Bill

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

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Second Reading

About Old Swan (stairs)

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Swan Stairs, or, The Old Swan, Upper Thames Street, a celebrated landing-place on the Middlesex side of the river Thames, a little "above bridge," where people used to land and walk to the other side of old London Bridge, rather than run the risk of what was called "shooting the bridge." In 1441, when the Duchess of Gloucester did penance at Christchurch by Aldgate, she landed at these stairs and walked the rest of the way.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

About Charterhouse Yard/Square

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A little without the Barres of West Smithfield is Charterhouse Lane; but in the large yard before there are many handsome palaces, as Rutland House, and one where the Venetian ambassadors were used to lodge; which yard hath lately bin conveniently railed, and made more neat and comely.—Howell's Londinopolis, fol. 1657.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

About Friday 8 March 1660/61

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"who is ever a plain homely dowdy"

A DOWDY, a swarthy gross Woman.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675

About Thursday 7 March 1660/61

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"I thought to coy with him"

to COYE, quiet
to COYEN, to quiet or flatter
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675

About Whitefriars

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Whitefriars, a precinct or liberty, between Fleet Street and the Thames, the Temple walls and Water Lane. Here was the White Friars' Church, called "Fratres Beatae Mariae de Monte Carmeli," first founded by Sir Richard Gray in 1241. Among the benefactors were King Edward I., who gave the ground; Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon, who rebuilt the church; and Robert Marshall, Bishop of Hereford, who built the choir, presbytery, and steeple. The church was surrendered at the Reformation, and in place thereof were "many fair houses built, lodgings for noblemen and others." The hall was used as the first Whitefriars Theatre (1609). The privileges of sanctuary, continued to this precinct after the Dissolution, were confirmed and enlarged in 1608 by royal charter. Fraudulent debtors, gamblers, prostitutes, and other outcasts of society made it a favourite retreat. Here they formed a community of their own, adopted the language of pickpockets, openly resisted the execution of every legal process, and extending their cant terms to the place they lived in, new-named their precinct by the wellknown appellation of Alsatia, after the province which formed a debateable land between Germany and France.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

About Wednesday 27 March 1661

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"(there being a noise of fiddlers there)"

I hear him coming, and a whole noise of Fidlers at his Heels.
---The Maiden Queen, John Dryden, 1667

On May 7, 1660 Sam mentioned a "noise of trumpets"

About Zachary Crofton

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Zachary Crofton, born in Ireland. His first living was at Wrenbury, Cheshire, from which he was expelled in 1648 for refusing to take the Engagement. When he came to London he was for some time minister of St. James's, Garlickhithe, and then obtained the cure of St. Botolph, Aldgate, which he held till he was ejected for Nonconformity. He was said to be zealous for the Restoration, but he was committed to the Tower for defending the Solemn League and Covenant. In 1667 he opened a school near Aldgate. He was the author of several works, and died in 1672.
---Wheatley, 1896.

About Monday 18 March 1660/61

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"Sir W. Batten went to Rochester, where he expects to be chosen Parliament man"

Sir William Batten was elected M.P. for Rochester March 21st, 1660-61, and held the seat till his death, when he was succeeded by Richard Head, Alderman of Rochester, who was elected November 2nd, 1667.
---Wheatley, 1896.

About Wigg

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WIG (from Periwig) false hair worn on the head; also a sort of small cake.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675

About Monday 4 March 1660/61

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Wheatley in his annotation of the diary for this date says that the current King of Sweden, Charles XI, is the person who gave "my Lord" the jewel with the picture in it.

About Sir Paul Neile

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Sir Paul Neile, of White Waltham, Berks, son of Richard Neile, Archbishop of York (1632-40). A member of the first council of the Royal Society, and a constant attendant at the meetings. He was frequently the bearer of messages from Charles II. We learn from Birch's "History of the Royal Society," that on July 17th, 1661, "Sir Paul Neile having mentioned that the king had within four days past desired to have a reason assigned why the sensitive plants stir and contract themselves upon being touched, it was resolved that Dr. Wilkins, Dr. Clarke, Mr. Boyle, Mr. Evelyn, and Dr. Goddard be curators for examining the fact relating to these plants."
---Wheatley, 1896.

About Thomas Betterton

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Thomas Betterton, younger but eldest surviving son of Matthew Betterton of Westminster, said to be under-cook to Charles I., but who (writes Colonel Chester) described himself in his will as a "gentleman." Thomas was baptized at St. Margaret's, Westminster, August 11th, 1635. He joined the company of actors formed by Rhodes, bookseller (and formerly wardrobe keeper to the Blackfriars Company), which commenced to act at the Cockpit, in Drury Lane, in 1659. When, after the Restoration, Davenant took over Rhodes's company, Betterton became his principal actor. Betterton died April 28th, 1710, and was buried in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey on May 2nd.
---Wheatley, 1896.

About Ald. Sir William Wale

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Alderman and Colonel of the red regiment of Trainbands.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

About Wine

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CLARET [Clairet, F. of Clarus, L. clear] a general Name for the red Wines of France.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.

About Sir Algernon Percy (10th Earl of Northumberland)

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Algernon, earl of Northumberland, was, for his knowledge and prudence in naval affairs, in 1637, advanced to the dignity of lord high-admiral: he having the year before, with a fleet of sixty sail, taken and sunk all the Dutch fishing busses employed upon the British coasts. He was lofty in his carriage, and as elevated in his sentiments of liberty. Thinking that the condition of a nobleman under a despotic government, was only a more splendid slavery, he sided with the patriotic junto, with a view of curbing the power of the king; and was at length carried by the tide of faction much farther than he intended to go. His commission of lord high-admiral was revoked by his majesty in 1642, and he was succeeded by the earl of Warwick. Ob. 13 Oct. 1668.
---A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779.

About Tuesday 22 January 1660/61

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"bought some glasses"

The "Cyclopaedia, Or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences" (1741) gives definitions for many kinds of optical glass or glasses, as well as a definition of drinking glasses.

Optical glass or glasses: convex, concave, lenticular, meniscus, plain, planoconcave, planoconvex, telescope, eye, magnifying, multiplying, perspective, looking, burning, weather, cupping, hour, watch, etc.

Since Sam does not describe his glasses, my guess would be lenticular, i.e., just glass lenses, perhaps for reading. But, hard to know.

About Gilbert Sheldon (Bishop of London 1660-3, Archbishop of Canterbury 1663-77)

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SHELDON, GILBERT (1598-1677), archbishop of Canterbury; M.A. Trinity College, Oxford, 1620; B.A. 1617; incorporated at Cambridge, 1619; fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, 1822; D.D., 1634; chaplain to lord keeper Coventry; vicar of Hackney, 1633; rector of Newington, 1639; warden of All Souls College, Oxford 1626-48, restored to the wardenshlp, 1659; friend of Hyde and Falkland; took part in negotiations at Uxbridge, 1644, and attended Charles I at Oxford, Newmarket, and in Isle of Wight; Imprisoned at Oxford, 1648; became bishop of London, dean of the chapel royal, London, and master of the Savoy, London, 1660, the Savoy conference being held at his lodgings; virtually primate during Jaxon's old age; archbishop of Canterbury, 1663-1677; prominent adviser of Charles II; severe against dissenters, but frequently protected them; remained at Lambeth during the plague; active and liberal promoter of rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral, London; greatly interested in church beyond the seas; as chancellor of Oxford built the Sheldonian Theatre (1669) at his own expense, and encouraged Anthony à Wood.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Maj.-Gen. Ald. Sir Richard Browne

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BROWNE, Sir RICHARD (d. 1669), parliamentary general and a leader of the presbyterian party; officer of the London trained bands; sent to disarm the Kentish royalists, 1642; present at the siege of Winchester; suppressed Kentish rising, 1643; fought at Alresford, 1644; major-general with task of reducing the Oxford district, 1644; present at the surrender of Oxford, 1646; a commissioner to receive Charles from the Scots, 1647; present at the seizure of Charles at Holmby, and afterwards favourable to the king; M.P. for Wycombe, but expelled by the influence of the army, 1648, and imprisoned for five years; excluded from parliament for refusing tbe 'engagement,' 1656; M.P. for Loudon in Richard Cromwell's parliament; privy to Sir George Booth's rising, 1659; intrigued for the recall of Charles II; knighted; lord mayor of London, 1660, and made a baronet for suppressing Venner's rising.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.