Sasha Clarkson

Annotations and comments

Sasha Clarkson has posted 752 annotations/comments since 16 February 2013.

Comments

Second Reading

About Wednesday 8 February 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Povey's family interests interests were in the West Indies plantations, hence slaves and, presumably, sugar and perhaps rum. My guess is that the profitability of this trade was such that one did not need precise accounting to become rich.

In Stuart times, taxation was haphazard, and income tax unheard of, so precise recording of disbursements and balancing the books only became an issue in public affairs, and/or when expenditure was likely to exceed income. Hence Povey's private success is not incompatible with his public failure.

About Sunday 5 February 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"1st mention of Will Hewer for a while"

At the moment, Hewer is an almost invisible (to us) presence in Sam's life. But I imagine that he is there in the office every day, working as Sam's PA. However, this is the Sabbath, so that, and Sam's concerns about getting behind with the work, warrants Will a special mention.

About Friday 3 February 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

In the wonderful film, Les Enfants du Paradis, one of the principal characters, Pierre François Lacenaire (based upon the real life criminal in the July monarchy), makes his living by writing letters for people, as well as robbery and murder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie…

The whole film is on YouTube at the moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m…

If you don't want to watch it all, the most famous scene is below - well worth four minutes of anybofy's time :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0…

Back to the mundane: in modern Britain, Jane might have paid a lawyer to write a "solicitor's letter" to try and extract her back wages from Sam.

About Saturday 21 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I don't think Pepys regards Povey as an enemy: both are now James' men. It's obvious that, whatever frustrations Sam commits to the diary, he and Povey maintain a cordial relationship, and Sam does what he can to help Povey sort out his mess, without appearing an accomplice to it.

It also seems that Povey is very much persona-grata in the Royal Household. It says in Wikipedia that Povey was "neutral enough in his politics" during the Interregnum to be given office under Charles II. I suspect that there's something more to it than this. I would speculate that, perhaps, Povey helped support James & Charles financially when they were in exile, and was granted favours as a reward. As a merchant, it would have been easier for him to arrange monies to be paid abroad than by merely sending cash, which would have been more dangerous.

About Thursday 19 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Administration improved under Cromwell, because the Commonwealth/Protectorate regime was innately more meritocratic. Some of this regime were turned out, but others were retained. Pepys was a new man, but was prepared to learn from Protecorate officials such as Blackborne, Will Hewer's uncle.

Povy on the other hand, was of an older generation, doing well enough in his own business, and perhaps too stick-in-the-mud for the new times. The Restoration was a change of bosses, but it certainly didn't turn the clock back.

About Thursday 19 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Povey is one of the more difficult and contradictory characters to assess in Pepys' diary, but I agree with Sarah. We know that he is a wealthy merchant/plantation/slave-owner, and the encyclopaedia entry suggests that he is intelligent and successful in his own field, so why does his public career seem beset by incompetence?

Perhaps he didn't have the patience to comply with the bureaucratic requirements of public accountability, nor the temper to play the associated political games?

About Tuesday 17 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The clerks might be responsible for enabling Pepys to shine, but I doubt that the aristocratic Carteret spends enough time in the office to contribute.

My take on this is completely different: Pepys is ambivalent about the Battens, and secretly likes visiting them, but Elizabeth hates Lady B because of their old pecking order dispute. Hence Pepys has to side with his missus and keep his distance.

About Wednesday 18 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

I think a bit too much has been mad of Creed's alleged "lack of family connections".

Like the senior branches of the Pepyses, the Creeds were landowners, and therefore mixed with the other members of the landowning classes. In the area around Northamptonshire area, this would have included various branches of the Mountague family. That, and Creed's involvement with with the Protectorate administration, (Creed seems to have been a little older than Pepys), is likely to be how Creed came to Sandwich's attention to begin with.

However, it seems that the Creed family was more fervently Puritan than the Mountagues and Pepyses, and had connections to the regicide Maj. Gen. Harrison. Hence their position might have been somewhat more precarious after the restoration. Therefore John Creed clung to Sandwich like a lifeline, and Sandwich tolerated it and made use of him. There was a broad class solidarity cemented, I imagine, by too many dark secrets.

About Sunday 15 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

It's quite fascinating that men who already had multiple titles were often greedy for more.
Of course, better titles like Earl, Marquess and Duke put you higher in the *formal* pecking order, even if you weren't currently in favour.

About Sunday 15 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Morning Sarah (for you, anyway :) ).

It was not uncommon for people to continue to be known informally by surnames/old/courtesy titles after succeeding to the main title, or being awarded another.

To this day, we think of 'Lady Castlemaine', rather than 'The Duchess of Cleveland', 'Walpole', rather than 'The Earl of Orford', 'Disraeli' and not the 'Earl of Beaconsfield', 'Lord Hartington', rather than 8th Duke of Devonshire, etc.

About Thursday 12 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Re easterly/westerly: it's an easy matter to get wrong, if Sam did so, because an easterly wind blows west, and a westerly wind blows east ...

A westerly wind blowing easterly would, of course, take the Dutch fleet back home :)

About Lady Elizabeth Batten

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Despite a very good start to their relationship, it seems that Lady Batten and Bess fell out because Bess didn't want to take a socially subordinate position. The first hint of a problem in the diary was on Easter Day 1662, when Sam & Bess tried to get round the natural precedence of the pews in church.

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

From then on, the relationship deteriorated, including complaints to Pepys about Bess' servants, and Sam formally notes on 31st December 1662 that they make themselves "a little strange" to "Lady Batten and hers"

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

Bess' family regards itself as aristocratic, though fallen on hard times. The Battens have humbler origins, but Lady B has precedence over Bess in formal occasions, including church,, because of her husband's title. The sticking point for Bess was possibly the inclusion of Lady Batten's daughter in this precedence.

Whatever the causes, in 10th March 1663, the dispute broke out into open warfare, in which the following day Pepys "doubted", ie feared/suspected, "my wife was to blame".

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

I regard the problems between them as an escalated pecking order dispute between the two ladies which Bess could not win, and which damaged the relationship between their husbands. I also think that Sam made a strategic mistake by encouraging/humouring Bess in these games. The Battens remained remarkably cordial to him under the circumstances - especially when Bess was away, as the example below illustrates.

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

About Saturday 7 January 1664/65

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The fall-out with Lady Batten happened because, despite a good start to their relationship, Bess didn't want to take a socially subordinate position. The first hint of a problem in the diary was on Easter Day 1662, when Sam & Bess tried to get round the natural precedence of the pews in church.

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

From then on, the relationship deteriorated, including complaints to Pepys about Bess' servants, and Sam formally notes on 31st December 1662 that they make themselves "a little strange" to "Lady Batten and hers"

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

Bess' family regards itself as aristocratic, though fallen on hard times. The Battens have humbler origins, but Lady B has precedence over Bess in formal occasions, including church,, because of her husband's title. The sticking point for Bess was possibly the inclusion of Lady Batten's daughter in this precedence.

Whatever the causes, in 10th March 1663, the dispute broke out into open warfare, in which the following day Pepys "doubted", ie feared/suspected, "my wife was to blame".

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

I regard the problems between them as an escalated pecking order dispute between the two ladies which Bess could not win, and which damaged the relationship between their husbands. I also think that Sam made a strategic mistake by encouraging/humouring Bess in these games. The Battens remained remarkably cordial to him under the circumstances.

Anyway, today, with Bess hungover (possibly) and in bed, Sam is more free to keep the social wheels turning perhaps.