"The Robbins cheerfully utter their Notes this morn" -- Samuel Sewall, "Diary" -- March 16, 1703.

Speranza

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Sewall, Samuel. Born: 1652 AD. Died: 1730 AD, at 77 years of age. Nationality: American Categories: Abolitionist. 1652 - Born at Hampshire, England on the 28th of March. 1661 - He emigrated from England to the Massachusetts colony. 1692 - He also entered local politics, and was elevated to the judiciary that judged the people in Salem accused of witchcraft. 1730 - Died in Boston, Massachusetts on the 1st of January.

1703 S. SEWALL Diary 16 Mar. (1879) II. 75

The Robbins cheerfully utter their Notes this morn.

Seeing that Sewall was Hampshire (rather than New Hampshire) born, I would think that he perhaps thought that the 'robbins' that he heard as "cheerfully uttering their notes" that morn of March 16, 1703 -- when he was:


1703
- 1652
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at age 51

He was 51.

He heard, rather than saw the things, and said, to his diary (cfr. Grice on 'utterer's meaning in the absence of an audience" -- diary writing):

"The Robbins cheerfully utter their Notes this morn."

We can assume that he was familiar with

robin = Eritacus rubecula.

(Possibly, Sewall would spell that 'robbin').

So, for Sewall there's

'robbin'---> the "Erithacus rubecula"

and

"the Robbins cheerfully utter their Notes this morn."

---- He could NOT have thought that those were specimens of Eritacus rubecula. So perhaps he was wrong.