"I am this day made a Captain of one of the King’s ships, Mr. Wren having this day sent me, the Duke of York’s commission to be Captain of “The Jerzy,” in order to my being of a Court-martiall for examining the loss of “The Defyance,” and other things."
L&M: Pepys (together with Middleton) acted as expert assesors, not as full members of the court. Court-martials were governed bat this time bt an act of 1661 (13 Car. II, c. 9). For the trial , see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… The Defiance was a 3rd-rate which had been destroyed by afire at Chatham in the previous December : CSPD 1668-9, p. 91. The trial had been ordered shotly afterwards (Penn, ii. 520-1), but the warrant constituting the court was not issued until 10 March: NMMM, MS . M.14.
"a chapter in my Lord Coke about perjury, wherein I did learn a good deal touching oaths,"
L&M: Pepys was particularly interested in the oaths taken by the Commissioners of the Navy, with a view tohis report to the constitution of the office: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
"our paper, which was in a letter to the Duke of York, "
L&M: The letter, dated 17 April was bound together with three other pièces justificatives besides the Duke's Instructions of 1662: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… In a memorandum of 3 May, which Pepys attached to the office-copy, he refers to this meeting as one of the King and Cabinet, which Ashley and Clifford attended in order to deal with the question of supply for the navy. The letter was in substance a defence of the existing constitution of the Navy Board, and argued that it combined the virtues of government by commission in which all or most officers had general duties, with those of governance by specialis officers with specific duties. The Board had both types of member. The office-copy of the letter (in Gibson's hand)is in NMM , LBK/8, pp. 589-93; etc.
"he carried me to Nott’s, the famous bookbinder, that bound for my Lord Chancellor’s library; and here I did take occasion for curiosity to bespeak a book to be bound, only that I might have one of his binding."
L&M: Mr. H.M.Nixon writes: 'This is almost certainly R. Doleman [Robert Parsons], A conference about the next succession ti the crown of Inhland (1594); PL 538. The binder was William Nott.
"We walked down to the Stone Walk, which is called, it seems, my Lord of Northumberland’s walk, being paved by some one of that title, that was prisoner there: and at the end of it, there is a piece of iron upon the wall, with, his armes upon it, and holes to put in a peg, for every turn that they make upon that walk."
L&M: The 9th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1632) was imprisoned in the Tower, 1605-21, on suspicion of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. The walk named after him still rxists (though the piece of iron has disappeared), and runs from Martin Tower, where he lived in some state, to Brick Tower. See G. R. Bathe in Hist. Today, 6,z/344+.
"Sir W. Coventry ... tells me that he hears that the Commission is gone down to the King, with a blank to fill, for his place in the Treasury: and he believes it will be filled with one of our Treasurers of the Navy, but which he knows not, but he believes it will be Osborne."
L&M: The appointment of Osbirne had been scotched by Arlington, who feared an increase in Buckingham's interest. : Danby, i. 67.
"silliness of the King, playing with his dog all the while, or his codpiece, and not minding the business"
Keenly spotted, Brian (L&M, 421). .
This is one of many passages that were not transcribed for the Henry B. Wheatley edition. Elsewhere in that edition Pepys does show his take on codpieces, that are, as San Diego Sarah sats, outdated in his time.
1662, September 24th. Sir J. Minnes, Sir W. Batten, and I, going forth toward White Hall, we hear that the King and Duke are come this morning to the Tower to see the Dunkirk money! So we by coach to them, and there went up and down all the magazines with them; but methought it was but poor discourse and frothy that the King’s companions (young Killigrew among the rest) about the codpieces of some of the men in armour there to be seen, had with him. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42…
"And so to the Privy Seal Office, to examine what records I could find there, for my help in the great business I am put upon, of defending the present constitution of the Navy"
"our paper, which was in a letter to the Duke of York, "
L&M: The letter, dated 17 April was bound together with three other pièces justificatives besides the Duke's Instructions of 1662 (q.v. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
"So the play was ruined for Sam because some of the women kept having to pull out scripts to read their lines. It doesn't even sound like they were being prompted, which would have been bad enough." -- Captain Cavemen posts.
There were prompters in the major public Restoration theatres. The most famous is John Downes, whose Roscius Anglicanus -- a history of the Restoration stage --left us an invaluable record of the actors and the parts they played: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…
" He tells me of his being weary of the Treasury, and of the folly, ambition, and desire of popularity of Sir Thomas Clifford; and yet the rudeness of his tongue and passions when angry."
L&M: This was not far from being the general opinion of Clifford, thouogh not all would have agreed he was foolish: cf, C. H. Hartmann, Clifford of the Cabal, pp. 305+;. Even Evelyn, who admored hi, wrote of him as 'bold', 'ambitious', and 'Passionate': iii, 470, iv. 20.
"...that [Sir W. Coventry] is offended with, is his being made so contemptible, as that any should dare to make a gentleman a subject for the mirth of the world: and that therefore he had told Tom Killigrew that he should tell his actors, whoever they were, that did offer at any thing like representing him, that he would not complain to my Lord Chamberlain, which was too weak, nor get him beaten, as Sir Charles Sidly is said to do"
"A shame there isn't more here. Can you add to it?"
Actually the link leads to the transcript of the trial of Henry Brouncker, who is said during the Battle of Lowestoft to have claimed he had an order from the Duke of York to slacken sail. "His action in giving an unauthorized order to slacken sail after the battle of Lowestoft led to his impeachment and flight to France." (L&M Companion)
"So, meeting with my Lord Bellassis, he told me the particulars of this matter; that it arises about a quarrel which Sir W. Coventry had with the Duke of Buckingham about a design between the Duke and Sir Robert Howard, to bring him into a play at the King’s house"
"wherein they foolishly and sillily bring in two tables like that which he hath made, with a round hole in the middle, in his closet, to turn himself in; and he is to be in one of them as master, and Sir J. Duncomb in the other, as his man or imitator: and their discourse in those tables, about the disposing of their books and papers, very foolish."
L&M: In a scene contributed by Buckingham to Act III Sir Cautious Trouble-all (Coventry) demonstrates the use of his table to Sir Gravity Empty (Sir John Duncomb) , showing how he opens it, sits on a swivel-stool in the middle, and consults papers about various parts of the world arranged on the periphery of the table. Pepys has a reference to the table at 4 July 1668: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Comments
Second Reading
About Saturday 13 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"I am this day made a Captain of one of the King’s ships, Mr. Wren having this day sent me, the Duke of York’s commission to be Captain of “The Jerzy,” in order to my being of a Court-martiall for examining the loss of “The Defyance,” and other things."
L&M: Pepys (together with Middleton) acted as expert assesors, not as full members of the court. Court-martials were governed bat this time bt an act of 1661 (13 Car. II, c. 9). For the trial , see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
The Defiance was a 3rd-rate which had been destroyed by afire at Chatham in the previous December : CSPD 1668-9, p. 91. The trial had been ordered shotly afterwards (Penn, ii. 520-1), but the warrant constituting the court was not issued until 10 March: NMMM, MS . M.14.
About Friday 12 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"a chapter in my Lord Coke about perjury, wherein I did learn a good deal touching oaths,"
L&M: Pepys was particularly interested in the oaths taken by the Commissioners of the Navy, with a view tohis report to the constitution of the office: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Sunday 18 April 1669
Terry Foreman • Link
"our paper, which was in a letter to the Duke of York, "
L&M: The letter, dated 17 April was bound together with three other pièces justificatives besides the Duke's Instructions of 1662: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
In a memorandum of 3 May, which Pepys attached to the office-copy, he refers to this meeting as one of the King and Cabinet, which Ashley and Clifford attended in order to deal with the question of supply for the navy. The letter was in substance a defence of the existing constitution of the Navy Board, and argued that it combined the virtues of government by commission in which all or most officers had general duties, with those of governance by specialis officers with specific duties. The Board had both types of member. The office-copy of the letter (in Gibson's hand)is in NMM , LBK/8, pp. 589-93; etc.
About Friday 12 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"he carried me to Nott’s, the famous bookbinder, that bound for my Lord Chancellor’s library; and here I did take occasion for curiosity to bespeak a book to be bound, only that I might have one of his binding."
L&M: Mr. H.M.Nixon writes: 'This is almost certainly R. Doleman [Robert Parsons], A conference about the next succession ti the crown of Inhland (1594); PL 538. The binder was William Nott.
About Thursday 11 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"We walked down to the Stone Walk, which is called, it seems, my Lord of Northumberland’s walk, being paved by some one of that title, that was prisoner there: and at the end of it, there is a piece of iron upon the wall, with, his armes upon it, and holes to put in a peg, for every turn that they make upon that walk."
L&M: The 9th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1632) was imprisoned in the Tower, 1605-21, on suspicion of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. The walk named after him still rxists (though the piece of iron has disappeared), and runs from Martin Tower, where he lived in some state, to Brick Tower. See G. R. Bathe in Hist. Today, 6,z/344+.
About Thursday 11 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"Sir W. Coventry ... tells me that he hears that the Commission is gone down to the King, with a blank to fill, for his place in the Treasury: and he believes it will be filled with one of our Treasurers of the Navy, but which he knows not, but he believes it will be Osborne."
L&M: The appointment of Osbirne had been scotched by Arlington, who feared an increase in Buckingham's interest. : Danby, i. 67.
About Saturday 14 July 1660
Terry Foreman • Link
Pepys History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
https://www.houseofnames.com/pepy…
About Wednesday 4 September 1667
Terry Foreman • Link
"silliness of the King, playing with his dog all the while, or his codpiece, and not minding the business"
Keenly spotted, Brian (L&M, 421). .
This is one of many passages that were not transcribed for the Henry B. Wheatley edition. Elsewhere in that edition Pepys does show his take on codpieces, that are, as San Diego Sarah sats, outdated in his time.
1662, September 24th. Sir J. Minnes, Sir W. Batten, and I, going forth toward White Hall, we hear that the King and Duke are come this morning to the Tower to see the Dunkirk money! So we by coach to them, and there went up and down all the magazines with them; but methought it was but poor discourse and frothy that the King’s companions (young Killigrew among the rest) about the codpieces of some of the men in armour there to be seen, had with him. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42…
Cp. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Monday 8 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"And so to the Privy Seal Office, to examine what records I could find there, for my help in the great business I am put upon, of defending the present constitution of the Navy"
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Sunday 18 April 1669
Terry Foreman • Link
"our paper, which was in a letter to the Duke of York, "
L&M: The letter, dated 17 April was bound together with three other pièces justificatives besides the Duke's Instructions of 1662
(q.v. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Tuesday 8 January 1660/61
Terry Foreman • Link
"So the play was ruined for Sam because some of the women kept having to pull out scripts to read their lines. It doesn't even sound like they were being prompted, which would have been bad enough." -- Captain Cavemen posts.
There were prompters in the major public Restoration theatres. The most famous is John Downes, whose Roscius Anglicanus -- a history of the Restoration stage --left us an invaluable record of the actors and the parts they played: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh…
About Tuesday 8 January 1660/61
Terry Foreman • Link
"Being up, Mr. Warren came, and he and I agreed for the deals that my Lord is to, have."
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Thursday 31 May 1666
Terry Foreman • Link
The link above now goes to Super Mario Bros. Try https://www.amazon.com/Growth-Res…
Ch 5 is The Breakdown of the Balance of Government (1660-1674)
About Sunday 7 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"I to White Hall, and there hear that there are letters come from Sir Thomas Allen, that he hath made some kind of peace with Algiers"
L&M: Allin to Williamson, Algiers, 2 February: CSPD 1668-9, pp. 179-81. For the agreement (2/12 February), see Allin, ii. 227; for the occasion of it, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Saturday 6 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
" He tells me of his being weary of the Treasury, and of the folly, ambition, and desire of popularity of Sir Thomas Clifford; and yet the rudeness of his tongue and passions when angry."
L&M: This was not far from being the general opinion of Clifford, thouogh not all would have agreed he was foolish: cf, C. H. Hartmann, Clifford of the Cabal, pp. 305+;. Even Evelyn, who admored hi, wrote of him as 'bold', 'ambitious', and 'Passionate': iii, 470, iv. 20.
About Saturday 6 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"...that [Sir W. Coventry] is offended with, is his being made so contemptible, as that any should dare to make a gentleman a subject for the mirth of the world: and that therefore he had told Tom Killigrew that he should tell his actors, whoever they were, that did offer at any thing like representing him, that he would not complain to my Lord Chamberlain, which was too weak, nor get him beaten, as Sir Charles Sidly is said to do"
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 5 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"A shame there isn't more here. Can you add to it?"
Actually the link leads to the transcript of the trial of Henry Brouncker, who is said during the Battle of Lowestoft to have claimed he had an order from the Duke of York to slacken sail. "His action in giving an unauthorized order to slacken sail after the battle of Lowestoft led to his impeachment and flight to France." (L&M Companion)
About Thursday 4 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"I did meet Sir Jeremy Smith, who did tell me that Sir W. Coventry was just now sent to the Tower, "
L&M: The challenge [to a duel] had been construed as a felony: see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Thursday 4 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"So, meeting with my Lord Bellassis, he told me the particulars of this matter; that it arises about a quarrel which Sir W. Coventry had with the Duke of Buckingham about a design between the Duke and Sir Robert Howard, to bring him into a play at the King’s house"
L&M: For the play, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Saturday 6 March 1668/69
Terry Foreman • Link
"wherein they foolishly and sillily bring in two tables like that which he hath made, with a round hole in the middle, in his closet, to turn himself in; and he is to be in one of them as master, and Sir J. Duncomb in the other, as his man or imitator: and their discourse in those tables, about the disposing of their books and papers, very foolish."
L&M: In a scene contributed by Buckingham to Act III Sir Cautious Trouble-all (Coventry) demonstrates the use of his table to Sir Gravity Empty (Sir John Duncomb) , showing how he opens it, sits on a swivel-stool in the middle, and consults papers about various parts of the world arranged on the periphery of the table. Pepys has a reference to the table at 4 July 1668: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…