Sam seems to time himself to wind up at Lady Sandwich's for the midday meal quite regularly, even though the fare is now the cheap cuts. I wonder what Elizabeth, as the "lady" at Sam's home, has on the house menu today. Whatever it is, presumably she will dine alone, and the rest of the "family" -- Jane, Pall, and Will -- will get her leftovers.
Thank you, daniel, for the wonderful word "grottiness" for Sam's condition. Also, until now I have only heard the words "colic" and "colicky" used in reference to fussiness in babies attributed to intestinal pain. But "played the fool" is common where i live, and I am surprised that it is so old.
While sinners should get their just deserts (the line-dancing vision of hell described above with Flatt and Scruggs bagpiping), a confectioner's shop is often called Just Desserts.
" . . . upon the leads in the garden, where Sir W. Pen came out in his shirt into his leads, and there we staid talking and singing, . . . ." I know Pepys had leads, presumably above his section of the building, that Mrs. Davis had locked him out of, but where are these "leads in the garden"? Or are all of the leads "in the garden" of this obviously very large dwelling that was sliced into units. Wherever the leads were, it's a delightful scene with Penn and Pepys sharing a glorious evening drinking and singing on them together. It's good to remember that Penn is only twelve years older than Sam, so if Sam is 27, Admiral Penn is only 39. And by the way, I like salted pistachio nuts or "salt and vinegar" chips with my evening glasses of "claret," and in the USA Australian Susan's "cask wine" is plain old "box wine," some of which is surprisingly good.
"Father" Bowyers brought his wife ("Mother" Bowyers) and FOUR daughters, "which cost me great store of wine, and [we] were very merry." That should have sent him to the couch for a little lie-down, but after all that, he carried on with the rest of his day.
Re ". . . we begin to doubt a famine." The fact that Sam and others 'doubt' in the sense of 'believe' [that there could be] a famine, Shakespeare has Hamlet play with the two opposite meanings of 'doubt' --'believe' and 'disbelieve' -- in this verse to Ophelia that concerns then-controversial beliefs and disbeliefs about the stars and sun and equivocal thoughts about truth, or is it lies, in the matter of whether he loves her, or not:
"Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love."
Re: "the theory of Plate Tectonics, some 300 years later in 1960's." I graduated from college in 1962 having made an A in a geography course that did not even mention plate tectonics because the professor obviously had no knowledge of it.
Re Australian Susan's "(until the advent of refridgeration [sic] - an Australian invention by the way)":
Dr. John Gorrie (1803-1855) of Apalachicola, Florida, USA, was the inventor of modern mechanical refrigeration. He did this because he wanted to keep his patients cool.
Re: : . . . the collation; and so we, with the rest of the servants in the hall, sat down and eat of the best cold meats that ever I eat on in all my life." As has probably already been mentioned, the past tense of "eat" was spelled "eat," but pronounced "et," as it still is in some very rural areas of the United States South that were settled long ago by English immigrants. I suppose a modern equivalent of a collation would be a charcuterie board.
I think that what Sam really regrets is his "surly answer." We have been following his life for a while now, and it is his charm and likeablity that have caused just about every man and woman in his life, from all his drinking buddies to "my lady" and Penn and Batten and Sandwich, to want his company. A cordial but firm answer to these nosy men from the Lords would have been more his style, but alas, like Hamlet, he "forgot himself."
It seems to me that poor Elizabeth's distress may have had three sources, listed below in ascending order of painfulness: ▪︎standard, routine internal menstrual cramps (bad enough), ▪︎sharp pain from an external, embarrassing, disgusting, recurring vulvar abcess; and, finally, perhaps, if the poor woman is truly blasted by fate, ▪︎the excruciating pain of a dry socket where the incisor was pulled.
A foretooth is a "cutting" tooth, or incisor, of which there are eight: four in the upper jaw and four in the lower jaw. Since Elizabeth is known to be a beauty, let's hope the drawn incisor was one of the four less visible foreteeth in the lower jaw.
Re 3rd President of the United States Thomas Jefferson and the five household slaves he freed on his deathbed: Jefferson "owned more than 600 slaves during his adult life. Jefferson freed two slaves while he lived, and five others were freed after his death, including two of his children from his relationship with his slave (and sister-in-law) Sally Hemings. His other two children with Hemings were allowed to escape without pursuit. After his death, the rest of the slaves were sold to pay off his estate's debts."
" . . . the Monarch's Way (Worcester to Shoreham) 982km/610 miles. Britain's second-longest signed walking trail, a lengthy, meandering route following the flight of Charles II after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, and including many sites of historic interest." I had no idea that it was so long, or that it took the fugitive king six weeks to cover it! It's truly amazing that a conspicuously 6'2" black-haired Italian-looking man accomplished this remarkable feat.
The best perk of having freedom of the city: "the right to be hanged with a silken cord." I do suppose that's preferable to having your head chopped off. I was actually surprised to read about Mr. Creed's "epicurianism" and what we might call picky and unpleasant table behavior today. I, too, had a friend who sent food back to the kitchen and regularly embarrassed the rest of us at the table with his criticisms, so I can sympathize with Sam. But since Creed is a Puritan (something I as an American associate with a simple life and simple tastes), I wouldn't have expected him to exhibit such delicacy or sophistication at the dinner table. Maybe I just don't understand Cromwellian puritanism correctly.
Comments
Third Reading
About Monday 17 June 1661
LKvM • Link
Sam seems to time himself to wind up at Lady Sandwich's for the midday meal quite regularly, even though the fare is now the cheap cuts.
I wonder what Elizabeth, as the "lady" at Sam's home, has on the house menu today. Whatever it is, presumably she will dine alone, and the rest of the "family" -- Jane, Pall, and Will -- will get her leftovers.
About Sunday 16 June 1661
LKvM • Link
The £6 it cost to transport the cloth from the Tower Wharf to the Downs will definitely eat into Sam's profit.
About Friday 14 June 1661
LKvM • Link
Thank you, daniel, for the wonderful word "grottiness" for Sam's condition. Also, until now I have only heard the words "colic" and "colicky" used in reference to fussiness in babies attributed to intestinal pain. But "played the fool" is common where i live, and I am surprised that it is so old.
About Thursday 6 June 1661
LKvM • Link
While sinners should get their just deserts (the line-dancing vision of hell described above with Flatt and Scruggs bagpiping), a confectioner's shop is often called Just Desserts.
About Wednesday 5 June 1661
LKvM • Link
" . . . upon the leads in the garden, where Sir W. Pen came out in his shirt into his leads, and there we staid talking and singing, . . . ."
I know Pepys had leads, presumably above his section of the building, that Mrs. Davis had locked him out of, but where are these "leads in the garden"? Or are all of the leads "in the garden" of this obviously very large dwelling that was sliced into units.
Wherever the leads were, it's a delightful scene with Penn and Pepys sharing a glorious evening drinking and singing on them together.
It's good to remember that Penn is only twelve years older than Sam, so if Sam is 27, Admiral Penn is only 39.
And by the way, I like salted pistachio nuts or "salt and vinegar" chips with my evening glasses of "claret," and in the USA Australian Susan's "cask wine" is plain old "box wine," some of which is surprisingly good.
About Monday 3 June 1661
LKvM • Link
"Father" Bowyers brought his wife ("Mother" Bowyers) and FOUR daughters, "which cost me great store of wine, and [we] were very merry." That should have sent him to the couch for a little lie-down, but after all that, he carried on with the rest of his day.
About Sunday 2 June 1661
LKvM • Link
Re ". . . we begin to doubt a famine."
The fact that Sam and others 'doubt' in the sense of 'believe' [that there could be] a famine, Shakespeare has Hamlet play with the two opposite meanings of 'doubt' --'believe' and 'disbelieve' -- in this verse to Ophelia that concerns then-controversial beliefs and disbeliefs about the stars and sun and equivocal thoughts about truth, or is it lies, in the matter of whether he loves her, or not:
"Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love."
(Hamlet, 3.2.115-18)
About Thursday 30 May 1661
LKvM • Link
Just for the record, the past tense of "shit" is "shat."
About Sunday 26 May 1661
LKvM • Link
"I bethought myself" may be the opposite and a consequence of "I forgot myself."
About Thursday 23 May 1661
LKvM • Link
Re: "the theory of Plate Tectonics, some 300 years later in 1960's." I graduated from college in 1962 having made an A in a geography course that did not even mention plate tectonics because the professor obviously had no knowledge of it.
About Wednesday 22 May 1661
LKvM • Link
Re Australian Susan's "(until the advent of refridgeration [sic] - an Australian invention by the way)":
Dr. John Gorrie (1803-1855) of Apalachicola, Florida, USA, was the inventor of modern mechanical refrigeration. He did this because he wanted to keep his patients cool.
About Thursday 16 May 1661
LKvM • Link
Re: : . . . the collation; and so we, with the rest of the servants in the hall, sat down and eat of the best cold meats that ever I eat on in all my life." As has probably already been mentioned, the past tense of "eat" was spelled "eat," but pronounced "et," as it still is in some very rural areas of the United States South that were settled long ago by English immigrants.
I suppose a modern equivalent of a collation would be a charcuterie board.
About Wednesday 15 May 1661
LKvM • Link
I think that what Sam really regrets is his "surly answer."
We have been following his life for a while now, and it is his charm and likeablity that have caused just about every man and woman in his life, from all his drinking buddies to "my lady" and Penn and Batten and Sandwich, to want his company.
A cordial but firm answer to these nosy men from the Lords would have been more his style, but alas, like Hamlet, he "forgot himself."
About Monday 13 May 1661
LKvM • Link
Perhaps it was one of the "striplings" that Evelyn saw being examined who originated this verse defining the "Dr. Fell Syndrome":
I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell,
But this I know and know full well,
I do not like thee, Dr. Fell.
About Friday 10 May 1661
LKvM • Link
No mention of Elizabeth, poor thing.
About Thursday 9 May 1661
LKvM • Link
It seems to me that poor Elizabeth's distress may have had three sources, listed below in ascending order of painfulness:
▪︎standard, routine internal menstrual cramps (bad enough),
▪︎sharp pain from an external, embarrassing, disgusting, recurring vulvar abcess;
and, finally, perhaps, if the poor woman is truly blasted by fate,
▪︎the excruciating pain of a dry socket where the incisor was pulled.
About Wednesday 8 May 1661
LKvM • Link
A foretooth is a "cutting" tooth, or incisor, of which there are eight: four in the upper jaw and four in the lower jaw.
Since Elizabeth is known to be a beauty, let's hope the drawn incisor was one of the four less visible foreteeth in the lower jaw.
About Monday 6 May 1661
LKvM • Link
Re 3rd President of the United States Thomas Jefferson and the five household slaves he freed on his deathbed:
Jefferson "owned more than 600 slaves during his adult life. Jefferson freed two slaves while he lived, and five others were freed after his death, including two of his children from his relationship with his slave (and sister-in-law) Sally Hemings. His other two children with Hemings were allowed to escape without pursuit. After his death, the rest of the slaves were sold to pay off his estate's debts."
About Saturday 4 May 1661
LKvM • Link
" . . . the Monarch's Way (Worcester to Shoreham) 982km/610 miles.
Britain's second-longest signed walking trail, a lengthy, meandering route following the flight of Charles II after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, and including many sites of historic interest."
I had no idea that it was so long, or that it took the fugitive king six weeks to cover it! It's truly amazing that a conspicuously 6'2" black-haired Italian-looking man accomplished this remarkable feat.
About Friday 3 May 1661
LKvM • Link
The best perk of having freedom of the city: "the right to be hanged with a silken cord." I do suppose that's preferable to having your head chopped off.
I was actually surprised to read about Mr. Creed's "epicurianism" and what we might call picky and unpleasant table behavior today. I, too, had a friend who sent food back to the kitchen and regularly embarrassed the rest of us at the table with his criticisms, so I can sympathize with Sam.
But since Creed is a Puritan (something I as an American associate with a simple life and simple tastes), I wouldn't have expected him to exhibit such delicacy or sophistication at the dinner table. Maybe I just don't understand Cromwellian puritanism correctly.