jeannine

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jeannine has written 14 articles:

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jeannine has written summaries for eight topics:

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jeannine has posted 1,236 annotations/comments since 16 June 2004.

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First Reading

About Saturday 18 November 1665

jeannine  •  Link

ill-favoured horse

Probably looked like this when he was talking to Sam.

http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_…

If he was the famous talking horse from the very old TV show "Mr. Ed" he probably would have told Sam he wasn't that good looking either so he can either shut up and ride or keep talking and walk!"

About Saturday 18 November 1665

jeannine  •  Link

"I hear how rude the souldiers have been in my absence, swearing what they would do with me, which troubled me, but, however, after eating a bit I to the office and there very late writing letters, and so home and to bed."

L&M have corrected this to read.."I hear how rude the annotators have been in my absence, swearing what they would do with me, which troubled me, but, however, after eating a bit I to the office and there very late writing letters, and so home and to bed...."

(Sorry couldn't resist!)

About Friday 17 November 1665

jeannine  •  Link

"As an infinite secret, my Lord tells me, the factions are high between the King and the Duke, and all the Court are in an uproare with their loose amours; the Duke of Yorke being in love desperately with Mrs. Stewart”

From “La Belle Stuart” by Hartmann p. 89

“It is quite possible that the Duke had fallen in love with Frances, but it is difficult to believe that his advances to her would have greatly alarmed the King, who knew well that so vivacious a young lady was not likely to be attracted by anyone of so solemn and serious a character as His Grace of York. The brief coolness between the King and his brother was due to a different cause –His Majesty’s refusal to make Sir George Savile a viscount at the Duke’s request. It was true enough that the factions were high at Court; for Clarendon’s enemies had been active of late, and had almost succeeded in engineering a quarrel between him and the Treasurer”

About Wednesday 15 November 1665

jeannine  •  Link

"But, Lord! to see how Sir W. Batten governs all and tramples upon Hurlestone, but I am confident the Company will grow the worse for that man’s death, for now Batten, and in him a lazy, corrupt, doating rogue, will have all the sway there. After dinner who comes in but my Lady Batten, and a troop of a dozen women almost, and expected, as I found afterward, to be made mighty much of, but nobody minded them; but the best jest was, that when they saw themselves not regarded, they would go away, and it was horrible foule weather; and my Lady Batten walking through the dirty lane with new spicke and span white shoes, she dropped one of her galoshes in the dirt"....

Two thoughts as I read this.

#1 --remember the saying 'if you don't have something nice to say about someone then don’t say it'? I can only imagine how short (and boring) the Diary would be if Sam had heeded that advice!!

#2 --perhaps for the OED crowd. I was intrigued by the expression 'spicke and span' and wondered where that expression came from so I went to my daughters “Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms” and here is what it said “There are 2 possible explanations about the origin of this famous phrase. One comes from the Old Norse language. “Spick’ meant trim or neat. “Spanny” was a word that meant absolutely new. In the 1500s the two words might have been put together to mean “new and neat”. Another theory comes from the days of the great sailing ships. “Spick’ was a spike or nail. “Span” was a wood chip. A “spick and span new’ ship (the original wording) was one on which every spike and chip was brand-new. By the 19th century this idiom was popular in the United States. Its popularity was helped by its alliteration (SPick-and-SPan).”

About Saturday 11 November 1665

jeannine  •  Link

Well considering yesterday he caught up in his Diary entries from Oct 28-Nov 10 he probably was tired of writing today!

About Friday 10 November 1665

jeannine  •  Link

and entered all my Journall since the 28 of October..”

In addition to remembering what he did all of those days (even with notes) he also had to write it by hand. I did a copy and paste into a word document to see how many words and/or characters he wrote (approximate--I deleted the editor notes etc.) and it's about 5433 words or 22595 characters, without including spaces. It was about 6 pages of type. I can't imagine how tedious it would be to write all of that out long hand in one day, with candlelight and a slower writing instrument than what we have today. Even with great lighting and a 'good' pen it would not be a chore for wimps (like me!)

About Monday 30 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

Here’s a version for all of the English who I somehow seem to have offended because I am American. If there is an English version of the ‘rhyme zone’ online that you could share I’ll try to double check my rhymes for country neutral words next time I post a poem http://www.rhymezone.com/ In this version ‘clerk” = ”lurk”

For my English Friends…My apologies and Happy Halloween!

As we peek out of our time machine
Where did we land on this Halloween?

Plague victims bodies randomly scattered
Leaving loved ones behind them quite shattered

In the streets only a few will remain
Burying hope along with the dead’s pain

Tonight Sam hosts his friend Captain Ferrers
Will the evening be filled with strange terrors?

Ferrers shares his bed with Mr. Hill
Who plays music that’s strangely shrill

Payoffs for prizes are made in the night
Clinking gold coins give sounds that might fright

A man counting his money in the dark
Could it be the Navy’s #1 clerk?

With a cape that shooshes and sweeps
Could it be our boy Samuel Pepys?

Best to leave this frightful creepy scene
Of a sixteen sixty five Halloween!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/…

About Monday 30 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

As we peek out of our time machine
Where did we land on this Halloween?

Plague victims bodies randomly scattered
Leaving loved ones behind them quite shattered

In the streets only a few will remain
Burying hope along with the dead’s pain

Tonight Sam hosts his friend Captain Ferrers
Will the evening be filled with strange terrors?

Ferrers shares his bed with Mr. Hill
Who plays music that’s strangely shrill

Payoffs for prizes are made in the night
Clinking gold coins give sounds that might fright

A man counting his money seems to lurk
Could it be the Navy’s #1 clerk?

With a cape that shooshes and sweeps
Could it be our boy Samuel Pepys?

Best to leave this frightful creepy scene
Of a sixteen sixty five Halloween!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/…

About Saturday 28 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

Unlurking for a minute - Has anyone heard from cgs? I miss reading the thoughts of a euphemistic pirate.

I sent him an email so I'll let you know if/what I hear back.

About Saturday 28 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

“….The King and Court, they say, have now finally resolved to spend nothing upon clothes, but what is of the growth of England; which, if observed, will be very pleasing to the people, and very good for them…..”

This shouldn't matter much at all--in this "Libertine Court" of King Charles most of the courtiers don't seem to keep their clothes on anyway!

About Sunday 22 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

"Here he tells me the Dutch Embassador at Oxford is clapped up"

Seems like Sam has heard a lot more false rumors of late - dead Kings, popes, etc. What struck me as interesting in the quote about the Dutch Embassador is how medical information was so public. With today's data privacy and medical privacy laws (like HIPPA in the US) there is much more directed focus to keep private information private (although none of this is fool proof today).

With Dr. Pierce and his loose lips and other doctor assistants spilling the beans about everyone’s health it's almost surprising that we don't hear more of this 'dirt' from Sam.

About Saturday 21 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

Up, and to my office, where busy all the morning, and then with my two clerks home to dinner, and so back again to the office, and there very late very busy, and so home to supper and to bed.

As we all gather here today
We’ve few words with which we can play

After yesterday’s office warning
Sam’s makes a quick start of his morning

He busies himself with all his works
With the help a few Navy clerks

Office life is a box by Skinner
One ding and they all leave for dinner

Then with a lightening fast swish
They return to the office

They stay late and they are very busy
The workload could make us very dizzy

Supper may be a loaf of bread
Dog tired and then off to bed

Maybe tomorrow he’ll pick up the pace
As he returns to the Naval rat race.

About Saturday 21 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

Well since Sam is so busy working today, here are a few fun work related quotes in his honor ~~nothing uplifting or inspirational here, just a different perspective on the old 9 to 5.

Steve Martin:

“All I've ever wanted was an honest week's pay for an honest day's work.”

Mark Twain:

“I do not like work even when someone else does it.”

“Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.”

Mark Twain’s definition of a Public Servant, a little too close for comfort to Sam’s time!

“Persons chosen by the people to distribute the graft.

Mark Twain’s view of Procrastination

“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.”

Oscar Wilde

“Work is the curse of the drinking classes”

About Saturday 21 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

After yesterday's admission that he is behind in work, today it's all work and no play! Must be a 'catch up' day.

About Friday 20 October 1665

jeannine  •  Link

"but it arises from my being forced to take so much on me, more than is my proper task to undertake'

Although Sam is saying he's forced to take on more, it reminds me of the saying that goes something like this, "if you want something done find the busiest person you know and ask them to do it". Some people have certain skill sets that just allow them to take on a lot, juggle it all and get results.

One of my pet peeves in life is having some situation where there is a task to be done and someone spends extensive hours complaining about the task to be done where they could just do the task in a fraction of the time spent fretting! Sam has a high organizational characteristic and ‘sees’ things in a manner that is neat and orderly so he usually manages to take some mess, pull things together and move them along quite efficiently. Alas, even he can be overburdened.