"I to the Cockpitt, with much crowding and waiting, where I saw “The Valiant Cidd” —[Translated from the “Cid” of Corneille]— acted, a play I have read with great delight, but is a most dull thing acted, which I never understood before, there being no pleasure in it, though done by Betterton and by Ianthe, And another fine wench that is come in the room of Roxalana"
L&M: The play was an English version of Corneille's tragedy Le Cid (1637); probably Joseph Rutter's verse translation with alterations, published in 1637 and 1650. Thomas Betterton was the leading actor in the Duke of York's Company, which had evidently been engaged for this private performance at the Cockpit, Whitehall. Mrs Saunderson, here called 'Ianthe' after her part in The siege of Rhodes, became Mrs Betterton on the 24th of this month. The actress who replaced Mrs /hester Davenport as Roxalana in The siege of Rhodes was Mre Norton: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
The beauty patch was a little mark with a big impact. Once upon a time, it was all the rage to adorn oneself with beauty patches. These little material creations were stuck onto the skin to emphasise the whiteness of the complexion and to conceal blemishes. They also had hidden meaning and we look at what the little marks came to signify.
Roman Era
Patches were seen during the Roman era when a Roman woman would wear small and round beauty spots called splenia.
Sometimes they were worn profusely, as noted by Roman poets including Ovid and, as quoted below, Martial:
“A number of beauty spots covered her superb forehead.”
A Roman lawyer, Regulus, apparently wore a patch on the right of his forehead when pleading for the defendant, and on the left when working for the plaintiff.
16th Century
In the 16th century, beauty patches were seen once again, most likely to cover up skin blemishes.
The use of harmful lead-based cosmetics, as well as diseases like smallpox, left people with damaged skin, scars and pock-marks. Therefore, beauty patches were a convenient way to cover things up.
17th Century It was during the 17th century that patches really took off and became a fashion statement, in particular for the upper classes. They were worn by men and women alike.
In France, the use of patches increased dramatically under Louis XIV (1638-1715) and continued into Louis XV’s reign.
The French nobility had a fondness for lily-white skin and white-coloured wigs. To emphasise someone’s place in society, the use of white face paint, rouged cheeks and the wearing of patches was the done thing. The French called beauty patches mouches meaning flies.
"her desiring a woman, and how little charge she did intend it to be to me, so I begun and argued it as full and plain to her, and she to reason it highly to me, to put her away, and take one of the Bowyers if I did dislike her, that I did resolve when the house is ready she shall try her "
"my wife in her discontent sent me a letter, which I am in a quandary what to do, whether to read it or not, but I purpose not, but to burn it before her face, that I may put a stop to more of this nature."
News of Shaw's second marriage at c. 31 to Elizabeth Leywood, c. 43, is recoded at 12 November 1662. Their marriage license was issued on 27 September 1662. (L&M footnote)
"Thence towards my brother’s; met with Jack Cole in Fleet Street, and he and I went into his cozen Mary Cole’s (whom I never saw since she was married), and drank a pint of wine and much good discourse. I found him a little conceited, but he had good things in him, and a man may know the temper of the City by him, he being of a general conversation, and can tell how matters go; and upon that score I will encourage his acquaintance."
L&M: At 31 December Pepys reports the Presbyterian clergy as quiescent: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… He is referring here to lay opinion, perhaps as reported by Jack Cole and the Crews.
L&M: Shortly after the Restoration Barkstead had fled to Germany. (On 6 June 1660 he had been exempted from pardon: Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
"And now privately the woman, Barkestead’s great confident, is brought, who do positively say that this is the place which he did say the money was hid in, and where he and she did put up the 50,000l.1 in butter firkins; and the very day that he went out of England"
L&M: Shortly after the Restoration Barkstead had fled to Germany. (On 6 June 1660 he had been exempted from pardon: CJ, viii. 57.) Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
"He would go to the Red Bull, and when the man cried to the boys, “Who will go and be a devil, and he shall see the play for nothing?” then would he go in, and be a devil upon the stage, and so get to see plays."
L&M: Before 1642 the Red Bull playhouse in St John's St, Clerkenwell, had catered for prebian tastes, and one type of production especially favoured there was colloquially known as 'infernal' -- a play containing diabolical apparitions. Killegrew had evidently been recruited in entertainments of this kind.
Comments
Second Reading
About Tuesday 2 December 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"where we sat as Commissioners for the Chest,"
L&M: Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Mr Golding
Terry Foreman • Link
Mr Golding is a barber in Greenwich, who 'plays fiddle very well'.
(L&M Index and Pepys at 26 Oct 1665)
About Monday 1 December 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"I to the Cockpitt, with much crowding and waiting, where I saw “The Valiant Cidd” —[Translated from the “Cid” of Corneille]— acted, a play I have read with great delight, but is a most dull thing acted, which I never understood before, there being no pleasure in it, though done by Betterton and by Ianthe, And another fine wench that is come in the room of Roxalana"
L&M: The play was an English version of Corneille's tragedy Le Cid (1637); probably Joseph Rutter's verse translation with alterations, published in 1637 and 1650. Thomas Betterton was the leading actor in the Duke of York's Company, which had evidently been engaged for this private performance at the Cockpit, Whitehall. Mrs Saunderson, here called 'Ianthe' after her part in The siege of Rhodes, became Mrs Betterton on the 24th of this month. The actress who replaced Mrs /hester Davenport as Roxalana in The siege of Rhodes was Mre Norton: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Patches, Black
Terry Foreman • Link
Beauty Patches
https://hair-and-makeup-artist.co…
The beauty patch was a little mark with a big impact. Once upon a time, it was all the rage to adorn oneself with beauty patches. These little material creations were stuck onto the skin to emphasise the whiteness of the complexion and to conceal blemishes. They also had hidden meaning and we look at what the little marks came to signify.
Roman Era
Patches were seen during the Roman era when a Roman woman would wear small and round beauty spots called splenia.
Sometimes they were worn profusely, as noted by Roman poets including Ovid and, as quoted below, Martial:
“A number of beauty spots covered her superb forehead.”
A Roman lawyer, Regulus, apparently wore a patch on the right of his forehead when pleading for the defendant, and on the left when working for the plaintiff.
16th Century
In the 16th century, beauty patches were seen once again, most likely to cover up skin blemishes.
The use of harmful lead-based cosmetics, as well as diseases like smallpox, left people with damaged skin, scars and pock-marks. Therefore, beauty patches were a convenient way to cover things up.
17th Century
It was during the 17th century that patches really took off and became a fashion statement, in particular for the upper classes. They were worn by men and women alike.
In France, the use of patches increased dramatically under Louis XIV (1638-1715) and continued into Louis XV’s reign.
The French nobility had a fondness for lily-white skin and white-coloured wigs. To emphasise someone’s place in society, the use of white face paint, rouged cheeks and the wearing of patches was the done thing. The French called beauty patches mouches meaning flies.
About Sunday 30 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"Dined alone with my wife to-day with great content, my house being quite clean from top to bottom."
L&M: Builders' work had begun (with the untiling of his roof) on 14 July.
Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Monday 24 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
Gad
An exclamatory interjection roughly equivalent to by God, goodness gracious, for goodness' sake.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ga…'%20sake.
About Monday 24 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
The image of the 1662 coin
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&u…
About Monday 24 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"the stamps of the new money that is now to be made by Blondeau’s fashion, which are very neat, and like the King"
L&M: For the new coinage of 1662-3, made by the mint engineer Pierre Blondeau, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
The work of making the coins began on 6 February 1663. They were a great improvement on the immediately preceding issue:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Henry Slingsby was Master of the Mint.
About Monday 17 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"At White Hall by appointment, Mr. Creed carried my wife and I to the Cockpitt
Cockpit"
L&M: The royal private theatre adjoined Whitehall Palace. (see link in the text)
About Jane Davis
Terry Foreman • Link
L&M: For his wife's and servants' high-handedness, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 14 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"her desiring a woman, and how little charge she did intend it to be to me, so I begun and argued it as full and plain to her, and she to reason it highly to me, to put her away, and take one of the Bowyers if I did dislike her, that I did resolve when the house is ready she shall try her "
L&M: Gosnell: see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Thursday 13 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"my wife in her discontent sent me a letter, which I am in a quandary what to do, whether to read it or not, but I purpose not, but to burn it before her face, that I may put a stop to more of this nature."
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Robin Shaw
Terry Foreman • Link
News of Shaw's second marriage at c. 31 to Elizabeth Leywood, c. 43, is recoded at 12 November 1662. Their marriage license was issued on 27 September 1662. (L&M footnote)
About Monday 10 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"Thence towards my brother’s; met with Jack Cole in Fleet Street, and he and I went into his cozen Mary Cole’s (whom I never saw since she was married), and drank a pint of wine and much good discourse. I found him a little conceited, but he had good things in him, and a man may know the temper of the City by him, he being of a general conversation, and can tell how matters go; and upon that score I will encourage his acquaintance."
L&M: At 31 December Pepys reports the Presbyterian clergy as quiescent: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
He is referring here to lay opinion, perhaps as reported by Jack Cole and the Crews.
About Friday 7 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
L&M: Shortly after the Restoration Barkstead had fled to Germany. (On 6 June 1660 he had been exempted from pardon: Cf.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 7 November 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"And now privately the woman, Barkestead’s great confident, is brought, who do positively say that this is the place which he did say the money was hid in, and where he and she did put up the 50,000l.1 in butter firkins; and the very day that he went out of England"
L&M: Shortly after the Restoration Barkstead had fled to Germany. (On 6 June 1660 he had been exempted from pardon: CJ, viii. 57.) Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 31 October 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"But for certain some plots there hath been, though not brought to a head."
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 31 October 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"And all I do impute almost wholly to my late temperance, since my making of my vowes against wine and plays"
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Thursday 30 October 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"He would go to the Red Bull, and when the man cried to the boys, “Who will go and be a devil, and he shall see the play for nothing?” then would he go in, and be a devil upon the stage, and so get to see plays."
L&M: Before 1642 the Red Bull playhouse in St John's St, Clerkenwell, had catered for prebian tastes, and one type of production especially favoured there was colloquially known as 'infernal' -- a play containing diabolical apparitions. Killegrew had evidently been recruited in entertainments of this kind.
About Saturday 25 October 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"All the afternoon alone at my office and among my workmen, who (I mean the joyners) have even ended "
L&M: Sc. just ended.