Bill

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

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Second Reading

About Robert Creighton

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Dr. Robert Creighton, originally of Trinity College, Oxford; but who afterwards, from 1627 to 1639, was Greek Professor and Public Orator at Cambridge. When Pepys heard him, Creighton was Dean of Wells. In 1670, he was consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells. He died in 1672. His son, of the same name, was Greek Professor of Cambridge from 1662 to 1666, and died in 1678. Sir J. Hawkins says that Dr. Creighton (the son) died at Wells in 1736. The father and son have been sometimes confounded.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

About Sunday 2 March 1661/62

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"what I could and would do if I were worth 2,000l., that is, be a knight, and keep my coach, which pleased her"

The reference here to "knight" may be an allusion to the classics and ancient Rome and not necessarily to contemporary knighthood. The ancient Romans had an aristocratic class called "equites," or knights, who in earliest Rome were expected to provide horses (and troops) when needed by the army. It eventually became just a property qualification. So it occurred to me that if Sam has enough money and can provide his own transportation, then he can consider himself to "be a knight"! But not Sir Sam, of course.

The fact that he says "what I would and could do" may indeed imply that he would be an "eques" in his own mind. And surely he is not thinking that with a little more money and a coach he would be knighted?

About Saturday 1 March 1661/62

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"This morning I paid Sir W. Batten 40l., which I have owed him this half year"

Aha! We have noticed (and commented on in the annotations, e.g.,5 Jan 1661/62) that Sam has been acting "more reserved " towards Sir William recently. Perhaps the reason is simply the debt that Sam had incurred, which consciously or unconsciously affected their relationship.

About Bland's 'Trade revived...'

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Sam changes his mind about this work:

"In the evening came Mr. Bland the merchant to me, who has lived long in Spain, and is concerned in the business of Tangier, who did discourse with me largely of it, and after he was gone did send me three or four printed things that he hath wrote of trade in general and of Tangier particularly, but I do not find much in them."
6 August 1662 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

"Mr. Bland’s discourse concerning Trade, which (he being no scholler and so knows not the rules of writing orderly) is very good"
24 December 1662 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

About Bland's 'Trade revived...'

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John Bland published in 1660 a quarto pamphlet of fifty-seven pages, entitled, "Trade revived, or a way proposed to restore the Trade of this our English nation in its manufactories, coin, shiping, and revenue. London, 1660," a copy of which is in the British Museum Library.
---Wheatley, 1893.

About Wednesday 1 January 1661/62

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@Terry: So transcribe L&M. The only "traps" here were set bt the well-intentioned Wheatley.

Wheatley has "pictures and maps for my house" so the conversion to digital caused the problem.

About William Faithorne

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FAITHORNE, WILLIAM, the elder (1616-1691), engraver and portrait-painter; banished for refusing to take the oath to Oliver Cromwell; allowed to return to England, 1650; print-seller in London; executed crayon portraits; engraved frontispieces and prints, also two maps, one of London and Westminster, the other of Virginia and Maryland.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

Maps of Old London/Faithorne http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Map…
Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited this present year 1670 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/…

About Sir Richard Fanshawe

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Fanshaw, sir Richard, an English gentleman, 10th son of sir Henry Fanshaw of Ware park, Herts, where he was born 1607. After studying at Cambridge, he travelled on the continent, and in 1635 was engaged in the service of Charles I. who sent him as envoy to Spain. In 1644 he attended the king at Oxford, and was made by the university doctor of laws, and afterwards appointed secretary to Charles prince of Wales, whose wanderings he shared in the west of England, and in the islands of Scilly and Jersey. He was treasurer of the navy under Rupert, in 1648, and was created 1650, a baronet by Charles II. and sent as envoy to Spain. He was taken at the battle of Worcester, and imprisoned in London, from which however he was liberated in consequence of a severe illness, by giving bail. In 1659 he visited the king at Breda by whom he was knighted, and at the restoration he was made master of requests, and secretary of the Latin language. He afterwards was ambassador in Portugal, to negotiate the marriage of Charles and the infanta Catharina, and on his return 1663, he was sworn of the privy council. He was in 1664 sent as ambassador to Philip IV. of Spain, with whose successor he concluded a treaty of peace in 1665. He died at Madrid 16th June, 1666, of a fever, as he was preparing to return home. His body was embalmed, and brought over to England and deposited in All Saints' church, Hertford, and afterwards removed to a new vault in Ware church. He had by his wife Anne, daughter of sir John Harrison, six sons, and eight daughters, of whom only one son, and four daughters survived him. Though engaged in political affairs, he found time to write some respectable pieces, and among them a translation in rhyme of Guarini's Pastor Fido, 1646, a translation of Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, into Latin verse - Odes of Horace translated into English - Virgil's fourth AEneid - and Camoens' Lusiad, translated into English, besides some poems, and original letters, published during his embassies in Spain and Portugal, 1702.
---Universal biography. J. Lemprière, 1810.

About Samuel Cooper

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Cooper, Samuel, an English painter, born in London 1609. He was bred under his uncle Hoskins, but he gained so much from the works of Vandyck, that he was called Vandyck in little. His chief excellence was in the representation of the features of the head. His works were highly esteemed on the continent and he was intimately acquainted with the most celebrated painters of his age abroad. The king of France paid great attention to him when at Paris; but he could not obtain his Oliver Cromwell though he offered 150l. for it. His best pieces were, O. Cromwell and one Swingfield. He died in London 1672, aged 68, and was buried in St. Pancras' church. His elder brother, Alexander, was equally known as a limner. He went over to Sweden, and became painter to queen Christina.
---Universal biography. J. Lemprière, 1810.

One of the many portraits of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki…

About Capt. John Graunt

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Graunt, John, the celebrated author of "Observations on the Bills of Mortality," was born in Birchinlane, London, 24th April, 1620. He was brought up in the rigid principles of the puritans, and as he was intended for trade, he received no advantages from grammar education, but was barely qualified in writing and arithmetic for the business of a haberdasher. In this employment he gained by his good sense, and strict probity, the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens so that he rose to all the offices of his ward; was a common-council man, and a captain and then a major of the train bands. His "Observations" first appeared in 1661, and with such success, that Louis XIV. of France adopted his plans for the regular register of births and burials, and Charles II. in proof of his general approbation, recommended him to the Royal society to be elected one of their members in 1661-2. In 1665 the third edition of his popular book was printed by the society's printer, and the author flattered, by the honors paid to his literary services, abandoned the business of shopkeeper, and in 1666 became a trustee for the management of the New river for the countess of Clarendon. In this new office, it has been reported by Burnet, that he was guilty of a most diabolical crime, by stopping all the cocks which conveyed water from Islington to London, the night before the great fire began, which consumed the city. The accusation, however, is false as he was admitted among the trustees 23 days after the conflagration happened; and the malevolent report arose only after his death, and probably owed its origin to his change of religious principles, as about 1667 he reconciled himself to the tenets of the church of Rome. He died 18th April 1674, and was buried in St Dunstan's church, Fleet street, attended by many respectable friends; and among them by sir William Petty, to whom he left his papers. A fifth edition of his book appeared in 1676, under the care of his friend; and it may be fairly inferred, that to this work and the perserving powers and inquisitive mind of the author, we are indebted for the science of political arithmetic, so ably treated afterwards by sir William Petty, Daniel King, Dr. Davenant, and other learned men.
---Universal biography. J. Lemprière, 1810.

About Catherine of Braganza (Queen)

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Catharine of Portugal, was daughter of John IV. and wife of Charles II. of England whom she married 1661. She was treated with unkindness by the licentious Charles, and after his death she returned to Portugal, where she was made regent during the imbecile state of her brother Peter. She conquered the Spaniards, and died 1705. Age 67.
---Universal biography. J. Lemprière, 1810.

About Gleek

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But keep the gallant'st company, and the best games—
DAP. Yes, sir.
SUB. Gleek and primero; and what you get, be true to us.
DAP. By this hand, I will.
---The Alchemist. Ben Jonson, 1610. [The above annotation also]

About Gleek

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SUR. Heart! can it be,
That a grave sir, a rich, that has no need,
A wise sir, too, at other times, should thus,
With his own oaths, and arguments, make hard means
To gull himself? An this be your elixir,
Your lapis mineralis, and your lunary,
Give me your honest trick yet at primero,
Or gleek; and take your lutum sapientis,
Your menstruum simplex! I'll have gold before you,
And with less danger of the quicksilver,
Or the hot sulphur.

About Thomas Shadwell (b)

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SHADWELL, THOMAS (1642?-1692), dramatist and poet; educated at Caius College, Cambridge, and entered Middle Temple; produced the 'Sullen Lovers,' based on Moliere's ' Les Facheux,' at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, 1668; produced dramatic pieces, including an opera, the 'Enchanted Island' (from Shakespeare's 'Tempest'), 1673, 'Timon of Athens,' 1678, the 'Squire of Alsatia,' 1688, and the 'Scowrers,' 1691; was at open feud with Dryden from 1682, the two poets repeatedly attacking one another in satires, among which were Dryden's 'Medal' and 'MacFlecknoe,' and Shadwell's 'The Medal of John Bayes,' 1682, and a translation of the 'Tenth Satire of Juvenal,' 1687; superseded Dryden as poet-laureate and historiographer royal at the revolution.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Admiral William Penn

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Penn, William, a native of Bristol, distinguished in the British navy as an able admiral. He was commander of the fleet in the reduction of Jamaica in 1655 by Venables, but he lost for a time the good opinion of the protector who confined him in the Tower for absenting himself from the American station without leave. He was member for Weymouth, and after the restoration he obtained a high command under the duke of York, and greatly contributed to the defeat of the Dutch fleet 1664. He was knighted by Charles II for his services, and died at his house, Wanstead, Essex, 1670, aged forty nine.
---Universal biography. J. Lemprière, 1810.

About Peter Gunning

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Gunning, Peter, an English prelate born at Hoo in Kent, 1613, and educated at Canterbury school and Clare hall, Cambridge. He became fellow and tutor of his college, and distinguished himself as a preacher, but he exposed himself to the persecution of the parliament, on account of his zeal for the king's service; and when ejected, he returned to Oxford. Here he was made chaplain of New college, and afterwards became tutor to lord Hatton, and sir Francis Compton, and chaplain to sir Robert Shirley, at whose death he obtained the chapel of Exeter-house, Strand. At the restoration his services and sufferings were rewarded; he was created D.D. by the king's mandate and then advanced to a prebend of Canterbury, and successively to the headships of Corpus Christi and St John's college, Cambridge. He was one of the committee for the review of the liturgy and he had a conference with the dissenters at the Savoy in 1661. In 1669 he was made bishop of Chichester, and in 1674 he was translated to Ely, where he died, 6th July 1684, a bachelor. He was buried in his cathedral. Opinions have varied with respect to his character, but it must be confessed, that, though some question, whether his head was as good as his heart, he was distinguished by erudition, piety, and exemplary manners. His charities to public use were great and numerous.
---Universal biography. J. Lemprière, 1810.