"dined, and then to sing with my wife with great content"
I'm glad that the family music-making is going so well, but shouldn't have thought that the time immediately after the main meal of the day was the best time for singing. It's not easy to sing well on a really full stomach.
is thoroughly to be recommended, as is his "New Atlantis" and the collected essays. As Sam has been discovering, "all rising to great place is by a winding stair."
"my wife and maids being gone over the water to the Whiststers with their clothes"
Was Sam's entry on 12th August - so the game was presumably worth the candle. The natural explanation for 'being gone over the water" is "across the river."
Many thanks, Terry, for the note above. Clearly the Dutch process described is a large-scale, commercial enterprise. Presumably Elizabeth has taken the domestic linen to a 'retail' business on the south side of the Thames (could well be Southwark or Lambeth Marsh, which L&M mention as another possibility) and the process is a fairly lengthy one, but nothing like as long as the large-scale, international business practised in Holland.
Like us in 2010, Pepys and 17th century London have been enjoying unusually hot summer weather. When the temperature suddenly drops to 15C (as it has here today) it feels jolly cold. We're frail creatures and only operate comfortably within a narrow range of temperature.
"did happen to sit just before Mrs. Knepp and Mrs. Pierce"
Did happen to sit ....?
Sez you! Come off it! Strike a light! Who'd ha' thought it? Lor' love a duck! Pull the other one! (It's got bells on). Garn! ...... and any other London expression of surprise and disbelief that you can think of.
Lucky Sam; the accursed, non-native grey squirrels have already eaten all the immature filberts on our trees, but they had not yet been introduced to Britain from America in the seventeenth century.
Although 'filberts' is glossed 'hazelnuts' here, in this part of SE England the term refers to cobnuts (somewhat more elongated in shape) rather than hazelnuts. Kentish cobnuts are delicious - if you can just get to them before the grey squirrels scoff the lot.
Origins uncertain. The expression was first recorded in 1781 and could be a naval embellishment of an earlier version, "all my eye." Coleridge objected specifically to the addition of "Betty Martin" to the tag and rendered it "all my I." However, in view of similar London expressions (e.g. "all my eye and elbow") he may have been mistaken.
Unlikely that Samuel coined and popularised the phrase, even if it was already well established by the end of the 18th century - he aimed to keep his association with Betty Martin quiet, surely?
Traditionally it was a pig's bladder, rather than a sheep's bladder, that was used for football. Understandably such footballs did not last very long in play, but it was not until the 19th century that an ingenious shoe-mender devised a system of covering bladders with strips of leather so that harder-wearing footballs became available.
This native English speaker is also puzzled by this phrase.
The Neat Houses were situated just west of today's Vauxhall Bridge and were the small houses of a number of market-gardeners who had their busineses there. L&M notes that this patch had been used as an area of entertainment since Elizabethan times. However, L&M remain silent on the nature of the box.
The pronunciation of this name continues to change. Today “Marleybone” seems to be the most fashionable version, but until a few years ago “Marrylebone” was the usual version. [In all cases the accent falls on the first element, with the ‘lebone’ becoming quite compressed].
Has Pen's cook been trying to settle some domestic score, or did pasty come from a bakehouse? Venison does, of course, have to be hung before it's cooked but it sounds as if this meat was allowed to go over the top ( the weather has been very hot recently, as Pepys has told us). Perhaps the cook took a chance on baking improving the 'high' nature of the meat, but without success.
The pronunciation of this name continues to change. Today "Marleybone" seems to be the most fashionable version, but until a few years ago "Marrylebone" was the usual version. [In all cases the accent falls on the first element, with the 'lebone' becoming quite compressed].
The Navy Office in which the diarist Pepys worked and lived burnt down in 1673. This engraving shows the building that was erected in its place. Thus Pepys would have known this version of the Navy Office during his later years of such employment, but it is not the office in which he worked during the diary period.
Comments
First Reading
About Monday 19 August 1667
Mary • Link
"dined, and then to sing with my wife with great content"
I'm glad that the family music-making is going so well, but shouldn't have thought that the time immediately after the main meal of the day was the best time for singing. It's not easy to sing well on a really full stomach.
About Friday 16 August 1667
Mary • Link
Bacon's Novum Organon
is thoroughly to be recommended, as is his "New Atlantis" and the collected essays. As Sam has been discovering, "all rising to great place is by a winding stair."
About Tuesday 13 August 1667
Mary • Link
"my wife and maids being gone over the water to the Whiststers with their clothes"
Was Sam's entry on 12th August - so the game was presumably worth the candle. The natural explanation for 'being gone over the water" is "across the river."
About Tuesday 13 August 1667
Mary • Link
Bleaching.
Many thanks, Terry, for the note above. Clearly the Dutch process described is a large-scale, commercial enterprise. Presumably Elizabeth has taken the domestic linen to a 'retail' business on the south side of the Thames (could well be Southwark or Lambeth Marsh, which L&M mention as another possibility) and the process is a fairly lengthy one, but nothing like as long as the large-scale, international business practised in Holland.
About Monday 12 August 1667
Mary • Link
"it being cold now in the mornings"
Like us in 2010, Pepys and 17th century London have been enjoying unusually hot summer weather. When the temperature suddenly drops to 15C (as it has here today) it feels jolly cold. We're frail creatures and only operate comfortably within a narrow range of temperature.
About Monday 12 August 1667
Mary • Link
"did happen to sit just before Mrs. Knepp and Mrs. Pierce"
Did happen to sit ....?
Sez you! Come off it! Strike a light! Who'd ha' thought it? Lor' love a duck! Pull the other one! (It's got bells on). Garn! ...... and any other London expression of surprise and disbelief that you can think of.
About Sunday 11 August 1667
Mary • Link
the becoming straw hats.
I was hoping that Sam might have bought one for Eizabeth. There is clearly some sort of fashion for dressing 'en paysanne' in London this 1667 summer.
About Sunday 11 August 1667
Mary • Link
"pockets full of filberts"
Lucky Sam; the accursed, non-native grey squirrels have already eaten all the immature filberts on our trees, but they had not yet been introduced to Britain from America in the seventeenth century.
Although 'filberts' is glossed 'hazelnuts' here, in this part of SE England the term refers to cobnuts (somewhat more elongated in shape) rather than hazelnuts. Kentish cobnuts are delicious - if you can just get to them before the grey squirrels scoff the lot.
About Bottle of Hay
Mary • Link
"...good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow."
About Tuesday 6 August 1667
Mary • Link
The Dutch Golden Age.
Simon Schama's "Embarrassment of Riches" is highly recommended as an account of this period.
About Tuesday 6 August 1667
Mary • Link
All my eye and Betty Martin.
Origins uncertain. The expression was first recorded in 1781 and could be a naval embellishment of an earlier version, "all my eye." Coleridge objected specifically to the addition of "Betty Martin" to the tag and rendered it "all my I." However, in view of similar London expressions (e.g. "all my eye and elbow") he may have been mistaken.
Unlikely that Samuel coined and popularised the phrase, even if it was already well established by the end of the 18th century - he aimed to keep his association with Betty Martin quiet, surely?
About Thursday 1 August 1667
Mary • Link
Football.
Traditionally it was a pig's bladder, rather than a sheep's bladder, that was used for football. Understandably such footballs did not last very long in play, but it was not until the 19th century that an ingenious shoe-mender devised a system of covering bladders with strips of leather so that harder-wearing footballs became available.
About Monday 19 August 1661
Mary • Link
location of the Neat Houses
According to L&M Companion, we are looking at the present-day London district of Pimlico.
About Thursday 1 August 1667
Mary • Link
"in a box in a tree"
This native English speaker is also puzzled by this phrase.
The Neat Houses were situated just west of today's Vauxhall Bridge and were the small houses of a number of market-gardeners who had their busineses there. L&M notes that this patch had been used as an area of entertainment since Elizabethan times. However, L&M remain silent on the nature of the box.
About Marylebone
Mary • Link
Mary on Sun 1 Aug 2010, 05:45am. Flag this
Marylebone
The pronunciation of this name continues to change. Today “Marleybone” seems to be the most fashionable version, but until a few years ago “Marrylebone” was the usual version. [In all cases the accent falls on the first element, with the ‘lebone’ becoming quite compressed].
About Thursday 1 August 1667
Mary • Link
the stinking venison pasty.
Has Pen's cook been trying to settle some domestic score, or did pasty come from a bakehouse? Venison does, of course, have to be hung before it's cooked but it sounds as if this meat was allowed to go over the top ( the weather has been very hot recently, as Pepys has told us). Perhaps the cook took a chance on baking improving the 'high' nature of the meat, but without success.
About Wednesday 31 July 1667
Mary • Link
Marylebone
The pronunciation of this name continues to change. Today "Marleybone" seems to be the most fashionable version, but until a few years ago "Marrylebone" was the usual version. [In all cases the accent falls on the first element, with the 'lebone' becoming quite compressed].
About Tuesday 30 July 1667
Mary • Link
Ah - I hadn't realised that you were alluding to the habits of the otter, rather than the Otter.
About Tuesday 30 July 1667
Mary • Link
Sam? Tom Otter?
I've seen nothing to suggest that Sam is in the least hen-pecked.
About Saturday 27 July 1667
Mary • Link
1714 engraving of The Navy Office.
The Navy Office in which the diarist Pepys worked and lived burnt down in 1673. This engraving shows the building that was erected in its place. Thus Pepys would have known this version of the Navy Office during his later years of such employment, but it is not the office in which he worked during the diary period.