Tuesday 19 April 1664

Up and to St. James’s, where long with Mr. Coventry, Povy, &c., in their Tangier accounts, but such the folly of that coxcomb Povy that we could do little in it, and so parted for the time, and I to walk with Creed and Vernaty in the Physique Garden in St. James’s Parke; where I first saw orange-trees, and other fine trees. So to Westminster Hall, and thence by water to the Temple, and so walked to the ’Change, and there find the ’Change full of news from Guinny, some say the Dutch have sunk our ships and taken our fort, and others say we have done the same to them. But I find by our merchants that something is done, but is yet a secret among them. So home to dinner, and then to the office, and at night with Captain Tayler consulting how to get a little money by letting him the Elias to fetch masts from New England. So home to supper and to bed.


31 Annotations

First Reading

Terry F  •  Link

"the Physique Garden"

"The Physic Gardens of the 17th Century were healing places for mind and body and special herbs and plants were grown in particular configurations to serve this end." http://physikgarden.com/gate.html

Terry F  •  Link

The History of Botanic Gardens

"Gardens and the cultivation of plants have been around for thousands of years with the first examples dating to around 3000 years ago in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Romans were also keen gardeners and they were also aware of the medicinal properties of plants. Following on from the Romans in identifying the medicinal properties of plants were the monks. They also used the beauty of plants and flowers as a celebration of god. The first of these monastic gardens was created in the 8th century. These gardens were the pre-cursor to the physic gardens that appeared in the 16 century." http://www.bgci.org/botanic_garde…

Pepys knows a turn in any garden (with, e.g., the missus) can clear the mind/air.

cape henry  •  Link

"But I find by our merchants that something is done, but is yet a secret among them." Trade secrets. In the age of sail and slow communications one imagines that facts and rumors were easily mixed and consequences could be ruinous to a merchant on the wrong side of that line.

cumsalisgrano  •  Link

"...and at night with Captain Tayler consulting how to get a little money by letting him the Elias to fetch masts from New England...." Letting ? = leasing??
Re Monopolies. Patents , constraint of trade:
Ideas and trade and press were not open to one and all.
IN theory thy trade was registered and no one else could encroached on thy turf within 7 miles, but Demand of goods and services would negate many of these practices.
Competition was discourageed, then Trade forced open up competion, and now competition is being snuffed out. 'Tis evolution that when it winds up in one mans hands , all hell breaks out so add the R.

Terry F  •  Link

Nine years in the future

"The Chelsea Physic Garden was founded in 1673, as the Apothecaries' Garden, with the purpose of training apprentices in identifying plants. The location was chosen as the proximity to the river created a warmer microclimate allowing the survival of many non-native plants - such as the largest outdoor fruiting olive tree in Britain - and more importantly, to allow plants to survive harsh British winters. The river was also important as a transport route that linked the garden to other open spaces such as Putney Heath, facilitating easy movements of both plants and botanists. In fact the garden has always sought to achieve good communications with others working in the same field: by the 1700's it had initiated an international botanic garden seed exchange system, which continues to this day." http://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co…

alanB  •  Link

The orange tree is more than ornamental. Presumably, the Physique garden was aware of its benefits at this time but was Sam? 'Portuguese, Spanish, Arab, and Dutch sailors planted citrus trees along trade routes to prevent scurvy'

Ruben  •  Link

All about the Elias
from the best site in the Net about the Anglo-Dutch war:
http://anglo-dutch-wars.blogspot.…

"The squadron that brought Charles II back to England for the Restoration

"Edward Montagu commanded the squadron of ships that brought Charles II and his family to England in 1660. These seem to be the ships and captains involved..."

"Naseby, 80 guns (renamed Royal Charles) Edward Montagu and Roger Cuttance London, 64 guns...
Richard, 70 guns (renamed Royal James) ...
Elias, 36 guns Mark Harrison..." (in all 24 ships)"

"This is from:
J.R. Tanner, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Naval Manuscripts in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Vol.I, 1903."

"Mark Harrison served in both the Commonwealth and Restoration navies...From 1659 to 1660, he commanded the Dutch prize Elias (the former Amsterdam Directors's ship Elias). At the Restoration, he was continued in command of the Elias. In 1663, he commanded the 2nd Rate Rainbow."

From Pepys diary, January 21, 1663:
"After dinner on board the Elias, and found the timber brought by her from the forest of Deane to be exceeding good. The Captain gave each of us two barrels of pickled oysters put up for the Queen mother."

and now a little SPOILER from Pepys future diary.
From November 14 1664: "The Elias,' coming from New England (Captain Hill, commander), is sunk; only the captain and a few men saved. She foundered in the sea."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

and now a little SPOILER from Pepys future diary.
From November 14 1664: "The Elias,' coming from New England (Captain Hill, commander), is sunk; only the captain and a few men saved. She foundered in the sea."

Thus doth the Lord punish the transgressor, Samuel.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...such the folly of that coxcomb Povy that we could do little in it..." As yet no mention of Coventry, that fearless condemner of incomptence and sloth, giving Povy a stern rebuke...One has to wonder if he's quite as bad as Sam makes out. Though I suppose and contemporary experience (ya doin' a great job, Brownie) has taught us, that putting a man with no training or experience in such a position, however elegant, cultured, and suave he may be, often leads to disaster.

Terry F  •  Link

Globalization 1.0 and the Physic Garden

The competition for global resources with the Dutch and Spanish included the extension of English applied science, i.a. on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries' exotic (non-native) plants collection. So did British ships' physicians serve as "naturalists," predecessors in that role of Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle's Second Voyage, 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char…

Xjy  •  Link

Physic Garden, Botanists, etc

Three-hundredth anniversary of Carl von Linné's (Linnaeus) birth coming up soon. Born in May 1707. Put the study of nature on a scientific footing with his sexual classification of plants and animals, and his consistent use of binomial nomenclature. Tremendous writer as well, both of books (an important Swedish stylist!) and of letters (mainly Latin - he cultivated a vast international scientific correspondence).

See eg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caro…) for an introduction and links.

His "disciples" accompanied ships of the Swedish East-India Company and other traders for the same purposes of exploration and collection as already mentioned.

He got into trouble with religious authorities for not seeing any genera difference between men and apes. Today he gets into trouble for seeing species differences between human "races". Seeing him as an empirical scientist wrestling with problems of theoretical classification resolves any contradiction that might appear in this. He was way ahead of the priests, and his racial views have been scientifically superseded as the work he laid the foundation for developed further.

Pedro  •  Link

"Dutch sailors planted citrus trees along trade routes to prevent scurvy"

Holmes seems to know the value of oranges...

Off Cape Sierra Leone...

"Here I went ashore to see what had become of a plantation of the Kernells of China oranges I put in a fine plain field I met withall the first voyage I was there in the Henrietta (1661), about a mile above the watering place upon the side of a small Rivolet that makes the watering place, which is one of the best watering places in the world. I went to the place where I made my plantation and found the River, but the fine plain where I had put my seed the voyage before I could not find for a good while, for all the plain was overrun with Brairs, Bushes and weeds that it was impossible to find it out...I looked up towards the Topps of some fine young straight trees I saw growing there. I had not the confidence to say they were orange trees by reason they were grown to that bigness and height, but at last we all concluded that they were orange trees and confirm us in that opinion found several of ye stocks that we set the seed by in the ground...The trees were at that time in their blossoms, and did look the finest that I ever saw. I had on shore with me several men that I had with me at the first planting."

(Summary from Man of War by Ollard)

Pedro  •  Link

"In the age of sail and slow communications"

Coventry's recent letter from England had taken six weeks to reach Holmes on the West African Coast.

Pedro  •  Link

"the Physique Garden "

In 1676 the transfer of plant specimens began. The intention was to discover, cultivate and study plants for scientific and medical purposes, a practice which continues up to today.

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/vmtours/ch…

Elizabeth and Alexander Blackwell...A talented artist, she offered to record the many new plants in the Physic Garden. A Curious Herbal, illustrating 500 of the most useful plants and their uses, appeared in 1739. This beautiful book was a great success but brought her little joy. Her children, William and Ann, both died in 1736, soon after she commenced work.

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/vmtours/ch…

cumsalisgrano  •  Link

Still a lot Hobbesian thinking is still in vogue for the qualification of leadership, by many of those that be hanging on to power, it be in the blud passed on by right kind of in-breeding.
Of course Charles was trying out some cross breeding of his own, x king with a orange sellar, dog breeding and of course the nags at the Epsom , using some the local salts? Suffolk aire be great, x ing a Clydesdale with a vintage Algerian mount, it did not lead to many winners at Newmarket.
Sons of leaders do not always lead to a succesful rein [sic], ala Suleiman (I)followed be the son.

Pedro  •  Link

From The Carte Papers...

Written from: [Whitehall]
Date: 19 April 1664

Shelfmark: MS. Carte 221, fol(s). 92

Document type: Copy

Resolution of a Committee of the Privy Council of England, for Trade, upon the invasion of his Majesty's Rights in India, Africa, and elsewhere, by merchants who are subjects of the United Provinces of the Netherlands; praying the King to be pleased to take some speedy and effectual course for remedy thereof.

Ruben  •  Link

"Dutch sailors planted citrus trees along trade routes to prevent scurvy"

"...one of the best watering places in the world..."
"...did look the finest that I ever saw..."
Come on, this letter was written by Sam!

Pedro  •  Link

"one of the best watering places in the world"

As far as Sam is concerned it is difficulty to find the most favoured watering place as Phil rates them by the number of annotations, and not by the number of references!

Ruben  •  Link

looking for the Physique Garden in old maps I came across the following:
"Guildhall Library Exhibition: 'London Before and After the Great Fire. Etchings by Wenceslaus Hollar 1607-1677'. On now until 12 May 2007, Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 5pm in the Guildhall Library Print Room"
More at http://collage.cityoflondon.gov.u…
including some of the prints

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"Sons of leaders do not always lead to a succesful rein [sic], ala Suleiman (I)followed be the son."
We needn't look further than the first few months of our Diary, and the unfortunate Richard Cromwell, for a prime illustration of that dictum.

cumsalisgrano  •  Link

The Cromwells were upstarts, not of blu blud, thus that does not count? only proves that thee need good blu Sovereign blud for Leaders?

Ruben  •  Link

for a leader to be "great" or "magnificent" it takes not only the proper person but general conditions of the country, of the world around, and of the weather. Only one on the hundred will be "great", so, statistically, it will be rare that 2 or 3 "greats" come in a row. The same with prime ministers, in spite of not having blood relations between them. Same with other jobs like families of musicians: Bach, Sebastian was the real thing...etc.

cumsalisgrano  •  Link

Ruben: Interesting, there be more to a good leader than the color of blud. Truly we have lot to learn, but meanwhile we still trust in Tribalism and blud lines.
A prince must marry a princess if there be one or else get thy family tree out and and see how many winners there be, and don't count those that be in the list of Olde Bailey miscreants [and synonyms], or drop haiches or their g's or say Ma'am.

Australian Susan  •  Link

The Chelsea Physic garden and many others in London suffered terribly after the Great Storm of October 15th, 1987 (never forgotten by those who were there!). I wondered if I could find anything on the web about this and found it in the strangest place: a site about lute making. They benefitted from the storm as they got an enormous amount of rare wood. See http://www.lutesandguitars.co.uk/… (you need to scroll down quite a bit).

Australian Susan  •  Link

Our salty correspondent's mention of breeding racehorses prompted me to find a site about this, as Charles was influential in the development of the racing horse par excellence: The English Thoroughbred. Here is some information: http://horsecare.stablemade.com/_…

Pedro  •  Link

And on the coast of West Africa...

On the 12th April Holmes anchored off Kommenda within sight of El Mina and Cape Coast Castle...on the 18th and 19th the Dutch obligingly opened fire unprovoked on the Galliot and on a canoe which contained the precious person of Mr. Bevis, the East India Company's agent at Kormantin. No further pretext was needed. On the afternoon of the 19th it was resolved by officers and factors to take Cape Coast Castle with the assistance of the Africans and the connivance of the Danes.

(Man of War by Ollard)

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The English and Dutch on the coast of West Africa

In fact Holmes had captured Goree and most of the Dutch settlements on the Gold Coast in the early part of the year. In the autumn de Ruyter recovered these conquests and destroyed every English settlement except Cape Coast Castle. Open war followed in March 1665. (Per L&M note)

Goree: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gor…
Cape Coast Castle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap…

These and the other settlements were "factories" where "factors" (agents) of The Royal African Company plied their trade in slaves and other commodities for the Stuart family and London merchants. http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Bill  •  Link

“where I first saw orange-trees”

John Evelyn mentions in his Diary (Sept. 25th, 1679) the excellence of the China oranges grown on his own trees, and later on he writes: "20 September, 1700. I went to Beddington, the ancient seate of the Carews, heretofore adorned with ample gardens and the first orange trees that had been seen in England planted in the open ground." William Bray, the editor, says that oranges were eaten in this kingdom in the time of King James I., if not earlier, as appears by the accounts of a student in the Temple, which he had seen.
---Wheatley, 1904.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries’ Garden in London, England, in 1673. This physic garden is the second oldest botanical garden in Britain, after the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, which was founded in 1621.

See some lovely photos of the place at: http://onelondonone.blogspot.com/… -guide-in-england-day-3-part-three.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Onelondonone+%28onelondonone%29

I have put a break in this long link because the website cannot accommodate it. You will have to copy the whole thing and relink it in your browser.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

We have been told it takes about six weeks to get a letter to or from Holmes off the coast of West Africa. In which case this letter seems to qualify as the source of the rumors, as it was sent dated Monday, 8 February, 1664, so presumably it has recently arrived:

"Holmes writes a long letter to Coventry giving him a full account of actions since his first sighting of Cape Verde on Christmas Day. He concludes with the words: "You now have all the trade in your own hands from Cape de Verd to the Gould Coast ... being the most considerable trade in Christendom. I hope you will take resolution to keep it ... if I go beyond my instructions I hope you and the Royal Company will mediate for me." (Man of War ... by Richard Ollard)"

see http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

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