Tuesday 10 January 1664/65

Lay long, it being still very cold, and then to the office, where till dinner, and then home, and by and by to the office, where we sat and were very late, and I writing letters till twelve at night, and then after supper to bed.

15 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

For Dirk Van de Putte -- an entry from the Carte Calendar, just to show what merde Admiral Sandwich will have to deal with when he receives this letter.

De Prata to Sandwich
Written from: Rome

Date: 10 January 1665

Shelfmark: MS. Carte 223, fol(s). 96
Document type: Holograph

At Rome, the cost of rooms and furniture is, by the month, 20 Italian crowns = 74 French livres. Diet for Hinchinbroke, the writer, and a valet, is about 4 livres a day. The footmen are on board wages at two pistoles each, a month. The Latin master & drawing master receive, for their lessons, one pistole a month, each.

Lord Hinchinbroke shews a desire for learning.

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

"Lord Hinchinbroke shews a desire for learning." How does he do that?

jeannine  •  Link

Not the shortest entry, but as we know, a short entry doesn't stop our annotators & readers from coming up with something!

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

And on a serious side, I can't find the letters he wrote today in any of my books-perhaps someone may know what Sam was writing about.

cgs  •  Link

I wonder how many any annoters here have enjoyed the delightful jack frost without the comfort of all the mod cons. I can when I was trying to survive the frustrations of understanding electrons, with out the proverbial china canister, hunting for tanners to keep the hot flame of gas a burning. So I can commiserate with poor Samuell stuck in his little chamber.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Meanwhile, in central Germany...

"Ja, you look like a damned Catholic to me, fellow. What were you doing in the Emperor's forces if you be Protestant?"

The newly captured Balthazar assured the six foot five hulking fellow that common fellowship for his fellow Christians as well as pure need had driven him to seek employment in the ranks of the Imperial follower of the Anti-Christ in Rome. The Turk, he solemnly noted, being the common foe of all...

"Heinrich, look!" another of the raiders who'd just successfully raided the Imperial baggage train showed the fellow addressing Balty a crucifix hidden in St. MIchel's absurdly ornate saddle bag.

"Oh, but I just took that from the church in the village our force left burning five miles back." Balty noted.

Ummn...He eyed the frowning German faces...

cgs  •  Link

lsd...LSD ...Lsd or lsd
as "money of account": the denier, the sou (12 deniers make one sou), and the livre (20 sous make one livre).
or
here 12 pence = 1 shilling, 20 shillings = 1 pound sterling).

écu au soleil. It is the only gold coin.......
since 1574 it has remained stable at 3 livres to the écu, due to the monetary policies of Henri III.
http://www.lepg.org/money.htm

livres, sous, and deniers,
ecu worth 72 p[30p] 1628 by 1709 36.5d

http://books.google.com/books?id=…

Don McCahill  •  Link

> I can’t find the letters he wrote today in any of my books-perhaps someone may know what Sam was writing about.

There have been many mentions in the diary that Sam wrote drafts of his letters, and then rewrote copies to send. The work he was doing this night might have been sent out in the next few days, under the date when the fair copies were completed.

Terry  •  Link

"The comfort of all the mod cons"
CGS: I remember life without electricity, gas, running water or drainage very well. I have even "lay long, it being still very cold" in my youth, so I know exactly where Sam is coming from today.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

In Commons this cold day, the Navy Board's work is discussed:

Navy Debt.

Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee to which the Petition of the Creditors of the Navy was formerly committed, to receive such Proposals as shall be offered; and report some Expedients to the House for Satisfaction of the Debts due to the said Creditors: And the Committee is revived; and they are to sit this Afternoon at Two of the Clock in the Speaker's Chamber. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

It occurs to me that young Edward doesn't want to come home to a war, so he asked De Prata to tell his father that he wants to continue his studies. That way he could say "Yes Sir" to his dad as we saw yesterday.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

THE DIARY OF JOHN EVELYN 1665.

http://brittlebooks.library.illin…

"9th January, 1665. To Deal.—

"10th. To Sandwich, a pretty town, about two miles from the sea. The Mayor and officers of the Customs were very diligent to serve me. I visited the forts in the way, and
returned that night to Canterbury."

Evelyn is touring the south coast making arrangements for the care of sick and wounded seamen, and Dutch prisoners, when the war finally starts.

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

We are used to Sam working late, but eating supper so late too can't be good for him?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Evelyn is touring the south coast making arrangements for the care of sick and wounded seamen, and Dutch prisoners, when the war finally starts."

It occurs to me that Dutch prisoners are already arriving, from aboard the prize ships taken. So Evelyn is dealing with an immediate need.

Charles Taylor  •  Link

The full Spanish toast is: Health, love and money, and the time to enjoy them. It sounds better in Spanish-Salud amor y dinero, y el tiempo para gastarlos. Hard to argue with that-in any language.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: this from TF 10.i.08: ‘ . . At Rome . . The footmen are on board wages at two pistoles each, a month. The Latin master & drawing master receive, for their lessons, one pistole a month, each.’

‘pistole, n. < Middle French . . Now hist. A Spanish gold double-escudo dating from the 1530s and surviving into the 19th cent.; (also) any of various coins derived from or resembling this from the 17th and 18th centuries, esp. the louis d'or issued in 1640 (during the reign of Louis XIII), an Irish coin issued in 1642–3 (in the reign of Charles II), and the Scottish twelve pound piece issued in 1701 (during the reign of William III).
. . 1678 Philos. Trans. 1677 (Royal Soc.) 12 1005 Who both have commonly sold their Glasses at the rate of a Pistol (i.e. about 17 shillings and six pence) the foot.

and, NSFW:

‘1979 R. Thompson Unfit for Modest Ears 139 The Italian soldiers besieging Lyons during the civil wars..paid four pistolets to the local herdsmen to bugger their goats.’

(OED)

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