@LKvM (are you Dutch, too?) - "I to the Abby and walked there" -- wouldn't it be wonderful today to be able to just walk in and mosey around?
Last time I was there, you actually could - and St. Paul's, too. After all, they may be monuments and major works of architecture, but their main function is still what it always was: a church! Poets' Corner in the Abbey is there because Chaucer was the first famous author buried there, but he wasn't buried there because he was a famous author; but because he was a regular member of the congregation.
All these churches, for all we may think of them as important works of architecture, were first and foremost *churches* in Chaucer's time; first and foremost churches in Samuel's time; and maybe not first and foremost, but very much still are churches in our time. And yes, you can attend service there.
@dirk (the very first entry!) - I'm not sure we can immediately spring to that lascivious conclusion. If it were only Samuel, maybe - though not necessarily quite yet - but we really have no hint of that in Elizabeth. I do want to believe that they were merely happy about the way she ran to her business.
Gifts, in these days, if they were given at all, would be given a. not in England, but in the Low Countries and northern Germany; b. not lavish, but just a toy to a child or perhaps an orange or something like that, and most of all c. on Saint Nicholas' Eve, so three weeks ago. And make no mistake, Saint Nicholas was *not* Sanity Clause!
Father Christmas was another thing altogether. As far as I can tell (but I admit I'm not sure here) he was a tradition *before* Cromwell in England, and became one again a century later; and was, in some form or another, - maybe even in the St. Nick-form aforementioned - present in southern Germany and adjoining regions. He was reimported *in that form* into England in Victorian times, partly because Victoria was, well, German.
And then there is a whole lot of other traditions involving Odin, Yule lads, and so on, which it would take too much time to go into. But in any case, in Sam's time, the current tradition of Chrimbo stocking-filling was decidedly not the fashion. Neither - but that's probably no surprise to any reader - were tree-adorning or card-sending (if only for the lack of postage stamps).
Not only can vines withstand frost, for the production of ice wine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice…) it is essential that the grapes themselves are frozen. Modern ice wine production only started after Pepys' life, but producing good red wine in England was therefore quite possible in his days.
Vermouth was not banned as absinthe was because apparently, despite the name, wormwood is more easily replaced in vermouth than in absinthe. Also, absinthe was much, much more dangerous.
It is now known that in the amounts wormwood is present in either drink, it is not dangerous unless you drink litres of the stuff a day. The problem with absinthe was a. 70% (!) alcohol by volume - that is, 140 proof (again: !) - and b. bad quality control of the other ingredients and fusel oils. Vermouth suffered from neither of those, and modern absinthe only suffers from the ABV. In moderation, it's quite safe. (Disgustingly cloying, IMO, but safe.)
As for vermouth, it *is* a wormwood wine, or rather, a fortified wine aromatised with herbs traditionally including wormwood as a main aroma. These days, it doesn't usually contain wormwood any more, but I believe some brands still (or again) do. So, what Sam and pals drank today may well have been not dissimilar to our vermouth. Cheers!
Slashes for pounds are all the more confusing because historically, it was the normal sign for abbreviating shillings and pence, not pounds. See, for example, the Mad Hatter's label of "In this Style 10/6", meaning ten shillings sixpence. So I agree, let's not.
(For another illustration, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil… ; that theatre was first built three years from the diary's now, and I would not be surprised if later on, Sam mentions seeing a play there.)
In fact, thermometers had been around for nearly 50 years by now. However, they were scientific and/or experimental instruments. I;m sure in a few years Sam will handle a few at the Royal Society, along with Boyle.
It would indeed be a bit more than 50 years until Fahrenheit invented the first truly accurate thermometer, the first practical one (clinical, in that case) took a decade or two more, and a workable oven thermometer centuries more.
It turns out to be easy to measure temperature on an -ish scale, and much harder to do it well.
As Terry Foreman hinted but did not state explicitly last year, "raised" in this context means raising in status, not raising as a child. In fact, Sir Sidney was older than Charles I, and Charles II was only 14 years old at his death. But the elder king turned him from a younger son in an important family with more important branches, to a proper mover and shaker.
There is again, but not still, a pub in London (itself) called The Hercules Pillars. The modern one is nearby, also in Holborn, but not on Fleet Street. Also, from the looks of its website isn't very old at all. So not the one Sam visited.
However, there are still some famous pubs on Fleet Street which date back, if not to 1660, to the later 17th century. Ye Olde Cock has been relocated, but is the same venture. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was rebuilt after the Fire of London. Sam may well have frequented the originals.
The next Lord Mayor's Parade will be in two weeks, on November 11. Auntie Beeb still broadcasts it every year, I believe, so if you want to see a pageant Sam might have watched as well, tune in then.
@David Quidnunc: Alsted was Protestant, which will go a long way to explain the (somewhat notoriously old-school) Catholic Encyclopaedia's opinion on him.
OK, so after two decades, which of the two is it!? Is it pepperbox, as in the OED (a source I do not lightly dismiss, as I have a SOED on my table here, although it has only the Shakespeare citation and omits Sam and everything later); or is it paper box, as in Wheatley as cited here and on Gutenberg? Pepperbox, to me, makes slightly more sense. A pepperbox in those days would be a box with a lid, not a grinder as we have now; and a paper box would be what? A foolscap page folded into a container? A cardboard box, like a shoebox? Seems unlikely. Some academic could write a paper on the analysis of this one word in Pepys' original manuscript.
@Alison: as someone who sometimes dabbles in calligraphy, I suspect it's just a finer cut of quill, suitable for drawing rather than writing. That is, with a sharp point rather than the flat one used to write with. Maybe even a crow quill rather than a goose one? Certainly not a steel pen, they didn't have steel flexible enough for pens at Sam's time. But yes, there would be - and still are - pens for writing, and pens for drawing. That was true in the age of quills as much as in the age of felt tips.
He was at his father's house at this point. I'm sure he'd feel free to borrow a spare quill and inkpot.
(OTOH, I myself always carry a fountain pen and a pocket book. More convenient than quill and inkpot, but I wouldn't be surprised at Sam carrying a nice pocket set of quill-and-ink.)
You are quite right: the colour of mourning varies by time and by - not even region, but AFAICT by country. In my own Netherlands, apparently queen Whilhelmina brought white mourning back into fashion. That didn't stick, though: black is now the usual colour. In any case, there is no fixed habit forever everywhere.
Nevertheless, when one looks through Wikipedia & al., it appears that the main options are black or white. I'm not surprised: these are liminal shades, not really colours, and so it is not a surprise that they are present at the boundary between life and death, either. [Insert remark about monastic orders here; that will almost surely come up in reading the rest of Sam's diary.] I cannot explain purple, except out of foppishness.
At any rate, I don't think we should conclude that Pepys had an entire new outfit made. I believe that he bought some accoutrements - not quite like, but similar to, the above-mentioned black armband - and that would have been enough for a man of his (new) status. Nobody would have expected a mere clerk, let alone a newly-appointed one, to buy more than a sash or, at worst, a doublet.
One thing we still haven't explained after all these years: the old woman took it very ill that our boy Sam didn't let her have *what*, exactly? Given that he calls her "the old woman" - and also for linguistic reasons - I don't think he meant the old in-and-out. The only spelled-out antecedent for "it" is the house, but that's already owned by Beale, so how could he "let" her have it?
Mourning attire, in those days, was not for being very, very sad in. It was there to show that, though you went on your daily life, you showed support for the famous and important bereaved. You didn't go around in all black crying all the time, you wore the equivalent of today's football captains' black armbands. Basically, it was networking.
It was different, of course, for those directly impacted. Close family members would not go out cavorting in mourning weeds. Centuries later, Queen Victoria was genuinely devastated by the death of her beloved Albert, and spent decades *actually* mourning. But if you're only "in mourning" for your employer's son, or the King's teenaged brother? Put on the socially acceptable attire, then go about your business.
@Terry Foreman: not quite. Oil lamps have existed since pre-history. What Argand invented was arguably the first lamp which was nearly as useful as our modern lamps. I don't doubt that people preferred candles, but oil lamps did exist and were in use. Also, of course, there would have been an actual fire - for both heat and light - in selected rooms.
Comments
Third Reading
About Sunday 30 December 1660
RLB • Link
@Mountain Man: and like Pepys, Chaucer was an astute observer of his fellow man.
About Sunday 30 December 1660
RLB • Link
@LKvM (are you Dutch, too?) - "I to the Abby and walked there" -- wouldn't it be wonderful today to be able to just walk in and mosey around?
Last time I was there, you actually could - and St. Paul's, too. After all, they may be monuments and major works of architecture, but their main function is still what it always was: a church! Poets' Corner in the Abbey is there because Chaucer was the first famous author buried there, but he wasn't buried there because he was a famous author; but because he was a regular member of the congregation.
All these churches, for all we may think of them as important works of architecture, were first and foremost *churches* in Chaucer's time; first and foremost churches in Samuel's time; and maybe not first and foremost, but very much still are churches in our time. And yes, you can attend service there.
About Thursday 27 December 1660
RLB • Link
@dirk (the very first entry!) - I'm not sure we can immediately spring to that lascivious conclusion. If it were only Samuel, maybe - though not necessarily quite yet - but we really have no hint of that in Elizabeth. I do want to believe that they were merely happy about the way she ran to her business.
About Tuesday 25 December 1660
RLB • Link
Gifts, in these days, if they were given at all, would be given a. not in England, but in the Low Countries and northern Germany; b. not lavish, but just a toy to a child or perhaps an orange or something like that, and most of all c. on Saint Nicholas' Eve, so three weeks ago. And make no mistake, Saint Nicholas was *not* Sanity Clause!
Father Christmas was another thing altogether. As far as I can tell (but I admit I'm not sure here) he was a tradition *before* Cromwell in England, and became one again a century later; and was, in some form or another, - maybe even in the St. Nick-form aforementioned - present in southern Germany and adjoining regions. He was reimported *in that form* into England in Victorian times, partly because Victoria was, well, German.
And then there is a whole lot of other traditions involving Odin, Yule lads, and so on, which it would take too much time to go into. But in any case, in Sam's time, the current tradition of Chrimbo stocking-filling was decidedly not the fashion. Neither - but that's probably no surprise to any reader - were tree-adorning or card-sending (if only for the lack of postage stamps).
About Thursday 13 December 1660
RLB • Link
Not only can vines withstand frost, for the production of ice wine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice…) it is essential that the grapes themselves are frozen. Modern ice wine production only started after Pepys' life, but producing good red wine in England was therefore quite possible in his days.
About Saturday 24 November 1660
RLB • Link
Vermouth was not banned as absinthe was because apparently, despite the name, wormwood is more easily replaced in vermouth than in absinthe. Also, absinthe was much, much more dangerous.
It is now known that in the amounts wormwood is present in either drink, it is not dangerous unless you drink litres of the stuff a day. The problem with absinthe was a. 70% (!) alcohol by volume - that is, 140 proof (again: !) - and b. bad quality control of the other ingredients and fusel oils. Vermouth suffered from neither of those, and modern absinthe only suffers from the ABV. In moderation, it's quite safe. (Disgustingly cloying, IMO, but safe.)
As for vermouth, it *is* a wormwood wine, or rather, a fortified wine aromatised with herbs traditionally including wormwood as a main aroma. These days, it doesn't usually contain wormwood any more, but I believe some brands still (or again) do. So, what Sam and pals drank today may well have been not dissimilar to our vermouth. Cheers!
About Thursday 15 November 1660
RLB • Link
Slashes for pounds are all the more confusing because historically, it was the normal sign for abbreviating shillings and pence, not pounds. See, for example, the Mad Hatter's label of "In this Style 10/6", meaning ten shillings sixpence. So I agree, let's not.
(For another illustration, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil… ; that theatre was first built three years from the diary's now, and I would not be surprised if later on, Sam mentions seeing a play there.)
About Tuesday 13 November 1660
RLB • Link
@San Diego Sarah: there's nothing incongruous to me about a pie served in a dish of pie crust. After all, what else is the good old English pork pie?
About Tuesday 13 November 1660
RLB • Link
Back to the very first annotation for today...
In fact, thermometers had been around for nearly 50 years by now. However, they were scientific and/or experimental instruments. I;m sure in a few years Sam will handle a few at the Royal Society, along with Boyle.
It would indeed be a bit more than 50 years until Fahrenheit invented the first truly accurate thermometer, the first practical one (clinical, in that case) took a decade or two more, and a workable oven thermometer centuries more.
It turns out to be easy to measure temperature on an -ish scale, and much harder to do it well.
About Wednesday 7 November 1660
RLB • Link
As Terry Foreman hinted but did not state explicitly last year, "raised" in this context means raising in status, not raising as a child. In fact, Sir Sidney was older than Charles I, and Charles II was only 14 years old at his death. But the elder king turned him from a younger son in an important family with more important branches, to a proper mover and shaker.
About Tuesday 30 October 1660
RLB • Link
There is again, but not still, a pub in London (itself) called The Hercules Pillars. The modern one is nearby, also in Holborn, but not on Fleet Street. Also, from the looks of its website isn't very old at all. So not the one Sam visited.
However, there are still some famous pubs on Fleet Street which date back, if not to 1660, to the later 17th century. Ye Olde Cock has been relocated, but is the same venture. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was rebuilt after the Fire of London. Sam may well have frequented the originals.
About Monday 29 October 1660
RLB • Link
The next Lord Mayor's Parade will be in two weeks, on November 11. Auntie Beeb still broadcasts it every year, I believe, so if you want to see a pageant Sam might have watched as well, tune in then.
About Saturday 27 October 1660
RLB • Link
@David Quidnunc: Alsted was Protestant, which will go a long way to explain the (somewhat notoriously old-school) Catholic Encyclopaedia's opinion on him.
About Wednesday 24 October 1660
RLB • Link
OK, so after two decades, which of the two is it!? Is it pepperbox, as in the OED (a source I do not lightly dismiss, as I have a SOED on my table here, although it has only the Shakespeare citation and omits Sam and everything later); or is it paper box, as in Wheatley as cited here and on Gutenberg?
Pepperbox, to me, makes slightly more sense. A pepperbox in those days would be a box with a lid, not a grinder as we have now; and a paper box would be what? A foolscap page folded into a container? A cardboard box, like a shoebox? Seems unlikely. Some academic could write a paper on the analysis of this one word in Pepys' original manuscript.
About Wednesday 24 October 1660
RLB • Link
@Alison: as someone who sometimes dabbles in calligraphy, I suspect it's just a finer cut of quill, suitable for drawing rather than writing. That is, with a sharp point rather than the flat one used to write with. Maybe even a crow quill rather than a goose one? Certainly not a steel pen, they didn't have steel flexible enough for pens at Sam's time. But yes, there would be - and still are - pens for writing, and pens for drawing. That was true in the age of quills as much as in the age of felt tips.
About Sunday 14 October 1660
RLB • Link
He was at his father's house at this point. I'm sure he'd feel free to borrow a spare quill and inkpot.
(OTOH, I myself always carry a fountain pen and a pocket book. More convenient than quill and inkpot, but I wouldn't be surprised at Sam carrying a nice pocket set of quill-and-ink.)
About Wednesday 19 September 1660
RLB • Link
You are quite right: the colour of mourning varies by time and by - not even region, but AFAICT by country. In my own Netherlands, apparently queen Whilhelmina brought white mourning back into fashion. That didn't stick, though: black is now the usual colour. In any case, there is no fixed habit forever everywhere.
Nevertheless, when one looks through Wikipedia & al., it appears that the main options are black or white. I'm not surprised: these are liminal shades, not really colours, and so it is not a surprise that they are present at the boundary between life and death, either. [Insert remark about monastic orders here; that will almost surely come up in reading the rest of Sam's diary.] I cannot explain purple, except out of foppishness.
At any rate, I don't think we should conclude that Pepys had an entire new outfit made. I believe that he bought some accoutrements - not quite like, but similar to, the above-mentioned black armband - and that would have been enough for a man of his (new) status. Nobody would have expected a mere clerk, let alone a newly-appointed one, to buy more than a sash or, at worst, a doublet.
About Thursday 20 September 1660
RLB • Link
One thing we still haven't explained after all these years: the old woman took it very ill that our boy Sam didn't let her have *what*, exactly? Given that he calls her "the old woman" - and also for linguistic reasons - I don't think he meant the old in-and-out. The only spelled-out antecedent for "it" is the house, but that's already owned by Beale, so how could he "let" her have it?
About Wednesday 19 September 1660
RLB • Link
Mourning attire, in those days, was not for being very, very sad in. It was there to show that, though you went on your daily life, you showed support for the famous and important bereaved. You didn't go around in all black crying all the time, you wore the equivalent of today's football captains' black armbands. Basically, it was networking.
It was different, of course, for those directly impacted. Close family members would not go out cavorting in mourning weeds. Centuries later, Queen Victoria was genuinely devastated by the death of her beloved Albert, and spent decades *actually* mourning. But if you're only "in mourning" for your employer's son, or the King's teenaged brother? Put on the socially acceptable attire, then go about your business.
About Saturday 15 September 1660
RLB • Link
@Terry Foreman: not quite. Oil lamps have existed since pre-history. What Argand invented was arguably the first lamp which was nearly as useful as our modern lamps. I don't doubt that people preferred candles, but oil lamps did exist and were in use. Also, of course, there would have been an actual fire - for both heat and light - in selected rooms.