Sunday 13 October 1661
(Lord’s day). Did not stir out all day, but rose and dined below, and this day left off half skirts and put on a wastecoate, and my false taby wastecoate with gold lace; and in the evening there came Sir W. Batten to see me, and sat and supped very kindly with me, and so to prayers and to bed.
25 Annotations
First Reading
Glyn • Link
It was a year ago that General Harrison was hung, drawn and quartered:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
I'm a little surprised they weren't worried about fanatics disturbing the peace.
daniel • Link
(under)clothing
Could someone explain whether poor Sam left off half skirts because of his late "bruise" or becasue the need to keep up with new changing fashions for young galants (bruised or not)?
Robert Gertz • Link
Wonder how Beth is taking the joy of having Sam home continuously? I note no happy mention of her delight in his constant presence.
Robert Gertz • Link
Though she's probably thanking God he can move about on his own today. Yesterday...
A call from upstairs... "Lisabeth!!...Jane!!"
"What does his Lordship want now, Jane?"
"Beggin' your pardon, mum. Mr. Pepys wants another of them catawhatevers and some hot water. And his account book and journal."
"Well?"
"He specially asked that you bring em, mum."
Grrr...The first two times it was sweet; the sixth time...
"Elisabeth!!!..."
vicente • Link
He missed a good sermon too/
dirk • Link
Rev. Josselin's diary for today
I haven't quoted Josselin's diary for some time because he really didn't have much to say, but today's entry is a beauty (the first sentence is somewhat of a brain teaser to figure it all out).
"God was good to me in manifold outward mercies, a very comfortable season my heart through grace not left as sometimes to vanity, evil is as my death, but when lord will you slay it in the actings thereof, all my sisters by my father and mother here at Colne with me supping this night together and not together again though my sister Ann went not until october 16. about noon, my sister Mary in town never coming up to see us in all that time.
This night my daughter Jane was taken sick very strangely, not able to go or help herself and so continued three or four days, and then somewhat better, like the gout or joint ague."
vicente • Link
Normal family, I doth believe, stuck with one, and another so near yet so far.
Mary • Link
the half skirts
are half-shirts, according to the L&M edition. The weather is getting colder and Pepys adjusts his day-wear to suit the season.
JonTom Kittredge • Link
False Taby
Can anyone tell us what "false taby" is? I assume that it's some kind of (expensive) cloth, and SP's waistcoat is only immitation taby, but what is taby?
Glyn • Link
Here's the definition - it's originally from Baghdad apparently. I presume that it was a rich type of watered or wavy coloured silk and that this is a cheaper imitation. Because he's from a tailoring family he presumably knows his fabrics quite well.
And as to why he's wearing it - it's October and the weather is getting colder!
tab-by: A rich watered silk.
A fabric of plain weave.
Having light and dark striped markings: a tabby cat.
Made of or resembling watered silk.
a. 1. Having a wavy or watered appearance; as, a tabby waistcoat. —Pepys.
French tabis, from Old French atabis, from Medieval Latin attab, from Arabic ?attb, after al-?Attbya, a suburb of Baghdad, Iraq
Source: The American Heritage- Dictionary of the English Language,
Mary • Link
Two waistcoats.
Note that Sam appears to wear two of these garments. The first one that he mentions is probably for warmth and the second one (false tabby) for 'show'.
Glyn • Link
One for Language Hat: is this a common sequence for the inclusion of words into the English language, i.e. truncating the first part then adding an intermediate vowel?
The sequence here appears to be 'attb - attab - attabee (in French pronunciation) - tabby.
Pauline • Link
Googling "al-Attbya" gets one hit:
"Don't forget the tabby cat, named for al-Attbya, a Baghdad suburb, after
the prince Attab. One of Iraq's better exports!"
From the watered description of the fabric, I'm guessing it is like what we call moire (silk or satin).
language hat • Link
"One for Language Hat"
People, people, people! When you copy text with special characters, please pay attention to whether they carry over. Often they simply disappear, as here; this also happens with the OED. You have to add in the vowels (they're almost always vowels, which had macrons or other non-HTML elements in the original) in order to have your version make any sense.
In this case, "Medieval Latin attab, from Arabic attb, after al-?Attbya” turns out to be “Medieval Latin attabi, from Arabic ?attabi, after al-?Attabiya,” where the a’s and i’s I’ve added are long (ie, they have a macron, a little bar over them, in the dictionary). And if you google “Attabiya, Baghdad” you will get a number of hits, including this informative piece on the city’s history:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/6…
“Another quarter is that called Al-Attabiya, where are made the clothes from which it takes its names, they being of silk and cotton in various colours.”
And if you look up “tabby” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, you learn that the quarter was “named for prince ‘Attab of the Omayyad dynasty.”
http://www.etymonline.com/index.p…
So in conclusion: I beg of you, proofread your etymology quotes, lest ye mislead your fellow Pepysians!
This has been a public service announcement, brought to you by Languagehat of America.
Ruben • Link
"One for Language Hat"
Chapeau for Language Hat!
Second Reading
Bill • Link
There is now an encyclopedia entry for tabby: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
Bill • Link
"left off half skirts"
SKIRTS, the Part of a Garment below the Waist.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘tabby, n. and adj. < French tabi . . apparently < Arabic ʿattābiy, name of a quarter of Bagdad in which this stuff was manufactured, named after ʿAttāb, great-grandson of Omeyya . .
A. . 1. n. a. A general term for a silk taffeta, app. originally striped, but afterwards applied also to silks of uniform colour waved or watered.
. . 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 23 One piece of silver'd Taby, with flowers of Gold . .
B. adj.
1. Made or consisting of tabby (see A. 1).
. . 1661 S. Pepys Diary 13 Oct. (1970) II. 195 This day..put on..my false taby waistcoat with gold lace . . ‘
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
From Sandwich's log, in the bay of Tangier:
October 13. Sunday.
This night was the last of 3 night's rejoicing in Tangier for the match with Portugal. The town fired all their guns every night and hung out abundance of torches of light. All our ships in the road fired every night also, my own ship 15 guns and the rest proportionably.
On Saturday night there came in a Newfoundland ship that had touched at Cadiz; said before noon he met the Colchester off St. Peter's Island. He also gave me the first advice that de Ruyter with 14 sail of ships was gone up the Straits, 4 sail having been sent in many days before.
Copied from
The Journal of Edward Mountagu,
First Earl of Sandwich
Admiral and General-at-Sea 1659 - 1665
Edited by RC Anderson
Printed for the Navy Records Society
MDCCCCXXIX
Section III - Mediterranean 1661/62
@@@
Tangier https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Cadiz https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Straits https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… and
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Newfoundland https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… (starts half way down)
de Ruyter https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
St. Peter's Island - there is a San Pietro Island (Italian: Isola di San Pietro) approximately 7 kilometres (4 nautical miles) off the southwestern coast of Sardinia, Italy, facing the Sulcis peninsula. With an area of 51 sq. kilometres (19-3⁄4 sq. mi.) it is the sixth-largest island of Italy by area. The inhabitants are mostly concentrated in the fishing town of Carloforte, the only comune in the island. It is included in the province of South Sardinia. It is named after St. Peter.
Since sailing ships tack, this could be the island referred to?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San…
Dorset Richard • Link
“ left off half skirts and put on a wastecoate”
Is ‘half skirts’ the flared coat that the King had brought into fashion from the continent? Fairly fitted down to the waist, and then flared out as ‘skirts’ to somewhere towards the knee?
So is not wearing that a sign that he is staying at home as an invalid, rather than dressing for going out or inviting company round? The waistcoat(s?) are smart enough for family dining and an unexpected visitor, but not ‘going out’ wear?
Or perhaps he is showing his fashionable side; the waistcoat is still quite new (again, a fashion the King brought back from the continent, replacing the doublet). So is Sam showing how fashionable he is, and making sure that people can admire his fancy waistcoat without it being hidden by the coat, and perhaps over-doing it by wearing two at once?
San Diego Sarah • Link
They were still into puffy pants, Dorset. We've got a few years to go before Charles changes the look, which will cause many Diary entries from fashion-conscious but penny-wise Pepys.
Think or Charles II's coronation picture -- exagerated, yes, but the general idea.
https://www.rct.uk/collection/404…
Stephane Chenard • Link
On the Sandwich logg, as posted by Sarah: A future Age will perhaps believe, on reading of these "3 night's rejoicing in Tangier for the match with Portugal", that Algeria won 2-1, as they in fact will in 1989 (not usually the case, however; see http://dzfootball.free.fr/EN/Pays…)
But on this occasion, we suspect that Tangier went wild not only for "the match", but also for the apparently still recent arrival of the Portuguese treasure fleet from Brazil, laden with an estimated "12 million" (currency unstated), including 4,200 "crates of sugar". So will advise the French Gazette on November 5 (new style), quoting a London dispatch from October 27 - which, given the time news take to travel and the 10-day difference between new- and old-style calendars, would seem to refer to events from early October at the latest. Tangiers may be better informed than London of the Lisbon news, but we phant'sy those came in good time to further elevate the publick mood.
A few pinches of this sugar will now presumably make their way to Sam's Rhenish wine. Indeed we see that the Portuguese are so eager to be nice to their new English friends that three of their Brazilian ships sailed straight up the Thames, without even stopping in Portugal, to pay customs duties to English customs. A memo from the Treasury, dated October 15 (at https://www.british-history.ac.uk…) suggests a bit of bewilderment among the Customs Commissioners, who were reassured by the "Portuguese ministers" that "it may be for their master's service that the moneys due for the Portugall customes should be paid to our use, upon accompt betwixt us and that King [Afonso VI of Portugal]".
San Diego Sarah • Link
Fascinating documents, Stephane.
I hadn't seen these Treasury petitions before, so I also took a look at September's page and found this:
"Sept. 9. The royal warrant to the Customs Commissioners, read and entered, to cause the four ships called the "Sampson," Hans Royer, master; the "Hector," Andrew Rand, master; the "Agreement," John Rand, master, and the "Lewis," Anthony Maynard, master (all freighted at Brazil and by contract to unlade at Lisbon, but by accident driven on the English coast), to be unladen here and the goods sold and disposed on on due payment of customs both English and Portuguese, said warrant being made forth at the instance of Mr. Augustin Coronel, Agent for the King of Portugal. Ordered: that the Customs Commissioners pursue His Majesty's directions herein. [Ibid. IX. p. 85.]"
The September vessels were accidental wrecks, and not "on account" to Charles -- the warrants (letters of credit, in effect, for the value of the goods) being made out to made King Alfonso VI https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… -- but some nice customs duties were due, and the English were the beneficieries of the goods sold.
More sugar????
Wrecks, and how to deal with them, must have been a fairly common problem.
Stephane Chenard • Link
Indeed, it was most prudent and usefull to check. We saw and forgot that September minute. "On account" is in the October minute, but must refer to some reckoning agreed with Portugal in the 6+ weeks since the ships arrived.
The cargo may or may not be for Alfonso to gift to Charles; if owned by private merchants, good luck to them for getting full value for its sale in England. Apart from broker's fees, stuff falling off the truck and the reliability of letters of credit, the royal warrant of September 9 mentions "customs both English and Portuguese" being due; that could add up.
And now, senhores capitãos, just to confirm us in the supreme confidence we have in your navigation skills, pray explain again, to us the ministers of Portugal and representative of o grande Inquisidor, by what strange Accident you set sail for Portugal, and ended over 850 miles nauticall away in England, the land of so many Andrews, Johnses and Anthonies?
San Diego Sarah • Link
You're right, Stephane. Those are strangely Anglo names for Portuguese ships' captains!