Terry F on 30 Jun 2007  •  Link

"Great doubts yet whether the Dutch war go on or no."

L&M transcribe it more sensibly.

Terry F on 30 Jun 2007  •  Link

"I did doubt he might knock me on the head behind with his club."

Here "doubt" means "suspect." Evidently the man was not afraid of doggs.

Robert Gertz on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

"I doubt not God will forgive me for not forfeiting the 10l. promised."

I dunno Sam, isn't this the Lord Jehovah who smites and floods for rather minor transgressions? I see now we know the cause of the Great Plague, Fire, and Medway disaster.

***
"Young children of my Lord Sandwich gone with their mayds from my mother's, which troubles me, it being, I hear from Mr. Shepley, with great discontent, saying, that though they buy good meate, yet can never have it before it stinks, which I am ashamed of."

So that's it...Poor service at Chez Pepys of Brampton. I've little doubt it's the servants of the girls who began the complaining. Gee couldn't old Meg and Pall have hopped to it a little faster? They only had what, seven people plus God knows how many servants attending the Sandwich girls, to feed?

Sam is ashamed, deeply ashamed...Though not ashamed enough to spring for an extra 10 ls per annum to allow John and Meg to put on a half-decent show.

Cumsalisgrano on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

Wot the 'ell, by the time it be cut and sliced on the old chopping block and carted across the meadow to the kitchen in this sumer 'eat, with all those pesky flys a buzzing in thick clouds, the old cow be dead some some hours, the lavae be a hatching.

"...that though they buy good meate, yet can never have it before it stinks, which I am ashamed of...."

Paul Chapin on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

Mr. Shepley has decided to be a little more forthcoming than yesterday, when he said the girls left "without any great discontent." Now he says, "Well, actually ..."

Terry F on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

"paying all my petty debts and receipt of all my petty monies due to me"

They were negligible, my neglects -- petty, really, petty -- of no account.

"yet I bless God I am not conscious of any neglect in me that they are not done"

Never came to mind, else I would have lost sleep or even pony up.

"having not minded my pleasure at all, and so being resolved to take no manner of pleasure till it be done,"

Cherries and froliques are not "pleasure."

(Perhaps by "pleasure" Pepys means: OED Online b. The indulgence of physical, esp. sexual, desires or appetites; sensual or sexual gratification. to take one's pleasure: to have sexual intercourse.
?a1450 in H. Sandison Chanson d'Aventure in Middle Eng. (1913) 37 O brykell worlde..Thow provokest man to folowe sensualyte..Thow byddest hym folowe plesure. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl.) V. 373 A duke..entrenge in to that bedde hade his pleasure [a1387 J. TREVISA tr. lay by here], supposynge that hit hade bene the gentilwoman. a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) 95 Thi werkis [read werkirs]..receyvid..licence to walowe in ther flesshely pleasures and vnrefrayned lechery. 1562 in F. J. Furnivall Child-marriages Diocese Chester (1897) 75 He wold have had his pleasure of her. 1611 Bible (A.V.) Gen. xviii. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within her selfe, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I haue pleasure, my lord being old also? 1660 S. PEPYS Diary 8 Aug. (1970) I. 217 We lay there all night very pleasantly..I taking my pleasure with my wife in the morning. 1722 D. DEFOE Moll Flanders 29 We took our fill of our wicked Pleasure for near half a Year.?)

Terry F on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

(Naa: Pepys's "pleasure" is probably playgoing and printed paper.)

Terry F on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

cudgel, n.

1. A short thick stick used as a weapon; a club.
c897 ÆLFRED Gregory's Past. xl. 297 Ðæt hie midðæm kycglum [Cott. kyclum] hiera worda [verborum jacula] ongean hiera ierre worpigen. a899 tr. August. Soliloq. in Paul & Br. Beitr. IV. 110 [Ic] gaderode me þonne kigclas and stuþansceaftas. a1225 Ancr. R. 292 Mid te holie rode steaue, þet him is loðest kuggel, leie on þe deouel dogge. 1566 in W. H. TURNER Select. Rec. Oxford 252 This deponent had a lytell cogell. 1598 SHAKES. Merry W. IV. ii. 87 Heauen guide him to thy husbands cudgell: and the diuell guide his cudgell afterwards. 1618 ROWLANDS Night-Raven (1620) 29 Tom with his cudgell, well bebasts his bones. 1662 J. BARGRAVE Pope Alex. VII (1867) 121 I saw..a coggell of wood hanging in a small rope. 1727 SWIFT Gulliver II. vi. 146, I prepared two round sticks about the bigness of common cudgels. 1836 MARRYAT Japhet lxxix, Saluting him with several blows on his head with his cudgel.
(OED Online)

(cudgels *are* for doggs, and, I wot, not just for Anchoresses)

Bradford on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

Don't worry, Sam: maybe the Creator of the Universe doesn't covet that L10 as much as you do.

Cumsalisgrano on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

Cherry: had sexual conitations, in that the lads and lasses luved to be be chasted up the Cherry trees to become unchase then cherish during the picking of the cherised cherries and the ladds used the stones for ammo. Ah! mon cherie.
There cherry faires:

OED:
c1430 Chev. Assigne 329, I charde not y croyse..e valwe of a cherye. 1587 GASCOIGNE Wks. 85 That old love now was scarcely worth a cherry.

A little cherry; used fig. of a woman's lips, etc.

1611 SYLVESTER Ode to Astræa, Those twins thy strawberrie teates, Curled-purled cherrielets. a1674 HERRICK Descrip. Wom. 20 (1869) App. 434 Two smelling, swelling, bashful cherelettes.

Merry: esp. from conviviality.

[1602 MIDDLETON Blurt I. i, Tricks, tricks, kerry merry buff!]
1775 Cont. Sterne's Sent. Journ. 219 That every convivial assistant should go home cherry-merry.

Forms: . 1 cyrs, ciris; . 4 chiri(e, 4-7 chery(e, 5 cheri, chere, cherree, chiry, 6 chirrie, (cheryse), 6-7 cherie, cherrie, 6- cherry. [The OE. name ciris, cyrs (known only in comb.)

Cumsalisgrano on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

Cherry: had sexual conitations, in that the lads and lasses luved to be be chasted up the Cherry trees to become unchase then cherish during the picking of the cherised cherries and the ladds used the stones for ammo. Ah! mon cherie.
There cherry faires:

OED:
c1430 Chev. Assigne 329, I charde not y croyse..e valwe of a cherye. 1587 GASCOIGNE Wks. 85 That old love now was scarcely worth a cherry.

A little cherry; used fig. of a woman's lips, etc.

1611 SYLVESTER Ode to Astræa, Those twins thy strawberrie teates, Curled-purled cherrielets. a1674 HERRICK Descrip. Wom. 20 (1869) App. 434 Two smelling, swelling, bashful cherelettes.

Merry: esp. from conviviality.

[1602 MIDDLETON Blurt I. i, Tricks, tricks, kerry merry buff!]
1775 Cont. Sterne's Sent. Journ. 219 That every convivial assistant should go home cherry-merry.

Forms: . 1 cyrs, ciris; . 4 chiri(e, 4-7 chery(e, 5 cheri, chere, cherree, chiry, 6 chirrie, (cheryse), 6-7 cherie, cherrie, 6- cherry. [The OE. name ciris, cyrs (known only in comb.)

Pedro on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

"The Fleet ready in the Hope, of twelve sayle. The King and Queenes go on board, they say, on Saturday next."

Davidson in her biography of Catherine says...

Friction between Holland and England was high, and the English fleet fitted under Sandwich. Charles wrote to him that two deputies sent from Holland had arrived at "Margatt", but that he was not meaning to treat them until he had heard from Lord Halifax, and was extremely anxious that France should not think he was going to desert her interests.

"My wife" he adds, "is so faraide (sic) that she shall not see the fleet before it goes, that she intends to get out from hence on Monday next, with the afternoon tide. Therefore tell all your youghts except that which the french ambassador hath to be ready at Gravesend by that time. I hope that you do not forget to call those captains who have not done well to account, that they may receive the punishment due to their merritts."

Davidson adds...probably Catherine, in her continual efforts to interest herself in all he was interested in, expressed all the eagerness she was capable of for his sake.

(On this score the Portuguese biographer Casimiro differs. Catherine, although brought up in a convent was not a recluse, and was genuinely interested in the welfare of the fleet. The convent was near the Palace and she played with her young brothers in the gardens overlooking the Tejo. She was well aware of the great discoveries of the Portuguese navigators and the Dutch invasion of Brazil. She saw great fleets go out in the fight for independence from Spain, some that never returned.)

Michael Robinson on 1 Jul 2007  •  Link

"I bless God I am not conscious of any neglect in me ... I doubt not God will forgive me for not forfeiting the 10l. promised."

Today the BCP daily Calendar of Lessons (1662) begins the Book of Job:-

"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. ...

[1] Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
[2] Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
[3] Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
[4] Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
[5] Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
[6] Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
[7] When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
[8] Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? ...

[1] Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
[2] Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? ..."

Job 38 vv. 1-8, 40 vv.1-2 AV
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/k…

Robert Gertz on 2 Jul 2007  •  Link

"I doubt not God will forgive me for not forfeiting the 10l. promised."

Lets see...In buying power 50Ls was a good clerk's salary, I would guess equivalent to $25-30K today at least so 10Ls about $5-6K. Hmmn...Does the Mob still break your legs for $5K?

"And Jesus said unto his disciples...'There will be a man called Pepys, rich in manifold blessings of this world, who will disdain to pay up to the poor for his breaking of vows. And, ohhh...If you thought the rich guy in Hell who ended up begging to just have his sores licked in my last parable had it tough'..."

***

Pedro on 3 Jul 2007  •  Link

On this day...

Holmes is on his way home. To do so at this season a ship would steer well to the southward of the Gold Coast to pick up the South West Trades. On June 30th they sighted a sail off the mouth of the Gabon, the only ship they were to meet along the empty coast of red and white cliffs and sandy bays. She proved to be a pinnace of the Royal Company, bound for her base at Kormantin.

(Man of War by Ollard)

Australian Susan on 4 Jul 2007  •  Link

Pleasure

This word did have sexual reverberations at that time (women talked or wrote of being "pleasured" by a man, but I think if Sam had meant that, he would have been rather more circumspect in his language: he's often quite coy about sexual activity.

Stinking meat

Meat was often eaten in those days in a state which we would call "high", so if the Sandwich girls (or, I agree, more likely the maids!) were complaining, it must have been thoroughly rotten. Has the Brampton summer been excessively hot? That does speed up the process of meat becoming maggotty. It was noted when the First Fleet landed in Australia in January 1788 (height of the antipodean summer, that a sheep killed for a celebration dinner was riddled with maggots within two hours.

Australian Susan on 4 Jul 2007  •  Link

"doing all my business in paying all my petty debts and receipt of all my petty monies due to me, "

The end of June is the end of another quarter, so a time for reckoning up. Sam's comment rings true with me at the moment grappling with end of quarter Business Activity Statement [makes sign to avoid evil eye], but I have the Australian Tax Office to Make Me Do It - I admire Sam with his vows and troubled conscience over his "petty monies".

Cumsalisgrano on 5 Jul 2007  •  Link

"doing all my business in paying all my petty debts and receipt of all my petty monies due to me, "

emphazised by Aus. Susan: Samuell should get a double entree for this; the first citation be for monie [cash] 1715 none before.
petty cash n. an accessible store of money, esp. as kept by an organization for expenditure on small items.

1715 R. NORTH Gentleman Accomptant 21 A school-Boy, bid to accompt for his *petty Cash, will naturally fall in to do it so.
\
peti
< Anglo-Norman and Middle French petit PETIT adj. (see discussion s.v.).
In petty nephew at Special uses 2, petty son Special uses 2, etc. after Middle French, French petit-neveu (1579-2), petit-fils (1563-2), etc.
Attested earlier in surnames, as Ad. Petipas (1191-2), Ricardus Pitecoc (1196-2)

I. Senses relating to relative importance.
b. spec. in Law.
2. a. Of little importance, insignificant, trivial. Freq. depreciative.
petty exchange n. Obs. the exchange of one type of coin for another. 1682

1682 J. SCARLETT Stile of Exchanges 2 This Exchange is two-fold, viz. An Exchanging of Monyes for Monyes, one Coyn or sort for another; and a giving of Money upon Exchange for a Bill, &c. The former of these is *Petty Exchange, the latter Real.
petty farm n. now hist. a minor source of government revenue; = PETTY CUSTOM n. 1600 C

arby on 29 Jun 2017  •  Link

Susan of 2007, I think I've mentioned before that Australian maggots are much quicker off the mark than most. The blow-fly eggs hatch very quickly, food can become "fly blown" in a few hours. I worked the night shift in Sydney, and the supper meal would be covered and put aside for me in a closed cabinet for my lunch. I had to abandon it several times because of maggots and go in search of peanut butter and bread instead.

Bridget Carrie Davis on 1 Jul 2017  •  Link

they buy good meate, yet can never have it before it stinks, which I am ashamed of.

I cannot imagine what excuse they have for letting meat go that bad instead of just cooking it. I feel for you, Sam; this will not help your relationship with Sandwich.

Sasha Clarkson on 1 Jul 2017  •  Link

Imagine life without refrigerators: managing the purchase, storage and use of perishables would have been challenging. Pepys parents might have found this more difficult at Brampton than in Fleet St, where everything would have been available within easy walking distance?

Bridget Carrie Davis on 2 Jul 2017  •  Link

I think I see your point, Sasha; thanks. Perhaps the elder Pepys simply did not have the resources.

Sasha Clarkson on 2 Jul 2017  •  Link

I was born in 1955 Bridget, and we didn't have a fridge 'till I was eight or nine :)

Terry Foreman on 2 Jul 2017  •  Link

Sasha, I was born in 1943. This takes me back to before we had a fridge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice…

On the farm in Missouri (think Brampton) there was a root cellar apart from the house which was moderately cool and an ice house: "During the winter, ice [was cut from a nearby river] and taken into the ice house and packed with insulation, often straw or sawdust. It would remain frozen for many months, often until the following winter, and could be used as a source of ice during summer months. " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice…

San Diego Sarah on 3 Jul 2017  •  Link

Ice houses:
https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-…

"WALKING into Ham House triggers a strange feeling of deja vu. The handsome 17th Century property - a Jacobean stately home in the hands of The National Trust - sits in lush parkland next to the River Thames at Richmond.

"There's plenty to see at Ham House including the dairy, featuring tables with supports shaped like cows' legs, a still house, and a fine ice house which was filled during the winter with ice cut from the Thames. "