Thursday 16 March 1664/65

Annotations

• N Terry Foreman on Sun 16 Mar 2008, 11:56pm

  “a slice to keep them upon”

  slice ~ flat plate (L&M Select Glossary)

• N jeannine on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 12:02am

  Posting this on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day so you all wake up to Samuel O’Pepys! Note that pot of gold!

  http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/view/NWMi0K0Ki4e7LWw71rLupir4
  

• N Martha Wishart on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 01:18am

  Well, at least if Mrs. Pepys was out all night, she didn’t enjoy it!

• N Margaret on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 02:10am

  It seems that Samuel O’Pepys didn’t find gold at the end of his rainbow (or green beer either)—instead he found silver, in the shape of candlesticks, snuffers, & a “slice”.

  I am struck by the innocence with which he accepts these bribes. I suppose that when “everyone is doing it” it seems to be acceptable practice.

  Can someone tell me which came first: “slice” meaning a flat plate, or “slice” meaning a thin piece of something (like bread)? I had never heard of a flat plate being called a slice before.

• N Terry Foreman on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 03:08am

  “I am struck by the innocence with which he accepts these bribes. I suppose that when ‘everyone is doing it’ it seems to be acceptable practice.”

  Bribes? Gifts to clients are still customary in many circles: like Samuel Pepys, I’ve received some myself; but that’s not the price of my custom, and that is clear.

• N language hat on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 03:25pm

  “slice ~ flat plate”

  That’s not quite accurate: the OED says “One or other of several flattish utensils (sometimes perforated) used for various purposes in cookery, etc.” (a representative citation from the period is 1688 HOLME Armoury III. 317/1 “A Slice.. to cut Dough into pieces, called a Beater, a Break.” Ibid. 396/1 “A long piece of Wood cut after the manner of a Slice which Deary-women use about their Butter.”; a later one is 1858 SIMMONDS Dict. Trade, “Slice,.. a spatula for serving cooked fish.”).

  The word was borrowed in the early Middle Ages from Old French esclice, esclisse (mod.F. éclisse) ‘splinter, shiver, small piece (of wood, etc.),’ and the first sense in English was “A fragment, a shiver, a splinter”; it quickly mutated to “A relatively thin, flat, broad piece cut from anything.”

• N language hat on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 03:26pm

  “bribe”

  I think it’s best to refrain from using such value-laden language to describe accepted business practices.

• N jeannine on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 08:51pm

  Gifts for Sam

  Come join with me friends to help Sam and his tribe
  As we gather to euphemize the word ‘bribe’
  You see the Navy was quite tight with their pay
  Men sought to make money in some other way

  Payments, gifts and exchanges were customary
  And often doled out to a high dignitary
  Gifts were the norm for the Clerk of the Acts
  For all the business he had to transact

  The son of a tailor wore a brand new suit
  With lots of places to stash all of his loot
  Gold was for Sam’s pockets in need to be filled
  By all of the workman no matter how skilled

  Those in the Navy sure knew how to act
  When Sam gave their sons a big fat contract
  They stood quietly by with a nod and wink
  Slipped Sam a large gift and then bought him a drink

  Then there were those who secretly exchanged
  Payments for contracts which Sam had arranged
  Delivered discreetly by a third party
  When paying directly would be foolhardy

  Securing a man a job with Sam’s good name
  Was just part of the everyday business game
  For their gratitude they would gladly disperse
  A handful of silver to fatten his purse

  And there were those who had so little money
  Their gift to Sam was a taste of their honey
  Wide fluttering eyes would softly wink and flirt
  And in a dark alehouse they’d lift up their skirt

  Presents were bestowed out of gratuity
  And called gifts, contributions or charity
  All were fine to accept when Sam said one thing
  “This work was done in the good name of the King”
  

• N Robert Gertz on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 10:19pm

  Lovely Jeannine. And thanks for the visit from O’Pepys. I knew Leopold Bloom had to have a Pepys in his ancestry somewhere.

• N Robert Gertz on Mon 17 Mar 2008, 10:21pm

  Seems the Montagu children will not be a brace of hardy seafaring types…

• N Bradford on Tue 18 Mar 2008, 12:43am

  It’s not like there was a Schedule of Prices on the wall as there might be in, say, a Notary Public’s office; nor was there a code of professional ethics to which the Guild of Government Workers must subscribe, as with today’s Realtors. A standard can be contravened only when a standard exists. But our Resident Poet has put the idea much more aesthetically!

• N Sean on Tue 18 Mar 2008, 01:55am

  Sam’s justifications and excuses are amusing but we should not be too judgemental. It was not until the 19th century that our idealized code of conduct for public officials became established along with the rise of a professional and adequately paid civil service. The 17th century is still in transition between low paid officials who often treated their posts as sinecures or, if they did do their jobs, lived off fees at best and bribes at worst and a our modern ideal (not always realized at that).

• N Australian Susan on Tue 18 Mar 2008, 10:39am

  “…not until the 19th century…”

  The (late) Health Minister in our State Govt here in Queensland is on trial for corruption at the moment (to do with govt contracts). At least there is a general consensus now that such things are wrong - but only 20 years ago here, there was a great deal of bribery which was not seen by most as wrong.

  What is happenning with Sam is perfectly normal according to the social norms and laws of his day. I don’t suppose these beautiful objects survived to modern times did they? There is a photo here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/1625581.stm of something which sounds similar to what Sam received.