Thursday 18 August 1664

Lay too long in bed, till 8 o’clock, then up and Mr. Reeve came and brought an anchor and a very fair loadstone. He would have had me bought it, and a good stone it is, but when he saw that I would not buy it he said he [would] leave it for me to sell for him. By and by he comes to tell me that he had present occasion for 6l. to make up a sum, and that he would pay me in a day or two, but I had the unusual wit to deny him, and so by and by we parted, and I to the office, where busy all the morning sitting.

Dined alone at home, my wife going to-day to dine with Mrs. Pierce, and thence with her and. Mrs. Clerke to see a new play, “The Court Secret.”

I busy all the afternoon, toward evening to Westminster, and there in the Hall a while, and then to my barber, willing to have any opportunity to speak to Jane, but wanted it. So to Mrs. Pierces, who was come home, and she and Mrs. Clerke busy at cards, so my wife being gone home, I home, calling by the way at the Wardrobe and met Mr. Townsend, Mr. Moore and others at the Taverne thereby, and thither I to them and spoke with Mr. Townsend about my boy’s clothes, which he says shall be soon done, and then I hope I shall be settled when I have one in the house that is musicall.

So home and to supper, and then a little to my office, and then home to bed. My wife says the play she saw is the worst that ever she saw in her life.

47 Annotations

First Reading

jeannine  •  Link

"Journal of the Earl of Sandwich" edited by R.C. Anderson

18th. Thursday. In the morning set sail out of the Downs. Little wind in the morning and so drove with the tide of ebb into Dover road. In the afternoon an eastwardly gale sprang up fine and fresh and we made all the sail we could and at 7 at night we were up with the Ness.
Ships in company: - London, Revenge, Dreadnought, Dover, Kent, Elizabeth, Breda, Gloucester, Henrietta yacht.
At 4 oclock this afternoon I sent off the French and Dutch prizes to Dover and a packet for London.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Today In New Amsterdam

Richard Nichols, with the four frigates under the command of Captain Hugh Hyde, anchor in Nyack or Gravesend Bay in the Narrows just off Coney Island, and join up with the New Haven and Long Island militias on shore. Nichols issues proclamations to the Dutch towns on Long Island and the Burghers of New Amsterdam and sends word to Peter Stuyvesant, director or Governor of New Netherland, demanding the surrender of all the towns , forts and other places of strength possessed by the Dutch.

The main object of the expedition was the reduction of the Dutch colony to 'an entire submission and obedience' to the King on the grounds that the Dutch were interlopers on English territory. The passage of these lands in the grant of a Charter to the Duke of York had taken place on March 12th. 1664. The grouping of lands given away to form Ducal property was unlike anything known thus far in English America. They included Maine between the St. Croix and Kennebec rivers and northward to the St. Lawrence; Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket; and all the region from the Connecticut River to the Delaware and northward to and including Albany; the west bank of the Delaware was added later.

See Andrews 'Colonial Period of American History' 'The Settlements' New Haven: 1937 (1958) vol iii, pp. 35 - 69 'New Netherland & Royal Commission,' @ pp. 58, 60-61.

Terry F  •  Link

"spoke with Mr. Townsend about my boy's clothes, which he says shall be soon done"

It takes a tailor's son -- one who had a suit PDQ of (the foul-mouthed) Langford -- to hassle the Clerk of the King's Great Wardrobe about the garb for the Clerk of the Acts' boy the day after the order had been placed, sc. Wednesday 17 August: "spoke with my boy Tom Edwards, and directed him to go to Mr. Townsend (with whom I was in the morning) to have measure taken of his clothes to be made him there out of the Wardrobe, which will be so done, and then I think he will come to me." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Michael Robinson  •  Link

The Duke's Plan of New York

'A description of the towne of Mannados or New Amsterdam as it was in September 1661.' A copy, probably English, of a map made for the Dutch authorities in 1661 by Jacques Cortelyou

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/th…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Girls' Day Out...

No nervousness on Sam's part that some gallant at the playhouse might take a liberty or two? And our innocent Bess in the company of that painted harlot
Mrs. Clerke and the worldly beautious if ever-pregnant Mrs. Pierce... Take care, Samuel.

"Mr. Pembleton? What are you doing here, sir?"

Cum Grano Salis  •  Link

good reade De Magnete Gilbert; still a lot of mysticism about iron filings .

"...then up and Mr. Reeve came and brought an anchor and a very fair loadstone. He would have had me bought it, and a good stone it is, ..." compass of the day.

noun lode stone /loadstone; [rare in England]
a permanent magnet consisting of magnetite that possess polarity and has the power to attract as well as to be attracted magnetically [syn: lodestone]

REF:
http://homepages.tscnet.com/omard…

Chapter XV

"How to know the Polar points in the Loadstone."

Compass (Mariner's)

Compass - An instrument for directing or ascertaining the course of ships at sea, consisting of a circular box, containing a paper card marked with the thirty two points of direction, fixed on a magnetic needle, that always points to the north, the variation excepted. The needle with the card turns on a pin in the center of the box. In the center of the needle is fixed a brass conical socket or cap, by which the card hanging on the pin turns freely round the center. The box is covered with glass, to prevent the motion of the card from being disturbed by the wind.

Tony Eldridge  •  Link

By and by he comes to tell me that he had present occasion for 6l. to make up a sum, and that he would pay me in a day or two, but I had the unusual wit to deny him.

Can anyone explain this? Why would he owe Sam money and what is the 'unusual wit' that Sam displays?

John M  •  Link

An Anchor??

I can see why Reeve thought a curious man like Samuel would want a lodestone. But an anchor?

Or is the anchor a mounting for the lodestone?

Martha Rosen  •  Link

"occasion for 6l. to make up a sum"
My reading is that he is short 6l. for a sum of money he needs and would like to borrow it from Sam. The "unusual wit" is in saying "No!" promptly.

Mary  •  Link

"present occasion for 6l."

Martha's reading is the right one. Reeve not only needs the money, his need is present, i.e. urgent and immediate.

Sam's wit would seem to lie in his being able to think up an entirely plausible and reasonable excuse on the spur of the moment for not advancing this sum.

Bradford  •  Link

"My wife says the play she saw is the worst that ever she saw in her life."
Delightful to hear Elizabeth using this very Samwellian exclamation too.

I'd liken it, nowadays, to naming the worst movie that you've ever seen in your life, but as that would lead us far astray from the Diary, be it far from me to mention it. (There's nothing like a nice apophasis first thing on a Sunday morning.)

JWB  •  Link

Schuylkill

For those who have ever passed through Philadelphia, be sure to download the audio of Dutch pronunciations via Terry's link.

JWB  •  Link

KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OF NEW YORK BY WASHINGTON IRVING

Book VII : CONTAINING THE THIRD PART OF THE REIGN OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG--HIS TROUBLES WITH THE BRITISH NATION, AND THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY.

"The very dogs, as they eyed him, skulked away in dismay; while all the old and ugly women of New Amsterdam ran howling at his heels, imploring him to save them from murder, robbery, and pitiless ravishment!"
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13…

JWB  •  Link

More extracts from Irving-

"Finally, to strike a violent blow at the very vitals of Great Britain, a multitude of the wiser inhabitants assembled, and having purchased all the British manufactures they could find, they made thereof a huge bonfire, and in the patriotic glow of the moment, every man present who had a hat or breeches of English workmanship pulled it off, and threw it into the flames, to the irreparable detriment, loss and ruin of the English manufacturers! In commemoration of this great exploit they erected a pole on the spot, with a device on the top intended to represent the province of Nieuw Nederlandts destroying Great Britain, under the similitude of an eagle picking the little island of Old England out of the globe; but either through the unskillfulness of the sculptor, or his ill-timed waggery, it bore a striking resemblance to a goose vainly striving to get hold of a dumpling."

"Within three hours after the surrender, a legion of British beef-fed warriors poured into New Amsterdam, taking possession of the fort and batteries. And now might be heard from all quarters the sound of hammers made by the old Dutch burghers, in nailing up their doors and windows, to protect their vrouws from these fierce barbarians, whom they contemplated in silent sullenness from the garret windows as they paraded through the streets.

Thus did Colonel Richard Nichols, the commander of the British forces, enter into quiet possession of the conquered realm, as locum tenens for the Duke of York. The victory was attended with no other outrage than that of changing the name of the province and its metropolis, which thenceforth were denominated New York, and so have continued to be called unto the present day. The inhabitants, according to treaty, were allowed to maintain quiet possession of their property, but so inveterately did they retain their abhorrence of the British nation that in a private meeting of the leading citizens it was unanimously determined never to ask any of their conquerors to dinner."

Cum Grano Salis  •  Link

luverly Thanks JWB:
then there be this from the same source:

"since none but great sovereigns have a right to give away what does not belong to them. That this munificent gift might not be merely nominal, his Majesty ordered that an armament should be straightway despatched to invade the city of New Amsterdam by land and water, and put his brother in complete possession of the premise"

It be strange there be no rumours to this expedition to expand Charles' port folio was heard on the streets of the City. usually there be some tattle tale long before the event, especially amongst the Tars.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

there be no rumours to this expedition

Downing had been agitating for the end of Dutch supremacy for years; he first won over the Duke of York. How and from whom Downing and the Duke heard of the quarrels taking place between Dutch and English in New Amsterdam is not clear. However Col. John Scott was in England from early 1662 to fall of 1663. He had aroused the wrath of the Dutch authorities on Long Island who had charged him and an attendant mob with pursuing them 'by fire and sword, yea running through those who will not say that we are not seated on the King's ground, etc.' Scott appears to have reached some accommodation with Stuyvesant and was confident of being allowed to control the region beyond the East River. While in England he appears to have been hopeful of a proprietary of his own in the event of an English takeover, but was to be disappointed when the Duke appropriated all to himself. On his return to Long Island he then angered the Connecticut authorities by setting himself up as the 'president' of a small republic formed from the towns of western Long Island. Connecticut proceeded to put him in jail in Hartford.

The immediate precipitating cause of the expedition was a as a report by a committee of Cartaret, Berkeley and Coventry on Jan 29th. 1664 recounting the encroachments of the Dutch on English settlements and recommending immediate action. The committee had before them evidence furnished by Colonel John Scott, amongst a handful of others, and a 'brief Narrative' drafted in part by Scott intended to set out the king's title to New Netherland, the Dutch intrusion and the best way to be rid of the Dutch 'occupation.'

The months of February, March and April must have been a busy time with those responsible for the undertaking and, because there are no other than official references to the activities behinds the scenes, the preparations must have been made with considerable secrecy. [The Venetian resident does not mention the expedition to New Netherland until October 1664, long after the capture of New Amsterdam, and he apparently knew nothing about it at the time. To him the troubles with the Dutch were all due to the Guinea situation. Even after the capture had been effected Downing told De Witt in Holland that the driving of the Dutch out of New Netherland 'was not true and that it could not be,' though of course he knew it was true. The resident, not without reason called Downing 'cunning ' and spoke of the 'secrets of this government' as 'impenetrable'.] Rumors of the projected invasion, to which hardly any attention was paid in England, reached both New England and New Amsterdam and were confirmed when the King in royal letters to each of the New England Colonies sent word of the appointment of commissioners and bade each cooperate with them to the fullest extent. He notified Massachusetts of the proposed reduction of New Netherland and reminded the commonwealth of his dissatisfactions with their former attitude and his expectation they would do better in future. In this he was sadly disillusioned. Massachusetts had no intention, if it could be avoided, of obeying a royal command or of admitting the right of any royal commissioner to interfere in her affairs.

Quick summary of Andrews, vol iii, pp.51 - 56.

Cartaret and Berkeley were direct beneficiaries of the venture and were among the recipients of the Charter of Carolina - March 24, 1663:-
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon…

and made Proprietors of New Caesarea, or New Jersey:-
The Duke of York's Release to John Lord Berkeley, and Sir George Carteret, 24th of June, 1664
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon…

The Concession and Agreement of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of New Caesarea, or New Jersey,
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon…

For readers of Jeannine's review of "The Plot against Pepys" - this is the same Colonel John Scott

Terry F  •  Link

"no other outrage than that of changing the name of the province and its metropolis"

Well, JWB, there was the fact that "the flag of the Dutch Republic was lowered, and the British flag was run up in its place." http://www.nyc350.org/history.html
This site says that was 11 days hence (29 August), but there does seem to be some disagreement about the turnnover date.

(1) My Encyclopedia Britannica says 8 September (24:878);
(2) "On 30 August 1664, George Cartwright sent the governor a letter demanding surrender. He promised 'life, estate, and liberty to all who would submit to the king's authority.' Stuyvesant signed a treaty at his Bouwerie house on 9 September 1664. Nicolls was declared governor, and the city was renamed New York City." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete…
(3) The Dutch Wikipedia says the surrender was 24 September
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/1664

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Another one of those seemingly small tactical defeats that turn out to have enormous strategic implications. Still, even if DeRuyter could have saved the day for the present had he been directed to America rather than Guinea it does seem hard to imagine the Dutch managing to hold on to New Amsterdam for much longer given the large and growing English settler population in New England.

Cum Grano Salis  •  Link

Thanks for the background, much appreciated.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"disagreement about the turn-over date." -- Spoiler

The Dutch adopted the Gregorian calender in 1582; Sunday, December 9, 1582 was followed by Monday, 20 December 1582. This was a difference of ten days.

When Great Brittan adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752 it was necessary to correct by eleven days (Wednesday, September 2, 1752 being followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752) to account for February 29, 1700 (Julian).

Dates therefore depend upon whether the the person converting uses the pre or post 1752 number for the conversion. If a date has been converted twice, say from English OS - Dutch NS - English OS, this could give a maximum difference in date of +\-2 for the same day! The 'old style' (English Pepys' period)dates below are those used by Andrews who cites consistently from the published series 'New York Colonial Documents vol ii.'

August 18th. (August 28-30 NS) -- Nichols arrival in the narrows & issues a Proclamation. Stuyvesant p[lays for time and refuses to surrender.

August 25th. (Sept 5-7 NS), Nichols letter to Stuyvesant.

August 27th. (Sept 7-9 NS) -- Frigates reduce Staten Island; two frigates sail past with guns trained on fort Amsterdam ready to begin bombardment. New Amsterdam surrenders.

August 27th. (Sept 7-9 NS) -- Terms agreed upon and signed at Stuyvesant's farmhouse by Nichols, Car and Cartwright for the English; five burghers and Pastor Domine (Johannes) Megapolensis for the Dutch and John Winthrop,(Governor of Mass) Capt John Pynchon (Mass. General Court) Samuel Wyllys & Capt. Thomas Clarke (Connecticut) for the New England interests. Stuyvesant refused to sign.

August 29th. (Sept 9-11 NS) Articles ratified. Stuyvesant marches out of Fort, with his troops and the 'honors of war,' Dutch troops embarked on a West India Company ship, Dutch colors hauled down. Nchols takes possession of the fort and English colors hoisted; his first act is th rename the city 'New York' and the fort 'Fort James.'

September 4th. (14-16 NS) The Commissioners meet delegates of the Long Island towns and Connecticut magistrates at Gravesend and announce the Royal Letters patent and Governor Winthrop agrees that Connecticut jurisdiction over any part of Long Island will cease.

September 24th, (style unknown)-- Final surrender of New Netherland; Fort Orange & Beverwyck (Albany) surrender to Cartwright. Wiltwyck, (Kingston) surrenders on the down river return.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Fascinating character, Col. Scott. Hopefully someday someone will publish Pepys' scrapbook on him.

language hat  •  Link

"Massachusetts had no intention, if it could be avoided, of obeying a royal command or of admitting the right of any royal commissioner to interfere in her affairs."

To anticipate, it was King Philip's War of 1676, and specifically the alliance of New York with the powerful Mohawks (who were happy to raid their old enemies to the east, the Algonquians of New England), that enabled New York to get the upper hand and eventually impose imperial control over the recalcitrant Puritan colonies.

Pedro  •  Link

"there be no rumours to this expedition"

Another angle from British Foreign Policy 1660-1672 by Feiling

The conquest of New Netherlands, rechristened in May I664, was planned by Cromwell, and only deferred by peace made in the Protectorates' first year. Virginia, New England and Maryland had all received charters from the Stuarts embracing the banks of the Hudson and Delaware actually in Dutch possession, and no English government yet had admitted the Dutch title; it was "only in the maps" Downing blandly told De Witt, that any such county as "New Netherlands "existed.

It was a case of further penetration rather than conquest, for New York had been from the first a most cosmopolitan colony, from 1640 the growing element being the English, who spread over the border from Connecticut and now held about half of Long Island. An ''English ''secretary in the Dutch government implicitly admitted this Anglicization, and by the Restoration many townships were divided between English and Dutch factories. From murderous adventurers like John Scott and New England experts like Samuel Maverick, advices reached Clarendon and the Plantations committee that the time was ripe.

The English ministry clearly viewed the question less as one of attacking the Dutch than as part of a much-needed reorganization of the American Colonies, whose boundaries were uncertain, their politics rabid, and their administration week. The Navigation Act could not be enforced while the Dutch held Manhattan Bay, which separated New England from the southern colonies: our customs officers reckoned that £10 000 a year was lost by Dutch shipments of tobacco; New Amsterdam, so Clarendon heard, was in undesirable communication with the regicides' refuge at New Haven. It was not contemplated that the conquest would be difficult, for the Dutch West India Company had scandalously neglected New Amsterdam, and in January 1664, just when the States general were waking to the danger, a committee of Council, including William Coventry, recommended immediate action. In March the Duke of York was named as proprietor of a huge belt between Connecticut and the Delaware, and in the middle of May the Royal Commissioners left Portsmouth, empowered primarily to correct the administration of all the colonies, but incidentally to expel the Dutch encroachers.

Frank Mohegan  •  Link

I didn't really like this journal entry. I thought this one was too boring.

Cusack  •  Link

Did Wentworth's Regiment and The Coldstream Guards make up the 500 soldiers on the 1664 expedition?

CGS  •  Link

"Fascinating character, Col. Scott. Hopefully someday someone will publish Pepys’ scrapbook on him."

There be a book out on this character and Sam's vacation at the tower of London

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Updated URLs of maps to which Michael Robinson and I (Terry F) linked earlier:

Duke’s plan of New York
This anonymous plan is entitled 'A description of the towne of Mannados or New Amsterdam as it was in September 1661'. It is likely that it is an English copy of a map made for the Dutch authorities in 1661 by Jacques Cortelyou which may have been handed over to the English by the last Dutch governor, Pieter Stuyvesant following his surrender of the town in September 1664.
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/on…

A map of the City of New Amsterdam as it was ca. 1660 (Google images)
https://www.google.com/search?q=A…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

According to Wikipedia, the first Gov. of New York was Richard Nicholls:

"The expedition set sail from Portsmouth on 25 May 1664, and arrived in New Amsterdam on 27 August 1664.[1]
1 "Articles about the Transfer of New Netherland on 27 August, Old Style, Anno 1664". World Digital Library. Retrieved 8 February 2013."

This ties in with a previous assignment:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Wednesday 18 May 1664
"Up and within all the morning, ... receiving a very wakening letter from Mr. Coventry about fitting of ships, which speaks something like to be done, I went forth to the office, there to take order in things, ..."
PRO, Adm. 106/8, f. 463: 18 May; warning Pepys of the imminent arrival of an order from the Duke, and urging speed because the Dutch fleet was already at sea. (L&M footnote)
"... to White Hall to a Committee of Tangier, but did little. So home again and to Sir W. Pen, who, among other things of haste in this new order for ships, is ordered to be gone presently to Portsmouth to look after the work there."

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Thursday 19 May 1664
"Up, and ... by coach to Charing Cross with Sir W. Pen, who is going to Portsmouth this day, ..."

And then I would say Coventry took pains to mislead Pepys:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Sunday 29 May 1664 (Whit Sunday King’s Birth and Restauration day).
"Up, and having received a letter last night desiring it from Mr. Coventry, I walked to St. James’s, and there he and I did long discourse together of the business of the office, and the war with the Dutch; and he seemed to argue mightily with the little reason that there is for all this. ... He seems to think that there may be some negotiation which may hinder a war this year, but that he speaks doubtfully as unwilling I perceive to be thought to discourse any such thing."

So now we know who kept Pepys in the dark.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I've Googled "Captain Hugh Hyde" and nothing comes up. Anyone know anything about him? He must have been a trusted naval officer of some repute to draw this important assignment.

And four frigates to capture New Amsterdam seems a tiny fleet for such a mission.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Hugh Hyde was captain of his Majesty's Ship the Guinea. After the surrender of New Netherland to the English under Col. Nicholls. Hyde also secured Delaware Bay at the mouth of the Delaware River, the southern border of what would be granted to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret and called the Province of New Jersey, in recognition of which Hyde was granted land. Oct 6 1664 "Certificate from Gov. Nicolls that Capt. Thomas Morley re 3%?“ ceived for his ship the William and Nicholas, two barrels of pow- p“ m der and 20 iron shot from Capt. Hugh Hyde which were used in the reduction of the fort of Delaware. Order of the three commissioners as above directing Capt. 2‘08"“26 Hugh Hyde to sail with his ship Guinea to Portsmouth, England." https://books.google.com/books?id…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Thanks Terry -- all those records available on the internet, free. 'Tis a wonderful time for history junkies.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

A lodestone is a naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite. They are naturally occurring magnets, which can attract iron. The property of magnetism was first discovered in antiquity through lodestones. Pieces of lodestone, suspended so they could turn, were the first magnetic compasses, and their importance to early navigation is indicated by the name lodestone, which in Middle English means 'course stone' or 'leading stone', from the now-obsolete meaning of lode as ‘journey, way’. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lod…

Louise Hudson  •  Link

Ok, thanks to Terry Foreman, I know what a lodestone is but it doesn't help me understand what Pepys is talking about in the passage:

"and Mr. Reeve came and brought an anchor and a very fair loadstone. He would have had me bought it, and a good stone it is, but when he saw that I would not buy it he said he [would] leave it for me to sell for him. By and by he comes to tell me that he had present occasion for 6l. to make up a sum, and that he would pay me in a day or two. . ."

I've read it multiple times and it looks to me as if Pepys is saying Mr. Reeve brought Pepys an anchor and a lodestone and wants Pepys to buy the stone (No word about the anchor). Pepys refuses to buy it so Reeve says he would leave it there for Pepys to sell (for Reeve on consignment, presumably) . No word on whether Pepys said he would allow this. Then Mr Reeve comes back with 6L (for what?) and says he will pay Pepys in a day or two. (For what?) Then Pepys writes, "but I had the unusual wit to deny him, and so by and by we parted". What did Pepys deny Reeve? And what was the money supposed to be for? Did Reeve take the anchor and/or the lodestone away with him?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Louise, my understanding is that Reeve is short of cash, so he brings in an old anchor and a lodestone, hoping Pepys will buy them. Pepys refuses, so Reeves asks if he will sell the lodestone on consignment, which apparently Pepys agrees to do. Reeves comes back later asking for a short-term loan of six pounds against the possible sale ("he had present occasion for 6l. to make up a sum, and that he would pay me in a day or two") but Pepys refuses to give him anything. Apparently Pepys keeps the lodestone -- will he be able to sell it? Reeves should have retrieved his lodestone and tried to flog it elsewhere. Perhaps we shall find out what happens in the next few days ... and maybe we won't. As for the anchor ...???

Mary K  •  Link

"and then to my barber, willing to have any opportunity to speak to Jane, but wanted it. "

"wanted" here means that Samuel's need of an opportunity to see Jane was not met. He was left wanting.

Louise Hudson  •  Link

S.D. Sarah, thanks for the explanation. You are probably right. We shall have to wait for further developments, if any. [I'm your neighhbor to the north in L.A. County.]

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Hi Louise, no kidding! I go to O.C. quite often ... I'll let you know next time and perhaps we can do lunch?

JayW  •  Link

I wonder if the anchor was to show how the lodestone works? Was it made of iron?

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ’ . . a very fair loadstone . . ’

‘lodestone, n. < Old English. Literally ‘way-stone’, from the use of the magnet in guiding mariners.
1. Magnetic oxide of iron; also, a piece of this used as a magnet.
. . 1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi vi. 297 The Loadstone is coloured like iron, but blewer, and tending to a skie colour
1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 10 Oct. (1965) I. 279 A small piece of Loadstone that held up an Anchor of Steel too heavy for me to lift . . ‘

(OED)

Alev Öncül  •  Link

I wonder if Sam had a clause in his vows about letting Bess to go to plays both in terms of economy and jealousy.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

HAHAHAHA ... I'm sure he didn't, Alev. He's much too self-absorbed and busy social climbing to do that, beyond telling her what she cannot do. He has become more generous with the money recently, thank goodness. And she got her pearl necklack.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

To take the conversation about how to refer to dates one step further:

'In the 17th century, before the new system caught on, "Vulgar Era" was used instead of "Common Era." From Latin, “vulgar” meant “common,” not “crude.” However, “Vulgar Era” didn’t stick, and “BCE” and “CE” became increasingly popular.

'So, which set of abbreviations is the correct set to use? There is no right answer, but certain style guides will dictate which version to use. The BCE/CE system has become more popular in the last few decades as a way to be more inclusive in secular writing, but B.C./A.D. is still widely accepted.'

https://www.wordgenius.com/unders…

Let's be Vulgar Era!!!

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