) in the Lords, Ossory turned the tables on Shaftesbury by reminding the House of his record in the Cabal.
Ossory was restored to the Privy Council in 1680 and was then appointed governor of Tangier with a hopelessly inadequate force. Before he could take up his post he fell ill of a violent fever, probably typhus, and died on July 30, 1680, aged 46.
Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory was buried in Westminster Abbey amid universal eulogies of his courage, probity, and modesty. ‘It is a very strange thing’, commented Henry Coventry, ‘in so very bad an age to see so good a man lamented by so many of all sorts.’
Pepys mentions Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory 5 times. However, some of his correspondence with his father -- and mentions of his beloved Moor Park -- have been posted in our annotations, so you'll hear a lot about him.
James Butler, Earl of Ormonde was leader of the Irish loyalists during the Civil Wars, subsequently playing an even more hazardous part as emissary to the royalist conspirators in England.
His son, Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory (1634-80) was educated abroad from 1648 to 1652, when he returned to England with his mother, Elizabeth Preston Butler, Lady Ormonde. His courtesy, temperance and numerous accomplishments won him enduring popularity.
Ossory was arrested in 1655 as being ‘conversant among the dangerous men’, but allowed to go abroad in 1657 on giving security not to act or contrive anything to the prejudice of the Protectorate.
In 1659 Ossory married Amilia, the daughter of Lodewyk van Nassau, lord of Beverweerd, which was an illegitimate branch of the house of Nassau, with whom he lived in unbroken fidelity all his life. They had 5 sons and 6 daughters; they lived at Moor Park, Herts., and Dover House, Whitehall.
Ossory accompanied Charles II to England at the Restoration, and gave away Anne Hyde at her secret marriage to the Duke of York.
After the dissolution of the Convention Parliament, the mayor of Bristol offered to Ormonde, who had been appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, a seat for his son. There was a double return, but Ossory was allowed to sit, because his rival Sir Humphrey Hooke had subscribed to his indenture.
He was not an active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, being appointed to only 13 committees. He was among those appointed to consider the bill for drainage of the fens, where he had acquired a substantial interest as tenant to the crown. He acted as teller for a Lords amendment to the security bill. He helped to manage the conference on an alleged conspiracy on 19 Dec., 1661.
In May 1662, Ossory quarrelled with Philip Howard II. The cause is unknown, but, fearing a duel, the House asked Charles II to intercede.
Althouth Ossory was listed as a court dependant in the Commons in 1664, he was by then fully involved in the administration of Ireland as deputy to his father, in complimentary missions abroad, and in a career of arms, in which his courage and generosity won him unsurpassed popularity, especially among seamen.
When he was called up to the House of Lords in 1666, the Commons proceeded with the consideration of the double return of 1661, and seated Hooke on the merits of that election.
In the Lords, Ossory distinguished himself by the violence of his attacks on all the CABAL ministers, except Sir Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, who had married his wife’s sister, Isabella.
No 徽柔 -- it would be to James' and the Navy's advantage for Pepys to be an MP (and vote for Navy funding when Supply -- which is what the budget is called -- is under discussion). Pepys has been around the Stuart brothers enough to know James isn't going to pay -- in fact, he might even charge for that letter.
In those days the small voting population (land-owning men over 30 as I recall) the voters expected to be woed; anything from wine to -- well, you get the idea. To be really effective you needed to be able to wine-and-dine your colleagues and the 'influencers' and live a certain lifestyle. Pepys would need more clothes. Is Elizabeth up to the scrutiny?
I think MPs were paid a stipend, but being an MP was a rich man's hobby. Besides, being an MP takes a lot of time; Pepys is happy with his lifestyle.
Personally, I think the cost is an excuse. Pepys could have done it, but was intimidated by taking on too much while he was still learning -- and making money -- being a Commissioner.
"I met to-day with Mr. Townsend, who tells me that the old man is yet alive in whose place in the Wardrobe he hopes to get my father, which I do resolve to put for."
The Old Man is Mr. Young -- an example of a Pepys pun, in case you missed it.
And he's changed his mind -- his father's standards of tailoring are good enough for the King's Wardrobe. Further vindication of John Pepys Snr.'s craftsmanship. Pepys must be feeling more secure in his personal reputation to go ahead with this pursuit of a position for his dad.
The decimal point is 150 years older than historians thought, notes from 15th-century Italy reveal.
Decimal points are so simple, it seems like they should have existed forever. These handy mathematical tools break up whole numbers into tenths, hundredths and thousandths, making computation much simpler than with fractions. And some versions of decimals have been around since the 900s (in Damascus) or the 1200s (in China).
But a consistent system of decimals wasn't fully cemented until 1593, when German mathematician Christopher Clavius used decimals in an astronomical treatise. Now, 2023 research suggests Clavius was playing with an older tradition, picking up the use of decimals from a 15th-century Venetian merchant named Giovanni Bianchini.
Bianchini's work dates to between 1441 and 1450, making the decimal point a century and a half older than Clavius' use of it, ...
The idea of breaking up whole numbers into pieces is very old, but most mathematicians prior to the Middle Ages used fractions. Astronomers did use decimals, but not in the familiar base-10 system that elementary schoolers learn today. Instead, they used base-60 decimals, created by dividing 360-degree circles into 60 minutes, which could then be subdivided into 60 seconds.
Occasionally, mathematicians did use notations that are reminiscent of today's decimal system, but these ideas tended to fizzle instead of getting passed down from mathematician to mathematician.
It's easier to pin down the history of the decimal point — a symbol that persists to this day. And that notation first appears in Bianchini's "Tabulae primi mobilis B," a text on the calculation of stellar coordinates.
Bianchini was a merchant who became an administrator to the ruling family of Venice at the time, the d'Estes. As part of this job, he was responsible for calculating horoscopes and astrology. In some of the tables in his text, he uses the decimal point just as mathematicians do today.
Although the idea was slow to catch on, Clavius would have known about Bianchini. And writers inspired by Clavius picked up the decimal point and ran with it.
Finally, Scottish mathematician John Napier, the inventor of logarithms, cemented the decimal point in mathematics in the early 1600s.
"The Renaissance was a time of great art, innovation, and exploration throughout Europe, and it’s during this era that the sewn-in pocket started to appear. The earliest true pockets were parts of men’s trunk hose — the poofy short breeches that you see in old portraits of royals and nobles — which became popular during the 16th century. The pockets hid themselves well among the folds, although sometimes they’re visible in paintings. The extra space left plenty of room for storing necessary objects, particularly pocket watches. These pockets could be quite luxurious; one example of voluminous trunk hose from the early 17th century had leather pockets lined with yellow and blue silk.
"Eventually, sewn-in pockets were also added to men’s coats, jackets, waistcoats, and breeches, for both nobles and commoners. From that point forward, menswear typically included pockets. For women’s clothing, however, the path was not quite as straight.
"In the mid-17th century, women had their own pocket revolution. Rather than wearing sewn-in pockets that would have to be emptied when changing into new clothes, many women started using tie-on pockets, which were detachable pouches that tied around the waist underneath skirts. Dresses would come with slits in them designed for reaching these modular pockets. Tie-on pockets were typically large — often more than 15 inches long and 10 inches wide — but they disappeared easily under the full skirts and petticoats of the era. They could be highly personalized, handmade, adorned with embroidery, made with extra interior pockets, and were often given as gifts. These pockets offered a space that women had complete control over. They could carry cash and valuables nested inside, and sleep with them under their pillows.
"While women from all walks of life wore tie-on pockets, they were especially useful for working women who needed to carry keys and supplies, as well as people living in cramped conditions. Upper-class women carried large quantities of precious items such as snuff boxes, telescopes, almanacs, and purses. Sentimental items such as small portraits frequently found their way into tie-on pockets.
"With the extra storage space also came a large capacity for crime; in one case, a woman made off with 2 live ducks stashed inside her pockets.
"Tie-on pockets stayed in use until the late 19th century — with a little break in the early 1800s when dresses briefly got less voluminous — even after handbags came into fashion. By the mid-19th century, some dresses even had small sewn-in pockets, although they were often impractical.
"... Pockets are no longer unusual in women’s fashion, but there are still significant differences in size between men’s and women’s pockets; women’s jeans, for example, are still 48% shorter on average than men’s."
I just realized that I read the Valentine's gift the wrong way around. Adm. Batten was very generous to Elizabeth! That Pepys doesn't mention a flare-up of jelousy says a lot -- perhaps she rolled her eyes suitably.
Comments
Third Reading
About Friday 1 March 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
I am absurdly excited for this -- I was sulking yesterday that he didn't show up!
About Wednesday 27 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Charles never trouble himself to attend classes." That's a bit harsh, 徽柔
And yes, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham was one who "earned" an MA at aged 14. He was a few years older than Charles, who was sitting on the battlefield at Edgehill with his kid brother, aged 12, in 1642. Later Charles also lived in Oxford with the Court and what was left of the university faculty, but I don't think debating current events in Latin for critique was foremost on their minds, even if he was being schooled by the best.
Charles II was surrounded by remarkable literary minds while in exile, even if they couldn't afford the books. Hobbes taught him for a short while, until Queen Henrietta Maria caught wind of his politics. Charles travelled and talked with leaders all over Europe, which exposure probably was more useful to a king than Latin declensions. But the best part of Charles' education was the 6 weeks he rode around England, dressed as a servant, in fear for his life, when he met his subjects, one-on-one,
I don't think we have to worry about Sir Francis Bacon's lack of education! Evidently he was paying attention by the time he got to the Inns of Court, after which he sparred with Sir Edward Coke for years as they established the basics of English Common Law, and his mighty intellect went on to sew the seeds which helped to change education for ever. Look at what he and John Evelyn tackled in their spare time: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
In the 17th century as now, not everyone learned in the same way.
Oxbridge would have been wasted on Charles. I don't think he benefitted from Edgehill at 12 either. It did focus his mind on the cost of losing a battle and that made him cautious about fighting when the odds were against him -- which happened at second Worcester. As king, his caution is evident. He;s always looking for an edge.
James must have internalized a callousness so that he took risks and didn't care much about the cost.
Buckingham became a charming, but murderously callous, courtier who aspired to be king. We'd probably call him a psychopath today.
But poor, young, brilliant, repressed Rochester, who loved his classics, both Latin and Greek according to Anthony Wood, just wanted money and love, not necessarily in that order. He's easy to figure out.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/…
Childhood experiences have lasting results.
About Saturday 12 March 1663/64
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... it fell hard a raining."
The month of March has an interesting name history. It is the only month to have had alternative names in different English dialects until relatively recently.
March owes its current name to the Roman god Mars, because festivals in his honour used to be celebrated at this time.
Like the other month-names now used in British English, this name was established during the Anglo-Saxon period as part of the Julian calendar.
In the Middle Ages, March had another name in some regions of England: Lide.
Lide is recorded mostly in southwest England sources. In the 13th century it appears in the "South English Legendary", a collection of saints’ lives. It was also used by the chronicler Robert of Gloucester.
Lide also seems to have featured in proverbs about March weather.
One 14th-century poet, lamenting the evil times he felt had befallen England under Edward II, comments on the suppression of the Knights Templar by saying they are an example of how wealth ‘cometh and goeth as weathers do in Lide’. By this he meant that earthly prosperity is as changeable, as unpredictable, as the storms of March.
‘Lide’ was still in common use in the southwest in the 17th century. The antiquarian John Aubrey, a Wiltshire man, observed that: ‘The vulgar in the West of England do call the month of March, Lide.’
He also recorded a proverb about how to ward off illness: ‘Eat leeks in Lide, and ramsins [wild garlic] in May, and all the year after physicians may play.’
Other 17th-century sources record the name ‘Lide-lily’ for the daffodil, appropriate for this flower of early spring.
In Cornwall, the first Friday in March was known as ‘Friday in Lide’ and was a holiday for tin-miners (it falls near the feast of St. Piran, patron saint of miners, on 5 March).
‘Lide’ dates back to the Old English name Hlyda. By the late Middle Ages it was the only survivor of what had been a variety of names for the months in the many Anglo-Saxon dialects.
Hlyda seems to be connected to the Old English word hlud, ‘loud, noisy’, so it might be a reference to the blustery winds of March.
An Old English poem refers to March as ‘hlyda healic’, ‘loud-voiced Lide’, and says that this month journeys through the world will be accompanied by frost and hail-showers.
In Anglo-Saxon sources, Hlyda references are concentrated to what was then Wessex. Elsewhere in England the month seems to have been called Hreðmonað (perhaps named after the goddess Hreða).
There is no obvious reason why Lide and Hlyda should have survived long after the other Old English month-names were forgotten.
Extracted from https://www.historytoday.com/arch…
So remember to eat some leeks this month!
About Thursday 28 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
HA!!! -- I think you're right: There must be two "Halfway" Houses in Pepys' life. Next time he makes this reference, we'll have to pay more attention and -- later when it's clear -- correct our Encyclopedia.
About Wednesday 27 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
In the 21st century, you would be correct, 徽柔 -- John would be a genius. But not so in the 17th century. I found out the details of what a University education entailed in those days at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
There were 2 types of students: the noble youngsters usually left Oxbridge without taking the exams, and went on to a few years being exposed to the law in London, as the Inns of Court functioned as a sort of finishing school -- the nobility employed people like the Pepys, who were the other type of student, and who needed to do the scholastic work in order to be employable as the noblemen's clerks.
Therefore, I suspect most of the real scholars were older, like John Pepys Jr. Dr. John Owen must have been one of the geniuses.
Another type of genius is at Oxford now: John Wilmot, 2nd Duke of Rochester. He's 14, and enjoying the confusion created by the Restoration to write poetry, drink too much, and be initiated into sexual activities. I don't think he was given a favor when, on 9 September, 1661, he was awarded an honorary M.A. by the recently-elected Chancellor of the University, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, a close family friend.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Tuesday 26 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
Dear Dai Aqua and 徽柔 :
A few months ago we had a brief exchange about -- very belatedly -- standardizing how to represent "£" and lbs., since using "pounds" for them both has lead to confusion. It's at at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… .
The vote was for using "l" for pounds sterling as "£" is not available on many computers.
This lead to also not using the "/" for shillings as Pepys never does. He uses an "s".
We can't undo 20 years of previous annotations; we can avoid confusing each other going forward.
About Wednesday 29 August 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Cavalier Parliament was funding the Waldensian resistance?
Yes they were. The English were keen to support the on-going Protestant resistance in Europe.
However, in COLONEL JOHN SCOTT OF LONG ISLAND 1634(?) - 1696
By WILBUR C. ABBOTT,
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN YALE UNIVERSITY
NEW HAVEN, YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
MDCCCCXVIII
https://archive.org/stream/colone…
On page 49 it says that the chief business of the Regicides who were hiding in the Dutch Republic in 1668 was fermenting disturbance against the government of Charles II; their chief hope was to overthrow that government; their chief means of support lay in contributions taken up among the faithful in England under the guise of sending aid to the Waldensians, the persecuted Vaudois, or the "Poles"; and there is evidence that Col. John Scott benefitted by this "Polish fund."
I'm not reading this as saying the Partliamentary resources voted for today were diverted to these Cromwellian plotters -- I suspect that fund-raising was done by fraudsters who went to wealthy widows and told them horror stories of burned babies, etc., and then took their money and valuables under false pretenses.
But you never know -- I suppose it's possible this was sometimes diverted into a slush fund for the Stuart Brothers escapades.
Either way, it shows the outward-looking awareness of the people of England that they were voting to support overseas religious causes, even when the cupboard was bare.
More about Col. John Scott at -- but beware, lots of spoilers:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/indept… -- many of these annotations have information about Scott's escapades.
This book available free on-line, and is a good source of information, if you have the time. Lots of details which explains Pepys and his times and the Diary going forward.
About Monday 25 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION
'Peter the elder was born in France, came to England with his father like other Huguenot refugees. In the words of Dr. Aveling, he "rewarded our country for its shelter, by bestowing upon us the priceless and beneficent bounty of his skill and genius."
'In this connection it may be added, that our Dr. Chamberlen brought up his sons, Hugh and Paul, in his own profession, and they both achieved a material prosperity ...'
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pd…
But I think you're asking about treatments for 'the clap' or female gyne problems -- it would be easy to fall into the hands of Dr. Alexander Bendo who in the 1670's could be found some afternoons making a 'snake oil' presentation on Tower Hill:
http://www.pseudopodium.org/repre…
About Monday 25 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
"What was the condition of gynecological medicine at this time?"
Primitive, Ray.
Wealthy women, including Queen Henrietta Maria, employed the Chamberlen family of male gynecologists who used top secret tools to assist with birthing for at least 3 generations. The mothers were blindfolded throughout the process so they couldn't see the tools, which were carried in and out of the birthing chamber in a very large chest, and while they were in use, an assistant banged drums and made strange noises so no one could guess what was going on.
http://fn.bmj.com/content/81/3/F2…
Most women still used midwives.
'"A writer in the "Dictionary of National Biography" censures Dr. Peter Chamberlen for having used secret processes in his work as a physician, and thus indulges in a criticism that is essentially unfair. On this point; Dr. Aveling speaks with judgment: "At that time the possession of a nostrum was not looked upon as degrading or derogatory to its owner; and the custom of not publishing secret modes of practice was very common. Only a little more than 100 years since, Smellie writes, "I have heard a gentleman of eminence in one of the branches of medicine affirm that he never knew one person of our profession who did not pretend to be in possession of some secret or another."
'When the forceps were invented, the age delighted in mystery. All that can be fairly said against the Chamberlen family is that they were no better than their neighbors when they failed to recognize the obligation imposed upon all members of our noble profession to immediately publish any new method of alleviating human suffering, which, by their industry or genius, they were able to discover.
'Living in the 17th century, Dr. Peter Chamberlen was of the Puritan period, and shared its limitations on the one hand; its strength of purpose on the other.
'In some respects, Chamberlen was ahead of his time -- in political, social and religious proposals; but in other respects, he was not one whit above his more ordinary contemporaries. It is evident that the Chamberlen family endeavored to improve the instruments to which they owed so much of their professional fame. He did not pretend to be the inventor of the forceps, but claimed to be an expert practitioner of midwifery. On the evidence, Dr. Aveling has concluded that Peter the Elder was the inventor, and from him the instruments passed from hand to hand in the family.
About Sunday 24 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
Interesting you mention boiling the water. Once tea became an affordable and widespread drink of choice -- about 100 years in the future -- some people noticed a change in the Bills of Mortality statistics, but they didn't know why the incidents of certain illnesses had changed.
Not only the Chinese but also the Egyptians had figured out how to purify water, but the quantity needed in towns of any size made these methods inffective.
"Sir Francis Bacon revealed his ideas about desalination in his writings "A Natural History of Ten Centuries". He had come across an experimenter who had succeeded in purifying seawater by passing it downward through 20 vessels, and he assumed that if he dug a hole close to seashore, he would get pure water after the seawater had passed through the sand.
"Also in the 17th century, an Italian physician by the name of Lucas Antonius Portius provided details of a multiple sand filtration method in his writings entitled "Soldier’s Vade Mecum". This method employed the use of three pairs of sand filters, each of which had an upward-flow filter and a downward-flow filter. Water would enter the settling compartment of the system after it had been strained through a perforated plate.
"Between the 17th and 18th centuries, filtration became the preferred water purification method for many communities, and more and more town officials were considering the possibility of providing clean drinking to all their residents.
"In 1703, French scientist La Hire proposed to the French Academy of Sciences that every household in Paris should have a rainwater cistern and a sand filter. His system included a covered and elevated cistern, which could prevent the growth of moss and freezing.
"About a century after La Hire’s proposal was made, Paisley in Scotland introduced the first municipal water purifying plant in the world. Established in 1804, this plant used gravel filters and concentric sand to treat water, and the water is distributed with the use of a horse and cart."
Taken from https://www.freedrinkingwater.com…
But none mention just plain old boiling the water at home.
Perhaps someone else knows?
About Sunday 24 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection)
24.2.1661 (Sunday 24 February 1661)
document 70012935
Feb. 24. God good to us, yet our little Bett's ague continues, sanctify lord the stroke and remove it, this day we broke bread together without any disturbance(.) poor Mr R.H. very sad, and backward to receive, lord heal his melancholy temper, *said on this match proffered by Portugal that the King is married to the Princess de Ligne. oh lord what is doing in the world.*
The rumors about Charles II's marriage have reached the wilds of Essex. As usual with rumors, there is a kernal of truth and a lot of erronious speculation. They can't blame Facebook or X/Twitter or Fox News: it's a function of human nature to seek out the latest news -vs- try to keep possibilities secret until decisions become certainties.
What is making the Rev. Ralph despair is that the royal family of Portugal and the family of Claude Lamoral, 3rd Prince of Ligne are all Catholics. Either way, he fears this influence cannot be good for his Puritan flock.
* my emphasis.
Mr. R.H. is Richard Harlakenden, the local Puritan gentry and Josselin's friend, who evidently fears the worst.
About Truckle bed
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION:
There was a further benefit to these sleeping boxes: warmth.
Without modern heating or insulation, in the winter bedrooms could be literally freezing; it was standard practice to go to bed wearing a cap, so only your face was exposed.
It was significantly colder then. Roger Ekirch, a university distinguished professor of history at Virginia Tech, and the author of "At Day's Close: A History of Nighttime", explains that from the 14th to the 19th Century, Europe and portions of North America experienced the Little Ice Age. In London, the Thames froze over on 18 occasions. "Diaries spoke of sap from burning logs in fireplaces freezing as soon as it seeped from the bare ends... inkwells would freeze overnight," he says.
This not only made bedmates an appealing prospect, but also sleeping in the sheltered environment of a box bed where warm air became trapped was welcome.
The box bed eventually became associated with poverty and country life, and fell out of fashion. By the mid-20th Century they were rare. However, similar pieces of furniture are making a comeback, so it's possible to buy bed tents, which turn sleeping areas into snug caves, while wooden sleeping "nooks" that look like box beds are being sold for "cottage style" homes.
Excerpted from https://www.bbc.com/future/articl…
About Truckle bed
San Diego Sarah • Link
Another type of bed that isn't common today is the Wardrobe, or box, bed:
At a museum in Wick, in the north of Scotland, is what looks like a large pine wardrobe, with a pair of full-length double doors at the front. It wouldn't look out of place in a modern bedroom. It's assembled like regular flat-pack furniture – each piece slots together, so it can easily be moved and rebuilt.
But this cupboard is not for storing clothes; there are no hangers or shelves inside. This is a box bed – and it's designed to hold sleeping people.
Otherwise known as a closet bed or close bed, the box bed was surprisingly popular across Europe from the medieval era to the early 20th Century. These heavy pieces of furniture were made of wood that contained a bed. Some were plain and humble; others were elaborately decorated, with carved, panelled or painted sides. Often the cupboards had doors that closed, or a little curtained window. The fanciest had a variety of uses, with bonus drawers and a seat at their base.
For centuries, farm-workers, fish-gutters, and even members of the nobility would crawl inside these cosy wooden dens at night, and shut themselves in.
Often, they were used almost as miniature bedrooms, spillover places for people to sleep where there otherwise wouldn't be enough space.
In 1890 a family living in the Scottish Highlands was too large for their single-room house, so some members slept in a box bed in the barn, amongst the dogs and horses, according to the Wick Society.
It was also common to use box beds for migrant workers, such as for the overflow of herring-gutters who descended on the region of Wick during the fishing season, with 5 or 6 people sharing a bed.
Sharing a box bed with family members or co-workers was not unusual. In the 1825 melodrama "The Factory Lad", workers slept in stacks of box beds, with 2 or 3 people in each one.
Some had holes for ventilation, but cramming too many people in may have carried a risk of suffocation – one tale from 13th-Century France involves a woman hiding 3 secret guests inside a bed, who then perish in its stuffy interior.
Box beds were used by a wide section of society in Britain and on the continent, including farmers, fisherpeople and members of the nobility.
According to one account from 1840, most cottages in Brittany, France, included them, which were typically made from oak and piled up to 4 ft (1.2m) high with bedding. There might be several to a room, and each one would have a long wooden chest placed at their base.
About Thomas Butler (6th Earl of Ossory)
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION:
After a debate on the Irish cattle bill, Ossory challenged Buckingham for insulting the whole Irish nation, and he reminded the Lords (contrary to order) of the past record of Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley, under the Protectorate.
Ossory accompanied Charles II to Dover in 1670, although he took no part in the negotiations with Henrietta Anne, "Minette", the Duchess of Orleans. He commanded William of Orange’s naval escort later in the year.
Ossory reluctantly served under Sir Robert Holmes in the attack on the Dutch Smyrna fleet which preceded the declaration of the third Anglo-Dutch war in 1672, and later in the year was wounded at Sole Bay.
His most distinguished naval action was under Sir Edward Spragge at Texel in 1673, but his proposed attack on the Dutch fleet at Helvoetsluys was vetoed by Charles II, probably at the insistance of Buckingham.
When his brother-in-law Lord Arlington was in danger of impeachment by the Commons in 1674, ‘Lord Ossory stood every day like a solicitor in the lobby, pressing the Members with the most earnest entreaties, and stirring heaven and earth in his behalf, till he carried the point in his favour’.
Ossory was appointed to the Admiralty board in 1675, and was given £14,000, ‘in consideration of the great losses and charges sustained, and the many debts contracted by him’, allegedly in Charles II’s service, but really at the gaming table.
He served with distinction under William of Orange in the Flanders campaign of 1677-8.
As chamberlain to Queen Catherine, Ossory strenuously defended her against the insinuations of Titus Oates during the Popish Plot, and he was the only courtier who did not spurn Lord Treasurer Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby on his dismissal.
Ossory lost his other offices in the spring of 1679, when Charles II was trying to conciliate the Whigs; but when Lord Ashley (now the Earl of Shaftesbury) attacked his father (now the Duke of Ormonde) in the Lords, Ossory turned the tables on Shaftesbury by reminding the House of his record in the Cabal.
Ossory was restored to the Privy Council in 1680 and was then appointed governor of Tangier with a hopelessly inadequate force. Before he could take up his post he fell ill of a violent fever, probably typhus, and died on July 30, 1680, aged 46.
Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory was buried in Westminster Abbey amid universal eulogies of his courage, probity, and modesty. ‘It is a very strange thing’, commented Henry Coventry, ‘in so very bad an age to see so good a man lamented by so many of all sorts.’
See more info at https://www.historyofparliamenton…
Pepys mentions Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory 5 times. However, some of his correspondence with his father -- and mentions of his beloved Moor Park -- have been posted in our annotations, so you'll hear a lot about him.
About Thomas Butler (6th Earl of Ossory)
San Diego Sarah • Link
James Butler, Earl of Ormonde was leader of the Irish loyalists during the Civil Wars, subsequently playing an even more hazardous part as emissary to the royalist conspirators in England.
His son, Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory (1634-80) was educated abroad from 1648 to 1652, when he returned to England with his mother, Elizabeth Preston Butler, Lady Ormonde. His courtesy, temperance and numerous accomplishments won him enduring popularity.
Ossory was arrested in 1655 as being ‘conversant among the dangerous men’, but allowed to go abroad in 1657 on giving security not to act or contrive anything to the prejudice of the Protectorate.
In 1659 Ossory married Amilia, the daughter of Lodewyk van Nassau, lord of Beverweerd, which was an illegitimate branch of the house of Nassau, with whom he lived in unbroken fidelity all his life. They had 5 sons and 6 daughters; they lived at Moor Park, Herts., and Dover House, Whitehall.
Ossory accompanied Charles II to England at the Restoration, and gave away Anne Hyde at her secret marriage to the Duke of York.
After the dissolution of the Convention Parliament, the mayor of Bristol offered to Ormonde, who had been appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, a seat for his son. There was a double return, but Ossory was allowed to sit, because his rival Sir Humphrey Hooke had subscribed to his indenture.
He was not an active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, being appointed to only 13 committees. He was among those appointed to consider the bill for drainage of the fens, where he had acquired a substantial interest as tenant to the crown. He acted as teller for a Lords amendment to the security bill. He helped to manage the conference on an alleged conspiracy on 19 Dec., 1661.
In May 1662, Ossory quarrelled with Philip Howard II. The cause is unknown, but, fearing a duel, the House asked Charles II to intercede.
Althouth Ossory was listed as a court dependant in the Commons in 1664, he was by then fully involved in the administration of Ireland as deputy to his father, in complimentary missions abroad, and in a career of arms, in which his courage and generosity won him unsurpassed popularity, especially among seamen.
When he was called up to the House of Lords in 1666, the Commons proceeded with the consideration of the double return of 1661, and seated Hooke on the merits of that election.
In the Lords, Ossory distinguished himself by the violence of his attacks on all the CABAL ministers, except Sir Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, who had married his wife’s sister, Isabella.
About Saturday 23 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
No 徽柔 -- it would be to James' and the Navy's advantage for Pepys to be an MP (and vote for Navy funding when Supply -- which is what the budget is called -- is under discussion). Pepys has been around the Stuart brothers enough to know James isn't going to pay -- in fact, he might even charge for that letter.
In those days the small voting population (land-owning men over 30 as I recall) the voters expected to be woed; anything from wine to -- well, you get the idea. To be really effective you needed to be able to wine-and-dine your colleagues and the 'influencers' and live a certain lifestyle. Pepys would need more clothes. Is Elizabeth up to the scrutiny?
I think MPs were paid a stipend, but being an MP was a rich man's hobby. Besides, being an MP takes a lot of time; Pepys is happy with his lifestyle.
Personally, I think the cost is an excuse. Pepys could have done it, but was intimidated by taking on too much while he was still learning -- and making money -- being a Commissioner.
About Saturday 23 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I met to-day with Mr. Townsend, who tells me that the old man is yet alive in whose place in the Wardrobe he hopes to get my father, which I do resolve to put for."
The Old Man is Mr. Young -- an example of a Pepys pun, in case you missed it.
And he's changed his mind -- his father's standards of tailoring are good enough for the King's Wardrobe. Further vindication of John Pepys Snr.'s craftsmanship. Pepys must be feeling more secure in his personal reputation to go ahead with this pursuit of a position for his dad.
About Slide rule
San Diego Sarah • Link
The decimal point is 150 years older than historians thought, notes from 15th-century Italy reveal.
Decimal points are so simple, it seems like they should have existed forever. These handy mathematical tools break up whole numbers into tenths, hundredths and thousandths, making computation much simpler than with fractions. And some versions of decimals have been around since the 900s (in Damascus) or the 1200s (in China).
But a consistent system of decimals wasn't fully cemented until 1593, when German mathematician Christopher Clavius used decimals in an astronomical treatise. Now, 2023 research suggests Clavius was playing with an older tradition, picking up the use of decimals from a 15th-century Venetian merchant named Giovanni Bianchini.
Bianchini's work dates to between 1441 and 1450, making the decimal point a century and a half older than Clavius' use of it, ...
The idea of breaking up whole numbers into pieces is very old, but most mathematicians prior to the Middle Ages used fractions. Astronomers did use decimals, but not in the familiar base-10 system that elementary schoolers learn today. Instead, they used base-60 decimals, created by dividing 360-degree circles into 60 minutes, which could then be subdivided into 60 seconds.
Occasionally, mathematicians did use notations that are reminiscent of today's decimal system, but these ideas tended to fizzle instead of getting passed down from mathematician to mathematician.
It's easier to pin down the history of the decimal point — a symbol that persists to this day. And that notation first appears in Bianchini's "Tabulae primi mobilis B," a text on the calculation of stellar coordinates.
Bianchini was a merchant who became an administrator to the ruling family of Venice at the time, the d'Estes. As part of this job, he was responsible for calculating horoscopes and astrology. In some of the tables in his text, he uses the decimal point just as mathematicians do today.
Although the idea was slow to catch on, Clavius would have known about Bianchini. And writers inspired by Clavius picked up the decimal point and ran with it.
Finally, Scottish mathematician John Napier, the inventor of logarithms, cemented the decimal point in mathematics in the early 1600s.
Exccerpted from https://www.livescience.com/physi…
About Monday 17 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Back to pockets for a minute:
"The Renaissance was a time of great art, innovation, and exploration throughout Europe, and it’s during this era that the sewn-in pocket started to appear. The earliest true pockets were parts of men’s trunk hose — the poofy short breeches that you see in old portraits of royals and nobles — which became popular during the 16th century. The pockets hid themselves well among the folds, although sometimes they’re visible in paintings. The extra space left plenty of room for storing necessary objects, particularly pocket watches. These pockets could be quite luxurious; one example of voluminous trunk hose from the early 17th century had leather pockets lined with yellow and blue silk.
"Eventually, sewn-in pockets were also added to men’s coats, jackets, waistcoats, and breeches, for both nobles and commoners. From that point forward, menswear typically included pockets. For women’s clothing, however, the path was not quite as straight.
"In the mid-17th century, women had their own pocket revolution. Rather than wearing sewn-in pockets that would have to be emptied when changing into new clothes, many women started using tie-on pockets, which were detachable pouches that tied around the waist underneath skirts. Dresses would come with slits in them designed for reaching these modular pockets. Tie-on pockets were typically large — often more than 15 inches long and 10 inches wide — but they disappeared easily under the full skirts and petticoats of the era. They could be highly personalized, handmade, adorned with embroidery, made with extra interior pockets, and were often given as gifts. These pockets offered a space that women had complete control over. They could carry cash and valuables nested inside, and sleep with them under their pillows.
"While women from all walks of life wore tie-on pockets, they were especially useful for working women who needed to carry keys and supplies, as well as people living in cramped conditions. Upper-class women carried large quantities of precious items such as snuff boxes, telescopes, almanacs, and purses. Sentimental items such as small portraits frequently found their way into tie-on pockets.
"With the extra storage space also came a large capacity for crime; in one case, a woman made off with 2 live ducks stashed inside her pockets.
"Tie-on pockets stayed in use until the late 19th century — with a little break in the early 1800s when dresses briefly got less voluminous — even after handbags came into fashion. By the mid-19th century, some dresses even had small sewn-in pockets, although they were often impractical.
"... Pockets are no longer unusual in women’s fashion, but there are still significant differences in size between men’s and women’s pockets; women’s jeans, for example, are still 48% shorter on average than men’s."
More at https://historyfacts.com/arts-cul…
About Friday 22 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
I just realized that I read the Valentine's gift the wrong way around. Adm. Batten was very generous to Elizabeth! That Pepys doesn't mention a flare-up of jelousy says a lot -- perhaps she rolled her eyes suitably.