Friday 19 June 1668

When between two and three in the morning we were waked with my maids crying out, “Fire, fire, in Markelane!” So I rose and looked out, and it was dreadful; and strange apprehensions in me, and us all, of being presently burnt. So we all rose; and my care presently was to secure my gold, and plate, and papers, and could quickly have done it, but I went forth to see where it was; and the whole town was presently in the streets; and I found it in a new-built house that stood alone in Minchin-lane, over against the Cloth-workers’-hall, which burned furiously: the house not yet quite finished; and the benefit of brick was well seen, for it burnt all inward, and fell down within itself; so no fear of doing more hurt. So homeward, and stopped at Mr. Mills’s, where he and she at the door, and Mrs. Turner, and Betty, and Mrs. Hollworthy, and there I stayed and talked, and up to the church leads, and saw the fire, which spent itself, till all fear over. I home, and there we to bed again, and slept pretty well, and about nine rose, and then my wife fell into her blubbering again, and at length had a request to make to me, which was, that she might go into France, and live there, out of trouble; and then all come out, that I loved pleasure and denied her any, and a deal of do; and I find that there have been great fallings out between my father and her, whom, for ever hereafter, I must keep asunder, for they cannot possibly agree. And I said nothing, but, with very mild words and few, suffered her humour to spend, till we begun to be very quiet, and I think all will be over, and friends, and so I to the office, where all the morning doing business. Yesterday I heard how my Lord Ashly is like to die, having some imposthume in his breast, that he hath been fain to be cut into the body.1

At noon home to dinner, and thence by coach to White Hall, where we attended the Duke of York in his closet, upon our usual business. And thence out, and did see many of the Knights of the Garter, with the King and Duke of York, going into the Privychamber, to elect the Elector of Saxony into that Order, who, I did hear the Duke of York say, was a good drinker: I know not upon what score this compliment is done him. Thence with W. Pen, who is in great pain of the gowte, by coach round by Holborne home, he being at every kennel —[?? D.W.]— full of pain. Thence home, and by and by comes my wife and Deb. home, have been at the King’s playhouse to-day, thinking to spy me there; and saw the new play, “Evening Love,” of Dryden’s, which, though the world commends, she likes not. So to supper and talk, and all in good humour, and then to bed, where I slept not well, from my apprehensions of some trouble about some business of Mr. Povy’s he told me of the other day.

24 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

John Evelyn's Diary

19th June, 1668. To a new play with several of my relations, "The Evening Lover,"* a foolish plot, and very profane; it afflicted me to see how the stage was degenerated and polluted by the licentious times.

* There is no play extant with this name ; it may perhaps be a second title to one ; Mr. Evelyn frequently mentions only one name of a play that has two. Or it may be Dryden's comedy of " An Evening's Love, or, The Mock Astrologer," [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_E…'s_Love ] which is indeed sufficiently licentious.

http://is.gd/nPP3F0

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"W. Pen...being at every kennel —[?? D.W.]— full of pain. "

I wonder if Pepys here refers to a hacking cough associated with bronchitis-type contagious disease that affects dogs, esp. in kennels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenn… though why gout might cause this I know not.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“W. Pen…being at every kennel —[?? D.W.]— full of pain.“

L&M Select Glossary says kennel ~ channel < cannaille = a street drainage-gutter.

Perhaps these made the streets uneven to walk on? so adding to gout pain.

jenny  •  Link

Can you imagine bumping in a carriage over every drain whilst suffering from gout? Excrutiating.

Chris Squire  •  Link

‘impostume n.
1. A purulent swelling or cyst in any part of the body; an abscess.
. . 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 440 When the disease was ripe, he lets out the impostume.
. . 1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature 228 Producing sometimes inward Imposthumes . . ‘

‘kennel, n.2 <Later form of cannel n.1 (q.v.); for the vowel, compare ketch, keg, kedge... The surface drain of a street; the gutter: = cannel n.1 2.
. . 1631 Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. (ed. 2) (2nd state) §ciii, A Scavenger working in the Kennel.
1764 T. Harmer Observ. xii. i. 35 Having no kennels in the streets to carry off the water, it was ancle-deep . . ‘

nothing to do with:

‘kennel, n.1 <apparently < Old Northern French *kenil = French chenil...
1. a. A house or cot for the shelter of a house-dog; . . ‘

[OED]

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Hmmn...Unless Bess dreams of going into the convent she once stayed at as a child I can't imagine how going into France would keep one out of all trouble.

I'm amazed she stuck it out at Brampton the whole time, this time. I imagine after enduring John Sr's gimlet eye on her spending and his grim unhappiness with her "natural flirtatiousness"(?) for weeks to please Sam, hearing all day long about his antics from Jane and others was quite too much to bear.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I wonder if Sam will be interested enough to try and uncover who blabbed to Bess about his behavior.

The suspects:

Jane...My personal choice...Her motive, the fire in Barbados triggering old resentments about Wayneman. And she'd know how to do it for maximum effect while seeming innocent out of long experience with the Pepys.

Meg Lowthrer...A possibility...She might have come by and started gabbing a bit too much, perhaps with purpose. Her motive...She wasn't kidding when returning Sam's advances and saying she'd like to be married to him.

Betty Knepp, Betty Pierce...Another possibility...Innocent praise for Sam's "many kindnesses", perhaps a kindly-meant warning from Pierce who seems to find Sam amusing but always manages to hold him at a distance via pregnancy or convenient children.

Will Hewer...Almost certainly the back-up Bess would turn to for corroboration...And perhaps innocent enough to foolishly spill the beans without realizing. Though one never knows what evil lurks in the hearts of boss' wife-besotted chief clerks.

Admiral Sir Will Penn...Assuming he could manage to hobble over with his gout. Unlikely as Sam has the goods on him marital infidelitywise, no doubt.

Sir John Minnes...Probably never realized Bess wsa away.

Mrs. Turner...She'd have inside evidence and would be likely to pay a call on Bess on her return. Hmmn...She's always looking for housing security...And if Sam and Bess broke up with disgrace to Sam...

Mr. Povy...Outside chance...But he'd have motive.

Creed...He'd do it just for the fun of it but I suspect Bess doesn't like him. She never makes Sam nervous regarding him and never is indicated by Sam as seeming to enjoy his company despite his ubiquitous presense in their lives.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"...a new-built house that stood alone in Minchin-lane, over against the Cloth-workers’-hall...burned furiously:"

L&M note newsletters said it was apparently arson, for which a beggar was condemned and hanged in October. It was alleged it was revenge for having been refused alms by the owner of the house, but "many think he was hired to do it."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Interesting side insight into John Locke's polymath interests regarding his role as Cooper's household physician in that cyst operation. I wonder if Sam will seek details.

***
"And thence out, and did see many of the Knights of the Garter, with the King and Duke of York, going into the Privychamber, to elect the Elector of Saxony into that Order, who, I did hear the Duke of York say, was a good drinker: I know not upon what score this compliment is done him." One of the very few jokes James can be said to have made, I'd say...

Georgiana Wickham  •  Link

I like the fact that Pepys's curiosity overtook his care for his gold and papers.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"So we all rose; and my care presently was to secure my gold, and plate, and papers..."

Heaven...

"What?" Sam eyes Bess...

"Oooh...Heaven is a place called France..." she hums, slamming door on him.

"Hewer?...What the devil's?..."

"Sir..."

"Speak up, man for God's sake. Last time she 'went to France', I didn't see her for seventy years. And she's my probation officer here..."

"Sir...Plate, gold, papers? Was there something...Missing?"

"Hewer? Oh, you mean my wall hangings? She was upset I forgot about them?"

"Sir, were you by any chance reincarnated for a while as an American actor named Chad Everett?" Hewer eyes him.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Yesterday I heard how my Lord Ashly is like to die, having some imposthume in his breast, that he hath been fain to be cut into the body."

L&M note the trouble was caused by a cyst on the liver, and an abcess had been removed on 12 June by cautery (a hot knife). For the rest of his life he carried aa silver pipe [a drain?] in the wound. K.H.D. Haley, Shaftesbury, pp. 202+.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the Knights of the Garter, with the King and Duke of York, going into the Privy Chamber, to elect the Elector of Saxony into that Order"

This is as political as it comes! : L&M say John George II of Saxony (d. 1680) was now elected to the place of the late Lord Treasurer, the Earl of Southampton. He was invested at Dresden, Saxony, on 13 Aptil 1669 and installed by proxy two years later; W.A. Shaw, Knights, i. 36. His election was one of the moves made by Arlington to attach the Protestant powers of the Empire and of N. Europe to the anti-French cause. The King of Sweden (already a member of the Protestan Triple Alliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri… ) was elected at the same meeting.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

my wife and Deb... "saw the new play, “Evening Love,” of Dryden’s"

The cast listed in The comedies, tragedies, and operas, written by John Dryden (1701, i. 283) includes Hart as Wildblood, Shatterel as Maskal, Burt as Don Lopez, Nell Gwynn as Donna Jacinhta, and Mrs Knepp as Beatrix. (L&M note)

psw  •  Link

Jenny has it right I know well: the uric acid crystals jammed between bones...any movement or jarring is terrible.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Robert Gertz posted (above): "Interesting side insight into John Locke's polymath interests regarding his role as Cooper's household physician in that cyst operation. I wonder if Sam will seek details." John Locke is not mentioned in the diary; here's the scoop about his medical qualifications and Cooper.

[At Oxford] Locke was introduced to medicine and the experimental philosophy being pursued at other universities and in the Royal Society, of which he eventually became a member.

Locke was awarded a bachelor's degree in February 1656 and a master's degree in June 1658.[16] He obtained a bachelor of medicine in February 1675,[17] having studied medicine extensively during his time at Oxford and worked with such noted scientists and thinkers as Robert Boyle, Thomas Willis, Robert Hooke and Richard Lower. In 1666, he met Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, who had come to Oxford seeking treatment for a liver infection. Ashley was impressed with Locke and persuaded him to become part of his retinue.

Locke had been looking for a career and in 1667 moved into Ashley's home at Exeter House in London, to serve as hIs personal physician. In London, Locke resumed his medical studies under the tutelage of Thomas Sydenham. Sydenham had a major effect on Locke's natural philosophical thinking – an effect that would become evident in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

Locke's medical knowledge was put to the test when Ashley's liver infection became life-threatening. Locke coordinated the advice of several physicians and was probably instrumental in persuading Ashley to undergo surgery (then life-threatening itself) to remove the cyst. Ashley survived and prospered, crediting Locke with saving his life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

'Charles II: June 1668', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1667-8, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1893), pp. 418-468. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

@@@
June 19. 1668
Mews.
Sir Nic. Armorer to Williamson.

Asks him to put in the Gazette that a bay mare belonging to one of his Majesty’s grooms had been stolen out of the Mews.
[S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 185.]

@@@
June 19. 1668
Yarmouth.
Rich. Bower to Williamson.

Trade being open, and the winds fair, light or laden colliers pass through the road every hour, which has brought down the price of coals.

A vessel has arrived from Dunkirk, with several English out of the French service, who have not a penny to help themselves.

A conventicle meeting was held next door to me on Sunday; they met at 5 or 6, and broke up at 10; then at 11, and broke up at 3;
at their breaking up, I told out about 400 from one door, besides what went out at another.
There were several other meetings in the north and south ends of the town at the same time.
[S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 188.]

@@@
June 19. 1668
London.
Sir And. Riccard, governor of the Levant Company, to Mr. Hales and Jo. Hobson, Venice.
(He was a neighbor of the Navy Office)

Requests them to send the company some cloth of gold, viz.: 3 pieces of azems, and 3 pieces of shammces, such as are most fashionable at the Ottoman court, to complete a present which they are making to the Grand Seignior.

They are to be consigned to Thos. Death and Ephraim Skinner, at Leghorn.
[S.P. Foreign, Levant Co. 5, p. 180.]

@@@
[June] 19. 1668 Friday.

Note of the election of the Elector of Saxony as Companion of the Garter;

Sir Thos. Higgins, appointed by the King, and [Sir Thos.] St. George, Somerset Herald, in the room of Sir Edw. Walker, Garter, to perform the usual ceremonies.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 241, No. 191.]

@@@
June 19. 1668
Warrant to pay to Sir Stephen Fox
several sums of money for the pay of the garrisons at Plymouth, Pendennis, Jersey and Guernsey;
1,000l. additional to the Jersey establishment is to be paid to the Earl of St. Albans, for his surrender of the government of Jersey.
[Docquet, Vol. 23, No. 231.]

@@@
June 19. 1668
Chatham.
Col. Thos. Middleton to Sam. Pepys.

The officers of the Royal Oak and 3 other ships think it hard that others should be paid and not they, who are as willing to go to sea.
Pray move his Royal Highness on their behalf.
I am sensible of their condition, knowing the want of money.
[S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 193.]

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

June 19. 1668
Chatham
Col. Middleton to Pepys.

The coming of the great ships is uncertain, as they require a fair wind.

The workmen in the yard will do nothing to purpose, seeing they have wrought themselves almost out of work;
they will not have timber to work with in 8 days;

it is a misery that the King should be at so great a charge, and no service performed for it.
Mr. Pett said that the Board ordered the repair of the St. Peter, and that Sir Wm. Warren desired workmen out of the yard, he paying them for their labour, which I allowed him, having little employment for them, and apprehending that I not only did the King service in it, but the poor men also;

I procured needful timber from Mr. Moorcock.

I want money for paying of pilots;

I mourn that the King cannot enable people to serve him.
The sawyers have all gone off, though they have only 10 days’ pay due;
they should be served as I served the Portsmouth sawyers.

Several workmen in the yard want leave to work abroad 2 or 3 months, returning on command;
I need orders.

A windlass was broken in weighing the Marmaduke.
Nicholls and Moorcock want reparation, and should be encouraged.

The master of attendance asks whether to take the cables and anchors of the ships laid up ashore.
[3 pages. S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 194.]
Encloses,
List of 11 sawyers living at Chatham, and working in the yard there.
[S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 194i.]

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

SAWYER - noun
1. a person who saws timber for a living.
2. US -- an uprooted tree floating in a river but held fast at one end.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

In June 1668 Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, had abdominal surgery to drain a large abscess above his liver.

His case is extraordinary, not just because of the eminence of the patient and the danger of the procedure, but also because so many notable doctors of the day were consulted in the procedure.

The National Archives at Kew has a treasure trove of manuscripts in the Shaftesbury Papers relating to this famous operation. They include case notes in written by philosopher Dr. John Locke, and advice from leading physicians including Francis Glisson, Sir George Ent and Thomas Sydenham.

A 2011 article provides the complete transcriptions and translations of all of these manuscripts, providing the first comprehensive case history.

• Authors: Peter R. Anstey1 and Lawrence M. Principe2
• Source: Early Science and Medicine, Volume 16, Issue 5, pages 379 – 503
• Publication Year : 2011
• DOI: 10.1163/157338211X594759
• ISSN: 1383-7427 E-ISSN: 1573-3823

Sorry ... I have yet to find a free way of reading the article. If you find one, please add the info., as I'd love to see it.

Gerald Berg  •  Link

RG - What about Dad himself? Sticking in the knife for another twist?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"And thence out, and did see many of the Knights of the Garter, with the King and Duke of York, going into the Privychamber, to elect the Elector of Saxony into that Order, who, I did hear the Duke of York say, was a good drinker: I know not upon what score this compliment is done him."

Why the Elector of Saxony?

Wikipedia says:
"Johann George II (1613 – 1680) was the Elector of Saxony from October 1656 to 1680. He belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin.
"In 1657 John George made an arrangement with his three brothers with the object of preventing disputes over their separate territories, and in 1664 he entered into friendly relations with Louis XIV. He received money from the French king, but the existence of a strong anti-French party in Saxony induced him occasionally to respond to the overtures of the emperor Leopold I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…

In 1655, Charles II et al were doing Europe on $5 a day, looking for a safe place to stay:

THE TRAVELS OF THE KING Charles II in Germany and Flanders 1654-1660
BY EVA SCOTT, AUTHOR OF ‘THE KING IN EXILE'
LONDON - ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LIMITED 1907
Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
http://archive.org/stream/travels…

Poverty had already deterred Charles II from sending condolences to the Emperor on the untimely death of his son, the newly elected King of the Romans, and having sent Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and John George, Elector of Saxony, he was obliged to content himself with writing to the other Princes.

This procedure proved less effectual than a personal solicitation. From many no satisfactory answer was received, and although Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Christian-Louis, Duke of Brunswick, and Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg all renewed their promises they made fulfillment conditional on Charles' departure for Scotland. 1
1 Thurloe, ii. pp. 568, 574.

At Aachen, opinion was divided. Some of the train were 'rather content to wander up and down in their present subsisting posture … than have the King to hazard anything.' Others were 'hot to have him go presently,' and he himself declared that he would rather die honorably than 'live in such contemptible calamities.' 2
2 Thurloe, ii. pp. 534, 556.

'Sir, be assured the King will hazard home before he beg his bread abroad,' wrote Sir John Henderson to John Thurloe, Cromwell's Secretary of State. 'For certainly the Emperor and the Princes will contribute no more to him except they see he prove active in his own affairs and employ this he has gotten to some use. Nay, many of them has let him know by their letters that he has spent too much time and suffered good occasions to slip from his hand in affecting (sic) nothing.' 3
3 Thurloe, ii. p. 574.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 2

Sir John Henderson's information, derived from the King's treacherous secretary, Dr. Peter Massonett, clerk of the King's Closet (who was intrusted with the writing of the German and Latin dispatches), was likely to be fairly correct.

It was supplemented by another letter to much the same effect, written from the 'Sign of the Dragon' at Aachen. 'But assure yourself he shall not go to any place without your privitie, if I live and yow furnish me with money,' concluded Thurloe's correspondent. The need of money was emphasized by details proving Aachen to be 'a most expenceful place.' For, asserted the writer, 'I must pay five-pence every night for bed, and half a patacoon a meal, besides washing and extras, and any expenses among the Courtiers with whom I must converse, and horse-hire when I ride. Put all this together and consider what monies I need to follow a wandering Prince.' 4
4 Rawlinson MSS., A. xvii. ff. 176, 177.

Money being furnished, Sir John Henderson was able to 'oblige' Richard “Dick” Harding, Col. Thomas Blague, Col. Daniel O’Neil, and some others 'by an invitation to a tavern' and thus learnt, at a cost of 5/.s, that Charles II was resolved 'to steal away for Scotland, and that Rochester had already gone to Hamburg to arrange the necessary preliminaries.' 1
1 Thurloe, ii. p. 585.

This intelligence was dearly purchased, because Charles II had decided to wait a little longer on events. Instead of going to Scotland, Charles dispatched Col. William Borthwick, Col. Thomas Blague, and Major John Strachan with such supplies as he could muster and letters exhorting Gen. Sir Thomas Middleton, William Cunninghame, Earl of Glencairn, and the other Scottish leaders to sink their differences in the common cause.
All was too late.

BEWARE: These are not exact quotes from the book; I've put in the whole names of the people involved. By doing so I've discovered errors when the authors have assumed it was the father and not the son, etc.

In this case, it all depends on when Rochester arrived in Saxony, as that's the year John George became Elector. That he received The George in 1668 leads me to think John George was either instrumental in persuading his father to be generous, or he was the new Elector and was generous to Charles II at a time of great need.

I've also given a longer quote than necessary. Recently we've seen a letter from Peter Massonet, whom I presume to be the above-mentioned, begging unsuccessfully for a pension. That's why.

We've heard about some adventures of the daughters of Col. Blague at Court.

That's Daniel O'Neill of the post office.

And Henry Wilmot was, of course, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester's heroic father, to whom Charles II was so indebted.

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