Annotations and comments

Tonyel has posted 280 annotations/comments since 11 March 2013.

Comments

Second Reading

About Thursday 15 September 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

Terry, my image of the Navy Office is of a large room full of clerks, Sam's executive office to one side (complete with hole in the wall) and a meeting room where the grandees assemble for board meetings. I can't imagine he keeps potentially damaging information (diary, personal accounts, bribes & commissions) in such a vulnerable place. They would be safer in a private office where he expects to be undisturbed.
I have no evidence to offer for this beyond " it's what I would do in his shoes".

About Thursday 15 September 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

"after their being two hours with me parted, and I to my office to do business,"
Not sure if this has been discussed before, but it seems to me that Sam distinguishes between "the office" and "my office" quite often.
In today's entry I read it that he returned to the Navy office after dinner and met with the surgeons. When they finally left he went to his own office (presumably a room in his house) and did some more, private work.

About Thursday 8 September 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

Thanks Steven but it still doesn't ring any bells - it must have been an American scandal that didn't make it across the pond.
(We should not go off topic any further I think - it was just an idle query.)

About Thursday 8 September 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

Hmmn...Apart from the interesting historical coincidence-another Mercer, likewise daughter to a "decayed" gentleman of reduced means, will be causing havoc to a famous couple in 250 years..
Modern gossip has a short shelf-life.... Can anyone remember who this referred to 10 years ago?

About Monday 5 September 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

Louise, I think you are being just a little unfair on Sam. It seems common knowledge that Mrs Lane has married a neer-do-well and that could reflect on Sam if he found him a job.
Mrs Lane must be equally disappointed in her choice of husband so an affair with Successful Sam could be considered a just compensation.
I am, of course, looking at it from a male perspective.

About Wednesday 31 August 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

"another small business by which I may get a little small matter of money."

No, really..... a teeny tiny amount, hardly worth mentioning.
Well, just a hundred.

About Saturday 20 August 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

"whoever attends the civic assemblies will still find his voice the most audible, if not the most attended to."

Irresistible reminder of the present Speaker of the House of Commons.

About Saturday 6 August 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

"to see how one of them was horsed upon a hard-trotting sorrell horse, and both of them soundly weary and galled. " Can someone explain 'galled' - and is Sam referring to the horses or the riders?
Thank you Sarah for the information on the pink - and the Irish trade problems.

About Tuesday 2 August 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

L&M read "... he confesses himself my debtor 100L, for my service ..."
That's more like it - a business-like approach. No more vague promises as per Creed which sent Sam off to value a gift to see how much had been paid.

About Friday 22 July 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

To think that all these years I have been rolling my eyes to heaven and saying "Shish" to incompetent underlings without knowing where the word came from!
Sasha, thank you for the introduction to Carissimi - fine it was, indeed.

About Thursday 14 July 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

"I was ready with Mr. Gauden’s and his, both directed him a letter to me to give the board their two tenders, but there being none but the Generall Monk and Mr. Coventry and Povy and I, I did not think fit to expose them to view now, ... and so with good content rose."

I suspect it's the old committee trick of waiting until everyone's talked out and bored - then you say "Oh, one more small item...." The bigger the committee, the easier it is.

About Wednesday 13 July 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

" hard by" means nearby, or near the office. It's another nautical term that old sea dogs like Sam enjoy.

About Thursday 7 July 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

I can't recall the source but remember reading somewhere that there was an official naval instruction: "All hands to dance and skylark."
Boredom is a terrible thing in a crowd of active young men.

About Thursday 23 June 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

W. Howe was with me this afternoon, to desire some things to be got ready for my Lord against his going down to his ship, which will be soon; for it seems the King and both the Queenes intend to visit him. The Lord knows how my Lord will get out of this charge;

This sounds as though Sandwich is expected to contribute towards the costs of going to war himself. Anyone know what and how much would have been expected?

About Tuesday 3 May 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

re Povy et al:

From past experience (don't ask) if you are going to fiddle the books, it's much easier if the books are in good order. Accounts full of obvious errors invite questions which may, in turn, expose other 'errors'. I suspect that several people may want to have their hands in this particular till.

About Wednesday 13 April 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

" - with a goldsmith, sorting out his old plate to change for new; but, Lord! what a deale he hath! "
I assume by 'deale' Sam means a large amount. Or is he commenting on the good, or bad, deal that the goldsmith makes with Coventry?

About Saturday 2 April 1664

Tonyel  •  Link

"Horrifically relevant today"
Are you also thinking of a fat man blustering to the FT " If China won't sort out North Korea, we will do it ourselves"
Oh God......

About Friday 18 March 1663/64

Tonyel  •  Link

In Ireland there are burial grounds divided by a wall to keep Protestants away from Catholics (and vice versa). Some walls are said to be six feet deep in the ground just to make sure !

About Monday 14 March 1663/64

Tonyel  •  Link

" money or something worse she knows not, but there is one Cranburne, I think she called him, in Fleete Lane with whom he hath many times been mighty private, but what their dealings have been she knows not, but believes these were naught,"

Is it possible that poor Tom was secretly homosexual? It might account for some of his problems and also for Sam's fear of embarrassment. What, if anything, was the attitude to homosexuality in those times? Was it even admitted? I have read somewhere that Queen Victoria later signed an Act to make it illegal but refused to include lesbianism as she did not believe that women could do that sort of thing.