Saturday 9 November 1661

Annotations

• N Robert Gertz on Tue 2 Nov 2004, 02:28am

  That’s our good Lady Jem…

• N vicente on Tue 2 Nov 2004, 04:24am

  Keep Liz happy, other wise next time ye leave the bed partner in her cups with a outsider in his cups , could have a different ending

• N RexLeo on Tue 9 Nov 2004, 11:35pm

  It is interesting to note that our hero has not been to the Theatre as frequently as before, after his frolicking in the coach ended with an unseemly injury. It may be that the time spent on his bed has cured him of his addiction.

• N Todd Bernhardt on Wed 10 Nov 2004, 01:26am

  Sam the Diplomat

  “Among other things my Lady did mightily urge me to lay out money upon my wife, which I perceived was a little more earnest than ordinary, and so I seemed to be pleased with it” … but really wasn’t, even though he resolves to “bestow a lace upon her.” Best not to seem a skinflint in front of My Lady, eh?

• N Mary on Wed 10 Nov 2004, 07:52am

  “my lady did mightily urge me …..

  If Milady is as sensible as she sounds, she will have urged Sam to consider his own position as a rising man and will have pointed out that he will do his reputation no good if he fails to maintain his wife in apparel suited to his own standing.

• N Bullus Hutton on Wed 10 Nov 2004, 07:55am

  “my Lady did mightily urge me to lay out money upon my wife..I seemed to be pleased with it”
  That must have been a great smack upside the head for Sam!
  After all his documentented expenditures on hats, coats and fancy pants for himself (and recently mentioning Elizabeth’s dowdy appearance) to have his special Jem comment that he spend something on his darling wife must have choked him totally!
  No wonder he pretended to be pleased by her observation, privately memoed himself to bestow a lace (which I hope means throw a bit of cash) and bolstered this resolve by some excessively merry talk!

• N Peter on Wed 10 Nov 2004, 08:46am

  Quite right Bullus. But it all seems very convenient. Has Sam considered the possibility that there may have been some collusion between Elizabeth and my Lady here? They could be playing him as well as he plays his beloved theorbo!

• N Australian Susan on Wed 10 Nov 2004, 11:04am

  Sam and personal expenditure
  Sam has recently spent a huge amount of money (for the time) on his instrument. He owns some costly items of clothing - such as his beaver felted fur hat. What has he been spending on Liz?? I have assumed that “a lace” means a piece of hand-made lace (Honiton? Flemish?)to be made into a collar or something similar. This would be quite an expense.Wonder if he does buy it? Watch this space…..

• N Glyn on Wed 10 Nov 2004, 04:32pm

  This is NOT a spoiler - I don’t know anything about what is going to happen, but I do remember that his sometime lover is Betty Martin

  http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/1157.php

  who sells linen at Westminster Hall. And where is she from? - Nottingham, which famously produces the best lace in Britain. So maybe he can buy some from her and please his wife and himself at the same time! What precisely is lace anyway?

• N Mary on Wed 10 Nov 2004, 05:13pm

  Nottingham lace?

  An unlikely purchase at this date. Nottingham lace is based upon a machine-made net, and the conversion of hose-knitting machines to net-making machines did not take place until well after Pepys’s day. It was the Victorians and Edwardians who made Nottingham lace really famous. If Sam buys the lace from Betty Martin, it will most likely be hand-made lace, either English or continental in origin.

• N Pauline on Wed 10 Nov 2004, 07:03pm

  “What precisely is lace anyway?”
  from Liza Picard (p. 109): “The underskirt (“petticoat”) was meant to be seen and admired, especially the front panel and hem, which were often decorated and stiffened with metal braid (“lace”) incorporating so much gold or silver that the silversmith who sold it would take old lace in part exchange, knowing he could burn the silk or parchment backing and recover the bullion. (The trimming we call ‘lace’ was usually known as ‘point’—but not always.) So much bullion went into lace in 1661 it was seriously proposed to restrict its use because of the adverse effect on national finances.”

• N dirk on Thu 11 Nov 2004, 02:34am

  “lace”

  Interesting to note that lace played a very essential part in mourning dress in Victorian times. Maybe that was already the case in Sam’s time - in which case “to bestow a lace upon her [his wife]” may mean that Elisabeth is going to get a new set of mourning clothes…
  

• N JonTom Kittredge on Thu 11 Nov 2004, 04:07pm

• N Judith on Thu 11 Nov 2004, 04:09pm

  17th C lace was usually either bobbin (woven) or needle lace (buttonhole stitches, often over something stiff, like horsehair) and thread made of gold bullion wrapped around silk was popular. According to some of my sources a lace worker earned about as much as a farm worker. A five yard flounce would take 40 women 8 months to make and a cravat would cost about as much as 5 years pay of a good servant. Sam is going to have to put out some serious cash for this! There is a library of lace sources at http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/weavedocs.html.