Monday 25 November 1661

To Westminster Hall in the morning with Captain Lambert, and there he did at the Dog give me and some other friends of his, his foy, he being to set sail to-day towards the Streights. Here we had oysters and good wine. Having this morning met in the Hall with Mr. Sanchy, we appointed to meet at the play this afternoon. At noon, at the rising of the House, I met with Sir W. Pen and Major General Massy, who I find by discourse to be a very ingenious man, and among other things a great master in the secresys of powder and fireworks, and another knight to dinner, at the Swan, in the Palace yard, and our meat brought from the Legg; and after dinner Sir W. Pen and I to the Theatre, and there saw “The Country Captain,” a dull play, and that being done, I left him with his Torys1 and went to the Opera, and saw the last act of “The Bondman,” and there found Mr. Sanchy and Mrs. Mary Archer, sister to the fair Betty, whom I did admire at Cambridge, and thence took them to the Fleece in Covent Garden, there to bid good night to Sir W. Pen who staid for me; but Mr. Sanchy could not by any argument get his lady to trust herself with him into the tavern, which he was much troubled at, and so we returned immediately into the city by coach, and at the Mitre in Cheapside there light and drank, and then set her at her uncle’s in the Old Jewry. And so he and I back again thither, and drank till past 12 at night, till I had drank something too much. He all the while telling me his intention to get a girl who is worth 1000l., and many times we had her sister Betty’s health, whose memory I love. At last parted, and I well home, only had got cold and was hoarse and so to bed.

50 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro.  •  Link

25th November, St.Catherine's Day.

From whom the coming Queen took her name, although she was born on the 26th, maybe around midnight. Patron saint of innocent young girls. (Catherine meaning "pure one")
Also patron saint of philosophers, of which this site has many. And as Bonfire Night (guye fforks) has recently been discussed, she has the "Catherine Wheel" firework named after her, from the reputed manner of her martyrdom.

ellen  •  Link

...give me and some other friends of his, his foy,....

What is foy? An itinerary ?

Bradford  •  Link

"foy, foy-dinner: departure gift or feast"---"Shorter Pepys," Glossary

Glyn  •  Link

Pepys also went to the Mitre yesterday, but that was another place with the same name.

Five pubs and two theatres in a day - I'm beginning to think we're all living in the wrong century, but I'm surprised the people in charge of the Swan didn't object to them bringing food in from the Leg. Presumably the Swan didn't have cooking facilities, but had better drinks?

Glyn  •  Link

If you read Pedro's link to a biography of Massy, it made my head spin with the mental convulsions these people must have been going through. Massey was strongly anti-Catholic and for that reason fought against Charles I (the new king's father), he later joins the Royalists and is captured by a former friend General Lambert and put in the Tower of London from which he escapes. Now in 1661 he is the devoted follower of a king with strong Roman Catholic links, and it is Lambert who is now in the Tower. Did these people have any principles at all?

Glyn  •  Link

Re Pedro's comment above: American and Canadians might better know the Catherine Wheel firework as a pin-wheel.

dirk  •  Link

St.Catherine's Day

If you want to know more about St.Catherine/Katherine, have a look at The Golden Legend (Aurea Legenda)
Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, 1275
Englished by William Caxton, 1483:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ba…

dirk  •  Link

foy

I found two etymologies:

1) (the most likely one)
French foi, old spelling foy (faith; allegiance).
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

2) (for what it's worth)
Dutch dialectal fooi, from Middle Dutch foye (journey), from Old French voie, from Latin via, road.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
[In modern Dutch "fooi" has the meaning "tip" - i.e. non compulsory payment as a sign of appreciation.]

Pepys used the word once before, on tuesday 20 March 1659/60: "So to the Bull Head whither W. Simons comes to us and I gave them my foy against my going to sea."

Is language.hat around?

dirk  •  Link

The Country Captain

Play by William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle, 1631.

dirk  •  Link

Tory

n.; pl. Tories.

[ Properly used of the Irish bogtrotters who robbed and plundered during the English civil wars, professing to be in sympathy with the royal cause; hence transferred to those who sought to maintain the extreme prerogatives of the crown; probably from Ir. toiridhe, tor, a pursuer; akin to Ir. & Gael. toir a pursuit.]

(Eng.Politics) A member of the conservative party, as opposed to the progressive party (...); an earnest supporter of exsisting royal and ecclesiastical authority.

Note: The word Tory first occurs in English history in 1679, during the struggle in Parliament occasioned by the introduction of the bill for the exclusion of the duke of York from the line of succession, and was applied by the advocates of the bill to its opponents as a title of obloquy or contempt. The Tories subsequently took a broader ground, and their leading principle became the maintenance of things as they were. (...)

Source:
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary,

Lynne  •  Link

Since language.hat does not seem to be here, this is a slightly edited version of the OED entry.
FOY sb2 Now dialect prob from Fr. 'voie', meaning 'way' or 'journey'.
A parting entertainment, present, cup of liquor, etc., given by or to one setting out on a journey. In different parts of Scotland applied variously to a party given in honour of a woman on the eve of her marriage; to a feast at the end of the harvest or fishing season; and the like.

The quoted usages include c1645 HOWLETT Lett. II. xii, 'Hoping to enjoy you before you go and to give you a friendly foy.' 1668 J GIBSON Let. to F Wright 24 Aug., 'My due deserved thanks for ye friendly foy you pleased to guie me at our parting.' 1700 FARQUHAR Const. Couple I. i, 'I'll pay my foy, drink a health to my King... and away for Hungary to-morrow morning.'

The last quotation was from 1896

vicente  •  Link

Sam lets us into the secret of the heart of a man on the prowl."... Mrs. Mary Archer, sister to the fair Betty.......... but Mr. Sanchy could not by any argument get his lady to trust herself with him into the tavern,......telling me his intention to get a girl who is worth 1000l...."
Money be better than looks, and it be better than brain or brawn. Oh those honeyed words that get us in to trouble. Wat is a girl to believe? Sam lending his ear for the tidbits on seduction.

Xjy  •  Link

foy
Dirk and Lynne -- thanks!
My guess is that it's probably the Dutch word transferred to a "one for the road" gift or celebration, with a French admixture of "pledge, troth" for good luck -- "I'll be back" "You'll be fine" kind of thing.

Sinclair  •  Link

Foy Boatman: A person who ties-up or unties ships mooring or towing ropes. This term is still in use today in the ports of the North East of England.

Mary  •  Link

foy boatman.

It's this kind of philological tit-bit that makes this site such a delight. Thanks.

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

Glyn: it was quite common for people to bring their own food to pubs in those days. Did the place they were in supply plates etc. though?
In Italy restaurants still have a special charge for the use of cutlery. We have been here before if I remember correctly.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"did these people have any principles at all"
Glyn religion now but particularly then is about politics,and politics is about power.remember Henry IV of France "Paris is worth a mass"

A. Hamilton  •  Link

The Parting Glass

Of all the money that ere I spent,
I spent it in good company.
And if ever any harm I've done
Alas 'twas done to none but me.

And all the sweethearts that ere I knew
Are sorry for my going away.
And all the friends that ere I had
Would wish me one more day to stay.

But since it falls unto my lot
That I must rise and you should not
Then raise to em the parting glass.
Good night and peace be with you all.

Trad. Irish, as far as I know

A.Hamilton  •  Link

Foy

Before seeing the etymologies cited above, my first thought was that the parting sailor was leaving behind a power of attorney. Could it be that the foy ceremony derives its name from some such legal proceeding?

AlB  •  Link

The Parting Glass

hey isn't this Bob Dylan's song "Lonesome Farewell"-another illusion destroyed!!

Stolzi  •  Link

It seems to me
that a girl worth 1000l. is a girl you intend to marry, while a girl you try to take into a tavern ... is not.

Glyn  •  Link

It seems to me that he's talking about Mary Archer both times, since the words "her sister Betty" is repeated in the tavern about the heiress. I think she was right not to trust him. Perhaps calling her Mrs Mary Archer doesn't necessarily mean she's married, or else a young widow.

Glyn  •  Link

Spoiler for 1669

According to Pauline's biography about Mary Archer: she "married Clement Sandey, ex-fellow of Magdalene, in 1669." NB That's Pepys's old college. Two questions: (1) Could Mr Sandey possibly be our Mr Sanchy? i.e. could a "d" and a "ch" be confused in his method of shorthand and (2) Why would she wait 8 years before getting married, when a woman's marriage worth diminished as her child-bearing years diminished? (sorry to be mercenary)

Mary  •  Link

Sanchy/Sandey/Sankey.

According to L&M Companion, Mary Archer's husband was Clement Sankey. Follow the link from Sanchy.

Pauline  •  Link

Mrs Mary Archer
Clement and Mary appear to be on a date, don't they? I take it that because The Fleece has a terrible reputation, she feels she can't trust her reputation, even though accompanied by a respectable escort (or maybe she fears she will be harassed even though escorted). They did not set out to go to the Fleece, it came up because Sam was to meet Sir Pen there and needed to at least go in and say he wasn't coming.

"Mrs" is a title an unmarried daughter used, maybe the oldest unmarried daughter? We discussed this once, I think.

Maybe they waited all those years to marry because he needed to establish himself financially before starting a family. Maybe we'll be hearing more about this courtship in the intervening years.

Pauline  •  Link

"Why would she wait 8 years before getting married"
They married the year he became Canon of York--1669.

helena murphy  •  Link

A.Hamilton is correct,that is a traditional Irish song which I have been familiar with since my childhood and indeed can sing! As a child I remember the adults and older generations in my family singing it,people who were well before Bob Dylan's time and who are long since dead. The Irish who emigrated to America and elsewhere brought their religion,music,dance and folklore with them. It is quite possible that Bob Dylan heard this song and may have taken some of the lyrics to set to his own tune.

helena murphy  •  Link

In my study of Irish history apertaining to the English civil war period I have never come across the words "Irish bogtrotters"in any of the reputable and perhaps not so scholarly books that I have read. In fact I have never met the words until on today's site.In 1656 Oliver Cromwell ordered, in regard to Piers Butler,Lord Viscount Ikerrin, who "hath been of late time serviceable to suppress the Tories" a portion of his estate in Tipperary to be returned to him.

The Irish royalists during the civil war were trained soldiers led by professionals like Owen Roe O'Neill. In fact Cromwell and his New Model army suffered its only defeat,not in England ,but at Clonmel during the Irish campaign by Hugh Dubh O'Neill, an Irish professional soldier with vast continental experience in siege warfare.

Pedro.  •  Link

"give me and some other friends of his, his foy, he being to set sail to-day towards the Streights"

Methinks Sam was pleased that the Captain did not sail on the 14th when he had his own personal "foy":

"Hither came to me Captain Lambert to take his leave of me, he being this day to set sail for the Straights. We drank his farewell and a health to all our friends, and were very merry, and drank wine enough."

Conrad  •  Link

Helena, Google reveals this definition of BOGTROTTERS: Irish tramps. So called from their skill in crossing the Irish bogs, from tussock to tussock, either as guides or to escape pursuit.

vicente  •  Link

There was always bundling."Why would she wait 8 years before getting married" care fully does it. She that be of means, an income of 80 quid a year puts this lass, fair and square in the top 30% income bracket, did not want to squander it on a ne’er do well. She waited for proof of success and the Approval of the Bishop. Her income alone was sufficient make an equall to eminent clergy men of the times, in other wise a good catch when got. Many a promise of great futures never proved out.

vicente  •  Link

Money Talks,. "...when a woman's marriage worth diminished as her child-bearing years diminished? (sorry to be mercenary.." not in this case, an ugley heiress trumps all else.

Mary  •  Link

bogtrotters.

OED records the earliest instance of this term referring to Irishmen in 1682; "an idle flam of shabby Irish Bogtrotters" in a work entitled Philanax Misepappas, a Tory Plot. A flam appears to be an fanciful tale, deceptive information.

tony t.  •  Link

Clement Sankey. Perhaps one reason for the delay is that he was not allowed to marry whilst he was a Fellow in residence at Magdalene.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

It can be flipped around as Mary was willing to wait eight years for Clement and vice-versa...It's the romantic in me, sorry.

vicente  •  Link

All those that wait patiently outside the HP building, can empathise with this:
"...It is ORDERED, therefore, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, That the Steward of the City of Westm. or his Deputy, together with the Justices of Peace within the said City, shall, by their Care, and Directions to the Constables within the said Limits, take special Order, that no Cart or Dray make any Stay, more than for disburdening its Carriage, and that no empty Hackney Coach be suffered to make any Stay, between Whitehall and The Old Pallace, Westm. aforesaid, from Nine of the Clock in the Morning, to One in the Afternoon of the same Day, during all the Sitting of this Parliament; and that no unnecessary Carriages by Carts or Drays be permitted to go through the said Streets, between the Hours aforesaid, during the Sitting of both Houses of Parliament: And herein a special Care is to be taken by the said Justices and their Constables, as the contrary will be answered to this House

From: British History Online
Source: House of Lords Journal Volume 11: 25 November 1661. Journal of the House of Lords: volume 11, ().
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Date: 01/12/2004

marc  •  Link

Why is there no Archbishop of Canterbury in the Lords?

Aqua  •  Link

Interesting Question: Laud then Gilbert Then Sheldon, too busy playing Lambeth Walk?
see :
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/… Sheldon#s1

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

William Juxon D.C.L. 1633-1660.
Royal nomin. of Juxon, bp.-elect of Hereford, 23 Sept. 1633; el. 28 Sept.; royal assent 3 Oct.; abp.'s conf. 23 Oct.; cons. 27 Oct. (Reg. D. & C. 1631-42 ff. 289v-293; Lamb., Reg. Laud 1 ff. 12-19v). Enthroned by proxy 5 Nov. (Guildhall MS. 9531/13 f. 360; Lamb., Reg. Laud 1 ff. 75-7). Temps. 7 Nov. (P.R.O., C 66/2628). Trans. to Canterbury 1660.
Gilbert Sheldon D.D. 1660-1663.
Royal nomin. 28 Sept. 1660; el. 9 Oct.; royal assent 15 Oct.; abp.'s conf. 23 Oct.; cons. 28 Oct. (Guildhall MS. 9531/16 ff. 1-5; Cal. S.P. Dom. Addenda 1660-85 p. 13; Lamb., Reg. Juxon 1 ff. 170-82, 208v). Trans. to Canterbury 1663.

From: 'Bishops of London', Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857: volume 1: St. Paul's, London (1969), pp. 1-4. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…. Date accessed: 30 August 2006.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

"I left him with his Torys"

TORY, a Word first used by the Protestants in Ireland to signify those Irish common Robbers and Murderers who stood outlawed for Robbery and Murder; now a Nick name to such as call themselves High Church men, or to the Partisans of the Chevalier de St George.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.

Bill  •  Link

Tory, Voleur d'Irlande, Coureur de Marais. Remarque que les Tory's d'Irlande sont à peu pres comme les Bandits d'Italie, ou les Cossaques de Ukraine, gens qui ne vivent que de vols & de rapines. En Angleterre, on les esprits se sont aigris malheureusement depuis queques annees, il s'est fait deux puissans Partis, l'un de la Cour & l'autre des Mecontens, qui se distinguent encore aujourd'hui par ces deux Noms odieux de Tory & de Whig.
---A short dictionary English and French. G. Miège, 1684.

Bill  •  Link

G. Miège does not include the word "tory" in the 1677 edition of his bilingual dictionary.

eileen d.  •  Link

bogtrotter
I am surprised that Helena Murphy had never come across this expression before. I certainly heard it growing up in the 1960s as an Irish-American in the US.

The etymology is pretty straightforward, referring to Irish peasants who lived with boggy soils that required a quick, light-footed 'trot' to cross safely. This became a highly offensive ethnic slur indicating backwardness and referring to the 'lowest class' of Irish.

a couple of interesting sources:
Political Correctness: A History of Semantics and Culture
By Geoffrey Hughes [cut and paste into Google, then search for 'bogtrotter']

List of Ethnic Slurs (ethnophaulisms)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/L…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I met with Sir W. Pen and Major General Massy, who I find by discourse to be a very ingenious man, and among other things a great master in the secresys of powder and fireworks,"

Maj.Gen. Sir Edward Massey (M.P. for Gloucester) had been an expert in siege warfare in the Civil War. (L&M note)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"and went to the Opera, and saw the last act of “The Bondman,” "

L&M note: at this time playgoers claimed the right to see the fourth or fifth act of a play without paying for admission and Pepys probably availed himself of the privilege on this occasion. The privilege was prohibited by the Lord Chamberlain on 7 December 1663, but was nevertheless continued.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"According to L&M Companion, Mary Archer's husband was Clement Sankey. Follow the link from Sanchy." -- Mary's spoiler

Clement Sankey was a Fellow of Magdalene. He married Mary Archer (of Bourn, Cambs.) in 1669, when he was Rector of St Clement's, Eastcheap, and a Canon of York. (L&M note)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"after dinner Sir W. Pen and I to the Theatre, and there saw “The Country Captain,” a dull play, and that being done, I left him with his Torys"

L&M: Irishmen; only in the late 1670s was the word used politically. Penn had estates in Ireland and was Governor of Kinsale.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir W. Pen and I to the Theatre, and there saw “The Country Captain,” a dull play, and that being done, I left him with his Torys and went to the Opera, and saw the last act of “The Bondman,”"

L&M: At this time playgoers claimed the right to see the fourth or fifth act of a play without paying for admission and Pepys probably availed himself of the privilege on this occasion. The privilege was prohibited by the Chamberlain on 7 December 1663, but nevertheless continued.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Meanwhile, in Paris:

Alvise Grimani, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate.

I went recently to pay my respects to the queen of England at Fontainebleau. [QUEEN MOTHER HENRIETTA MARIA]

She is invited to London by the king, to dwell there in future, and so she will abandon France. This gives rise to a variety of opinions in conversation; but as King Charles has to be receiving his wife, that would be quite sufficient to account for his motive in recalling his mother.

But before the queen leaves this country she wishes to see Madame, her daughter, safely delivered. [HENRIETTA ANNE, A.K.A. MINETTE]
Moret, the 15th November, 1661.
[Italian.]

FROM:
Nov. 15. N.S. – Nov. 25 1661 O.S.
Senato, Secreta.
Dispacci, Francia.
Venetian Archives.

'Venice: November 1661', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 33, 1661-1664, ed. Allen B Hinds (London, 1932), British History Online
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.