The Diary by Samuel Pepys (children's ebooks online TXT) π
Description
Pepysβ Diary is an incredibly frank decade-long snapshot of the life of an up and coming naval administrator in mid-17th century London. In it he describes everything from battles against the Dutch and the intrigues of court, down to the plays he saw, his marital infidelities, and the quality of the meat provided for his supper. His observations have proved invaluable in establishing an accurate record of the daily life of the people of London of that period.
Pepys eventually stopped writing his diary due to progressively worse eyesight, a condition he feared. He did consider employing an amanuensis to transcribe future entries for him, but worried that the content he wanted written would be too personal. Luckily for Pepys, his eyesight difficulties never progressed to blindness and he was able to go on to become both a Member of Parliament and the President of the Royal Society.
After Pepysβ death he left his large library of books and manuscripts first to his nephew, which was then passed on to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where it survives to this day. The diary, originally written in a shorthand, was included in this trove and was eventually deciphered in the early 19th century, and published by Lord Baybrooke in 1825. This early release censored large amounts of the text, and it was only in the 1970s that an uncensored version was published. Presented here is the 1893 edition, which restores the majority of the originally censored content but omits βa few passages which cannot possibly be printed.β The rich collection of endnotes serve to further illustrate the lives of the people Pepys meets and the state of Englandβs internal politics and international relations at the time.
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- Author: Samuel Pepys
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Lord Ashworth is probably a miswriting for Lord Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury). β©
John Berkinshaw (see note 1291). In the minutes of the Royal Society there is the following entry: βNov. 12, 1662. Mr. Berckenshawβs paper on music was presented by Dr. Charlton; and Lord Viscount Brouncker was desired to examine itβ (Birchβs History of the Royal Society, vol. i, p. 125). β©
The ambassador sent from the States General was Herr Van Goch (see Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1663β ββ 64, pp. 620, 670, 674). β©
Henry Russell, a waterman. β©
Sir John Coke (1563β ββ 1644) in 1618 was one of a special commission appointed for the examination of the state of the navy. He was rewarded for his work in the reform of the naval administration by a grant of Β£300 a year, charged on the funds of the navy, and expressly stated to be given βfor his service in several marine causes, and for the office of ordnance, which he had long attended far remote from his family and to his great chargeβ (November, 1621). ββ Dictionary of National Biography β©
The Cherry Garden was a place of public entertainment at Rotherhithe. The site is marked by Cherry Garden Stairs, a landing-pier for Thames steamers and small boats. β©
Dr. Thomas Hodges, vicar of Kensington and rector of St. Peterβs, Cornhill. He had been, in September, 1661, preferred to the deanery of Hereford, which he held with his two livings till his death, August 22nd, 1672. ββ B. β©
βTaille, the proportion, size, or stature of a man.β
Cotgraveβs French Dictionaryβ©
The house, afterwards known as Nottingham House and Kensington Palace, was at this time the seat of Sir Heneage Finch, created Earl of Nottingham, 1681. It was sold by his son to King William, who greatly improved it. β©
Laver denotes a pond, cistern, trough, or conduit. βLaver, to washe at, lavoyrβ (Palsgrave). β©
Among the State Papers is a petition of Captain Edward Witham (1663?) for half-pay or employment, his troop of horse at Tangiers being disbanded and he in poverty, and the other officers being on half-pay (Calendar, 1663β ββ 64, p. 422). β©
Bearβs Quay was a market for corn near Billingsgate. β©
Lord Sandwichβs daughters. β©
We have here a curious picture of the dreadful state of the streets in London in 1664. No improvement of what they were a century before, when they were described as βvery foul, full of pits and sloughs, very perilous and noxiousβ (Knightβs London, vol. i, p. 26), appears to have taken place. The alarm of Lady Paulina and Pepys at night was not surprising. ββ B. β©
Kensington. β©
Reports of De Ruyterβs death were frequently abroad. He did not die till 1676. β©
Lady Gold married Thomas Neale. She had four brothers. β©
Sidney Montagu, second son of the Earl of Sandwich, who afterwards assumed the name of Wortley, and was father of Edward Wortley Montagu (husband of the celebrated Lady Mary Wortley Montagu). β©
βThere died this last weeke at Amsterdam 730, but they feare an increase this weeke; and the plague is scattered generally over the whole country, even to Little Dorps and Villages: and it is gott to Antwerp and Bruxells, so that they will not suffer any ships or vessels of Holland or Zeland to come to Antwerp; and 2 severall shipps are returned out of Spaine for that they would not suffer them to have any trade at all there.β
Sir George Downings letter to Lord Clarendon, July 29th, 1664. Listerβs Life of Clarendon, vol. iii, p. 331β©
From the commencement of the reign of Henry VIII, or perhaps earlier, it was the custom of the City of London to provide against scarcity, by requiring each of the chartered Companies to keep in store a certain quantity of corn, which was to be renewed from time to time, and when required for that purpose, produced in the market for sale, at such times and prices, and in such quantities, as the Lord Mayor or Common Council should direct. See the report of a case in the Court of Chancery, βAttorney-General v. Haberdashersβ Companyβ (Mylne and Keens Reports, vol. i, p. 420). ββ B. β©
This seems to refer to knee timber, of which there was not a sufficient supply. A proposal was made to produce this bent wood artificially:
βJune 22, 1664. Sir William Petty intimated that it seemed by the scarcity and greater rate of knee timber that nature did not furnish crooked wood enough for building: wherefore he thought it would be fit to raise by art, so much of it in proportion, as to reduce it to an equal rate with strait timber.β
Birchβs History of the Royal Societyβ©
See September 3rd, 1661. β©
Pliny tells us that cherries were introduced into Britain by the Romans, and Lydgate alludes to them as sold in the London streets. Richard Haines, fruiterer to Henry VIII, imported a number of cherry trees from Flanders, and planted them at Tenham, in Kent. Hence the fame of the Kentish cherries. β©
Glossarium Archaiologicum, of which only the first part, to the letter L, was published by Spelman himself, 1626; the work was completed in 1664 by Sir William Dugdale from the authorβs papers. Sir Henry Spelman died, October, 1641, at
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