Perhaps Samuel was having a particularly self-indulgent day before Lent gets going in earnest. His self-denying vows may seem more important during a self-denying season.
This, surely, is the plate that arrived as an unexpected gift recently and was not thought very useful. Now being exchanged for items that are more to Samuel and Elizabeth's liking.
In the most elaborate of the early savoury pies, the hard-crust pastry case was basically used as a casing to keep the contents well-enclosed (and hence moist) during the baking. It was not primarily intended for consumption.
Perhaps the danger of laudanum etc. having a depressing effect on the respiratory system was recognised earlier than we might think. You do need to keep the patient breathing and a heavy, one-off dose of an opiate might be risky.
What may seem to us abhorrently low ages of consent presumably owed their existence to the precariousness of life in general in earlier times and the widespread acceptance that marriage was a financial as well as (sometimes) amiable contract. When family (and hence material) alliances could depend on the requisite marriage being accomplished, better not to take the risk of the female party, at least, dying before the contract was made.
This is presumably the "little boy" whose reported illness caused Pepys qualms about the possibility of a case of plague in Mrs. Clerke's house a few days ago. Evidently the subsequent report of the lad's being well again didn't entirely convince Pepys that it had been a false alarm..
Kent Street may have been renamed Tabard Street, but if you pursue it's line about 150 yards further southeast, you find yourself in the modern Old Kent Road (A2). The Old Kent Road then continues in this same direction until it meets New Cross Road close to the junction with Pepys Road. Nice!
The Dowager Countess is of a generation that did not use the term "weekend", which was a relatively recent introduction. She was accustomed to the phrase " a Saturday to Monday". In 1909 the editor of The Spectator was slightly sniffy about the "relatively modern" widespread use of the term "weekend".
"franked" here may mean "authorised by signature."
e.g. the franking of mail was introduced in England in 1660. The privilege of franking mail enabled the sender to have his mail carried free of charge. This privilege continued to apply to certain government servants, members of Parliament etc. into the Nineteenth Century.
This is a church rebuilt by the famed Nicholas Hawksmoor (not .....worth). Easily visited today from central London by tube and Docklands Light Railway to Cutty Sark.
See Miranda Kaufmann's "Black Tudors: the untold story" [published 2017 by Oneworld Publications ISBN 978-1-78607-184-2] for a fascinating account of immigrants of African origin living and working in England much earlier than Pepys time, many of them in London (though there was one black woman running a smallholding in Cambridgeshire). These folk were not slaves; the practice of slavery was prohibited under English law.
We call these narrow roads "sunken lanes. "There is delight in travelling along one of these sunken lanes on a sunny morning, when the bordering hedgerows and hedgerow trees cast a dappled shade on the roadway below.
Comments
Second Reading
About Tuesday 6 March 1665/66
Mary K • Link
"my house happened to be mighty clean..."
The sort of statement that might be construed as passive-aggressive nowadays.
About Wednesday 28 February 1665/66
Mary K • Link
Perhaps Samuel was having a particularly self-indulgent day before Lent gets going in earnest. His self-denying vows may seem more important during a self-denying season.
About Tuesday 6 February 1665/66
Mary K • Link
Exchanging goods at the goldsmith's
This, surely, is the plate that arrived as an unexpected gift recently and was not thought very useful. Now being exchanged for items that are more to Samuel and Elizabeth's liking.
About Tuesday 10 July 1666
Mary K • Link
Early pasties and pies.
In the most elaborate of the early savoury pies, the hard-crust pastry case was basically used as a casing to keep the contents well-enclosed (and hence moist) during the baking. It was not primarily intended for consumption.
About Friday 25 May 1666
Mary K • Link
non-use of opium in the operating theatre
Perhaps the danger of laudanum etc. having a depressing effect on the respiratory system was recognised earlier than we might think. You do need to keep the patient breathing and a heavy, one-off dose of an opiate might be risky.
About Saturday 6 January 1665/66
Mary K • Link
Quite possibly.
One thing you can be sure of is that they didn't suffer from peanut allergy/anaphylactic shock syndrome.
About Friday 5 January 1665/66
Mary K • Link
Age of consent.
What may seem to us abhorrently low ages of consent presumably owed their existence to the precariousness of life in general in earlier times and the widespread acceptance that marriage was a financial as well as (sometimes) amiable contract. When family (and hence material) alliances could depend on the requisite marriage being accomplished, better not to take the risk of the female party, at least, dying before the contract was made.
About Monday 18 December 1665
Mary K • Link
to dog.
Often found in such expressions as "to dog someone's footsteps". To follow someone as covertly as possible, to trail them, to shadow them.
About Saturday 5 October 1667
Mary K • Link
Thy flattering picture, Phryne, is like thee
Only in this, that you both painted be.
John Donne (1573 - 1631).
About Sunday 3 December 1665
Mary K • Link
"and as merry as was sufficient"
Now, there's a carefully nuanced assessment of a social gathering.
About Edith Bell (aunt)
Mary K • Link
St. Leonard's Church, Bromley by Bow, no longer exists except for some residual ruins, having been hit by a flying bomb during WW2.
About Wednesday 8 November 1665
Mary K • Link
"not seeing of Christopher"
This is presumably the "little boy" whose reported illness caused Pepys qualms about the possibility of a case of plague in Mrs. Clerke's house a few days ago. Evidently the subsequent report of the lad's being well again didn't entirely convince Pepys that it had been a false alarm..
About Friday 27 October 1665
Mary K • Link
Kent Street may have been renamed Tabard Street, but if you pursue it's line about 150 yards further southeast, you find yourself in the modern Old Kent Road (A2). The Old Kent Road then continues in this same direction until it meets New Cross Road close to the junction with Pepys Road. Nice!
About Sunday 17 September 1665
Mary K • Link
The Dowager Countess's question.
The Dowager Countess is of a generation that did not use the term "weekend", which was a relatively recent introduction. She was accustomed to the phrase " a Saturday to Monday". In 1909 the editor of The Spectator was slightly sniffy about the "relatively modern" widespread use of the term "weekend".
About Sunday 28 January 1665/66
Mary K • Link
"franked" here may mean "authorised by signature."
e.g. the franking of mail was introduced in England in 1660. The privilege of franking mail enabled the sender to have his mail carried free of charge. This privilege continued to apply to certain government servants, members of Parliament etc. into the Nineteenth Century.
About Sunday 3 September 1665
Mary K • Link
Greenwich parish church.
This is a church rebuilt by the famed Nicholas Hawksmoor (not .....worth). Easily visited today from central London by tube and Docklands Light Railway to Cutty Sark.
About Thursday 6 July 1665
Mary K • Link
The google link immediately above doesn't seem to be working.
About Wednesday 28 June 1665
Mary K • Link
In answer to SD Sarah's question, no - the British honours system does not allow of the posthumous award of a knighthood.
(I assume that you meant posthumous and not post humorous. If I have missed the joke, forgive me).
About Monday 19 June 1665
Mary K • Link
Persons of African origin.
See Miranda Kaufmann's "Black Tudors: the untold story" [published 2017 by Oneworld Publications
ISBN 978-1-78607-184-2] for a fascinating account of immigrants of African origin living and working in England much earlier than Pepys time, many of them in London (though there was one black woman running a smallholding in Cambridgeshire). These folk were not slaves; the practice of slavery was prohibited under English law.
About Saturday 1 November 1662
Mary K • Link
We call these narrow roads "sunken lanes. "There is delight in travelling along one of these sunken lanes on a sunny morning, when the bordering hedgerows and hedgerow trees cast a dappled shade on the roadway below.