Wednesday 5 August 1663

All the morning at the office, whither Deane of Woolwich came to me and discoursed of the body of ships, which I am now going about to understand, and then I took him to the coffee-house, where he was very earnest against Mr. Grant’s report in favour of Sir W. Petty’s vessel, even to some passion on both sides almost.

So to the Exchange, and thence home to dinner with my brother, and in the afternoon to Westminster hall, and there found Mrs. Lane, and by and by by agreement we met at the Parliament stairs (in my way down to the boat who should meet us but my lady Jemimah, who saw me lead her but said nothing to me of her, though I ought to speak to her to see whether she would take notice of it or no) and off to Stangate and so to the King’s Head at Lambeth marsh, and had variety of meats and drinks, but I did so towse her and handled her, but could get nothing more from her though I was very near it; but as wanton and bucksome as she is she dares not adventure upon the business, in which I very much commend and like her.

Staid pretty late, and so over with her by water, and being in a great sweat with my towsing of her durst not go home by water, but took coach, and at home my brother and I fell upon Des Cartes, and I perceive he has studied him well, and I cannot find but he has minded his book, and do love it.

This evening came a letter about business from Mr. Coventry, and with it a silver pen he promised me to carry inke in, which is very necessary. So to prayers and to bed.

31 Annotations

First Reading

dirk  •  Link

but as wanton and bucksome as she is she dares not adventure upon the business, in which I very much commend and like her

Apart from all moral considerations here [which are out of place anyhow, from a historic point of view]: this is the eternal (male) contradiction... Sam admires her for not giving in to him -- which would have made here an easy "prey".

dirk  •  Link

"a silver pen ... to carry inke in"

Would this be something like a primitive fountain pen?

Patricia  •  Link

Sam has been "in the mood" for a couple of days now, with no Mrs. P to relieve his—ah—mind. Yet he goes out with a semi-respectable woman who won't go all the way. Surely that would make his dilemma worse? I realize condoms had not yet been invented, but was there any other method (effective or not) practised to avoid getting disease from a prostitute?

Bradford  •  Link

Towsing, then Descartes, then prayers. I think this calls for a drink.

The Mollusc  •  Link

He is definitely in the mood.
I think the phrase 'willing to lend a hand' would fit the bill (or whatever the punter happened to be called).

Prophylactic sheaths did exist in the 18th century, but I am not sure of what was in use in the 17th, if any. Those early (and expensive) devices were made from animal intestines, much like sausage skins... hmmmmm.

TerryF  •  Link

Pepys's catamaran - the mind and the body
OR Bess and Betty - joined in the eyes of the (be)holder.

dirk  •  Link

a fountain pen?

Not impossible:
The earliest fountain pen that has survived today was designed by M. Bion, a Frenchman, in 1702. There were many producers of fountain pens in the early 1800s. John Scheffer, a Britishman, mass-produced fountain pens that were half quill and half metal. The ink was stored in sheep’s gut. Lewis Edson Waterman, a New York Insurance Agent, produced the first practical fountain pen in 1884.

Sources:
http://www.e-fountainpens.com/Fou…
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/F…

But "a silver pen … to carry inke in" could also refer to a portable set of pen plus ink, I guess...

Aqua  •  Link

[silver pen] Swan quill with an intestine from one hanged on gibbet, used as a oak ink holder [bladder] presented in a narrow silver goblet with lid ???? i.e. a movable ink well that be carried in thy carry all.
begotten from Inkpen Common Berkshire.

Aqua  •  Link

Quill pen was used later, it was ink horne.
Fountain :
[late ME. fontayne, a. OF. fontaine: late lati fontanana (whence Pr., Sp., Pg., It. fontana, Welsh ffynnawn, -on), fem. of L. font latin fontanus pertaining to a fount, f. font-, fons FOUNT n.1]

1. a. A spring or source of water issuing from the earth and collecting in a basin, natural or artificial; also, the head-spring or source of a stream or river. Now arch. or poet. exc. fig.
4. A reservoir or compartment for holding oil, ink, etc., in an Argand lamp, a printing-press, etc.

1710 M. HENRY Expos. Bible, Zechariah iv. 2 Without any further Care they [sc. lamps] received Oil as fast as they wasted it, (as in those which we call Fountain Inkhorns, or *Fountain Pens).
1664 EVELYN Kal. Hort. (1729) 226 Look to your *Fountain-Pipes.
1. A small portable vessel (originally made of a horn) for holding writing-ink: now seldom used.
to smell of the ink-horn, to be pedantic; term of inkhorn = ink-horn term 2b.
1382 WYCLIF Ezek. ix. 11 The man that..hadde an enk~horn in his rigge.
1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 229 Item, payd..for a pener and a ynkorne, iij. d
. 1687 T. BROWN Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 75 Children don't use to come into the world with their ink-horns and pocket-books about them

Mary  •  Link

the silver pen

In a long footnote, L&M aver that pens that carried their own ink had been made in Paris for some years. They quote from a 1656 journal (written in French) which refers to pens made of silver that can be filled with ink which does not dry up. The price quoted is from 10-12 francs.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"Des Cartes"
I just read"Discourse on Method" a few days ago; Descartes speculated about the seat of the soul,if it was in the Heart or the Brain;he seemed to favor the Pineal gland since it was situaded in between the cerebral ventricles which were filled with air,so the Pineal like a charioteer could steer the spirits.
Very mechanical.

Grahamt  •  Link

Re: ...like a charioteer could steer the spirits...
But isn't that putting Descartes before de horse?

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"who should meet us but my lady Jemimah, who saw me lead her but said nothing to me of her, though I ought to speak to her to see whether she would take notice of it or no"

Better be more careful, Sam. The last thing you need is a teenager with this kind of power over you...

Aqua  •  Link

"...but took coach, and at home my brother and I fell upon Des Cartes, and I perceive he has studied him well, and I cannot find but he has minded his book, and do love it...."
no coaching required, the truth was outed.

TerryF  •  Link

Pineal gland

Descartes believed it to be in the very center of the brain, but, alas, his anatomy was faulty - as Galen had pointed out, it is rather anterior (toward the front), is inidrectly light-sensitive, involved in regulating the circadian rhythms, secretes melatonin, &c." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine…

BTW, In 2005 "a study in the journal *Nature* compared *Britannica* and Wikipedia science articles and suggested that the former are usually only marginally more accurate than the latter." http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/20…

(Many of this days annotes - excluding mine- are very witty!)

Aqua  •  Link

Buxsom[ not plump ]="...but as wanton and bucksome as she is she dares not adventure upon the business,..." thanks to OED:
Forms: ibuhsum, ibucsum, 2-3 buhsum(m, 3 bocsum, -om, 3-8 buxum, 4 bo sam, boghsom, bousum, -om, (?) busum, boxsom(e, bouxsome, bowxom, buxsom, 4-5 bowsom, boxsum, buxsum, 4-6 bouxom(e, boxom(e, -um, 4-7 bughsom, bowsum, buxome, 5 bouxum, buxhum, 5-6 buxume, buxsome, -home, (?) buscom, 6 bowsome, buxam, buckesom(e, 6-8 bucksome, 7-8 bucksom, (9 bucksome), 4- buxom. [early ME. buhsum, ibucsum
I. Easily bowed or bent.
1. Morally a. Obedient; pliant; compliant, tractable (to). Obs. (exc. as a rare archaism.)
1581 J. BELL Haddon's Answ. Osor. 287b, The Consuls should..sweare faythfully to become bonnaire and buxome to the Pope.
1591 SPENSER M. Hubberd 626 So wilde a beast..buxome to his bands, is ioy to see.
c1684 MS. Let. Corporation of Kirkby to Judge Jeffreys, Your Lordship was pleased to give us..your oath to become a buxome and beneficial member of this corporation.
b. Submissive, humble, meek. Obs.
c. Gracious, indulgent, favourable; obliging, amiable, courteous, affable, kindly. Obs.
d. with inf.: Easily moved, prone, ready. Obs.
2. Physically: Flexible, pliant. Yielding to pressure, unresisting (poet.). Obs.
1615 CROOKE Body of Man 1111 Their substance is..flexible or buxome that they should not breake but giue way to violence.
1667 MILTON P.L. II. 842 Wing silently the buxom Air.
II. Blithe, jolly, well-favoured.
3. Blithe, gladsome, bright, lively, gay. arch.
(The explanation in Bailey and Johnson, ‘amorous, wanton’, is apparently only contextual.)

MILTON P.L. II. 842 Wing silently the buxom Air.
II. Blithe, jolly, well-favoured.
3. Blithe, gladsome, bright, lively, gay. arch.
(The explanation in Bailey and Johnson, ‘amorous, wanton’, is apparently only contextual.)
1590 GREENE Never too late Aiv, Grey and buxome were his eyne
4. Full of health, vigour, and good temper; well-favoured, plump and comely, ‘jolly’, comfortable-looking (in person). (Chiefly of women.)
1608 MIDDLETON Fam. Love III. vii, Those ribs shall not enfold thy buxom limbs.
1611 COTGR. s.v. Matineux, An earlie man is buxome.
1681 HICKERINGILL Vind. Naked Truth II. 22 Those lazy and bucksome Abby-Lubbers. 1

Bradford  •  Link

Oh, but "bucksome" gives the word a whole different flavor! Like "toothsome."

Patricia  •  Link

Buxsom/bucksome/buxom What a grand set of meanings! Thank you Aqua! Nowadays, here, when people say "buxom" it's because they're too old fashioned to say "big breasts", but it's what they mean.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Buxom is also a euphemism for just being plain old FAT.

Aqua  •  Link

"... plain old FAT..." 'tis better than old bones, it better put, pleasingly plump, sumart to hold on too.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

" Mr. Grant’s report in favour of Sir W. Petty’s vessel"

The report was made at the Royal Society's meeting of 29 July. (L&M footnote)

There is a considerable amount of information concerning Petty's double-keeled boat in Birch's "History of the Royal Society" (vol. i.), summarized in a long footnote in "The Diary of Samuel Pepys: For the First Time Fully Transcribed", ed. Mynors Bright, Richard Griffin Baron Braybrooke, 1899, pp. 232-3 footnote. https://books.google.com/books?pg…

Marquess  •  Link

Sounds like Mrs Lane was a nice handful and difficult to resist.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... who should meet us but my lady Jemimah, who saw me lead her but said nothing to me of her ..."

It was just a matter of time, Sam ... you are a known person in Westminster these days. Need to move your action to a more discreet place, like Chelsea.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Des Cartes

L&M note the introduction of Descartes' work marked the beginning of the decline of Aristotelian science in Cambridge.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This evening came a letter about business from Mr. Coventry, and with it a silver pen he promised me to carry inke in, which is very necessary. "

Pepys's pen does not appear to have been a success; but he did take a 'silver pen' with him to Tangier in 1683-4 (L&M in the footnote mentioned by Mary)

Wikipedia calls what Pepys receives today a "reservoir pen", which is, as dirk says (above) "something like a primitive fountain pen" described here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fou…

Bill  •  Link

“as wanton and bucksome as she is”

BUXOM, flexible; Also amorous, wanton, merry, jolly.
BUXOMNESS, Lowliness, Submission.
---An universal etymological English dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

Bardolph, a soldier, firm and sound of heart,
And of buxom valour…
Henry V. W. Shakespeare.

Bill  •  Link

Buxom, As, a buxom Wife, femme douce, de bonne humeur.
Buxomness, bonne humeur.
---A short dictionary English and French. G. Miège, 1684.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"....at home my brother and I fell upon Des Cartes, and I perceive he has studied him well"

L&M: The Discourse de la méthode the Géométrie were now studied at Cambridge. Henry More of Christ's (John Pepys's college) defended Descartes against charges of atheism and strongly urged universities to encourage the study of his works as the best means of knowing the 'mechanical powers of matter'. See esp. The immortality of the soul, (Preface, p. 13.) In a coll. of several philosophical writings (1662). Cf. his correspondence in M. H. Nicholson (ed.), Conway Letters, passim. Newton read the Géométrie in 1661 at Trinity, according to his diary (qu. W. W. Rouse Ball, Hist. Trin. Coll., p. 77). See also R. North, Life of...John North (1744), pp. 261, 165-6. Cf. J. B. Mullinger, Cambridge characteristics in 17th cent., pp. 108-22; M. H. Curtis, Oxford and Cambridge, 1558-1642, p. 387&n. The introduction of Descartes's work marked the beginning of the decline of Aristotelian science in Cambridge.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"L&M aver that pens that carried their own ink had been made in Paris for some years. They quote from a 1656 journal (written in French) which refers to pens made of silver that can be filled with ink which does not dry up."

The British Museum has on display a very rare set of drawing instruments made from gilt and brass which is inscribed:
"London, Bartholomew Newsam" (he was clockmaker to Queen Elizabeth), made around 1570.
They came in a highly decorated presentation case, with the classical figures of Peace, War, Poverty and Abundance engraved on the sides.
Arranged in the case are all the instruments needed by someone working on technical drawings.
Displayed are a hinged ruler, a set square, scissors, proportional dividers, three compasses of different sizes, a pencil holder, and a brass pen with fixed metal nib. But no, the pen does not appear thick enough to accommodate ink, so I think you'd still have to dip -- but there is no inkwell included the set?
For a photo, see
https://www.britishmuseum.org/col…

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