I concur with all of today's comments. At that time, for such alterations, experienced workers and their assistants/apprentices would show up, Pepys would point and say that he wanted this-and-that, and they would do their work. We also know how curious Pepys was and may have enjoyed seeing how the work was done. (Having carried out many an alteration to houses and out-buildings, I wish he had recorded more of the actual mechanics.)
"[...] where the plasterers being at work in all the rooms in my house, my wife was fain to make a bed upon the ground for her and me, and so there we lay all night."
The odour of wet plaster would have permeated the entire house, making sleep difficult. Does "ground" mean a floor or actually outside?
When a child, I was taken to a wake of a family friend. Not knowing that he had died and as the entire wake seemed like a party to me, I innocently asked where he was. Someone pointed to the casket at the end of the hall and calmly said: He's over there.
"Before he would begin any business, he took my papers of the state of the debts of the Fleet, and there viewed them before all the people, and did give me his advice privately [...]"
To me, this seems a significant display of acknowledgement of Pepys' new status.
Vincent wrote of Royal Mail finding him with his house's name. About 15y ago, Canada Post officially abandoned Rural-Route numbers for Fire-Code numbers. The former included dozens of places but the latter is unique to a single residence.
"[...] I took Mr. Michell and his wife, and Mrs. Murford we sent for afterwards, to the Dog Tavern, [...] and did talk of our old discourse when we did use to talk of the King, in the time of the Rump, privately; "
Pepys writes of being a closet royalist and admitting to dangerous private talk.
I beg to differ with Sasha's remark a decade past. There were many activities forbidden by the Puritans that the average people would care more about than his characterization of authoritarian rule.
Sorry, I write corrected on my assumption of rope ladders. Here is a Getty image titled "Cornelis De Wael (1592-1667), Troops Embarking on a Galley in the Port of Genoa. Genoa Pegli, Civico Museo Navale (Boat Museum)": https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail…
The troops are embarking via wooden ladders between boat and galley. So the question of means of ingress remains.
Why cheer the restoration? It may well have been that after so many mirthless years of the Protectorate, people wanted to be able to sing, dance, and drink again. So not so much as pro-rex as anti-puritan.
There exists a series of videos called "Getting dressing in.." on youtube. Here is one of a wealthy Dutch woman dressing in 1665 Delft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u… (I cannot really verify the historical accuracy, though.)
This week's Economist reported on an archaeological paper about life on board ships from various insect remains on two contemporary ships. I added an entry with details to General Ship Information (https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…).
An article in this week's Economist (https://www.economist.com/science…), titled "Tide of Filth", refers to an article published in Biological Invasions (open access https://link.springer.com/article…) describing the various insects found in the remains of two ships contemporary with Pepys.
HHomboy wrote: "having been a respected and popular radio commentator on the CBC [...]"
I feel bound to defend the CBC here. Yes, they have had their share of pompous prats (who believe themselves respected) but overall, their commentators tend to be polite and succinct.
Apologies if the following on the Tripos is too recent.
From https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/under… Wooden spoons At the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century a wooden spoon was presented to the student at the bottom of the examination class list of the Mathematical Tripos. Examinations were tough in those days. In one year, there were 36 hours of examinations. The Senior Wrangler scored 16,368 out of a possible 33,541, and the candidate who received the wooden spoon scored a princely 247. Fortunately, the heroic era of the Tripos is long gone.
Comments
Third Reading
About Thursday 27 September 1660
john • Link
I concur with all of today's comments. At that time, for such alterations, experienced workers and their assistants/apprentices would show up, Pepys would point and say that he wanted this-and-that, and they would do their work. We also know how curious Pepys was and may have enjoyed seeing how the work was done. (Having carried out many an alteration to houses and out-buildings, I wish he had recorded more of the actual mechanics.)
About Tuesday 25 September 1660
john • Link
"[...] where the plasterers being at work in all the rooms in my house, my wife was fain to make a bed upon the ground for her and me, and so there we lay all night."
The odour of wet plaster would have permeated the entire house, making sleep difficult. Does "ground" mean a floor or actually outside?
About Wednesday 19 September 1660
john • Link
@Carol, similar to a wake to me.
When a child, I was taken to a wake of a family friend. Not knowing that he had died and as the entire wake seemed like a party to me, I innocently asked where he was. Someone pointed to the casket at the end of the hall and calmly said: He's over there.
About Monday 20 August 1660
john • Link
"Before he would begin any business, he took my papers of the state of the debts of the Fleet, and there viewed them before all the people, and did give me his advice privately [...]"
To me, this seems a significant display of acknowledgement of Pepys' new status.
About Thursday 9 August 1660
john • Link
"Thence to my office of Privy Seal, [...]"
Written with a bit of well-deserved pride, methinks.
About Saturday 4 August 1660
john • Link
Vincent wrote of Royal Mail finding him with his house's name. About 15y ago, Canada Post officially abandoned Rural-Route numbers for Fire-Code numbers. The former included dozens of places but the latter is unique to a single residence.
About Tuesday 31 July 1660
john • Link
"[...] and had a great discourse about raising of money for the Navy, which is in very sad condition, and money must be raised for it."
Is this when P. realises how bad things are and the enormous task in front of him?
About Thursday 19 July 1660
john • Link
"[...] I took Mr. Michell and his wife, and Mrs. Murford we sent for afterwards, to the Dog Tavern, [...] and did talk of our old discourse when we did use to talk of the King, in the time of the Rump, privately; "
Pepys writes of being a closet royalist and admitting to dangerous private talk.
About Sunday 17 June 1660
john • Link
I beg to differ with Sasha's remark a decade past. There were many activities forbidden by the Puritans that the average people would care more about than his characterization of authoritarian rule.
About Saturday 26 May 1660
john • Link
Sorry, I write corrected on my assumption of rope ladders. Here is a Getty image titled "Cornelis De Wael (1592-1667), Troops Embarking on a Galley in the Port of Genoa. Genoa Pegli, Civico Museo Navale (Boat Museum)": https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail…
The troops are embarking via wooden ladders between boat and galley. So the question of means of ingress remains.
About Saturday 26 May 1660
john • Link
@Stephane Chenard -- A most interesting image of embarkation as they would have used rope ladders then.
About Wednesday 23 May 1660
john • Link
Why cheer the restoration? It may well have been that after so many mirthless years of the Protectorate, people wanted to be able to sing, dance, and drink again. So not so much as pro-rex as anti-puritan.
About Sunday 20 May 1660
john • Link
There exists a series of videos called "Getting dressing in.." on youtube. Here is one of a wealthy Dutch woman dressing in 1665 Delft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u… (I cannot really verify the historical accuracy, though.)
About Wednesday 9 May 1660
john • Link
This week's Economist reported on an archaeological paper about life on board ships from various insect remains on two contemporary ships. I added an entry with details to General Ship Information (https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…).
About General ship information
john • Link
Life aboard ship from archaeological evidence
An article in this week's Economist (https://www.economist.com/science…), titled "Tide of Filth", refers to an article published in Biological Invasions (open access https://link.springer.com/article…) describing the various insects found in the remains of two ships contemporary with Pepys.
About Guidelines for annotations
john • Link
HHomboy wrote: "having been a respected and popular radio commentator on the CBC [...]"
I feel bound to defend the CBC here. Yes, they have had their share of pompous prats (who believe themselves respected) but overall, their commentators tend to be polite and succinct.
About Sunday 26 February 1659/60
john • Link
Apologies if the following on the Tripos is too recent.
From https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/under…
Wooden spoons
At the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century a wooden spoon was presented to the student at the bottom of the examination class list of the Mathematical Tripos. Examinations were tough in those days. In one year, there were 36 hours of examinations. The Senior Wrangler scored 16,368 out of a possible 33,541, and the candidate who received the wooden spoon scored a princely 247. Fortunately, the heroic era of the Tripos is long gone.
About Saturday 11 February 1659/60
john • Link
The link in Pauline's comment from 2003 has been preserved by the Wayback Machine here: https://web.archive.org/web/20030…
About Saturday 4 February 1659/60
john • Link
As a child, I often witnessed my maternal grandmother dispatching chickens on the farm. I can understand Jane's refusal.
About Wednesday 25 January 1659/60
john • Link
I note the friendly consortation with the butler. Pepys came from humble origins and rarely had qualms speaking to the "working classes".