Annotations and comments

San Diego Sarah has posted 9,741 annotations/comments since 6 August 2015.

Comments

Second Reading

About Saturday 13 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... for by my wearing a gowne within doors comes all my tenderness about my legs. "

"There offered by Sir W. Pen his coach to go to Epsum ..."

Pepys was whining in the office, so Penn tried to send him to take the waters at Epsom. I think this would be more than an afternoon outing, so maybe Penn was trying to get the boy genius out of the way for a few days? We shall see ...

About Sunday 14 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"By and by comes W. Joyce, in his silke suit, and cloake lined with velvett: ..."

Perhaps Pepys asking cousin Will to accompany him picking up Bess last week has led Will to think Pepys wants a friendship. So Will puts on his fancy dress to remind Pepys that he is his social equal. Forget all that malicious drunken nonsense when Tom died. Pepys ain't buying it ... but he may need more favors.

About Saturday 13 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

My thought that Neston was in France was wrong. Poking around, I find a small port near Liverpool is a good candidate:

https://neston.org.uk/local-histo…

Arguably the most prosperous period of Neston’s development was in the mid 1500′s when it established itself as a port with important coaching links to London and became the principle departure point for Spain, France and Ireland.

http://neston.org.uk/wp-content/u…

Post-medieval pottery illustrates Neston’s strong domestic trade links with North Devon and international trade with Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands during the 17th and 18th centuries.

It must have been quite large because:

In 1690 the Hoyle or Hyle Lake, a deep water channel sheltered by sandbanks off what is now Hoylake, was the main point of embarkation for William III’s expedition to Ireland.

About Saturday 13 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Absent Dirk - from the Carte Calendar
Sir Robert Walsh to Ormond
Written from: Neston
Date: 13 August 1664"

Anyone know where Neston is? It may be in France since this intelligence is about a possible surprise attack on Dunkirk.

It is possible this is the same Sir Robert Welch (or Walsh as he commonly spelled his name), an Irish Officer, who was one of three officers who rescued the Royal Standard at the Battle of Edgehill after Varney fell and it was captured by Essex' troops on October 23, 1642.

If it is the same Robert Walsh, this might be an example of Charles II employing people who risked everything for his father.

For more about the Robert Walsh and his valor during the battle of Edgehill, see
http://www.britnumsoc.org/publica…

About Saturday 13 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Saturday 6 August 1664

✹ jeannine on 6 Aug 2007 • Link • Flag

"Journal of the Earl of Sandwich" edited by R.C. Anderson

6th. Saturday. ... I sent The Drake to Calias for the Count Grammont.

Capt. Nixon in the Elizabeth sent in a pink laden with wool from Ireland that was going for Holland on the back of the Goodwin.

About Friday 12 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I'm rethinking my post, as I find:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Friday 24 June 1664

"Thence with him to the Parke, and there met the Queene coming from Chappell, with her Mayds of Honour, all in silver-lace gowns again: which is new to me, and that which I did not think would have been brought up again."

To which jeannine on 25 Jun 2007 added:

"silver-lace gowns" I believe it's a trend in fashion. In L.C. Davidson's book Catherine of Bragança, she explains that Queen Catherine's "most becoming costume was black velvet, but this summer she and her ladies all adopted the fashion of silver lace gowns, in which they flashed and shimmered in the sunshine in the Tour and St. James's Park. When she went to chapel at St. James's, they walked from Whitehall in this dazzling raiment. They carried the great green shading fans Catherine had brought with her from Portugal, when dust and sun did not force them to use riding masks. These fans were used in promenades at balls and plays, and even at church, where faces were delicately hidden by them at devotions."

In which case someone has tried to make Elizabeth fashionable, but she's trading the silver lace in for silk lace. Maybe the summer fad is over now?

About Friday 12 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... going to Stevens the silversmith to change some old silver lace and to go buy new silke lace for a petticoat ..."

Elizabeth just happened to have some old silver lace lying around the house? Perhaps this was something she acquired on the recent Brampton trip (elderly relatives turning out their treasurers)? Fashion favored dresses with a split up the middle of the front, so the lacy petticoat below could be seen and admired. She, like Pepys, needed to display their new-found prosperity in order to belong in society.

Extracted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met…

Lace made using gold wire has been produced since antiquity, with examples of gold netting found in Egyptian and Assyrian tombs from 1500-1000 BCE. It was mainly produced as an embellishment for religious vestments and high status garments.

Metal lace, including gold and silver point de Venise, was produced in Italy until the 15th century, when high taxation and sumptuary laws led to textile threads such as linen replacing the use of metal.

To avoid these costs, the production of metal lace moved to France, where a high demand by royalty and the French aristocracy led to Arras, Aurillac and other locations becoming renowned for gold lace production. From the 15th century on, most metal lace was a combination of metal and textile threads, rather than made of pure metal.

Gold lace and braiding was a popular option for military uniforms because it resisted tarnish, unlike other metal laces.

Copper lace -- Lace made from copper wire was widely used in Elizabethan era theater costuming as a substitute for more expensive gold and silver laces. It was a major import, with several tons of copper thread being imported into England between 1594-1596, and at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, cost between 9 and 16 pennies an ounce. It had a tendency to tarnish, and was less hard-wearing.

About Pink

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin…
"A pink (French - pinque) is one of two different types of Sailing ship. The first was a small, flat-bottomed ship with a narrow stern; the name derived from the Italian word pinco. It was used primarily in the Mediterranean Sea as a cargo ship.

"In the Atlantic Ocean the word pink was used to describe any small ship with a narrow stern, having derived from the Dutch word pincke. They had a large cargo capacity, and were generally square rigged. Their flat bottoms (and resulting shallow draught) made them more useful in shallow waters than some similar classes of ship. They were most often used for short-range missions in protected channels, as both merchant-men and warships. A number saw service in the English Navy during the second half of the 17th Century. This model of ship was often used in the Mediterranean because it could be sailed in shallow waters and through coral reefs."

About Monday 8 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The Pepys encyclopedia tells us that Sir Richard Ford was responsible for securing the publication in 1664 of Thomas Mun's *England's treasure by foreign trade*, which although written in 1641 made the argument for the need for war against the Dutch, ...

And from https://www.britannica.com/biogra…

Thomas Mun (c June 17, 1571, London — c. July 21, 1641) English writer on economics who gave the first clear and vigorous statement of the theory of the balance of trade.

Thomas Mun came to prominence during the English economic depression of 1620 which many people were blaming on the East India Company because the company financed its trade by exporting £30,000 in bullion on each voyage.

In *A Discourse of Trade, from England unto the East Indies* (1621), Thomas Mun argued that so long as England’s total exports exceeded its total imports in the process of visible trade, the export of bullion was not harmful. He argued the money earned on the sale of re-exported East Indian goods exceeded the amount of originally-exported bullion with which those goods were purchased.

The argument may have been self-serving: Mun was affiliated with the East India Company and was appointed to the Standing Commission on Trade in 1622.

Thomas Mun believed a nation’s gold holdings are the main measure of its wealth, and governments should regulate trade to produce an excess of exports over imports in order to gain more gold for the country.

(Later economists, from Adam Smith on, showed that trade is self-regulating, and governments that hoard gold or other hard currencies will make their countries worse off.)

A further development of Thomas Mun’s ideas appears in *England’s Treasure by Forraign Trade*, a book that was published in 1664 — decades after his death.

About Saturday 6 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Or was Ireland not allowed to export wool? "

CORRECT ... From A Concise History of Ireland by P. W. Joyce
http://www.libraryireland.com/Joy…

Ireland enjoys great natural advantages of soil and climate; and towards the end of the 17th century, in spite of wars and other troubles, several branches of manufacture, trade, and commerce were prospering.

English traders and merchants believed that Irish prosperity was their loss, and in their short-sighted jealousy, persuaded the English parliament to ruin the trade of Ireland (except that in linen) by imposing restrictions.

This legislation was generally the work of the English parliament alone; but sometimes the Irish parliament followed in the same direction; and in obedience to orders from Westminster, Dublin passed acts destroying their own trade. All this was the more to be wondered at, seeing that the blow fell almost exclusively on Irish Protestants (at this time the Catholics were barely able to live, and could hardly attempt any industries).

The English "Navigation Act" of 1660, as amended in 1663, prohibited all exports from Ireland to the colonies; and also, in the interest of English graziers, prohibited temporarily the import of Irish cattle into England.

So the Pink was smuggling.

About Saturday 6 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

On the Sandwich diary notation, "Capt. Nixon in the Elizabeth sent in a pink laden with wool from Ireland that was going for Holland on the back of the Goodwin."

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin…

"A pink (French - pinque) is one of two different types of Sailing ship. The first was a small, flat-bottomed ship with a narrow stern; the name derived from the Italian word pinco. It was used primarily in the Mediterranean Sea as a cargo ship.

"In the Atlantic Ocean the word pink was used to describe any small ship with a narrow stern, having derived from the Dutch word pincke. They had a large cargo capacity, and were generally square rigged. Their flat bottoms (and resulting shallow draught) made them more useful in shallow waters than some similar classes of ship. They were most often used for short-range missions in protected channels, as both merchantmen and warships. A number saw service in the English Navy during the second half of the 17th Century. This model of ship was often used in the Mediterranean because it could be sailed in shallow waters and through coral reefs."

So I think this means that The Elizabeth intercepted a Pink laden with Irish wool bound for Holland using the Channel on other side of the Goodwin Sands, hoping to avoid the fleet. I'm guessing trade with Holland was a no-no right now? Or was Ireland not allowed to export wool? Or why does Sandwich record this event?

About Kentish Town

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Highlights from http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Kentish Town is mentioned in Domesday Book as a manor belonging to the Canons of St. Paul's; and it gives title to the Prebendary of Cantelows (or Kentish Town), who is Lord of the Manor, and holds a court-leet and court-baron.

Moll, in his "History of Middlesex," on noticing this hamlet, states: "You may, from Hampstead, see in the vale between it and London a village, vulgarly called Kentish Town, which we mention chiefly by reason of the corruption of the name, the true one being Cantilupe Town, of which that ancient family were originally the owners. They were men of great account in the reigns of King John, Henry III, and Edward I.

Walter de Cantilupe was Bishop of Worcester, 1236 to 1266, and Thomas de Cantilupe was Bishop of Hereford, 1275 to 1282. Thomas was canonized for a saint in the 34th year of Edward's reign; ..."

Kentish Town is named, not after Kent (as might be imagined), but after that manor in the hundred of Ossulston, known as Kantelowes or Kentelowes, which appears sometimes to have been called Kentestown. In this we see the origin of Ken (now commonly called Caen) Wood, ... between Hampstead and Highgate. The thoroughfare now known as Gray's Inn Road is stated to have led northwards to a "pleasant rural suburb, variously named Ken-edge Town and Kauntelows," in which we can discern the origin of its present name.

The road through Kentish Town, even when no fog prevailed, does not seem to have been safe for wayfarers after dark, in former times, if we may judge from the numerous notices of outrages which appear in the papers of the times.

The "Castle" Tavern, in Kentish Town Road, stands upon the site of an older house bearing the same sign, which had the reputation of dating from the time of King John. The front of the old building had the familiar and picturesque projecting storeys, supported originally by a narrow pier at the side of a bolder one. The interior of one of the rooms had a fireplace of stone, carved with a flattened arch of the Tudor style, with the spandrils enriched with a rose and a leaf-shaped ornament terminating in a snake's tail. This fireplace had been for years hidden from view by a coat of plaster. It is possible that, in their ignorance of Gothic architecture, the good people of Kentish Town ascribed a Tudor arch to the early part of the 13th century.

About Friday 5 August 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Why did Pepys choose to share this outing with William Joyce? His drunken behavior this year has been dreadful.
For example, see http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

My guess is that travelling alone is dangerous, and not everyone can take the time off -- or has the expendable income -- to go sightseeing and staying at inns out of town on what was probably short notice. We are told that William Joyce has a house in Russell St., Covent Garden, and pays the 1667 poll-tax for three servants, and a good business, even if he does drink and argue with his wife a lot. Pepys' usual playmate, Creed, is with the fleet.

And I wonder when Elizabeth told Pepys she was coming home ... the Diary isn't getting the depth of detail we used to see. Perhaps it was set up to be just a couple of weeks? I hope he remembers to tell us.

About Friday 29 July 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Sir Nic Crisp's man brought a certificate of our agreement of the Royal Company to pay him 5 per cent. out of our dividends until £20,000 be paid for his interest in Africa."

Does this mean Sandwich and the other shareholders in the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading in Africa (also known as the Guinea Company) are agreeing to pay Nicholas Crispe at a 5 percent rate out of their dividends until Crispe gets back his 20,000 pound investment in the company?

Crispe had been promoting the "Africa Corp." in one way or another for 50 years, so he probably wants to retire.

Anyways, that's my guess ... any other takes?

About Friday 29 July 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... Mr. Bland to me, sat till 11 at night with me, talking of the garrison of Tangier and serving them with pieces of eight. A mind he hath to be employed there, but dares not desire any courtesy of me, and yet would fain engage me to be for him, for I perceive they do all find that I am the busy man to see the King have right done him by inquiring out other bidders. Being quite tired with him, I got him gone, ..."

What nerve! Can you imagine stopping by someone's house to ask employment/business favors late at night (nothing about it being "by appointment")? And then being so clueless and boring your host is forced to get you gone after 11 p.m.? It's not like they are best buds.

About Thursday 21 July 1664

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Regarding the JUNE date on Jeannine's post ... I think she took the first month from the previous post (without realizing Peter was adding historical context), and so mis-dated her post by a month. Sandwich had both feet on dry land in June 1664.

✹ jeannine on 22 Jul 2007 • Link • Flag
From the Journal of Sandwich Esited by Anderson
22nd June, Friday. I had a Council of War. ...

But I have to visit the E-site on Sandwich's Journal.

About The Adventures of Five Hours (Sir Samuel Tuke)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... “Worse and Worse;” just the same manner of play, and writ, I believe, by the same man as “The Adventures of Five Hours;” ..."

Pepys was correct: both are adaptations from the Spanish plays of Pedro Calderón de la Barca.