Annotations and comments

Mary K has posted 1,146 annotations/comments since 9 March 2007.

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Third Reading

About Monday 7 May 1660

Mary K  •  Link

I love that letter that our hero wrote to the French ambassador "in French." Clearly an accomplishment thought to be worth mentioning.

About Friday 3 February 1659/60

Mary K  •  Link

Pretty much out of the question in this particular context, I should have thought. Mrs. Ann has some status within the Sandwich household as maid to Lady Jemima.

About Monday 30 January 1659/60

Mary K  •  Link

Montrose's spelling elsewhere shows a distinctly Scottish aspect to his language (e.g. "airth" for "earth") so one could justifiably guess that what here appears as an eye-rhyme does represent his own true, rhyming pronunciation of the two words. However, my knowledge of 17th century spoken English in Scotland isn't detailed enough to let me decide which of the two possible pronunciations dominated at the time.

About Wednesday 25 January 1659/60

Mary K  •  Link

Larding those pullets.

The larding of the pullets will take some time. However, barding is usually much quicker - it involves wrapping or covering the meat with a fatty layer (either pure fat or, for example, fat bacon slices) to ensure that the outside of the meat doesn't become dry as it roasts. Many cooks bard their chickens or turkeys without realising that this activity has its own name. Larding, as noted in the comments in the First Reading of the diary, requires the use of a larding needle to thread narrow slices of fat through the lean part of a joint of meat. Often recommended when roasting veal. One may both lard and bard the same joint if worried about potential dryness.

Second Reading

About Biographies of Pepys

Mary K  •  Link

"The Plot Against Pepys' by James Long and Ben Long is a highly detailed, painstaking and fascinating account of the minutiae of the plot, its disparate cast of characters and the race against the legal Calendar that Pepys and his supporters were forced to engage in.

paperback published by faber & faber; currently £9.99 rrp

About Monday 31 May 1669

Mary K  •  Link

If you look at the Article outlining the important discovery of the wreck of the Gloucester you will find reference to today's feature on the same subject in the UK Daily Telegraph.

The diary site may be taking a bit of a breather, but it's still accepting some new information - keep checking.

About Samuel Pepys and the Strange Wrecking of the Gloucester

Mary K  •  Link

Today's UK Daily Telegraph has a lengthy article about the discovery of the wreck of the Gloucester, complete with up-to-date information about the divers who have been working on the site (20+ miles offshore Great Yarmouth, Norfolk) and photographs of some of the items that have been recovered. Described as the most important discovery in our maritime history since the discovery of the Mary Rose.

About The end of the second cycle

Mary K  •  Link

Phil you're a marvel. I'm already looking forward to 1st January 2023 for the third go-around. That should make for a very Happy New Year.

About Wednesday 28 April 1669

Mary K  •  Link

Pepys hopelessly lost?

I don't think so. He knows whereof he writes and is making a record for his own benefit of the rumoured machinations involved in the agreement of the secret Treaty of Dover and its probable ramifications. He certainly didn't keep twentieth-century Londoners, whether ancient or not, in mind as potential readers of his private diary in doing so.

About Tuesday 20 April 1669

Mary K  •  Link

I can't think of many instances, either historic or current, of pieces of ordinance being regarded as female - but there is the notable example of "Big Bertha" a super-large piece of artillery employed by the Germans in WW1 and so nicknamed by British soldiers.

About Saturday 29 June 1667

Mary K  •  Link

Don't forget that this all happens in a dream, where "reality" can change from second to second and sometimes innate logic tries to regularise what appears to be happening even as it happens.

About Wednesday 14 April 1669

Mary K  •  Link

"quite according to the fashion"

The fashion is obviously changing. Pepys' reaction to these new-fangled ways is amusing: Creed is apparently not preparing to cut a dash by keeping a coach, but still aims to be in the modern swim with his suppression of any offer of hospitality. Both useful economies?

About Tuesday 6 April 1669

Mary K  •  Link

Shipboard tars.

Common seamen (below the rank of officer) handled plenty of tar on ships in the process of general material maintenance of ropes, sheets etc. and also used small quantities to keep their queues (plaited hair) under control. They undoubtedly smelt of tar and so acquired this nickname. The term Jack Tar uses the word 'Jack' in its sense of 'common man" (cf jack of all trades). 'Jack tar' is first recorded in print in 1709.

If you visit the Greenwich Maritime Museum and are able to see Nelson's jacket, you will observe that the area of his jacket between the shoulder-blades at the back is notably stained much darker than the surrounding cloth. This is where his queue would have rubbed against the cloth. Tar staining?

About Monday 15 March 1668/69

Mary K  •  Link

Handwritten vellum rolls continued to be used for the recording of our laws until 1850, whereafter a change was made to vellum codices (notebooks) and printing. Then in 2017 came the momentous and controversial decision to switch to paper records! (but it was museum quality paper). Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

About Monday 14 December 1668

Mary K  •  Link

Perhaps the seller of the coach had provided horses for the first couple of outings in the coach. You wouldn't want to trust your brand-new coach to two horses who were unused to the work.

About Saturday 7 November 1668

Mary K  •  Link

There is also the point that Pepys has tied himself very firmly to the Duke of York's interest and that does not redound to his general credit with the "opposition" at court - especially not at times like these when the Buckingham "party" appear to be gaining overweening influence with Charles.

About Sunday 1 November 1668

Mary K  •  Link

Would love to see the drawing of the wind-powered sawmill, but there doesn't seem to be any link to it.