Tuesday 5 June 1660

Annotations

• N Michael L on Thu 5 Jun 2003, 11:04pm

  Sam sure is tickled at his personal worth being L100 — this is at least the third time he’s mentioned it this week.

• N Alan Bedford on Thu 5 Jun 2003, 11:41pm

  The cittern is similar to a bouzoukee (a Greek stringed instrument, similar to a mandolin but longer, and with a round rather than a teardrop shape.) Typically, the cittern had ten strings, of which five could be plucked and the other five vibrated sympathetically. Tuning was typically DGDAE (wth the second D just above middle C.)

  They migrated to Britain from southern Europe. In Italy, they were called cythara. Citterns are still manufactured, in limited quantities, usually for traditional-style folk musicians.

• N Nix on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 12:12am

  Cittern website:

  http://www.earlycittern.com/
  

• N Mary on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 07:20am

  Sam’s delight.

  Of course he’s thrilled with his new wealth. When he went on board the ship at the end of March he was worth about

• N andy thomas on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 08:27am

  Sam now has another interest - money - to add to his other 3: women, drink and gambling…

• N Sam P on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 09:22am

  or rather to add to his other 4 : drink , gambling, women & music!

• N Arbor on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 09:35am

  So is anyone going to tell us what “Help, help Divinity, &c” refers to… what book? Some insight to Pepys and Theology perhaps? Or am is missing something being a new (and confirmed) reader?

• N Christo on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 12:19pm

  ‘Help, help Divinity,’ is the name of a song; ‘without book’ means ‘by heart’.

• N Paul Brewster on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 01:16pm

• N Colin Gravois on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 01:25pm

  Sam and his money is a story in itself (his financial situation seems to be an ever recurring concern to him). If his net worth increased three-fold during his two months at sea, it means the total amount of wealth he accumulated during his first 27 years was a paltry

• N M.Stolzenbach on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 05:10pm

  ‘This is no doubt

• N Dai B on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 06:18pm

  The startling tradition whereby those waiting for the barber’s attention played the cittern sounds somewhat double-edged…presumably the better the player, the longer they would have to wait for their trim. Could you get in the chair early by mangling a piece?

• N vincent on Fri 6 Jun 2003, 09:34pm

  Barbers quartet ‘tis leech time not trim time,not the sideburns that need trimming but the blush of their cheeks:The better they play, better the blood pressure will be:

• N Laura K on Sat 7 Jun 2003, 11:24pm

  sam’s various enjoyments

  I find it amusing that many people seem to ascribe a leering quality to Sam’s pasttimes - wink, wink, he liked gambling and women - as if we’ve been reading an account of drunken debauchery and whoring.

  Sam clearly enjoys playing games and gambling, making and listening to music, and he isn’t blind to women. I find it endearing, but I don’t read it as the majority of his diary.

  He seems such an intelligent, trustworthy, and in many ways serious, person, concerned with his position in the world, his wife, his employer’s esteem of him, and not least of course the complicated political scene around him.
  
  It seems to me that some readers exaggerate the gambling and drinking and occasional woman-watching. He’s not a Puritan, but he’s hardly a wild man.

• N vincent on Sun 8 Jun 2003, 02:47am

  Sam is truly a Koni-Nor Diamond: so many facets; each one angle a jewel by it self: is a news maker and brilliant exceeds most us single minded beblinkered mob: He is source of information ,insperation, enjoyment of wishful thinking. In one line can elicit and inform each one of us to suit every flavo(u)r that we so desire.

• N Emilio on Tue 17 Jun 2003, 07:38pm

  Sam’s accounts

  I’ve been merrily catching up the last few days, and I have a different but related question to ask.

  My understanding of his accounting for the last few days has been this: He first decided to look over his accounts a week ago Wed and found he was worth 80l, only double the 40l he had estimated in Jan, but still very good for less than 6 mos. work. Last Sun., after a more detailed study, he found that the number was actually 100l. (And what a strangely appealing image that is, Sam innocently counting his money while everyone else is off listening to a sermon!)

  My questions is, why does Sam get Montagu to sign off on his own, personal wealth (and does today’s figure of 115l mean that he’s gained even more in the last couple days)? Likewise, Montagu is obviously giving some kind of official recognition of Sam’s new, wealthier status, but this also seems a bit strange as most of the new money has come from ‘gifts’ and other such under-the-table sources. Can anyone else clear up the social implications of what’s going on?

• N Todd Bernhardt on Tue 17 Jun 2003, 07:45pm

  re:

• N Andrew on Mon 21 Nov 2005, 09:54pm

  The cittern website mentioned by Nix has moved from http://www.earlycittern.com to http://www.theaterofmusic.com/cittern/