"The Duke of Buckingham is absolutely against their meeting, as moved thereto by his people that he advises with, the people of the late times, who do never expect to have any thing done by this Parliament for their religion, and who do propose that, by the sale of the Church-lands, they shall be able to put the King out of debt: "
"and, moreover, did offer a paper to the Lords to read from the Town, sent in 1648; but the Lords would not read it; but I believe it was something about bringing the King to trial, or some such thing, in that year."
L&M: A petition from the mayor and corporation, presented to parliament on 10 October 1648, 'requiring speedy and impartial justice to be done upon the greatest offenders and incindiaries': https://www.british-history.ac.uk… ; cf. Roger Howell, Newcastle and the Puritan Rebellion, p. 203 and n. 2.
"But I was troubled, and so were the Lords, to hear my Lord fly out against their great pretence of merit from the King, for their sufferings and loyalty; telling them that they might thank him for that repute which they have for their loyalty, for that it was he that forced them to be so, against their wills, when he was there:"
L&M: Gerard had been an active royalist commander in the Civil War but there is no evidence he held a military commend, or any post of authority in Newcastle. It is possible that he was referring to the events of 1640 when he served in the war against the Scots. But he was then only a captain.
"heard an excellent case argued between my Lord Gerard and the Town of Newcastle, about a piece of ground which that Lord hath got a grant of, under the Exchequer Seal, which they were endeavouring to get of the King under the Great Seal."
L&M: See CTB, ii. 483-4 (official minute). The castle and its precincts ('Castle Farth') had been leased by the King in 1664 to Gerard who had been nominated Constable of the city. The corporation (owners of the property, 1652-60, and now Crown tenants) eventually obtained the reversion in 1685: Eneas MacKenzie, Newcastle-upon Tyne (1827), p. 94.
"and Mr. Wayth, who, being at my office about business, I took him with me to talk and understand his matters, who is in mighty trouble from the Committee of Accounts about his contracting with this Office for sayle-cloth"
L&M: Robert Waith was paymaster to the Navy Treasurer and, like all officials, was forbidden to trade with the office. Several of his contracts are in CSPD 1663-4, pp. 132, 134, 135.
" so to the Office, where, by a speciall desire, the new Treasurers come, and there did shew their Patent, and the Great Seal for the suspension of my Lord Anglesey: and here did sit and discourse of the business of the Office: and brought Mr. Hutchinson with them, who, I hear, is to be their Paymaster, in the room of Mr. Waith."
L&M: Richard Hutchinson had been Treasurer of the Navy, 1651-60. Waith continued in office jointly with him: CSPD 1668-9, p. 605.
"my mind troubled and finding no content, my wife being still troubled, nor can be at peace while the girle is there, which I am troubled at on the other side. We past the evening together, and then to bed and slept ill, she being troubled and troubling me in the night with talk and complaints upon the old business."
"Sir John Talbot, who talks mighty high for my Lord of Ormond: and I perceive this family of the Talbots hath been raised by my Lord."
L&M: The Talbots associated in Ireland were a Catholic 'Old English' family. (There were five brothers of whom one became archbishop of Dublin in 1669 and another, in 1685, the Earl, later the Duke of Tyrconnel.) Sir John Talbot of Laycock Abbey, Wilts. (M.P. for Knaresborough, Yorks.) belonged to an English branch of the family and was descended from the 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (d. 1453).
"Met Captain Cocke, who tells me that he hears for certain the Duke of York will lose the authority of an Admiral, and be governed by a Committee:"
L&M: The Duke was not replaced by a commission until the Test Act forced his resignation in 1673. --------------- The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tes…
"Thence home, calling at one or two places; and there about our workmen, who are at work upon my wife’s closet, and other parts of my house, that we are all in dirt."
Elizabeth Pepys is in turmoil within and without. She has been traumatized by what her husband has done to her companion, and there are workmen in what might otherwise be her refuge.
"I was obliged to attend the Duke of York, thinking to have had a meeting of Tangier to-day, but had not; but he did take me and Mr. Wren into his closet, and there did press me to prepare what I had to say upon the answers of my fellow-officers to his great letter, which I promised to do against his coming to town again, the next week; and so to other discourse, finding plainly that he is in trouble, and apprehensions of the Reformers"
The sources L&M cite: PRO, Works 5/9, n.p. Cf also CTB, iii. 897, 926. Descriptions in Magalotti, p. 170; W. M. Brady, The episcop. succession, iii. 113. ------------- CTB = Calendar of Treasury Books ...preserved in the Public Record Office Magalotti = Lorenzo Magalotti Travels of Cosmo the third, Grand Duke of Tuscany, through England during the reign of King Charles the second (1669). Tr. from the Italian manuscript in the Laurentian library at Florence. To which is prefixed, a memoir of his life by Magalotti, Lorenzo, conte, 1637-1712 https://archive.org/details/trave…
"This day Lord Brouncker tells me that the making Sir J. Minnes a bare Commissioner is now in doing, which I am glad of; but he speaks of two new Commissioners, which I do not believe."
L&M: Nothing came of these proposals. No new commissioners were now appointed, and Mennes kept the comptrollership until his death in 1671, by which time he had held office for a longer period than any other Principal Officer except Pepys himself.
Comments
Second Reading
About Friday 13 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"The Duke of Buckingham is absolutely against their meeting, as moved thereto by his people that he advises with, the people of the late times, who do never expect to have any thing done by this Parliament for their religion, and who do propose that, by the sale of the Church-lands, they shall be able to put the King out of debt: "
L&M: Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 13 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"and, moreover, did offer a paper to the Lords to read from the Town, sent in 1648; but the Lords would not read it; but I believe it was something about bringing the King to trial, or some such thing, in that year."
L&M: A petition from the mayor and corporation, presented to parliament on 10 October 1648, 'requiring speedy and impartial justice to be done upon the greatest offenders and incindiaries': https://www.british-history.ac.uk… ; cf. Roger Howell, Newcastle and the Puritan Rebellion, p. 203 and n. 2.
About Friday 13 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"But I was troubled, and so were the Lords, to hear my Lord fly out against their great pretence of merit from the King, for their sufferings and loyalty; telling them that they might thank him for that repute which they have for their loyalty, for that it was he that forced them to be so, against their wills, when he was there:"
L&M: Gerard had been an active royalist commander in the Civil War but there is no evidence he held a military commend, or any post of authority in Newcastle. It is possible that he was referring to the events of 1640 when he served in the war against the Scots. But he was then only a captain.
About Friday 13 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"heard an excellent case argued between my Lord Gerard and the Town of Newcastle, about a piece of ground which that Lord hath got a grant of, under the Exchequer Seal, which they were endeavouring to get of the King under the Great Seal."
L&M: See CTB, ii. 483-4 (official minute). The castle and its precincts ('Castle Farth') had been leased by the King in 1664 to Gerard who had been nominated Constable of the city. The corporation (owners of the property, 1652-60, and now Crown tenants) eventually obtained the reversion in 1685: Eneas MacKenzie, Newcastle-upon Tyne (1827), p. 94.
About Friday 13 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
Concerning the Castle Garth and Newcastle ('garth' an archaic term for 'yard')
http://www.newcastlecastle.co.uk/…
About Thursday 12 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"with Mr. Gibson late at my chamber making an end of my draught of a letter for the Duke of York, in answer to the answers of this Office"
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Thursday 12 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"and Mr. Wayth, who, being at my office about business, I took him with me to talk and understand his matters, who is in mighty trouble from the Committee of Accounts about his contracting with this Office for sayle-cloth"
L&M: Robert Waith was paymaster to the Navy Treasurer and, like all officials, was forbidden to trade with the office. Several of his contracts are in CSPD 1663-4, pp. 132, 134, 135.
About Wednesday 11 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"and so for Fenn, do bring in Mr. Littleton, Sir Thomas’s brother,"
L&M: James Littleton replaced John Fenn as cashier to the Treasurer.
About Wednesday 11 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
" so to the Office, where, by a speciall desire, the new Treasurers come, and there did shew their Patent, and the Great Seal for the suspension of my Lord Anglesey: and here did sit and discourse of the business of the Office: and brought Mr. Hutchinson with them, who, I hear, is to be their Paymaster, in the room of Mr. Waith."
L&M: Richard Hutchinson had been Treasurer of the Navy, 1651-60. Waith continued in office jointly with him: CSPD 1668-9, p. 605.
About Monday 9 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
Sandwich's private account of the visit to Tangier is available online
https://archive.org/stream/lifeof…
Search for CHAPER XII (pp. 140-169)
About Friday 6 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"my mind troubled and finding no content, my wife being still troubled, nor can be at peace while the girle is there, which I am troubled at on the other side. We past the evening together, and then to bed and slept ill, she being troubled and troubling me in the night with talk and complaints upon the old business."
L&M: Presumably their recent quarrel over Deb, but possibly their separation early in their married life (cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Thursday 5 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"This day I was told that my Lord Anglesey did deliver a petition on Wednesday in Council to the King,...."
L&M: For the petition and the King's reply, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Wednesday 4 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"Sir John Talbot, who talks mighty high for my Lord of Ormond: and I perceive this family of the Talbots hath been raised by my Lord."
L&M: The Talbots associated in Ireland were a Catholic 'Old English' family. (There were five brothers of whom one became archbishop of Dublin in 1669 and another, in 1685, the Earl, later the Duke of Tyrconnel.) Sir John Talbot of Laycock Abbey, Wilts. (M.P. for Knaresborough, Yorks.) belonged to an English branch of the family and was descended from the 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (d. 1453).
About Wednesday 4 November 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"every body’s mouth full of my Lord Anglesey’s suspension being sealed"
L&M: The new Treasurers were Sir Thomas Littleton and Sir Thomas Osborne, who remained Joint-Treasurers of the Navy until 1671.
About Thursday 29 October 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"that it is plain that they do ayme to bring the Admiralty into Commission too, and lessen the Duke of York"
L&M: For this rumour, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Wednesday 12 August 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"Met Captain Cocke, who tells me that he hears for certain the Duke of York will lose the authority of an Admiral, and be governed by a Committee:"
L&M: The Duke was not replaced by a commission until the Test Act forced his resignation in 1673.
---------------
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tes…
About Wednesday 28 October 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"Thence home, calling at one or two places; and there about our workmen, who are at work upon my wife’s closet, and other parts of my house, that we are all in dirt."
Elizabeth Pepys is in turmoil within and without. She has been traumatized by what her husband has done to her companion, and there are workmen in what might otherwise be her refuge.
About Monday 26 October 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"I was obliged to attend the Duke of York, thinking to have had a meeting of Tangier to-day, but had not; but he did take me and Mr. Wren into his closet, and there did press me to prepare what I had to say upon the answers of my fellow-officers to his great letter, which I promised to do against his coming to town again, the next week; and so to other discourse, finding plainly that he is in trouble, and apprehensions of the Reformers"
L&M: Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Wednesday 23 January 1666/67
Terry Foreman • Link
"L&M got that information from somewhere."
The sources L&M cite: PRO, Works 5/9, n.p. Cf also CTB, iii. 897, 926. Descriptions in Magalotti, p. 170; W. M. Brady, The episcop. succession, iii. 113.
-------------
CTB = Calendar of Treasury Books ...preserved in the Public Record Office
Magalotti = Lorenzo Magalotti Travels of Cosmo the third, Grand Duke of Tuscany, through England during the reign of King Charles the second (1669). Tr. from the Italian manuscript in the Laurentian library at Florence. To which is prefixed, a memoir of his life by Magalotti, Lorenzo, conte, 1637-1712
https://archive.org/details/trave…
About Saturday 24 October 1668
Terry Foreman • Link
"This day Lord Brouncker tells me that the making Sir J. Minnes a bare Commissioner is now in doing, which I am glad of; but he speaks of two new Commissioners, which I do not believe."
L&M: Nothing came of these proposals. No new commissioners were now appointed, and Mennes kept the comptrollership until his death in 1671, by which time he had held office for a longer period than any other Principal Officer except Pepys himself.