Sunday 24 January 1663/64

(Lord’s day). Lay long in bed, and then up, and being desirous to perform my vowes that I lately made, among others, to be performed this month, I did go to my office, and there fell on entering, out of a bye-book, part of my second journall-book, which hath lain these two years and more unentered. Upon this work till dinner, and after dinner to it again till night, and then home to supper, and after supper to read a lecture to my wife upon the globes, and so to prayers and to bed. This evening also I drew up a rough draught of my last will to my mind.

32 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro  •  Link

Also on this day...

Sir George Downing to Bennet, from The Hague.

"You have infinite advantages upon the account of the form of the government of this country which is such a shattered and divided thing; and though the rest of the provinces give Holland their votes, yet nothing is more evident and certain that Holland must expect to bear the burden. Even Zeeland can do very little, for that is very poor, and for the other provinces they neither can nor will. If Holland desires peace that is more than enough to secure it, and the approval of Amsterdam alone will suffice."

(The Dutch Seaborne Empire by C.R.Boxer)

Crash  •  Link

What exactly does "lecturing upon the globes" mean in this case? Is Sam trying to educate his wife upon geometry, astronomy, geography, or anatomy?

jeannine  •  Link

"I did go to my office, and there fell on entering, out of a bye- book, part of my second journall-book, which hath lain these two years and more unentered"
I am curious-does anyone know what journal Sam is referring to here? He seems to have quite a few different journals he keeps between the Diary and the "official" records associated with his job.

Mary  •  Link

This journal seems to be the fair copy of Sam's diary.

The diary is not a yearly diary of the sort that we would buy (one year per volume) but is contained within 6 volumes of stationer's notebooks, with entries covering accounts from 2-3 years written up in each.

An L&M footnote states that the particular volume cited here covers the period 1st July 1661 - 30th June 1663 and that the by-book in question has not survived.

Paul Dyson  •  Link

Globes

Crash, a click on the "globes" link and then on "References in the Diary" will enable the history of these globes to emerge. Sam bought them last September (1663)for the benefit of his wife's education - he is a home-schooler! The Annotations on the links page offer pictures of some similar globes.

cumgranosalis  •  Link

Globalisation of the economy started with looking for spices and all things nice, with thy magnet and sundial and with thy seer of stars, all came to-gether with an orb. With this orb, one could learn of where thy tea and coffee came from, and tie together all the sciences [Geography, Magnetism, Astronomy, Astrology, Mathematics { thereby understand the Sextant}and agriculture]. Sam would point out the Meridians, Latitude and Longitude, and the clock connection. At this time there be great curiosity in the way of thinking and disproving old concepts, held by Aristonian scholars. This is the age of falling apples, Student getting sent down for not agreeing with Grecian concepts but espouseing the latest concepts and the Globe be a very pratical way of expressing the latest philosophes, [ which then were the foundation of the sciences as we now be aware of].
The Orb be the back bone of the Naval career.
Thru the smoke filled skies one could hope to see the polar bear in all it's glory. The duodecimal system of dividing thy sky and thy clock in little slices along with thy sundial

cumgranosalis  •  Link

Globalisation of the economy started with looking for spices and all things nice, with thy magnet and sundial and with thy seer of stars, all came to-gether with an orb. With this orb, one could learn of where thy tea and coffee came from, and tie together all the sciences [Geography, Magnetism, Astronomy, Astrology, Mathematics { thereby understand the Sextant}and agriculture]. Sam would point out the Meridians, Latitude and Longitude, and the clock connection. At this time there be great curiosity in the way of thinking and disproving old concepts, held by Aristonian scholars. This is the age of falling apples, Student getting sent down for not agreeing with Grecian concepts but espouseing the latest concepts and the Globe be a very pratical way of expressing the latest philosophes, [ which then were the foundation of the sciences as we now be aware of].
The Orb be the back bone of the Naval career.
Thru the smoke filled skies one could hope to see the polar bear in all it's glory. The duodecimal system of dividing thy sky and thy clock in little slices along with thy sundial

Bradford  •  Link

"read a lecture to my wife upon the globes": does this suggest to anyone else that he has a book, from which he is reading extracts aloud, which provides information about foreign lands or heavenly bodies, rather than discoursing out of his own knowledge?

Pedro  •  Link

"and disproving old concepts, held by Aristonian scholars... the latest concepts and the Globe be a very pratical way of expressing the latest philosophes."

To a certain extent the latest concepts had been proposed by Ari Starchus (born 60 odd years after Ari Stotle), which is very strange!

cumgranosalis  •  Link

'tis not strange,Haristarchus did not have the all RIGHT the vibes."..the latest concepts had been proposed by Ari Starchus (born 60 odd years after Ari Stotle), which is very strange! ..."
It takes many qualities to convince someone that thy idea be the right one, the words alone will not do.
See how long it took Newton to convince 'ook to see the meaning of a rainbow.
We are blinded by our safety filters that screen all our senses to the real world.

cumgranosalis  •  Link

When reading the story of the latitude sailors had in finding longitude, our Bess be up to the latest in science of the times, men finding their way on the open seas. She be askin' Sam how does a Kapitan know that he be near the silly isles and not near cabo de Sao Vicente or even Ininis shark {NW Eire Connemara}.
It be like the modern lass being exposed to helix dna,rna and cloning and having virgin births , in that a Virgin now can have a baby [or a Grandmere for that matter ] without a man being present.
It be another 60 years before man had a good idea of where he be, by using the modified clock invented by a carpenter's son and he be not camoxed.

Pedro  •  Link

"the story of the latitude sailors had in finding longitude,"

It could be again worth mentioning Dava Sobel's book "Longitude" for anyone interested in the quest for an accurate way to determine longitude.

Dave  •  Link

The seach for longitude

to me is best brought to life in Eco's The Island of the Day Before, although the method described there of simultaneously barking dogs did not prove to solve the problem.

dirk  •  Link

The Rev. Josselin - today's diary entry...

"continual snow. god good to me in outward mercies. my Cousin Hurril under a distraction, lord remember her in mercy and restore her. God good in my relations, in the liberty of his word and worship give me a heart for thy glory.

When I look abroad thus in England public quiet, and yet nothing but discontents(,) the state brooks no public religious meetings, but legal. Denmarke, Swede. Holland, in peace, the Turkish pirates harsh to our traders in the midland seas(,) the great princes young. Turk about 21. or 22. France. 25. Emp. 23. Swede a boy. Savoy very young. the Emp. at Ratisbone diet engaging the Emp. to assist against the Turk the popish party join. France would have the auxiliaries commanded by a friend of his and then he would assist, but [part missing]
the great difference between the pope and France, which accused the world that the french designs run high, likely to be agreed by condescension on the popes part

The polish king carries war to the Moscovites door with hope of peace, but that not likely, great endeavours to declare Duke d Enguyen . successor to poland(.) The Turks make great preparations against christendom. Apaffi; gets many places from the Emp: submitting to him all Germany and Italy in all amaze, the northern kingdoms quiet. Spain warring to reduce Portugal"

Wow! This is not the kind of thing we're used to with Josselin! This is probably the longest entry in his diary so far. Food for commentators?

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Presumably, apart from occasional trips to London, Rev. Josselin could ges news from merchants and other travelers in Essex and from various London publications: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His…

What strikes me as remarkable are (1) Rev. Ralph chooses to be widely informed of geopolitical affairs; and (2) he chooses to record it in great detail in his diary.

(dirk, thank you for posting it here.)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I Googled "camoxed" and came up with nothing in English. Anyone got any idea of what Cumgranosalis was talking about?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Anyone want to help unravel the Rev. Josselin entry?

I'll start with "the great princes young. Turk about 21. or 22. France. 25. Emp. 23. Swede a boy. Savoy very young."

I have no idea who the Turkish sultan was, and have spent two hours poking around with no success.
France was of course ruled by Louis XIV, now about 25
The Holy Roman Emperor was Leopold I, aged 23
The Boy Kind of Sweden was Charles XI - aged 8
Savoy - not sure who this refers to. If it's Carlos II, the last of the Hapsburgs in Spain, he was 2 at this time.
Charles II, born in 1630, is the mature one of the group. Hummmm. Good luck with that.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I don't recall anything in this year's vows about not going to church, and working in the office on his memoirs instead. Perhaps his conscience was troubling him, and he didn't want it disturbed further by either preachers or Elizabeth? Rev. Josselin mentions snow. Last week Pepys said it was mild. Maybe a new snowfall explains this excuse.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I have no idea who the Turkish sultan was"

Sarah, while in 1550 the Ottoman Empire was a patrimonial state in which all power was held exclusively by the sultan, by 1700 it had experienced a political transformation whereby the sultan's monopoly on power was replaced with a multi-polar system in which political power was informally shared among many different individuals and factions, and the proliferation of so-called "vizier and pasha households" (kapı) among the political elite of the empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tra…

But because you asked, Mehmed IV (Ottoman Turkish: محمد رابع Meḥmed-i rābiʿ; Modern Turkish: IV. Mehmet; also known as Avcı Mehmed, Mehmed the Hunter; January 2, 1642 – January 6, 1693) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of seven after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to become the second longest reigning sultan in Ottoman history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meh…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Thanks, Terry, I would never have guessed this one. Sultan Mehmed IV has just turned 22, so Josselin was correct.

Am I right with my guess that Savoy equals Spain? Apart from Pope Alexander VII (born 1599), the king of Spain seems to be the only one missing from this chess set.

Bill  •  Link

"Anyone got any idea of what Cumgranosalis was talking about?" You're joking, right?

Bryan  •  Link

"Camoxed"
Sarah, The Salty One kept many annotators guessing (and amused) the first time round. He could verge on cryptic at times.
The carpenter's son he was referring to was the inventor of the marine chronometer, John Harrison. Harrison was self-educated, so unlike SP, he did not get formal qualifications from either of the two English universities, CAMbridge or OXford, i.e. he was not camoxed.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Thanks Brian.

John Harrison (3 April [O.S. 24 March] 1693 – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. His solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. John Harrison was born in Foulby, near Wakefield in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the first of five children in his family. His father worked as a carpenter at the nearby Nostell Priory estate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I first became aware of the Duchy of Savoy as a result of watching a children's TV adventure series, 'The Flashing Blade', round about 1970.

Although (very loosely) based on the War of Mantua/Monferrato Succession, the series took huge liberties with both history and geography, including moving the fortress of Casale from Piedmont to the Pyrenees.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War…

Louise Hudson  •  Link

Bradford: "read a lecture to my wife upon the globes": does this suggest to anyone else that he has a book, from which he is reading extracts aloud, which provides information about foreign lands or heavenly bodies, rather than discoursing out of his own knowledge?

Couldn't he have done both? Using his own knowledge and gleaning more information from books, then writing it up in terms he thought Elizabeth would understand? Isn't that what pedagogues have done for millennia and do to this day? "See here, my dear . . ."

RSGII  •  Link

As a former US Navy navigator who has used a sextant, I can confirm how critical knowing the exact time is to knowing your position. If your chronometer is off by only a minute, your position could be off by about 15 miles. The great innovation of the chronometer is not that it kept exact time but that its rate of error was known so you could correct its reading to get the exact time. Of course, even then it is a bit of an art and if you get your position within 10 miles of where you actually are you are doing well.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Thank you all for unraveling some of Rev. Josselin's comments.

Now "the Turkish pirates harsh to our traders in the midland seas(,) "

I'm guessing the "midland seas" are/is the Mediterranean, and the Turkish pirates are actually the Barbary pirates.

If this is correct, why is Rev. Josselin upset about them today? They have been taking slaves and terrorizing the Mediterranean cities, Europe or Britain for centuries -- what specifically happened in 1663/64?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I'm guessing "Apaffi; gets many places from the Emp: submitting to him all Germany and Italy in all amaze, the northern kingdoms quiet." refers to:

"Michael Apafi (1632 – 15 April 1690) was a Hungarian Prince of Transylvania.

"He was elected by the nobles of Transylvania on 14 September 1661, with the support of the Ottoman Empire, as a rival to the Habsburg-backed ruler John Kemény. Kemény died in 1662 in the battle of Nagyszőllős, leaving Apafi as uncontested ruler of Transylvania.

"Opposed to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, he supported the Ottomans and Hungarian rebels until the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Vienna on 12 September 1683. ..."

for more information, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mic…

PS Panda  •  Link

Extraordinary that Sam neither goes to church nor comments on the fact, despite its being Lord's Day and his usual regular attendance.

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Also the excellent TV movie Longitude based on the book with Michael Gabon portraying Harrison.

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