"my bringing in of callicos to oppose Young and Whistler."
In setting himself up as a competing contractor to sell calico to the navy, Pepys is doing something a rule forbids, as an L&M note to yesterday's entry points out. This conflict-of-interest biz will bite back; we will hear more of it on into next year.
Spoiler: Calico had been used for flags by the Spanish, but in the English climate, they will be found too heavy to fly.
Lenses of eyeglasses are a great aid for those of us, like Pepys, with less-than-optimal vision, but it wouldn't be until "1752 [that] James Ayscough advertised his latest invention--spectacles with double hinged side pieces. These became extremely popular and appear more often than any other kind in paintings, prints, and caricatures of the period. "
William Coventry to Sandwich Written from: [St James's]
Date: 6 October 1664
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 230 Document type: Holograph
Corrects a misapprehension of the meaning of a passage in one of his former letters, as to the sending of some ships, "not completely manned", to Plymouth, to ease the victualler, and to receive their complement of men.
Communicates the Lord Admiral's intentions as to promotion of officers. Adds that Prince Rupert is fallen into Lee Road. Encloses a Commission for Captain Page.
"The Parson's Wedding,...a pre-restoration play,...[and very popular during the Restoration] is a comedy of almost unexampled coarseness, a quality which the author had not found in his source, Calderon's Dama Duende." http://www.bartleby.com/218/0506.…
William Coventry to Sandwich Written from: [St James's]
Date: 4 October 1664
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 228 Document type: Holograph
News has come that the Dutch fleet for Guinea has embarked its soldiers, & is but waiting for a wind. The Dutch are said to be building 24 new and great ships, Zealand, being esteemed free of the Plague, has obtained permission for the entry of its ships into French ports, a privilege denied to Holland.
William Coventry to Sandwich Written from: St James's
Date: 3 October 1664
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 226 Document type: Holograph
Sends further particulars of the progress of impressment in the West of England; and of the speedy sailing of the Fleet under Prince Rupert. Adds that H.R.H. the Lord Admiral intends to go to sea himself. The Flag-ship is not definitely chosen, but is to be commanded by Sir W. Penn.
L&M say this is the picture "in St. Botolph's (no longer there)" to which Pepys here refers. "The image of the Eikon Basilike was engraved by William Marshall (fl. 1617-49) and produced within days of the King's martyrdom. It was of such popularity that Marshall had to re-engrave the plates eight times." http://www.skcm.org/SCharles/Eiko…
"CLERKENWELL, an extensive parish, in the Finsbury division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county of Middlesex; separated from the city of London on the south by the intervening parish of St. Sepulchre, and on the west by the liberties of Saffron-Hill and Ely-Rents; and containing, with the chapelry of Pentonville, 56,756 inhabitants. This place derives its name from an ancient well, round which the clerks, or inferior clergy, of London, were in the habit of assembling at certain periods, for the performance of sacred dramas, as noticed in the reign of Henry II. by Fitz-Stephen, who calls the well Fons Clericorum. The site appears to have been well adapted for the purpose, being in the centre of gently rising grounds, that formed an extensive natural amphitheatre, for the accommodation of the numerous spectators who attended. The most celebrated of these festivals occurred in 1391, in the reign of Richard II., and continued for three days, during which several sacred dramas were performed by the clerks, in presence of the king and queen, attended by the whole court. Soon after the year 1100, Jordan Briset and Muriel his wife founded a priory here for nuns of the Benedictine order, dedicated to St. Mary, and the site of which is now occupied by St. James's church:" http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Clerkenwell's parish green led into Aylsbury Street, east of St. James church on the west side of this segment of the 1746 Rocque map http://www.motco.com/map/81002/Se…
"The origin of the term "pressing," with its cognates "to press" and "pressed," is not less remarkable than the genesis of the violence it so aptly describes. Originally the man who was required for the king's service at sea, like his twin brother the soldier, was not "pressed" in the sense in which we now use the term. He was merely subjected to a process called "presting." To "prest" a man meant to enlist him by means of what was technically known as "prest" money--"prest" being the English equivalent of the obsolete French _prest_, now _pret_, meaning "ready." In the recruiter's vocabulary, therefore, "prest" money stood for what is nowadays, in both services, commonly termed the "king's shilling," and the man who, either voluntarily or under duress, accepted or received that shilling at the recruiter's hands, was said to be "prested" or "prest." In other words, having taken the king's ready money, he was thenceforth, during the king's pleasure, "ready" for the king's service.
"By the transfer of the prest shilling from the hand of the recruiter to the pouch of the seaman a subtle contract, as between the latter and his sovereign, was supposed to be set up, than which no more solemn or binding pact could exist save between a man and his Maker. One of the parties to the contract was more often than not, it is true, a strongly dissenting party; but although under the common law of the land this circumstance would have rendered any similar contract null and void, in this amazing transaction between the king and his "prest" subject it was held to be of no vitiating force. From the moment the king's shilling, by whatever means, found its way into the sailor's possession, from that moment he was the king's man, bound in heavy penalties to toe the line of duty, and, should circumstances demand it, to fight the king's enemies to the death, be that fate either theirs or his.
"By some strange irony of circumstance there happened to be in the English language a word--"pressed"--which tallied almost exactly in pronunciation with the old French word _prest_, so long employed, as we have seen, to differentiate from his fellows the man who, by the devious means we have here described, was made "ready" for the sea service. "Press" means to constrain, to urge with force--definitions precisely connoting the development and manner of violent enlistment. Hence, as the change from covert to overt violence grew in strength, "pressing," in the mouths of the people at large, came to be synonymous with that most obnoxious, oppressive and fear-inspiring system of recruiting which, in the course of time, took the place of its milder and more humane antecedent, "presting." The "prest" man disappeared, and in his stead there came upon the scene his later substitute the "pressed" man, "forced," as Pepys so graphically describes his condition, "against all law to be gone." An odder coincidence than this gradual substitution of "pressed" for _prest,_ or one more grimly appropriate in its application, it would surely be impossible to discover in the whose history of nomenclature."
"And here I must confess breach of a vowe in appearance, but I not desiring it, but against my will, and my oathe being to go neither at my own charge nor at another's, as I had done by becoming liable to give them another, as I am to Sir W. Pen and Mr. Creed; but here I neither know which of them paid for me, nor, if I did, am I obliged ever to return the like, or did it by desire or with any willingness. So that with a safe conscience I do think my oathe is not broke and judge God Almighty will not think it other wise."
"The Generall" by the Earl of Orrery (was Lord Broghill), first performed in London 28 September, 1664 (written 1661 staged in Dublin as "Altemira" in 1662).
Reviews argue this was a play by the sometime Cromwellian Orrery by which he affirmed loyalty to Charles II by depicting the priority of male bonding over female love interests, criticizing usurpation and regicide.
Comments
First Reading
About Thursday 6 October 1664
Terry F • Link
"my bringing in of callicos to oppose Young and Whistler."
In setting himself up as a competing contractor to sell calico to the navy, Pepys is doing something a rule forbids, as an L&M note to yesterday's entry points out. This conflict-of-interest biz will bite back; we will hear more of it on into next year.
Spoiler: Calico had been used for flags by the Spanish, but in the English climate, they will be found too heavy to fly.
Re calico's popularity
http://www.firstulster.org/page/4…
About Thursday 6 October 1664
Terry F • Link
Lenses of eyeglasses are a great aid for those of us, like Pepys, with less-than-optimal vision, but it wouldn't be until "1752 [that] James Ayscough advertised his latest invention--spectacles with double hinged side pieces. These became extremely popular and appear more often than any other kind in paintings, prints, and caricatures of the period. "
http://www.teagleoptometry.com/hi…
About Thursday 6 October 1664
Terry F • Link
Absent Dirk - from the Carte Calendar
William Coventry to Sandwich
Written from: [St James's]
Date: 6 October 1664
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 230
Document type: Holograph
Corrects a misapprehension of the meaning of a passage in one of his former letters, as to the sending of some ships, "not completely manned", to Plymouth, to ease the victualler, and to receive their complement of men.
Communicates the Lord Admiral's intentions as to promotion of officers. Adds that Prince Rupert is fallen into Lee Road. Encloses a Commission for Captain Page.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
About Tuesday 4 October 1664
Terry F • Link
"Why, what, pox," says Sir Charles Sydly, "would he have him have more, or what is there more to be had of a woman than the possessing her?"
Sam evidently approves of this? And does Bess hear and see what he does?
About The Parson's Wedding (Thomas Killigrew)
Terry F • Link
"The Parson's Wedding,...a pre-restoration play,...[and very popular during the Restoration] is a comedy of almost unexampled coarseness, a quality which the author had not found in his source, Calderon's Dama Duende." http://www.bartleby.com/218/0506.…
About Tuesday 4 October 1664
Terry F • Link
William Coventry to Sandwich
Written from: [St James's]
Date: 4 October 1664
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 228
Document type: Holograph
News has come that the Dutch fleet for Guinea has embarked its soldiers, & is but waiting for a wind. The Dutch are said to be building 24 new and great ships, Zealand, being esteemed free of the Plague, has obtained permission for the entry of its ships into French ports, a privilege denied to Holland.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
About Monday 3 October 1664
Terry F • Link
For some reason L&M "repl. any" with "many" -- though they note that in and at the bottom of the text with a small superscript a.
About Sunday 2 October 1664
Terry F • Link
"a place too good for this puppy to follow him in."
I take it the place is the late Mr. Daniels's in the Victualing Office, and "this puppy" is Samuel Martin, "Fat Betty" Lane's new husband.
Very contemporary sound to "puppy" here; I wonder how old this usage is?
About Monday 3 October 1664
Terry F • Link
Absent Dirk. from the Carte Calendar
William Coventry to Sandwich
Written from: St James's
Date: 3 October 1664
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 226
Document type: Holograph
Sends further particulars of the progress of impressment in the West of England; and of the speedy sailing of the Fleet under Prince Rupert. Adds that H.R.H. the Lord Admiral intends to go to sea himself. The Flag-ship is not definitely chosen, but is to be commanded by Sir W. Penn.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
About Sunday 2 October 1664
Terry F • Link
"the picture usually put before the King's book" -- i.e., the frontispiece to the book *Eikon Basilike* celebrating the memory of Charles I.
About Sunday 2 October 1664
Terry F • Link
L&M say this is the picture "in St. Botolph's (no longer there)" to which Pepys here refers. "The image of the Eikon Basilike was engraved by William Marshall (fl. 1617-49) and produced within days of the King's martyrdom. It was of such popularity that Marshall had to re-engrave the plates eight times."
http://www.skcm.org/SCharles/Eiko…
About Sunday 2 October 1664
Terry F • Link
Clerkenwell church
"CLERKENWELL, an extensive parish, in the Finsbury division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county of Middlesex; separated from the city of London on the south by the intervening parish of St. Sepulchre, and on the west by the liberties of Saffron-Hill and Ely-Rents; and containing, with the chapelry of Pentonville, 56,756 inhabitants. This place derives its name from an ancient well, round which the clerks, or inferior clergy, of London, were in the habit of assembling at certain periods, for the performance of sacred dramas, as noticed in the reign of Henry II. by Fitz-Stephen, who calls the well Fons Clericorum. The site appears to have been well adapted for the purpose, being in the centre of gently rising grounds, that formed an extensive natural amphitheatre, for the accommodation of the numerous spectators who attended. The most celebrated of these festivals occurred in 1391, in the reign of Richard II., and continued for three days, during which several sacred dramas were performed by the clerks, in presence of the king and queen, attended by the whole court. Soon after the year 1100, Jordan Briset and Muriel his wife founded a priory here for nuns of the Benedictine order, dedicated to St. Mary, and the site of which is now occupied by St. James's church:" http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Clerkenwell's parish green led into Aylsbury Street, east of St. James church on the west side of this segment of the 1746 Rocque map http://www.motco.com/map/81002/Se…
About Saturday 1 October 1664
Terry F • Link
Impressment
"The origin of the term "pressing," with its cognates "to press" and "pressed," is not less remarkable than the genesis of the violence it so aptly describes. Originally the man who was required for the king's service at sea, like his twin brother the soldier, was not "pressed" in the sense in which we now use the term. He was merely subjected to a process called "presting." To "prest" a man meant to enlist him by means of what was technically known as "prest" money--"prest" being the English equivalent of the obsolete French _prest_, now _pret_, meaning "ready." In the recruiter's vocabulary, therefore, "prest" money stood for what is nowadays, in both services, commonly termed the "king's shilling," and the man who, either voluntarily or under duress, accepted or received that shilling at the recruiter's hands, was said to be "prested" or "prest." In other words, having taken the king's ready money, he was thenceforth, during the king's pleasure, "ready" for the king's service.
"By the transfer of the prest shilling from the hand of the recruiter to the pouch of the seaman a subtle contract, as between the latter and his sovereign, was supposed to be set up, than which no more solemn or binding pact could exist save between a man and his Maker. One of the parties to the contract was more often than not, it is true, a strongly dissenting party; but although under the common law of the land this circumstance would have rendered any similar contract null and void, in this amazing transaction between the king and his "prest" subject it was held to be of no vitiating force. From the moment the king's shilling, by whatever means, found its way into the sailor's possession, from that moment he was the king's man, bound in heavy penalties to toe the line of duty, and, should circumstances demand it, to fight the king's enemies to the death, be that fate either theirs or his.
"By some strange irony of circumstance there happened to be in the English language a word--"pressed"--which tallied almost exactly in pronunciation with the old French word _prest_, so long employed, as we have seen, to differentiate from his fellows the man who, by the devious means we have here described, was made "ready" for the sea service. "Press" means to constrain, to urge with force--definitions precisely connoting the development and manner of violent enlistment. Hence, as the change from covert to overt violence grew in strength, "pressing," in the mouths of the people at large, came to be synonymous with that most obnoxious, oppressive and fear-inspiring system of recruiting which, in the course of time, took the place of its milder and more humane antecedent, "presting." The "prest" man disappeared, and in his stead there came upon the scene his later substitute the "pressed" man, "forced," as Pepys so graphically describes his condition, "against all law to be gone." An odder coincidence than this gradual substitution of "pressed" for _prest,_ or one more grimly appropriate in its application, it would surely be impossible to discover in the whose history of nomenclature."
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore
by John R. Hutchinson
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/ete…
About Friday 30 September 1664
Terry F • Link
"is this the first time that he has used an exclamation mark?"
Pedro, this is surely Wheately's idea: L&M do not list an exclamation mark among the punctuation that is Pepys's own.
About Thursday 29 September 1664
Terry F • Link
Michael R, methinks Robert Holmes must have ghost-written p. 329.
About Thursday 29 September 1664
Terry F • Link
The property referred to as Augustine Fryers, aka Austin Friars is here http://www.londontown.com/LondonS…
About The Dutch Church
Terry F • Link
Dutch Church, Austin Friars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutc…
About Wednesday 28 September 1664
Terry F • Link
"Will be interesting should we hear Sam boasting of discerning a new manner of ordering the revenue of the whole kingdom."
or quietly discovering new revenue streams for the Pepyses.
About Wednesday 28 September 1664
Terry F • Link
"And here I must confess breach of a vowe in appearance, but I not desiring it, but against my will, and my oathe being to go neither at my own charge nor at another's, as I had done by becoming liable to give them another, as I am to Sir W. Pen and Mr. Creed; but here I neither know which of them paid for me, nor, if I did, am I obliged ever to return the like, or did it by desire or with any willingness. So that with a safe conscience I do think my oathe is not broke and judge God Almighty will not think it other wise."
What a bunch of malarkey! http://www.answers.com/topic/mala…
About The General (Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery)
Terry F • Link
"The Generall" by the Earl of Orrery (was Lord Broghill), first performed in London 28 September, 1664 (written 1661 staged in Dublin as "Altemira" in 1662).
Reviews argue this was a play by the sometime Cromwellian Orrery by which he affirmed loyalty to Charles II by depicting the priority of male bonding over female love interests, criticizing usurpation and regicide.
See http://www.enotes.com/literary-cr…
and http://books.google.com/books?id=…