Thursday 7 May 1668
Up, and to the office, where all the morning. At noon home to dinner, and thither I sent for Mercer to dine with me, and after dinner she and I called Mrs. Turner, and I carried them to the Duke of York’s house, and there saw “The Man’s the Master,” which proves, upon my seeing it again, a very good play. Thence called Knepp from the King’s house, where going in for her, the play being done, I did see Beck Marshall come dressed, off of the stage, and looks mighty fine, and pretty, and noble: and also Nell, in her boy’s clothes, mighty pretty. But, Lord! their confidence! and how many men do hover about them as soon as they come off the stage, and how confident they are in their talk! Here I did kiss the pretty woman newly come, called Pegg, that was Sir Charles Sidly’s mistress, a mighty pretty woman, and seems, but is not, modest. Here took up Knepp into our coach, and all of us with her to her lodgings, and thither comes Bannister with a song of hers, that he hath set in Sir Charles Sidly’s play for her, which is, I think, but very meanly set; but this he did, before us, teach her, and it being but a slight, silly, short ayre, she learnt it presently. But I did get him to prick me down the notes of the Echo in “The Tempest,” which pleases me mightily. Here was also Haynes, the incomparable dancer of the King’s house, and a seeming civil man, and sings pretty well, and they gone, we abroad to Marrowbone, and there walked in the garden, the first time I ever was there; and a pretty place it is, and here we eat and drank and stayed till 9 at night, and so home by moonshine … [I all the way having mi mano abaxo la jute de Knepp con much placer and freedom; but endeavouring afterward to tocar her con mi cosa, ella did strive against that, but yet I do not think that she did find much fault with it, but I was a little moved at my offering it and not having it. – L&M] And so set Mrs. Knepp at her lodging, and so the rest, and I home talking with a great deal of pleasure, and so home to bed.
9 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
L&M provide what's omitted by the ellipsis above:
"...and here we eat and drank and stayed till 9 at night, and so home by moonshine, I all the way having mi mano abaxo la jupe de Knepp com much placer and freedom; but endeavoring afterward to tocar her con mi cosa, ella did strive against that, but yet I do not think that she did find much fault with it, but I was a little moved at my offering it and nor having it. And so set Mrs. Knepp at her lodging, and so the rest and I home, talking with a great deal of pleasure, and so home to bed."
Terry Foreman • Link
The Royal Society today at Arundel House — from the Hooke Folio Online
may.7.1668. mr Boyle papaer about expt of vipers & froggs.
a gage for Rarefaction [ the reduction of a medium's density, or the opposite of compression ])
Letter from Turky [ by Thomas Harpur ] read.) mr Hoskins & mr. Hooke were desired to think against next day of some more particular querys for that place [Turkey], to be sent by the next) (some suggested. 1 what figurd stones haue been cast vp there by Earth quakes. 2 whether mount sina is known to haue been a vulcan, & whether any in those parts. whether aleppo be subiect to palseys. whether the best cimetars are not made in Persia, whether the way of hardning steel may be procured to send ouer the strange insect [mentioned]. whether mare mortuu [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead… ] has any vent.
Expt. about noe vision on optick nerue sent from Paris The expt. in dr needhams letter) was orderd to be tryd first in priuate by Dr. King & mr Hook who agreed to meet for that purpose on saturday next. and to giue an [a]ccount of their sucesse next meeting)
(Dr. wilkins presented his vniversall character book. deld to mr Hooke
[ http://www.metricationmatters.com… ]
http://webapps.qmul.ac.uk/cell/Ho…
Robert Gertz • Link
"But, Lord! their confidence! and how many men do hover about them as soon as they come off the stage, and how confident they are in their talk!"
Oh, Davenant, Killigrew, what hast thou wrought?! Still, I'd say Sam likes the new world dawning...Deep down, perhaps very deep down... And to be fair there was that twinkle of admiration for Bess' spirit during the great "letter" incident and he's always shown a liking for capable businesswomen like Betty Martin and Betty Pierce (despite what might be in Pierce's case, an "amateur" status) during the prize goods incident.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"the play being done, I did see Beck Marshall come dressed, off of the stage, and looks mighty fine, and pretty, and noble: and also Nell, in her boy’s clothes, mighty pretty."
L&M note They had probably been playing St Dorothea and Angelo, respectively, in The Virgin Martyr which Pepys had seen the day before.
San Diego Sarah • Link
May 7. 1668
Hartley, Westmorland.
Sir Philip Musgrave to Williamson.
I send a paper received from my intelligencer for the county of Durham, the sum of which is that the fanatics are very ready to raise a new rebellion when an opportunity offers, and that Lord Swinton is concerned.
Thanks for civilities while in London;
I wish I was capable of making a parallel return, but age and the changes in my affairs render me of little use.
Let me be supplied with the news.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 239, No. 158.]
Sir Philip may be someone who finds what he wants to find:
According to his Parliamentary bio.: In 1668 "He continued to serve on all committees aimed at nonconformists. He pointed out that Queen Elizabeth had punished them in the same way, and said:
'The dregs of schism are so deeply settled in men that indulgence will never purge them out. It is to be wished that all profaneness and debauchery were restrained and duly punished to avoid the scandal and objections of the dissenters.'
"Meanwhile he had been involved in another local dispute with Alderman Aglionby of Carlisle, a henchman of the Lowther interest, who had insulted the garrison."
Yes, that is the Lowther family of the Penn/Lowther marriage.
They were trying to have as many of the younger generation elected to Parliament as possible. It took a while.
For more, see:
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
'Charles II: May 1668', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1667-8, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1893), pp. 369-418. British History Online
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
San Diego Sarah • Link
And Scotland's upset also:
May 7. 1668
Edinburgh.
R. M. [Rob. Mein] to Williamson.
The Council has placed the country in a state of defence, appointing officers for every shire, so that in 24 hours, 18,000 foot and 6,000 horse can be raised;
there are now arms for all, which are kept by the Colonels.
Peter Roy, Drummond and 2 associates, all notorious robbers and murderers in the Highlands, are to be executed;
Roy has been twice reprieved, in hopes of bringing him to confess and discover his associates.
The reports of risings in the west and north of Scotland are false, all being too sensible of their late folly.
Sir Wm. Ballantyne is to answer to the Council for driving the Galloway people to desperation.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 239, No. 159.]
Batch • Link
"I was a little moved at my offering it and nor having it."
"Nor" should be "not." Perhaps it is in L&M.
Terry Foreman • Link
"I was a little moved at my offering it and not having it." do read L&M: keenly sighted, Batch!
Harry R • Link
"I did see Beck Marshall come dressed, off of the stage" - I don't remember seeing this double preposition / idiom in the diary before. I don't think it's used in England at all these days, we would simply say "off the stage", though it's still commonly used in America.