Saturday 5 September 1663

Up betimes and to my viall awhile, and so to the office, and there sat, and busy all the morning. So at noon to the Exchange, and so home to dinner, where I met Creed, who dined with me, and after dinner mightily importuned by Captain Hicks, who came to tell my wife the names and story of all the shells, which was a pretty present he made her the other day.

He being gone, Creed, my wife, and I to Cornhill, and after many tryalls bought my wife a chintz, that is, a painted Indian calico, for to line her new study, which is very pretty.

So home with her, and then I away (Creed being gone) to Captain Minors upon Tower Hill, and there, abating only some impertinence of his, I did inform myself well in things relating to the East Indys; both of the country and the disappointment the King met with the last voyage, by the knavery of the Portugall Viceroy, and the inconsiderablenesse of the place of Bombaim, if we had had it. But, above all things, it seems strange to me that matters should not be understood before they went out; and also that such a thing as this, which was expected to be one of the best parts of the Queen’s portion, should not be better understood; it being, if we had it, but a poor place, and not really so as was described to our King in the draught of it, but a poor little island; whereas they made the King and Lord Chancellor, and other learned men about the King, believe that that, and other islands which are near it, were all one piece; and so the draught was drawn and presented to the King, and believed by the King and expected to prove so when our men came thither; but it is quite otherwise.

Thence to my office, and after several letters writ, home to supper and to bed, and took a pill. I hear this day that Sir W. Batten was fain to put ashore at Queenborough with my Lady, who has been so sick she swears never to go to sea again. But it happens well that Holmes is come home into the Downes, where he will meet my Lady, and it may be do her more good than she looked for. He brings news of the peace between Tangier and the Moors, but the particulars I know not. He is come but yesterday.

34 Annotations

First Reading

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"But it happens well that Holmes is come home into the Downes, where he will meet my Lady, and it may be do her more good than she looked for."

And what, pray tell, does he mean by *that*?

From 3 Sept:
"besides that she is mighty troublesome on the water."

And all this time, I thought he was writing about the ship...

dirk  •  Link

"and took a pill"

Physique -- a laxative...
For the result, see tomorrow!

Bradford  •  Link

"bought my wife a chintz, that is, a painted Indian callico, for to line her new study, which is very pretty."

Will this merely be hung, or somehow applied to the walls (as "line" would suggest nowadays)? And how was that accomplished?

TerryF  •  Link

"Chintz is calico cloth printed with flowers and other devices in different colours, originally from India.Chintz was originally a painted or stained calico produced in India and popular for bed covers, quilts and draperies, popular in Europe in 17th century and 18th century, where it was imported and later produced." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chin…

Images and description of Chintz
"Indian chint[z] was a broad, gaudily printed plain weave cloth of floral hand-blocked prints, usually plants and animals, glazed with waxes and starch. It was used for dresses and household and soon caught the attention of Europe and later America.

"The fabric was imported to England by the East Indian Co. in the 17th C. This earlier chintz meant any lavishly printed fabric and the term was used interchangeably for any glazed or unglazed Indian painted and printed cotton fabrics (calicos) achieved by processes of resist-dyeing and mordant-dyeing during the 16c and 17c. " http://www.fabrics.net/joan1202.a…

---

Bradford, take a gander at some of the images next to this text and see what you think.

TerryF  •  Link

Interesting etymologyies there also -

"*Chintz - glazed and unglazed
A term which has been modified over time due the confusion of its finish and designs and linkage with cretonne and calico. The word is said to be derived from the Hindu cheita or Sanskrit citra meaning spotted, variegated or coloured or Asian Indian chint [plural chintes] meaning fabric and given to a kind of stained or painted calico produced in India. China is also credited with developing a type of similar hand-painted fabric."

Methinks likely chintz hangings for Bess's study.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I'm always impressed by Sam's causalness about providing Bess with her own study in the renovations with no diary debate as to what use she'll make of it or grumbling over the expense, even suggesting that he encourages her to fit it out as she likes. He seems to have accepted it as her due without a thought.

But he probably sees it as a good deal for him...She's happy and safely confined indoors, tucked away from other men.

***

I think Bombay will work out, Sam. Given recent stories about exploiting minerals on the Moon I imagine our UN "no nation can ever claim other worlds" treaty will prove about as enduring as the 1494 treaty dividing the new discoveries in the East, including Portugal's Indian possessions, solely between Spain and Portugal "forever", is in your time.

Filed under "it might have been..."

"Uh, Bess...? The ummn, good news is we're going traveling as you've always wanted."

"Oh, Sam..."

"The bad news is you're looking at the new adminstrator of the East Indian squadron of the Royal Navy, based in Bombaim...Wherever the hell that is. Hewer! Map!"

"Aye, Sahib."

***

dirk  •  Link

Chintz

"Yet however high the value placed on textiles from India, authenticity was nothing when set against style. The arrogance and sense of ownership with which merchants transacted their affairs with Indian craftsmen is apparent. By the middle of the 17th century, agents began to commission fabrics 'more to the English taste'. The grounds of embroidered textiles were changed from red to white without consideration of the fact that for many Indians this was the colour of death and mourning and avoided for that reason. This toning down of traditional devices was no doubt viewed as a refinement - to become more 'English' could only be an improvement. Ladies of the time would aspire to the look in both dress and interior decoration. Chintz, bed hangings and palampores were essential items in the bedroom of any cultivated person, presumably without a thought to the meanings behind the plundered styles."
http://embroidery.embroiderersgui…

"The development of English and French textiles, was greatly influenced by the introduction into Europe of Indian chintz. European chintz became the basis of modern textiles and interior design. With the setting up of the Dutch East India Company or VOC (1597), the English East India Company (1600) and the French East India Company (1664), superior quality dyed Indian textiles came into Europe. [...] In 1664, the total quantities imported by the English Company stood well over 750,000 pieces. [...]"
http://www.lian.com/TANAKA/englis…

"[...] By the middle of the 17th century, agents began to commission fabrics 'more to the English taste'. The grounds of embroidered textiles were changed from red to white without consideration of the fact that for many Indians this was the colour of death and mourning and avoided for that reason. This toning down of traditional devices was no doubt viewed as a refinement - to become more 'English' could only be an improvement. Ladies of the time would aspire to the look in both dress and interior decoration. Chintz, bed hangings and palampores were essential items in the bedroom of any cultivated person [...]."
http://embroidery.embroiderersgui…

dirk  •  Link

Sorry

The entire last paragraph is a partial repeat of the first one -- I should have paid more attention!

Miss Ann fr Home  •  Link

Why does Captain Hicks, with his present of shells to Bess, not engender the same jealousy as Mr Pembleton? Is it because he's "navy" and can be trusted due to Sam's position at Navy Office, or is he old and ugly? You know, it's always the suitor that slips in under the radar that is successful in these cases (experience speaking here).

Looks like the Queen's dowry is under suspicion - how much now has not been as it were portrayed? It's mounting up, and up, and up.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Very interesting bit, Dirk.

"The grounds of embroidered textiles were changed from red to white without consideration of the fact that for many Indians this was the colour of death and mourning and avoided for that reason."

"Oh, yes, sahib. I will be very, very glad to help deck every one of your English homes in white."

Michael Robinson  •  Link

callico, for to line her new study, ...

"Delicate hangings also needed frequent attention - fringes repairing, wrinkles adjusting, etc. So hangings of any degree of richness must have been readily detachable from the walls. Some velvet and silk damask hangings at Ham House which are still on the walls for which they were created in the 1670's (and are not now taken down very often) have an arrangement of hooks and eyes. Very heavy hangings must have been nailed to battens fixed to the walls. Sometimes hangings were fixed to frames like picture stretchers. Wallpaper was usually pasted directly onto the wall but might first be pasted onto canvas."

Thornton Seventeenth Century Interior Decoration in England, France & Holland New Haven: Yale, 1978 p. 134

Thornton notes also, p.140, a room at Coudray (Invt. 1682)-- where the even the window curtains of chintz were en-suite with the bed hangings, wall-hangings, chair covers and carpet -- called "The Calleco Chamber" The Pepys clearly are on the cutting edge of interior style.

Pedro  •  Link

Today a Royal Visit to Bristol.

In August (1663), it was announced that the King and Queen were to visit Bath for the purpose of drinking the waters. The ultra-royal Corporation of Bristol immediatley resolved to send a deputation to Bath to greet the visitors and invite them to Bristol. As the civic treasury was empty, loans were solicited from members of the corporation. Sir Robert Cann, the Mayor, headed the list with a loan of £180, and his son, William Cann, followed with £100. The total raised for the reception and banquet was £1600.

On August 24th, the Majesties were presented with a gift of wine and sugar and they agreed to visit Bristol. On September 5th, the King, Queen, Duke and Duchess of York, the Duke of Monmouth, Prince Rupert and cortiers were received at Lawford's Gate by Sir Robert Cann and members of the council. After a formal ceremony, royal procession, and banquet, and a gift to the Queen, the King dubbed four knights including Robert's son, William Cann. The royal entourage then left to a 150 gun salute. To the disappointment of the council, the vist had lasted just four hours.

http://www.trinity-bris.ac.uk/ind…

tel  •  Link

the King dubbed four knights including Robert’s son, William Cann.
Not a bad return for £100! At least the "loan" was made to the local corporation - unlike today's system.

Xjy  •  Link

Etymology of "pill", which struck me as a "modern" word...

pill
1484, from M.Du. or M.L.G. pille, from L. pilula "pill," lit. "little ball," dim. of pila "ball." Slang meaning "boring person" is recorded from 1871. The pill "contraceptive pill" is from 1957. Pill-box "box for holding pills" is first attested 1730; as a small round concrete machine gun nest, it came into use in WWI. As a type of hat, attested from 1958.

From Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com) via OneLook (onelook.com)

Robert Gertz  •  Link

In an alternate universe...

"In 1667, the local naval administrator for the Royal Navy in the East Indies, one Samuel Pepys, had the misfortune to be seized by the troops of the local prince, an recent secret ally of the French, while on a personal inspection tour around the Bombay region..."

"This is a barbarous insult to the Most Royal King's majesty, sir!" Sam calls from the post above the unlit pyre to which he is bound.

"Which one?" the prince mockingly calls back to the annoying little Englishman, with his constant poking into affairs and demands for an end to traditional, if corrupt practices, "You Europeans have so many claiming precedence I can barely keep track! Any way, I'm now a friend of His Most Catholic Majesty ...And His Governor" he turns to a triumphant, if somewhat embarassed...Burning one's captured rivals...And their lovely wives...is so unFrench...French local commander.

"My King will avenge me and my people!" Sam cries.

"Right." the prince nods, chuckling...

"You, there, sir!" Sam tries the new French governor. "At least spare my wife, she is part French, you know. You, as a gentleman..."

"Samuel." Bess hisses from her side of the post.

"Sacre Dieu? French?" the commander blinks. "Uh, my dear prince..."

"Wasn't my call. She demanded the right to join you." the prince calls back. "Very admirably Indian of her. Begin the execution!"

"Bess?"

"What?"

"Ah well...If it is her wish. Truly French." the commander nods, pleased.

"What the hell are you doing, girl?" Sam hisses. "Tell them you made a mistake."

"Proving what a silly fool I am, you little clod. And it's too late to retrieve the mistake of loving you."

"Bess..." The flames rising quickly...

"Perhaps...A bit more smoke, my prince? A boon for a noble part-Frenchwoman which my glorious King would approve." the French commander suggests politely.

"Very well. More green wood!" the prince reluctantly indulges his guest.

"Bess, darling?"

"Sam..." heavy coughing...

"So there really was nothing between you and Pembleton?"

"Oh...(unprintable french)!"

***

TerryF  •  Link

Bombain

"The appellation Mumbai is an eponym, etymologically derived from Mumba or Maha-Amba— the name of the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, and Aai — mother in Marathi. In the 16th century, the Portuguese named the area Bom Bahia (Good Bay), later corrupted to Bomaím or Bombaim, by which it is still known in Portuguese. After the British gained possession, it was anglicised to Bombay, although it was known as Mumbai or Mambai to Marathi and Gujarati-speakers, and as Bambai in Hindi, Urdu, and Persian.[4] The name was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumb…

TerryF  •  Link

Bombain to Bombay

"In 1534, the Portuguese appropriated the islands from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, naming them Bom Baia, Portuguese for "good bay". They were ceded to Charles II of England in 1661, as dowry for Catherine de Braganza. The cost of maintaining the islands was prohibative so they were, in turn, leased to the British East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The actual transfer was by letters patent which, presumably for bureaucratic convenience, described Bombay as being 'in the manor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent'. [6] The company found the deep harbour on the east coast of the islands to be ideal for setting up their first port in the sub-continent. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675; In 1687, the British East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumb…

The current complaint is clearly premature.

Aqua  •  Link

Now do not be too chintzy, Sammmy "...after many tryalls bought my wife a chintz, that is, a painted Indian callico, for to line her new study, which is very pretty..."

Aqua  •  Link

The OED : Samuell makes it again"
Originally chints, plural of chint, a. Hind_nt; also formerly found as chite, F. chite, Pg. chita, a. Mahr_ ch_Skr. chitra variegated. The plural of this word, being more frequent in commercial use, came in course of time to be mistaken for a singular, and this to be written chince, chinse, and at length chintz (app. after words like Coblentz, quartz). This error was not established before the third quarter of the 18th c., although editors and press-readers have intruded it into re-editions of earlier works. Cf. the similar baize for bays.]
1. orig. A name for the painted or stained calicoes imported from India; now, a name for cotton cloths fast-printed with designs of flowers, etc., in a number of colours, generally not less than five, and usually glazed.
sing. chint, pl. chints (-z).
1663 PEPYS Diary 5 Sept., Bought my wife a chint [so app. MS.; ed. chintz], that is, a painted Indian callico, for to line her new study.
chintzy, a
Decorated or covered with chintz; suggestive of a pattern in chintz. Also in extended use: suburban, unfashionable, petit-bourgeois, cheap; mean, stingy.
1851 GEO. ELIOT Let. 18 Sept. (1954) I. 362 The effect is chintzy and would be unbecoming.

TerryF  •  Link

"the King dubbed four knights including Robert’s son, William Cann."

tel comments, "Not a bad return for £100! At least the 'loan' was made to the local corporation - unlike today’s system."

Perhaps tel had in mind something like the cash for peerages affair. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_pol…

Pedro  •  Link

Bombay

Perhaps there should be a background section for Bombay?

For the situation with Bombay so far see the background of…

Ley, James (3rd Earl of Marlborough)

http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

and Shipman, Sir Abraham (Governor of Bombay)

http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Bombay had been placed in the Dowry along with Tangier by Catherine’s mother the Queen Regent, but she had hidden the inclusion from some ministers that were opposed to her. Now the country is governed by Castel Melhor (for Afonso), and as with such things as recognition and pay for the English troops, everything is given grudgingly.

Pedro  •  Link

Bombaim to Bombay.

Most sources give the explanation as Terry has mentioned above, but this is questioned by the The Hobson Jobson Dictionary. Perhaps Mr Hat can help?

BOMBAY, n.p. It has been alleged, often and positively (as in the quotations below from Fryer and Grose), that this name is an English corruption from the Portuguese Bombahia, ‘good bay.’ The grammar of the alleged etymon is bad, and the history is no better; for the name can be traced long before the Portuguese occupation, long before the arrival of the Portuguese in India. C. 1430, we find the islands of Mahim and Mumba-Devi, which united form the existing island of Bombay, held, along with Salsette, by a Hindu Rai, who was tributary to the Mohammedan King of Guzerat. (See Ras Mala, ii. 350); [ed. 1878, p. 270]. The same form reappears (1516) in Barbosa’s Tana-Mayambu (p. 68), in the Estado da India under 1525, and (1563) in Garcia de Orta, who writes both Mombaim and Bombaim. The latter author, mentioning the excellence of the areca produced there, speaks of himself having had a grant of the island from the King of Portugal (see below). It is customarily called Bombaim on the earliest English Rupee coinage. (See under RUPEE.) The shrine of the goddess Mumba-Devi from whom the name is supposed to have been taken, stood on the Esplanade till the middle of the 17th century, when it was removed to its present site in the middle of what is now the most frequented part of the native town.

Bradford  •  Link

Yes, Terry, the examples shown of chintz are excellent, and just what I was imagining---and Michael confirms the suspicion that these were hung in front of rather than applied to the walls. ---Which makes anyone who has ever taken down heavy drapes realize that another household task has been added, of periodically cleaning these dustcatchers.

Pedro  •  Link

“I hear this day that Sir W. Batten was fain to put ashore at Queenborough with my Lady, who has been so sick she swears never to go to sea again”

From the Background of Christopher Pett…

By 1663 yacht-building was spreading downwards to the aristocracy, so much so that C. Pett demanded extra gratuity for building pleasure boats, because of all the people he had to entertain. Early owners included Sir W Batten, whose wife was ungratefully sick.

(Summary from King Charles II…Fraser)

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"Bombay"
The Portuguese could not have named it Bom Bahia, because not even an illiterate person would say that, bahia being feminine it would have been Boa Bahia.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"Bombay"
The Portuguese could not have named it Bom Bahia, because not even an illiterate person would say that, bahia being feminine it would have been Boa Bahia.

language hat  •  Link

Bombay:
While Hobson-Jobson is not to be trusted for etymologies, being a 19th-century work by enthusiastic amateurs (which I mean in the best possible sense -- I love the book and consult it often), it's on the money here. Bombay (or rather Bombaim) is just a Portuguization of the native name which is currently rendered Mumbai.

JonTom Kittredge  •  Link

Letters Patent
"...which, presumably for bureaucratic convenience, described Bombay as being ‘in the manor of East Greenwich in the County of Kent’."
That's hilarious! To this Yank it seems like one of those charming eccentricities for which the English are are famed.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the disappointment the King met with the last voyage, by the knavery of the Portugall Viceroy"

For the misunderstanding with the Portuguese Governer of Bombay, António de Melo de Castro, see http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

A visit to Bristol in 1663 was really quite daring, which may account for why Charles II didn't stay long.

With the Restoration, Lundy Island [in the Bristol Channel, off the north coast of Devon and south coast of Ireland] attracted piracies again.

In 1663 Lundy Island was held by French privateers.

For a history of Devonshire, see https://books.google.com/books?id…
This nugget is on page 139.

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