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San Diego Sarah has posted 9,748 annotations/comments since 6 August 2015.

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Third Reading

About Sunday 23 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

A very practical and reasonable suggestion, David G.

Mr. Milles decorations were restrained but appropriate. The church must have smelled refreshingly aromatic.

Rosemary:
"The Latin name Rosmarinus officinalis means 'dew of the sea', which refers to the fact that it usually thrives best when growing near the ocean.
While the name Rosemary was derived from the name of its genus, there’s a legend that adds another explanation. Accordingly, when the Virgin Mary fled from Egypt, she took shelter next to a rosemary bush. On one occasion, she threw her cape over the plant and all its white flowers became blue. Due to this, the herb was called the Rose of Mary even although its blooms do not look like roses.

"Today, this delightful herb’s pleasant aroma makes it a great addition to perfumes and cosmetics. Some people also use it in aromatherapy, claiming that rosemary essential oil can help improve brain function and ease stress."
https://symbolsage.com/rosemary-h…

Stress relief -- this was a time that needed some stress relief.

Baize? Presumably that's the green cloth, and Mr. Milles had a large quantity available for whatever reason.
"Colors convey plenty of meanings in the Bible, and green means immortality, resurrection, growth, prosperity, and restoration.
"The color green in the Bible is also associated with fertility."
https://www.colorsexplained.com/c…

Maybe it covered the alter?

About Samuel Pepys and Slaves

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The UPDATE line in the original article says you can download the entire book at that link; sadly it no longer takes you to the book. Other interesting books, yes, but FREEDOM SEEKERS has moved on.

I did find an article of the same name at https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ct…

"Read the article at the LRB" -- that still takes you to the story about Pepys, Elizabeth and Mungo on Valentine's morning.

About Sunday 23 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Inquiring minds may be assuming more bureaucracy than I think was possible in those days. I doubt there were any CofE regs about pulpit rotations in December 1660, MartinVT.

Most of the old Bishops had died, and Charles II needed the new ones in place before his February Coronation, or it would not be accepted as authentic.
Recently we read about Pepys witnessing the ordination of those new bishops. I doubt they have had time to agree on any such process yet. The "How To" book on being a Bishop had been destroyed. Most of the Cathedrals had been damaged during the fighting, and used as stables. The organs had been destroyed. The windows and tombs broken, and the colorful painted walls and ceilings whitewashed. The bells were melted down for canons.
https://www.olivercromwell.org/wo…

Meanwhile, parish life went on, and the Rev. Ralph wrote about making some guest sermon appearances last summer while he was travelling, and presumably someone was covering his parish duties while he was away. A closer reading of his Diary entries might answer your question.
My guess is that it was the old boy's network at work. If you cover for me, I'll cover for you.

We've also been reading how the Houses of Parliament have been incrementally changing Parish and University assignments, moving out the Puritans/Presbyterians/Non-conformists and replacing them with Royalists familiar with the Book of Common Prayer.
But replacement Church of England clergy are in short supply, not many being ordained for the last 15 years.

Some of the unemployed non-conformists fired preachers will become a great problem as they kept on preaching, with their former parishoners walking miles to hear them in remote valleys or private houses -- but now I'm into SPOILERS.

If you want to skip ahead on this subject, one of the little-known heroes of the revitalization of the Church of England was Rev. Symon Patrick of St. Paul's Covent Garden. But nothing I know aboiut mention details like sermon rotations.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

About Friday 21 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"They told me that this is St. Thomas’s [day], and that by an old custom, this day the Exchequer men had formerly, and do intend this night to have a supper; ..."

"According to Ronald Hutton*, this rhyme was first recorded in the late 19th century. It can't go back to Pepys' time as, by the Julian calendar, the shortest day was already gone, on 11th December. Britain didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752."
Sasha is correct, the poem is not from Stuart times.

Since I believe Pepys and the Catholic calendar, today was and is celebrated as St. Thomas's Day -- attaching it as a traditional beginning of Christmas festivities; it has nothing to do with the pagan winter solstice.

About Friday 3 February 1664/65

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"I hear that newes is come from Deale, that the same day my Lord Sandwich sailed thence with the fleete, that evening some Dutch men of warr were seen on the back side of the Goodwin, and, by all conjecture, must be seen by my Lord’s fleete; which, if so, they must engage."

Sandwich probably has been talking with Col. Silus Titus MP, who was in command of a mixed force of regulars, new army and militia on England’s ‘invasion coast’ from Deal to Thanet.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

About Wednesday 19 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Later the Lords take care of one of King Charles' good friends, who tried (unsuccessfully) to help him escape from Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight:

'Order for 3000£. for Capt. Titus.
'"ORDERED, by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, That, in Consideration of the eminent and faithful Services performed by Captain Silas Titus to His Majesty and the Kingdom, the Debt owing him, and his Charges abroad when he was banished this Kingdom for his Adherence to his Trust, the Sum of Three Thousand Pounds be, and hereby stands, charged on the Arrears of the Grand Excise, and paid out of the same, to him or his Assigns, in Course, after the other Sums shall be satisfied which are charged on the Grand Excise by former Orders of this Parliament: And the Commissioners of the Excise for the Time being are hereby empowered and required to satisfy the same accordingly; and this Order, together with the Acquittance of the said Captain Tytus, or his Assigns, testifying the Receipt thereof, shall be to the said Commissioners of Excise a sufficient Warrant and Discharge."'

@@@

Silus Titus deserved it -- but so did his accomplise, Lady Jane Whorwood. Sadly Charles II "forgot" her -- perhaps she was a bit of a 'hot potato' for the saintly image he was painting of his father? -- so there's no mention of her in Pepys' Diary. But I've found her mentioned elsewhere at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… -- sher formal seperation.
Her violent husband gets more air time!

Lady Jane Whorwood died as a very poor widow, living with her daughter and son-in-law. She deserved better, and is getting her due these days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan…
https://www.english-heritage.org.…

About Wednesday 19 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Meanwhile, at the House of Commons, Charles II takes care of his "sister", Lady Jane Lane, who provided him with cover during his escape after the second battle of Worcester:

"Grant to Lane.
"The Question being propounded, That, as a Mark of Respect to Mrs. Lane, and in Testimony of the high Resentment and Value of her Service, in being so signally instrumental to the Preservation and Security of the Person of his Royal Majesty, there be conferred upon the said Mrs. Lane the Sum of One Thousand Pounds, to buy her a Jewel; and that the same be and hereby stands charged on the Arrears of the Grand Excise, and paid to her, or her Assigns, in Course, after the other Sums shall be satisfied, which are charged on the Grand Excise by former Orders of this Parliament: And the Commissioners of the Excise, for the Time being, are hereby impowered, and required to satisfy and pay the same accordingly: And this Order, together with the Acquittance of the said Mrs. Lane, or her Assigns, shall be, to the said Commissioners, a sufficient Warrant and Discharge:

"And the Question being put, That this Question be now put;

"It passed in the Affirmative:

"And the main Question being put;

"Resolved, That, as a Mark of Respect to Mrs. Lane, and in Testimony of the high Resentment and Value of her Service, in being so signally instrumental to the Preservation and Security of the Person of his Royal Majesty, there be conferred upon the said Mrs. Lane the Sum of One thousand Pounds, to buy her a Jewel; and that the same be and hereby stands charged on the Arrears of the Grand Excise; and paid to her or her Assigns, in Course, after the other Sums shall be satisfied, which are charged on the Grand Excise, by former Orders of this Parliament: And the Commissioners of the Excise, for the Time being, are hereby impowered and required, to satisfy and pay the same accordingly: And this Order, together with the Acquittance of the said Mrs. Lane, or her Assigns, testifying the Receipt thereof, shall be to the Commissioners of Excise, a sufficient Warrant and Discharge.

"The Lords Concurrence is desired herein: And Sir Clement Throgmorton is to carry it to the Lords."

@@@

One of our annotators, Gillian Bagwell, is an author and has written a book about this episode from Jane Lane's point of view. She shared with us (start at the 2nd paragraph):
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

About Thursday 20 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The House of Commons does something good, but I don't understand their funding mechanism. Anyone?

"Captives in Turkey.
"Mr. Hollis presents a Petition, directed, "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty," which he had Command from his Majesty to recommend to the House: Which was read, and was intituled, "The humble Petition of divers Persons, on the Behalf of themselves, who have suffered, and of others, whose Relations do now suffer, miserable Bondage, and cruel Slavery under the Turks."

"A Report from the Committee, for Redemption of Captives, 30 November 1660, was read; viz.

"Ordered, That Mr. Prynn do report to the House, as the Votes of this Committee,

"That all the respective Sums of Money, paid to the Treasurer of the Navy, from the Year of our Lord 1651, till November 1659, taken out of the Duty for Redemption of Captives, under the Turkes and Moors, to defray the Debts of the Navy, shall be allowed, and repaid, towards the Satisfaction and Redemption of the Petitioners, in Behalf of the Captives, in such Manner as the House shall appoint."

Meanwhile the Lords are still trying to figure out which of the Peers hasn't paid their Poll Tax. No wonder they ran out of money before the troops had all been paid off.

About Thursday 20 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Charles II has now lost a daughter and brother to smallpox within a few months of their coming to England."

No, Charles II has lost a brother, Henry, and soon an aunt, Mary, the Princess Royal and the Princess of Orange, a sister of Charles I.

His sister died of natural causes as a child prisoner (hostage?) of Cromwell's.
So James is his only sibling left.

I'm not aware of any of Charles II's many daughters dying of smallpox, but I could have forgotten someone ...? Mostly, his off-spring were very healthy. Just illigitimate. Oh, no SPOILERS. Sorry.

About Wednesday 19 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"This night Mr. Gauden sent me a great chine of beef and half a dozen of tongues."

We had a lengthy discussion about how long food would be safe to eat in summer time, when Pepys was asked to judge the merits of 2 friend's poems or plays or something, and the bet was accompanied by half a pie. I can't find the entries right now, but I remember being surprised at how cold cellars can be in summer.

Plus people were very good about sharing excess food -- it was too valuable to waste -- so some could easily be delivered to both sets of parents, Balty, and the Joyces. Or given to the other Commissioners in return for their generous hospitality while the Pepys' house is so disordered.

Too much food is a nice problem to have in winter.

About Wednesday 19 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"And no actual mention of Christmas."

Why would Pepys mention Christmas? It was banned in 1647 -- meaning he was 13 the last time his family MIGHT have celebrated it (did his Puritan mother or his less-so father prevail on this?).

There is still a lot of resistance to reinstating the Church of England and all those Popish "holy-days" -- just this week we have been reading about a foiled uprising; if one succceeds, Charles II might yet be heading for the block. (Sorry - horrible pun.)
People are dismayed that Parliament is not keeping Charles II's Breda promise of freedom of worship. I.E. The right not to celebrate Christmas.

Let's talk about what's in the Diary, and not our 21st century expectations of a man in a red suit on the roof with an escort of flying reindeer!!!

About Coffee

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

CONCLUSION

As for coffee as a hand-cleaning product, it seems the spread of quality perfumed soaps eclipsed its popularity.
As bunk disappeared, so did the knowledge of what it was used for.
The first to make a connection between coffee berries and the bunk used for hand-washing was the German physician and botanist, Leonhard Rauwolf, who wrote about coffee.
He saw coffee beans being toasted and brewed in Aleppo during his 3-year visit to the Levant from 1573 to 1575.
Scholar Karl Dannenfeldt wrote in 1968: Rauwolf identified the beans “by their virtue, figure, looks, and name” as being the same beans mentioned in the writings of Ibn Sīnā and al-Rāzī. In other words, they were bunk.

Today people are again finding that ground coffee is useful for deodorizing refrigerators and air freshening. Some swear by rubbing their hands with grounds they get rid of odors like garlic, onion, and fish — like how the ancients used their bunk.

Excerpted from
https://www.atlasobscura.com/arti…

About Coffee

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Jeanette Fregulia, in her 2019 book "A Rich and Tantalizing Brew: A History of How Coffee Connected the World", cites archaeological findings by an American-French team that establish “an ancient botanical origin” for Arabica coffee in southwestern Ethiopia. That the birthplace of Arabica coffee is in the Bonga region is significant, since it may have led to the Ethiopian and Arabic words for coffee beans: buna and bunn. ...

Five centuries before coffee as a hot beverage became popular, a mysterious ingredient appeared in Arabic books on medicine and botany. The descriptions of this ingredient were similar to our coffee. However, instead of bunn, it was called bunk, and rather than drinking it, it was mostly used for cleaning and freshening the hands.

Fast forward to the 15th century, and the entire Near East was abuzz with discussions about qahwa — a name used to designate a dark, strong variety of wine.
At the time, coffee was consumed in 2 ways: as qahwa bunniyya (the coffee beans were toasted first, then ground and brewed).
Qahwa qishriyya, on the other hand, was made by lightly toasting the husks of the berries, the qishr, and then brewing them. Its popularity was further enhanced by the belief that coffee had medicinal benefits, ranging from drying up phlegm and relieving colds to dissolving kidney stones.

Those who wrote about coffee at the time resorted to legends to explain the origins of drinkable coffee, such as how King Solomon was the first to make the brew. He ordered his jinn to fetch coffee berries from Yemen, which were then parched and made into a drink that could cure illnesses. After this, coffee was forgotten only to be rediscovered by the Sufis.

A 1558 treatise called "Umdat al-ṣafwa fī ḥill al-qahwa," by Muslim jurist Abd al-Qādir al-Jazīrī, is the earliest record of coffee as a drink. It discussed whether coffee-drinking was religiously acceptable. It also told the story of its “discoverer,” a Yemeni Sufi named Sheikh al-Dhabḥānī.
While in Ethiopia, the story goes, al-Dhabḥānī saw people consuming coffee. Later he fell ill and made a drink with coffee beans for himself. It made him feel good, and he noticed it boosted his energy and helped keep him awake and alert. He spread the word among his Sufi brothers, who valued it as an aid for their long night vigils.

About Tuesday 18 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Barry, James (1603–73), 1st Baron Barry of Santry, lawyer and judge, has an entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography.
https://www.dib.ie/biography/barr…

[Judge James] Barry took a significant part in the events surrounding the fall of the republic and restoration of monarchy in 1659–60.
He was named to chair a committee of safety set up after the Dublin coup of December 1659 directed against the military regime which had taken power in London.

Elected to the 1660 Irish convention for Co. Dublin, he was chosen chairman of that body. As such he made clear his opposition to Presbyterian efforts to endorse the Solemn League and Covenant, ensuring the defeat of that measure.

In May–June 1660 he acted as one of the convention's commissioners to the newly restored Charles II.

He was appointed Chief Justice of King's Bench on 17 November, 1660 (patent 8 February, 1661), and was made an Irish privy councilor and commissioner for the implementation of the 30 November 1660 declaration on the land settlement (19 February 1661).

He was created Baron Barry of Santry on 18 February, 1661 and took his seat in the lords on 8 May, 1661 but was not chosen speaker, ‘besides his disability of body . . . he being at best but a cold friend to the declaration’ (A collection of the state letters of . . . Orrery (1742), 17).

He continued to act upon matters relating to the land settlement and to the issue of ecclesiastical property and as an assize judge.
He was a leading figure in the prosecution of those involved in the 1663 plot of Thomas Blood (qv).

He was considered as a possible successor to Sir Maurice Eustace (qv) as lord chancellor, and again for the post when Eustace's successor, Archbishop Michael Boyle (qv), fell ill in 1666.

Ormonde proved supportive, insisting that ‘although Santry was indolent and wilful, it was of less consequence as he was generally in the right’ (Ball, i, 280), although Lord Chancellor Clarendon was ultimately less impressed by his qualities.

Chief Justice Sir James Barry died 9 February 1673 and was buried in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin. A portrait is held by the King's Inns.

PUBLISHING INFORMATION
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.00043…
Originally published October 2009 as part of the Dictionary of Irish Biography
Last revised October 2009

About Tuesday 18 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"There was the idea that the officers of the Privy Seal worked every other month, and it appeared that Sam worked August. This month he talks of the pardons and not so much money to be made. Is he just not going in because of that? Am I wrong in assuming that this is his month on duty?"

No -- Pepys or his assignee had to attend the Privy Seal office once a quarter, not every other month.
My guess is that if money was involved, Pepys would be there. But Mr. Moore can handle the pardons as Sandwich is out of town and he's got little else to do. On the 15th something important was worthy of Pepys' attention, so Moore brought it to him. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
"Is he just not going in because of that?" -- I think we should believe Pepys when there is no evidence to the contrary. He says he's supervising his workmen. Pepys appreciates craftsmen. He's probably learning about carpentry and the associated jargon, all the better to communicate with the men in the yards when the time comes.

The Navy Board only requires 2 Commissioners be in attendance for a sitting. Now the Sir Wills are back, the pressure on Slingsby and Pepys to hold the fort has ended. If they need him, they will send a boy over to get him.

About Tuesday 18 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

CONCLUSION:

A committee of 6 men, Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke, 2nd Earl of Montgomery; William, Baron Craven of Hampstead Marshall; Sir George Carteret; William Coventry; Sir Ellis Leighton and Cornelius Vermuyden, was named to have charge of The Company of the Royal Adventurers into Africa's affairs. No mention was made of the office of governor or of any court of directors. Apparently, it was thought that the committee of 6 could direct all of the company's affairs.

FROM The Royal Adventurers in England
by George Frederick Zook
Publication date 1919-04-01
Topics genealogy
Publisher The Journal of Negro History
https://archive.org/search?query=…

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So this is what Prince Rupert has been up to since he arrived recently on holiday.

Although Sandwich reportedly puts money into this "opportunity" despite his misgivings, he must have been fairly uninvolved as Pepys never mentions the organization until it is renamed and reorganized in 1663.

About Tuesday 18 December 1660

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Here's something that happened on this day worthy of 24 annotations:

L&M: Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa was finally incorporated on 18 December, 1660; it consisted of the Duke of York and 31 others. Pembroke was the chairman and Sandwich became a member.

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CHAPTER II The Royal Adventurers in England

On account of the collapse of the royalist cause at the death of King Charles, Prince Rupert, with his small fleet of royal vessels, was driven about from one part of the world to another.

In 1652 Prince Rupert sought refuge in the Gambia River,1 where he listened to stories told by natives of rich gold mines in that region.
1 At one time Prince Rupert had been governor of the African Company founded in 1631. Jenkinson, Hilary, “The Records of the English African Companies." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Third Series, VI, 195.

For a number of years the Negroes had brought gold from the inland of Africa to the Dutch on the Gold Coast. There seemed every reason to believe that the source of this gold supply was none other than that described by the natives of the Gambia River, and that it might be discovered somewhere in that region. Prince Rupert was so impressed with the possibility of finding these mines that his voyage to Guinea was still vivid in his memory when Charles II assumed the throne in 1660.

In James, Duke of York and other royal courtiers Prince Rupert found a group of willing listeners who determined to form a company for the purpose of sending an expedition to the Gambia to dig for gold.

As early as October 3, 1660, the plans were formulated. Each member was required to invest at least £250 in the undertaking.

On December 18, 1660, Charles II, who was pleased with the adventurers for having 'undertaken so hopeful an enterprise," granted them a charter 3 under the name of “The Company of the Royal Adventurers into Africa.''
3 That some expense attached to the procuring of such charters appears from an item of £133.10s.3d. which the company incurred for this charter.

By this charter The Company of the Royal Adventurers into Africa received the land and the adjacent islands on the west coast of Africa from Cape Blanco to the Cape of Good Hope, for a period of 1,000 years beginning with “the making of these our Letters Patents if the . . . grant (made to Crispe's company in 1631) be void and determined.''
If the former charter was still regarded as in force, the grant to the Royal Adventurers was to be effective upon the surrender or the expiration of the former company's privileges.