Saturday 28 May 1664
Up pretty well as to pain and wind, and to the office, where we sat close and did much business. At noon I to the ’Change, and thence to Mr. Cutler’s, where I heard Sir W. Rider was, where I found them at dinner and dined with them, he having yesterday and to-day a fit of a pain like the gout, the first time he ever had it. A good dinner. Good discourse, Sir W. Rider especially much fearing the issue of a Dutch warr, wherein I very highly commend him. Thence home, and at the office a while, and then with Mr. Deane to a second lesson upon my Shipwrightry, wherein I go on with great pleasure. He being gone I to the office late, and so home to supper and to bed. But, Lord! to see how my very going to the ’Change, and being without my gowne, presently brought me wind and pain, till I came home and was well again; but I am come to such a pass that I shall not know what to do with myself, but I am apt to think that it is only my legs that I take cold in from my having so long worn a gowne constantly.
22 Annotations
First Reading
cape henry • Link
The health issues Pepys describes seem to come from several sources. The obvious problem he has with 'the stone' is episodic and is the likely cause of the various pains he suffers in the urinary tract. He is seldom specific enough about issues of 'the cold' to fully appreciate what he is experiencing, but I have wondered for a while if he has arthritis or what used to be called rheumatism. Then there is the much remarked upon 'wind' which I have long thought stemmed from his diet, of which we only get glimpses, really. One suspects that his diet is salty, rich in fat, and during the winter, nearly devoid of green &etc. There is also the question of preparation, quality and freshness. Obviously, people weren't dropping like flies from bad food, but it is reasonable to suspect that the combination of these factors might lead to chronic and unpleasant digestive problems.
Terry F • Link
"it is only my legs that I take cold in from my having so long worn a gowne constantly."
Proper dress ib a transitional season like the current one in 1664 can be difficult: Pepys has been dressed for cooler weather.
Robert Gertz • Link
"Good discourse, Sir W. Rider especially much fearing the issue of a Dutch warr, wherein I very highly commend him."
No mention yet of fears Louis XIV might see an opportunity, perhaps that automatically went part and parcel with the general fear of the outcome...
Cumsalisgrano • Link
Samuell be like many, he suffered a drafty place where the doors and windows be letting in that cold damp wind, for those that had the pleasure of spending time in 15-17C Mansions can retell the tales how the fire failed to heat up the room and the only way one could warm ones humble body was to stand with thy derriere to the roasting side and get that toasted while the rest was still chilled, the circulation of blud failed to be fast enough to get thy head and extremities at the same comfy temperature.
Oh! the moderns have missed a treat.
Cumsalisgrano • Link
Diet be based on the seasons, and the foods that can be stored over the winter months. The last of the spuds, and about now, new taters be coming on line along with peas along with some spring lamb ......
If there be a lurking gent, that be growing his own fresh veggies, whom maybe kind enough to give us city slickers a run down on a list of fresh home grown veggies by the month, could gives a guide to the diet of yesteryear. It has been too long for me to remember the taste of straight from the ground yummy foods, I used to luv pulling young carrots out of the ground on the way to a brain washing session, and rubbing the dirt on my short trouser legs, AH! A! wot sweet memories rasberries, gossegogs et al.
Mary • Link
Seasonal fruit and vegetables.
A visit to the website below will give an outline of what may be expected to make a first appearance during various months of the year.
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/food…
Andrew Hamilton • Link
shipwrightry
A neologism in Sam's day? Earliest OED citation is from 1711.
Bradford • Link
You should tell them, Andrew H., though it seems strange they'd overlook Pepys, whom they mine extensively elsewhere.
Now what exactly does he mean by a "gowne"? It can't be an Indian gown, such as Hayls painted him in, for that was for wearing in one's study. Neither Glossary, nor the Companion on "Dress," nor our Encyclopedia here cover the subject; so what was covering Sam?
Cumsalisgrano • Link
Thanks Mary : direct access without how to get a man in 1 easy lesson, be at:
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/food…
May
Asparagus, cherries, cauliflower, new potatoes, broad beans, rhubarb and new carrots.
June
Gooseberries, tayberries, elderflowers, courgettes, broad beans, lettuce, strawberries, peppers, asparagus, redcurrants, aubergines, peas and cherries.
Many of the above will not be available for consumption in London town.
I forgot the Rhubarb that grows anywhere and usefull for jam, puddings and general filler.
Cumsalisgrano • Link
Andrew: our man in Brixton Asylum failed to read and remember this day's entry. Thanks for the new word.
Cumsalisgrano • Link
?Now what exactly does he mean by a "gowne"?
A gowne be a popular simple device of wearing, low cost to indicate thy professsion, be one be an advocate, Professor or Alderman or even a Cleric, how it be died [sic], be the indicator, also it be a means of separating a brainwashed group from mediocrity of the towne's people, in the phrase "Towne and Gowne".
For the Ladies it became a frock but preachers could be defrocked, for dishonoring their gowne.
Gowne extracted from the OED with Pepys siteing.
1. A loose flowing upper garment worn as an article of ordinary attire. a. By men. (See also senses 3 and 4.)
1607 SHAKES. Timon III. vi. 120, I haue lost my Gowne.
b. By women. In mod. use, a garment fitting close to the upper part of the body with flowing skirts; =
1663 PEPYS Diary 10 Nov., The Queene..hath bespoke herself a new gowne.
2. = DRESSING GOWN, NIGHTGOWN.
1597 SHAKES. 2 Hen. IV, III. ii. 197 Come, thou shalt go to the Warres in a Gowne: we will haue away thy cold.
4. A more or less flowing outer robe indicating the wearer's office, profession, or status: a. as worn by the holder of a civil or legal or parliamentary office, e.g. an alderman, a judge, magistrate; also collect. the magistracy. furred gown: that worn by an alderman.
Forms: 4-6 goun(e, 4-7 gowne, (6 Sc. gounn, 8-9 vulgar gownd), 4- gown. [a. OF. goune, gone, gonne fem., a Com. Rom. word = Pr. gona, OSp. gona, It. gonna:
med.L. gunna, used in the 8th c. by St. Boniface for a garment of fur permitted to elderly or infirm monks. A late L. gunna 'skin, fur', is quoted from a scholiast on Verg.
Georg. III. 383, and in Byzantine Gr. is common as the name of a coarse garment, sometimes described as made of skins.
Terry F • Link
"gowne"
Last Third of the Seventeenth Century
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/PLAT…
Andrew Hamilton • Link
shipwrightry
I have received the following communication from an editor at OED:
"I shall add your helpful citation from the diary to our revision file,
to ensure that the antedating is noted when we come to revise the entry.
The original editors did not have the advantage of a full text of the
diary, and we are finding a good many antedatings in the modern edition.
Thank you for pointing out this one."
Score another first for Sam.
Mary • Link
Well done, Andrew.
It's good to know that these annotators can count a Really Useful Member amongst their number!
Cumsalisgrano • Link
Gowne? Reading again and again, I get a sense that a "gowne" be 'wot' one would call a cassock if thy be exiled from Douai sneaking around trying to be sedious, but it not be thick enough for The Steppes of Russia on a wintry day, it not be cape like, for George Washington to cross the Delaware or wear to sleep on Hampstead Heath or Hide Park at night,so my thinking is, it be a loose fitting garment thick enough to keep the winds off thy tummy when sitting at a desk [as me olde nanny would say 'ye catch a death of a colde if the do not keep thy blanket tucked around thee] doing ones sums or when taken for a ride to White hall to keep out that Tems wintry windee weather and allow one to wander the halls of power or go around the sun dial in the gardens looking for unusual under 'ware' hanging out to dry. This garment could be the forerunner of the over coat of modern era, adapted from the the gownes of High Office wearers without all the emblems of power.
Just a thought.
Cumsalisgrano • Link
Flatulence and relief: should have used rhubarb, well known for its use as gas breaker.
Cumsalisgrano • Link
from Locke"...rhubarb will purge, hemlock kill,opium sleep..."
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"Good discourse, Sir W. Rider especially much fearing the issue of a Dutch warr, wherein I very highly commend him."
Rider was a merchant trading in W, Africa. According to Coventry, writing in 1665, he supported war against the Dutch: Longleat, Coventry MSS 102, ff.4-5.
Louise Hudson • Link
Gowne. What we'd call in the US a robe. It's called a dressing gown in England, even today. Perhaps in Pepys' time it was not unusual to wear one in the presence of guests and to take it to other houses, rather than restricting it to the privacy of one's home or bedroom, as most do today. I can see why, with cold and damp so prevalent and little heating to speak of. I would have worn one, too.
Robert Harneis • Link
'Good discourse, Sir W. Rider especially much fearing the issue of a Dutch warr, wherein I very highly commend him.'
Interesting that they are both very doubtful of the wisdom of the whole gung-ho war business. But interesting also for the '...wherein I very highly commend him.' rather than 'commended him'. Does this mean that as someone directly involved he listened approvingly but did not feel able to comment?
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . wherein I very highly commend him.’
‘commend, v. < Latin
. . 3. a. gen. To mention as worthy of acceptance or approval, to express approbation of, praise, extol.
. . a1616 Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) ii. v. 160 She did commend my yellow stockings of late.
1634 R. H. tr. Regim. Salerni Pref. 2 Commend it, or come and mend it . . ‘
……………………..
Re: ‘ . . a second lesson upon my Shipwrightry, . . ’
‘shipwright, n. < Old English . .
1. A man employed in the construction of ships. The Company of Shipwrights was incorporated in 1605.
. . 1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 64 To make a Helm, is the office of a Shipwright, but to use it rightly of a Pilot
shipwrighting n. the art or occupation of a shipwright; shipwright's work.
1894 A. Morrison Tales Mean Streets 158 Carpentering, ship-wrighting, and engine-fitting.
shipwrightry n. = shipwrighting n.
1711 W. Sutherland Ship-builders Assistant 22, I was concern'd that Shipwrightry should be utterly neglected . .
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1928).’
(OED)
San Diego Sarah • Link
'Good discourse, Sir W. Rider especially much fearing the issue of a Dutch warr, wherein I very highly commend him.'
I read this as Pepys enthusiastically agreeing with Rider. Whether that was a silent, knowing nodding of the head, or a verbal agreement, who knows. I tend to think verbal.