Friday 21 July 1665

Annotations

• - Terry Foreman on Mon 21 Jul 2008, 10:04pm. Flag this

  “the plague growing very raging, and my apprehensions of it great.”

  A quite sudden change of tone!

• - Robert Gertz on Mon 21 Jul 2008, 10:11pm. Flag this

  And yet life goes on and one must seize the opportunity God has offered for unloading one’s troublesome spinster sister.

• - Maurie Beck on Mon 21 Jul 2008, 11:20pm. Flag this

  To this day, no one knows what the disease was. Of course, many of the symptoms are like those of bubonic plague, but it could have been any number of hemorrhagic fevers. In yesterdays annotations, there were questions about susceptibility. A lot of this depends on transmission (e.g. vector borne, bodily fluids, airborne, etc.).

  Finally, the recipe for plague water sounds downright dangerous considering all the potential plant toxins involved. It probably worked, if at all, because it made one so sick that they stayed indoors and lowered their exposure.

• - Robert Gertz on Mon 21 Jul 2008, 11:27pm. Flag this

  “Sam’l. Don’t go back to London, stay here with me. It’s dangerous, especially traveling back and forth as you do.”

  “Now, Bess…Both Duty and Business call. Siren songs I must heed. Besides, there’s still plenty of people staying in London. Mr. Povy has no intention of leaving and…”

  “Mr. Povy? The man you said was the biggest fool in Christendom?”

  Hmmn…When you put it that way.

• - jeannine on Mon 21 Jul 2008, 11:45pm. Flag this

  “and there broke to him my desire to have Pall married to Harman”

  Riding off the heels of his latest matchmaker role, perhaps he’s feeling lucky? Or perhaps he just received this exchange of letters between Pall to her ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” brother????

  (borrowed from Bock and Harnick’s “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”)

  
  From Pall to Sam:

  Dear Sammy, Dear Sammy, make me a match
  Find me a find, catch me a catch
  Dear Sammy, Dear Sammy look through your book
  And make me a perfect match

  Dear Sammy, Dear Sammy I’ll bring the veil
  You bring the groom slender and pale
  Bring me a ring for I’m longing to be
  The envy of all I see

  For poppa make him a scholar
  For momma make him rich as a king
  For me, well I wouldn’t holler
  If he were as handsome as anything

  Dear Sammy, Dear Sammy make me a match
  Find me a find, catch me a catch
  Night after night in the dark I’m alone
  So make me a match of my own

  
  From Sam to Pall:

  Pall, oh Pall, have I made a match for you
  He’s handsome, he’s young - all right, he’s 62
  But he’s a nice man, a good catch, true? True
  I promise you’ll be happy, and even if you’re not
  There’s more to life than that - don’t ask me what

  Pall I’ve found him, will you be a lucky bride
  He’s handsome, he’s tall - that is from side to side
  But he’s a nice man, a good catch, right? Right
  You’ve heard he’s got a temper, he’ll beat you every night
  But only when he’s sober - so you’re alright

  Did you think you’d get a prince?
  Well I do the best I can
  With no dowry, no money, no family background
  Be glad you’ve got a match

  From Pall to Sam:

  Dear Sammy, Dear Sammy you know that I’m
  Still very young, please take your time
  Up to this minute I misunderstood
  That I could get stuck for good

  Dear Sammy see that he’s gentle
  You see Sammy that I’ll be his bride
  It’s not that I’m sentimental
  It’s just that I’m terrified

  Dear Sammy, Dear Sammy plan me no plans
  I’m in no rush, maybe I’ve learned
  Playing with matches a girl can get burned
  So bring me no ring, groom me no groom
  Find me no find, catch me no catch
  Unless he’s a matchless match……

  And from the annotators To Harman:

  Dear Harmam, Dear Harman, run very fast
  Don’t return here till the Dairy has passed
  Dear Harmon, Dear Harmon check your caller id
  Don’t take any calls if they say “Samuel P”……

  Dear Harman it’s not that Pall is so bad
  But Sam writes everything in his Diary
  You’d become stark raving mad
  He’d record your life for all to see

  Dear Harman, Dear Harman don’t plan any plans
  Don’t be in a rush, maybe you’ve learned
  If you see Sam make a quick u-turn
  So don’t bring a ring, don’t be a groom
  Don’t be his find, don’t be his catch
  Don’t become Sam’s latest match……
  

• - CGS on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 02:39am. Flag this

  “….so sick that they stayed indoors…” De fleas be in doors where de rodents be , near where they could wine and dine on the servant’s spillage.
  Rodents likes their calories in nice comfortable places out of the elements , and as de pesky devills would get energise from the excess heat of summer, mighty flea would enjoy the exercise of great jumpings onto fresh uncovered human skin,especially to find nice warm niches.

• - A. De Araujo on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 12:29pm. Flag this

  Nice libretto for a mini Opera Jeannine!

• - A. De Araujo on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 12:45pm. Flag this

  “that they stayed indoors and lowered their exposure”
  I am not quite sure of that; maybe.

• - JWB on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 01:54pm. Flag this

  “…the plague growing very raging…”

  The plague may have raged, but its victims did not. They went “gently into that good night”. Lethary is one of the results of the disease. They did not protest being shut-up or carted off to the pest house. Those of us who have been injected with anti-plague vaccine remember the three day “jet lag” along w/ fevor headache and overall body ache associated with the attenuated version.

• - Andrew Hamilton on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 03:14pm. Flag this

  Bravo Jeannine!

• - Robert Gertz on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 04:25pm. Flag this

  Wonderful, Jeannine. Thanks. And no doubt Harman is grateful for the warning.

  Sam grumbling that Pall is hardly “young” by his definition and we may well expect to take one who “doth grow old and ugly” on our own charge should we wish to critize his dutiful efforts.

• - A. De Araujo on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 08:33pm. Flag this

  “they did not protest being shut-up or carted off to the pest house”
  Not according to Daniel Defoe JWB.

• - Ronal B. Morse on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 09:27pm. Flag this

  I’ve had the Plague vaccine. Had someone suggested I go with them to a nice quiet place to die, I would have gone willingly. And I would have been happy to have made their acquaintance.

• - Pedro on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 09:54pm. Flag this

  And if you are wondering just where the English Fleet has got to Sandwich says on this day…

  At noon observed our latitude by my sea quadrant 56deg 56min. At night I observed the planet Saturn and by him found our latitude 56deg 57min. We suppose about 30 leagues from the Naze of Norway.

  (The Journal of Edward Montagu edited by Anderson)
  

• - cgs on Tue 22 Jul 2008, 10:22pm. Flag this

  “suppose about 30 leagues from the Naze of Norway”.
  The Naze [(Lindesnes)] be not Walton on, but the southern tip of Norway , NNW of Thisted Denmark, a dangerous stretch of waters as the Baltic meets the German sea.

  t”…he Naze” was one of the most important Seamarks in Northern Europe from the middle age until the end of the nineteenth century. The sea route between the North Sea and the Baltic countries was one of the most important trade routes, and the Naze showed the way in and out of Skagerak. Today it is still an important landmark, and easy to recognise with its white painted lighthouse sending out the characteristic one white flash every 20 second as soon as the sun goes down….”
  lifted from

  http://www.norseadventure.com/index.php?lang=eng&selhoved=2&selunder=6
  

• - JWB on Wed 23 Jul 2008, 12:36am. Flag this

  A. De Araujo

  Defoe’s “Journal” is an historical novel. I think someone said to be a plague sufferer who has the will & energy to protest anything of note has been misdiagnosed.

• - A. De Araujo on Wed 23 Jul 2008, 09:21am. Flag this

  JWB
  I should have said the contacts.