On the Trail of Nell Gwynn

Ironic anniversaries of Charles II

2012-02-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

On February 6, 1649, a week after Charles I was executed in London, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed his son Charles King of Great Britain and Ireland in Edinburgh. The English Parliament passed a statute that made any such proclamation unlawful and outlawed the monarchy. Charles II's formal accession to the English throne would have to wait until 1660, when General Monck, who controlled the army, engineered Charles's Restoration.
Charles died on February 6, 1685. Almost his last words, to his brother James the Duke of York, soon to succeed him as James II, were "Let not poor Nelly starve." He knew that of all his mistresses, Nell Gwynn was the one who truly relied on his support for survival.

"Darling Strumpet" named No. 1 of 2011!

2012-01-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to say that The Darling Strumpet has been named No. 1 in the 10 Best Historical Novels of 2011 by Kayla Posney of the Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner!

Here's the link to the list, which has links to Kayla's original reviews of The Darling Strumpet and The September Queen:

http://www.examiner.com/historical-fiction-in-pittsburgh/the-10-best-historical-fiction-novels-of-2011?mid=579512

Nell's in the Top 100!

2011-12-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hey! The Darling Strumpet made it into the top 100 in the Best in Women's Fiction Poll!

http://heartpress.com/2011/12/top-100-womens-fiction.html#disqus_thread

And the U.K. edition is No. 82 in historical fiction books on Amazon U.K., and No. 69 in historical fiction on Kindle!

The History of Gingerbread

2011-12-23T23:27:00.001-08:00

My contribution to the season - article on the History of Gingerbread on English Historical Fiction Authors:

http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2011/12/history-of-gingerbread.html

A rapping Charles II!?

2011-09-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

A rapping Charles II!?

Nell hits the streets in London!

2011-07-31T23:20:00.000-07:00

The UK edition of The Darling Strumpet is not officially available until Thursday, but it seems to be in stock and availableto ship on Amazon.co.uk!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Darling-Strumpet-Gillian-Bagwell/dp/1847562507/ref=pd_rhf_p_img_1

and Waterstones:

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=8291625

and Pick a Book!

http://www.pickabook.co.uk/9781847562500.aspx

Nell's London Debut - and my next book!

2011-07-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

The U.K. edition of The Darling Strumpet will be released on August 4! You can buy it at Waterstone's, WH Smith, WHS Travel, ASDA, Sainsbury's, Tesco, as well as independent bookstores and many on-line sites. You can pre-order now from Amazon.co.uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Darling-Strumpet-Gillian-Bagwell/dp/1847562507/ref=pd_rhf_p_img_3.

I'll be doing various guest posts and interviews on blogs - details to follow soon!

And I'm thrilled to say that my brilliant agent Kevan Lyon has just made the deal for my next book. Working title is My Lady Bess, based on the life of Bess of Hardwick, 1527-1608, the formidable four-times widowed Tudor dynast who began life in genteel poverty and ended as the richest and most powerful woman in England after Queen Elizabeth; built Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall; and is the forebear of numerous noble lines including the Dukedoms of Devonshire, Norfolk, Somerset, and Newcastle, the Earls of Lincoln, Portsmouth, Kellie, and Pembroke, the Baron Waterpark, and the current royal family of Britain.

Nell's going up in the world!

2011-07-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Kindle edition of The Darling Strumpet is No. 750 in historical fiction on Amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/Darling-Strumpet-Captured-England-ebook/dp/B004FGMQRK/ref=sr_1_750?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1310095411&sr=1-750

And we're now up to 3664 hits on You Tube for the reading at the Historical Novel Society conference with Diana Gabaldon and C.C. Humphreys!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4wvYN6z7Jw

Nell Gwynn's London on You Tube

2011-07-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

When I was in London most recently, in April, my good friend Alice Northgreaves helped me beyond all that could be asked of anyone by tramping around London with me to tape little video snippets at various sites associated with Nell's life and/or scenes from The Darling Strumpet. I hadn't done anything with them yet, but since I managed to post my first You Tube video the other day - the HNS reading - I have finally put up 6 or 8 little pieces. Here's the link to one of them - Covent Garden and the church of St. Paul's Covent Garden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTY_zIIlN74

Diana Gabaldon blogs about The Darling Strumpet!

2011-07-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

I have to say I'm thrilled that the talented, gracious, and hilarious Diana Gabaldon blogged about what she calls "the literary three-way" - her reading the narration while Chris Humphreys and I read Rochester and Nell, respectively, during the Saturday Night Sex Scene readings at the Historical Novel Society conference in San Diego a couple of weeks ago. And she included a link to the video on You Tube - now up to about 2300 hits! And it's making people buy the book - Nell's sales rankings on Amazon are soaring! Thanks, Diana!

http://www.dianagabaldon.com/2011/06/a-literary-three-way/

Czech rights sold!

2011-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

My brilliant foreign rights agent Taryn Fagerness has just sold the Czech language rights to The Darling Strumpet! Nell's getting very popular in Eastern Europe. Taryn has also sold the Polish and Hungarian rights, in addition to Turkish. And of course the UK rights, which encompasses Commonwealth countries such as Australia. And here's the cover of the Hungarian edition...

The Darling Strumpet in San Diego!

2011-06-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I attended the Historical Novel Society conference, held this time in San Diego. I greatly enjoyed participating in the panel on making characters believable, moderating the panel on maritime history, and signing books on Saturday afternoon, as well, of course, the opportunity to meet so many authors, bloggers, and other interesting types.

One of the highlights for me, however (though I admit I was nervous!) was that my heroine Diana Gabaldon, who was once again organizing the Saturday Night Sex Scenes readings, not only chose the Nell-Rochester scene as the finale, but also read the narration herself! I was also honored to have the enormously talented C.C. (Chris) Humphreys reading the part of the Earl of Rochester. Actually, it was his idea for us to do it as a scene!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrB5J_Lk27g

The Darling Strumpet in the UK

2011-06-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

The British edition of "The Darling Strumpet" will be released on August 4! Look at my beautiful cover!

Polish rights!

2011-06-09T10:14:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to say that my brilliant foreign rights agent Taryn Fagerness has sold Polish rights to "The Darling Strumpet," in addition to the previously sold British, Turkish, and Hungarian rights!

The Events of December 1660

2011-01-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

This is the eighth in a series of articles chronicling the events from May 1660 through January 1661, commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Restoration of the English monarchy, the reopening of the playhouses, and the first appearance of an actress on the English stage. You can find links to the other articles on my website, gillianbagwell.com.

DECEMBER 1660
December 1660 was the seventh full month of Charles II’s reign after he had ridden into London on May 29, his thirtieth birthday, to reclaim his throne after years of exile. The enormous task of reestablishing the monarchy and its new government continued.

Parliament was still busy, trying to wrap up business before Christmas. Seven new bishops were consecrated in Westminster Abbey on December 2, and a royal commission composed of some of the king’s most eminent ministers was formed to address the problem of land that had changed hands during interregnum.

Dealing with those who had been responsible for the trial and execution of Charles I was still front and center. A man named Tench, who had built the scaffold on which the king was executed, was arrested. After an ugly series of executions in October, the king had stayed the sentences of the remaining regicides. They still sat in prison, their lives in the balance, and Parliament set up a committee to consider their fate. Even those who were dead were not safe from retribution. On Friday, December 7 the Commons passed a resolution “that the carcasses of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, John Bradshaw, and Thomas Pride, whether buried in Westminster Abbey or elsewhere, be with all expedition taken up, and drawn upon a hurdle to Tyburn, and there hanged up in their coffins for some time, and after that buried under the said gallows.” On Monday, December 10 the Lords agreed it should be so.

Paying off the crews of the navy’s ships was another ongoing headache. As secretary of the Navy Board, the temperamental diarist Samuel Pepys was very much involved in this work. But he began the month by beating his maid. “Observing some things to be laid up not as they should be by the girl, I took up a broom and basted her till she cried extremely, which made me vexed, but before I went out I left her appeased.”

Pepys then turned his attention to “the growing charge of the fleet.” On December 3 he met with his colleague Sir George Carteret, who proposed paying the sailors half what they were owed, and giving them tickets vouching that they would be paid the other half in three months. The next day they met with the Duke of York, who was also the Lord Admiral, who approved “paying them in hand one moiety and the other four months hence” – the poor sailors were getting a worse deal each day - so Pepys and Carteret drew up the plan to be presented to Parliament.

On December 6, Pepys spent a pleasant evening at an alehouse near Parliament Stairs with several companions, “among the rest one Mr. Pierce, an army man, who did make us the best sport for songs and stories in a Scotch tone (which he do very well) that ever I heard in my life. I never knew so good a companion in all my observation. From thence to the bridge by water, it being a most pleasant moonshine night, with a waterman who did tell such a company of bawdy stories, how once he carried a lady from Putney in such a night as this, and she bade him lie down by her, which he did, and did give her content, and a great deal more roguery.”

On December 9 Pepys sadly recorded that the ship Assurance at Woolwich “was by a gust of wind sunk down to the bottom. Twenty men drowned … and I am sent to the Duke of Yorke to tell him.” The Duke went to inspect the wreck the next day, and on December 11, “though the weather was very bad and the wind high,” Pepys and his wife, along with Lady Batten and her maid “did go by our barge to Woolwich (my Lady being very fearfull) where we found both Sir Williams and much other company, expecting the weather to be better, that they might go about weighing up the Assurance, which lies there (poor ship, that I have been twice merry in, in Captn. Holland’s time,) under water, only the upper deck may be seen and the masts. Captain Stoakes is very melancholy, and being in search for some clothes and money of his, which he says he hath lost out of his cabin.”

The saga of the Duke of York and Anne Hyde was winding down. On Sunday, December 9 their son James was christened at Worcester House, the home of his grandfather Edward Hyde, with the king, Prince Rupert, and the Duchess of Albemarle serving as godparents. Pepys was behind on the news, as on December 10 he wrote “it is expected that the Duke will marry the Lord Chancellor’s daughter at last which is likely to be the ruin of Mr. Davis and my Lord Barkley, who have carried themselves so high against the Chancellor; Sir Chas. Barkley swearing that he and others had lain with her often, which all believe to be a lie.” On December 16 Pepys heard “that all is agreed and he will marry her. But I know not how true yet.”

The King’s Company was drawing crowds at their new theatre, playing The Alchemist, Claricilla, A King and No King, Rollo Duke of Normandy, and repeats of The Silent Woman. On December 5 Pepys wrote “after dinner I went to the new Theatre and there I saw ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ acted, the humours of the country gentleman and the French doctor very well done, but the rest but very poorly, and Sir J. Falstaffe as bad as any.”

On December 8, a momentous event in theatre history took place when an actress, likely Anne Marshall, played Desdemona in Othello (The Moore of Venice). It was the first time that a woman had woman had appeared on an English stage, and the occasion was marked by a special prologue.
On December 12, William D’Avenant at the rival Duke’s Company was granted a warrant to present The Tempest, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The Life of King Henry the Eighth, King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Sophy, and The Duchess of Malfi, as well as his own plays. He also got exclusive rights for two months to The Mad Lover, The Mayde in the Mill, The Spanish Curate, The Loyall Subject, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre. It is interesting with modern perspective to note that when D’Avenant and Killigrew divided up the rights to Shakespeare’s plays, D’Avenenant was considered to have gotten the short end of the stick.

On December 13, diarist Elias Ashmole recorded that “The king going to a play at the new Theatre this afternoon …the leathers whereby the coach hung broke and so the coach fell from the wheels … overturned over against the new Exchange but (blessed be God) had no hurt.”

There was another conspiracy against the king’s life. On Sunday, December 16, Pepys went “in the morning to church, and then dined at home. In the afternoon I to White Hall, where I was surprised with the news of a plot against the King’s person and my Lord Monk’s; and that since last night there are about forty taken up on suspicion.” The king took part in examining the accused, but nothing much seems to have come of the episode.

Parliament was to have been dissolved on December 20, but there was much business remaining, so it was decided they would adjourn on December 23, meet again after Christmas, and the dissolution would take place on December 29. The members must have been getting restless, as on December 14, Serjeant Maynard moved that the Speaker should reprove anyone he observed talking, whispering, or reading a paper. A bill for setting up a general letter office was read for the third time. There was a proviso allowing Cambridge and Oxford to continue to carry their own letters, and after fierce argument as to which should be named first, the Commons finally settled on referring to “both universities.” Edward Hyde had been made chancellor of Oxford, succeeding Cromwell.

Parliament settled a regular income on the king, approved £70,000 for the expenses of the coronation, including the provision of new crown jewels, and awarded gifts of £1000 each to two people who had risked their lives to help Charles escape after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 – Jane Lane, who had disguised Charles as her manservant and traveled with him for ten perilous days, and Francis Wyndham, who had hidden them at Trent.

In Seething Lane, Samuel Pepys was cracking the whip to get his home improvements done. On December 13 he spent “All the day long looking upon my workmen who this day began to paint my parlour,” and did the same on December 14 and 15. On December 17 he once more spent “all day looking after my workmen…. This day my parlour is gilded, which do please me well.” Still, the next day two days he was he “looking after my workmen.” On December 20 he wrote, “All day at home with my workmen, that I may get all done before Christmas.”

But his entry continued with more serious news. “This day I hear that the Princess Royal has the small pox.” On December 21, Pepys heard “how dangerously ill the Princess Royal is and that this morning she was said to be dead.” It was only a little more than two months since the king’s youngest brother, the Duke of Gloucester, had died of smallpox, and everyone recognized the graveness of the Princess Mary’s illness. The king’s sister made her will, commended her son William of Orange to the care of the king, and apologized for her treatment of Anne Hyde.

On December 21, diarist John Evelyn wrote “The Marriage of the Chancellor’s Daughter being now newly owned, I went to see her … she now being at her fathers, at Worcester house in the Strand, we all kissed her hand, as did also my Lord Chamberlaine …and Countesse of Northumberland: This was a strange change, can it succeed well!” He spent the evening at St. James’s Palace, where he heard that the King’s youngest sister, Minette, had been moved there to be out of harm’s way.

By December 23, Mary seemed better. But on December 24, when Pepys was happily “with the painters till 10 at night … and my house was made ready against to-morrow being Christmas day,” he concluded his entry, “This day the Princess Royal died at Whitehall.”

As Evelyn recorded, her death “wholly altered the face and gallantry of the whole court.” The stunned King secluded himself. Queen Henrietta Maria, devastated at the loss of another child, swore that staying in England would end her days, and made plans to return to France on January 2. On Christmas Day, Evelyn heard a sermon at Westminster Abbey “condoling the breach made in the publique joy, by the lamented death of the Princesse.”

It was a sad day for the royal family and for the court, but in general, 1660 saw a happier Christmas in England than for many years. Under Cromwell, the day had been one of fasting and atonement, but now the old festivities were revived. Pepys was “In the morning very much pleased to see my house once more clear of workmen and to be clean, and indeed it is so, far better than it was that I do not repent of my trouble that I have been at,” and he had guests to dinner “to a good shoulder of mutton and a chicken.”

On the day after Christmas, Pepys dined at White Hall with Lady Sandwich, the wife of his patron, “who at table did tell me how much fault was laid upon Dr. Frazer and the rest of the Doctors, for the death of the Princess!”

Mary’s funeral was held on Saturday, December 29 at Westminster Abbey. Her brother the Duke of York walked behind the coffin, and the procession passed through the ranks of the Coldstream Guards, one of only three regiments remaining after the steady disbanding of the army.

On the same day as Mary’s funeral, King Charles came out of his seclusion to dissolve the Convention Parliament. The work of establishing his government was done, and there would be elections for a new parliament in the new year.

Pepys had begun his famous diary on the first day of 1660. It had proved to be a productive and golden year for him, and on December 31 he treated himself with a little entertainment. After spending the morning at his office, “In Paul’s Church-yard I bought the play of ‘Henry the Fourth,’ and so went to the new Theatre … and saw it acted; but my expectation being too great, it did not please me, as otherwise I believe it would; and my having a book, I believe did spoil it a little."

Plane tree and old shops on Wood Street at Cheapside

2010-08-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

I learned today of the blog georgianlondon.com, which also has a page on Facebook. One of her posts was about two little buildings on Cheapside at the corner of Wood Street, which reminded me of Peter Ackroyd's comments on pp. 653-654 of London: the Biography about those buildings and the plane tree next to them.

“Consider the plane tree at the corner of Wood Street and Cheapside. No one knows how long it has existed on that spot – once the old churchyard of St. Peter’s, which was destroyed during the Great Fire of 1666 – but in extant documents it is termed ‘ancient,’ and for centuries it has been a familiar presence. In 1799, for example,the sight of this tree inspired Wordsworth to compose a poem in which the natural world breaks through Cheapside in visionary splendour:

At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears,
Hangs a thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years…

…

The tree conjures up images of its distant predecessors. Everything about this corner of Wood Street suggests continuity. Even its name is connected with the tree; wood was indeed once sold here, but the tree itself is protected and can never be cut down. In the spring of 1850 rooks came to rest in its branches, re-establishing the ancient association between London and those dark birds. The London plane flourishes in the smoke and dust of London, and the tree at the corner of Wood Street has become an emblem of the city itself. It has now reached a height of approximately seventy feet, and is still thriving.

Beneath it nestle the small shops which have been an aspect of this corner for almost six hundred years. In 1401 a shop known as the Long Shop was first built here against the churchyard wall, and others followed; after the Fire they were rebuilt in 1687. The site is only a few feet in depth, and each small shop still consists of a single storey above and a box-front below. The trades which have passed through them were various – silver-sellers, wig-makers, law stationers, pickle- and sauce-sellers, fruiterers – all of them reflecting the commercial life of the capital.”

The Darling Strumpet Hits the Streets!

2010-06-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

Wow! I discovered today through a Google alert (wonderful things!) that The Darling Strumpet is now available for pre-order on Amazon and Amazon UK. Its publication date is Jan. 4, 2011....

Also, the first two of the series of monthly articles I'm writing about the events in the corresponding months of 1660 are now up.

The inspiration for the series is that I had hoped that Darling Strumpet would be published this year to take advantage of the fact that 2010 is the 350th anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II, the reopening of the theatres that had been closed under Cromwell, and the first appearance of an actress on an English stage. Then I realized that it didn't matter - 1660 was a phenomenally eventful and important year, and I could write an article each month from May, the month in which Charles returned to London from his long exile, until January, when the book will be published. A different blog or website will host each article.

The May host is Hoydens and Firebrands:
http://hoydensandfirebrands.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-1660-by-gillian-bagwell.html

The June host is Reading the Past:
http://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2010/05/guest-post-from-gillian-bagwell-june.html

The July host will be Raucous Royals:
http://raucousroyals.com

The Darling Turkish Strumpet

2010-06-08T01:26:00.002-07:00

I'm thrilled to say that Taryn Fagerness, my foreign rights agent, has sold TURKISH rights to The Darling Strumpet! Somehow Turkey seems like a culture vastly different than Nell's England. But my father has just sent me a book called Aziyade by Pierre Loti, which he says has fascinated the Turks for many years. He visited Istanbul last year, and stayed at a hotel called Aziyade, on a street called Piyerloti - a corruption of the author's name! I haven't read the book yet, but the title character apparently has many points of similarity with Nell, and is based on a young woman with whom the author -- actually a 19th century French naval officer named Julian Viaud -- fell in love! I'll have to read it!

Happy Birthday, Nell!

2010-02-02T17:13:00.004-08:00

Nell would have been 360 today. She was born on February 2, 1650, according to a horoscope prepared for her during her life, though for some reason her place of birth wasn't given - maybe because she didn't know. It was likely London, though it might also have been Oxford, and there have also been claims for Herefordshire.

February 2 is Candlemas, a day rich in tradition, as reflected by the excerpts below from Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_of_Jesus_at_the_Temple#Traditions_and_superstitions)

"Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and mistletoe;
Down with the holly, ivy, all,
Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall"
— Robert Herrick (1591–1674), "Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve"

As the poem by Robert Herrick records, the eve of Candlemas was the day on which Christmas decorations of greenery were removed from people's homes; for traces of berries, holly and so forth will bring death among the congregation before another year is out.

Another tradition holds that anyone who hears funeral bells tolling on Candlemas will soon hear of the death of a close friend or relative; each toll of the bell represents a day that will pass before the unfortunate news is learned.[

Traditionally the Western term "Candlemas" (or Candle Mass) referred to the practice whereby a priest on 2 February blessed beeswax candles for use throughout the year, some of which were distributed to the faithful for use in the home.

Candlemas occurs 40 days after Christmas, and its religious signifance relates to The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, among the most ancient feasts of the Christian Church, which commemorates an event described in the Gospel of Luke 2:22–40.

According to the gospel, Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth to complete Mary's ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn, in obedience to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12-15, etc.).

Upon bringing Jesus into the temple, they encountered Simeon the Righteous. The Gospel records that Simeon had been promised that "he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord." (Luke 2:26) Simeon prayed the prayer that would become known as the Nunc Dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, which prophesied the redemption of the world by Jesus:

"Lord, now you are letting your servant go in peace, just as you said. 30 I have seen with my own eyes the one you have sent to save people. 31 You have made this way for all peoples to be saved. 32 He is a light which will shine for those who do not know God. He is the one who will bring praise to your people Israel." (Luke 2:29-32).

In Scotland, until a change in the law in 1991, and in much of northern England until the 18th century, Candlemas was one of the traditional quarter days when quarterly rents were due for payment, as well as the day or term for various other business transactions, including the hiring of servants.

In the United Kingdom, good weather at Candlemas is taken to indicate severe winter weather later: "If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, / winter will have another bite. / If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, / winter is gone and will not come again."[9]. It is also alleged to be the date that bears emerge from hibernation to inspect the weather as well as wolves, who if they choose to return to their lairs on this day is interpreted as meaning severe weather will continue for another forty days at least.[citation needed] The same is true in Italy, where it is called Candelora.

It seems this belief is the likely source of the American tradition of Groundhog Day.

The earliest American reference to Groundhog Day can be found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center at Franklin and Marshall College:

4 February 1841 — from Morgantown, Berks County (Pennsylvania) storekeeper James Morris' diary …"Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate." [1]

Pepys' Diary on the Web and Pepys Talks at St. Olave's

2010-01-30T21:03:00.003-08:00

I've always enjoyed reading Samuel Pepys's diary, which he kept consistently from Jan. 1 1660 until 1669. It's a great window on everyday life in London, beginning when the first fevered rumors of the Restoration of the King were beginning, and continuing through some very tumultuous years during which Nell Gwynn was also around. She and Pepys knew each other, and he's a character in my book, so I was pleased to discover pepysdiary.com, a website run by Phil Gyford, who is posting the diary entries day by day, with annotations and other useful information.

It was from this site that I learned of some talks being given at St. Olave's Hart Street, the church Pepys attended, which was right across the street from his home and the navy office on Seething Lane, and last summer when I was in London researching The Darling Strumpet, I attended one of the events. It was quite enjoyable - especially the vicar giving us an up-close view of Pepys's own prayer book - and I was pleased to learn that there will be another series of talks this year. Certainly worth attending if you're in London!

This is what is posted on the Pepys site:

More Pepys talks at St Olave’s
Samuel Pepys’ local church near the Tower of London, St Olave’s, has been hosting talks about their famous former parishioner for some time and are about to launch a new series to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the start of the diary.

Each talk will look at a month’s worth of the diary from 1660. You can download a flyer from this page, but here’s the basic information:

•Monday 18 January: The Diary Begins
•Monday 1 February: Pepys and January 1660
•Monday 1 March: Pepys and February 1660
•Monday 12 April: Pepys and March 1660
•Monday 10 May: Pepys and April 1660
•Monday 7 June: Pepys and May 1660
•Monday 5 July: Pepys and June/July 1660
•Monday 29 November: Pepys and the Royal Society
Food is served from 6.15pm and the events start at 6.45pm. £15 on the door or contact Phil Manning (admin.stolave@me.com, or 020 7488 4318). The address is St Olave Church, Hart Street, London EC3R 7NB.

The Royal Mistress Challenge and Running Into Charles at the Airport

2009-12-31T18:52:00.002-08:00

I am behind in catching up my poor little blog on my most recent doings in England (while primarily doing research for my next book, but also doing odds and ends on Nell.) But I have a couple of items to report!

First, when I flew home from London 0n November 11, who should be next to me at the BA counter checking into the same flight but Rufus Sewell, who among other things did a great job of playing Charles II in the British miniseries "Charles II, The Power and the Passion." I made so bold as to accost him and tell him that I am a big fan of his work, especially his portrayal of Charles, and told him about my upcoming books. I gave him my card, and he grinned and said, "The Darling Strumpet! I'll have to find that!" So if you're out there, Mr. Sewell, you made my day!

Another happy event was receiving an email from Helena, aka Miss Moppett, telling me that she was going to be running a "Royal Mistress Challenge" on her historical fiction blog, and that The Darling Strumpet will be included! Even though Nell won't be making her debut until January 2011! You can check out the blog on misadventuresofmoppet.wordpress.com/challenges/the-royal-mistress-challenge. Thanks, Helena!

Bonfire Night and Greenwich

2009-11-08T13:06:00.002-08:00

I'm back in London doing research for my next book, The Royal Miracle (you can follow that adventure at theroyalmiracle.blogspot.com), but the trip is also giving me the opportunity to add a few items to the Nell story.

Bonfire Night

There's a scene in The Darling Strumpet when Nell experiences her first Bonfire Night. The Fifth of November is still the occasion for the annual commemoration of Guy Fawkes's failed 1605 plot to blow up the King and Houses of Parliament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night). Since then, the Fifth of November has been celebrated with bonfires, firworks, and burning "Guys," or effigies of Guy Fawkes. Our commonly used term "guy" to refer to a man derives from this custom, incidentally. The guy came to mean not just the effigies that were burned, but any ragged-looking man, and thence just to any guy.

Since Bonfire Night fell on Thursday, most of the big public fireworks displays were on the weekend instead, and on Saturday night I walked with my friends Clare and Alex up to Blackheath to see the fireworks. It was great display, to music, and a big crowd was gathered. It really is very much like the Fourth of July celebrations in the U.S. I didn't take into account exactly how the crowds would impact our getting around, and afterward we made our way, slowy, slowly to Donna's house in Lewisham. The streets and busses were packed, so we walked from Blackheath to Lewisham Station (quite a ways) and then got a bus to Donna's arriving at 10 p.m.

We missed the burning of the guy but got there in time for Tim setting off some fireworks that came perilously close to the house, throwing a couple of old Christmas trees on the embers of the bonfire and creating a raging inferno, as well as mulled wine, hot soup, sausages, and pies.

Greenwich

I'm staying in Greenwich, a place I love, and that I think Nell probably did, too. Charles planned to make Nell Countess of Greenwich, but died before he could do so. The Royal Observatory still stands where Nell would have known it as a new building. The view from the top of the hill is spectacular, as it would have been then. The Royal Park still rolls down to the river, and the Queen's House, which Inigo Jones designed for Charles's mother, Queen Henrietta Maria, still stands above what is now referred to as the Old Royal Naval College, the first building of which was one that Charles built to replace the old palace.

Of course there is much here now that wasn't standing in the 17th century. Looking west to the City, you can still see London Bridge (a different bridge than the one that Nell knew) and St. Paul's. Nell would have known the old cathedral, which burned in the Great Fire in 1666, and would have seen the early construction of the present cathedral, which was begun in 1675 and completed in 1710 but it is now almost lost in the forest of buildings. In her time, the area between the Tower and London Bridge was called The Pool of London, and was perpetually crowded with hundreds of ships and smaller vessels, loading and unloading at the "Legal Quays."

The Isle of Dogs, which was nothing but meadows in Nell's time (though there was a ferry running to Greenwich - Samuel Pepys wrote about taking it), became the site of the London Docks in the late 18th and early 19th century, which were built because the old docks could no longer accomodate the traffic. It was a massive engineering project, and the docks were some of the busiest in the world, but when container shipping was introduced, business began to fall off, and by the early 1970s, the area was derelict. The area's new life began in 1991 with the construction of Canada Tower, the first office building at Canary Wharf, which has since become a forest of towers and the home of many international corporations. It has virtually replaced Fleet Street as the centuries-old home of England's press, and has lured many financial firms from the City.

SOLD!

2009-10-17T14:49:00.002-07:00

I'm very, very happy to say that my wonderful agent, Kevan Lyon of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, has just sold The Darling Strumpet -- and my next book, which I've only just begun -- to Berkeley Publishing Group!

Darling Strumpet will likely be published in Fall 2010, and the next book the following spring. I'll be blogging about my new book, The Royal Miracle, during my research adventure beginning next week -- theroyalmiracle.blogspot.com.

Lots of theatres

2008-09-15T12:19:00.003-07:00

On Thursday I went to Westminster Abbey, where the coronation of Charles II took place, as well as that of his brother James II, and all other Kings of England since 1066 except Edward V and Edward VIII, who didn’t have coronations.. The coronation chair built by Edward I was there, which has been used for all coronations since 1308 except that of Mary I.

Nell would not have been at the coronation, but the legend is that she was at Charles’s funeral, standing at the back, and that when everyone else had gone, she laid flowers on his coffin and said her last goodbyes to her lover of seventeen years and the father of her two children.

She may also have been at Westminster Abbey for the christening, and then the sad little funeral a few months later, for the son of her good friend George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The baby was Buckingham’s child by his mistress, Anna Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury, whose husband Buckingham had fatally wounded in a duel. Though the baby was illegitimate, Buckingham bestowed on him one of his own hereditary titles, Earl of Coventry. The title wasn’t really his to give, but since the orphaned Buckingham had been taken in by Charles I and raised more or less as a brother to Charles II, perhaps the King didn’t raise a fuss.

Later on Thursday, I went in search of the Red Bull Theatre on St. John Street in Clerkenwell. The theatre, an open air enclosed yard like the Globe, was built in about 1604. It survived the Commonwealth (and some clandestine performances were given there during those years), and in 1660, when Charles authorized the reopening of the theatres, Thomas Killigrew’s King’s Company gave a few performances there before moving to their new home in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

According to a contemporary map, Red Bull Yard, presumably leading to the playhouse, was located about 100 feet north of Clerkenwell Road. As near as I can determine, this means that the theatre was situated roughly on St. John’s Square, a pleasant open area just behind St. John’s Church. There’s been a church of some kind there for about 900 years, but according to the London Encyclopedia, Elizabeth I gave the use of the buildings to the Master of the Revels, and it appears that the site was not used as a church during the period in which the Red Bull was at its height, so it seems possible that the theatre could have directly adjoined the church. In any case, it was certainly in the area that is currently bounded by St. John’s Street on the east, Albermarle Way on the south, St. John’s Square on the west, and Aylesbury Road on the north. One source says it was in what is now Woodbridge Street, but that seems just a tiny bit too far north.

On Friday, I set out for Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where the first two new theatres opened after the Restoration, and where Nell lived for a time.

The Vere Street Theatre, occupied by the King’s Company, and the Duke’s Company, managed by Sir William Davenant, were in converted tennis courts. This may seem unlikely, but a tennis court was probably an ideal kind of building to use for a playhouse – it would have had a large open area in the center, surrounded by galleries for spectators, and rooms at either end that could be used for dressing rooms and/or a lobby. And in 1660, Lincoln’s Inn Fields had only recently been developed with houses and was a fashionable area.

Sir Thomas Killigrew and the King’s Company opened their theatre first, on Thursday, November 8, 1660, with a performance of “Henry IV, Part One,” in what had been Gibbons’ Tennis Court. It was a fashionable place already, with grounds including a tavern and coach houses. The site is shown on Newcourt’s map of 1658, Hollar’s map of 1657, Lea and Glynne’s map of 1706 and others. The entry was from Vere Street (no longer there, and replaced by Kingsway), and bounded by Duke Street (now Sardinia Street) to the north, Sheffield Street to the south, and Portugal Row to the east.

As with much of London, the current streets lie pretty much as they did centuries ago, and there is still a little plot of land within those bounds, just southwest of the southwest corner of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, which includes the Peacock Theatre, Sardinia House, a pub, and two brick buildings possibly of Victorian vintage, which are identified as St. Philip’s Building South Block and St. Philip’s Building North Block of the London School of Economics. There is a narrow walkway between the two buildings leading to some stairs down into a dank below-ground yard that I think is probably about where the theatre itself stood.

Lisle’s Tennis Court, where the Duke’s Company performed beginning in June 1661, is only about a hundred yards or so from the site of Killigrew’s theatre, on the north side of the T-intersection between Carey Street and Portugal Street. What stands there now is part of the very large building that houses the Royal College of Surgeons. There is a door into the building just at the intersection. A Russian gentleman who saw me taking pictures and asked what was significant about the area told me that that part of the building had been a morgue until 2003, that it had been bought by the London School of Economics (!) and was now used as classrooms, and that it still smelled!

The Earl of Rochester had a house next door to the theatre, and the actors used to drink at the Grange Inn a few yards south of the theatre, presumably in Carey Street. Hollar’s map of 1657 shows the tennis court sticking out into Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the last building on the east end of Portugal Street, and a tiny coach sitting outside the Grange Inn.

There continued to be a theatre on this site for many years. It was there that “The Beggar’s Opera” first played.

In 1669, Charles moved Nell into a house in Newman’s Row, just off the northeast corner of Lincolns’ Inn Fields. Newman’s Row is now barely more than a walkway leading up to Holborn, with a modern building on the east side and construction going on to the west. Now, it joins up with the walkway along the east side of the square. When Nell lived there, however, the street was separated from the square by a swathe of land that on Hollar’s 1658 map appears to be about 100 feet wide or so and with greenery. And the east end of Whetstone Park, an unsavory and crime-plagued narrow street running east to west between Holborn and Lincoln’s Inn Fields, ran into Newman’s Row. So though Nell’s house was technically at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, it wasn’t in the fashionable or best part, and after she bore the King their first son, she talked him into a better house on Pall Mall.

Nell’s house in Newman’s Row was only about a ten-minute walk from the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane and the Covent Garden area, though a world away from the slums north of Covent Garden where she grew up. She only acted in one play after having her first child, but went to plays frequently at both the King’s and the Duke’s Companies.

I walked back to Covent Garden to find some more Nell-related sites. Her mother kept bar, and she also worked, at the Rose and Crown in Russell Street. She would certainly have known Will’s Coffee House, in Bow Street, and the Rose Tavern, in Russell Street next to the Theatre Royal.

Charles Hart, the leading actor of the King’s Company and Nell’s lover and mentor, had lodgings at the northeast intersection of Russell Street and Bridges Street (now Catherine Street), probably roughly where the pub the Marquess of Anglesey sits now.

Also in Drury Lane was the Cockpit, another Jacobean era theatre that survived the Commonwealth and was used for some unauthorized performances during that time. It sat in the roughly triangular area bounded by Drury Lane to the southwest, Green Queen Street to the north, Wild Street to the northeast, and Princes Street (now Kemble Street) to the southeast. As with the other old theatre sites, there is a pub still on the grounds and the layout has probably not changed. The theatre was probably more or less at the site of 141 Drury Lane, where there is now a building occupied by – wait for it – the London School of Economics!

I wandered around the little streets north of Covent Garden, which are now full of fashionable shops, pubs, and restaurants, but in the seventeenth century could be dangerous places. In 1679 the playwright John Dryden was attacked in Rose Street on his way home from Will’s, possibly at the behest of the Earl of Rochester. It’s little more than an alleyway a hundred feet long or so, narrow and twisting, and it would only take an armed man at each end to make it an effective trap.

Next I headed east along the Strand and Fleet Street to find the sites of two more theatres, Salisbury Court and the Dorset Gardens. Salisbury Court was another survivor from the early 17th century, but was an indoor playhouse, and Davenant’s Duke’s Company performed there before moving to Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The theatre would have been roughly where Salisbury Square sits now, a little south of Fleet Street, and on the east side of the KPMG building at No. 8 Salisbury Square, there is a plaque stating that the theatre stood there.

As Salisbury Street runs south, it runs uphill slightly and turns into Dorset Rise, a narrow street that slopes down toward the river. In 1674, the Duke’s Company opened the very grand new Dorset Gardens Theatre, which sat right on the river, due south of St. Bride’s church. Fashionable audiences would have frequently traveled to the theatre by water, and Ogilby and Morgan’s map of 1677 shows boats crowded around the landing steps leading from the water up to the theatre. Their map of 1681-82 labels not only Dorset Stairs as well as the nearby Blackfriars Stairs and Whitefriars Stairs.

This area is much changed from the seventeenth century. Blackfriars Bridge crossed the river from here, Queen Victoria Street leading to Victoria Embankment is a busy street, and there are steps leading down to the equally busy Blackfriars Underpass. But the Dorset Gardens Theatre would have been just about on the site of the very grand building that sits just to the west of 100 Victoria Embankment. It’s probably best viewed from the river.

Well, it's Monday evening and I still haven't caught up and now my buddies are arriving for a last night at the Nelson. So, more to come.

A final note about London today - last Friday I noticed three guards outside the Canary Wharf office of Lehman Brothers, its European headquarters. I passed by about noon today, and guards had been replaced by police - and a whole phalanx of photographers. And yes, unfortunately, I owned some Lehman stock. Good thing I have a pint in front of me, friends around me, and I'm going home tomorrow!

Windsor, Epsom, the Gunmaker’s Lunch, Samuel Pepys, The Lord Nelson Pub Quiz, Lots and Lots of Very Old Maps

2008-09-12T06:15:00.002-07:00

Oh, dear, oh, dear – once more I’ve been racing around getting a lot accomplished but not finding the time to write about it! So here goes…

WINDSOR

Last Saturday, Alice and I went to Windsor, where Charles II and his court spent quite a lot of time, and Nell did, too. We found her original Windsor residence, a townhouse a couple of hundred yards outside the castle walls, part of it now occupied by the rather incongruously named Nell Gwynn Chinese Restaurant.

Later, Nell lived in (and in 1680 was given the freehold of) Burford House, a grand house on the palace grounds. Unfortunately, Burford House is a private residence and not open to be viewed, but we did our best by peeking in at the gate that is only about 75 feet from its door. From the upper floors, Nell would have had spectacular views to the southeast over Windsor Great Park, and of the castle and maybe the river looking to the north and west. The pretty and ancient St. John’s Parish church is just across the road from her house.

When Nell and Charles’s younger son James died at the age of eight in June 1680, Charles encouraged her to find solace in redecorating Burford House. They spent the summer in Windsor, and among other things, she commissioned paintings on the ceilings by AntonioVerrio, an Italian who was a favorite among the English upper class and did extensive painting for Windsor Castle, among other places.

The court traveled between Windsor and London by water (Purcell used to write little welcome-home songs for Charles), and Alice and I walked along the banks of the Thames, which is narrow and meandering at that point, its grassy banks overhung by trees, and probably not much changed from Nell’s day. Eton is just over the bridge.

A few streets grew up centuries ago just outside the castle walls, and their layout appears to have remained much the same. On the high street just outside the palace gates there is a grand red brick Guildhall designed by Christopher Wren, and it was there that Prince Charles and Camilla got married in 2005 when it was discovered that if they had a civil service in the castle’s St. George’s Chapel, the chapel would have to be opened for public use as a place to get married! One of my favorite headlines from that week was the local paper’s deadpan “Tetbury Man to Wed.”

EPSOM

On Sunday, Alison drove me to Epsom. In spring 1667, Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst was “inflamed” by seeing Nell’s performance in “All Mistaken,” in a breeches role that allowed her to show off her legs. He convinced her to leave the stage, and she went with him and his friend Sir Charles Sedley to Epsom.

Epsom had recently become a fashionable retreat from London for the upper crust, both for the healing qualities of the waters, and because of the newly-introduced racing at Epsom Downs (though it was not until 18th century that the Derby was so named).

Samuel Pepys was staying at the King’s Head next door to where Nell was living with the boys, and commented that they kept “a merry house.” I’ll bet they did. Whatever the arrangements were, they didn’t last long, and by late August Buckhurst had thrown Nell out and she had to slink back to London in shame and ask to be taken back at the theatre.

To my delight, Ye Olde King’s Head is still there, on what is now Church Street, and was formerly the high street of Epsom. It was built in the mid-16th century, and the inn next door, no doubt where Pepys stayed, was built in the early 17th century. It appears that whatever house Nell lived in is probably gone, but the road is quiet and rural, with a church and churchyard across the road, parts of which date from the 12th century, and it’s easy to image what a lovely location it must have been to spend a couple of summer months, especially for Nell, who wouldn’t have had much experience of anything but the noise and crowding of London.

The King’s Head was offering the traditional Sunday lunch, and I was served about half of a lamb with a pile of potatoes; a big dish of carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and parsnips; mint sauce; and gravy. Alison, a veggie, ordered the lunch without the meat, and still had a pile of food, including a Yorkshire pudding.

SAMUEL PEPYS

On Monday, Alice and I went to the church of St. Olave Hart Street for one of a series of lectures that is being given throughout the year on 17th century diarist Samuel Pepys, who headed the Naval Office and knew Nell as well as the King, the Duke of York, and many other prominent people of the time. He lived and worked across from the church in Seething Lane, and is commemorated with a bust in the small Pepys’s Park there.

I was a bit disappointed in the lecture, as there wasn’t much about the subject on which Pepys and Dryden had the most in common – theatre. But it was an interesting evening, and good to see the little church again. There is a monument high on one wall near the pulpit (stage right, so to speak) that Sam had put there when his wife Elizabeth died. The vicar, Oliver Ross, explained that the monument would have been visible to best advantage from the Naval Pew, where Sam sat. The pew is gone, but there is now a monument to Pepys himself in the wall where the exterior door to the upstairs pew would have been located. So when Sam came into the church in life, he was walking through what would later be his own headstone! The vicar also commented that if you stand on something high to get the view of Elizabeth’s monument that Sam would have had, her dress appeared more diaphanous than it does from floor level.

The good vicar was also much interested in the outcome of the presidential election, as are many other Britons, and we commiserated a bit about the prospect of Sarah Palin in the White House.

LUNCHEON AT THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF GUNMAKERS

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending a lunch given by the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, of which my friend Donna is a liveryman (no liverywomen) by virtue of her work with firearms in her capacity as a senior metal conservator for the Victoria & Albert Museum.

I received a gilt-edged invitation with my name and the details of the event in calligraphy, and a letter with the company’s coat of arms stating that there would be a tour of Proof House before lunch for anyone interested.

A charming man whose bearing made it a sure bet he was ex-military showed us around the premises. I didn’t know quite what to expect (cannons? flintlocks?) but it turns out that the Gunmakers are responsible for proofing, or testing, the fireworthiness of all guns and firearms in Britain – including every weapon used by the armed forces. So hundreds of thousands of modern automatic weapons go through Proof House, and they are also responsible for the modern equivalent of cannons, artillery and ship-mounted guns.

The Gunmakers also prove civilian arms, such as rifles and shotguns for hunting. An interesting piece of information is that it is legal to be carrying a firearm as long as you are on your way to or from taking it to Proof House to be tested! Also, the Gunmakers at Proof House are entitled to carry any firearm at any time, without a special license!

We were shown the testing chambers, where weapons are placed to be fired remotely into bullet-catchers. I got to do the honors of pulling a string outside the door and firing a 12-bore, which produced an enormous bang and a satisfyingly smoky room when the door was opened.

The clerk summoned us from champagne on the courtyard by banging a gavel and calling us in, and the company (about twenty people, including only one other woman besides Donna and me) sat down the long table. The room was hung with the coats of arms of past masters of the Gunmakers. The masters of the Salters’ and Blacksmiths’ companies were also present, they, like the master of the Gunmakers’ wearing elaborate badges of office on ribbons around their necks. I felt like Nell must have done, surrounded by a rather august crowd of London’s elite and mostly grey-haired gentlemen. Though as I have previously commented, though I am not one of them, I probably seemed - and felt - less out of place than an East Ender with a Cockney accent would.

I felt even more like Nell must have done in an exchange with one of the gents. In response to his jocular comment that though I probably couldn’t believe it, he was over 60, I said surely he couldn’t be more than 29. He delightedly exclaimed “Oh, good girl!” and gave my thigh a hearty squeeze.

The food was great, and the wine flowed – champagne, white wine, red wine, more white wine, dessert wine, and port served with the various courses. So I staggered back to Tim’s, where I’m staying now until I leave, and slept for a couple of hours.

Woke up in time to be more or less sober for quiz night at the Lord Nelson pub. When I was here in 2005-2006, I had a group of friends that coalesced around the weekly pub quiz, which we used to win on a regular basis (partly due to Donna’s formidable body of knowledge). This kind of quiz, involving trivia, science, sports, music, etc., is quite popular here. It was a great night, just like old times, with Alison, Donna, and me there for the beginning, Tim joining us partway through the quiz, and Alice coming by in time for the announcement that we had won, taking the L50 total of contestants’ one-pound entry fees.

I was especially pleased to see Spencer, who managed the Nelson during most of the time that I was here, and who, with co-quiz master John, came up with some pretty entertaining quizzes, including the legendary “During the war” round, with both of them dressed as old duffers in cloth caps and mufflers and puffing on pipes. Spencer doesn’t work at the Nelson anymore, so he was free to hang out, which we did until closing time.

When I was here before, I kept being baffled by how drunk I got on what didn’t seem a like very many beers. Then I realized that I had been thinking of “a beer” in terms of a 12-ounce American bottle. But in England I was drinking 20-ounce pints, and with a higher alcohol content than American beer. So “a beer” had roughly twice the kick I was used to.

THE BRITISH LIBRARY AND LOTS OF MAPS

On Wednesday I spent the afternoon in the Maps Reading Room at the British Library. My plans for research there were almost scuppered by having lost my wallet, including my driver’s license, a couple of weeks ago, since to get a reader’s pass, they require two different forms of ID to establish signature and address. Fortunately, though, they relented and gave me a week-long pass on the basis of my passport and a checkbook..

You can access the catalogue of materials on-line, either at the library or from afar, and request the materials you want to see. So I had quite a pile of original 17th century maps waiting for me, some in books, some in rolls, some folded into leather cases, some in giant portfolios. I’d seen some of them before, reproduced in books, but it was great to be able to look at the originals.

I wanted to get copies of some maps, and have been able to order a pretty satisfactory selection, but unfortunately, it wasn’t practical to get full copies of the big versions of two of the maps that I most wanted, because of their size and delicacy: Newcourt and Faithorne’s “An Exact Delineation of the Cities of London and Westminster and the Suburbs Thereof, Together with ye Burrough of Southwark and all the Through-Fares, Highwaies, Streetes, Lanes & Allies Within ye Same,” published in 1658, and the 1677 “A Large and Accurate Map of the City of London ichnographically describing all the streets, lanes, alleys, courts, yards, churches, halls and houses, &c., actually surveyed and delineated by John Ogilby, Esq., His Majesties Cosmographer.” The Newcourt map was a single sheet about 4 feet by 6 feet, and Ogilby’s is two sections, each of them comprised of about 25 or 30 pages of about 8x10 inches fitted together on a canvas backing, the whole thing folding to fit into a custom-made box.

I left the British Library with my head a bit too full of tiny pictures of houses and streets, and went to the National Portrait Gallery, which includes a couple of rooms of paintings of Charles II and his family, ministers, cronies, and other contemporaries. The only picture of Nell on display is not a very good one, but there is a great portrait of her hated rival Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, and another of Charles’s other main mistress, Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland, posed rather blasphemously with her oldest illegitimate son by Charles as the Madonna and child. Nearby are also Samuel Pepys, James II (then Duke of York), the unfortunate James, Duke of Monmouth, Charles II’s oldest illegitimate son, who joined in an ill-advised plot to put him on the throne and died because of it, a galaxy of other people Nell would have known.

The National Portrait Gallery has computer terminals where you can search for portraits in their collection, and can print out black and white copies for free, or order color prints of varying sizes if you want to pay for them.

I went home by way of the “River Bus,” the commuter clipper that travels up and down the river. The civilized way to commute! And related to my research, as the river was a primary mode of travel in Nell’s time. I got on the boat at the Embankment Pier, very close to the location of the Privy Stairs, where Nell would have embarked to get to Charles’s apartments.

Alright. Enough for today. I’ll try to get up to date and post some pictures tomorrow!

Fashion and Fire

2008-09-04T12:51:00.003-07:00

Today I had a research appointment at the Museum of London (museumoflondon.org.uk), which I'd really been looking forward to. Hilary Davidson, Curator of Fashion and Decorative Arts, had pulled out several items of dress from Nell's lifetime (though not actually associated with her) - two pairs of stays (corsets, basically), a bodice front, two pairs of gloves, three pairs of shoes, a hat, three little gaming purses, two men's buff coats, and some beautiful pieces of lace. They were all carefully wrapped and padded, laid away in boxes, and displayed on a covered table, and Hilary handled them gently with gloves on. I was allowed to take pictures, but had to agree not to publish any, not even on my humble little blog!

Nevertheless, it was amazing to see up close actual surviving pieces of clothing from the mid to late 17th century. Seeing the inside of a set of stays stained by sweat and dirt brings the wearer so close you can almost feel her. I could imagine Nell being enchanted by a tiny purse with little red hearts woven into its fabric, a pair of soft leather gloves decorated with a deep fringe of looped carnation-colored ribbon, a pair of red velvet mules elaborately embroidered with real silver, and with a heel in a style that has become fashionable again.

One of the most striking pieces was one of the buff coats. I included a picture yesterday of a buff coat from the V&A collection - a plain one, like soldiers would wear. This coat was a different creature altogether. The leather was finer and softer, and it was elegantly tailored, with flaring coat-tails, slitted for a sword hilt. The sleeves, facings, and pockets were heavily worked with silver, in a pattern that Hilary remarked had Eastern influences. Perhaps the wearer had just returned from a Grand Tour and wanted something exotic.

Two other people were conducting research while I was there -- Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies, authors of The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing Sixteenth Century Dress (tudortailor.com). They're at work on their next book, focusing on less grand, day-to-day clothes of the period. They had laid out a sailor's linen smock, stained brown with tar and age, and a giant tray of flat brown caps, which they refer to as "cowpat caps." They're apparently cataloguing all of them, and there seem to be more than you would think! While I was there they finished with one set of about six or eight and helped bring out the next large cloth-lined drawer of more, including one tiny and unbearably cute one for a little baby.

I commented that I bet they would get a lot of business from Renaisance Faire participants, and they said that yes, a lot of their sales did come from the U.S. and particulary California. They were amused to hear that I'd spent many years working Renaissance Faires and had spent almost as much time in sixteenth century clothes as twentieth. Almost.

I also walked through the rest of the museum, which includes day-to-day objects and information about the daily lives of Londoners through the millenia. Much of the museum is closed for renovations right now (and I just got in under the wire with the costumes; in two weeks they won't be accessible for several months), so the main display only went up to 1666. But that's good, because it's smack in the middle of my period.

Fortuitously, the museum also has a special exhibit right now called "London Burning," about the Great Fire of London, which burned from September 2-5, 1666. So there I was, right in the middle of the 342nd anniversary of the fire. There were objects from the period, reproductions of paintings of the fire, maps of the damaged areas, prints of the various proposed rebuilding plans, a fireman's helmet of the period (looking astonishingly like what firemen still wear), and much more.

Particularly nice was a little soundscape, featuring ballads of the period, one about the Rump Parliament and the return of Charles II, and the other about the fire being divine retribution for sinfulness, as well as the cries of street peddlars.

To get to the museum, I walked from the Bank underground station west along Mansion House, Poultry, Cheapside, and Newgate Street, and then up St. Martin Le Grand. I walked that route hundreds of times when I was here before because it was also the way to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where my mother spent a lot of time. There's been a hospital there since 1123, and some of it has even been rebuilt since then!

Cheapside is one of the oldest of London's streets, and the streets branching off it - Bread Street, Honey Lane, and the nearby Poultry - reflect the area's long history as a market place ("cheap" means a market). St. Paul's Cathedral is just south of where Cheapside turns into Newgate Street. Further east along Cheapside stands the church of St. Mary le Bow. The present building, built 1671-1673, with its steeple completed in 1680, is one of 51 churches that were designed by Christopher Wren, and built to replace those burned in the Great Fire. You can see pictures of them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecadman/sets/72157594356228263.) The saying that a true Cockney is someone born within the sound of Bow Bells refers to this church. Of course its bells would have been audible much further away before the city got quite so loud.

Cambridge and the V&A Museum

2008-09-03T14:49:00.006-07:00

On Monday, September 1, I made a trip by train to Cambridge, to have dinner with someone who was very important to my mother in the last couple of years of her life, and in mine while I was here caring for her - her vicar, Martin Seeley.

He was formerly the vicar of Christ Church here on the Island, and while my mother didn't know him until she was too ill to go to his church, he visited her regularly at home, in hospitals, the nursing home, and the hospice, as well as giving her the last rites the night before she died and performing her funeral service. And he was a shoulder for me to lean on more than once when the fear and sadness and loneliness were overwhelming.

Two years ago Martin and his family moved to Cambridge because he had been sought after and hired for a very prestigious new post, as head of a school connected with the university. So now he is The Reverend Canon Martin A. Seeley, President, Westcott House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge!

I had only briefly crossed paths with Martin's wife Jutte (sorry - I'm only guessing at the spelling), who is also a minister, and their charming children, Anna and Luke. We had a lovely dinner (courtesy of my generous Uncle Al) at Fort St. George, a pub right on the bank of the River Cam, and on the evocatively named Midsummer Common.

Before dinner, I spent a couple of hours walking around the old streets of Cambridge and marveling at the ancient colleges (Trinity was centuries old when Samuel Pepys went there in the 17th century) but certainly didn't give it the time it deserved.

After dinner, Martin showed me the chapel and grounds of Jesus College, where he had been an undergraduate, and walked me to where I could get the bus to the train station.

It was great to see Martin and his family, and yes, there is a Nell Gwynn connection. In the last few years of her life, Nell became friends with Thomas Tenison, then vicar of St. Martin in the Fields, and later Archbishop of Canterbury. He helped her make charitable donations (usually anonymously); attended her friend James, Duke of Monmouth, at his hideously botched execution; visited, counseled, and comforted Nell when she had had two strokes and was dying (possibly from syphilis); and gave her funeral service at St. Martin in the Fields.

I told Martin I'd value his advice and input on what Dr. Tenison would have told Nell in those later years. She certainly didn't have any religious upbringing and her life, though nothing out of the ordinary by the standards of Charles II's court, wasn't quite in keeping with what was respectable by Christian standards. The death of her youngest son James at the age of eight must have shaken her world and made her think about the afterlife and her own life as she had never done before. And the years following were no easier, as a succession of her closest friends died, finally followed by the King, to whom she had been a faithful lover for seventeen years and borne two children.

I also told Martin about my search for Nell's grave at St. Martin in the Fields. He asked if I knew the vicar there. Um, no, I haven't had the pleasure. And he kindly offered to put me in touch!

Today I met my friend Donna for lunch at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where she is a senior metal conservator, and then I spent the afternoon going through the British Gallery, with furniture, household items, clothes, paintings, sculpture, and technology from the seventeenth century; and then looking at glass and silver from the same time. I already know a fair amount about daily life during Nell's lifetime, but there is nothing quite like seeing the actual suit that Charles II's brother James, the Duke of York (and later James II), wore at his wedding, or a delicate leather fan of the period with an inctricate landscape painted on it, or feeling samples of the rope support and various layers of mattresses and covers that a bed in a wealthy household of the period would have had.

Isle of Dogs and Greenwich

2008-08-31T07:40:00.002-07:00

Last night Jackie and I walked over to the Elephant Royale, right on the river and just behind where I used to live, and had lovely Thai dinner on the terrace. The view to Greenwich was lovely, in daylight, twilight, and dark.

Nell Gwynn almost certainly went to Greenwich. Charles II built an observatory there shortly after his restoration, which is still there, and still the location of the meridien from which Greenwich Mean Time originates. He also made improvements to the extensive royal park there.

There had been a palace at Greenwich for at least a couple of centuries. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were born there, and it was there that Henry VIII signed the death warrant for Anne Boleyn. By the time of Charles II it was either gone or in poor repair, and he began building a new palace, but only got as far as one building, now referred to as the Charles II building, and part of what later became the Royal Naval College.

One of the stories as to how the Isle of Dogs got its name was that Henry VIII and other monarchs kept their hunting packs there.

Supposedly, Charles II was planning to grant Nell's wish to be ennobled and was planning to make her the Countess of Greenwich when he died, but alas, it never happened. I wonder if she really wanted it?

This morning I walked through the 1903 foot tunnel from this side of the river to Greenwich and spent a pleasant couple of hours at the little flea market and the covered market.

Around the island and walking with dinosaurs

2008-08-30T06:05:00.003-07:00

Last Monday, which was a bank holiday here, Laura and her new husband David picked me up and we drove over to Crystal Palace Park, south of the river. The enormous glass, iron and wood structure that was built for the great Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1851 was later moved here, where it remained until it burned down in 1936. (For some pictures and information about the structure and exhibit, see http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~city19c/viccity/crystal1.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace).

Life-sized (well, maybe not quite life-sized, but big!) plaster replicas of dinosaurs were commissioned and were part of the exhibit, and they are still around the grounds of the park, along with models of more modern animals - elk, tapirs, etc. The palace was on a hill, and standing atop it you get sweeping views of the countryside to the south (the city falls away and greenery takes over pretty quickly once you're outside Greater London) and to the north, where you can see the City, with St. Paul's and the modern office building nicknamed The Gherkin.

Last night, my friends Tim, Alice, Alison and I met my friend Bucky outside the Canary Wharf station for a tour of the Island, dinner, and a visit to the local. Bucky runs the theatre program at the London branch of the American School in St. John's Wood, and spends more time around Americans than around Brits, and had been to the Isle of Dogs only a few times, and then only to Canary Wharf.

From the first years of the 19th century until the 1960's, the Isle of Dogs was home to London's major ports. When container shipping took hold, the docks gradually fell into disuse, leaving acres of derelict buildings and massive unemployment. In the early 1990s, an adventurous financier built Canada Tower, Britain's tallest building, hoping to create a new commerical center. At first it sat largely empty, but soon business took off. The publishing industry, long located at and sometimes simply referred to as "Fleet Street," moved to Canary Wharf, as did other businesses. Now there are many skyscrapers with housing Citibank, Barclay's, and other international corporations, with luxury flats and hotels. When I asked a cab driver to take me to the Isle of Dogs, he said, "Oh, the Isle of Money." But it's not all like that.

We walked to South Quay and then around the docks to near Millwall and the Mudchute DLR station, and then cut through Mudchute Farm and Millwall Park. Tim said that Mudchute is the largest farm inside a city. I think! There are allotments, or community garden plots, as well as sheep, cows, goats and other farm animals. The Mudchute is so named because when the second set of docks were being built in the mid-19th century, the excavated dirt was thrown up into a berm alongside the channel - and there it remains. It's a lovely oasis of green.

Donna met us at Memsaheb, my favorite Indian restaurant here, right on the river, and had a great meal, then walked along the river back to my old neighborhood. The Observatory in Greenwich projects a green laser beam along the meridien line, which shoots hot and bright in the dark above the river. We went for a drink at the Lord Nelson put, my old haunt. The Nelson's been there since about 1850, and for decades was a dockies' pub, catering to the dockworkers that were the Island's main population from about 1800 to 1900 or so.

The southwest quadrant of the Island, especially, still has a very neighborhoody feel, with many dockers' cottages that were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The area along the river was heavily industrial from the second half of the 19th century, and was badly bombed during the World War II, with many civilian deaths. Now most of the river front has newer upscale flats. But in other places, there are still many people whose families have lived on the Island for years.

I really enjoyed living in this neighborhood when I was here for almost a year and a half two years ago caring for my mother. Since there are only two ways onto the Isle of Dogs by car (Blackwall Tunnel at the northeast and the Limehouse Link at the northwest), it's a lot more quiet and laid back than central London.

If you look at maps showing the Island up until the beginning of the 19th century, there isn't much there. A road around the perimeter, and one leading up the center of the horseshoe-shaped peninsula, with a ferry house at the foot of the island, near where the roads intersect, and a chapel house partway up the north-south middle road.

I lived where that north-south road, Eastferry Road, intersects the perimeter road, which is Westferry Road on the west and Manchester Road on the east. A couple hundred feet away, closer to the water, was the site of the ferry to Greenwich, which was there at least since the 14th century. Samuel Pepys got stuck there for a day, trying to get to a wedding south of the river. For all that time, there has always been a public house near the site, though the current Ferry House pub is only about 200 years old.

Bits and pieces

2008-08-29T02:33:00.003-07:00

First - photos. Someone told me that the feeds they are receiving of the blog don't have photos. You may have to go to the blog page itself to see photos. (http://nellgwynn.blogspot.com)
And I haven't yet found a way to make the photos appear beside the text, so they're all at the bottom!

Second -
I've had an inquiry or two about why no more frequent posts. Truth to tell, partly I wasn't sure if anyone was paying attention! Secondly, it takes longer than I would have thought to check my facts; find, post, and label photos, etc., and so it's easy to get behind. And finally, some of my time lately has been spent on pretty mundane things - doing a bit of money-work by email and dealing with having apparently dropped my wallet in the cab on the way home from the Gun last Friday! American Express and my credit union have now delivered replacement cards, so I'm back in business! And I'll try to be better about posting something every day or two.

Politics -
The BBC Parliament channel has been carrying the Democratic National Convention live, and replaying it throughout the following day, so I've been able to see most of the important speeches. I've had two of three friends ask me if I think Obama will win, to which I can only say I hope so! And that after this convention things look pretty good. He seems to be well-liked here, and even people who I would not have thought were paying attention have a favorable impression of him. Though at least one person was not entirely clear on the concept and thought it was already in the bag that he'd be the next president. That may be because the British are baffled by our endless election process. Here, the party that's in power decides when it feels like having a general election and holds it, a few weeks later. This seems an unfair advantage, but apparently it sometimes backfires.

Money -
Prices here in London are shockingly expensive. It seems even worse than when I was here before, or maybe it's just me. The papers recently carried stories that the cost of living here went up 4.4% in July. Food prices have gone up 11-19% since January. I'm glad I'm not driving - gas is about $10 a gallon. When I was here in 2005-2006 I was smoking (that's addiction - smoking while I watched my mother die of lung cancer, although hers was not smoking-related) and paying $10 every day for a pack of cigarettes. A week or so ago I noted that the price on the cigarette machine in the Lord Nelson was 6L - almost $12 - and pub machine packs only contain 16 cigarettes!

Virtually everything costs at least twice what I'd expect to pay at home, and some things (e.g., cosmetics and skin care, manicures and pedicures) cost three to four times what they do in California, so I do without if I can. If you go to Burger King or Starbucks, the prices are just about literally and exactly twice the U.S. prices. The smallest size of brewed coffee in Starbucks is 1.70L, and last time I bought one at home, it was $1.65.

The small blessing in all of this is that the dollar has actually gone up substantially against the pound just since I've been here. A 10L purchase the first couple days I was here deducted $19.60 from my bank account. The next 10L cost $19.20. The next $19.02. And yesterday I took 100L out of an ATM and it only cost me $183.61!

The weather -
That most British of subjects! Apparently it's the wettest August in Britain in 100 years. Not necessarily in London - it's rained here but not every day, but there has been flooding in other parts of the country. There have been days of sun and warmth and many other days of coolish weather, clouds, and rain or at least on and off drizzling. But a far cry from the 90 degree weather, and April-October summer in L.A.!

Slang -
While I was here before, I ended up compiling quite an extensive dictionary of London slang, and I'm picking up new examples all the time. Cockney rhyming slang is alive and well. How this works, in case you don't know, is that a word is referred to by a phrase that rhymes with it instead - or sometimes only part of the phrase. (Rhyming slang has been around for centuries, but probably not until after Nell's time.) Examples in regular current use are "on me tod" - Tod Sloane = own; take a butcher's - butcher's hook = look; cream-crackered = knackered (tired, wiped out); haven't got a Scooby - Scooby Doo = clue! An electrian friend told me that even Betty Grable (= cable) is still in use! Slap-headed means bald. WAGs means the Wives And Girlfriends of footballers (soccer players, that is). And speaking of footballers, the other day I heard someone refer to a couple of them "roasting" a woman - meaning to have group sex, and specifically two men and a woman, the derivation being apparently to spit-roast, or to roast something with a stake through it or something stuck in at each end. Ahem.

Traffic and improvements, gearing up for the Olympics:
Traffic in central London is appalling. I'm not driving, but a few times have been with friends as we try to get out of town to go somewhere else. There is a ring road of highway outside central London, but to get there you have to first work your way through a maze of streets that were never intended for car traffic. Much of the street layout remains the same as it was 800 years ago or more. Almost nothing is less than a couple of hundred years old. To try to alleviate the problem, the government has imposed a congestion charge. If you drive a car into or even through Central London, you have to pay a fee of 8L, or about $15 at current rate of exchange. If you don't pay it, you are automatically fined quite a lot. I think it's about $50 or $100. And you can't hide - you and your license plate are captured on CCTV and they will hunt you down and bill you.

Part of the gridlock has to do with many improvements to roads, the underground system, and other projects that are being done in anticipation of the 2012 Olympics. Much of the activity will take place in the East End, the part of London that is most in need of investment and infrastructure improvements, and the aim is that everything that is built will actually be useful afterwards.

All right. None of this has to do with Nell Gwynn especially. A lot has changed since her day. But much, I think, has not. In August 2008 as in 1650-1687, London is still a growing, bustling city, noisy and moving fast. Populated by immigrants as well as native-born English, and encompassing a range of social and economic conditions from dire poverty to fabulous wealth, frequently within a stone's throw of each other.

More people now have access to education and opportunity than they did even a few decades ago. When I was here a couple of years ago, a survey showed that a large percentage of people in executive and professional positions still considered themselves working class. That's because of their background, not their achievements. Accent still to some extent places people immediately on the social ladder. That's hard for Americans to really understand, I think. It works in my favor, though. Because my accent is different (yeah, I'm the one with the accent here, and people keep telling me they love the way I talk!) I can't be pegged into belonging to any particular class or background, so I can mix with all levels and backgrounds. I'm as out of place or as in place in an East End pub as I am among highly educated professionals.

One of the things that I find so interesting about Nell Gwynn's life, and which must have been hard for her sometimes, is that though she was born and grew up at the lowest level of poverty and hardship, she rose to live among royalty and nobility, and her sons were titled (the current Duke of St. Albans is descended, as his predecessors were, from the first Duke, Nell's oldest son Charles). But she could never be one of them. And she could never really go back to where she'd come from. She was neither fish nor foul. It must have been a lonely situation. Thank god for Rose, her sister, her lifelong friend.

Still behind in blogging....

2008-08-27T11:33:00.002-07:00

Somehow it is difficult to keep up the blogging with all I've been doing. So rather that put nothing, I'll post a quick rundown of the last week or so, and then post more details and photos later.

On Friday, August 15, Jackie and her friend Laura and I had a long but lovely day trip to Saffron Walden and then to Audley End, both in Essex. Saffron Walden is a charming market town, with many buildings surviving from the 16th and 17th centuries or even earlier,and gave a feel for what a town of the 17th century would have been like. Among other buildings of interest is an inn that Cromwell used as his headquarters at one point during the Civil War.

Audley End is a stately home that Charles II bought in 1667, though he rarely used it, and it ceased to be a royal palace around the end of the 17th century. I don't know if Nell was ever there, but she could have been. Some of the house remains as it would have been when Charles owned it, some has alterations from the 18th and 19th century. The lovely extensive grounds include both lush lawns with a meandering river, and large gardens that are actively cultivated, and include many heirloom varieties of fruit. The house has a very nice living history component, with actors in Victorian costumes assuming the characters of servants from that era and working in the kitchens and other service areas.

After Audley End, we repaired to The Cricketers, the gastro pub/restaurant in Clavering, Essex, owned by the parents of renowned British chef Jamie Oliver. There were no reservations available for dinner, so we settled for a drink outside, enjoying the waning sunlight of the warm summer evening. And then to dinner at the Old King's Head in Chigwell, also in Essex. Parts of the place date from the 16th century, and Charles Dickens stayed at the inn while writing "Barnaby Rudge."

On Wednesday, August 20, Jackie and I went to Oxford, which was certainly a place that Nell knew. She may very well have gone there with the theatre company when they and the court left London to escape from the plague in 1665 (and in my book she does so). She certainly was there later. It was in Oxford during the turmoil over the Papist Plot that a crowd began to pelt or rock Nell's carriage, mistaking her for Charles's hated French mistress, Louise de Keroualle. Nell popped her head out and cried, "Pray, good people, be civil. I am the Protestant whore!"

The main streets of Oxford were a thousand years old when Nell was there, and of course much of the university dates from the 13th to 16th centuries. We stood on Folly Bridge, overlooking the river, the very site of the original "oxen ford" that gives the city its name.

My book includes a scene set in a park in Oxford in 1665, and I decided that University Park, north of the central area of town, which has been used as a pleasure garden at least since the 17th century, seemed suitable. Jackie and I took an enjoyable walk through the green grass and huge spreading trees, and along the banks of the Cherwell, where ducks swam. I was pleased to read later that it is a matter of record that Charles II did use to walk there with his spaniels.

The court was at Oxford during the plague, but Oxford was also the Royalist headquarters during the Civil War, and a place that Charles returned to several times during his reign.

Friday, August 22, was dinner at the Gun, a 200-year old pub at the northeast of the Isle of Dogs which is now a highly regarded and popular gastro pub. My Uncle Al had graciously invited me to host a dinner to thank the friends, neighbors, and colleagues who had done so much to help my mother during her last year or two, and to help me during my long and difficult time here. A great meal! If there hadn't been several vegetarians, I would have opted to order the "feast menu," with a whole roast suckling pig! When else will I ever get the chance? We had our own room on the second floor (or the first floor, in British terminology), looking right out over the water to what was formerly the Millenium Dome and is now the O2, a major performance venue with a collection of shops, restaurants, and bars.

I've also spent two more afternoons in the V&A archives at Kensington Olympia, going through materials related to theatre, which were formerly held in the Covent Garden Theatre Museum, now sadly defunct. I looked through the biographical files on playwright Aphra Behn, who was a friend of Nell's and dedicated a play to her; actress Elizabeth Barry, another friend, who specialized in tragedy while Nell excelled in comedy; and actors John Lacy, Edward Kynaston, and William Cartwright.

The V&A theatre archives also holds a copy of the catalogue for an exhibition of the dozens of paintings that Cartwright owned, including one of Charles II, and a catalogue for an exhibit about Nell Gwynn that was held at the Geffrye Museum in London in the 70s.

There are copies of the original designs for the scenery for the 1661 production of "The Siege of Rhodes" by William Davenant's Duke's Company in Lincoln's Inn Fields - the first production in England to use moving scenery.

It was incredibly exciting to hold in my hand the actual 1669 script of "Secret Love," the play that made Nell a star! And intriguing to read the 1658 "An Apology for Actors," purportedy written by Thomas Heywood, but probably actually written by William Cartwright, an actor who had been a member of the King's Company before Cromwell closed the theatres. He made his living as a bookseller during the interregnum, and was one of the principal members of the company when it was reestablished in 1660. He appeared in many plays that Nell was also in over the years, and she surely knew him well.

Last Saturday Jackie took her mother (and Jackie's boyfriend and me) to a wonderful lunch and then to the Donmar Warehouse's production of "Piaf," with Elena Roger giving a truly phenomenal performance in the title role. She's Argentinian, and got great reviews as Evita here last year. Remember her name; you'll be hearing a lot more about her!

Another night last week I had dinner with friend Alice at Booty's (yes! Booty's!), a pub on the riverfront in Limehouse, in the East End and not far from the Isle of Dogs. It's an area that in centuries past was full of sailors and other maritime-related folks and activities. Like prostitution. Now it's becoming more upscale. Sir Ian McKellan even lives there! And I think Helen Mirren is also in the area. As Alice and I ate, we watched a little platoon of sailboats carrying out maneuvers in the light rain on the choppy water. The Union Jack outside the window flapped wetly and furled itself around its flagpole, but eventually sprang free and waved proudly once more.

Of course London has been in an Olympics frenzy over the past couple of weeks, joyous but slightly stunned at their successful performance, and gearing up the handoff - the 2012 Olympics will be held at various venues right here in the East End. I was here on July 6, 2005, when London got the news that it had gotten the 2012 Olympics. I felt like a Londoner, happy that "we" had gotten it, and shaken the next day, with the subway bombings. One of my friends told me that it's said it takes three years for someone to consider themself a Londoner. I don't know - I'm part way there!

Playing catch up!

2008-08-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

I've fallen behind in my writing, but not in my activities!

Last Tuesday I had planned to go to the British Library but got a late start so I decided to do some walking in Nell's foosteps instead.

She lived and worked up, down, and around Drury Lane at various times. so I started there. I got off the underground at Tottenham Court Road, walked down Charing Cross Road (taking pictures of what should be 84 Tottenham Court Road, as in charming the book of that title, chronicling the correspondence over about 20 years between an American writer and the staff of an English bookshop).

Somehow I missed the turn onto St. Giles High Street, so I walked on Shaftesbury Avenue and over on High Holborn to the north end of Drury Lane and then down, stopping to take pictures as I went.

There is a pub called the White Hart at 191 Drury Lane, just south of High Holborn, and according to The London Encyclopedia, there has been a pub by that name on that site since the 15th century, so Nell would certainly have known it, if not frequented it.

The first street south of High Holborn on the east side of Drury Lane is now Stukely Street, but according to Morgan's Map of the Whole of London in 1682 (accessible at British History Online, www.british-history.ac.uk) it was previously The Cole Yard, or Coal Yard, one of the places sometimes mentioned ss Nell's birthplace (along with other places near Covent Garden or sometimes Oxfordshire).

The next street south, now Macklin Street, was formerly Lewkenor's Lane, the site of Madam Ross's brothel, where Nell's sister Rose worked -- and where Nell did, too, at least in my book!

Though the area is much changed, and no buildings from the 17th century remain, both Stukely Street and Macklin Street are very short - only a block or two, and narrow, and probably not much changed in their footprint since Nell's time.

From Lewkenor's Lane/Macklin Street, it's only about a five minute walk to the Theatre Royal, where Nell first worked as an orange girl and later as an actress. The original theatre, which opened on May 7, 1663, was much smaller than the present one, and according to The London Stage 1660-1700 and other sources, was built on a plot of ground only 112 feet long by 58 feet wide. It was between Drury Lane to the northeast, Bridges Street (now Catherine Street) to the southwest, and Russell Street to the northwest, was set back from the street and behind other buildings, and was reached by passageways from the streets. Contemporary maps that show the site include Lacy's 1673 map of the parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden, and Morgan and Ogilby's map of London, 1681-82. I believe both are at the British Library, and hope to be able to see the originals and get good copies!

Nell's Theatre Royal burned down, along with the company's stock of costumes and scenery and several adjacent houses, and killing an actor named Bell, on January 25, 1672, after Nell had stopped acting, and a new theatre, designed by Christopher Wren, opened on the site in 1674.

Nell also lived at the Cat and Fiddle and Cock and Pie taverns, both near the site of the Theatre Royal. Samuel Pepys saw her standing at the door of her lodgings on May 1, 1667 in her smock sleeves and bodice (not quite completely dressed, that is), watching milkmaids with garlands on their pails dancing to the music of a fiddler.

The Cock and Pie was near the top of Maypole Alley, which led from Drury Lane to the Strand. It's long gone, and the whole area much changed from Nell's time, but Maypole Alley seems to have run through the area where Aldwych is now, probably just west of Kingsway. It came out in the Strand near St. Mary le Strand, near the present location of Bush House, the home of the BBC. Maypole Alley was named for the 134-foot maypole that was erected in front of the church for May Day, 1661, by a party of twelve sailors under the direction of James, the Duke of York, who was head of the navy.

The opening chapter of my book follows Nell on May 29, 1660, the day on which Charles II rode into London to reclaim his throne. I have her walking from the Strand to Whitehall to get another glimpse of the King, so I followed her path down the Strand and to the Banqueting House in Whitehall, the only remaining part of the palace of Whitehall, which burned down in 1698. I'll walk in and write more about that area later, because Nell spent a lot of time there!

I concluded my day's rambles by heading to the church of St. Martin in the Fields, at Trafalgar Square. This was Nell's parish church for much of her life. She gave her mother a lavish funeral there when she died in 1679, which was the last occasion on which her "Merry Gang" of court wits was together. Nell's funeral was also held at St. Martin in the Fields, and the service given by Thomas Tenison, later Archbishop of Canterbury. The Tudor-era church that Nell knew was demolished in 1721 because its roof was in danger of collapse, and the present church dates from 1726.

Nell was buried in the crypt of St. Martin in the Fields, where there is now rather a nice cafe. Several years ago when I asked about the location of her grave, cafe staff said they thought it might be under the ovens! I've read more recently that Nell's might have been among graves moved during renovations at some point.

Well -- I haven't nearly caught up with what I've done in the past week, but I'm giving up for now, and resolve to write more regularly!

A few days on....

2008-08-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to get internet access as consistently as I'd hoped, but now I'm back on the Island (Isle of Dogs, that is), I can always come down to my old haunt the Lord Nelson pub and use the wireless connection!

Last Wednesday I spent a second afternoon in the archives of the V&A on Blythe Road. Found pictures of Nell's houses on Pall Mall and in Windsor, pictures of some of her contemporary actors and other theatre people - Edward Kynaston (who briefly played women's roles after the Restoration), William Cartwright, Michael Mohun, and John Lacy (all old-timers who'd been actors before Cromwell closed the theatres in 1642) and playwright John Dryden.

Also had the opportunity to see (and photograph - thanks, iPhone!) the original 1669 script of "Secret Love," the play that made a star of Nell. She and her lover Charles Hart, the leading actor of the King's Company, played opposite each other as a pair of sparring, witty lovers, somewhat in the Beatrice and Benedick vein, who of course get together in the end but set out the contract under which they'll have a freewheeling and happy relationship despite being married!

The days since have been a blitz of theatre, as well as getting a bit of writing done.

Thursday night I went with Alice, Alison, and Donna to the Natioal to see "Never So Good," a new play about prime minister Harold Macmillan starring Jeremey Irons. It covered the 30s to 60s, but especially the 50s and 60s, a period of British history that I didn't know much about.

Friday was "Pygmalion" at the Old Vic, directed by Peter Hall, also very good. Saturday afternoon saw my friend Cathy Owen in "This Wide Night" at the Soho Theatre, a very intense drama about two women who were cell mates in prison reuniting after being released. Both Cathy and the other actress were great! I hadn't seen Cathy on stage before and it was great to do so.

Last night went with Donna to the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre to see "Gigi", fun and charming of course.

Now back to more Nell research! Off to the British Library to register for a reader's card and hunt out some period maps to help me pinpoint the location of Nell's houses and other haunts.

Hitting the ground running....

2008-08-06T00:41:00.000-07:00

Ack! I've only been here a few days and already behind on my writing!

I arrived Saturday afternoon and my friend Donna took me back to her place in Brockley. A nap, a bit of curry with her and Alison, and to bed.

Sunday afternoon was the wedding bash of our dear friend Laura and her new husband David - they got married in a civil service on July 17. They're both professional musicians, so Laura's Big Band played - and she sat in on the sax for a few numbers - photo attached (I hope!)

It was a case of being plunged immediately into my past life here - in some ways I can't believe I've been gone two years, in others it feels like I've never left. The wedding reception was at Calder's Wharf Community Center, right near the entrance to the Greenwich foot tunnel on the Isle of Dogs side, just down the street from the building where I lived for almost a year and a half, my old local the Lord Nelson pub, the 1903 firehouse that ceased to function as a firehouse while I was there and has since been converted to flats, and around the corner from the homes of Laura, Tim, Clare, Si, Cath...

Monday was a day to get organized - get my UK cell phone up and running, etc. In the evening, I went with Alice and Tim to the National Theatre and saw a really fantastic production of Middleton's (or was it Turner?) "Revenger's Tragedy." More or less modern dress, but somewhat stylized, with swords and daggers. Great set - turntable in the center - divided by scrims and passages into three crescent-shaped scenes - painted with lurid and classical scenes. Lots of intense and explicit sex and violence, as befits the show. Very good actors pretty much all around. (www.nationaltheatre.org.uk)

Yesterday (Tuesday), I had my first research appointment at the Victoria & Albert Museum (www.vam.ac.uk) -- actually, at their archives at Kensington Olympia. They had already gotten out for me the biographical files on Nell Gwynn and her friend and fellow actor John Lacey. Went through those and then the box on Drury Lane Theatre for the period 1663-1674. They mostly contained newspaper clipppings, copies of portraits, and anything remotely related to Nell Gwynn -- for instance 1920's cigarette cards or ads depicting her as a flapper orange wench!

I didn't really learn anything new, but did find some pictures of Nell's home at 79 Pall Mall and the one in Windsor, and it was very interesting to see what they had. And there is a wealth of other documents, book, etc., which I'll have a look at today.

Perhaps the most exciting thing to see was an original 4-page pamphlet from 1679, rather a cruel satire on the death of Nell's mother, who drowned, probably drunk, in a ditch or fish pond. I knew of it and had read excerpts, but holding the actual thing in my hand was something else...

The archives lets you photocopy items more recent than 1932. Anything else you can only take photos. So I was very pleased to find that my new iPhone takes such great pictures -- and allows you to zoom in closely enough -- that the pictures I took of this pamphlet are actually completely legible!

Starting out....

2008-07-31T00:53:00.000-07:00

Hi, friends,

Some of you have expressed a desire to be kept informed about my adventures in the coming weeks as I try to trace Nell's footsteps in London - the locations of the places where she lived and loved, the theatres she knew, the streets she walked, the views she saw.

So here's my first try at at a blog! There isn't much here now, and in fact I haven't left home yet, but I'll be taking photos (geotagged by GPS on Iphone, so anyone who wants to can find these same locations!), doing research at the V&A, Museum of London, and wherever else I can, and generally trying to bring to life the London of 1650-1687.