Monday 9 June 1662

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• N Bradford on Thu 9 Jun 2005, 11:13pm. Flag this

  “alphabet” = “index” (Shorter Pepys, glossary)

  “and some other things that I would learn, in order to my office.”
  This may sound as if a word or two is missing in the last phrase (“in order to perform my office”), but apparently that intention is understood; sic L&M.

• N dirk on Thu 9 Jun 2005, 11:15pm. Flag this

  John Evelyn’s diary

  On 8 June (yesterday) Evelyn notes:
  “I saw her Majestie at supper privately in her Bed-chamber.”
  ???

  
  Today 9 June 1662 there’s a very long entry. For convenience I’ve cut it up in paragraphs…

  “I heard the Q: Portugals Musique, consisting of Pipes, harps, & very ill voices.

  (…and follows a marvellous description of Hampton Court…)
  “Hampton Court is as noble & uniforme a Pile & as Capacious as any Gotique Architecture can have made it: There is incomparable furniture in it, especialy hangings design

• N Australian Susan on Fri 10 Jun 2005, 02:31am. Flag this

  “Pretty banqueting house”
  From late Elixabethan times onwards, it was customary for the rich to show off their conspicuous consumtion by having a “banquet” which consisted of rich sweet things to eat eaten seprately in a banqueting house - only the most favoured would be invited to partake. Gradually the word banquet and banquetting house came to apply to any lavish meal and ostentatious eating room.
  “I saw her Majestie eat privately..”
  For Royalty to eat in public was one of the downsides of being royal - this was one of the reasons why Queen Victoria gave up The Roayl Pavilion at Brighton as a Roayl Palce - she hated being watched through the windows as she ate. Evelyn being admitted to the inner Royal rooms shows his staus - this is probably why he remarks on it in his diary: only the privelged got to see this.
  Sam and the ordering of the contracts: reminds me of the bit in When Harry Met Sally when he remarks “You alphabetise your videos?” and she replies, puzzled, “Doesn’t everyone?”

• N Cumgranissalis on Fri 10 Jun 2005, 02:58am. Flag this

  “…to enquire into the price of commodities… to teach me to measure timber, and some other things that I would learn, in order to my office…”

  The beginnings of professional activities. The English were able to keep this mix of “do it for fun vs those that do it for Bread”. The gentlemen vs the Players.
  “My Dear Chap, please do not meantion filthy luka, mi hands be clean.”
  So this is where it all began. Sam , Sam you change the world. The Clubhouse will never remain the same , mind you it took 14 generations to remove most of the Lordly club, it be still be hanging on.
  Coventry certainly did stir up events by asking to many Questions, why could he be not like Barkeley and snooze in the H of lords ? I guess MR C. be wanting a seat on the Ermine row too.

• N Roger Arbor on Fri 10 Jun 2005, 07:38am. Flag this

  What sort of indexing system would Samuel have used? There must have been vast amounts of paper, and not all in ‘book’ form.

• N Mary on Fri 10 Jun 2005, 08:03am. Flag this

  to teach me to measure timber.

  The accurate measuring of timber was a complicated business and often provided opportunities for fraud. Here is another aspect of naval office work that Pepys is anxious to get a good handle on. Bond (see Background) was a teacher of appplied mathematics and did a lot of work that was relevant to naval matters.

• N Robert Gertz on Fri 10 Jun 2005, 10:07am. Flag this

  Good Lord! Pepys and Coventry together? Two men who actually care (sometimes) about doing a good job in the office?!

• N A. Hamilton on Fri 10 Jun 2005, 01:57pm. Flag this

  Dawn of the MBAs.

  Pepys turns to mathematics and the emerging scientific community to learn more about how to manage Navy procurement.

• N Jenny Doughty on Fri 10 Jun 2005, 04:42pm. Flag this

  Filing - the never-ending curse of office work.

• N Cumgranissalis on Fri 10 Jun 2005, 08:57pm. Flag this

  More than filing: it be the dirty word ‘Organising’: or how to answer ” How much did ye pay for that moustrap cheese ” and you be saying “it is all there under that pile of tarpaulins”.
  When did filing become a English word?

• N dirk on Sat 11 Jun 2005, 01:55am. Flag this

  When did filing become a English word?

  From Middle English filen, to put documents on file, from Old French filer, to spin thread, to put documents on a thread, from Late Latin filare, to spin, draw out in a long line, from Latin filum, thread.

  Source:
  The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  

• N dirk on Sat 11 Jun 2005, 02:24am. Flag this

  measuring timber

  Here’s how it’s done nowadays:

  Measuring Standing Sawtimber
  http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p1473.htm

  Measuring Timber Products Harvested from Your Woodland
  http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/EC1127.pdf