East Sheen, Surrey.
{118}
_Pepys's Morena_ (Vol. vi., pp. 342. 373.).--In the note on this word in
the last edition of the _Diary_, it is stated that it may be read either
"Morma" or "Morena." There is little doubt but the latter is the correct
reading. "Morena" is good Portuguese for a brunette, and may have been used
by Pepys as a term of endearment for Miss Dickens, like the "Colleen dhas
dhun" of the Irish, which has much the same meaning. The marriage of the
king to Catherine of Braganza in the previous year would have caused her
language to be more studied at this time, especially by persons about the
court. Morma has no meaning whatever.