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Terry Foreman has posted 16,447 annotations/comments since 28 June 2005.

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First Reading

About Tuesday 8 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

The Navy Board's account for the past six months

This was the Invoice to the Treasury from the Navy Board, which, L&M say, had agreed to a limit of £200,000 p/a. [over £160,000 is clearly more than half of that]. The "third" is the Navy Treasurer's allowance.

About Monday 7 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Michael, methinks you have the man.

"Uncle Day" was of Leverington, Cambridgeshire and d. 1659.
(L&M Companion)

About Monday 7 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"I reckon nothing money but when it is in the bank"

Paul, the same occurred to me.

bank (1)
"financial institution," 1474, from either O.It. banca or M.Fr. banque (itself from the O.It. term), both meaning "table" (the notion is of the moneylender's exchange table), from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. bank "bench"); see bank (2). The verb meaning "to put confidence in" (U.S. colloquial) is attested from 1884. Bank holiday is from 1871, though the tradition is as old as the Bank of England. Bankroll (v.) "to finance" is 1920s. To cry all the way to the bank was coined 1956 by flamboyant pianist Liberace, after a Madison Square Garden concert that was packed with patrons but panned by critics.
bank (2)
"earthen incline, edge of a river," c.1200, probably in O.E., from O.N. banki, from P.Gmc. *bangkon "slope," cognate with P.Gmc. *bankiz "shelf." http://www.etymonline.com/index.p…

Is this figuative? OED anyone?

About Monday 7 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Playing head-games with Uncle Thomas & son

"But I had another end of putting my uncle into some doubt [suspicion], that so I might keep him...yet from going into the country that he may be there against the Court at his own charge"

L&M explain that the court in question is the Bramptom manorial court in whose jurisdiction this copyhold estate fell.

About Monday 7 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"buying...at the ironmonger’s — dogs, tongs, and shovels"

dog - perhaps either

(n) pawl, detent, click, dog (a hinged catch that fits into a notch of a ratchet to move a wheel forward or prevent it from moving backward) [or]
(n) andiron, firedog, dog, dog-iron (metal supports for logs in a fireplace) http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl…

About Mumbai (Bombay, "Bombain")

TerryF  •  Link

Bombain

"The appellation Mumbai is an eponym, etymologically derived from Mumba or Maha-Amba— the name of the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, and Aai — mother in Marathi. In the 16th century, the Portuguese named the area...Bomaím or Bombaim. After the British gained possession, it was anglicised to Bombay, although it was known as Mumbai or Mambai to Marathi and Gujarati-speakers, and as Bambai in Hindi, Urdu, and Persian. The name was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995.[...] In 1534, the Portuguese appropriated the islands from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat....They were ceded to Charles II of England in 1661, as dowry for Catherine de Braganza. The cost of maintaining the islands was prohibative so they were, in turn, leased to the British East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The actual transfer was by letters patent which, presumably for bureaucratic convenience, described Bombay as being ‘in the manor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent’. The company found the deep harbour on the east coast of the islands to be ideal for setting up their first port in the sub-continent. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675; In 1687, the British East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumb…

About Charlotte

TerryF  •  Link

Yacht built 1663 by Christopher Pett for Sir William Batten.

Pedro on Tue 1 Aug 2006, 8:06 pm | Link
Christopher Pett.

Brother of Peter Pett. The ship-building brothers competed on behalf of the royal brothers. The King on a visit to Deptford pronounced his work (for his brother) as “very pretty”.

By 1663 yacht-building was spreading downwards to the aristocracy, so much so that C. Pett demanded extra gratuity for building pleasure boats, because of all the people he had to entertain. Early owners included Sir W Batten, whose wife was ungratefully sick.

(Summary from King Charles II…Fraser)

About Saturday 5 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"the King dubbed four knights including Robert’s son, William Cann."

tel comments, "Not a bad return for £100! At least the 'loan' was made to the local corporation - unlike today’s system."

Perhaps tel had in mind something like the cash for peerages affair. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_pol…

About Saturday 5 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Bombain to Bombay

"In 1534, the Portuguese appropriated the islands from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, naming them Bom Baia, Portuguese for "good bay". They were ceded to Charles II of England in 1661, as dowry for Catherine de Braganza. The cost of maintaining the islands was prohibative so they were, in turn, leased to the British East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The actual transfer was by letters patent which, presumably for bureaucratic convenience, described Bombay as being 'in the manor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent'. [6] The company found the deep harbour on the east coast of the islands to be ideal for setting up their first port in the sub-continent. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675; In 1687, the British East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumb…

The current complaint is clearly premature.

About Saturday 5 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Bombain

"The appellation Mumbai is an eponym, etymologically derived from Mumba or Maha-Amba— the name of the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, and Aai — mother in Marathi. In the 16th century, the Portuguese named the area Bom Bahia (Good Bay), later corrupted to Bomaím or Bombaim, by which it is still known in Portuguese. After the British gained possession, it was anglicised to Bombay, although it was known as Mumbai or Mambai to Marathi and Gujarati-speakers, and as Bambai in Hindi, Urdu, and Persian.[4] The name was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumb…

About Saturday 5 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

Interesting etymologyies there also -

"*Chintz - glazed and unglazed
A term which has been modified over time due the confusion of its finish and designs and linkage with cretonne and calico. The word is said to be derived from the Hindu cheita or Sanskrit citra meaning spotted, variegated or coloured or Asian Indian chint [plural chintes] meaning fabric and given to a kind of stained or painted calico produced in India. China is also credited with developing a type of similar hand-painted fabric."

Methinks likely chintz hangings for Bess's study.

About Saturday 5 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"Chintz is calico cloth printed with flowers and other devices in different colours, originally from India.Chintz was originally a painted or stained calico produced in India and popular for bed covers, quilts and draperies, popular in Europe in 17th century and 18th century, where it was imported and later produced." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chin…

Images and description of Chintz
"Indian chint[z] was a broad, gaudily printed plain weave cloth of floral hand-blocked prints, usually plants and animals, glazed with waxes and starch. It was used for dresses and household and soon caught the attention of Europe and later America.

"The fabric was imported to England by the East Indian Co. in the 17th C. This earlier chintz meant any lavishly printed fabric and the term was used interchangeably for any glazed or unglazed Indian painted and printed cotton fabrics (calicos) achieved by processes of resist-dyeing and mordant-dyeing during the 16c and 17c. " http://www.fabrics.net/joan1202.a…

---

Bradford, take a gander at some of the images next to this text and see what you think.

About Friday 4 September 1663

TerryF  •  Link

"I wonder if this was the beginning of rhyming Cockney slang" asks the Water One.

The National Geographic site says "The origins of the Cockneys' distinctive rhyming slang date back to the 15th century, though it's thought to have really taken hold in the 1800s, when street traders and criminals developed it as a means of covert communication to conceal illicit practices." http://news.nationalgeographic.co…