“Spuddle: a useful verb from the 17th Century that means to work feebly or ineffectively, because your mind is elsewhere or you haven't quite woken up yet. It can also mean being extremely busy whilst achieving absolutely nothing” https://www.google.com/search?rlz…
SPOILER: Later -- much later -- in the Diary, Pepys refers to black people as Blackmores. There was also an inn called The Blackmore, so I believe that name to be the the contemporary, politically correct term in Pepys' times.
Ergo, I believe this person to be of swarthy skin and owning dark hair.
In January 1669, Cosmo tells us that Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour, PC (1608 – 1694) was working for the absent Queen Mother Henrietta Maria at Somerset House SEE https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… .
My Popish Plot investigations find that Henry, Lord Arundell was summoned by Charles II with some other Roman Catholic peers to a secret council meeting in January 1669, and was commissioned to go to France to inform Louis XIV of his desire to be reconciled to the Roman Catholic church, and of his want of ready money. I haven’t nailed an exact date for this secret meeting, so I’m dropping the detail in here as a rough guess. https://archive.org/stream/popish…
Purple: Purple was an important color in ancient Rome, with laws specifying that only the emperor could wear a solid purple toga. Tyrian purple was named after the Phoenician city of Tyre, where the dye was first made, and it was considered the best purple dye. It was made by crushing sea snails, and tens of thousands of snails were needed to stain one piece of cloth, making it more valuable than gold by weight. -- Source: The Collector
Anyone know how purple was made in Pepys' day? The ruling elites must have obliterated the sea snails by now.
"I went to the Coffee Club where there was nothing done but choosing of a Committee for orders."
I think this means Pepys went to a meeting of the Rota Club. Otherwise why would a coffee club need a committee? Perhaps calling it a Coffee Club was code so if anyone found his Diary there would be room for a denial?
and on Monday 9 January 1660: Thence I went with Muddiman to the Coffee-House, and gave 18d. to be entered of the Club. -- The Turk's Head Coffee-house, "the next house to the Stairs," was in New Palace Yard, Westminster. Here, in November 1659, James Harrington's celebrated Rota Club began to meet.
According to Wikipedia the Rota Club disbanded in February 1659/60, which matches Pepys' mentions of using a generic Coffee House -- he mentions the names in most cases so they are not linked in our Encyclopedia to "General coffee house information". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rot…
But we will never know since Pepys chose not to tell us. Canny fellow.
19 Jan -- Articles of impeachment presented in Parliament against the commanders of the army and government commissioners in Ireland: Ludlow, Jones, Thomlinson, Corbet. New commissioners appointed. HCJ
[Lt.-Gen. Ludlow, Col. John Jones, Miles Corbet and Col. Mathew Tomlinson]
Funny you should mention that, Jeremy. I just found this today:
‘Ordinaries’ were fairly common in the City of London during the 17th and 18th centuries, as quoted in "Journey throughout England" of 1714, ‘not so common here as abroad, yet the French have set up two or three good ones for the convenience of foreigners, where one is tolerably well served.’
The French bit comes from the arrival of the French Huguenots who opened several Ordinaries in the City of London to cater to their fellow immigrants. A French style Ordinary stood on the site of French Ordinary Court, EC3.
"... Mr. Moore and I went to the French Ordinary, ..."
No mention of its being on French Ordinary Court which is close to the Tower and probably out of the way today. (Pictures of said Court and some of its history at https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/artic… )
My guess is that its being "French" implied the Ordinary served exotic Huguenot cooking, which would be different to the standard sausage and mash so beloved by generations of Brits.
"... Sir Ant. Cooper and did give him some answer from my Lord and he did give us leave to keep the lodgings still."
Hinchingbrooke January 18, 1660
Dear Mr. Cooper:
In exchange for letting me keep my lodgings at Whitehall, I will be happy to recommend you as being a closet Royalist for the last 8 years when next I see our King, Charles II.
Plus you already have a very big house near by, which is larger than these apartments. Don't be greedy, or I'll tell your rich uncle.
My take on why Pepys not may not be thrilled by his appointment to the new Council of State staff (see https://www.british-history.ac.uk… for its formation and appointees) is that he will now have to go to work and do something, possibly 7 days a week and all hours of the day and night, as work requires.
From the point of view of being Sandwich's intelligencer, it might be a very good spot.
The Council is probably going to be a hotbed of intrigue, and so his attendance at something as contraversial as The Rota Club might cause embarrassment -- or be cause for dismissal.
Downing seems determined to move him along, respectfully, and Pepys needs the money. Getting to know the likes of Monck, Ashley-Cooper, Lawson and Fairfax would be a great experience -- but could backfire as it has for the existing staff.
I think their being fired is more about the new Councilmen wanting their own people as staff -- as happens at the White House and Number 10 today when a new administration takes office. New brooms sweep. It's not personal.
" 1. Telescope’ and ‘microscope’ are both as old as Milton, but for long while ‘perspective’ (glass being sometimes understood and sometimes expressed) did the work of these. It is sometimes written ‘prospective.’ Our present use of ‘perspective’ does not, I suppose, date farther back than Dryden. — Trench’s Select Glossary. — M. B."
And this is as close as Pepys gets to mentioning John Milton! What a missed opportunity. I'd love to hear Pepys' pithy comments on the old blind Parliamentarian who somehow escaped being a Regicide.
To my surprise I learned that many scholars believe Thomas Browne and Shakespeare’s “new word” contributions are much lower than Milton’s, although the history of language is tricky — it’s impossible to know if a writer created a new word from scratch or was simply the first to use an existing word in print.
Other writers who’ve made sizable contributions include Geoffrey Chaucer, John Donne, and Ben Jonson.
For more on how language evolves, and the 17th century contributions to our expansive language (which draws from over 350 other languages) see https://www.interestingfacts.com/…
Apr 22 Lambert and his followers defeated at Daventry; Lambert returned to London as a prisoner --- Before Major General John Lambert could gather all his forces, he was confronted near Daventry on Easter Day, 22 April 1660, by troops sent by Monck under the command of Colonel Ingoldsby, a regicide who hoped to win a pardon by recapturing Lambert.
When Ingoldsby prepared to attack, Lambert's small army defected or fled. Lambert was ignominiously taken prisoner by Ingoldsby himself when his Arab charger became bogged down in a muddy field.
The following day he was brought back to London. After being forced to stand beneath the Tyburn gallows, he was returned to the Tower.
Apr 10 Lambert escapes from the Tower and tries to rally resistance to the Restoration. --- Major-General John Lambert escaped from the Tower in April 1660 and issued a proclamation calling on all supporters of the "Good Old Cause" to rally on the battlefield of Edgehill on Easter Day 1660 from where he planned to advance on Oxford and to join forces with rebels from the south and west.
The response to Lambert's call-to-arms was sporadic. He was ignored by Hesilrige, Fleetwood and Disbrowe, but the radical colonels Okey and Axtell joined him with a few hundred horse.
Edmund Ludlow plotted an uprising in Wiltshire, cavalry units from the Midlands and Yorkshire rode to join him, several garrisons declared for Lambert and uprisings of civilian republicans were reported in Somerset, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
Before Lambert could gather all his forces, he was confronted near Daventry on Easter Day, 22 April 1660, by troops sent by Monck under the command of Colonel Ingoldsby, a regicide who hoped to win a pardon by recapturing Lambert. ...
Often I wish we had a laugh imoji, or some way of acknowledging a post that hits the target. There were several today that caused me to laugh out loud.
Stress ... Lawson lies still in the Thames. General Monck is coming up to London, we shall see to what intent. And what to do with kid brother John, who doesn't seem to be very interested in his Greek and Latin Appositions. If he fails the St. Paul's School test, he won't win a scholarship to Cambridge.
"which (methinks) do trouble me that a man of so great courage as he was, should have that dishonour, though otherwise he might deserve it enough."
“But men must know, that in this theater of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.” -- Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Oliver, Ireton, Bradshaw, &c. ventured all, and we argue today about their motivations and legacies. That makes them immortal in my book, regardless of what you think of their actions.
As Pepys will experience later in the Diary, and after the Diary when he was unexpectedly implicated in the Popish Plots, just doing your job made you a participant in the dangerous Stuart theater -- there was no safety net, and your actions declared your allegencies. Then men like Anthony Ashley-Cooper used you and your reputation for their own political ends.
We study the Diary because all these courageous actors are immortals. God and the angels did not appear to interfere, even if the arc of progress towards a more perfect union can be seen in the broad strokes.
Comments
Third Reading
About Monday 20 July 1668
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys has a spuddle day.
“Spuddle: a useful verb from the 17th Century that means to work feebly or ineffectively, because your mind is elsewhere or you haven't quite woken up yet. It can also mean being extremely busy whilst achieving absolutely nothing”
https://www.google.com/search?rlz…
About Saturday 21 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
According to today's Parliamentary summary, they are still of the opinion that Monck and Lawson are true to the cause. We shall see!
About Saturday 21 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
SPOILER:
Later -- much later -- in the Diary, Pepys refers to black people as Blackmores.
There was also an inn called The Blackmore, so I believe that name to be the the contemporary, politically correct term in Pepys' times.
Ergo, I believe this person to be of swarthy skin and owning dark hair.
About Sunday 17 January 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
In January 1669, Cosmo tells us that Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour, PC (1608 – 1694) was working for the absent Queen Mother Henrietta Maria at Somerset House SEE https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… .
My Popish Plot investigations find that Henry, Lord Arundell was summoned by Charles II with some other Roman Catholic peers to a secret council meeting in January 1669, and was commissioned to go to France to inform Louis XIV of his desire to be reconciled to the Roman Catholic church, and of his want of ready money.
I haven’t nailed an exact date for this secret meeting, so I’m dropping the detail in here as a rough guess.
https://archive.org/stream/popish…
About Thursday 19 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
Belated Happy New Year, Stephane. Could you check the link please? I'd love to read thise State Papers. Thanks
About Monday 20 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Purple:
Purple was an important color in ancient Rome, with laws specifying that only the emperor could wear a solid purple toga.
Tyrian purple was named after the Phoenician city of Tyre, where the dye was first made, and it was considered the best purple dye. It was made by crushing sea snails, and tens of thousands of snails were needed to stain one piece of cloth, making it more valuable than gold by weight. -- Source: The Collector
Anyone know how purple was made in Pepys' day? The ruling elites must have obliterated the sea snails by now.
About Friday 20 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I went to the Coffee Club where there was nothing done but choosing of a Committee for orders."
I think this means Pepys went to a meeting of the Rota Club. Otherwise why would a coffee club need a committee? Perhaps calling it a Coffee Club was code so if anyone found his Diary there would be room for a denial?
Pepys also refers to 'The Coffee Club' on January 11, 1659/60, and not again until December 1660. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
and on Monday 9 January 1660:
Thence I went with Muddiman to the Coffee-House, and gave 18d. to be entered of the Club. -- The Turk's Head Coffee-house, "the next house to the Stairs," was in New Palace Yard, Westminster. Here, in November 1659, James Harrington's celebrated Rota Club began to meet.
According to Wikipedia the Rota Club disbanded in February 1659/60, which matches Pepys' mentions of using a generic Coffee House -- he mentions the names in most cases so they are not linked in our Encyclopedia to "General coffee house information".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rot…
But we will never know since Pepys chose not to tell us. Canny fellow.
About Thursday 19 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
19 Jan -- Articles of impeachment presented in Parliament against the commanders of the army and government commissioners in Ireland: Ludlow, Jones, Thomlinson, Corbet.
New commissioners appointed. HCJ
[Lt.-Gen. Ludlow, Col. John Jones, Miles Corbet and Col. Mathew Tomlinson]
http://bcw-project.org/timelines/…
For the minutes of Parliament today, see the ALSO ON THIS DAY box, top right.
Rev. Ralph observes from Essex: "some confusedness in state affairs" which seems to be an understatement.
About Ordinary
San Diego Sarah • Link
Funny you should mention that, Jeremy. I just found this today:
‘Ordinaries’ were fairly common in the City of London during the 17th and 18th centuries, as quoted in "Journey throughout England" of 1714, ‘not so common here as abroad, yet the French have set up two or three good ones for the convenience of foreigners, where one is tolerably well served.’
The French bit comes from the arrival of the French Huguenots who opened several Ordinaries in the City of London to cater to their fellow immigrants. A French style Ordinary stood on the site of French Ordinary Court, EC3.
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/artic…
About Thursday 19 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... Mr. Moore and I went to the French Ordinary, ..."
No mention of its being on French Ordinary Court which is close to the Tower and probably out of the way today. (Pictures of said Court and some of its history at https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/artic… )
My guess is that its being "French" implied the Ordinary served exotic Huguenot cooking, which would be different to the standard sausage and mash so beloved by generations of Brits.
About Thursday 19 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... Sir Ant. Cooper and did give him some answer from my Lord and he did give us leave to keep the lodgings still."
Hinchingbrooke
January 18, 1660
Dear Mr. Cooper:
In exchange for letting me keep my lodgings at Whitehall, I will be happy to recommend you as being a closet Royalist for the last 8 years when next I see our King, Charles II.
Plus you already have a very big house near by, which is larger than these apartments. Don't be greedy, or I'll tell your rich uncle.
Sincerely,
Mountagu
About Thursday 19 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
My take on why Pepys not may not be thrilled by his appointment to the new Council of State staff (see https://www.british-history.ac.uk… for its formation and appointees) is that he will now have to go to work and do something, possibly 7 days a week and all hours of the day and night, as work requires.
From the point of view of being Sandwich's intelligencer, it might be a very good spot.
The Council is probably going to be a hotbed of intrigue, and so his attendance at something as contraversial as The Rota Club might cause embarrassment -- or be cause for dismissal.
Downing seems determined to move him along, respectfully, and Pepys needs the money. Getting to know the likes of Monck, Ashley-Cooper, Lawson and Fairfax would be a great experience -- but could backfire as it has for the existing staff.
I think their being fired is more about the new Councilmen wanting their own people as staff -- as happens at the White House and Number 10 today when a new administration takes office. New brooms sweep. It's not personal.
About Monday 11 February 1660/61
San Diego Sarah • Link
" 1. Telescope’ and ‘microscope’ are both as old as Milton, but for long while ‘perspective’ (glass being sometimes understood and sometimes expressed) did the work of these. It is sometimes written ‘prospective.’ Our present use of ‘perspective’ does not, I suppose, date farther back than Dryden. — Trench’s Select Glossary. — M. B."
And this is as close as Pepys gets to mentioning John Milton! What a missed opportunity. I'd love to hear Pepys' pithy comments on the old blind Parliamentarian who somehow escaped being a Regicide.
To my surprise I learned that many scholars believe Thomas Browne and Shakespeare’s “new word” contributions are much lower than Milton’s, although the history of language is tricky — it’s impossible to know if a writer created a new word from scratch or was simply the first to use an existing word in print.
Other writers who’ve made sizable contributions include Geoffrey Chaucer, John Donne, and Ben Jonson.
For more on how language evolves, and the 17th century contributions to our expansive language (which draws from over 350 other languages) see
https://www.interestingfacts.com/…
About Sunday 22 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Apr 22 Lambert and his followers defeated at Daventry; Lambert returned to London as a prisoner
---
Before Major General John Lambert could gather all his forces, he was confronted near Daventry on Easter Day, 22 April 1660, by troops sent by Monck under the command of Colonel Ingoldsby, a regicide who hoped to win a pardon by recapturing Lambert.
When Ingoldsby prepared to attack, Lambert's small army defected or fled. Lambert was ignominiously taken prisoner by Ingoldsby himself when his Arab charger became bogged down in a muddy field.
The following day he was brought back to London. After being forced to stand beneath the Tyburn gallows, he was returned to the Tower.
http://bcw-project.org/biography/…
About Tuesday 10 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Apr 10 Lambert escapes from the Tower and tries to rally resistance to the Restoration.
---
Major-General John Lambert escaped from the Tower in April 1660 and issued a proclamation calling on all supporters of the "Good Old Cause" to rally on the battlefield of Edgehill on Easter Day 1660 from where he planned to advance on Oxford and to join forces with rebels from the south and west.
The response to Lambert's call-to-arms was sporadic. He was ignored by Hesilrige, Fleetwood and Disbrowe, but the radical colonels Okey and Axtell joined him with a few hundred horse.
Edmund Ludlow plotted an uprising in Wiltshire, cavalry units from the Midlands and Yorkshire rode to join him, several garrisons declared for Lambert and uprisings of civilian republicans were reported in Somerset, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
Before Lambert could gather all his forces, he was confronted near Daventry on Easter Day, 22 April 1660, by troops sent by Monck under the command of Colonel Ingoldsby, a regicide who hoped to win a pardon by recapturing Lambert. ...
http://bcw-project.org/biography/…
About Tuesday 12 January 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
Often I wish we had a laugh imoji, or some way of acknowledging a post that hits the target. There were several today that caused me to laugh out loud.
About Sunday 15 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
Stress ...
Lawson lies still in the Thames.
General Monck is coming up to London, we shall see to what intent.
And what to do with kid brother John, who doesn't seem to be very interested in his Greek and Latin Appositions. If he fails the St. Paul's School test, he won't win a scholarship to Cambridge.
About Tuesday 10 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thanks, Derek, that is really interesting.
Our Encyclopedia does have an "Other general reference sites" page where I think this recomendation also belongs
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Obviously there are no Diary links to it, but as a catch-all for the important but obscure, it's helpful to know about it.
About Tuesday 4 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"which (methinks) do trouble me that a man of so great courage as he was, should have that dishonour, though otherwise he might deserve it enough."
“But men must know, that in this theater of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.” -- Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Oliver, Ireton, Bradshaw, &c. ventured all, and we argue today about their motivations and legacies. That makes them immortal in my book, regardless of what you think of their actions.
As Pepys will experience later in the Diary, and after the Diary when he was unexpectedly implicated in the Popish Plots, just doing your job made you a participant in the dangerous Stuart theater -- there was no safety net, and your actions declared your allegencies.
Then men like Anthony Ashley-Cooper used you and your reputation for their own political ends.
We study the Diary because all these courageous actors are immortals. God and the angels did not appear to interfere, even if the arc of progress towards a more perfect union can be seen in the broad strokes.
About Saturday 14 January 1659/60
San Diego Sarah • Link
We can't win that fight, Mountebank. Easter and Leap Years are not our friends.
Reading the first time -- with no Encyclopedia included -- makes me so grateful we don't have to reenter the same info over and over again.
Happy New Year, and stay well and dry. At least we both have electricity.