Tuesday 14 April 1663
Up betimes to my office, where busy till 8 o’clock that Sir W. Batten, Sir J. Minnes, Sir W. Pen and I down by barge to Woolwich, to see “The Royal James” launched, where she has been under repair a great while. We staid in the yard till almost noon, and then to Mr. Falconer’s to a dinner of fish of our own sending, and when it was just ready to come upon the table, word is brought that the King and Duke are come, so they all went away to shew themselves, while I staid and had a little dish or two by myself, resolving to go home, and by the time I had dined they came again, having gone to little purpose, the King, I believe, taking little notice of them. So they to dinner, and I staid a little with them, and so good bye. I walked to Greenwich, studying the slide rule for measuring of timber, which is very fine. Thence to Deptford by water, and walked through the yard, and so walked to Redriffe, and so home pretty weary, to my office, where anon they all came home, the ship well launched, and so sat at the office till 9 at night, and I longer doing business at my office, and so home to supper, my father being come, and to bed.
Sir G. Carteret tells me to-night that he perceives the Parliament is likely to make a great bustle before they will give the King any money; will call all things into question; and, above all, the expences of the Navy; and do enquire into the King’s expences everywhere, and into the truth of the report of people being forced to sell their bills at 15 per cent. loss in the Navy; and, lastly, that they are in a very angry pettish mood at present, and not likely to be better.
34 Annotations
First Reading
TerryF • Link
"So they to dinner, and I staid a little with them, and so good bye."
Pepys has used "good bye" only once before, last 11 August 1662
"Cooper came and read his last lecture to me upon my modell, and so bid me good bye"
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
and used "goodbye" only on 28 July 1662 "I took a troubled though willing goodbye [to my wife and the others sent to Brampton pro tem], because of the bad condition of my house to have a family in it." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
I wonder how often other Diary-keepers record such an ordinary and frequent valediction?
JWB • Link
"slide rule"
Well, I guess he was not referring to "timber scales" as I previously posted.
in Aqua Scripto • Link
Poor Old James [Richard, under Cromwell] was decommissioned
July 2nd then demasted and stripped for refurbishing, must have given Sandwich conniptions on his sail back from his trip to the Corsair country and Lisbon, as Pepys tells of the docking difficulties of this ship July 21, requiring two ship yards of men to to get it right.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
So now she be relaunched after a makeover.
in Aqua Scripto • Link
Slide rule: AH!10 times 9, times 15, divided by 4, be?
in Aqua Scripto • Link
...a dinner of fish of our own sending, and when it was just ready to come upon the table, word is brought that the King and Duke are come, so they all went away to shew themselves, while I staid and had a little dish or two by myself, resolving to go home, and by the time I had dined they came again, having gone to little purpose, the King, I believe, taking little notice of them...."
Waste not, want not especially when it could get cold, how bla[h]se[y] can ye be Samuell?
in Aqua Scripto • Link
Cost of Debt and Loans at the local bankers;"... into the truth of the report of people being forced to sell their bills at 15 per cent. loss in the Navy;..."
TerryF • Link
" slide rule"
I am puzzled, JWB, like you, I suppose - What would a " slide rule for measuring of timber" be like?
in Aqua Scripto • Link
Measuring, a] be calculating the footage of wood, b]how many spars there be in the stack of timbers, 3] how many planks there [2 by 4's ] etc..
Timber according to L&M be wood for the frame of a ship vs planks and deals used for decks ,cabins, gun carriages.
so may be calculating the requirements, seeing if any one be miscalculating the costs to the detriment of the Crown.
Australian Susan • Link
"angry pettish mood"
Sounds as though he's describing a two year old having a tantrum, but did "pettish" have these juvenile attributes then? Or is Sam not being that rude?
Bradford • Link
Fairly recently we had a discussion about this handy device for measuring timber, and when I lamented not understanding it someone kindly explained it in great detail---so perhaps that could help someone else in locating it again. I am still amazed that, once upon a time, I passed the SAT Math section.
"they all went away to shew themselves, while I staid and had a little dish or two by myself,"
---a delightful passage recalling, on this Holy Weekend, the Proverb that "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
(9:17)
dirk • Link
"the report of people being forced to sell their bills at 15 per cent. loss in the Navy"
This is an old sore!
On Tuesday 11 June 1661 "the credit of the office is brought so low, that none will sell us any thing without our personal security given for the same."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive…
On Wednesday 14 August of that same year Sam complains about "how our own very bills are offered upon the Exchange, to be sold at 20 in the 100 loss." The Duke of York "is much troubled at it, and will speak to the King and Council of it."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive…
Jesse • Link
"[H]ad a little dish or two by myself"
Man after my own heart. I wonder if he suspected that the trip would be "to little purpose" - though why wouldn't his companions have known better? "[T]he King, I believe, taking little notice of them."
TerryF • Link
"why wouldn’t his companions have known better?"
Vainglory? memory of former celebrity?
in Aqua Scripto • Link
"... taking little notice of them..." Many suffer the hope of being acknowledged by a body of consequence, in the hopes that thee can say " see I be someone as he did grin my way", or if thee be lucky to get thy mug shot with the history making geezer, then mount same in thy room of Office so thee can contemplate the 'wot' ifs. 'Tis that old alfa syndrome of being recognised and all the glory becomes thine.
Mind you, it does give one a glow when thy be called by thy name by one of the Savvy leaders [ of course he was fully informed by a list holding flunky by hissing in 'is ear thy moniker].
'Tis the same for that piece of colored cotton called a ribbon that be a medalion pinned on thy puffed out chest..
Recognition be thy goal.
Alan Bedford • Link
“why wouldn’t his companions have known better?”
I think Terry got it right: vainglory - and the importance of taking every opportunity to be seen by the boss (the Duke) as well as the King. Especially since they're in the shipyard area.
Actually, I'm a little surprised that Samuel did not join them. Perhaps not wishing to be that closely associated with this entire group. Or perhaps not invited. Perhaps Robert Gertz can provide some dialogue...
Bergie • Link
The catlike Sam
...they all went away to shew themselves, while I staid and had a little dish or two by myself...
This passage reminds me of the familiar domestic scene in which master and mistress rise to answer the door, and kitty jumps on the table for "a little dish or two" of fish.
TerryF • Link
i.A.S. agreeth
TerryF • Link
Bradford, re the explanation of what is linked to "slide rule", was it 25 March, http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
JWB - Bradford,not a slide rule, but different scales on the same stick. As Dr Stephen Johnston says: “Imagine a square piece of timber. The length of one side of the square is measured on the rule’s inch scale and the corresponding mark on the timber scale is located. Then the distance from that point to the end of the rule directly gives the length of a cubic foot of this timber. That dimension can be taken with a pair of dividers, such as would be found among the tools of any carpenter, whether on land or at sea. Then, stepping the dividers along the length of the timber allows the user simply to count out the cubic feet contained in the timber.
So we again have mathematical skills without formal symbolic representation: the “calculation” is done by manipulation of rulers and dividers rather than on paper.”
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.as…
and
George R - “not a slide rule, but different scales on the same stick. As Dr Stephen Johnston says: “Imagine a square piece of timber. The length of one side of the square is measured on the rule’s inch scale and the corresponding mark on the timber scale is located”
That sounds more like it. As a lad I had to learn how to use the scales on the body of a roofing square. One of them was “Essex board measure” and was very much as described to obtain board feet from the overall dimensions of a log. Never used it in fifty years and now it’s all gone metric and calculators anyway.
TerryF • Link
On 24th March, the day before, we read "Thence Sir J. Minnes and I homewards calling at Browne's, the mathematician in the Minnerys, with a design of buying White's ruler to measure timber with, but could not agree on the price."
L&M note, perhaps misleaingly to us who have had a slip-stick, that 'White's ruler' is an early type of slide-rule, "inscribed with logarythmic scales; used, e.g. for calculatation of area or volume", so that in Aqua Scripto's impression of its use may be about right.
Robert Gertz • Link
I dunno know Sam...Remember what happened last time Parliament was in an "angry, pettish mood". The honeymoon appears to be ending...
***
"But where is our Mr. Pepys?" York eyes what appears to be the 17th century version of the Three Stooges, fawning at his and Charlie's feet.
"Dinner, your Grace." Penn makes the deadly thrust.
"Dinner? But...?" York looks at Charles who shakes his head.
"Did no one tell him today was the day the King intended to knight him?"
Ummn...The boys look at each other.
"Why...Certainly, your Grace." Penn nods. "Absolutely." Batten affirms. "Pon my soul, I fear the lad does not care for a title, your Grace, given his lack of an estate." Minnes gives the death blow.
"Well, if the man cares not..." York frowns. Charles shrugging...Probably the sensible thing, he suggests. The man always seemed a practical lad.
"Though give him to understand, gentlemen. I don't give these things out every day." Charles notes.
"The boy doesn't want it, fellows." he turns to his brace of trumpters and guard of honor, handing one the relevant documents. "Back to Whitehall."
Mutual grin among the three...Turning quickly to solemn looks at Duke and King.
Thus is greatness lost...
in Aqua Scripto • Link
"“Though give him to understand, gentlemen. I don’t give these things out every day.” Charles notes."
Carlo also be a thinkin' there is that problem of cash to pay for the documents [those greedy clerks] [gold soveriegns cerated too] too, he needs to put more fa[r]things into the envelope too.
PS Titles can't be bought they say?
A. Hamilton • Link
logarythmic scales
just the thing for measuring timber (apologies to the Napier family)
TerryF • Link
Call of the House.
Ordered, That the House be Called over on Mondayfortnight, upon Pain of Five Pounds to be paid by every Member, that shall be then absent, whose Excuse the House shall not allow.
Adjournment.
Ordered, That the House be adjourned till To-morrowfortnight.
And then the House adjourned itself accordingly, till To-morrow-fortnight, Nine of the Clock in the Morning.
From: 'House of Commons Journal Volume 8: 14 April 1663', Journal of the House of Commons: volume 8: 1660-1667 (1802), p. 472. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…. Date accessed: 15 April 2006.
The parliament's disquiet over the Navy accounts are not brought to the floor, but may be in the committee concerning HM Revenues, &c.
in Aqua Scripto • Link
Loggers use a log scale:
http://www.genesisny.net/Commodit…
Slide rule:[wood and brass fittings too] It could be a ruler that slides in and out with right angle bar with scale attached. The board has calculations etched on , used to calculate the yields available from a given piece of Timber it measures, i.e. the depth and width, and useing the known length make the appropiate calculations. It could be used to verify that a 2 x 4 be a 2 x 4 and not 1.75 x 3.75, [4x4 not under cut] as there will be some [?] that will try to get higher yields from a given trunk, there by more cash?
T[ri] squares be an old method to mark and calculate, and ensure that thy block be square and not some trapezoid or worse.
There was a similar device for check ropes available at auction. Tools use to be wonderful pieces of artwork too, I possesing some wonderful brass and box wood rulers and T squares, etc., that came into my possesion from a Cabinet maker relative.
Miriam • Link
Before donning bonnet remove bees.
JonTom Kittredge • Link
“Why wouldn’t his companions have known better?”
As far as why Sam alone did not try to scrape acknowledgement from HRM and HRH: perhaps because he was the lowest ranking of the company. Wasn't he the only one without a knighthood? So perhaps he had the least expectation of recognition. He also had the most realistic expectation, as it turned out.
Todd Bernhardt • Link
As the most junior member of the crew, Sam is also the most idealistic, and so in addition to being a pragmatist about such gatherings (he realizes there's very little chance of actually getting noticed), he'd rather keep his head down and get some work done, rather than being a suck-up. Or being perceived as one.
in Aqua Scripto • Link
TB: et. practical too ,"...had a little dish or two by myself..."
Second Reading
Sasha Clarkson • Link
A very long day for Sam up "betimes" - (4:30ish?) and still at the office after 9pm. While the others are in the crowd, hoping (and failing) to gain the attention of the royal pair, Sam has his meal, and then informally inspects the timber store and shipyard on his way home.
Sam probably feels that he has no need to be glimpsed by the Royals in a crowd. Instead he is acquiring his reputation as a man of business; he was doing Carteret's accounts a last week. When the knights come back, Carteret* is with them. Sam is still at work in the office. Carteret then has a conversation with Sam about the Navy finances and Parliament's current ugly mood.
Although Sam is junior, not an MP (yet); and nor does he have a title or (yet) a fortune, he has a higher profile than the knights with the royals via Sandwich (his relative), Carteret and Coventry. He also has regular meetings with the Duke prior to Tangier committee meetings.
* NB Carteret is a baronet and outranks the knights, as well as being of ancient lineage. These things barely matter today, but in Sam's times they mattered a great deal.
Jonathan V • Link
Very interesting, Sasha. The more I read of the Diary, the more intrigued I am by the social implications of everyone's behavior and how it's gauged.
Chris Squire UK • Link
In a world made up of rank and deference to it, the Sirs regarded attendance on the Royals as part of their duties:
’attendance, n. < Old French
. . 3. The action or condition of waiting upon, accompanying, or escorting a person, to do him service; ministration, assiduous service. in attendance: waiting upon, attending.
. . 4. The action or condition of an inferior in waiting the leisure, convenience, or decision of a superior.’
but some onlookers would say:
‘ . . 5. In senses 3, 4 the phrases to wait attendance (obs.), to dance attendance, occur= ‘to attend’; the latter usually with some shade of sarcasm or contempt.
. . 1628 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 3) iii. ii. ii. iv. 451 Shut him out of doores once or twice, let him dance attendance . . ‘
They may well have made it clear to our man that his attendance was not required as he was too junior; he may have been miffed at this or glad not to have to waste the time hanging about to no good purpose.
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘pettish, adj.< Apparently formed within English < pet n.3
Of a person or his or her behaviour: subject to fits of offended ill humour; childishly bad-tempered and petulant; peevish, sulky
. . a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) iv. 272 He became pettish, wayward, frantick, bloudy.
1666 S. Pepys Diary 6 Aug. (1972) VII. 236, I checked her, which made her mighty pettish . . ‘
San Diego Sarah • Link
Slide rules of the logarithm variety were available in Pepys' time. These first primitive computing devices led directly to the earliest concepts for programmable computers emerging in the mid-19th Century.
In 1614, John Napier proposed a new mathematical method, called the logarithm, which provided for an enhanced analytical scope.
(Mathematicians and computer programmers use logarithmic exponents to simplify complex mathematical calculations and to create specific software program outcomes, such as the creation of graphs that compare statistical data.)
John Napier's work on the logarithm first appeared in Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio, which became an influential text in the fields of mathematics and engineering, as well as physics and navigation.
Based on Napier's studies, the slide rule was first developed by Edmund Gunther. Gunther's Rule could be thought of as an early analog computer that used the principles of logarithms to multiply and divide.
Reverend William Oughtred further expanded on Gunther's design, combining two of Gunther's Rules to create what is now commonly regarded as the first recognizable Slide Rule.
Oughtred's slide rule designs were published by his student, William Forster, in 1632. From there, many other mathematicians and engineers developed and expanded upon Oughtred's designs, creating slide rules capable of calculating trigonometry, roots, and exponents. The slide rule made efforts at computation much faster.
For more about the history of the development of the computer:
https://interestingengineering.co…
Terry Foreman • Link
Napier didn't produce a calculating device using his logarithm, but, long before the slide rule, he published Napier's bones:
Napier's bones is a manually-operated calculating device created by John Napier of Merchiston, Scotland for the calculation of products and quotients of numbers. The method was based on lattice multiplication, and was also called 'rabdology', a word invented by Napier himself. Napier published his version in 1617 in Rabdologiæ[1], printed in Edinburgh, Scotland, dedicated to his patron Alexander Seton.
Using the multiplication tables embedded in the rods, multiplication can be reduced to addition operations and division to subtractions. More advanced use of the rods can even extract square roots. Napier's bones are not the same as logarithms, with which Napier's name is also associated, but are based on dissected multiplication tables.
The complete device usually includes a base board with a rim; the user places Napier's rods inside the rim to conduct multiplication or division. The board's left edge is divided into 9 squares, holding the numbers 1 to 9. In Napier's original design, the rods are made of metal, wood or ivory and have a square cross-section. Each rod is engraved with a multiplication table on each of the four faces. In some later designs, the rods may be flat and have two tables or only one table engraved on them, and may be made of plastic or heavy cardboard. A set of such bones might be enclosed in a convenient carrying case.
1 Multiplication
1.1 Example 1 – multiplication by a small single-digit number
1.2 Example 2 – multiplication by a larger single-digit number
1.3 Example 3 – multiplication by a multi-digit number
2 Division
3 Extracting square roots
3.1 Rounding up
4 Diagonal modification
5 Genaille–Lucas rulers
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…