Bill

Annotations and comments

Bill has posted 2,777 annotations/comments since 9 March 2013.

Comments

Second Reading

About Sampson (Paul's Churchyard)

Bill  •  Link

There are tokens of the Samson in St. Paul's Churchyard (see "Boyne's Trade Tokens," ed. Williamson, vol. i., 1889, p. 735).
---Wheatley, 1899.

About Robin Shaw

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Robin Shaw, manager of Backwell's business, who died July 25th, 1665.
---Wheatley, 1899.

About Lionel Walden

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Lionel Walden, elected M.P. for the borough of Huntingdon, April 12th, 1661.
---Wheatley, 1899.

About Catherine of Braganza (Queen)

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CATHERINE of Braganza (1638-1705), queen of Charles II; born at Villa Vicosa; her father king of Portugal in 1640; her education utterly neglected; marriage with Charles, prince of Wales, proposed for her by her father, 1645; renewed proposals made by the Portuguese for her marriage with Charles II, May 1660; proposals opposed by the Spanish party, on the ground of her probable barrenness; the match determined upon by Charles II, acting under French influence, November 1660-March 1661; formal intimation of the match well received in England and enthusiastically in Portugal; marriage treaty signed, 23 June 1661; Catherine sailing for England, 28 April 1662, and reaching Portsmouth, 13 May; privately married, 21 May; arrived at Hampton Court, 29 May; compelled by Charles to receive at court his mistress, Lady Castlemaine, July; arrived at Whitehall, 23 Aug.; submissively accepted Charles IIs infidelities; showed kindness to his illegitimate children, and lived mostly at Somerset House, and not at court, being often in great poverty through non-payment of her allowances; tried to obtain from the pope recognition of Portuguese independence, 1662; seriously ill, October 1663; kept court in Oxford during the plague of London, 1665-6; proposals rumoured for dissolution of her marriage on account of her childlessness, 1667-70; complaints made of the concourse of English people to her chapel services, 1667; went a progress in the eastern counties, 1671; assailed by the whigs as privy to the 'popish plot,' 1678-680, but protected by Charles; attended the Oxford parliament, 1681; again abandoned by Charles for the Duchess of Portsmouth; instrumental in securing Charles II's deathbed profession of Romanism, February 1685; afterwards lived in retirement at Somerset House and Hammersmith; vainly begged James II to spare Monmouth; present at the birth of the Prince of Wales, 10 June 1688; gave evidence as to his legitimacy before the council; tried to recover damages from Henry, earl of Clarendon, her late chamberlain, for negligence in money matters; visited by William of Orange, but soon quarrelled with both William and Mary; travelled through France and Spain, reaching Lisbon, January 1693; resided near Lisbon; regent for her brother Pedro, 1704-5; favoured Italian music; unpopular in consequence of her ignorance of affairs, her haughtiness to her household, and her parsimony.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About James Hamilton (a, Bishop of Galloway)

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HAMILTON, JAMES (1610-1674), bishop of Galloway; graduated at Glasgow, 1628; minister of Cambusnethan,1634; deposed, 1638, but restored, 1639; supported the 'Engagement,' 1648; bishop of Galloway, 1661-74.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

About Sunday 9 June 1661

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Regarding the information of Wim above about the Bishop of Galloway, here is the complete note:

Murray and Heath, whose authority is generally good, assert that James Hamilton was at this time Bishop of Galloway; but the commission for his consecration bears date 12th December, 1661. Kennett also mentions Thomas Sydserf, who had been deposed from the see of Galloway by the Presbyterians in 1638, as the only Scotch prelate alive at the Restoration; and adds, that he came up to London, expecting to be advanced to the Primacy. But he had so disgusted the English bishops, that he was only removed to the See of Orkney, which, though richly endowed, was considered at all times as a sinecure; and he did not long survive his translation. At all events, Hamilton was his successor, and the Bishop of Galloway mentioned in the Diary, 15th May, 1663. Lingard's testimony is in favour of Sydserf being the Bishop of Galloway here alluded to. The death of the Bishop of Orkney (late of Galloway) is mentioned in The Intelligencer, 29th September, 1663.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

About Botarga

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A sausage made of eggs, and of the blood of a sea mullet.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

About Varnish

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The lake-red used by the painters in enamel is composed of fine gold dissolved in aqua regia, with sal armoniac, or common salt. The dissolution being completed, it is put in a cucurbit with spring-water and mercury, over hot sand, for twenty-four hours. The powder remaining at the bottom of the cucurbit when the water is poured off, is ground up with double its weight of flower of sulphur, and put in a crucible over a gentle fire; and when the sulphur, which takes fire, is exhaled, the red powder remaining is ground with rocaille.
Museum Rusticum Et Commerciale. v.1, p.166. 1764.

But then there's this:

LACCA, Lac, or Stick-lac, improperly called gum-lac, in natural history, a concrete brittle substance, of a dark red colour; brought from the East-Indies incrusted on pieces of sticks; internally divided into several cells; said to be the resinous juice of certain trees, collected by winged red insects of the ant kind, impregnated with the tinging matter of the insects, and by them deposited either on the branches of the trees, or on sticks fastened in the earth for that purpose. In the cells are often observed small red bodies, which appear to be the young insects.

The tinging red animal matter of the stick-lac dissolves both in water and in rectified spirit, and appears to be of the same general nature with that of cochineal; like which it is made dull by alkalies, and brighter by acids, and turned to a scarlet by a solution of tin.
...
Lake was most probably first made from the colour found in the grains of the stick-lac, from whence it seems to have taken its name; but it may be made from a great variety of substances which afford a crimson tinge; though at present it is seldom prepared from any other than cochineal, scarlet rags, and Brasil-wood.
---The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Volume 2. T.H. Crocker, 1766.

About Varnish

Bill  •  Link

James, great info, thanks. My definition of "lake" as "a red colour used in painting" came from a 1675 dictionary that I quote here a great deal. But are you saying that in Pepys' time that painters were using "a natural resin secreted by one of a number of South-Asian insects?"

About Sunday 21 April 1661

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"my workmen, which, being foreigners"

FOREIGNER ... Such persons as are not freemen of a city, or corporation, are also called foreigners, to distinguish them from the members of the same.
---A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 1763.

Question: How did one show he wasn't a "foreigner" in London? Surely there wasn't an ID card?

About Knights of the Bath

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Next to the Peers of the Realm, viz. Dukes, Marquisses, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons, who properly are the Nobles of England, I come to what we call the Gentry, consisting of Knights, Esquires, and Gentlemen without Title.
...
The Knights of the Bath are so called from their Bathing, used before they were created. Henry IV. was the Founder of this Order, in 1399, when to grace his Coronation, he made 46 of these Knights, that were bathed in the Tower. There are now but a few left of this Order. They wear a Scarlet-Ribbon, belt-wise.
---The Present State of Great-Britain and Ireland. G. Miege, 1718.

About Tuesday 16 April 1661

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"reading of the Psalms in short hand"

From a rare book catalogue http://books.google.com/books?id=…

265 SHORTHAND Rich (Jeremiah) The Whole Book Of Psalms In Meter. According to the Art of Short-Writing. London, Printed for the Author, and are to be sould at his house the Golden Ball in Swithins Lane neare London Stone, N.D. (c. 1660). 64mo., engraved throughout by T. Cross, within rules, the portrait of Rich, title, next 4 leaves and last page within ornamental borders, FINE COPY, contemporary black morocco gilt, g.e., £7 7s

* Extremely rare in any state, but practically unobtainable in the choice condition of the present copy. Dedicated to the Duke of Buckingham and others. The last page contains "The Names of those Ingenious Schollars that were ye first incouragers of this incomparable peice."

About Newington

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Newington, Surrey. The parish of Newington, or Newington Butts, extends from St. George's, Southwark, to Camberwell; Walworth is a hamlet. The original name was Neweton, afterwards spelled Newerton; the addition of Butts occurs first in 1558, and is evidently due to the butts set up here by royal mandate for the practice of archery by the inhabitants of this side the Thames. ... In the last year of the 16th and the early part of the 17th century there was a theatre at Newington Butts of which Philip Henslowe was the manager, and where "My Lord Admirals" and "My Lord Chamberlain's Men," of whom Shakespeare was one, acted.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.

About Thursday 11 April 1661

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It's true that Brian Barr's source is dated 1719 but my source for the alternate version in my annotation is dated 1656:

VVit and drollery, joviall poems. Never before printed. / By Sir J.M. Ja:S. Sir W.D. J.D. and other admirable wits. , London, : Printed for Nath. Brook, at the Angel in Cornhil, 1656.

A copy of which is found in the British Library and available from EEBO Early British Books Online http://eebo.chadwyck.com/home

About Wednesday 10 April 1661

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I really, really wish that Pepys had Gillian's meaning in mind but Shakespeare would disagree:

WARWICK
What counsel, lords? Edward from Belgia,
With hasty Germans and blunt Hollanders,
Hath pass'd in safety through the narrow seas,
And with his troops doth march amain to London;
And many giddy people flock to him.
---Henry VI, part 3

About Thursday 11 April 1661

Bill  •  Link

Bryan needs to further explain his reasoning but I think Brian Barr above has the right answer. Slight spoiler: Sam will further quote from this same (scatological) song in six days on April 17, 1661:

“Of Shitten come Shites the beginning of love.”

As for the relevant lines from Brian's annotation here's another version:

No, I will say untill I die,
Farewel and be hanged, that's twice god buy.

About Thursday 11 April 1661

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"We baited at Dartford"

To BAIT, to take some Refreshment on a Journey.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.