Bill

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Bill has posted 2,777 annotations/comments since 9 March 2013.

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Second Reading

About The Changeling (Thomas Middleton and William Rowley)

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"The Changeling," a tragedy, by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, 4to. 1653, and 4to. 1668. The plot is taken from a story in Reynolds's God's Revenge against Murder. Sheppey played Antonio in "The Changeling."
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

About Henry Dawes

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John Dawes, created a baronet in 1663, father of Sir William Dawes, Archbishop of York
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Sir John Dawes: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

About Sir Philip Warwick

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Sir Philip Warwick, employed as Secretary to Charles I. in the Isle of Wight, and Clerk of the Signet, to which place he was restored in 1660; knighted, and elected M.P. for Westminster. He was also Secretary to the Treasury under Lord Southampton till 1667. Ob. 1682-3. His second wife here mentioned was Joan, daughter to Sir Henry Fanshawe, and widow of Sir William Boteler, Bart. He left memoirs behind him that have been published.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

About John Wilkins

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"In [John Wilkins's] "Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language," from 1668, Wilkins laid out a sprawling taxonomic tree that was intended to represent a rational classification of every concept, thing, and action in the universe. Each branch along the tree corresponded to a letter or a syllable, so that assembling a word was simply a matter of tracing a set of forking limbs until you'd arrived on a distant tendril representing the concept you wanted to express. For example, in Wilkins's system, De signifies an element, Deb is fire, and Deba is a flame.
The natural philosopher Robert Hooke was so impressed with Wilkins's language that he published a discourse on pocket watches in it, and proposed it be made the lingua franca of scientific research. That never happened. The language was simply too burdensome, and it soon vanished into obscurity. But Wilkins taxonomic-classification scheme, which organized words by meaning rather than alphabetically, was not entirely without use: it was a predecessor of the first modern thesaurus."
Joshua Foer. New Yorker Magazine, Dec. 24 & 31, 2012, p.88.

About Maj.-Gen. Robert Overton

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Major General Overton was committed to the Tower in 1649, 1655, and in December 1660.
---Wheatley, 1896.

About Sunday 16 December 1660

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"where I was surprised with the news of a plot against the King’s person and my Lord Monk’s"

Sam has had a kind of fantasy life this year. His competency and connections have started him on an interesting and lucrative career. It's been fun as a reader to see and to anticipate. But. This diary has stimulated many of us, I hope, to examine the time period before 1660. What a shock! That large army and navy we've seen being dismantled didn't just happen. Violence, disruption, crisis - it was a totally different world that seemed to change overnight to sweetness and light just as our diary opened. Sure, we've seen pesky Presbyterians (what do they want anyway?), a few regicides (who would defend them?) and Sam's problem with once being anti-monarchical (apparently a non-problem, as it was for many). All of little consequence.

The "Restoration" must have seemed to him, as to me, an amazing and sudden event. And amazingly peaceful. But there is an underbelly; there are some who would resort to violence to overturn the new civic order. Sam has seemed oblivious to this possibility and even now, after seeing Overton in the morning, he can continue his frivolous drinking in the afternoon.

I hope we can discover exactly what these "fanaticks" want to accomplish but I don't think we'll learn much about that from SP.

Fanatics / Nonconformists: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

About Maj.-Gen. Robert Overton

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OVERTON, ROBERT (fl. 1640-1668) Fifth-monarchy man and friend of Milton; admitted to Gray's Inn, 1631; fought at Marston Moor, 1644; reduced Sandal Castle, 1645; made parliamentary governor of Hull, 1647; commanded brigade of foot at Dunbar, 1650; governor of Edinburgh, 1650; led reserve at Inverkeithing, 1651; reduced Orkney and Shetland; commander in Western Scotland, 1652-3; opposed Protectorate and was imprisoned on charge of intending to head military insurrection; released by Richard Cromwell, 1659, and restored to commands by revived Long parliament, 1659; refused obedience to Monck and tried to maintain independent position in Yorkshire; imprisoned as Fifth-monarchy leader, after Restoration, in the Tower of London and in Jersey; his exploits celebrated in Milton's 'Defensio Secunda.'
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. 1903.

About Eels

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To collar eels.

Take a large Eel, split it, and take out the Bone, and wash it; then strew it with Cloves, Mace, and beaten Pepper, with Salt and sweet Herbs; then roll it up, and tye it with Splinters round it; so boil it in Water and a little Salt, and White-wine Vinegar, and a Blade of Mace; when the Eel is boil'd, take it up, and let the Pickle boil a little; and when 'tis cold, put in the Eel.
---Court Cookery; or, The Compleat English Cook. R. Smith, 1725.

[collar: roll up and bind with string]

About Sunday 23 December 1660

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"had made shift to spit a great turkey"

How blest, how envy'd were our life,
Could we but 'scape the poult'rer's knife!
But man, curst man on turkeys preys,
And Christmas shortens all our days;
Sometimes with oysters we combine,
Sometimes assist the sav'ry chine.
From the low peasant to the lord,
The turkey smoaks on ev'ry board.
---Fable XXXVIII. The Turkey and the Ant. John Gay, 1727

About Sunday 23 December 1660

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"where our pew all covered with rosemary and baize"

When rosemary, and bays the Poet's crown,
Are bawl'd in frequent cries through all the town;
Then judge the festival of Christmas near,
Christmas the joyous period of the year.
Now with bright holly all your temples strow,
With laurel green, and sacred misletoe.
---Of walking the Streets by Day. John Gay, 1716
(John Gay wrote "The Beggar's Opera".)

About Thursday 13 December 1660

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"where were Sir John Lawson and Captain Holmes"

We have heard recently of the disabling of two ships designated for the "Guiny" expedition. Captain Holmes is in charge of that expedition and it will leave in January.

About Gracious (Gracechurch) Street

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Gracechurch Street, between Cornhill and Eastcheap, was so named "from the parish church of St. Benet, called Grass Church, of the herb-market there kept." The church of St. Benet, at the corner of Fenchurch Street, was pulled down in 1867. It is written Grascherche in a Letter-Book of 1320. Stow writes it "Grasse Street." It was often written "Gracious Street." In Dekker's description of the royal procession in 1604, we are told that this street "was worthy of that name it carries till this hour." It was destroyed in the Great Fire, and on being rebuilt was named Gracechurch Street . ... In White Hart Court was the Friends' (Quakers) Meeting-house. On the passing of the Conventicles Act, in 1670, George Fox was seized and carried off to "the Mayor's house" by a party of soldiers while preaching in this meeting-house. It was at the house of Henry Goldney in this court that he died, January 19, 1690. He had preached in the meeting-house only two days before his death.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

About Turkey

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They are called "turkey" for a reason. The "helmeted guinea fowl" (Numida meleagris) from Madagascar was imported into Europe by, guess who, Turkish merchants. The Spanish in the New World discovered a bird (Meleagris gallopavo) that tasted like turkey, only better, and they exported it into Europe. Where it replaced that African bird. (In France it's call Dinde (D'Inde)! And in Turkey it's called Hindi.)
source: New York Times, October 29, 2013.

We have a similar situation with New World muscadine grapes, which were named after a variety of French grapes.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… [annotations]

About Parliament Stairs

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Parliament Stairs, the landing-place for Old Palace Yard. In the earliest maps the name is Old Palace Bridge.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

About Thursday 6 December 1660

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"to bed in a pet"

To take PET
be in a PET
to be offended, to snuff at, to be angry.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.

About Monday 26 November 1660

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It was my mathematical hubris, not Sasha, that caused my seemingly intractable conundrum. Astronomical events happened earlier in Pepys' calendar than in Rome's, and Rome's is the one we use today. So my original statement is also true for Rome in Pepys' time but, by his calendar, those latest sunrise dates would be Dec.16 to Dec.25, 1660. December had the darkest mornings for him too.

About Thursday 10 January 1660/61

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"Few of them would receive any quarter, but such as were taken by force and kept alive; expecting Jesus to come here and reign in the world " Suicidal religious fanaticks. Plus ça change plus la meme chose indeed.

About Tuesday 8 January 1660/61

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"she made me drink of some Florence wine"

The red Florence wine is most commended for a table wine of any in Italy; and doubtless it is most wholesome, and, to them who are used to it, also most gustful and pleasant. It is of a deeper colour than ordinary claret, which is caused by letting it stand longer upon the husks or vinacea before it be pressed. For it is the skin only which gives the tincture, the interior pulp of the grape being white.
---Travels Through the Low Countries. J. Ray, 1738.