Annotations and comments

GrahamT has posted 460 annotations/comments since 9 January 2003.

Comments

First Reading

About Wednesday 17 March 1668/69

GrahamT  •  Link

@Robert Watson: There is quite a lot of information in the annotations and encyclopedia on this site about Pepys' operation for the stone in his bladder, not kidneys - though he certainly had those too later in life.
From the description of the invasive surgery, it is quite easy to see how it could have left him infertile. The stone was removed intact (about the size of a contemporary tennis ball) not crushed.

About Sir George Downing

GrahamT  •  Link

There is an interesting article here about George Downing and his hunting down of the regicides: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-1630… (I don't know how long this will remain active)
It also states that the picture shown on the main article here is "now thought to be of someone else"

About Saturday 6 February 1668/69

GrahamT  •  Link

If the horses went away with the fore-wheels, the coachman is lucky he wasn't dragged or pitched from his seat. There must have been quite a jolt when the front end dropped to the ground. As Terry says, Pepys' equanamity is surprising. I hope the bolt was covered by his warranty!

About Friday 22 January 1668/69

GrahamT  •  Link

In my youth, before decimalisation of the currency, 30 bob (shillings) was far more common usage than £1:10s (one-pound-ten), at least it was where I lived. Perhaps 40s is similar familiar usage from when a shilling was a significant sum and 40 of them sounded better than 2 measly pounds.

About Monday 18 January 1668/69

GrahamT  •  Link

“Thence to the Duke of York on the King’s side “

Yesterday he referred to "the Queen's side" of Whitehall Palace.

About Wednesday 22 March 1664/65

GrahamT  •  Link

Vinegar (dilute acetic acid) or Aquea Fortis (nitric acid) - the [] above is AF in the manuscript - and oyster shells (mainly calcium carbonate) when mixed produce carbon-dioxide, so if the 'kitling' recovered it isn't likely to be because of the 'new air' created. I wouldn't like to be Mr Pepys' bespoke diver trying to breathe CO2 in a diving bell.

About Friday 1 January 1668/69

Grahamt  •  Link

The most common weather forecast for Britain seems to be "Changeable". An American colleague visiting London for the first time commented: "Well, if you don't like the weather here, you just wait a minute."
I get an underground train from Paddington, West London, to Moorgate (Pepys' Moorfields) every day - about 4 miles - and the weather can be completely different on descending and emerging; rain and sun, fog and blue skies, as recent examples.

About Saturday 28 November 1668

GrahamT  •  Link

His first private transport arrives today, and he doesn't go for a spin with Elizabeth? What self control. Imagine taking delivery of a new car and just leaving it parked up.
Ah well, tomorrow's Sunday so perhaps he's saving it for his day off.

About Thursday 26 November 1668

GrahamT  •  Link

Re: There seems to be a backlash against Hooke’s concern with “springynesse.”

Luckily the 'springyness' deniers were defeated and we have Hooke's law and not Croon's.

About Sunday 18 October 1668

GrahamT  •  Link

Uncovered indeed. Before restoration, the portrait wore a blouse thought to have been added in the 19th century - now removed.
I can highly recommend the National Portrait Gallery to anyone visiting London. As well as the original of the portrait of Pepys at the head of the page, there are portraits of Charles, James, a dashing Prince Rupert and several of Charles' mistresses. Pretty, Witty Nell is the icing on the cake.

About New BBC Pepys radio drama

GrahamT  •  Link

When I saw that Kris Marshall was playing Pepys, I was worried, but I see that the Historical Consultant is Liza Picard, author of Restoration London, (http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…) so I have set my DVR to record the series from Freeview.
It is on Radio4 at 10:45 repeated at 19:45 BST (= GMT + 1) for 15 minutes each Monday for 5 weeks. With 10 years of diary condensed into 1 hour 15 minutes, I am not expecting too much.

About Sunday 12 July 1668

GrahamT  •  Link

“Necronymn" is what happens when one copies a typo, as both Terry and I did. The word is spelled correctly later in the source article. I don't think the author coined the word in 2004 as it was used as the title of an academic paper in 1998.

About Sunday 12 July 1668

GrahamT  •  Link

The Necronymn wasn't unique to Puritans. It is common in my family tree from the 17th until the 20th century, although there is no history of puritanism in my heritage. As East Midlands agricultural labourers they were from a similar background to the Sussex and East Anglian Puritans though, so this may have been a social rather than a religious custom.

About Sunday 12 July 1668

GrahamT  •  Link

In my geneology research, I was amzed at how often a dead child's name was "re-used", sometime three times before a child with that name survived. Perhaps this was to carry on a traditional family name.
Even my Grandfather, William Edmund, was named after a brother who died between the ages of 5 and 8, perhaps while his mother was pregnant with him.
The practice seems to have stopped by the twentieth century - in my family at least.

About Tuesday 30 June 1668

GrahamT  •  Link

The use Terry cites is in use today in the slang phrase: "Mutton Dressed as lamb", i.e. an older woman dressed younger than her years to attract a younger man, perhaps.
However I agree with Jenny as to its literal meaning here.

About Wednesday 17 June 1668

GrahamT  •  Link

I've read the diary for eight years and the first (and probably only) time he mentions my home town, all he says is "through Maydenhead, which I never saw before".
Maidenhead was one of the major staging stops on the Great West Road to Bath and Bristol, as it was one day's ride from London and a main crossing point of the Thames. The current stone bridge dates from the 18th century, so it was probably a wooden bridge when Pepys crossed it.
Pepys and company appear to better the stage coaches somewhat, by the extra 14 miles from Reading to Maidenhead. 42 miles in one day with a stop for lunch in Colnbrook seems quite good considering that most of the roads would have been unmade or poorly maintained - depending how many 'highway menders' were available.
Of course it was near midsummer, so the evenings would be light until late, giving extra safe travelling time, and they didn't have the Hammersmith Flyover tailback to cope with.