Annotations and comments

JayW has posted 139 annotations/comments since 7 August 2015.

Comments

Second Reading

About Tuesday 20 January 1662/63

JayW  •  Link

I have a box full of my mother's diaries which cover the last twenty-three years of her life, as well as many years' of my own diaries. I fear they would not be of interest to future generations in the same way as Sam's. I write what happens, sometimes how I feel about it, and it may never be read again. And yet I still write almost every day.

About Wednesday 21 January 1662/63

JayW  •  Link

Plough Sunday was celebrated as usual on BBC Radio 4's The Archers this year on 10 January. I assume there are still some real church services somewhere in the country to encourage the scriptwriters to include it again.

About Saturday 10 January 1662/63

JayW  •  Link

I just looked at the clip again to check on the recipe. The chef first made deep cuts in the meat and stuffed them with butter and pepper as well as the ginger. Then he ground nutmeg and salt over the top. Just in case anyone is trying this at home!

About Saturday 10 January 1662/63

JayW  •  Link

Thanks John York. I watched the clip on the venison pasty. I had previously pictured Sam digging into something more like a Cornish pasty, but the programme explains that the pastry was made of rye flour and water (Ugh!) and wrapped around the joint of meat as a form of packaging and preservative. When the chef tasted the result he cut off the pastry and just took a slice of the meat. In case anyone is too late too see the clip, the meat was prepared with spices including ginger stuffed into cuts across the joint. These would have varied depending on what was available in the kitchen, then nutmeg and salt was ground over the meat. Then it was wrapped in the pastry and decorated (both for looks and as a way of strengthening the wrapping). The chef made a hole in the top and put it in a slow oven for 2 - 3 hours. Once cooked the hole was sealed by pouring in clarified butter which also filled any gaps between meat and pastry so no air could get in and spoil it.

About Tuesday 23 December 1662

JayW  •  Link

I thought Sam's house belonged to the Navy and was part of the perks of his office. I don't recall any entries about paying for it.

About Saturday 20 December 1662

JayW  •  Link

And travelling 'with great content' in the coach is clearly NOT shorthand for connubial bliss.

About Monday 15 December 1662

JayW  •  Link

Here's Sam going to bed 'with great content' after spending the previous night away from home. Is this more evidence of his code for conjugal relations, as suspected by some of yesterday's commentators?

About Thursday 27 November 1662

JayW  •  Link

And for SIR HUGH MYDDELTON AND THE WATER SUPPLY OF OLD LONDON

http://www.thebookofdays.com/mont…

Pedro's link to the story of the construction of the New River still works. And the fear of flooding is still relevant. We bought a house in Ware in 2004 which was close to the New River. Our solicitor (not a local) looked on the map and warned us we might be flooded. We had to explain that this was an aqueduct, not a river. Also that the house was about 8 metres up a slope and that there was a field lower than the water level on the opposite side, so there was no chance of any water reaching our property. I've been living alongside the New River all my life, first in London near the New River Head, gradually moving out along the Lea Valley and eventually coming to Ware. It's never flooded in my lifetime!

About Tuesday 18 November 1662

JayW  •  Link

"I will not give it him without my father’s consent, which I will write to him to-night about, and have done it"
I would interpret this as 'I said I would write to him tonight, and I have now done so' rather than Pepys stopping half way through his diary entry to write the letter as suggested by Dirk above.

About Thursday 30 October 1662

JayW  •  Link

I doubt that Sam spent too much time planning his entries. He was used to setting down his thoughts and recollections daily. Here he tells the story of the treasure hunt from getting up to going to bed, back-tracks to the morning walk with Mr Coventry and adds on the final stories as an afterthought so he doesn't forget them. Not exactly a minute by minute chronological account!

About Tuesday 14 October 1662

JayW  •  Link

I think bravely in this context is more likely 'looking good' than 'being courageous' Travellers would take advantage of moonlight if they could. In mid October in the UK it gets dark by late afternoon (sunset is 17.07 GMT today) so having left after the court proceedings Sam probably wanted to get to Cambridge and the main road back to London before resting so he could get home the next day.

About Thursday 9 October 1662

JayW  •  Link

Jude cooper. Thanks to your link to the Crown and Falcon I realise I called in there, several years ago. Must go again.

About Thursday 9 October 1662

JayW  •  Link

Pepys on his way to my home town. Speaks to another traveller. 'Where are you going?'
'Ware'
'Yes, where are you going?'
'Ware'
Repeat until exhausted.
Oldest joke in Hertfordshire.

About Tuesday 2 September 1662

JayW  •  Link

Bridget, 'Tom's mistress' was the lady he seeks to marry. The word did not have the same meaning as in modern speech.

About Sunday 31 August 1662

JayW  •  Link

Train bands: does anyone else recall the tale of John Gilpin, who famously rode from London to Edmonton and continued unwillingly to Ware? He was said to be 'a train band captain'. So the 'train bands' were still operative over 100 years later.
From Wikipedia:
John Gilpin (18th century) was featured as the subject in a well-known comic ballad of 1782 by William Cowper, entitled The Diverting History of John Gilpin.

About Saturday 23 August 1662

JayW  •  Link

This reminds me of the Jubilee Procession of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012. The River Thames was full of boats and the riverbanks were crowded with spectators. The day ended with torrential rain, which Sam was spared 250 years earlier in 1662