Louise Hudson

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Louise Hudson has posted 496 annotations/comments since 9 November 2013.

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Third Reading

About Sunday 27 January 1660/61

Louise Hudson  •  Link

I suspect Elizabeth was suffering from endometriosis. She’s had continuous menstrual problems, according to Pepys. That would explain her menstrual pain and her inability to get pregnant. The condition was unidentified in the 1600s. There are treatments for it now, unheard of then.

About Tuesday 1 January 1660/61

Louise Hudson  •  Link

£300 in 1660 would be worth about $70,000 today.

A father could be much more cavalier about a dead child than a mother who would have been physically close to the child from birth. Fathers probably paid very little attention to babies and children until perhaps when they were ready for school, and then only sons.
Apparently it didn’t occur to Anthony to stay with the mother of their only child to comfort her in her grief.

About Monday 19 November 1660

Louise Hudson  •  Link

I suspect that Elizabeth didn’t trust the maid to handle boiling water right. Imagine what would happen if it boiled over. She was probably too anxious to sleep.

About Thursday 1 November 1660

Louise Hudson  •  Link

Footnote: “Pepys might well be anxious on this point, for in October of this year Phineas Pett, assistant master shipwright at Chatham, was dismissed from his post for having when a Child spoken disrespectfully of the King. See ante, August 23rd.”

I can’t make head or tail out of this footnote. Dismissed from his post for having what?

About Monday 15 October 1660

Louise Hudson  •  Link

For those unclear on what “hanged, drawn and quartered” consisted of:
“In one the victim was drawn by a horse to a gallows, hanged, and then cut into four pieces and scattered; in the other the victim was hanged, disemboweled while still alive (drawn), and then beheaded and dismembered. In both the victim was said to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.”Dictionary.com

Gruesome in either case. It’s good to know we’ve gotten past those particular practices.

About Sunday 30 September 1660

Louise Hudson  •  Link

“Foul” could have meant very messy with lumber everywhere.

If he really wanted to have prayers the household could have gathered in the nice kitchen. I suspect he welcomed the excuse.

About Tuesday 25 September 1660

Louise Hudson  •  Link

From what’s been discussed here regarding “brush” on the foot, it sounds to me like blisters one would get from a badly fitting shoe. “Brush” would fit the description.

About Monday 17 September 1660

Louise Hudson  •  Link

I remember when was a child nuns wore voluminous black habits. They had something inside that they often stuck their hand into. It fascinated me at the time. I suspect they wore some kind of detached pocket inside their habits like those described here.

About Sunday 2 September 1660

Louise Hudson  •  Link

Larry B wrote:
“I think Sam is worried he’ll get a venereal disease if daughter Crisp is as friendly to other men as she is to him.”

I can only wonder why. He didn’t seem to worry about venereal disease with the many other women he had sexual contact with.

I wonder if Diana Crisp is just very young and naive and like young girls have always done, being friendly with men visiting her home, without realizing the negative implications. Not sure her age was given.

About Friday 3 February 1659/60

Louise Hudson  •  Link

I read “took her down” as taking her down on the bed. Knowing Pepys’ proclivities with women, this is not out of the question.

About Friday 6 January 1659/60

Louise Hudson  •  Link

I am an American and was raised Roman Catholic. I don’t remember any mention of 12th night in my neighborhood or in my church. I heard about it from my husband, who is British. When I was a child we took down the Christmas decorations on New Year’s Day or the day after, at the latest. It was supposed to be “bad luck” to leave them up any longer. We did hear and sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, but I thought it was a throwback to an earlier time.

Second Reading

About Tuesday 14 January 1667/68

Louise Hudson  •  Link

The poor old man who went back for his blanket. Who could blame him? Blankets weren't easy to get back then. It might have been his only comfort.