Wednesday 25 March 1663

(Lady-day). Up betimes and to my office, where all the morning, at noon dined and to the Exchange, and thence to the Sun Tavern, to my Lord Rutherford, and dined with him, and some others, his officers, and Scotch gentlemen, of fine discourse and education. My Lord used me with great respect, and discoursed upon his business as with one that he did esteem of, and indeed I do believe that this garrison is likely to come to something under him. By and by he went away, forgetting to take leave of me, my back being turned, looking upon the aviary, which is there very pretty, and the birds begin to sing well this spring.

Thence home and to my office till night, reading over and consulting upon the book and Ruler that I bought this morning of Browne concerning the lyne of numbers, in which I find much pleasure.

This evening came Captain Grove about hiring ships for Tangier. I did hint to him my desire that I could make some lawfull profit thereof, which he promises that he will tell me of all that he gets and that I shall have a share, which I did not demand, but did silently consent to it, and money I perceive something will be got thereby.

At night Mr. Bland came and sat with me at my office till late, and so I home and to bed. This day being washing day and my maid Susan ill, or would be thought so, put my house so out of order that we had no pleasure almost in anything, my wife being troubled thereat for want of a good cook-maid, and moreover I cannot have my dinner as I ought in memory of my being cut for the stone, but I must have it a day or two hence.

17 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro  •  Link

"and some others, his officers, and Scotch gentlemen, of fine discourse and education."

Be careful our Sam. Don't call that Scot Scotch!

Stolzi  •  Link

I'd like to know more about the aviary!

Was it actually in the tavern, one wonders? That sounds more like a modern fern-bar sort of place.

Pedro  •  Link

Scotch.

Talking of Scotch, I hope in Agua Scripto is on holiday, and not on the Agua Vitae.

Bradford  •  Link

"the book and Ruler that I bought this morning of Browne concerning the lyne of numbers"

---see the links on Rule and Browne; is the "lyne of numbers" that on the slide rule, or what? Help the Mathematicless.

JWB  •  Link

Bradford,not a slide rule, but different scales on the same stick. As Dr Stephen Johnston says: "Imagine a square piece of timber. The length of one side of the square is measured on the rule’s inch scale and the corresponding mark on the timber scale is located. Then the distance from that point to the end of the rule directly gives the length of a cubic foot of this timber. That dimension can be taken with a pair of dividers, such as would be found among the tools of any carpenter, whether on land or at sea. Then, stepping the dividers along the length of the timber allows the user simply to count out the cubic feet contained in the timber.

So we again have mathematical skills without formal symbolic representation: the “calculation” is done by manipulation of rulers and dividers rather than on paper."
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.as…

ellen  •  Link

the stone
We should all celebrate stone day tomorrow.

dirk  •  Link

Lithotomy -- Surgery for bladder stones -- (very explicit) engraving from 1804

Probably much the same procedure Sam went through at the time of his surgery...

http://link.library.utoronto.ca/a…

George R  •  Link

"not a slide rule, but different scales on the same stick. As Dr Stephen Johnston says: “Imagine a square piece of timber. The length of one side of the square is measured on the rule’s inch scale and the corresponding mark on the timber scale is located"
That sounds more like it. As a lad I had to learn how to use the scales on the body of a roofing square. One of them was "Essex board measure" and was very much as described to obtain board feet from the overall dimensions of a log. Never used it in fifty years and now it's all gone metric and calculators anyway.

Harry  •  Link

I did hint to him my desire that I could make some lawfull profit thereof,

There has been discussion in the past as to what hidden pecuniary benefits Sam might derive from his position working for the Navy. Judging from this passage, it cannot have been much, certainly not systematic corruption. The wording has been chosen carefuly as if he wanted to convince himself that no impropiety was being envisaged.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

In the audio tapes of the Diary, Brannaugh does a beautiful job with the Grove lines...

The subtle hint...The cautious use of words and wording. Nothing to be spoken direct or written down, merely...Implied. It's almost like a courtship dance. Ah, the party has begun...Nothing like access to a fat military contract.

Naturally only lawful fat being secured by our boy...

alanB  •  Link

It seems that Sam's household is suffering a case of the wash-day blues.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"reading over and consulting upon the book...that I bought this morning of Browne concerning the lyne of numbers"

Brown's book is among the Early English Books Online:
The description and use of the carpenters-rule together with The use of the line of numbers commonly called Gunters-line : applyed to the measuring of all superficies and solids, as board, glass, plaistering, wainscoat, tyling, paving, flooring, &c., timber, stone, square on round, gauging of vessels, &c. : also military orders, simple and compound interest, and tables of reduction, with the way of working by arithmatick in most of them : together with the use of the glasiers and Mr. White's sliding-rules, rendred plain and easie for ordinary capacities / by John Brown, philomath. London: Printed for W. Fisher and R. Mount ..., 1688.

In CHAP. X Brown includes many useful conversion rules for: English Money. Troy-weight. Aver-du-poize weight. Concave Dry-measure. Concave Wet-measure. Water Measure. Long-Measure. Motion and Time in Astro∣nomy and Navigation. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Sam apparently ate two lunches. Made up for the bad service at home where there is no mention of an evening meal.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"I did hint to him my desire that I could make some lawfull profit thereof, which he promises that he will tell me of all that he gets and that I shall have a share, which I did not demand, but did silently consent to it, and money I perceive something will be got thereby." Sam is so specific about all this, I suspect it is the first time he has negotiated a "big" deal. It's been a brace of ducks here and the odd gift there, but this time he went for the money and documents the successful process for later reference.

Bill  •  Link

"reading over and consulting upon the book and Ruler that I bought this morning of Browne concerning the lyne of numbers"

Gunter's Line, a Logarithmic line, usually graduated upon scales, sectors, &c; and so called from its inventor Mr. Gunter. This is otherwise called the line of lines, or line of numbers, and consists of the logarithms transferred upon a ruler, &c, from the tables, by means of a scale of equal parts, which therefore serves to resolve problems instrumentally, in the same manner as logarithms do arithmetically. For, whereas logarithms resolve proportions, or perform multiplication and division, by only addition and subtraction, the same are performed on this line by turning a pair of compasses over this way or that, or by sliding one slip of wood by the side of another, &c.

A line of this description has been contrived various ways, for the advantage of having it as long as possible. As, first, on the two feet ruler or scale, by Gunter. Then, in 1627 the logarithms were drawn by Wingate, on two separate rulers, sliding against each other, to save the use of compasses in resolving proportions. They were also in 1627 applied to concentric circles by Oughtred. Then in a spiral form by Mr. Milburne of Yorkshire, about the year 1650. Also, in 1657, on the present common sliding rule, by Seth Partridge.
---A Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary. C. Hutton, 1815.

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