Sunday 24 March 1660/61

(Lord’s day). My wife and I to church, and then home with Sir W. Batten and my Lady to dinner, where very merry, and then to church again, where Mr. Mills made a good sermon. Home again, and after a walk in the garden Sir W. Batten’s two daughters came and sat with us a while, and I then up to my chamber to read.

18 Annotations

First Reading

dirk  •  Link

Weather report

Rev. Josselin - Sunday 24 March 1661:
"A sad season for wet (...) prayed earnestly for fair weather, this evening was the most hopeful and clear I have seen of many for which mercy I praise the lord, but the next morning wet as formerly."

This is going to be a wet spring...

skutch  •  Link

he's checking out the daughters, then he goes upstairs to "read" - with the faucet on?

Paul Brewster  •  Link

Mr. Mills made a good sermon
This phrase has almost become a diary cliche. In looking back over the course of the last year plus, SP has rated the sermons from good to very good to excellent. The excellent ones usually elicit a comment about the subject. Anything below that is covered with a simple rating as in today's entry. Looking ahead, he will be seen to tire of his preaching in the coming years.

vincent  •  Link

Sermons were a wonderful diversion.
from J Evelyn Morn: 5 Cant . 25 [meaning? whose texts?]
afternoone:-12 Jobe 21 [Job?]
012:021 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty

vincent  •  Link

Daughters are left without a name: I wonder why? . In the Batten case, he usually mentions only one, the other must be already sharing her life, as in the Sir Will:'s will, he mentions a Granddaughter.

Mark Geraghty  •  Link

In response to Paul's note above, certainly by 1666 SP tired of church going and his attendance at sermons became the exception rather than the rule. This is partly I suspect because he becomes busier (at work and socially) and also because social custom no longer seems to demand it. This may be an effect of loosening religious ties post restoration. Early in the diary Pepys invariably attends church twice on Sundays, later on, certainly by 1665/66 hardly at all.

Matthew  •  Link

5 cant 25:
Canticles = Isaiah

5:25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Pedro.  •  Link

Some Spoilers Today!

Ruben  •  Link

Matthew:
Canticles = Song of Solomon
The song of Solomon is all about love between the Lord and his people.
Moreover,no 5:25 in this song. Or 25:5.
You were citing Isaiah...

Rex Gordon  •  Link

"...love between the Lord and his people..."
Well, Ruben, if it is, I certainly don't want Him kissing me with the kisses of His mouth and telling me my two breasts are like twin roes feeding among the lilies! It sounds more like a beautiful remnant of the old erotic liturgies attendant upon Oriental goddesses and their consorts that snuck into the Bible when nobody was looking. (But maybe that's just me :-)

The Bishop  •  Link

The title 'Canticles' comes from the Latin name for the book: Canticum canticorum.

I don't know what the Church of England taught about this book in Pepys' day. Here's how New Advent summarizes the history of the interpretation of the book:

"Before the sixteenth century tradition gave an allegorical or symbolical meaning to the love of Solomon for the Sulamitess. The view held by the Jewish Synagogue was expressed by Akiba and Aben Ezra; that held by the Church, by Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and Jerome. An opinion opposed to these found only isolated expression. Akiba (first century after Christ) speaks severely of those who would strike the book from the Sacred Canon, while St. Philastrius (fourth century) refers to others who regarded it not as the work of the Holy Ghost but as the Composition of a purely sensuous poet.

"Theodore of Mopsuestia aroused such indignation by declaring the Canticle of Canticles to be a love-song of Solomon's, and his contemptuous treatment of it gave great offense. At the OEcumenical Council of Constantinople (553), Theodore's view was rejected as heretic and his own pupil Theoret, brought forward against him unanimous testimony of the Fathers.

Theodore's opinion was not revived until the sixteenth century, when the Calvinist Sebastien Castalion (Castalio), and also Johannes Clericus, made use of it. The Anabaptists became partisans of this view; later adherents of the same opinion were Michaelis, Teller, Herder, and Eichhorn.

A middle position is taken by the "typical" exposition of the book. For the first and immediate sense the typical interpretation holds firmly to the historical and secular meaning, which has always been regarded by the Church as heretical; this interpretation gives, however, to the "Song of Love", a second and higher sense. As, namely, the figure of Solomon was a type of Christ, so is the actual love of Solomon for a shepherdess or for the daughter of Pharaoh, intended as a symbol of the love of Christ for His Church. Honorius of Autun and Luis of Leon (Aloysius Legionensis) did not actually teach this view, although their method of expression might be misleading (cf . Cornelius a Lapide, Prol. in Canticum, c. i).

In earlier times reference was often made to a first and literal meaning of the words of a text, which meaning, however, was not the real sense of the context as intended by the author, but was held to be only its external covering or "husk". [Goes on to explain more modern interpretations.]

Jenny Doughty  •  Link

Skutch - 'then he goes upstairs to "read" - with the faucet on?’

I don’t think Sam would have had a faucet upstairs, unless anybody knows better?

Ruben  •  Link

The Bishop
The title "Canticles" comes from the Latin name for the book: Canticum canticorum.
The Latin name is a translation from Greek, in itself a literal translation of the original Hebrew “Song of Songs”, written well before the Romans conquered the Mediterranean world.
As you do not know what the Church of England taught about this book in Pepys' days, well, sorry for your enthusiasm, but your contribution becomes too long.

alex  •  Link

Enough bickering over the quality of annotations, please. If you hate one of the annotators send them an email and tell them instead of posting it here.

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

"Home again, and after a walk in the garden"

Appropriately enough, Sue Nicholson has recently posted, as of the current date, an in-depth article about "The Garden at the Navy Office." Kudos to her!
http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth…

jude cooper  •  Link

So that's where the parmisan was buried! Thanks Bill.

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