"To Westminster; and at the Privy Seal I saw Mr. Coventry’s seal for his being Commissioner with us, at which I know not yet whether to be glad or otherwise."
L&M: William Coventry was to prove Pepys's staunchest ally in the office. Pepys was now influenced perhaps by Carteret's dislike of Coventry: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… . Oe he may have been nervous of some of the effects of Coventry's reforming zeal; see e.g. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
L&M: After the recovery at the Restoration of some of Charles I's works of art, a number of pieces were set up at Hampton Court, although the finest pieces were perhaps reserved for Whitehall. The inventory of Charles II's pictures (c. 1667; see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… ) lists over 200 pictures at Hampton Court, mainly in the Queen's Gallery, the King's Dressing Room, in Paradise and in the King's Gallery. Perhaps the best pictures then in the palace were Mantegna's Triumph of Caesar and Van Dyck's equestrian portrait of the King's father with M. St. Antoine.
"To my Lord’s, who sent a great iron chest to White Hall; and I saw it carried, into the King’s closet, where I saw most incomparable pictures. Among the rest a book open upon a desk, which I durst have sworn was a reall book."
L&M: The King's Closet contained some of the most important and highly prized small pictures in the reconstituted royal collection. The inventory of Charles II's pictures (MS., c. 1667; in the office of the Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures) lists some 160 pictures, drawings and miniatures in this room (nos. 305-465 in the section ff. 18-26 dealing with Whitehall). The illusionist picture is presumably A picture of a book upon the closet door, recorded in James II's collection: Cat. of the collection . . . belonging to King James the Second (1758), p. 12, np. 136. It was later at Kensington Palace, but is not recorded in the inventories of the royal collection after 1714.
"to Hampton Court Mr. Townsend and I walked again. And then met the ladies, and were showed the whole house by Mr. Marriott;"
L&M: Richard Marriott, housekeeper of the palace. Since October 1661 repair work had been in progress, and some new building: CTB, i.296, 320. Pepys kept several prints and drawings of Hampton Court: PL 2972, pp. 209-13.
"after dinner Sir Thos. Crew and I talked together, and among other instances of the simple light discourse that sometimes is in the Parliament House, he told me how in the late business of Chymny money, when all occupiers were to pay, it was questioned whether women were under that name to pay, and somebody rose and said that they were not occupiers, but occupied."
L&M: The Hearth-Tax Bill , made statutory on 19 May, had been sent to a committee of the whole House on 3 March: CJ, viii. 378.
"I walked with my wife to my brother Tom’s; our boy waiting on us with his sword, which this day he begins to wear, to outdo Sir W. Pen’s boy, who this day, and Sir W. Batten’s too, begin to wear new livery; but I do take mine to be the neatest of them all."
L&M: Fashion was too strong for the proclamation of September 1660 which forbade pages, footmen and lackeys to wear swords or weapons in London and Westminster: Steele, no. 3261.
"Mr. Holliard came to me and let me blood, about sixteen ounces, I being exceedingly full of blood and very good."
L&M: This operation (which Pepys had hoped to have on 17 April) was common. Cupping and leeching were used as well as venesection. The aim was to normalise the balance of the body's 'humours'; in Pepys's case, presumably to relieve his kidney condition. The amount of blood was not unusual (anything up to 20 oz. being normal); on 13 July 1668 he had 14 oz. removed. Cf. V. Woodall, Surgeon's Mate (1639), pp. 18-20.
"that Prince Rupert and the Duke of Buckingham are sworn of the Privy Councell"
L&M: Rupert, Buckingham and the Earl of Middleton (Commander-in-Chief and Commissioner to Parliament and Scotland) were admitted to the Council on 28 April: PRO, PC 2/55, p. 618.
"I followed him in the crowd of gallants through the Queen’s lodgings to chappell; the rooms being all rarely furnished, and escaped hardly being set on fire yesterday."
L&M: Lodgings had been prepared for Catherine of Braganza in Government House ('God's House'), residence of the Governor. Charles and his Queen were married there by proxy on 21 May: Mem. Lady Fanshawe (1829), p. 144; Sandwich, p. 139.
"I mean in buying of tallow of him at a low rate for the King, and Tom should have the profit; but he tells me the profit will be considerable, at which I was troubled, but I have agreed with him to serve some in my absence."
'He tells me how my Lady Duchess of Richmond and Castlemaine had a falling out the other day; and she calls the latter Jane Shore"
L&M: Jane Shore (who died c. 1527) was Edward IV's mistress. Popular legend had it that she died in poverty, and that her body was cast on a dunghill: see esp. Deloney's ballad: Percy, Reliques (ed. H. B. Wheatley), ii. 263-73. Lady Castlemaine was often compared to her. One evening in 1664 she was accosted by 'trois gentils-hommes . . . masquez qui luy firent la plus forte et rude reprimande que l'on se puisse imaginer, jusque à luy dire que la quatrièsme maîstresse d'Edouard estoit morte sur un fumier, mesprisée et abandonnée de tout le monde': de Cominges to de Lionne, 22 September/2 October 1664; PRO, PRO 31/3/113, ff. 324-5. Cf. A dialogue between the D[uchess] of C[leveland] and the D[uchess] of P[ortsmouth] at their meeting . . . with the ghost of Jane Shore (1682). Pepys retained in his library a biogtaphy of her: The history of Mrs. Jane Shore (n.d.): PL 362 (ii).
Comments
Second Reading
About Thursday 15 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"But I do not see much thorough joy, but only an indifferent one,"
L&M: Cf. Pepys's similar observation at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Thursday 15 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"To Westminster; and at the Privy Seal I saw Mr. Coventry’s seal for his being Commissioner with us, at which I know not yet whether to be glad or otherwise."
L&M: William Coventry was to prove Pepys's staunchest ally in the office. Pepys was now influenced perhaps by Carteret's dislike of Coventry: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… . Oe he may have been nervous of some of the effects of Coventry's reforming zeal; see e.g. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Tuesday 13 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
'Then to walk to Pauls churchyard, and there evened all reckonings to this day."
L&M: Sc. at Joshua Kirton's the bookseller's.
About Monday 12 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"and many brave pictures."
L&M: After the recovery at the Restoration of some of Charles I's works of art, a number of pieces were set up at Hampton Court, although the finest pieces were perhaps reserved for Whitehall. The inventory of Charles II's pictures (c. 1667; see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… ) lists over 200 pictures at Hampton Court, mainly in the Queen's Gallery, the King's Dressing Room, in Paradise and in the King's Gallery. Perhaps the best pictures then in the palace were Mantegna's Triumph of Caesar and Van Dyck's equestrian portrait of the King's father with M. St. Antoine.
About Wednesday 3 October 1660
Terry Foreman • Link
"To my Lord’s, who sent a great iron chest to White Hall; and I saw it carried, into the King’s closet, where I saw most incomparable pictures. Among the rest a book open upon a desk, which I durst have sworn was a reall book."
L&M: The King's Closet contained some of the most important and highly prized small pictures in the reconstituted royal collection. The inventory of Charles II's pictures (MS., c. 1667; in the office of the Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures) lists some 160 pictures, drawings and miniatures in this room (nos. 305-465 in the section ff. 18-26 dealing with Whitehall). The illusionist picture is presumably A picture of a book upon the closet door, recorded in James II's collection: Cat. of the collection . . . belonging to King James the Second (1758), p. 12, np. 136. It was later at Kensington Palace, but is not recorded in the inventories of the royal collection after 1714.
About Monday 12 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"to Hampton Court Mr. Townsend and I walked again. And then met the ladies, and were showed the whole house by Mr. Marriott;"
L&M: Richard Marriott, housekeeper of the palace. Since October 1661 repair work had been in progress, and some new building: CTB, i.296, 320. Pepys kept several prints and drawings of Hampton Court: PL 2972, pp. 209-13.
About Saturday 10 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"Back to the office and there all afternoon, and in the evening comes Sir G. Carteret, and he and I did hire a ship for Tangier"
L&M: Several ships were now hired for the transport of soldiers and provisions to Tangier and Lisbon: PRO, Adm. 20/3, p. 339.
About Friday 9 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
'This day I paid Godfrey’s debt of 40 and odd pounds. "
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Thursday 8 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"He told me that the Queen and the fleet were in Mount’s Bay on Monday last, and that the Queen endures her sickness pretty well."
L&M: She had been sea-sick: Sandwich, p.132.
About Wednesday 7 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"after dinner Sir Thos. Crew and I talked together, and among other instances of the simple light discourse that sometimes is in the Parliament House, he told me how in the late business of Chymny money, when all occupiers were to pay, it was questioned whether women were under that name to pay, and somebody rose and said that they were not occupiers, but occupied."
L&M: The Hearth-Tax Bill , made statutory on 19 May, had been sent to a committee of the whole House on 3 March: CJ, viii. 378.
About Sunday 4 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"I walked with my wife to my brother Tom’s; our boy waiting on us with his sword, which this day he begins to wear, to outdo Sir W. Pen’s boy, who this day, and Sir W. Batten’s too, begin to wear new livery; but I do take mine to be the neatest of them all."
L&M: Fashion was too strong for the proclamation of September 1660 which forbade pages, footmen and lackeys to wear swords or weapons in London and Westminster: Steele, no. 3261.
About Sunday 4 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"Mr. Holliard came to me and let me blood, about sixteen ounces, I being exceedingly full of blood and very good."
L&M: This operation (which Pepys had hoped to have on 17 April) was common. Cupping and leeching were used as well as venesection. The aim was to normalise the balance of the body's 'humours'; in Pepys's case, presumably to relieve his kidney condition. The amount of blood was not unusual (anything up to 20 oz. being normal); on 13 July 1668 he had 14 oz. removed. Cf. V. Woodall, Surgeon's Mate (1639), pp. 18-20.
About Saturday 3 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"Thence, at the goldsmith’s, took my picture in little,"
L&M: Savill's miniature which had presumably just been framed: cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Saturday 3 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
Updated link to the history of the Royal Menagerie
Surprising animals kept at the Tower of London
https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-l…
About Thursday 1 May 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"that Prince Rupert and the Duke of Buckingham are sworn of the Privy Councell"
L&M: Rupert, Buckingham and the Earl of Middleton (Commander-in-Chief and Commissioner to Parliament and Scotland) were admitted to the Council on 28 April: PRO, PC 2/55, p. 618.
About Wednesday 30 April 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"after dinner walk to Portsmouth, there to pay off the Success"
L&M: A frigate; paid £3076 for 24 June 1660-30 April 1662: PRO, Adm. 20/2, p. 187.
About Sunday 27 April 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"I followed him in the crowd of gallants through the Queen’s lodgings to chappell; the rooms being all rarely furnished, and escaped hardly being set on fire yesterday."
L&M: Lodgings had been prepared for Catherine of Braganza in Government House ('God's House'), residence of the Governor. Charles and his Queen were married there by proxy on 21 May: Mem. Lady Fanshawe (1829), p. 144; Sandwich, p. 139.
About Tuesday 22 April 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"Sir W. Pen and I took coach and so over the bridge to Lambeth, W. Bodham and Tom Hewet going as clerks to Sir W. Pen, and my Will for me."
L&M: Travelling charges forthis trip came to c. £88: PRO, Adm. 20/3, p. 62.
About Monday 21 April 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
"I mean in buying of tallow of him at a low rate for the King, and Tom should have the profit; but he tells me the profit will be considerable, at which I was troubled, but I have agreed with him to serve some in my absence."
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Monday 21 April 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
'He tells me how my Lady Duchess of Richmond and Castlemaine had a falling out the other day; and she calls the latter Jane Shore"
L&M: Jane Shore (who died c. 1527) was Edward IV's mistress. Popular legend had it that she died in poverty, and that her body was cast on a dunghill: see esp. Deloney's ballad: Percy, Reliques (ed. H. B. Wheatley), ii. 263-73. Lady Castlemaine was often compared to her. One evening in 1664 she was accosted by 'trois gentils-hommes . . . masquez qui luy firent la plus forte et rude reprimande que l'on se puisse imaginer, jusque à luy dire que la quatrièsme maîstresse d'Edouard estoit morte sur un fumier, mesprisée et abandonnée de tout le monde': de Cominges to de Lionne, 22 September/2 October 1664; PRO, PRO 31/3/113, ff. 324-5. Cf. A dialogue between the D[uchess] of C[leveland] and the D[uchess] of P[ortsmouth] at their meeting . . . with the ghost of Jane Shore (1682). Pepys retained in his library a biogtaphy of her: The history of Mrs. Jane Shore (n.d.): PL 362 (ii).