Bill

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

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Second Reading

About Frances Stuart (Duchess of Richmond)

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STUART or STEWART, FRANCES TERESA, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (1647-1702), 'La Belle Stuart,' granddaughter of Walter Stewart or Stuart, first Lord Blantyre; educated in France and imbued with French tastes; remarkable for her beauty; maid of honour to Queen Catherine of Braganza; mistress of Charles II; had many lovers and aspirants; eloped from Whitehall with the third Duke of Richmond, 1667, in consequence of which Charles II, suspecting it to be the work of Clarendon, determined to disgrace the chancellor; returned to court after her marriage. She was probably the original of the figure of Britannia on the copper coinage.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Wednesday 11 June 1662

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"I took great pleasure to rule the lines and to have the capitall words wrote with red ink"

Red ink is made thus: take wine vinegar a pint; raspings of brazil, one ounce; alum, half an ounce; boil them gently, and add five drams of gum arabic; dissolve the gum, strain the ingredients, and keep the liquid for use.
---A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 1763.

About Tuesday 3 June 1662

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"three chests of the crusados, being about 6000l."

Back in the annotations of 22 November 1660 I showed that 1000£ in gold (in then-current British coinage) would weigh 8.86 kilograms. So, if the Crusadoes are priced accordingly, 6000l. would weigh about 53 kg. or about 117 (American) pounds. Three heavy chests.

I like the old "candle in the dining-room window" trick. Not sure it would fool the men who delivered the chests if they wanted to return later that night.

About Sunday 1 June 1662

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"a Presbyter made a sad and long sermon" A presbyter need not necessarily mean a Presbyterian!

PRESBYTER, an Ancient and Reverend Person, a Priest; also a Lay-elder.
PRESBYTERAL, belonging to a Priest or Elder.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

PRESBYTER
1. A priest
2. A presbyterian
---A Dictionary Of The English Language. Samuel Johnson, 1756.

About Peg Hughes

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HUGHES, MARGARET (d. 1719), actress and mistress of Prince Rupert; the first recorded Desdemona (1663); original Theodosia of Dryden's ‘Evening's Love’ (1668); played in Duke of York's company, Dorset Garden, in plays by D’Urfey, Sedley and others, 1676-7.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Farthingales

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FARDINGALE, a Whale bone Circle or Hoop, which Ladies wore formerly upon their Hips, a diminutive sort of Hoop'd Peticoat.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

About Saturday 24 May 1662

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"Thence abroad with Mr. Creed, of whom I informed myself of all I had a mind to know."

I want to thank the annotators from ten years ago for the insight and information they provided. Sam needed this also and he got it from Mr. Creed. Much more than just gossip, this insider knowledge was necessary to him to be able to do his job, for the navy and for Sandwich.

About Thursday 22 May 1662

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"some anchovies, olives, and muscatt"

MUSCAT, a delicious Grape of a musky Taste.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

About Daniel Brevint

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BREVINT or BREVIN, DANIEL (1616-1695),divine; educated at protestant university at Saumur; M.A., 1624; fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, 1637; incorporated M.A. Oxford, 1638; deprived of fellowship by parliamentary commissioners; retired to Jersey, his birthplace, and thence to France; chaplain to Turenne; returned to England, 1660; received stall in Durham Cathedral, 1660; D.D. Oxford, 1663; dean and prebendary of Lincoln, 1682 ; published protestant polemics, and devotional works, including 'The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice,' 1673.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Saturday 17 May 1662

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“and there put him drawing a replication to Tom Trice’s answer speedily”

REPLICATION, making a Reply, a second Answer.
REPLICATION, [in Law] the Plaintiff's Reply to the Defendant's Answer.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

About Wednesday 14 May 1662

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"brought me a stately cake"

CAKE, a flat Loaf of Bread, commonly made with Spice, Fruit, &c.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

About Crusado

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CRUZADO, in commerce, is a Portugueze coin, struck under Alphonsus V. about the year 1457, at the time when pope Calixtus sent thither the bull for a croisade, against the infidels. It had its name from a cross, which it bears on one side; the arms of Portugal being on the other. A cruzado is of the value of 40 French sols, or upwards of 2s. 10d. sterl.
---Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 1741.

About Hackney coaches

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Hackney men say at mangy hackney's hire,
A scald horse is good enough for a scabbed squire

Hackney-men, originally proprietors of horses let for hire: hackney = a saddle horse. It was not until the reign of Charles I. that the title was transferred to the drivers of vehicles, the year 1625 being the date of the first appearance of hackney coaches in the streets of London. They were then only twenty in number, but the innovation occasioned an outcry (Sharman): "The world runs on wheeles. The hackney-men, who were wont to have furnished travellers in all places with fitting and serviceable horses for any journey, (by the multitude of coaches) are undone by the dozens, and the whole commonwealth most abominably jaded, that in many places a man had as good to ride on a wooden post, as to poast it upon one of those hunger-starv'd hirelings."-—Taylor, Works (1630).
---The Proverbs, Epigrams, and Miscellanies of John Heywood. 1906

About Henrietta-Maria Stuart (Queen Mother)

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HENRIETTA MARIA (1609-1669), queen consort of Charles I; youngest daughter of Henri IV and Marie de Medicis; married by proxy and came to England, 1625; on indifferent terms with her husband during lifetime of Buckingham; at first abstained from politics, but attracted courtiers and poets; evoked Prynne's 'HistrioMastix ' by taking part in rehearsal of 'Shepherd's Pastoral,' 1632; under influence of George Conn thwarted Laud's proclamation against catholic recusants, 1636; obtained money from the catholics for Scottish war, 1639: after meeting of Long parliament carried on intrigues with the papal court, but could obtain no help for the royalists except on condition of Charles becoming a Romanist; after failure of overtures to parliamentary leaders, authorised Henry Jermyn and Sir John Suckling to carry out the army plot, 1641; tried to save Strafford; urged on attempted arrest of the five members, 1642; left England early in 1642, and bought munitions of war and obtained money in Holland; landed at Bridlington, February 1643, under fire; impeached by parliament, 23 May 1643; failed to surprise Hull and Lincoln, 1643; entertained by Shakespeare's daughter at Stratford-on-Avon; joined Charles at Edgehill and accompanied him to Oxford, 1643: advised bringing in of foreign or Irish army; escaped from Falmouth to France, 1644; pawned her jewels; negotiated with Mazarin and obtained promise of ten thousand men from Duke of Lorraine, 1644-5; urged Charles to accept Scottish help on basis of presbyterianism, 1646; active in negotiations with Irish catholics and the anti-parliamentarian English fleet, 1648; in state of destitution at the Louvre, 1648; retired into Carmelite nunnery; alienated Charles II's advisers by attempts to convert to Roman catholicism her younger son, Duke of Gloucester; came to England, 1660, to get portion for her daughter Henrietta Anne and to break off engagement between her second son Duke of York and Anne Hyde; lived at Somerset House; finally left England, 1665; died at Colombes and was buried in St. Denis.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Hampton Court Palace

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Hampton Court, is delightfully situated on the north bank of the river Thames, about two miles from Kingston, and at a small distance from a village called Hampton. This palace was magnificently built with brick by Cardinal Wolsey, who here set up two hundred and eighty silk beds for strangers only, and richly stored it with gold and silver plate; but it raised so much envy against him, that to screen himself from its effects, he gave it to King Henry VIII. who, in return, suffered him to live in his palace of Richmond. King Henry greatly enlarged it, and it had then five spacious courts adorned with buildings, which in that age were so greatly admired by all foreigners as well as the natives, that the learned Grotius says of this place:

Si quis opes nescit (sed quis tamen ille?) Britannus,
Hampton Curia, tuos consultat ille Lares :
Contulerit toto cum sparsa palatia mundo,
Dicet, Ibi Reges, hic habitare Deos.

That is,
If e'er a Briton what is wealth don't know; let him repair to Hampton Court, and then view all the palaces of the earth, when he will say, Those are the residence of Kings, but this of the Gods.
---London and Its Environs Described. R. Dodsley, 1761.

About Edward Mountagu (Ned)

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language hat above is both right and wrong about his "long ironic poem." The lines come from a poem titled "'Second advice to a painter" which was published under the name of John Denham. Most Marvell scholars feel this was a ruse to conceal the real author: Marvell. There is an encyclopedia entry for this work:

Denham's 'Second advice to a painter, being the last work of Sir John Denham, The' http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

About Shuffleboard

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The game of shovelboard was played by two players (each provided with five coins) on a smooth heavy table. On the table were marked with chalk a series of lines, and the play was to strike the coin on the edge of the table with the hand so that it rested between these lines. Shakespeare uses the expression "shove-groat shilling," as does Ben Jonson. These shillings were usually smooth and worn for the convenience of playing. Strutt says ("Sports and Pastimes"), "I have seen a shovel-board table at a low public house in Benjamin Street, near Clerkenwell Green, which is about three feet in breadth and thirty-nine feet two inches in length, and said to be the longest at this time in London."
---Wheatley, 1899.