Bill

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

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Second Reading

About Horn (Fleet St)

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Horn Tavern (The), Fleet Street, north side, near Johnson's Court, now Anderton's Hotel, was left to the Goldsmiths' Company in 1405, by Thomas Atte Hay, citizen and Goldsmith, "for the better support and sustentation of the infirm members of the Company." The property is still possessed by the Goldsmiths.

And when they pleased to think upon us, told us they were to dine together at the Horn, in Fleet Street, being a house where their lawyer resorted. . . . He embraced one young gentleman, and gave him many riotous instructions how to carry himself . . . told him he must acquaint himself with many gallants of the Inns of Court, and keep rank with those that spend most ... his lodging must be about the Strand in any case, being remote from the handicraft scent of the City; his eating must be in some famous tavern, as the Horn, the Mitre, or the Mermaid; and then, after dinner, he must venture beyond sea, that is, in a choice pair of nobleman's oars, to the Bankside, where he must sit out the breaking up of a comedy; or the first cut of a tragedy; or rather, if his humours so serve him, to call in at the Blackfriars, where he should see a nest of boys able to ravish a man.—Father Hubbard's Tales, 4to, 1604.

"Near the Horn Tavern in Fleet Street," Mrs. Salmon established her Waxwork Exhibition; and "next the Horn Tavern in Fleet Street," Snelling lived and sold coins. Anderton's Hotel, the successor to the Horn, was rebuilt 1879-1880 on a larger and more ambitious scale. It now occupies Nos. 162 to 165, and is a lofty Queen Anne building of red brick, stone, and granite, one of the showiest edifices in Fleet Street.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

About Handsel

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HANSEL, the Money taken upon the first Part sold of Commodity, or first in a Morning.
---An universal etymological English dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

HANDSEL, The first act of using any thing, the first act of sale.
To HANDSEL To use or do any thing the first time.
---A Dictionary Of The English Language. Samuel Johnson, 1756.

About Thursday 11 June 1663

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“she and I did jangle mightily about her cushions”

To JANGLE, to differ or be at Variance, to contend in Words.
---An Universal English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

About Tuesday 9 June 1663

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Of course, the 1764 duodecimal method is close to the way we would express it in the "dozenel" method (base 12) today, noting TerryF's annotation above and letting A=10. I guess that's why I like it.

~~5.3 (5ft 3in)
x~2.4 (2ft 4in)
--------
~190
~A6
---------
10.30 (10.30 sq.ft or 12 1/4 sq.ft.)

Sam is mastering the advanced practical mathematics of his day and it will help make him successful.

About Tuesday 9 June 1663

Bill  •  Link

Wow, the mathematical method (algorithm) above is a little deeper than it looks. We have to remember that multiplying feet x feet gives us a modern answer in SQUARE feet, so the 3 inches in the answer above should be interpreted as 3/12 of a square foot. The answer then, in modern terms, is 12 1/4 sq. ft.

(Another way of interpreting the problem is by saying that a surface 5 ft 3 in. by 2 ft 4 in. has the same area as a surface 12 ft 3 in. by 1 ft. That is, 12 1/4 sq. ft)

How would we do this problem? We could convert it to:

5 1/4 x 2 1/3 ( or 5.25 x 4.33) hmmm.

or convert it to just inches:

63x28 and then convert square inches back to square feet. hmmm.

I like the 1764 method better!! And a good reason to prefer metric measurement.

About Tuesday 9 June 1663

Bill  •  Link

Cross Multiplication, otherwise called duodecimal arithmetic, is an expeditious method of multiplying things of several species, or denominations, by others likewise of different species, &c. e. g. Shillings and pence, by shillings and pence; feet and inches, by feet and inches. This is much used in measuring, &c. and the method is thus: Suppose 5 feet 3 inches to be multiplied by 2 feet 4 inches; say 2 times 5 feet is 10 feet, and 2 times 3 is 6 inches; again, say 4 times 5 is 20 inches, or 1 foot 8 inches; and 4 times 3 is 12 parts, or 1 inch : the whole sum makes 12 feet 3 inches. In the same manner you may manage shillings and pence.

[note from Bill: the ~ is just used to line the numbers up in Phil's editor]

~~Feet ~Inches
~~~~5~~~~3
~~x~2~~~~4
-------------------
~~~10~~~~6
~~~~1~~~~8
~~~~~~~~~1
-------------------
~~~12~~~~3 [i.e. 12 feet, 3 inches]

---A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 1764.

About Martha Castle (b. Batten)

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Martha Batten, aged twenty-six, was married to William Castell, of Redereth Wall, co. Surrey, shipwright, widower, aged thirty-four. The marriage licence is dated July 2nd, 1663 (Chester's "London Marriage Licences," ed. Foster, 1887, col. 254).
---Wheatley, 1893.

About Maypole (The Strand)

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In that wide Space the Goddess took her Stand
Where the tall May-pole once o'erlook'd the Strand
But now (so ANNE and Piety ordain)
A Church collects the Saints in Drury-lane.
---The Dunciad. Alexander Pope, 1728.

What's not destroy'd by Time's devouring Hand?
Where's Troy, and where's the May-Pole in the Strand?
---Art of Politicks. J. Bramston, 1729.

About Kirby Castle (Bethnal Green)

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Called Kirby Castle, the property of Sir William Ryder, Knight, who died there in 1669.—Lysons's Environs. The house in which Sir William Ryder resided, was built by John Thorpe, in 1570, for "John Kirby," of whom nothing is known, except that it was called after him. Pepys was evidently misinformed in supposing that it ever could have been inhabited by the blind beggar.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

About Sir Richard Temple (MP Buckingham, Bucks.)

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TEMPLE, Sir RICHARD, third baronet (1634-1697), politician; son of Sir Peter Temple, second baronet of Stowe; M.P., Warwickshire, 1654, Buckingham, 1659 and 1660-97 (except in the parliament of 1679); a secret royalist; K.B., 1661; senior commissioner of customs, 1671; prominent member of the country party; zealous against those accused in the Popish plot, and for the exclusion bill; dismissed by James II; later supporter of William III in the Commons; author of works on taxation and the coinage.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Vizard

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ROSALINE
Which of the vizards was it that you wore?

BIRON
Where? when? what vizard? why demand you this?

ROSALINE
There, then, that vizard; that superfluous case
That hid the worse and show'd the better face.
---Love's Labor Lost. W. Shakespeare

LADY MACBETH
Come on;
Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.

MACBETH
So shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you:
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo;
Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:
Unsafe the while, that we
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams,
And make our faces vizards to our hearts,
Disguising what they are.
---Macbeth. W. Shakespeare.

About Vizard

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Vizard masques, probably came into fashion about this time. On the 1st of June, 1704, a song was sung at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, called "The Misses' Lamentation for want of their Vizard Masques at the Theatre." Notwithstanding the gross licentiousness of the drama, after the Restoration, numbers of females of all denominations frequented the theatres, though many of them wore masks to disguise their features, and this bad habit had a still worse effect, by the facilities which it afforded to intrigue and assignation. The custom is pointedly referred to in Pope's well-known lines:—
"The fair sat panting at a courtier's play,
And not a Mask went unimproved away;
The modest fan was lifted up no more,
And virgins smiled at what they blushed before."
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

About Thomas Belasyse (1st Earl Fauconberg)

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BELASYSE, THOMAS, Earl Fauconberg (1627-1700), supporter of Cromwell; married Mary, Cromwell's daughter, 1657; privy councillor of Charles II.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Double horizontal dial

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Double horizontal dial, one with a double gnomon, one of which points out the hour on the outward circle, and the other shews the hour upon the stereographic projection drawn upon it. This dial not only finds the meridian, hours, &c., but shews the sun's place, rising and setting, declination, amplitude, altitude, and azimuth, with many other useful propositions.
---A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 1763,

About William Juxon (Archbishop of Canterbury, 1660-3)

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JUXON, WILLIAM (1582-1663), archbishop of Canterbury; educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and St. John's College, Oxford; B.C.L., 1603; D.C.L., 1622; vicar of St. Giles, Oxford, 1609-16; rector of Somerton, 1615; president of St. John's College, Oxford, 1621-33; vice-chancellor, 1627-8; dean of Worcester, 1627; clerk of the closet on Laud's recommendation, 1632; as bishop of London, 1633-49, directed the restoration of St. Paul's and enforced conformity without giving offence; a lord of the admiralty, 1636-8; lord high treasurer, 1636-41; Summoned as a witness against Strafford, whose attainder he advised Charles I to veto; attended the king at Newport and during his trial; received his last words on the scaffold; archbishop of Canterbury, 1660-3; buried in the chapel of St. John's College, Oxford, to which he left 7,000l.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Thomas Pierce (President of Magdalen College, Oxford)

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PIERCE or PEIRSE, THOMAS (1622-1691), controversialist; fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1643 (expelled by the parliamentary visitors, 1648); M.A., 1644; j became tutor to Robert Spencer (afterwards second earl of Sunderland); carried on a bitter attack on the Calvinists, whose tenets he had abandoned in 1644; regained his fellowship at the Restoration, and became chaplain in ordinary to Charles II; president of Magdalen College, Oxford, by Charles II’s wish, 1661; his tenure of office stormy; resigned the presidency, 1672; became dean of Salisbury, 1675; quarrelled vehemently with the bishop, Seth Ward. His learning and controversial ability are undoubted, but his fierce temper provoked his opponents, and his works did more harm than good.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Lamprey

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A Lamprey Pie.
Wash them clean, and cut them, and season it with Mace, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Sugar, and Salt; lay them in the Pie, with dic'd Lemon, Citron, and Butter; and close it.
---Court Cookery. R. Smith, 1725.

A Lamprey pie, after the English manner.
Let your Lampreys be well cleans'd from their Slime, reserving their Blood, and afterwards put into a Pie of fine Paste, season'd with Pepper, Salt, beaten Cinnamon, Sugar candy'd Lemmon-peel, Dates, and Currans: When it is half bak'd in an Oven moderately heated, pour in the Blood and half a Glass of white Wine; adding also some Lemmon-juice before you serve it up to Table.
---The Court and Country Cook. F. Massialot, 1702.

About Friday 3 April 1663

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Did they coin Piss-pots, Bowls, and Flaggons,
Int' Officers of Horse and Dragoons;
And into Pikes and Musquetteers
Stamp Beakers, Cups, and Porringers?

A Thimble, Bodkin, and a Spoon,
Did start up living Men, as soon
As in the Furnace they were thrown,
Just like the Dragon's Teeth b'ing sown.
---Hudibras. Samuel Butler, 1709.