Wednesday 20 June 1666

Up, but in some pain of the collique. I have of late taken too much cold by washing my feet and going in a thin silke waistcoate, without any other coate over it, and open-breasted, but I hope it will go over.

I did this morning (my father being to go away to-morrow) give my father some money to buy him a horse, and for other things to himself and my mother and sister, among them 20l., besides undertaking to pay for other things for them to about 3l., which the poor man takes with infinite kindnesse, and I do not thinke I can bestow it better. Thence by coach to St. James’s as usual to wait on the Duke of York, after having discoursed with Collonell Fitzgerald, whom I met in my way and he returned with me to Westminster, about paying him a sum of 700 and odd pounds, and he bids me defalk 25l. for myself, —[Abate from an amount.]— which is a very good thing; having done with the Duke I to the Exchequer and there after much ado do get my business quite over of the difficulty of breaking a great tally into little ones and so shall have it done tomorrow.

Thence to the Hall and with Mrs. Martin home and staid with her a while, and then away to the Swan and sent for a bit of meat and dined there, and thence to Faythorne, the picture-seller’s, and there chose two or three good Cutts to try to varnish, and so to Hales’s to see my father’s picture, which is now near finished and is very good, and here I staid and took a nap of an hour, thinking my father and wife would have come, but they did not; so I away home as fast as I could, fearing lest my father this day going abroad to see Mr. Honiwood at Major Russell’s might meet with any trouble, and so in great pain home; but to spite me, in Cheapside I met Mrs. Williams in a coach, and she called me, so I must needs ’light and go along with her and poor Knipp (who is so big as she can tumble and looks-every day to lie down) as far as Paternoster Row, which I did do and there staid in Bennett’s shop with them, and was fearfull lest the people of the shop, knowing me, should aske after my father and give Mrs. Williams any knowledge of me to my disgrace.

Having seen them done there and accompanied them to Ludgate I ’light and into my owne coach and home, where I find my father and wife had had no intent of coming at all to Hales’s. So I at home all the evening doing business, and at night in the garden (it having been these three or four days mighty hot weather) singing in the evening, and then home to supper and to bed.

18 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The Royal Society today at Gresham College — from the Hooke Folio Online

Iune 20. 1666. Oldenburg shewd /a/ paper printed conteining the Obs: of
Cassini [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giov… ]
Campanj [.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Campani ]
Diuinj [ http://www.britannica.com/EBcheck… ] and others, about the spots discouerd by them in mars, and the conversion of this planet about its own axe confirming what had been discouerd here in England in Feb: & march Lat by mr Hooke. orderd that mr Hooke peruse the paper and giue an account of it to the company /at/ the next meeting.

(wallis Letters about his notions of tides.)

mr Hooke mentiond that he had obserued a new spott in Iupiter different from tho[s]e he had obserued formerly in that planet and in another Belt. he added that he had seen the satellites of Iupiter wth mr Bales 60 foot glasse as bright as
[In margin]Vz he saw Iupiter himself wth. his naked Eye,

The same [ Mr. Hooke ] vndertooke to make obseruations of the Parallax of the earth orb. to seconds. as also to make obseruations wth a telescope wthout the vse of a tube. It was orderd that mr Boyle Sr. P Neil. Sr. R moray. Dr. Wallis Dr. Goddard Mr Willouby. or any two or more of them should be a committe to see to the execution of these vndertakings, and It was desired that as many more of the Society as Conueniently Could, would Ioyne wth them therein.
(account of transfusion at Oxford) wormes out of teeth) in Hoggs) in Staggs hornes)

http://webapps.qmul.ac.uk/cell/Ho…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

You may recall the Royal Society's correspondence with Lord Sandwich in Madrid to use a parallax to verify and improve celestial observations; parallax also bears on naval gunfire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para…

Jean in MD  •  Link

". . .was fearfull lest the people of the shop, knowing me, should aske after my father and give Mrs. Williams any knowledge of me to my disgrace."

Poor Sam. He's so ambitious to join the ranks of gentlemen. While he loves his father, he can't afford to be recognized as a mere pricklouse's son while he's swimming with the big fish.

Ruben  •  Link

"60 foot glasse"
This cannot be the lens diameter.
Is it the focal distance of the "glasse"?

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"there chose two or three good Cutts to try to vernish"

I don't quite follow this. I assume "cutts" are engravings, but why would one varnish them? If for preservation, one would assume that the engraver would do that before selling them. And why would one have to "try" to varnish them? All you would need is some varnish and a brush, I would think.

Nate  •  Link

“60 foot glasse”

I do believe that this is the length of the telescope. Longer ones were constructed in this period but they were subject to chromatic and spherical distortions which made the image fuzzy with a colored "halo". Must have been really hard to point and follow celestial bodies, too.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

All you would need is some varnish and a brush, I would think.

Prints were varnished to provide protection to the very porous paper surface and also to give them some of the appearance of oil paintings; though blown plate glass had been produced in London from the early/mid C 17th. it was expensive.

Why would you 'try' to varnish engravings; the paper is hand made and will have minor and irregular variations in thickness and density which will affect the absorption of the size which in turn will mean the varnish when applied directly to the paper surface, or surfaces if you try front and back to soak the sheet, will be absorbed unevenly and have an uneven sometimes splotchy tone when dry. One trick that is often used to overcome the problem is to apply a very thin coat or two, or three, of clear gelatin to fill the paper, them allow this to dry, before applying the spirit based varnish -- however if you are unlucky, or its a damp day and the gelatin absorbs too much moisture, the shelac varnish will form a white bloom as it drys onto the gelatin.

Mary  •  Link

Cheapside, Paternoster Row, Ludgate.

All lie within the compass of a few hundred yards. Plenty of hopping in and out of coaches for the sake of travelling hardly any distance at all - but ladies of such consequence (especially one who is heavily pregnant) could not, we presume, be expected to trails their skirts through the common streets and social nicety means that Sam must accompany them.

B Timbrell  •  Link

Does anybody know what happened to the painting of Pepys;s father?

Mary  •  Link

The painting has disappeared. See yesterday's later annotations.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"give my father some money to buy him a horse"
1 HP! very eco friendly.

cgs  •  Link

Horse and buggy, more than eco friendly, 'tis better than a computerized robot or an ill tempered flunkey, in my ill gotten youth, a neighbour could go and get sloshed and the barman would get the imbibed one safely bedded in his buggy and the old nag would deliver the inebriated gezzer home in the early hours of morn after a seven mile trot through villages and other hazards, still cannot be done with all the latest gizmos.

Soon may be?
The cost of oats and carrots be the problem,also correctly recycling the aftermath.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Pepys Snr would probably have had horses for farm work (sturdy Suffolk Punches maybe to cope with the heavy soil), but I think this is Sam giving his father money to buy a horse for riding - rather like an affluent son buying his retired parent a new car. Although let's hope it doesn't turn out like the time Seinfeld buys his father a car in the TV series!

Paul Chapin  •  Link

MR, thanks for the unvarnished facts.

Ruben  •  Link

JWB
thank you for the wiki. It was focal length. I related to "focal distance", translating from the Spanish "distancia focal" (tradutore-traditore!).

Interesting chapter about early telescopes.

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"my father being to go away tomorrow" -- hence all these pesky family meals with the Joyces. Or maybe the wives are very fond of Pall? Anyways, the end is in sight.

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