Sunday 9 September 1666

(Sunday). Up and was trimmed, and sent my brother to Woolwich to my wife, to dine with her. I to church, where our parson made a melancholy but good sermon; and many and most in the church cried, specially the women. The church mighty full; but few of fashion, and most strangers. I walked to Bednall Green, and there dined well, but a bad venison pasty at Sir W. Rider’s. Good people they are, and good discourse; and his daughter, Middleton, a fine woman, discreet. Thence home, and to church again, and there preached Dean Harding; but, methinks, a bad, poor sermon, though proper for the time; nor eloquent, in saying at this time that the City is reduced from a large folio to a decimotertio. So to my office, there to write down my journall, and take leave of my brother, whom I sent back this afternoon, though rainy; which it hath not done a good while before. But I had no room or convenience for him here till my house is fitted; but I was very kind to him, and do take very well of him his journey. I did give him 40s. for his pocket, and so, he being gone, and, it presently rayning, I was troubled for him, though it is good for the fyre. Anon to Sir W. Pen’s to bed, and made my boy Tom to read me asleep.


15 Annotations

First Reading

Tyneside Lurker  •  Link

Why no tryst with Bagwell's wife? (As sign posted by yesterday's entry)

Elizabeth is down at Woolwich, Sam gets brother John out of the way by sending him down river to dine with Elizabeth.

Did Sam become so engrossed in writing up his journal that he forgot the planned slap and tickle with La Bagwell?

CGS  •  Link

"...a fine woman, discreet..."
discrete :"not wot went thru me mind"
I guess one could say a bit standoffish rather than not letting on to some of the rumoured antics of the writer.
discrete:A. adj.

1. a. Separate, detached from others, individually distinct. Opposed to continuous.
1398....
1634 PEACHAM Gentl. Exerc. III. 137 Raine or water..being divided by the cold ayre, in the falling downe, into discreet parts.

2. a. Consisting of distinct or individual parts; discontinuous.
discrete quantity, quantity composed of distinct units, as the rational numbers; number. Distinguished from continuous quantity = magnitude.
1570...
b. Belonging to, pertaining to, or dealing with, distinct or disconnected parts.
discrete proportion = DISCONTINUED proportion.
1660 R. COKE Justice Vind. 23 All Geometrical proportion is either discrete, or continued. Discrete is, when the similitudo rationum is only between the 1. and the 2. and the 3. and 4. term..

3. Gram. & Logic. Of conjunctions: adversative. Of propositions: discretive. Applied also to the two members of such a proposition, separated by the adversative conjunction. Obs.
1628 ...
1654 Z. COKE Logick (1657) 119 A discrete sentence, is, which hath a discrete conjunction; as, although, yet, notwithstanding, etc.

1664 H. MORE Myst. Iniq. Apol. 538 [It will] run in this form of a Discrete Axiome, I will have you wait on me at such a meeting, though your cloaths be old or out of the mode.

4. Metaph. Not concrete; detached from the material, abstract.
1854
DISCREET:
[ME. discret, discrete, a. F. discret, -ète (12th c. in Littré), ‘qui se conduit avec discernement’, ad. L. discr{emac}tus, in late L. and Rom. sense: cf. It. and Sp. discreto ‘discreet, wise, wary, considerate, circumspect’ (Florio), ‘discreet, wise to perceiue’ (Minsheu). A doublet of DISCRETE, differentiated in sense and spelling.
In cl. Lat., discr{emac}t-us had only the sense ‘separate, distinct’, as pa. pple. of discern{ebreve}re, whence the corresponding mod.F. sense of discret, and Eng. DISCRETE. The late L. sense, which alone came down in popular use in Romanic, seems to have been deduced from the cognate n. discr{emac}ti{omac}n-em, originally the action of separating, distinguishing, or discerning, and then the faculty of discernment; hence the adjective may have taken the sense ‘possessed of discernment’.
In Eng., discrete was the prevalent spelling in all senses until late in the 16th c., when on the analogy of native or early-adopted words in ee from ME. close {emac}, as feet, sweet, beet), the spelling discreet (occasional from 1400) became established in the popular sense, leaving discrete for the scholastic and technical sense in which the kinship to L. discr{emac}tus is more obvious: see DISCRETE. Shakespeare (1st Folio) has always discreet.]

A. adj.

1. Showing discernment or judgement in the guidance of one's own speech and action; judicious, prudent, circumspect, cautious; often esp. that can be silent when speech would be inconvenient. a. Of persons.
1340
...1598 FLORIO, Discreto, discreet. 1644 MILTON Judgm. Bucer (1851) 332 We must ever beware, lest..we make our selvs wiser and discreeter then God. 1660 F. BROOKE tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 251 His wife being very reserv'd and discreet in her husbands presence, but in his absence more free and jolly.

2. In Sc. applied more to behaviour towards others; hence, well-spoken, well-behaved, civil, polite, courteous; ‘not rude, not doing anything inconsistent with delicacy towards a female’ (Jam.).
[1727-46
3. Rare 16th c. spelling of DISCRETE, q.v.

Ruben  •  Link

"made my boy Tom to read me asleep"
No radio?

ONeville  •  Link

No radio?

The BBC have obviously become BBQ.

Bryan M  •  Link

"...and take leave of my brother, whom I sent back this afternoon, ... I did give him 40s. for his pocket, and so, he being gone, and, it presently rayning, I was troubled for him"

John is finally back in favour. 40s "for his pocket" was reasonably generous given that as recently as 17 June he was still in Sam's bad books: "Then as to John ... I declaring that I am not pleased with him yet".

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...our parson made a melancholy but good sermon; and many and most in the church cried..."

"Oh Lord, we are too much to blame...Our sins have brought this destruction on our heads. Too many of us, too many are disdainful, Lord...Sinning without regard, breaking vows of marriage and faith. Pepys, this means you!"

Hmmn...Sam blinks...Waking.

Right, Bagwell...Bad idea at such a time, Lord. I get it. Mea culpa.

Cactus Wren  •  Link

I'm with Sam: "reduced from a folio to a decimotertio" has to be one of the most awkward similes ever conceived.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ...there preached Dean Harding; but, methinks, a bad, poor sermon, though proper for the time; ..."

Hardy's sermon at matins made print: he was 'sighing forth' to a different congregation so quite possibly his afternoon effort was very similar, based on the same preaching notes, if not identical.

Lamentation, mourning, and woe. Sighed forth in a sermon preached in the parish-church of St. Martin in the Fields, on the 9th day of September. Being the next Lords-day after the dismal fire in the city of London. By Nath. Hardy D.D.D.R. Chaplain in ordinary to His Majesty, and Vicar of the said parish-church.
London : printed by Tho. Newcomb for William Grantham, at the sign of the Black Bear in Westminster-Hall, 1666.
4to. [8], 31, [1] p. ; Wing (CD-ROM, 1996), H728

language hat  •  Link

"I’m with Sam: 'reduced from a folio to a decimotertio' has to be one of the most awkward similes ever conceived."

Yes, that struck me too, and it's nice to see Sam showing conscious literary/writerly discrimination (especially after his occasional slighting remarks about Shakespeare!).

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ... reduced from a large folio to a decimotertio ..."

Hardy must have been preaching on the text of Ezekiel 2 9-10; it explains his choice of metaphor, but its pretty lame.

"9: And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
10: And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe."

http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/…

Spoiler -- Can't resist my favorite use of this simile:

The body of
B. Franklin, Printer
(Like the Cover of an Old Book
Its Contents torn Out
And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding)
Lies Here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be Lost;
For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More
In a New and More Elegant Edition
Revised and Corrected
By the Author.

Jesse  •  Link

"...that the City is reduced..."

So close to events it was almost bad taste. More than a few hundred and some score years later, well it was so bad I couldn't have been the only one to crack a smile at reading it.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I wonder if that...Oh, Lord...Fire was bad enough, but this..."bad venison pasty" was made from that awful (moldy?) naval biscuit Charlie offered to the poor.

JWB  •  Link

"...a bad venison pasty..."
"...a bad, poor sermon...the City is reduced from a large folio to a decimotertio..."

Brings to mind Marianne Moore's, niece of Presbyterian minister w/ whom she lived, line that poems were like "imaginary gardens with real toads in them".

CGS  •  Link

"40s “for his pocket” was reasonably generous"
It was a bludy fortune.
In 1950 I got 28 shillings/week for putting my life on the line, another 10s for hitting the silk.
A cup of char was 1d now 960d. 2 gold coins then 40s, now new over 8800s [last quote for sovereign new approx 220 l each]
I would not mind some one giving me a gold sovereign. I could pay my rent.
If those coins that Samuell had buried had never been found until now, now there be a dream.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"So...take leave of my brother, whom I sent back this afternoon, though rainy; which it hath not done a good while before."

L&M: Dr D.J. Schove writes: 'In south-east England there had been little rain, except for a few thunderstorms, since October of the previous year and August had been particularly hot. The drought contributed to the destructiveness of the fire.' D,J. Schove, Weather, 21/271+.

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