Sunday 22 March 1667/68
(Easter day). I up, and walked to the Temple, and there got a coach, and to White Hall, where spoke with several people, and find by all that Pen is to go to sea this year with this fleete; and they excuse the Prince’s going, by saying it is not a command great enough for him. Here I met with Brisband, and, after hearing the service at the King’s chapel, where I heard the Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Reynolds, the old presbyterian, begin a very plain sermon, he and I to the Queen’s chapel, and there did hear the Italians sing; and indeed their musick did appear most admirable to me, beyond anything of ours: I was never so well satisfied in my life with it. So back to White Hall, and there met Mr. Pierce, and adjusted together how we should spend to-morrow together, and so by coach I home to dinner, where Kate Joyce was, as I invited her, and had a good dinner, only she and us; and after dinner she and I alone to talk about her business, as I designed; and I find her very discreet, and she assures me she neither do nor will incline to the doing anything towards marriage, without my advice, and did tell me that she had many offers, and that Harman and his friends would fain have her; but he is poor, and hath poor friends, and so it will not be advisable: but that there is another, a tobacconist, one Holinshed, whom she speaks well of, to be a plain, sober man, and in good condition, that offers her very well, and submits to me my examining and inquiring after it, if I see good, which I do like of it, for it will be best for her to marry, I think, as soon as she can — at least, to be rid of this house; for the trade will not agree with a young widow, that is a little handsome, at least ordinary people think her so. Being well satisfied with her answer, she anon went away, and I to my closet to make a few more experiments of my notions in musique, and so then my wife and I to walk in the garden, and then home to supper and to bed.
17 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Orrery to the Archbishop of Dublin
Written from: Charleville
Date: 22 March 1668
Sends a letter addressed to the Duke of Ormond, by which the Archbishop may guess (at least in part) the contents of the Duke's letter to the writer. ...
The Archbishop may be sure that the writer will not disserve him to whom he has promised service. ... "I believed", adds the writer, "my father [Richard, Earl of Cork] got a great estate very well, yet I was certain of it, after it had passed my Lord Strafford's [ http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… ] inquiry; so though my Lord Lieutenant [Ormond] is pleased not to believe the suggestions of my enemies, yet he would be certain they are false, when I have passed the trial I passionately desire to undergo." ...
Adds some particulars relating to Limerick ... and to a proposal of marriage between a son of Lord Shannon and a daughter of the Archbishop ... of which proposal he says, "the main objections are still in force, & not to be removed by him [Shannon]". ...
http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwm…
Carl in Boston • Link
Being well satisfied with her answer, she anon went away
Forsooth, and what an example of wise advice to a young widow. She was very lucky to have such an advisor.
Terry Foreman • Link
"I heard the Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Reynolds, the old presbyterian, begin a very plain sermon"
L&M note Reynolds was the only moderate Presbyterian to accept a bishopric in 1661. As a preacher he was given to excessive quotation [a safe thing to do]. The sermon he preached on this occasion (on Hebrews 13:20-21: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.") was published.
Michael Robinson • Link
" ...where I heard the Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Reynolds, the old presbyterian, begin a very plain sermon, ..."
[Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676]
A sermon preached before the King at White-Hall, on March 22. 1667. being Easter-day. By Edward Lord Bishop of Norwich. Published by His Majesties command.
London : Printed by Thomas Ratcliffe and are to be sold by Robert Pawlett, at the Bible in Chancery Lane, 1668.
4to., [4], 34 p.
Wing (CD-Rom, 1996), R1283
Another issue:
London : printed by Thomas Ratcliffe, and are to be sold by Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little-Brittain, 1668.
Title page is a cancel. First leaf is blank and conjugate to cancel
No copy of either issue in the PL.
Spoiler -- SP did retain, given the title perhaps as an example of the triumph of hope over experience:
Self-deniall: opened and applied in a sermon before the reverend Assembly of Divines: on a day of their private humiliation. By Edward Reynoldes, minister of the Word of God at Braunston in Northamptonshire, and a member of that Assembly. Published by authority.
London : printed for Robert Bostock, dwelling at the signe of the Kings head in Pauls Church-yard, 1646 [i.e. 1645]
4to., [4], 47, [1] p.
Wing (CD-Rom, 1996), R1278
Sermon on Matthew 16 v 24:
AV (1611): Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Geneva (1599): Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
[Sermons Polemical VI] PL 1184.20
Terry Foreman • Link
Michael, thanks for the bibliography and the reminder.
It's easy to forget the enormous importance published sermons had to many readers. Pepys mentions in the Diary buying a wide range of books, but fewer pamphlets and sermons by percentage than were on the popular market at the time and thereafter and still.
http://www.google.com/search?q=re…
Mary • Link
"a young widow that is a little handsome, at least ordinary people think her so."
Though of course no-one, Sam implies, could mistake her for a woman of breeding and consequence - but she has some appeal for the lower sort.
Robert Gertz • Link
"...a young widow, that is a little handsome, at least ordinary people think her so..."
If she were not a relative, she'd be right up Sam's back alley, given his caution in approaching women above a certain social level, certainly she'd be a fitting companion to Mrs. Burroughs.
Barry P. Reich • Link
Query: has SP expressed his favor for Italian music over English at any previous point?
Mary • Link
Barry.
Try using the Search box (top right-hand side of the page).
Terry Foreman • Link
Charles R's taste shifted after 1666 to favor the Italian rather than the French musical style and the King's Musick and the theatrical music changed accordingly. ( Search the L&M Companion for "Music" http://is.gd/vAWpfg )
Pepys followed suit.
Paul Chapin • Link
Actually, Barry, the opposite. SP declared at one point that Italian music could never sound as good to an Englishman as English music. I commented at the time that there was a reason why Monteverdi is still treasured while the English musical hotshots of Pepys' time are mostly forgotten. But Sam does keep up with the current fashion, as Terry says.
Michael Robinson • Link
@ Barry P. Reich Query: has SP expressed his favor for Italian music over English at any previous point?
I think one can see the shift occurring over the past months, here are SP's two prior references to Mrs. Manuel's singing:
August 12 1667
"to Mrs. Manuel’s, the Jew’s wife, formerly a player, who we heard sing with one of the Italians that was there; and, indeed, she sings mightily well; and just after the Italian manner, but yet do not please me like one of Mrs. Knepp’s songs, to a good English tune, the manner of their ayre not pleasing me so well as the fashion of our own, nor so natural."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
December 30th. 1667:
" ... and then with her to Mrs. Manuel’s, where Mrs. Pierce was, and her boy and girl; and here I did hear Mrs. Manuel and one of the Italians, her gallant, sing well. But yet I confess I am not delighted so much with it, as to admire it: for, not understanding the words, I lose the benefit of the vocalitys of the musick, and it proves only instrumental; and therefore was more pleased to hear Knepp sing two or three little English things that I understood, though the composition of the other, and performance, was very fine."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Second Reading
Marquess • Link
Sensible Kate Joyce, I wonder if she ever did find a good match?
San Diego Sarah • Link
March 22. 1668
Pendennis.
Fras. Bellott to Williamson.
The Dover pink, arrived from Nantes with wine and brandy,
reports that the French fleet of 100 sail was nearly ready to set to sea,
and that De Beaufort came down the river with 20 sail, laden with ammunition and provisions for the fleet.
Four or five Dutchmen, come in from Bordeaux, confirm the number of the French fleet, &c.
Several other vessels have arrived from the Canaries;
also the Antelope from Sir Thos. Allin.
Sir Edw. Spragg's mainmast is spent.
The fleet is cruising on the coast, and is often in sight.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 237, No. 37.]
The dogs of war appear to be gathering.
'Charles II: March 1668', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1667-8, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1893), pp. 262-320. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Eric the Bish • Link
As a clergyman it is salutary to read SP’s brief summaries of various sermons “A dull sermon“, “A very good sermon”, “A poor sermon”, “An able sermon” et cetera. It would be interesting to know how he judged which category to place each meticulously prepared and carefully crafted masterpiece into. I fear his judgement on my own!
It’s also discouraging, for a preacher, to notice that few, if any, of these sermons seem to do much good, at least as far as our hero is concerned! Perhaps in this pre-mass-media age they are no more consequential than the drone of the television in the background of a busy family living room. Samuel seems to think a good tune is preferable to almost any sermon at all.
Gerald Berg • Link
I assume Sam's Italian preference was WRT church music and not secular music. Not being familiar with Anglican service and as no famous English Mass comes to my mind (pace Britten), that may be what he heard? An RC Mass really knows how to pull out the stops (by comparison) is my supposition.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"It would be interesting to know how he judged which category to place each meticulously prepared and carefully crafted masterpiece into."
This was a time of revolutionary change. The establishment had turned the church into a political hammer on anyone who could think and question, both of which Pepys could do.
Any spiritual message for change was outlawed. Pepys could have gone with Hewer to hear inspirational speakers, but chose not to risk possible financial loss, imprisonment and mutilation for doing so.
Pepys probably judged these establishment, politically correct, conservative sermons on presentation, logic and argument. But yes, they were of little consequence.
"Perhaps in this pre-mass-media age they are no more consequential than the drone of the television in the background of a busy family living room."
The message of a Loving God was belied by the last 30 years of pain, famine, death and cruelty, so establishment sermons probably fell on cynical ears. I think my WWII parents felt the same way.
"Samuel seems to think a good tune is preferable to almost any sermon at all."
Tomorrow you'll find out that he has gone to Whitehall two days in a row to hear a sermon from someone he respects, so he is still on his spiritual quest within the establishment confines.
During the last 30 years, many of the most capable leaders and eloquent preachers had been killed ... or emigrated to North America ... or are being officially silenced by the 5-mile Clarendon Code requirement. So there weren't many establishment preachers left who could satisfy Pepys' educated soul.
But as you observe, his soul was fed almost daily by music.
Purcell is now 10; Vivaldi will be born in another 10 years; and Handel 20 years after that. Pepys and his generation must tame the trumpet, create what will become the piano, and replace all the organs the Puritans ripped out so the composers have the instruments with which to create masterpieces.
St. Olave's current organ arrived in the 1740's. I wonder why Pepys wasn't in their orchestra or choir? There were years he could have made the rehearsals. But then he would have had to sit through more of the dull Scot's efforts.
"I fear his judgement on my own!"
Don't. Your challenges are very different to those of the 17th century. Today is also a time of great change, but you can challenge the establishment which no longer supposedly has its official foot on your neck. So prove your independence.
Love and hope spring eternal. Open the doors wide, let the organ thunder, dig deep, be relevant, let your spirit sour, and testify to what you genuinely believe. Can't fail. People always respond to the truth, and there is much for us all to reexamine, some left over and virtually ignored since Pepys' times.
Do that in Charles II's time, and be fired. Ten years from now he'll execute an Archbishop rather than admit some inconvenient truths.