Sunday 12 January 1661/62

Annotations

• N Glyn on Wed 12 Jan 2005, 11:52pm. Flag this

  David A. Smith gave Sam some firm but fair advice a while ago concerning Elizabeth Pierce

  http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1661/10/25/index.php

  and one would almost think that he took it.

• N dirk on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 02:41am. Flag this

  “Nell, who is a lazy slut”

  The next maid to go? Obviously Sam & Elisabeth have problems finding good house staff. Are the just too demanding?

• N Robert Gertz on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 02:45am. Flag this

  “To church, where a stranger made a very good sermon…(and was thereafter hauled back off to Bedlam by cart with two stout attendants making him sure.)

  Sorry, Sam’l. Couldn’t resist…

• N Robert Gertz on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 02:54am. Flag this

  Wonder if Sam had shown Nell any ‘attentions’? That might be a contributing factor in the ‘lazy slut’ syndrome.

  As ‘rating’ continues, Sam sticks his head out of his den. A raging Beth glares briefly at him, Nell desperately eyeing him for help…

  “What is it?!!” A hard ‘don’t you dare interfere in my domain’ stare from our Beth…

  Uh…Nothing, dear…Nothing. Our hero retreats back to his den and the loftier realm of naval salutation…

• N vicenzo on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 03:13am. Flag this

  rate:vb: to rebuke angrily or violently 2 [obs] to drive away by scolding ME raten;
  “…I being troubled to hear my wife rate though not without cause at her mayd…”
  alt: of word that do not fit from my old dict: which may be obs?;
  an alt: meaning, value as in highly rated,deserving.. if it were a noun now, it could have meant estimation. ME rata:
  All because of what? not emptying the slops while young Will goes and listens to the Commissioners of Parliament. “It aint rite ye no?”
  It is so taxing, being a mayd.

• N dirk on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 03:15am. Flag this

  The Rev. Josselin’s diary entry for today:

  “God good to us in outward mercies. this day dry and cold, a frost in the night, the weather good to set back rye, that in many places, spindles, and ears, which is a sad providence. this day I baptised a child in public not done in 12 months before. the lord good to me in the word, the lord awaken our hearts thereby to love and fear his name.”
  

• N vicenzo on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 03:18am. Flag this

  Sam gets to use the Boss’s [Sir Wm: Pen] coach, it being Sunday and all, and not use the one down at the May-pole, it be be charging extra .

• N Mary on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 07:55am. Flag this

  “Sir W. Pen’s coach left us..”

  L&M reading gives: ‘Sir W. Pen’s coach lent us….’.

• N Wim van der Meij on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 11:22am. Flag this

  I rather think Sam would have mentioned Nell to be at least a bit attractive, so Robert, is your imagination running away with you here?
  What a pretty way to say by the way to dine with someone by appointment and with another by chance.

• N Australian Susan on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 12:43pm. Flag this

  “and my wife’s brother by chance”
  The unwelcome guest was not included in the outing in the splendid borrowed coach after dinner!

  It seems to me that Sam is just concerned at the noise made by his wife, which is disturbing his reading. Or maybe he thinks it is unbecoming to screech at the servants? I take “troubled” here to mean annoyed by the racket rather than disturbed in mind by what Beth is doing.

• N Mary on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 02:50pm. Flag this

  ” troubled to hear my wife rate….”

  I suspect that Sam, like many another, does not like to hear the sounds of domestic discord iimpinging upon his own peace and quiet. He avers that Nell is a lazy slut and has complained of her faults before (the spoiled dinner) but doesn’t care to have any of the fuss that nearly always goes with berating an unsatisfactory servant. He probably feels that Elizabeth should be able to settle the matter one way or the other without inconveniencing him in any way.

• N Scott on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 05:28pm. Flag this

  I took this to mean that Sam was troubled that Beth was angry enough to rate. No one wants the head female of the house upset because, “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” I’m sure this held as true then as it does now.

• N Bardi on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 07:05pm. Flag this

  While all of you are ‘rating’ I’d like to know how all these meetings are arranged. Whether for business or pleasure, Sam’s day always seems to take in numerous people, places, dinners and wine. All done without benefit of phone, fax or email.

• N Glyn on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 09:31pm. Flag this

  He has his boy Wayneman to run private errands for him, and the Navy Office have their own people to run messages, and no doubt the kids in the street will take and bring back messages for a small price. London has several thousand inhabitants but most of them live within an hour’s walk of each other so everyone is contactable.

  So it’s a bit of a surprise that Pepys’ ne’er do well b-in-law just happened to drop by, unless Elizabeth knew he was coming but didn’t tell Sam. Didn’t Balty recently want a job from Sam?

  But I am as impressed as Bardi at how many people Pepys knows. Just click on the “People” link in the list at the top of the page and see how many people have appeared in the Diary so far!

• N vicenzo on Thu 13 Jan 2005, 09:36pm. Flag this

  ‘All done without benefit of phone, fax or email.’ ‘tis why you have servant/s in ones employ, to go trudging hither and thither, to do one’s master’s business.
  Meetings: pre bell and morse. Servant or a boy or even an urchin did the job of yer phoning or passing of messages. Habits were understood and duly noted. The Alpha’s had their routines. People used their noodles to think ahead, and plan, none of this last minute stuff, and as most of hoofing was done via shanks pony, there was very little in the way of excuses for being late. Only in this period of time did the Gentry get bussed around, as there were only about 500 cabbies to take care of 50,000 ‘betters’ [ most were waiting out side the Lauds for big tips?] to do a trip, else it be by skulling.[there be only two areas of concern [London city and Westminister] Most of the meetings were more enjoyable [at starbucks of the day] than the present large conference room, no need for lawyers to seal a deal, a Hand shake was your bond[except for king, he needed a seal [Sam’s job], there were enough outsiders to witness and if one renegged, then you were fodder for for the London wall or bridge.
  Progress has meant get rid of ‘umans and replace them with technology, from empting the chamber pot to batman to waiters at starbucks.

• N Todd Bernhardt on Fri 14 Jan 2005, 01:10am. Flag this

  re: how all these meetings are arranged

  While Sam no doubt had help from various servants and messengers, we should remember that he easily could have set up the “appointment” for Sunday dinner during earlier meetings with Penn and Teller, oops, I mean Fuller. (“Why not come by my house next Sunday after church for a nice chine of beef?”)

• N dirk on Fri 14 Jan 2005, 10:49pm. Flag this

  Nell

  This isn’t the first time Sam calls Nell a slut. Cf the diary entry for Sunday 15 December 1661:
  “a difference between my wife and her maid Nell, who is a simple slut, and I am afeard we shall find her a cross-grained wench.”

  I wonder whether the word “slut” had the same meaning then as now?
  

• N Australian Susan on Sat 15 Jan 2005, 03:44am. Flag this

  Slut then meant slovenly, a dirty housekeeper, lazy at work around the house and similar meanings, not of loose morals.

• N Mary on Sat 15 Jan 2005, 08:05am. Flag this

  slut

  In an earlier discussion, we noted that at this time ‘slut’ could also be used as a general term for a maid of all work; presumably because she did the dirty work. thus the word could have a more neutral import than we generally anticipate.

• N vicenzo on Sat 15 Jan 2005, 08:42pm. Flag this

  slut:ye be a slyp sloppe slubben sloven slothhe slutern that sloshes the slop, and to boot you are a slothful mayd