Fears of an invasion by the French and Dutch (particularly of the North Country) were now common: see the 'Advice from The Hague', 30 June/9 July, which Pepys preserved (Rawl. A 195a, f. 169r). ... Alarms of this sort were frequent throughout the war. See the 'Advice from the Hague', 30 June/9 July
According to “VISCOUNT DUNDEE” by Louis A. Barbé; I can’t find a publication date, but it’s old. You can read much more at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/49…
Document were discovered by a Dr. M’Crie in the Dutch archives and published by him in his “Memoirs of Veitch” which shows that a plan was formed in July 1666 for seizing on the principal forts in the British Isles, and that the Scots who ‘embarked in this scheme had carried on a correspondence with the Government of the United Provinces then at war with Great Britain, and received promises of assistance from that quarter.’
Dr. M’Crie also found documents showing that the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton were amongst those to be taken.
Whether this Dutch plot and the Pentland Rising of November 1666 were connected is a point on which historians have conflicting opinions.
"Apparently the oaths contra wine-drinking dropped by the wayside somewhere?"
As I recall Pepys started writing vows and stopped drinking when he realized he needed to pay more attention to work. Right now they have no funds, therefore there is little work he can do, plus everyone is still traumatized from the fire, and drinking is a [bad] form of self-medicating.
He's probably eating comfort food too ... just like many of us did after 9/11. For several years.
According to a report of a 1663-64 law suit, daughter Sarah Bodvile secretly married Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin in 1657. She was disinherited by John Bodvile, who changed his will in favor of a friend, Thomas Wynn.
After Sarah and Robert Robartes had two sons, she reconciled with father John -- but John didn’t change his will before he died.
Lord Privy Seal, Sir John, Lord Robartes contested the will in 1663-64. My reading of the legal summation is that he lost the suit.
According to a report of a 1663-64 law suit, daughter Sarah Bodvile secretly married Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin in 1657. She was disinherited by John Bodvile, who changed his will in favor of a friend, Thomas Wynn.
After Sarah and Robert Robartes had two sons, she reconciled with father John -- but John didn’t change his will before he died.
Lord Privy Seal, Sir John, Lord Robartes contested the will in 1663-64. My reading of the legal summation is that he lost the suit.
According to a report of a 1663-64 law suit, daughter Sarah Bodvile secretly married Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin in 1657. She was disinherited by John Bodvile, who changed his will in favor of a friend, Thomas Wynn.
After Sarah and Robert Robartes had two sons, she reconciled with father John -- but John didn’t change his will before he died.
Lord Privy Seal, Sir John, Lord Robartes contested the will in 1663-64. My reading of the legal summation is that he lost the suit.
According to a report of a 1663-64 law suit, daughteer Sarah Bodvile secretly married Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin in 1657. She was disinherited by John Bodvile, who changed his will in favor of a friend.
After Sarah and Robert Robartes had two sons, she reconciled with father John -- but John didn’t change his will before he died.
Lord Privy Seal, Sir John, Lord Robartes contested the will in 1663-64. My reading of the legal summation is that he lost the suit.
"... after my wife and all the mayds abed but Jane, whom I put confidence in — she and I, and my brother, and Tom, and W. Hewer, did bring up all the remainder of my money, and my plate-chest, out of the cellar, and placed the money in my study, with the rest, and the plate in my dressing-room; ..."
You recon Elizabeth and the mayds slept through these five galumphs hauling one or two chests up two (possibly three) flights of stairs? I recon the people next door had a good idea what was happening as well.
Just to let you all know, CGS on 10 Nov 2009 said:
H o Lauds. [free press??????????] Regulating the Press. Ordered, ... Preventing Fire. Resolved, &c. ... AND CGS on 10 Nov 2009 Errata: H o Commons not the upper branch.
I checked both HoC and HoL links and see nothing about the above. They are dealing with setting up 2 committees to review Pepys' accounts again, and banning Irish cattle.
The HoC is taking steps to identify Catholics.
The HoL released the man who attacked Lord Crewe's servant on Nov. 6. from the Fleet prison on receipt of his apology.
There was a school for deaf children, two members of the Royal Society were working on sign language and spelling things out on your hand. This is an interesting article on the subject https://blog.oup.com/2018/06/deaf…
The fire had been foretold; Wednesday, November 7, 1666:
"By the Duke of York his discourse to-day in his chamber, they have it at Court, as well as we here, that a fatal day is to be expected shortly, of some great mischiefe to the remainder of this day; whether by the Papists, or what, they are not certain. But the day is disputed; some say next Friday, others a day sooner, others later, and I hope all will prove a foolery. But it is observable how every body’s fears are busy at this time." https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
and if that doesn't work, here it is in full, with a break so the Pepys' site doesn't cut it. You can scan and join it up in the middle. The bio I took the info from is below the painting: http://www.nationaltrustcollectio… object/352351
PART 2 When the Dowager Countess of Brogheda died around July 1685 she left everything to Wycherley, but her family sued him for the property. He was unable to respond as he was in the Fleet debtors' prison. He wrote a poem describing prison as a welcome reprieve from marriage.
But Wycherley was in debt for the rest of his life.
Understandably, through all this, he wrote no more wonderful plays.
And now for Letitia Isabella Robartes c1640 - 1689
Charles Moore married Lady Letitia Robartes in 1669. Her father, Lord Radnor, was an English tin magnate who stood as Viceroy of Ireland in 1660.
Charles Moore became the 2nd Earl of Drogheda in July 1675, and died at his Dublin house in June 1679, leaving no children.
http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/l… In the spring of 1678 Wycherley went to Tunbridge Wells and met the Countess of Drogheda. She was living in Bow Street, Covent Garden while the Earl was in Ireland. She was young, attractive, and appeared to be rich.
The story is that Wycherley was in a bookseller's when the Countess entered and asked for his play, The Plain-Dealer. A friend pointed out the Plain-Dealer himself. Wycherley paid her a compliment; she replied that she loved plain dealing, especially when it told her of her faults. Wycherley then called on her daily, took her to public places, and visited her when they returned to London.
Later in 1678, Wycherley fell ill. Charles II visited him in his Bow Street lodgings, a mark of esteem, and gave him £500 to take holiday in the spa of Montpellier.
Wycherley was in Montpellier by September 1678. The Countess sent a maid after him with a diamond ring.
Wycherley returned in the spring of 1679. Charles II offered him £1,500 to become governor to Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond, with the promise of a pension afterwards, and also made him an equerry.
On 18 June, 1679 the Earl died. He had no children, so his brother, Henry, became the 3rd Earl of Drogheda. But the 2nd Earl had left the Countess the greatest part of the estate, effectively disinheriting Henry.
Wycherley was in Ireland in the late summer, and they married secretly on 29 Sept., 1679. Wycherley believed he was marrying a fortune. But the Earl's finances had been strained, and the Countess was as a spendthrift.
Soon creditors demanded payment, so the couple had to move often. They were sued by her lady's maid who had swindled the Countess out of substantial sums of money and goods.
By marrying without Charles II's consent, Wycherley forfeited being governor to Lennox and the King's patronage.
The 3rd Earl contested the will; the case dragged on for years, and it was not until 1697 that the Countess' family paid Wycherley £1,500 for his rights.
The unhappy 6-year marriage was full of litigation, debt, and disappointment. The Countess was blamed for ruining Wycherley's Court career. She refused to let him out of her sight, insisting when he went to The Cock tavern, opposite their Bow Street lodgings, he should leave the window open so she could see there was no woman with him.
Her cook said she was given to rages when she ‘bawled and roared as if she had been stuck with a knife’. There were hints she found him less virile than his reputation implied.
HIGHLIGHTS in case the link disappears: Oil painting on canvas, Letitia Isabella Smith, Countess of Radnor (c.1630-1714) after Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), 18th century.
The right honourable Countess of Radnor, second wife of the 1st Earl of Radnor whom she married in 1646/7, seated in a red velvet dress trimmed with ermine resting right arm on table with coronet.
She was the daughter of Sir John Smythe, of Bedborough, Kent and Isabel Rich, youngest daughter of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick (and Sidney's 'Stella'). They had 4 sons and 5 daughters, including the Hon. Francis Robartes (?1650-1718), the composer and scientist; and Letitia Isabella Robartes, who married firstly, in 1669, the 2nd Earl of Drogheda, and secondly, around 1679, the playwright William Wycherley.
After the death of the Earl of Radnor at his celebrated house (previously Danvers House in Chelsea, which both Pepys and Evelyn visited) the sitter married her Chelsea neighbor, Charles Cheyne, 1st Viscount Newhaven (1625-98).
Lady Robartes, as she then was, was described by Pepys as "a great beauty indeed", and she is also the subject of a celebrated story in the Memoirs of Count Grammont.
According to Grammont, she momentarily excited the desires of James, Duke of York, when: "in the zenith of her glory. Her beauty was striking; yet, notwithstanding the brightness of the finest complexion, with all the bloom of youth [sic: it was unusual for a woman in her thirties, after frequent child-bearing, to be so described in the 17th century], and with every requisite for inspiring desire, she nevertheless was not attractive". Robartes resisted all the bribes to connive with his being made a cuckold, until he was finally forced to take her off on a pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well, which was said to cure women of barrenness, and: "did not rest until the highest mountains in Wales were between his wife and the person who had designed to perform this miracle in London."
Her son, the hon. Francis Robartes probably gave the painting to his wife, Penelope's father, Sir Courtenay Pole, 2nd Bt.
"... But he says that the King, having all the money he is like to have, we shall be sure of a peace in a little time."
The Hon. Thomas Grey is not a Member of Parliament, having lost his first try in 1665. But he is a pal of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and has cousins in the Commons (I gleaned that from the House of Commons site).
So the cynical common gossip is that Charles II is delaying agreeing to a peace treaty until after the Commons gives him the most amount of money possible to prepare for continuing the war. Charles, Pepys and I wish that had been the case.
Pepys' second try to earn his hefty hemp commission:
Friday 25 May 1666
"Then out to the ‘Change to speak with Captain [Cocke], who tells me my silver plates are ready for me, and shall be sent me speedily; and proposes another proposition of serving us with a thousand tons of hemp, and tells me it shall bring me 500l., if the bargain go forward, which is a good word."
L&M: Cocke is promising hemp futures WAY beyond his ability to deliver, and refers us to 27 July, 1666 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… etc.
L&M: Cocke was asking an inflated price of £57 per ton for this, making the whole deal worth £57,000.
HIGHLIGHTS in case the link disappears: Oil painting on canvas, Letitia Isabella Smith, Countess of Radnor (c.1630-1714) after Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), 18th century.
The right honourable Countess of Radnor, second wife of the 1st Earl of Radnor whom she married in 1646/7, seated in a red velvet dress trimmed with ermine resting right arm on table with coronet.
She was the daughter of Sir John Smythe, of Bedborough, Kent and Isabel Rich, youngest daughter of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick (and Sidney's 'Stella'). They had 4 sons and 5 daughters, including the Hon. Francis Robartes (?1650-1718), the composer and scientist; and Letitia Isabella Robartes, who married firstly, in 1669, the 2nd Earl of Drogheda, and secondly, around 1679, the playwright William Wycherley.
After the death of the Earl of Radnor at his celebrated house (previously Danvers House in Chelsea, which both Pepys and Evelyn visited) the sitter married her Chelsea neighbor, Charles Cheyne, 1st Viscount Newhaven (1625-98).
Lady Robartes, as she then was, was described by Pepys as "a great beauty indeed", and she is also the subject of a celebrated story in the Memoirs of Count Grammont.
According to Grammont, she momentarily excited the desires of James, Duke of York, when: "in the zenith of her glory. Her beauty was striking; yet, notwithstanding the brightness of the finest complexion, with all the bloom of youth [sic: it was unusual for a woman in her thirties, after frequent child-bearing, to be so described in the 17th century], and with every requisite for inspiring desire, she nevertheless was not attractive". Robartes resisted all the bribes to connive with his being made a cuckold, until he was finally forced to take her off on a pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well, which was said to cure women of barrenness, and: "did not rest until the highest mountains in Wales were between his wife and the person who had designed to perform this miracle in London."
Her son, the hon. Francis Robartes probably gave the painting to his wife, Penelope's father, Sir Courtenay Pole, 2nd Bt.
Comments
Second Reading
About Saturday 30 June 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Fears of an invasion by the French and Dutch (particularly of the North Country) were now common: see the 'Advice from The Hague', 30 June/9 July, which Pepys preserved (Rawl. A 195a, f. 169r). ... Alarms of this sort were frequent throughout the war. See the 'Advice from the Hague', 30 June/9 July
According to “VISCOUNT DUNDEE” by Louis A. Barbé; I can’t find a publication date, but it’s old. You can read much more at
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/49…
Document were discovered by a Dr. M’Crie in the Dutch archives and published by him in his “Memoirs of Veitch” which shows that a plan was formed in July 1666 for seizing on the principal forts in the British Isles, and that the Scots who ‘embarked in this scheme had carried on a correspondence with the Government of the United Provinces then at war with Great Britain, and received promises of assistance from that quarter.’
Dr. M’Crie also found documents showing that the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton were amongst those to be taken.
Whether this Dutch plot and the Pentland Rising of November 1666 were connected is a point on which historians have conflicting opinions.
About Tuesday 13 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Apparently the oaths contra wine-drinking dropped by the wayside somewhere?"
As I recall Pepys started writing vows and stopped drinking when he realized he needed to pay more attention to work. Right now they have no funds, therefore there is little work he can do, plus everyone is still traumatized from the fire, and drinking is a [bad] form of self-medicating.
He's probably eating comfort food too ... just like many of us did after 9/11. For several years.
About Monday 12 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
At the House of Lords today we find out why Lady Robartes is in town with her daughter-in-law, Sarah Bodvile Robartes:
Sir John Robartes is contesting the 1663 decision of the Court denying Sarah and her children their inheritance of Sir John Bodvile's estate.
A digest of the original suit and decision is at
https://books.google.com/books?pg…
About Sir John Robartes (2nd Baron Robartes, Lord Privy Seal)
San Diego Sarah • Link
According to a report of a 1663-64 law suit, daughter Sarah Bodvile secretly married Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin in 1657. She was disinherited by John Bodvile, who changed his will in favor of a friend, Thomas Wynn.
After Sarah and Robert Robartes had two sons, she reconciled with father John -- but John didn’t change his will before he died.
Lord Privy Seal, Sir John, Lord Robartes contested the will in 1663-64. My reading of the legal summation is that he lost the suit.
The digest of the suit at:
https://books.google.com/books?pg…
About Robert Robartes
San Diego Sarah • Link
According to a report of a 1663-64 law suit, daughter Sarah Bodvile secretly married Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin in 1657. She was disinherited by John Bodvile, who changed his will in favor of a friend, Thomas Wynn.
After Sarah and Robert Robartes had two sons, she reconciled with father John -- but John didn’t change his will before he died.
Lord Privy Seal, Sir John, Lord Robartes contested the will in 1663-64. My reading of the legal summation is that he lost the suit.
The digest of the suit at:
https://books.google.com/books?pg…
About Thomas Wynn
San Diego Sarah • Link
According to a report of a 1663-64 law suit, daughter Sarah Bodvile secretly married Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin in 1657. She was disinherited by John Bodvile, who changed his will in favor of a friend, Thomas Wynn.
After Sarah and Robert Robartes had two sons, she reconciled with father John -- but John didn’t change his will before he died.
Lord Privy Seal, Sir John, Lord Robartes contested the will in 1663-64. My reading of the legal summation is that he lost the suit.
The digest of the suit at:
https://books.google.com/books?pg…
About John Bodvile
San Diego Sarah • Link
According to a report of a 1663-64 law suit, daughteer Sarah Bodvile secretly married Robert Robartes, Viscount Bodmin in 1657. She was disinherited by John Bodvile, who changed his will in favor of a friend.
After Sarah and Robert Robartes had two sons, she reconciled with father John -- but John didn’t change his will before he died.
Lord Privy Seal, Sir John, Lord Robartes contested the will in 1663-64. My reading of the legal summation is that he lost the suit.
The digest of the suit at:
https://books.google.com/books?pg…
About Monday 12 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... after my wife and all the mayds abed but Jane, whom I put confidence in — she and I, and my brother, and Tom, and W. Hewer, did bring up all the remainder of my money, and my plate-chest, out of the cellar, and placed the money in my study, with the rest, and the plate in my dressing-room; ..."
You recon Elizabeth and the mayds slept through these five galumphs hauling one or two chests up two (possibly three) flights of stairs? I recon the people next door had a good idea what was happening as well.
About Friday 9 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Just to let you all know, CGS on 10 Nov 2009 said:
H o Lauds. [free press??????????]
Regulating the Press.
Ordered, ...
Preventing Fire.
Resolved, &c. ...
AND CGS on 10 Nov 2009
Errata: H o Commons not the upper branch.
I checked both HoC and HoL links and see nothing about the above. They are dealing with setting up 2 committees to review Pepys' accounts again, and banning Irish cattle.
The HoC is taking steps to identify Catholics.
The HoL released the man who attacked Lord Crewe's servant on Nov. 6. from the Fleet prison on receipt of his apology.
About Friday 9 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
There was a school for deaf children, two members of the Royal Society were working on sign language and spelling things out on your hand. This is an interesting article on the subject
https://blog.oup.com/2018/06/deaf…
About Tuesday 6 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
An interesting thought, Sarah. I did a search for "pretty" and learned it must have been one of Pepys' favorite words.
Many times it's hard to tell if it is a modifier or an opinion. For example: " … had a great deal of pretty discourse of the ceremoniousness of the …"
Was it clever discourse or silly discourse? My impression is that Pepys is telling us it wasn't particularly thoughtful discourse.
And sometimes he's making judgments on thing beyond my comprehension:
"Tuesday 3 October 1665
… young Scotch lady, pretty handsome and plain."
In short, it seems to have been a word as ambiguous then as now. He may be modifying; he may be complimenting.
About Friday 9 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
The fire had been foretold; Wednesday, November 7, 1666:
"By the Duke of York his discourse to-day in his chamber, they have it at Court, as well as we here, that a fatal day is to be expected shortly, of some great mischiefe to the remainder of this day; whether by the Papists, or what, they are not certain. But the day is disputed; some say next Friday, others a day sooner, others later, and I hope all will prove a foolery. But it is observable how every body’s fears are busy at this time."
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Lady Laetitia Robartes
San Diego Sarah • Link
Terry says this link doesn't work for him. It works for me, but hey, different sides of the continent. Here it is again:
http://www.nationaltrustcollectio…
and if that doesn't work, here it is in full, with a break so the Pepys' site doesn't cut it. You can scan and join it up in the middle. The bio I took the info from is below the painting:
http://www.nationaltrustcollectio… object/352351
About Laetitia Isabella Robartes
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
When the Dowager Countess of Brogheda died around July 1685 she left everything to Wycherley, but her family sued him for the property. He was unable to respond as he was in the Fleet debtors' prison. He wrote a poem describing prison as a welcome reprieve from marriage.
But Wycherley was in debt for the rest of his life.
Understandably, through all this, he wrote no more wonderful plays.
About Laetitia Isabella Robartes
San Diego Sarah • Link
And now for Letitia Isabella Robartes c1640 - 1689
Charles Moore married Lady Letitia Robartes in 1669. Her father, Lord Radnor, was an English tin magnate who stood as Viceroy of Ireland in 1660.
Charles Moore became the 2nd Earl of Drogheda in July 1675, and died at his Dublin house in June 1679, leaving no children.
http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/l…
In the spring of 1678 Wycherley went to Tunbridge Wells and met the Countess of Drogheda. She was living in Bow Street, Covent Garden while the Earl was in Ireland. She was young, attractive, and appeared to be rich.
The story is that Wycherley was in a bookseller's when the Countess entered and asked for his play, The Plain-Dealer. A friend pointed out the Plain-Dealer himself. Wycherley paid her a compliment; she replied that she loved plain dealing, especially when it told her of her faults. Wycherley then called on her daily, took her to public places, and visited her when they returned to London.
Later in 1678, Wycherley fell ill. Charles II visited him in his Bow Street lodgings, a mark of esteem, and gave him £500 to take holiday in the spa of Montpellier.
Wycherley was in Montpellier by September 1678. The Countess sent a maid after him with a diamond ring.
Wycherley returned in the spring of 1679. Charles II offered him £1,500 to become governor to Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond, with the promise of a pension afterwards, and also made him an equerry.
On 18 June, 1679 the Earl died. He had no children, so his brother, Henry, became the 3rd Earl of Drogheda. But the 2nd Earl had left the Countess the greatest part of the estate, effectively disinheriting Henry.
Wycherley was in Ireland in the late summer, and they married secretly on 29 Sept., 1679. Wycherley believed he was marrying a fortune. But the Earl's finances had been strained, and the Countess was as a spendthrift.
Soon creditors demanded payment, so the couple had to move often. They were sued by her lady's maid who had swindled the Countess out of substantial sums of money and goods.
By marrying without Charles II's consent, Wycherley forfeited being governor to Lennox and the King's patronage.
The 3rd Earl contested the will; the case dragged on for years, and it was not until 1697 that the Countess' family paid Wycherley £1,500 for his rights.
The unhappy 6-year marriage was full of litigation, debt, and disappointment. The Countess was blamed for ruining Wycherley's Court career. She refused to let him out of her sight, insisting when he went to The Cock tavern, opposite their Bow Street lodgings, he should leave the window open so she could see there was no woman with him.
Her cook said she was given to rages when she ‘bawled and roared as if she had been stuck with a knife’. There were hints she found him less virile than his reputation implied.
About Lady Laetitia Robartes
San Diego Sarah • Link
A portrait of the lovely Letitia Isabella Smith Robartes, Countess of Radnor, plus her story with a shout-out to Pepys:
http://www.nationaltrustcollectio…
HIGHLIGHTS in case the link disappears:
Oil painting on canvas, Letitia Isabella Smith, Countess of Radnor (c.1630-1714) after Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), 18th century.
The right honourable Countess of Radnor, second wife of the 1st Earl of Radnor whom she married in 1646/7, seated in a red velvet dress trimmed with ermine resting right arm on table with coronet.
She was the daughter of Sir John Smythe, of Bedborough, Kent and Isabel Rich, youngest daughter of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick (and Sidney's 'Stella'). They had 4 sons and 5 daughters, including the Hon. Francis Robartes (?1650-1718), the composer and scientist; and Letitia Isabella Robartes, who married firstly, in 1669, the 2nd Earl of Drogheda, and secondly, around 1679, the playwright William Wycherley.
After the death of the Earl of Radnor at his celebrated house (previously Danvers House in Chelsea, which both Pepys and Evelyn visited) the sitter married her Chelsea neighbor, Charles Cheyne, 1st Viscount Newhaven (1625-98).
Lady Robartes, as she then was, was described by Pepys as "a great beauty indeed", and she is also the subject of a celebrated story in the Memoirs of Count Grammont.
According to Grammont, she momentarily excited the desires of James, Duke of York, when: "in the zenith of her glory. Her beauty was striking; yet, notwithstanding the brightness of the finest complexion, with all the bloom of youth [sic: it was unusual for a woman in her thirties, after frequent child-bearing, to be so described in the 17th century], and with every requisite for inspiring desire, she nevertheless was not attractive". Robartes resisted all the bribes to connive with his being made a cuckold, until he was finally forced to take her off on a pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well, which was said to cure women of barrenness, and: "did not rest until the highest mountains in Wales were between his wife and the person who had designed to perform this miracle in London."
Her son, the hon. Francis Robartes probably gave the painting to his wife, Penelope's father, Sir Courtenay Pole, 2nd Bt.
About Thursday 8 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... But he says that the King, having all the money he is like to have, we shall be sure of a peace in a little time."
The Hon. Thomas Grey is not a Member of Parliament, having lost his first try in 1665. But he is a pal of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and has cousins in the Commons (I gleaned that from the House of Commons site).
So the cynical common gossip is that Charles II is delaying agreeing to a peace treaty until after the Commons gives him the most amount of money possible to prepare for continuing the war. Charles, Pepys and I wish that had been the case.
About Thursday 8 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys' second try to earn his hefty hemp commission:
Friday 25 May 1666
"Then out to the ‘Change to speak with Captain [Cocke], who tells me my silver plates are ready for me, and shall be sent me speedily; and proposes another proposition of serving us with a thousand tons of hemp, and tells me it shall bring me 500l., if the bargain go forward, which is a good word."
L&M: Cocke is promising hemp futures WAY beyond his ability to deliver, and refers us to 27 July, 1666 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… etc.
L&M: Cocke was asking an inflated price of £57 per ton for this, making the whole deal worth £57,000.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About East India Company (English)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Another book on the British East India Company is reviewed here:
https://daily.jstor.org/the-east-…
Warns us of the problems to industry buying politicians, and companies becoming too big to fail.
About Laetitia Isabella Robartes
San Diego Sarah • Link
A portrait of the lovely lady, plus her story with a shout-out to Pepys:
http://www.nationaltrustcollectio…
HIGHLIGHTS in case the link disappears:
Oil painting on canvas, Letitia Isabella Smith, Countess of Radnor (c.1630-1714) after Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), 18th century.
The right honourable Countess of Radnor, second wife of the 1st Earl of Radnor whom she married in 1646/7, seated in a red velvet dress trimmed with ermine resting right arm on table with coronet.
She was the daughter of Sir John Smythe, of Bedborough, Kent and Isabel Rich, youngest daughter of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick (and Sidney's 'Stella'). They had 4 sons and 5 daughters, including the Hon. Francis Robartes (?1650-1718), the composer and scientist; and Letitia Isabella Robartes, who married firstly, in 1669, the 2nd Earl of Drogheda, and secondly, around 1679, the playwright William Wycherley.
After the death of the Earl of Radnor at his celebrated house (previously Danvers House in Chelsea, which both Pepys and Evelyn visited) the sitter married her Chelsea neighbor, Charles Cheyne, 1st Viscount Newhaven (1625-98).
Lady Robartes, as she then was, was described by Pepys as "a great beauty indeed", and she is also the subject of a celebrated story in the Memoirs of Count Grammont.
According to Grammont, she momentarily excited the desires of James, Duke of York, when: "in the zenith of her glory. Her beauty was striking; yet, notwithstanding the brightness of the finest complexion, with all the bloom of youth [sic: it was unusual for a woman in her thirties, after frequent child-bearing, to be so described in the 17th century], and with every requisite for inspiring desire, she nevertheless was not attractive". Robartes resisted all the bribes to connive with his being made a cuckold, until he was finally forced to take her off on a pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well, which was said to cure women of barrenness, and: "did not rest until the highest mountains in Wales were between his wife and the person who had designed to perform this miracle in London."
Her son, the hon. Francis Robartes probably gave the painting to his wife, Penelope's father, Sir Courtenay Pole, 2nd Bt.