Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
This morning sending a packet by Mr. Dunne to London. In the afternoon I played at ninepins with Mr. Pickering, I and Mr. Pett against him and Ted Osgood, and won a crown apiece of him. He had not money enough to pay me. After supper my Lord exceeding merry, and he and I and W. Howe to sing, and so to bed.
Sunday 29 April 1660Friday 27 April 1660
9°C / 48°F
(monthly average for April 1660) About
There are no journals available for this date.
Clearly not a busy day…
I have trouble envisioning playing ninepins, or any other bowling game for that matter, aboard a sailing ship, rocking at anchor. Must have been a real challenge - and they seem to play pretty regularly!
There’s an old English variant where the skittle are on a board with an upright post, and the ball dangles from a rope attached to the top of the post. I’ve no idea of the origins of this form, but I could see it working on a ship.
bar skittles/ninepins
Whilst agreeing that the tabletop/bar game that David refers to would be easier to imagine being played on board ship, a bit of Googling elicited the information that this miniaturised version of ninepins did not appear until the eighteenth century. Pity.
How long has Pepys been on this furschlugginer ship anyway? The vessel seems to keep on going noplace in particular.
Events, dear boy, events
After nine years of Commonwealth Republican rule, it’s not really surprisng that the preparations/negotiations for a possible restoration of the monarchy should take longer than a week or three to be accomplished. Mountagu and his fleet are part of this process; Mountagu is taking political part in the events, but he is not by any means the sole principal in them so he has to wait on events beyond his own control before he sets sail. He cannot afford at this stage to be out of geographical touch with the process of political evolution, so remains close to shore but ready to sail when the moment is right.
“He had not money enough to pay me”
Here he is once again, the world’s most brilliant naif. We’ve seen him recently wheeling and dealing with the best of them, power-broking, lining his pockets etc, yet today’s entry consists almost entirely of a stunned admission that his chums stiffed him in a simple game for a crown apiece (actually I can relate to that, shooting pool with someone who says OK you won but I don’t have any dough, what d’you do?) and two days ago, after some splendid incisive comment on the current situation in parliament, he goes down to check the booze locker and is totally wowwed by the “massy” ships timbers and (Hey you guys, would you bul-lieve!) we were a whole deck below the water-line. OK that’s enough, let’s get back up there and sup it up, some musique and “some very good laughing”.
No wonder his personality has shone through to this day!
Re: Ninepins
See link: http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/684.php#c4182
Ninepins
The movement of the ship might have added to the interest of the game. It would be a bit like crown green bowls with the green moving.
Stolzi, just think of this “verschlugen” ship as a mobile command post —
just being there is enough.
Many, many thanks for the opportunity to hear the BBC program of music in Pepys’ era along with remarks from the diary. As one who lives in the US, this chance to enjoy BBC was a great treat.I’m very grateful.