Annotations and comments

Mary K has posted 1,146 annotations/comments since 9 March 2007.

Comments

First Reading

About Wednesday 31 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

"the finest pile....."

This house (Evelyn referred to it as a palace) was built on the north side of what is now Piccadilly. According to L&M, Clarendon House became a model for English country houses for a generation - yet it was demolished a mere 16 years after it was built.

L&M offer a reference to "The Early History of Piccadilly" by C.L. Kingsford.

About Wednesday 24 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

"went to inquire after my father..."

Sam is surely referring to the time when he was a little boy, not any recent journey to and from Holland on his father's part.

John Pepys is known to have made a journey to Holland in 1656 and this looks as if he may have made an earlier one, too.

About Edward Kinaston

Mary  •  Link

A merchant involved in the supply of victuals for Tangier. (per L&M Companion).

Quite a different person from the well-known Ned Kynaston, actor.

About Saturday 20 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

Mr Kinaston

I don't think that this is the same man as the famous actor of that name. L&M refer to him as a merchant concerned in the victualling contracts for Tangier.

The other Kynaston remained an actor all his life, progressing from female roles (when a youth) to male roles in the later part of the century. He was a society figure, very popular with the 'celebrity' ladies of the day.

About Thursday 18 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

St. Olave's Church, Hart Street (close by the Tower of London) has to be the No.1 priority. Both Sam and Elizabeth were buried there and it is there that you can see the bust of Elizabeth that Sam had installed after her death.

As for a good, comprehensive walking-route, I defer to Glyn.

If you have a chance to travel out of London, the Historic Naval Dockyard at Chatham is well worth a visit - but wrap up warm in February! The wind can whistle in across the river on a cold day.

About Thursday 18 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

17th Century dance.

There is some useful information at http://baroquedance.info

Sam and company were more likely to be dancing country (i.e. not 'courtly) dances. The courtly dances were beginning to introduce much more emphasis on stylized footwork and arm-movements; beginning to look rather balletic.

About Tuesday 16 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

Increase in the plague.

In the previous week only 89 deaths had been attributed to the plague, so this represents a considerable increase at a time of year when cold weather was usually expected to reduce the incidence of infection.

'Usually" because plague was a regular visitor to London, though not with such ferocity as during 1665-6.

In very little more than a century there had been notable plagues in the years 1563,1578,1593,1603,1625 and 1636.

About Monday 15 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

Perhaps there was only one 'best' spare bed.

In which case it was probably assigned to the ladies, whilst the gentlemen had to bunk together as best they might. Clearly there was a shortage of bed-coverings.

About Wednesday 24 June 1663

Mary  •  Link

Captain Batts served in the royalist navy and held five commands between 1660 and 1665. He lost his commission in 1666 because of alleged poor performance, though both the Duke of York and Coventry thought that he had been poorly treated. (per L&M Companion).

No further information given.

About Sunday 14 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

Pepys punctuates similarly.

L&M simply adds single angle-brackets around the whole passage from "This afternoon, after sermon..." to the end, indicating that this passage was inserted in the body of the manuscript by Pepys himself at some point after he had written the main entry.

About Friday 12 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

the £1000 loan.

see http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive…

Pepys got his cousin Thomas to loan Sandwich £1000 on the joint surety of Samuel,his Uncle Robert and milord himself. The sum has been outstanding for nearly five years and, given that Sandwich's stock seems to be going down, our lad is getting increasingly bothered about it.

This was Thomas Pepys "The Executor", also known as "Hatcham Pepys". He seems to have been a wealthy man, probably a merchant or businessman of some sort.

About Wednesday 10 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

Plates are regularly warmed in decent (though not necessarily expensive) restaurants here (UK) and also in this household and those of friends and family. Hot water, a short spell in the oven or electric warming pads come into use, depending on the number of dishes to be warmed.

In domestic circumstances the modern form of the classic chafing dish on the dining table is usually represented by a dish-warmer that is 'powered' by tea-lights.(Small, dumpy candles like old-fashioned night-lights). You can get electric hot-pates for the table, but the flex can be a nuisance. These are more useful on a side-table.

[End of very-nearly-off-topic disquisition].

About Wednesday 3 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

Further estimates on plague deaths.

In "The Great Plague" Moote and Moote suggest that within the City of London and its liberties, plus some out-parishes, the adjusted total of deaths recorded in 1665 was 97,306 and of these 68,598 were attributed to the plague. This represents 19% mortality in an estimated population of about 500,000.

The actual loss to London's population would actually have been higher than this, as many of those who fled the capital in order to avoid the plague will either have carried the infection with them or have contracted it elsewhere. (Others will have decided that they had nothing to return to London for). It is reckoned that another 100,000 folk died in the countryside in 1665/6 and an unknown proportion of these would have been Londoners.

In previous plague epidemics,(1563-1636) demographer John Graunt estimated that 40% of the population fled the city. If the same proportion of inhabitants fled London in 1665, then the overall recorded city death-rate of about 100,000 would have represented 33% of the remaining population.

No wonder London felt deserted when Pepys resumed his visits to the city.

About Friday 5 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

It certainly holds true with susceptibility to mosquito bites, so perhaps flea bites present a similar case.

About Friday 5 January 1665/66

Mary  •  Link

The Tookers.

L&M Companion is fairly guarded in its account of the various Tookers who were living on the banks of the Thames in the 1660s. It refers to:

John Tooker (died 1667)who was river-agent to the Navy Board from 1664.
Anne Tooker (possibly widow of the above)who was housekeeper of the Payhouse at Chatham in 1669.
Mrs. Tooker and daughter Frances, Pepys's neighbours at Greenwich in 1665 "neither of them any better than she should have been".

However,the Companion declines to identify Mrs. Anne Tooker with Sam's accommodating neighbour, though admits that this is a possibility.

There is, of course, no guarantee that the accommodating Greenwich neighbour was ever actually married to a man by the name of Tooker; the 'Mrs.' could simply be a courtesy title.