Sam and Beth turned their noses up at Swan at Uncle Wight's on New Year's day and would have none of it. I thought at the time that they thought Swan was beneath them. I guess not.
Such a sad story. I suppose Sam and Elizabeth could have taken the child in, but perhaps that was not the done thing. If Tom was the father, Sam and Elizabeth would have been the child's uncle and aunt. Pal would have also been the child's aunt. Instead the child probably died from neglect, as so many illegitimate babies did in those days. It would take nearly another 100 years for London to get its first foundling hospital (Coram's) not that countless babies didn't still die of neglect, but it helped a little. Coram's is now open to the public as a museum. Worth a visit.
"Lay long in bed, and then rose and with a fire in my chamber . . ."
I thought for a moment he was going to say "with a fire in my loins." As Emily Latella would say, in another century, "That's very different. Never mind."
Anyone who has experienced the excruciating pain of a bad toothache knows that the sufferer often can't tell which tooth is the culprit or even which side it's on. Every tooth in the mouth hurts. One of the things it's so hard to know is the pain people suffered because modern dentistry had not been developed, along with other medical advances they had no access to in the 17th century. As Thomas Hobbes was to say only a few years later. ". . . the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."
Bradford on 19 Dec 2006 "God knows, the expectation of profit will have its force and make a man the more earnest."
As Mae West might have put it, "Godliness has nothing to do with it, dearie."
It was "goodness," not "godliness."
"Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie", was her response to the exclamation, "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!" in Night After Night (1932). She later used Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It as the title of her autobiography in 1953.
". . . my cozen, Edward Pepys, was dead, died at Mrs. Turner’s, for which my wife and I are very sorry, and the more for that his wife was the only handsome woman of our name."
Yikes, was that as much sorrow over the death of a cousin that he and his wife could come up with?
Australian Susan: "I actually envy Beth being able to snuggle up in bed and stay cosy warm with a good book: the equivalent here is being able to lie about in the air-con whilst others get sweaty and smelly."
I don't think lying in bed when you're sick or in pain is any kind of pleasure. It's nothing like playing hooky. In fact, I've found it dreadful. I doubt Beth is taking a nice day off. She's most likely in a great deal of pain and would give anything to be able to be up and doing something instead of being bedbound. Even the agricultural workers who stayed in bed to save on heat couldn't have been having a pleasant time of it.
My Dad, my brother, my husband, my sons, just about all the men I've known, have dressed themselves since the were old enough to do it for their whole lives. What did Sam need a boy to do to help him dress? Just run and fetch or was there more to it?
Carbon monoxide can be produced by anything burning, including wood and ordinary coal. A stopped up fireplace or stove flue can create dangerous levels of CO. It's horrifying to think of the lethal conditions that people didn't understand in Pepys' time, and, in fact, for many years after.
In those days people with toothache--and it must have been common--just had to grin and bear it. It must have been excruciating. They had opiates, though.
The toothbrush as we know it today was not invented until 1938. However, early forms of the toothbrush have been in existence since 3000 BC. Ancient civilizations used a "chew stick," which was a thin twig with a frayed end. These 'chew sticks' were rubbed against the teeth. The bristle toothbrush, similar to the type used today, was not invented until 1498 in China. The bristles were actually the stiff, coarse hairs taken from the back of a hog's neck and attached to handles made of bone or bamboo.
* The first mass-produced toothbrush was made by William Addis of Clerkenwald, England, around 1780.
* Mass production of toothbrushes began in America around 1885.
Al Doman. That attitude is what kept women subjugated for millennia. It was only when women came out of the shadows that they began to be shown the least bit of respect. It took 300 years after Pepys' time for women to find the courage to speak up for themselves and it took another fifty years or so for them to get any traction. Slavery was more easily overturned than the subjection of women, which is rampant in the world to this day. It's very telling that in the US male former slaves got the vote long before free white women or former female slaves did.
Comments
Second Reading
About Sunday 10 January 1663/64
Louise Hudson • Link
Sam and Beth turned their noses up at Swan at Uncle Wight's on New Year's day and would have none of it. I thought at the time that they thought Swan was beneath them. I guess not.
About Saturday 9 January 1663/64
Louise Hudson • Link
Todd Bernhardt asks "What was he thinking?" We know what he was thinking!
Arby is probably right, it's a cold sore or a chancre. Let's hope it's herpes simplex and not syphillis, which was rampant then--and often fatal.
About Friday 8 January 1663/64
Louise Hudson • Link
Bryan M, you took the words right out of my mouth, though I always heard it as "The little dog laughed to see such sport
. . ."
The original Mother Goose Rhymes wasn't published until about 1780, though the individual rhymes were probably widely known before that.
About Wednesday 6 April 1664
Louise Hudson • Link
Such a sad story. I suppose Sam and Elizabeth could have taken the child in, but perhaps that was not the done thing. If Tom was the father, Sam and Elizabeth would have been the child's uncle and aunt. Pal would have also been the child's aunt. Instead the child probably died from neglect, as so many illegitimate babies did in those days. It would take nearly another 100 years for London to get its first foundling hospital (Coram's) not that countless babies didn't still die of neglect, but it helped a little. Coram's is now open to the public as a museum. Worth a visit.
About Wednesday 6 January 1663/64
Louise Hudson • Link
The only "razer" Sam could have had was a straght one. You bet he had to be careful! That's a lethal weapon.
About Sunday 3 January 1663/64
Louise Hudson • Link
"Lay long in bed, and then rose and with a fire in my chamber . . ."
I thought for a moment he was going to say "with a fire in my loins." As Emily Latella would say, in another century, "That's very different. Never mind."
About Thursday 31 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
I guess you could call us Pepys' peeps.
Peeps is slang for friends--the people that someone hangs out with all the time.
YourDictionary.
About Thursday 31 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Glyn wrote: "Just for the record, 'old Pall' is currently 23 years of age."
Yes, about the same age as "old Liz" and six years younger than Sam.
About Friday 1 January 1663/64
Louise Hudson • Link
"She's reckoned worth 80,000l."
Sam might not care much if she has dirty hands.
"There was brought to table a hot pie made of a swan . . ."
I hear it tasts fishy and not very nice, which is probably why it is seldom eaten, especially these days,
About Thursday 24 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Sareah, There were no Christmas stockings, I know (sigh). I just threw that in for hyperbolic effect. Thanks for the link.
About Wednesday 23 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Anyone who has experienced the excruciating pain of a bad toothache knows that the sufferer often can't tell which tooth is the culprit or even which side it's on. Every tooth in the mouth hurts. One of the things it's so hard to know is the pain people suffered because modern dentistry had not been developed, along with other medical advances they had no access to in the 17th century. As Thomas Hobbes was to say only a few years later.
". . . the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."
And pain, and often not nearly short enough.
About Thursday 24 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Christmas Eve and no stockings hung by the chimney with care. Not even a mention of Christmas Eve.
About Saturday 19 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Bradford on 19 Dec 2006
"God knows, the expectation of profit will have its force and make a man the more earnest."
As Mae West might have put it, "Godliness has nothing to do with it, dearie."
It was "goodness," not "godliness."
"Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie", was her response to the exclamation, "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!" in Night After Night (1932). She later used Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It as the title of her autobiography in 1953.
About Tuesday 15 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
". . . my cozen, Edward Pepys, was dead, died at Mrs. Turner’s, for which my wife and I are very sorry, and the more for that his wife was the only handsome woman of our name."
Yikes, was that as much sorrow over the death of a cousin that he and his wife could come up with?
About Sunday 6 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Thanks, Sarah.
About Monday 7 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Australian Susan: "I actually envy Beth being able to snuggle up in bed and stay cosy warm with a good book: the equivalent here is being able to lie about in the air-con whilst others get sweaty and smelly."
I don't think lying in bed when you're sick or in pain is any kind of pleasure. It's nothing like playing hooky. In fact, I've found it dreadful. I doubt Beth is taking a nice day off. She's most likely in a great deal of pain and would give anything to be able to be up and doing something instead of being bedbound. Even the agricultural workers who stayed in bed to save on heat couldn't have been having a pleasant time of it.
About Sunday 6 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
My Dad, my brother, my husband, my sons, just about all the men I've known, have dressed themselves since the were old enough to do it for their whole lives. What did Sam need a boy to do to help him dress? Just run and fetch or was there more to it?
About Saturday 5 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Carbon monoxide can be produced by anything burning, including wood and ordinary coal. A stopped up fireplace or stove flue can create dangerous levels of CO. It's horrifying to think of the lethal conditions that people didn't understand in Pepys' time, and, in fact, for many years after.
About Wednesday 2 December 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
In those days people with toothache--and it must have been common--just had to grin and bear it. It must have been excruciating. They had opiates, though.
The toothbrush as we know it today was not invented until 1938. However, early forms of the toothbrush have been in existence since 3000 BC. Ancient civilizations used a "chew stick," which was a thin twig with a frayed end. These 'chew sticks' were rubbed against the teeth.
The bristle toothbrush, similar to the type used today, was not invented until 1498 in China. The bristles were actually the stiff, coarse hairs taken from the back of a hog's neck and attached to handles made of bone or bamboo.
* The first mass-produced toothbrush was made by William Addis of Clerkenwald, England, around 1780.
* Mass production of toothbrushes began in America around 1885.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/my…
About Sunday 29 November 1663
Louise Hudson • Link
Al Doman. That attitude is what kept women subjugated for millennia. It was only when women came out of the shadows that they began to be shown the least bit of respect. It took 300 years after Pepys' time for women to find the courage to speak up for themselves and it took another fifty years or so for them to get any traction. Slavery was more easily overturned than the subjection of women, which is rampant in the world to this day. It's very telling that in the US male former slaves got the vote long before free white women or former female slaves did.