Tuesday 15 April 1662

At the office all the morning. Dined at home. Again at the office in the afternoon to despatch letters and so home, and with my wife, by coach, to the New Exchange, to buy her some things; where we saw some new-fashion pettycoats of sarcenett, with a black broad lace printed round the bottom and before, very handsome, and my wife had a mind to one of them, but we did not then buy one. But thence to Mr. Bowyer’s, thinking to have spoke to them for our Sarah to go to Huntsmore for a while to get away her ague, but we had not opportunity to do it, and so home and to bed.


17 Annotations

First Reading

Nix  •  Link

"sarcenett" --

OED: Sarsenet, sarcenet

1. A very fine and soft silk material made both plain and twilled, in various colours, now used chiefly for linings; a dress made of this.

1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 41 My tepet of blak sarsenet. 1477 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 189/1 It shal be leefull..to use and were in their Colers, Ventes, and Slefes of their Gownes and Hukes, Sateyn, Chamelet, Sarcenet, or Tarteron. 1496-7 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 30 Item, ij Curtens of Russet sarsynet frengid with sylke. 1542 Nottingham Rec. III. 220 Dublet lyned wyth sarcenet. 1581 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 346 Tincells, taffeta, sarcenetes, & single sarcenetes. 1662 PEPYS Diary 15 Apr., We saw some new~fashon pettycoats of sarcenett. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2302/4 A Scarlet Coat lined with green Sarcenet. 1712 ADDISON Spect. No. 265 {page}9 The palest Features look the most agreeable in white Sarsenet. 1798 JANE AUSTEN Northang. Abb. xv, I remember, too, Miss Andrews drank tea with us that evening, and wore her puce-coloured sarsenet. 1881 BESANT & RICE Chapl. of Fleet I. 182 The citizen's daughters making a gallant show in hoops, patches, lace, sarsnet and muslin.

Josh  •  Link

"We" had no opportunity to talk about "our" plan concerning Sarah's restorative travels: an interesting shift from the first to the third person presumptive.

Vincent Bell  •  Link

But thence to Mr. Bowyer's, thinking to have spoke to them for our Sarah to go to Huntsmore

Mr Bowyer’s permission seems to being sort for the maid Sarah to travel - Am I right in thinking then that Sarah is a young teenager & Mr Bowyer - Pepy’s friend - is her father?

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: Sarah

Or maybe Sam has changed his plans, prompted by Elizabeth's suspicions and desire to stick around Londontowne, and now is looking into sending Sarah off into the country by herself?

Australian Susan  •  Link

Hunstmore is in the Bucks countryside. Maybe Bowyer had relatives there with whom Sarah could stay. Bowyer is a long-standing colleague of Sam's.

Australian Susan  •  Link

"but we did not then buy one"
Interesting to see the domestic bargaining going on here - when read together with yesterday's entry. Hope Elizabeth does get her fashionable garment!

Vicente  •  Link

"...with a black broad lace printed round the bottom and before, very handsome..." printed? how or change in meaning of the word printed?

cumgranissalis  •  Link

Remember: Sam in 60, did ship his darling to Huntsmore so that he could take ship to the Hague. She stayed there from Mar. 17th. thru. June 6th : so she Knows the Iver Heath aire well.

BradW  •  Link

Note of historical interest, among Nix's OED citations of the word "sarcenet" in literature, we see this below. No doubt it is from the late Medieval laws attempting to restrict use of certain garments and types of cloth to only certain social classes, thus publicly labeling nobles, merchants, freemen and serfs. Shifting wealth eventually doomed these efforts at carving social castes in stone (or so says this American).

1477 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 189/1 It shal be leefull..to use and were in their Colers, Ventes, and Slefes of their Gownes and Hukes, Sateyn, Chamelet, Sarcenet, or Tarteron.

JWB  •  Link

Sarah
"This day a good pretty maid (Sarah) was sent my wife by Mary Bowyer, whom my wife has hired." 22 Nov. '61. Mary was daughter of Robert "father" Bowyer, and Will Bowyer's(Bowler) sister.

Pauline  •  Link

Bowyer
Robert "Father" Bower's country house is in Huntsmore. Elizabeth and her maid Jane stayed there while Pepys was at sea two years ago. His wife is Mary (b. Buggins) and they had 13 children, the oldest of which is William.

[Note that the Bowyer link in today's annotation has been changed to Robert]

vicente  •  Link

great find.

Vincent Bell  •  Link

Thanks JWB - much appreciated.

Pedro  •  Link

Tuesday 15 April 1662.

On this day Sandwich sails from Lisbon with our new Queene.

Pedro  •  Link

Correction to the above.

The Queene sails on the 25th April.

Will Johnson  •  Link

That his wife was *Mary* Buggins is shown to be erroneous by the extract of Marriages from St James, Clerkenwell

On 25 Aug 1623 Robert Bowyer to ELIZABETH Buggins
Extracted to the IGI Batch M001411
from the parish register

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

"with a black broad lace printed round the bottom and before"

There are three kinds of printing, the one from moveable letters for books; an other from copper-plates for pictures; and the last from blocks, in which the representation of birds, flowers, &c. are cut for printing calicoes, linens, &c. the first, called common press-printing, the second rolling press-printing, and the last calicoe, &c. printing.
---A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. 1764.

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