Wednesday 30 January 1666/67

Fast-day for the King’s death. I all the morning at my chamber making up my month’s accounts, which I did before dinner to my thorough content, and find myself but a small gainer this month, having no manner of profits, but just my salary, but, blessed be God! that I am able to save out of that, living as I do. So to dinner, then to my chamber all the afternoon, and in the evening my wife and I and Mercer and Barker to little Michell’s, walked, with some neats’ tongues and cake and wine, and there sat with the little couple with great pleasure, and talked and eat and drank, and saw their little house, which is very pretty; and I much pleased therewith, and so walked home, about eight at night, it being a little moonshine and fair weather, and so into the garden, and, with Mercer, sang till my wife put me in mind of its being a fast day; and so I was sorry for it, and stopped, and home to cards awhile, and had opportunity ‘para baiser’ Mercer several times, and so to bed.

18 Annotations

First Reading

cum salis grano  •  Link

"...month’s accounts...a small gainer this month, having no manner of profits, but just my salary,..."

no books this month.
aye
Samuell money is to be mastered, not eh boss Syrus.

Mary  •  Link

and so into the garden..

London in January 1667 must be experiencing remarkably mild weather for this to be an enjoyable pastime. Quite unlike last night's weather in the London area - heavy frost and sub-zero temperatures with a promise of snow-flurries.

Tony Eldridge  •  Link

to little Michell’s, walked, with some neats’ tongues and cake and wine, and there sat with the little couple with great pleasure, and talked and eat and drank, and saw their little house
Do we think the Michells were midgets or is Sam just being patronising?

JWB  •  Link

"...and so into the garden."

Moonshine and singing in my garden this morning too, but at 12 deg F. A buck at the edge of the woods was making a call I don't recognize ( the familiar:
http://www.myoan.net/huntingart/d… ). It sounded like
Beelzebub stoking furnases in Hell.

Geoff Hallett  •  Link

I have only just caught up with Sam having his haircut, but it reminded me of something I was told many years ago, maybe as long ago as at school. Sam's father called a meeting of the family to announce that he was going to start washing his hair once a month (whether it needed it or not?)just to see how it went. True or false?

Mary  •  Link

This smacks very much of the (apocryphal?) tale that Queen Elizabeth I was in the habit of taking a bath once a month "whether she needed to or no."

L. K. van Marjenhoff  •  Link

Mary, re ". . . and so into the garden."

Coincidentally, in the (somewhat) parallel universe of Nathaniel Bryceson's 1846 London diary, Nathaniel writes in his entry for Jan. 30th:

"The weather this month has been very remarkable all through, yea, the oldest person living remembers not such weather for January . . ., the climate being of the temperature of May month."

cum salis grano  •  Link

"...to little Michell’s,..."
my thought:
to the younger Mitchell's, not those that be long in the tooth.
OED: 10 classifications :
a selection for your choice:

little, a., adv., and n.
....
3. Used to convey an implication of endearment or depreciation, or of tender feeling on the part of the speaker. Also coupled with an epithet expressing such feelings, e.g. pretty, sweet little 1567.
....
7. a. Of qualities, emotions, conditions, actions, or occurrences: Small in extent or degree.1205
...
d. Now often idiomatically in somewhat playful use, indicating some feeling of amusement on the part of the speaker.
1885 ..
...

8. a. Of things: Not of great importance or interest; trifling, trivial.

b. Of persons: Not distinguished, inferior in rank or condition. Now rare.
c1220

9. Paltry, mean, contemptible; little-minded.
1483
...
c1665 MRS. HUTCHINSON Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1885) II. 43 One of their own members who encouraged all those little men in their wicked persecution of him. Ibid. II.

74 Almost all the parliament-garrisons were infested and disturbed with like factious little people.

1693 DRYDEN Juvenal xiv. Notes (1697) 367 He dy'd a very little Death..being Martyr'd by the fall of a Tile from a House.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"their little house"

But who's counting chimneys?

Australian Susan  •  Link

The "little house" had been built quickly to replace one lost in the fire. Maybe they intend to build a better one in due course, but at least they have proved they still want to occupy the building lot. But i do think Sam is being a bit patronising.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...sang till my wife put me in mind of its being a fast day; and so I was sorry for it, and stopped..."

Well, Sam, as a certain famous great Roundhead once said at school "The memory of the wicked shall rot.".

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"...and so into the garden"
average for january 1667 32 degrees Fahrenheit; not even hellebores would stand it.

cum salis grano  •  Link

"hell e bores" sample: setterwort
not that hell freezes over.
interesting plant thanks to wiki.

Second Reading

Marquess  •  Link

Does Sam ever give up where Mercer is concerned? Surely his wife must be suspicious?

Batch  •  Link

"Does Sam ever give up where Mercer is concerned? Surely his wife must be suspicious?"
Well, Elizabeth does put an end to Sam's and Mercer's singing in the garden (suspicious but using the fast as an excuse?).

Gerald Berg  •  Link

I did not know he went after Mercer! Is this new?

My hellebores in Toronto are presently beginning to flower. They face north so it can be a bitter cold and well below freezing. They are beautiful and they are hardy.

john  •  Link

Methinks "little house" is not used insultingly but as an endearment.

3. Used to convey an implication of endearment or depreciation, or of tender feeling on the part of the speaker. Also coupled with an epithet expressing such feelings, e.g. pretty, sweet little. [OED]

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.