Sasha Clarkson

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Sasha Clarkson has posted 752 annotations/comments since 16 February 2013.

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Second Reading

About Pepys’ wealth

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Every time Pepys thanks God for his latest increase in wealth, I'm reminded of these two quatrains by William Blake, put together by Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

RICHES

Since all the riches of this world
May be gifts from the devil and earthly kings,
I should suspect that I worshipped the devil
If I thanked my God for worldly things.

The countless gold of a merry heart,
The rubies and pearls of a loving eye,
The idle man never can bring to the mart
Nor the cunning hoard up in his treasury.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ri…

About Wednesday 28 December 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"I wonder how she will reestablish control of the help after all this joie de vivre ... ?"

Possibly originating in the Roman Saturnalia, it was a tradition in well-off houses, to relax the social barriers and let off steam at Christmastide:
I wonder whether Will played the part of a 'Lord Of Misrule'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lor…

About Monday 26 December 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Interesting annotations about Hale Sarah. Contrary to popular belief, courts were often reluctant to convict alleged witches, but puritans were more zealous than others.

This description of the Pendle Witch case gives a lot of the general social context of witch trials.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen…

I also strongly recommend Robert Neill's novel, 'Mist Over Pendle', which, like his others, is a work of scholarship as well as of fiction.

About Saturday 24 December 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The moon:
it's January 3rd Gregorian, and the full moon occurred at about 7pm on January 1st, so the moon is nearly full, very high and bright in the sky, and fairly close to due south at 2am. As the orientation of Seething Lane is very close to north-south, the moon would have been guiding Sam's way, indeed almost luring him, down the street towards Tower Hill! :)

About Monday 19 December 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Re Mary's point:
it's 29th December Gregorian, and sunrise in Seething Lane is at 8:06 GMT near enough as late as it gets. If the weather were inclement it would be dark for even longer, so, given that the City rises considerably earlier than this, the "candle rule" seems to be a rather sensible civic obligation.

About Hugh Cholmley

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Pepys' Sir Hugh, 4th baronet, succeeded his eponymous nephew, Sir Hugh Cholmley (1662 - 1665)), 3rd baronet, son of Sir William Cholmley (1625-1663).

It was Sir William's daughter Margaret who married Charles Turner, son of Pepys' cousin Jane Turner.

http://www.thepeerage.com/p22438.…

About Saturday 10 December 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"I hope to make a friend of him, being a worthy man."

When he does make a friend of him, he starts spelling his name properly in the diary, as 'Brouncker' instead of 'Brunkard' I often whether rhyming him with 'drunkard' is Sam's private joke to himself?

About Tuesday 6 December 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

From what I've seen in life, women, on average, are no more moral than men:
the two differences are men's physical strength, and the fact that, even today, men have more financial and wordly power to enable them to be exploiters, if they so choose. Also of course, women are literally left "holding the baby" after any dalliances.

In this light, it's interesting to compare and contrast the careers of two siblings, near contemporaries of Pepys, John and Arabella Churchill, both of whom prostituted themselves: the former to Lady Castlemaine, and the latter to James II.

To be fair to Charles II, he did acknowledge John Churchill's "double bastard" by Castlemaine, even though he almost certainly knew she wasn't his!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ara…

About Sunday 4 December 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

brian the wolf - I suspect that Sam's workaholic attitude is common amongst those of humbler origin on the rise/make, eg Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, Sir Edward Coke, or even Robert Hooke.

Also, second tier aristocrats like Sir William Coventry were sometimes workaholic too. Sam's respect for him was such that, at risk to his own position, he visited Coventry when he was confined to the Tower in disgrace.

About Wednesday 30 November 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I've posted this before I think, but I'm going to indulge myself: 😈

Two quatrains by William Blake, put together by Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

RICHES

Since all the riches of this world
May be gifts from the devil and earthly kings,
I should suspect that I worshipped the devil
If I thanked my God for worldly things.

The countless gold of a merry heart,
The rubies and pearls of a loving eye,
The idle man never can bring to the mart
Nor the cunning hoard up in his treasury.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ri…

About Wednesday 23 November 1664

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"Surely there's no parent here who never thought for a second in his or her heart of hearts...$#@%&^! $5000 for that damned kid's tonsilectomy (or whatever)?"

In Britain we still have a National Health Service (despite the efforts of our Govt to wreck it), so thoughts of that nature do not arise.