LKvM
Annotations and comments
LKvM has posted 199 annotations/comments since 5 November 2015.
The most recent first…
Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
LKvM has posted 199 annotations/comments since 5 November 2015.
The most recent first…
Comments
Third Reading
About Monday 18 November 1661
LKvM • Link
Re " . . . a few idle poor people and boys to hear them," I believe Sam's comment about things being out of order at St. Paul's refers to the choristers wearing surplices, garments that disturb him, and that the parson inelegantly drunk before dinner (i.e., around noon) is another blow to his puritan heart.
To pat stewart cavalier, a mote is just a tiny irritating particle in the eye, not a piece of straw (unless it is a very tiny, tiny bit of a piece of straw!).
This is the first time I have heard of Paul's Walk, and I found San Diego Sarah's quotations about Paul's Walk fascinating. They make the cathedral sound much like the busy, thronged temple in Jerusalem that Jesus famously and dramatically rid of all commercial and nonreligious activity; see Matthew, Mark. Luke, and John. The Puritans, undoubtedly knowing these Gospel accounts by heart, probably did the same to Paul's Walk during the interregnum, which is why there are so few there.
(San Diego Sarah's references to Paul's Walk as a crnter of activity refer to a time before the interregnum, as she added).
About Saturday 9 November 1661
LKvM • Link
"So I seemed to be pleased" with Lady Jemimah's comment about Elizabeth needing better clothing -- "seemed" meaning "pretended," as Hamlet used it. It disappoints me that Sam is being false with "milady," who obviously dotes on him.
About Tuesday 5 November 1661
LKvM • Link
Re San Diego Sarah's quote regarding an appeal from English sailors who had been captured by the Algerians and were slaves, i.e. prisoners of war:
"The letter and [its contents] Represent the miseries they endure in their captivity as slaves, and entreat the Admiral's efforts for their deliverance."
This is why "Hail, Britannia" contains the phrase that Englishmen "never never shall be slaves "
About Sunday 3 November 1661
LKvM • Link
Re Vicente: " . . . the old boiler [tough as nails and no longer could lay eggs] that was the choice for those short on the dough," that's also the old hen required for proper chicken and dumplings.
About Wednesday 30 October 1661
LKvM • Link
Re Bradford above in 2004:
"(Viz., imagine the arguments about The Election going on at Halloween parties across America even as I type. Historical Color.)"
Yes, some things never change, and the arguments are going on again in the US, with even more vehemence than twenty years ago.
About Thursday 24 October 1661
LKvM • Link
Well, we may have had a dull entry from Sam, but Sandwich's log makes up for it in spades. Sandwich spotted troubling activity and took off in hot pursuit. For the person who wondered what it means to slip a cable, it's a drastic move and means in an emergency to untie the anchor line (cable, or rode) from the bitt (post, or cleat) to which it is tied and just let it "slip" and run out, leaving the anchor and line on the bottom. It is a great loss.
(In ordinary sailing, one ties a flotation cushion or similar to the bitter end of the anchor line and with luck is able to go back later and find the cushion and retrieve the anchor. This has happened to me.)
About Sunday 20 October 1661
LKvM • Link
Re Stolzi's comment about Will's hat:
"Probably a baseball cap with the bill turned backwards."
That silly "look" has been almost universal in the USA for decades (including at table and among not only adolescents but also mature men). For what it's worth, columnist George Will noted that its first known written occurrence was in the American classic of adolescent life "Catcher in the Rye."
I agree that Will's wearing of his cover in the house is just adolescent bravado, since he is still a teen.
About Tuesday 15 October 1661
LKvM • Link
"God was good to me in manifold outward mercies, a very comfortable season my heart through grace not left as sometimes to vanity, evil is as my death, but when lord will you slay it in the actings thereof, . . ." ? ? ? HiSometimes I think we could use some elucidation of the Rev. Josselin's diary remarks too.
A convoy of fourteen sail! It must have looked like a regatta.
Re the fish described as "meat," meat could mean just food, as in sweetmeats.
About Monday 14 October 1661
LKvM • Link
Thanks again, San Diego Sarah, for the quote from Sandwich's diary, which i enjoy following, and the detailed information on the locations and addressees.
Regarding calling an infant "Lady Katherine," tiny babies were called the "Duke of Whatever" etc. I read a note that Chancellor Hyde deviated from that norm when, instead of calling his daughter's royal offspring by their lordly titles, he said, "How do the children?"
About Tuesday 8 October 1661
LKvM • Link
Re "a frolique," could it mean the same as "a wild hair," defined as "a fervent, usually sudden, desire to do something surprising or unexpected."
About Sunday 6 October 1661
LKvM • Link
It was kind of Sam to invite left-alone Martha, his begrudged Valentine, over for dinner. She and Elizabeth were neighborly, going shopping together, so it made sense to include her.
About Saturday 5 October 1661
LKvM • Link
"Another night out with Penn... All in all the old sea dog seems to like the eager little clerk, perhaps the shared interest in music?"
No, Robert Gertz, i don't think it is the shared interest in music. I think Sam has that almost ineffable attribute of charm or charisma that makes people enjoy his company.
When he was first associated with the Navy Office, look how many times Penn and Batten took him out in the afternoon and evening. It seems to me that they were thrilled to have a new associate with a great personality. Sam is the life of every party!
Lord and Lady Sandwich are always delighted to see him, as are (spoiler) many wenches.
We all know special people like this and wish we had whatever-it-is that makes them so popular and welcome everywhere.
About Friday 27 September 1661
LKvM • Link
I guess the Church of England had to come up with something less insulting than the implication that a woman who had had a baby needed purification.
"Thanksgiving" for having survived, yes! I celebrated that with tears of joy yesterday, and every September 26th, 58 years after having survived eclampsia during a twin birth, in which I and the babies MIRACULOUSLY survived, and we are all still alive today.
About Thursday 26 September 1661
LKvM • Link
To me the comma in this passage
". . . by coach, though hard to get it, being rainy, home."
should be moved as follows:
". . . by coach, though hard to get, it being rainy, home."
About Wednesday 11 September 1661
LKvM • Link
Re A. De Araujo's "Sam, do not believe in tall tales, the owner [Dr. Williams] is obviously a jerk who suffers from Munchausen Syndrome, and is very proud of his dog" -- a puzzling statement, but to give Dr. Williams the benefit of a doubt, I believe this would have to be Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (the proxy being his dog). It also reinforces the complaint of many bird fanciers that free-range cats are a menace because they kill so many birds.
San Diego Sarah, thank you for the derivation of "deadline."
About Thursday 5 September 1661
LKvM • Link
When I read "French footman with feathers," I must say that the first image that came to mind was a footman wearing (Lord Somersett's?) livery that somehow included feathers, a la the Prince of Wales.
I have too much imagination.
About Friday 30 August 1661
LKvM • Link
Oops, in my comment above I should have said that the person Elizabeth knew from her early years in France was "the son of Lord Somersett," not the lord himself.
About Friday 30 August 1661
LKvM • Link
" . . . up to my Lady’s bedside, and talked and laughed a good while" -- a break from "and we were very merry," perhaps because they were sober.
Elizabeth's past acquaintance with Lord Somersett in France is evidence that she, a refugee, probably came from a stratum of society higher than Sam.
About Wednesday 28 August 1661
LKvM • Link
What with boats and ships now having engines, the only kedging done these days is to get oneself off a grounding. Hard aground, I sent the daughter out in a dinghy with an anchor that she set a ways from the grounded boat, then I operated the anchor winch to pull the boat toward the kedge anchor and off the grounding.
And by the way, the anchor "bent" to two hawsers (two thick anchor rodes -- the line an elevator car hangs from was originally called a hawser) means the anchor was "tied" to them.
Thank you, San Diego Sarah, for following Sandwich's log.
About Sunday 18 August 1661
LKvM • Link
Re cassowaries' appearance:
"Jet black, hair-like feathers. Vivid blue heads adorned with a spongy crest. Most strikingly, a pair of leathery looking feet, armed with a 12 centimeter talon."