Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
In London and Westminster all this day paying of money and buying of things for my house. In my going I went by chance by my new Lord Mayor’s house (Sir Richard Browne), by Goldsmith’s Hall, which is now fitting, and indeed is a very pretty house. In coming back I called at Paul’s Churchyard and bought Alsted’s Encyclopaedia, which cost me 38s. Home and to bed, my wife being much troubled with her old pain.
Temperature: 10°C / 50°F (Oct 1660 avg.)
“and bought Alsted’s Encyclopaedia, which cost me 38s”.
Johann Heinrich Alsted, born 1588, died 1638, published Encyclopaedia septem tomis distincta, Herbornae Nassoviorum, 1630, fol. 7 vols., 2543 pages of very small type. It is in 35 books, divided into 7 classes, preceded by 48 synoptical tables of the whole, and followed by an index of 119 pages.
Alsted’s encyclopaedia was received with very great applause, and was highly valued. Lami (Entretiens, 1684, p. 188) thought it almost the only encyclopaedia which did not deserve to be despised. Alsted’s learning was very various, and his reading was very extensive and diversified. He gives few references, and Thomasius charges him with plagiarism, as he often copies literally without any acknowledgment. He wrote not long before the appearance of encyclopaedias in modern languages superseded his own. and other Latin books, and but a short time before the alphabetical arrangement began to prevail over the methodical. His book was reprinted, Lugduni, 1649, fol. 4 vols., 2608 pages.
my new Lord Mayor’s house
L&M: “Before the building in the 18th century of the Mansion House as an official residence for the Lord Mayor, each kept his mayoralty in his own house or in one acquired for it. Browne kept his in Camden House, Maiden Lane (now, Gresham St), north of Goldsmith’s Hall, then or later the house of Ald. Sir Thomas Bludworth.”
Alsted’s Encyclopaedia
More from the L&M footnote: “A Latin work compiled by Johann Heinrich Alsted, … German Protestant divine and pedagogue …. In Cotton Mather’s words, ‘a North-West Passage to all the Sciences’ ….” A copy exists in Pepys Library.
Goldsmith’s Hall…
We are all familiar with the ‘Hallmark’ on Gold artifacts. The ‘Hallmark’ was literally the mark of Goldsmith’s Hall.
“my wife being much troubled with her old pain”
The ‘old pain’ is Elizabeth’s abcess or cyst, which means they can’t have sex.
“Lugduni”, where the reprint of Alsted’s Encyclopaedia was published is probably Leyden in The Netherlands.
Dutch publishers had less restrictions than for instance English ones, so many controversial books appeared in the low countries during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Lugdunensis
The Latin name for Lyon in France.
Lugduni Batavorum = Leiden
It makes absolute sense that it is Leiden in the Netherlands as Leiden has a very old university, therefore scholars, therefore printers and publishers. There was also a lot of exchange of knowledge between England and the Netherlands in those days.
Johann Heinrich Alsted, professor of philosophy and theology at the Calvinist academy of Herborn, was a man of many parts. A deputy to the famous Synod of Dort and the greatest encyclopedist of his age, he was also a pioneer of Calvinist millenarianism and a devoted student of astrology, alchemy, Lullism, and the works of Giordano Bruno. Alsted’s intellectual biography opens up unexpected perspectives on the reforming movements of the seventeenth century, and provides an invaluable introduction to many of the central ideas, individuals and institutions of this neglected era of central European intellectual history.
http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-820828-6
Two views of Alsted’s Encyclopedia
Alsted’s encyclopedia and other encyclopedias up to his time (with the exception of Francis Bacon’s “Instauratio Magna”) were “simply collections of facts showing no mastery of the material by the writer, much less any critical research or an organic system of compilation.”
—The Catholic Encyclopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05414a.htm
Alsted “was a prolific writer, and his *Encyclopaedia* (1630), the most considerable of the earlier works of that class, was long held in high estimation.”
— Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Heinrich_Alsted
“I went by chance by my new Lord Mayor’s house, … which is now fitting”
It just struck me that ‘fitting’ here could mean that it’s being ‘fitted out’ rather than that it’s a ‘fit’ house for the Lord Mayor. If so, no wonder Sam notices and remarks on it - he’s possibly getting ideas for what he wants to do with his own house next.
Emilio : Your version certainly fits the correct sense.
“…which is now fitting…”
Lugdunensis od. Leudunensis pg. od. Ager, Lyonnais, Lschf., Frankr.
Lugdunum Batavorum, Leida, Leyden, St., Niederl. (Sudholland). (See also Katwijk.)
—- clavatum, s. Laodunum.
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/orblatl.html
Lugidunum, s. Lignitium.
To cover all bases in case the “i” was dropped somewhere in all the process that brings 17th C. shorthand to us via a torturous route through transcriptors and censorous types and modern scanning technology.
But bless them/it all: the diary is a treasure. As is vincent.
Lugdunum Batavorum is de Latijnse benaming van Leiden, maar is dat pas sinds de Renaissance. Leiden is namelijk niet gesticht rond een Romeins castellum, wat de ligging aan de Rijn zou doen vermoeden, maar is pas in de vroege Middeleeuwen ontstaan.
http://roepstem2.tripod.com/leiden.html
for the French connection see : beautiful plan and story
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/orblatl.html
…which is now fitting…
This passive use of the -ing form of the verb is still regularly heard in certain constructions of modern English.
e.g. This door needs painting; my coat needs cleaning; his horse wants shoeing.
Vincent, your research is impressive!
Indeed.
I’ve already added Orbis Latinus to my bookmarks and “Language resources” blog sidebar. Many thanks!
For the ones not familiar with Dutch: this is the translation of Vincent’s note:
“Lugdunum Batavorum is the Latin name for Leiden, but this name originates from the Renaissance. The town was not built around a Roman Castellum, but was only founded in The Middle Ages, despite the fact that it in on the Rhine.”
Story of Hide gets to the far reaches of Essex to day:
“..27. This day I ended all the outward work of my building, but only the oven the lords eye be on that habitation for good, and dwell there I pray thee and with mine for good
Said the business of Hides daughter and the Duke of York , was looked on by the King as one of his greatest afflictions. its said a contract, and marriage is pretended, Hides ruin is apprehended. the Q was sent for to France said to be come. god preserve the King; all ended fair among them. …”
http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earlscolne/diary/70012745.htm