Bill

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

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Second Reading

About Sunday 12 August 1660

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"After dinner I did give Mr. Donne; who is going to sea, the key of my cabin and direction for the putting up of my things."

I'm with Daniel Baker above, What is going on here? What cabin? What things?

About Friday 10 August 1660

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loosing/looseness. This definition below was my first thought, considering SP's drinking and eating habits lately.

LOOSENESS
5. Diarrhoea; flux of the belly.
---A Dictionary Of The English Language. Samuel Johnson, 1756.

About John Fowler

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Wait, haha, James wasn't the King! was Lord High Admiral.

About John Fowler

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The King reminds the judge-Advocate of his duties:

To John Fowler, Esq., Judge-Advocate of His Majesty's Fleet.

Whereas upon Consideration had of the Usefulness of a Judge-Advocate to be appointed in reference to the Articles established by Parliament, for the regulating and better government of his Majesty's Navy, Ships of War, and Forces by Sea, I have thought fit to appoint you to be Judge-Advocate of his Majesty's Fleet: These are therefore, to will and require you, from time to time, to attend all Courts-Martial that shall be called on board the Ship Admiral, or any other Ship in his Majesty's Fleet, where you shall be present, for Trial of Offenders against the said Articles and Orders; and to examine all such Persons as shall from time to time, during your Employment in the said Place, be brought or produced as Witnesses, in order to the due Proof of the Matter of Fact laid to the Charge of them, or any of them; and in all other things to do and perform the Duty of your Place, in as full and ample manner, as any Judge-Advocate of a Fleet might, or ought to do; and you are to observe and follow such farther Instructions and Directions, as you shall from time to time receive from myself, or the Commander in chief of the Fleet, where you shall be present: And for your Service herein, you are to receive such an Allowance of Sallary, Fees, Perquisites, and other Considerations as usually hath been, or that shall be thought meet to be allowed to a Judge-Advocate of his Majesty's Fleet. And for so doing, this shall be your Warrant. Given under my Hand and Seal, the 17th of January, 1662.
JAMES.

About Friday 13 January 1659/60

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"Cheap does mean market in Old English"

To CHEAPEN [Ceapan, Sax. of Kopen, L.S. to buy, kauffen, Teut.] to ask, or to beat down the Price of a Commodity.
CHIPPENHAM [Cyppenham, of Cyppan, Sax. to cheapen, q d. a Market or Marketplace] a Town in Wiltshire.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.

About Posset

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POSSET, [posca, Lat.] milk curdled with treacle, wine, or any acid.
---The Royal English dictionary. D Fenning, 1763.

About Exeter House

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From 1667 till 1676, when the first Earl of Shaftesbury removed into the City, and the house was pulled down, Exeter House was the home of John Locke, who resided with Lord Ashley at this time as "family physician, tutor, and private friend," and for a while as secretary. Many of Locke's extant letters are dated from Exeter House, and it was whilst here that he was occupied with the Essay on the Human Understanding.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

About Sunday 2 September 1660

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"I fear is not so good as she should be"

Le nez tourne a la fraindise. Said of a licorous [gluttonous] or lecherous wench; or one that's not so good as she should be.
---A French and English dictionary. R. Cotgrave, 1673.

=the nose turned to the treat.

About Saturday 4 August 1660

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Whoops, I find that Wheatley and other editors have the "additional text" I mention above included in the 3 August 1660 diary entry.

About Sunday 5 August 1660

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Contra Paul Brewer above, Dr. J. does indeed include "plaster" in his dictionary. In other definitions he spells it "plaister."

PLASTER.
2. A glutinous or adhesive salve. Shakes.
A Dictionary Of The English Language. Samuel Johnson, 1756.

About William Man

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The Sword-bearer.
This Officer is to attend my Lord Mayor at his going abroad, and to carry the Sword before him, being the Emblem of Justice. He hath his Table at my Lord Mayor's: For the Support of which, there is 1000l. a Year allowed. His Dwelling, allow'd him by the City, is at Justice Hall in the Old Bailey.
The Sword-Bearer's Place is honourable; in as much as the Sword is needful to be born before Head Officers of Boroughs, or other corporate Towns, to represent the State and princely Office of the King's Most Excellent Majesty, the chief Governor.
---A survey of the cities of London and Westminster. J. Stow, 1735.

About John Speed

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SPEED, JOHN, an English historical writer of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., was born at Farrington in Cheshire, in 1552, but came early in life to London, where the rest of his days were spent. He was brought up to the business of a tailor, and seems to have supported himself by it during the greater part of his life, for he does not appear as an author before the year 1603, when he was in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He was however, during that time, amassing treasures of curious historical knowledge, the possession of which brought him into the acquaintance of Sir Fulk Grevile, who drew him forth from his obscurity, and, it is supposed, afforded him the means of publishing the large works of which he is the author or editor. The first of these is a collection of maps of the English and Welsh counties, with plans of cities, and engravings of various antiquities, said to have been first published in 1608; but when formed into the work entitled 'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain, printing an exact geography of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the isles adjoining. With the shires, hundreds, cities, and shire-towns, within the Kingdom of England, divided and described by John Speed,' folio, bearing the date of 1611. In this work he owed much to the labours of Camden, Christopher Saxton, and John Norden. There have been several editions of it. The other work of Speed's is a history or chronicle of England, entitled, 'The History of Great Britain under the Conquests of the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans,' originally published in 1611. In this work are engravings of coins, and also of the great seals of England, then for the first time published; but on the whole it is a compilation of no great merit. He was also the compiler of a set of Tables of Scripture Genealogy, comprising much of the genealogical information contained in the sacred books, exhibited in the form of pedigrees; and several theological works, as ' The Cloud of Witnesses,' &c, of small value are ascribed to him. He died July 28,1629, and was buried in the church of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, where a monument was raised to his memory. By his wife Susannah, to whom he was married for fifty-seven years, he had twelve sons and six daughters.
---Biography. C. Knight, 1867.

About Wednesday 26 September 1660

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"our house being in a most sad pickle"

ALONSO:
And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em?
How camest thou in this pickle?

TRINCULO:
I have been in such a pickle since I
saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of
my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

---The Tempest. Shakespeare.

About Tuesday 25 September 1660

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BRUSH. [brosse, Fr. from bruscus, Lat.]
1. An instrument for rubbing. Stillingfleet.
2. A rude assault; a shock. Clarendon.
To BRUSH. [from the noun]
2. To strike with quickness. Spenser, Pope.
---A Dictionary Of The English Language. Samuel Johnson, 1756.

About Temple Church

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The Temple Church was the church of the Knights Templars, and consists of two parts, the Round Church and the Choir. The Round Church (transition Norman work) was built in the year 1185, as an inscription in Saxon characters, formerly on the stonework over the little next the cloister, recorded and dedicated by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem; the Choir (pure Early English) was finished in 1240.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.