Tripleransom

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Tripleransom has posted 16 annotations/comments since 11 January 2016.

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Second Reading

About Sunday 20 August 1665

Tripleransom  •  Link

"...in great fear of meeting of dead corpses..." I think if I had been Sam, I would have been in more fear of meeting of un-dead corpses, but maybe that's just me.

But it's hard for us to imagine how people just went about with their business, never knowing where the plague would strike next, with no real idea how it was communicated, or who would be the next to fall ill. I suppose all you could do was to put your trust in God and carry on. A very scary business indeed.

About Saturday 6 August 1664

Tripleransom  •  Link

'Galled' in this context means rubbed raw, specifically by the saddle.

"Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung"
- Hamlet

I take it that Sam means both horse and rider are saddle sore, probably because of the 'hard trotting'. Not pleasant.

About Monday 16 May 1664

Tripleransom  •  Link

I think Sam is saying they put the little dogg to sleep by feeding it opium. It's an early experiment with anesthesia.

About Monday 21 December 1663

Tripleransom  •  Link

Cock fighting is most certainly illegal here in Virginia, but I used to know someone who had a ring set up in his indoor riding arena. Large crowds attended the matches on Saturday nights, including the County Sheriff, who was apparently quite an aficionado.

About Friday 18 September 1663

Tripleransom  •  Link

Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mystery, The Nine Tailors, is a splendid evocation of the Fen country as it appeared in the 1930's.

About Monday 4 May 1663

Tripleransom  •  Link

That vid calls to mind the Scottish Ambassador's description of Queen Elizabeth I dancing "high and disposedly".

About Friday 1 May 1663

Tripleransom  •  Link

A "Morris-dance" was indeed a kind of rowdy folk dance. The source of the expression "Morrising about" meaning to misbehave, no doubt.

About Saturday 2 May 1663

Tripleransom  •  Link

"Pricklouse" My 20th century mind keeps trying to translate this as "lousy (little) prick". But that's probably not the correct 17th c meaning. Too bad.

About Monday 9 March 1662/63

Tripleransom  •  Link

Louise, I think his home is in the same building complex as his office. There was quite a discussion a while back, but he lives in a house provided by the Navy, as one of the perks of office.

About Tuesday 17 February 1662/63

Tripleransom  •  Link

A jade is a sorry, worn out nag. cf Hamlet: "let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung" Applied to a woman, it has the same negative connotation - sorry and perhaps sexually well-used. Strumpet might be a more familiar word.

I don't think Sam is actually accusing her of sexual misconduct - it's more just a generally derogatory term.

How on earth did anyone manage to play a viol "sidesaddle" without being able to steady it with your legs? Did you have some kind of stand for it?

About Thursday 8 March 1659/60

Tripleransom  •  Link

"a general damp over men’s minds" This usage still survives in a slightly altered form as in "put a damper on the idea" meaning to discourage, or tone down. (or damp down)

Bill, bespoke at least is still used today in the US to mean custom made. i.e., a bespoke suit is one you order to be made for you.

About Friday 24 February 1659/60

Tripleransom  •  Link

Pepys is using bait here in the sense of pause or stop as in "we waited with bated breath". We're more used to seeing the spelling "bate" (or abate) , rather than "bait" which means "lure" to most of us, when used in this sense.

However, Pepy's spelling still survives in foxhunting language "I paused to bait my hounds" (let them rest a minute).

About Monday 6 February 1659/60

Tripleransom  •  Link

PHE said " The UK should by now have replaced the pound with the Euro, and will do in time - but that’s another story!"

That was in 2003 and look how well that prediction turned out.

This discussion of English pre-decimalisation coinage is really useful oto a ocnfused American.

About Sunday 1 January 1659/60

Tripleransom  •  Link

Late to the party, but I've been enjoying the RSS feed over on LiveJournal, so I decided to double back and start at the beginning.
Thanks to everyone who has added these annotations, which make it much easier to understand what-all is going on!