Sir Robert "Viner too, and Backewell, were sent for this afternoon; and was before the King and his Cabinet about money; they declaring they would advance no more, it being discoursed of in the House of Parliament for the King to issue out his privy-seals to them to command them to trust him, which gives them reason to decline trusting. But more money they are persuaded to lend, but so little that (with horrour I speake it), ..."
Sir Robert had been a problem for both Whitehall and Ormonde all summer:
Ormonde to Arlington Written from: Dublin Date: 18 July 1666 Shelfmark: MS. Carte 51, fol(s). 198-199 Document type: Holograph-Minute
Finds, but without knowing upon what ground, that the £15,000 last ordered hither when it was got to Chester, & ready to be put on board a vessel, ... was stopped, by order from Sir Robert Vyner ... Whatever the reason, we are still without that money, & so have lost much time in preparation for ... the marching of the troops ... Vyner's correspondent here intimates it to be his intention to deduct £3,000, for the "use & exchange" of this & the former £15,000 ... Adds other details, chiefly concerning military affairs.
### Ormonde to Arlington Written from: Dublin Date: 25 July 1666 Shelfmark: MS. Carte 51, fol(s). 103 Eleven thousand seven hundred pounds are come - part, it is supposed of the fifteen thousand pounds. It should seem that Vyner means to deduct the remaining sum £3,300 for interest & exchange. ... His Majesty is humbly besought to apply the same remedy as before ...
$$$ Ormonde to Sir James Shaen Written from: Dublin Date: 26 July 1666 Shelfmark: MS. Carte 49, fol(s). 352 Document type: Copy
The yacht arrived on Monday with £11,700, of the £15,000 expected. Notice is given to Lord Arlington, with desire that the full sum may be made up. Has desired Lord Anglesey not to give an acquittance for more than the sum received. The writer has nothing to do with bargains made upon funds in England; nor does he understand that for £30,000, only £26,300 should be accepted ... Adds some further particulars, concerning matters of finance. Returns Sir James Shaen's "Propositions" ...
$$$ Ormonde to Arlington Written from: Dublin Date: 11 August 1666 Shelfmark: MS. Carte 51, fol(s). 211 Document type: Copy
... Has forbidden the giving of any such acquittance for £15,000, as Vyner demands, upon sending only £11,700, ... but unless some agreement be made with him [in London], ... they will still be without the money, as he will be without his discharge ...
"Good grief, James! Sell one of your new vests, for heaven's sake or tell Pepys, Coventry, Batten, Penn, Mennes, Carteret, and the office gang they're each contributing a few pounds to the greater good."
Mr. Gertz votes in favor of the Forced Loan program. I think that was one of the factors which lead to a Civil War in living memory???
The following sound like the spies were reporting to Williamson:
Among the State Papers is a news letter (dated July 14, 1664) containing information as to the views of the Dutch respecting a war with England. “They are preparing many ships, and raising 6,000 men, and have no doubt of conquering by sea.”
“A wise man says the States know how to master England by sending moneys into Scotland for them to rebel, and also to the discontented in England, so as to place the King in the same straits as his father was, and bring him to agree with Holland.” (“Calendar,” 1663-64, p. 642).
Birkenhead to Lane Written from: Whitehall Date: 14 August 1666 Shelfmark: MS. Carte 35, fol(s). 28 Document type: Holograph
One Isaac Wilson, who practises physic, is gone to Chester intending to cross over into Ireland, under pretence - in order to move more freely from house to house - of pursuing his profession there ... Five weeks since, he was in Amsterdam; ... and ought to be carefully watched. ...
In a PS.: mentions naval intelligence, just sent to the King. ...
Ormonde to Sir Francis Foulke Written from: [Dublin Castle] Date: 4 August 1666 Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 85 Document type: Copy [in Letter Book]
Further instructions concerning the transfer to the charge and care of Mr William Crispin of the Dutch prisoners now at Clonmel.
Lady Pickering to Sandwich Written from: [Written from Northamptonshire] Date: 2 August 1666 Shelfmark: MS. Carte 74, fol(s). 341 Document type: Holograph
Congratulations on his Lordship's safety. He has been well remembered in all places, without exception. My Lord Peterborough has raised a troop of volunteers hereabouts [in Northamptonshire] who are gone to be added to the Duke's Life-Guard. Adds, in a P.S., that "the Plague has been very sore at Oundle, & in many little towns round about it". ...
In my on-line copy of Evelyn's Diary, the following "offending" actresses are listed.
"Among the principal offenders here aimed at were Mrs. Margaret Hughes, Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn, Mrs. Davenport, Mrs. Uphill, Mrs. Davis, and Mrs. Knight. "Mrs. Davenport (Roxolana) was my Lord Oxford's Mis[tres]s; "Mrs. Uphill was the actress alluded to in connection with Sir R. Howard; "Mrs. Hughes ensnared Prince Rupert; "and the last of the “misses” referred to by Evelyn was Nell Gwyn." http://brittlebooks.library.illin…
Eleanor Gwyn and Nell Gwyn are the same person. All my notes have Charles II as meeting Moll Davies first in the Spring of 1667 (next year), then Mary Knight (a singer), and Nell shortly after that. He had a busy and expensive spring. Can't find anything about Mrs. Uphill.
Unlike Pepys, Evelyn did edit his Diaries and rewrite them later in life. Maybe he, like Grammont, misremembered the dates for these alliances.
"Mustapha" was first performed on the London stage 3 April, 1665 at the Duke's Company playhouse, co-starring Thomas Betterton and Mary Saunderson Betterton [whom Samuel Pepys called "Ianthe"].
The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica said this was among several of the rhymed-verse tragedies by Roger Boyle, Baron Broghill and 1st Earl of Orrery that were "of some literary but no dramatic merit." Pepys reported it "not good" which "made Betterton’s part and Ianthe’s but ordinary too, so that we were not contented with it at all."
"Women now (& never ’til now) permitted to appeare & act, which inflaming severall young noble-men & gallants, became their whores, & to some their Wives, witnesse the Earle of Oxford, Sir R: Howard, Pr: Rupert, the E: of Dorset, & another greater person than any of these, who fell into their snares, to the reproch of their noble families, & ruine both of body & Soule:"
Sir Robert Howard was a playwright and married four times. Any dalliance he may have had has not survived in his on-line biographies.
In 1666 Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford had deceived Hester Davenport, an actress, into believing she was married and she was received as the Countess of Oxford until her death decades from now -- although he later officially marries someone else.
Rupert "kept himself apart from much of the wickedness of Charles II's court, but in the summer of 1668 he was unhappily persuaded to accompany his cousin to Tunbridge Wells. There he fell a victim to the charms of the actress, Margaret Hughes."[65] [65] Hamilton's Mémoires du Comte de Grammont. ed. 1876. pp. 242-243. Well, we know how unreliable Grammont's memory was ... so he missed their meeting by a couple of years?
Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset was an occasional poet. John Aubrey reproduced a report that Sackville translated Corneille's Le Cid. And he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1665. He was married for 40 years and no hint of a mistress has made it into his online bios.
The Earl of Dorset's son is Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst -- who, in 1667, briefly wins Nell Gwyn's favors ... until she meets and negotiates an acceptable agreement with Charles II.
As Rupert is currently about 5th in line to the throne, being higher than him means one of the Stuart brothers. The official theaters have been closed since the summer of 1665 and they don't officially reopen until later this Fall, although some of the actors went with the court to Oxford to provide entertainment in 1665. We know it can't be James because he's smitten with "the bitch of Denham". Ergo, Charles II must be off having unrecorded fun apart from the supposedly-pregnant Mrs, Palmer.
If I find better gossip to fill in the blanks, I'll be back.
"Here my Lord Bruncker proffered to carry me and my wife into a play at Court to-night, and to lend me his coach home, which tempted me much; but I shall not do it."
I wonder what Elizabeth thought about that. Pepys probably didn't tell her. So why didn't he accept? Still keeping his lady hidden from the profane Court? Not wanting to be indebted to Brouncker? Needed an early night? Had heard bad reviews? Actually agreed with Lady Carteret about the loose women on the stage? Didn't want the Generals-at-Sea and Stuart Brothers to see him having fun so his image as the serious one in the office could live for another day? Yup, that about covers it. Pepys was wiser and more disciplined than I would have been.
Pepys' relationship with the Catholic Lovetts went deep quite quickly.
He first visits their business on May 5, 1665 and by October 18, 1666 he is standing as godfather to their son and paying the midwife and maid:
"... and so away by coach towards Lovett’s ... where I stood godfather. But it was pretty, that, being a Protestant, a man stood by and was my Proxy to answer for me. A priest christened it, and the boy’s name is Samuel. The ceremonies many, and some foolish. The priest in a gentleman’s dress, more than my owne; but is a Capuchin, one of the Queene-mother’s priests. He did give my proxy and the woman proxy (my Lady Bills, absent, had a proxy also) good advice to bring up the child, and, at the end, that he ought never to marry the child nor the godmother, nor the godmother the child or the godfather: but, which is strange, they say that the mother of the child and the godfather may marry. By and by the Lady Bills come in, a well-bred but crooked woman. The poor people of the house had good wine, and a good cake; and she a pretty woman in her lying-in dress. It cost me near 40s. the whole christening: to midwife 20s., nurse 10s., mayde 2s. 6d., and the coach 5s. I was very well satisfied with what I have done, and so home "
Since the fire, Pepys seems to be happily paying for things he would probably previously have balked at. This one surprised me. Being a godfather in those days could have implications.
Why on earth would the daughter of Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland marry a printer? I can see why John Bill wanted a noble wife for prestige and representation at Court (and presumably a nice dowry).
In my efforts to unravel this story, I found this fascinating site about the history of the King's Printing House and the publishing of original King James Bible and how it landed the three printers involved (one being said John Bill) in 30 years of law suits, debtors prison and bankruptcy.
"Creed tells me, that it is said that there hath been a design to poison the King."
No doubt Charles II did a few things to avoid being poisoned. One standard thing was to display food on a credenza in the dining hall before it was served.
A credenza is a specialized piece of Italian Renaissance cabinetry which was developed in the 16th century. It’s name derives from the verb ‘to believe’ (credere) since in periods when the purposeful poisoning of food might be suspected, servants first displayed and then publicly tasted the monarch or employer's food before serving it, so diners could believe in its purity.
Today's Gresham College in London has a continuing series of lectures on a wide assortment of subjects. They are in the midst of a series on slavery ... and for those of us not in London, they are available, free, in podcasts. So go for it ... here's the link for the slavery set:
"Freedom has been central to the identity of the City of London for centuries. But from the 17th to the 19th centuries, the African Slave Trade and Plantation Slavery in the Americas were key to London’s banking, insurance, shipping, manufacturing, commodity trades with Europe, gold and silver supply in London, and later merchant banks like Barings, Schroeder and Kleinwort. The City also benefited from the end of Slavery, as compensated emancipation liberated a flood of liquid capital and provided a £500,000 per annum income stream to its funders."
Today's Gresham College in London has a continuing series of lectures on a wide assortment of subjects. They are in the midst of a series on slavery ... and for those of us not in London, they are available, free, in podcasts. So go for it ... here's the link for the slavery set:
"Freedom has been central to the identity of the City of London for centuries. But from the 17th to the 19th centuries, the African Slave Trade and Plantation Slavery in the Americas were key to London’s banking, insurance, shipping, manufacturing, commodity trades with Europe, gold and silver supply in London, and later merchant banks like Barings, Schroeder and Kleinwort. The City also benefited from the end of Slavery, as compensated emancipation liberated a flood of liquid capital and provided a £500,000 per annum income stream to its funders."
You read me right, John. Sometimes my ironic British side gets the better of me.
It's hard to fathom the disdain the upper classes in Britain felt for their servants and less fortunate people. I put it in the past tense because people are more enlightened today and most try to behave better ... but you could argue class in Britain has been just as poisonous to the national identity as slavery. You can see from the way Pepys treated his mayds and boys that he was on the slippery slope to the mindset that condoned slavery and outright cruelty. Pepys concern with the recent impressment was that the men didn't get the King's shilling, so it was technically illegal, not that it was an insanely cruel way to run the Navy in a war.
One of our Queen's first acts stuck a knife in the heart of the class system 65 years ago when she refused to meet debutantes. Yes, there is still a "coming out" season in England, but it no longer has royal patronage.
Charles II learned a lot from his adventures after Worcester and being poor and homeless in Europe for 11 years. He also had to rebuild a nation which had lost 100,000 people (that's the equivalent of about 10 million people in the USA today). He had to promote from the ranks -- another manifestation of the problems this caused was the "Gentlemen Captains and Tars" rivalry and lack of cooperation the Generals-at-Sea had to handle this year.
I suspect class is also one of the problems Elizabeth has with the other Commissioners' wives. She may claim her father is French nobility, but she never has her parents visit or introduces them to the neighbors so they probably think she's lying. Pepys' tailor dad and crazy mom are welcome guests, so you can imagine how undesirable her parents must be! I can hear the whispers from behind the lace curtains now.
On 20 April, 1661, Denzil Holles MP was created 1st Baron Holles of Ifield in Sussex, and served as the English ambassador to Paris from 1662-1667, but his obsession with protocol was severely criticized.
I like the A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779 note: "... He refused the insidious presents offered him by Louis XIV with as much disdain as he had before refused 5,000l. offered him by the parliament, to indemnify him for his losses in the civil war.”
Ambassador Holles, who was an excellent French scholar, arrived in Paris on 7 July, 1663. He was ostentatiously English, and a zealous upholder of the national honor and interests; but his position was rendered difficult by the absence of home support.
On 27 January, 1665/66 war was declared against France, but Ambassador Holles was not recalled from Paris until May. Perhaps the fact that he was courting and married Esther Richer, widow of Jacques Richer, a French nobleman in 1666 might have had a little to do with it? Plus I'm sure he had spies to coordinate.
Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey’s services in the administration of Ireland were especially valuable. He filled the office of vice-treasurer from 1660 until 1667, served on the committee for carrying out the declaration for the settlement of Ireland and on the committee for Irish affairs, SPOILER and in 1667 he exchanged his post of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland for that of Treasurer of the Navy. So Pepys will be getting to know him soon.
Comments
Second Reading
About Friday 19 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sir Robert "Viner too, and Backewell, were sent for this afternoon; and was before the King and his Cabinet about money; they declaring they would advance no more, it being discoursed of in the House of Parliament for the King to issue out his privy-seals to them to command them to trust him, which gives them reason to decline trusting. But more money they are persuaded to lend, but so little that (with horrour I speake it), ..."
from http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
Sir Robert had been a problem for both Whitehall and Ormonde all summer:
Ormonde to Arlington
Written from: Dublin
Date: 18 July 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 51, fol(s). 198-199
Document type: Holograph-Minute
Finds, but without knowing upon what ground, that the £15,000 last ordered hither when it was got to Chester, & ready to be put on board a vessel, ... was stopped, by order from Sir Robert Vyner ... Whatever the reason, we are still without that money, & so have lost much time in preparation for ... the marching of the troops ... Vyner's correspondent here intimates it to be his intention to deduct £3,000, for the "use & exchange" of this & the former £15,000 ...
Adds other details, chiefly concerning military affairs.
###
Ormonde to Arlington
Written from: Dublin
Date: 25 July 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 51, fol(s). 103
Eleven thousand seven hundred pounds are come - part, it is supposed of the fifteen thousand pounds. It should seem that Vyner means to deduct the remaining sum £3,300 for interest & exchange. ...
His Majesty is humbly besought to apply the same remedy as before ...
$$$
Ormonde to Sir James Shaen
Written from: Dublin
Date: 26 July 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 49, fol(s). 352
Document type: Copy
The yacht arrived on Monday with £11,700, of the £15,000 expected. Notice is given to Lord Arlington, with desire that the full sum may be made up. Has desired Lord Anglesey not to give an acquittance for more than the sum received. The writer has nothing to do with bargains made upon funds in England; nor does he understand that for £30,000, only £26,300 should be accepted ...
Adds some further particulars, concerning matters of finance.
Returns Sir James Shaen's "Propositions" ...
$$$
Ormonde to Arlington
Written from: Dublin
Date: 11 August 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 51, fol(s). 211
Document type: Copy
... Has forbidden the giving of any such acquittance for £15,000, as Vyner demands, upon sending only £11,700, ... but unless some agreement be made with him [in London], ... they will still be without the money, as he will be without his discharge ...
About Friday 19 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Good grief, James! Sell one of your new vests, for heaven's sake or tell Pepys, Coventry, Batten, Penn, Mennes, Carteret, and the office gang they're each contributing a few pounds to the greater good."
Mr. Gertz votes in favor of the Forced Loan program. I think that was one of the factors which lead to a Civil War in living memory???
About Thursday 14 July 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
The following sound like the spies were reporting to Williamson:
Among the State Papers is a news letter (dated July 14, 1664) containing information as to the views of the Dutch respecting a war with England. “They are preparing many ships, and raising 6,000 men, and have no doubt of conquering by sea.”
“A wise man says the States know how to master England by sending moneys into Scotland for them to rebel, and also to the discontented in England, so as to place the King in the same straits as his father was, and bring him to agree with Holland.” (“Calendar,” 1663-64, p. 642).
See https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Tuesday 14 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Birkenhead to Lane
Written from: Whitehall
Date: 14 August 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 35, fol(s). 28
Document type: Holograph
One Isaac Wilson, who practises physic, is gone to Chester intending to cross over into Ireland, under pretence - in order to move more freely from house to house - of pursuing his profession there ... Five weeks since, he was in Amsterdam; ... and ought to be carefully watched. ...
In a PS.: mentions naval intelligence, just sent to the King. ...
About Monday 6 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Ormonde to Sir Francis Foulke
Written from: [Dublin Castle]
Date: 4 August 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 85
Document type: Copy [in Letter Book]
Further instructions concerning the transfer to the charge and care of Mr William Crispin of the Dutch prisoners now at Clonmel.
About Thursday 2 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Lady Pickering to Sandwich
Written from: [Written from Northamptonshire]
Date: 2 August 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 74, fol(s). 341
Document type: Holograph
Congratulations on his Lordship's safety. He has been well remembered in all places, without exception.
My Lord Peterborough has raised a troop of volunteers hereabouts [in Northamptonshire] who are gone to be added to the Duke's Life-Guard.
Adds, in a P.S., that "the Plague has been very sore at Oundle, & in many little towns round about it". ...
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
About Thursday 18 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
In my on-line copy of Evelyn's Diary, the following "offending" actresses are listed.
"Among the principal offenders here aimed at were Mrs. Margaret Hughes, Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn, Mrs. Davenport, Mrs. Uphill, Mrs. Davis, and Mrs. Knight.
"Mrs. Davenport (Roxolana) was my Lord Oxford's Mis[tres]s;
"Mrs. Uphill was the actress alluded to in connection with Sir R. Howard;
"Mrs. Hughes ensnared Prince Rupert;
"and the last of the “misses” referred to by Evelyn was Nell Gwyn."
http://brittlebooks.library.illin…
Eleanor Gwyn and Nell Gwyn are the same person. All my notes have Charles II as meeting Moll Davies first in the Spring of 1667 (next year), then Mary Knight (a singer), and Nell shortly after that. He had a busy and expensive spring.
Can't find anything about Mrs. Uphill.
Unlike Pepys, Evelyn did edit his Diaries and rewrite them later in life. Maybe he, like Grammont, misremembered the dates for these alliances.
About Thursday 18 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Mustapha" was first performed on the London stage 3 April, 1665 at the Duke's Company playhouse, co-starring Thomas Betterton and Mary Saunderson Betterton [whom Samuel Pepys called "Ianthe"].
The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica said this was among several of the rhymed-verse tragedies by Roger Boyle, Baron Broghill and 1st Earl of Orrery that were "of some literary but no dramatic merit." Pepys reported it "not good" which "made Betterton’s part and Ianthe’s but ordinary too, so that we were not contented with it at all."
About Thursday 18 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Women now (& never ’til now) permitted to appeare & act, which inflaming severall young noble-men & gallants, became their whores, & to some their Wives, witnesse the Earle of Oxford, Sir R: Howard, Pr: Rupert, the E: of Dorset, & another greater person than any of these, who fell into their snares, to the reproch of their noble families, & ruine both of body & Soule:"
Sir Robert Howard was a playwright and married four times. Any dalliance he may have had has not survived in his on-line biographies.
In 1666 Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford had deceived Hester Davenport, an actress, into believing she was married and she was received as the Countess of Oxford until her death decades from now -- although he later officially marries someone else.
Rupert "kept himself apart from much of the wickedness of Charles II's court, but in the summer of 1668 he was unhappily persuaded to accompany his cousin to Tunbridge Wells. There he fell a victim to the charms of the actress, Margaret Hughes."[65]
[65] Hamilton's Mémoires du Comte de Grammont. ed. 1876. pp. 242-243.
Well, we know how unreliable Grammont's memory was ... so he missed their meeting by a couple of years?
Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset was an occasional poet. John Aubrey reproduced a report that Sackville translated Corneille's Le Cid. And he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1665. He was married for 40 years and no hint of a mistress has made it into his online bios.
The Earl of Dorset's son is Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst -- who, in 1667, briefly wins Nell Gwyn's favors ... until she meets and negotiates an acceptable agreement with Charles II.
As Rupert is currently about 5th in line to the throne, being higher than him means one of the Stuart brothers. The official theaters have been closed since the summer of 1665 and they don't officially reopen until later this Fall, although some of the actors went with the court to Oxford to provide entertainment in 1665. We know it can't be James because he's smitten with "the bitch of Denham". Ergo, Charles II must be off having unrecorded fun apart from the supposedly-pregnant Mrs, Palmer.
If I find better gossip to fill in the blanks, I'll be back.
About Thursday 18 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Here my Lord Bruncker proffered to carry me and my wife into a play at Court to-night, and to lend me his coach home, which tempted me much; but I shall not do it."
I wonder what Elizabeth thought about that. Pepys probably didn't tell her. So why didn't he accept? Still keeping his lady hidden from the profane Court? Not wanting to be indebted to Brouncker? Needed an early night? Had heard bad reviews? Actually agreed with Lady Carteret about the loose women on the stage? Didn't want the Generals-at-Sea and Stuart Brothers to see him having fun so his image as the serious one in the office could live for another day? Yup, that about covers it. Pepys was wiser and more disciplined than I would have been.
About Mr Lovett
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys' relationship with the Catholic Lovetts went deep quite quickly.
He first visits their business on May 5, 1665 and by October 18, 1666 he is standing as godfather to their son and paying the midwife and maid:
"... and so away by coach towards Lovett’s ... where I stood godfather. But it was pretty, that, being a Protestant, a man stood by and was my Proxy to answer for me. A priest christened it, and the boy’s name is Samuel. The ceremonies many, and some foolish. The priest in a gentleman’s dress, more than my owne; but is a Capuchin, one of the Queene-mother’s priests. He did give my proxy and the woman proxy (my Lady Bills, absent, had a proxy also) good advice to bring up the child, and, at the end, that he ought never to marry the child nor the godmother, nor the godmother the child or the godfather: but, which is strange, they say that the mother of the child and the godfather may marry. By and by the Lady Bills come in, a well-bred but crooked woman. The poor people of the house had good wine, and a good cake; and she a pretty woman in her lying-in dress. It cost me near 40s. the whole christening: to midwife 20s., nurse 10s., mayde 2s. 6d., and the coach 5s. I was very well satisfied with what I have done, and so home "
Since the fire, Pepys seems to be happily paying for things he would probably previously have balked at. This one surprised me. Being a godfather in those days could have implications.
About Lady Diana Bill
San Diego Sarah • Link
Why on earth would the daughter of Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland marry a printer? I can see why John Bill wanted a noble wife for prestige and representation at Court (and presumably a nice dowry).
In my efforts to unravel this story, I found this fascinating site about the history of the King's Printing House and the publishing of original King James Bible and how it landed the three printers involved (one being said John Bill) in 30 years of law suits, debtors prison and bankruptcy.
http://www.english.qmul.ac.uk/kin…
About Saturday 10 November 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Creed tells me, that it is said that there hath been a design to poison the King."
No doubt Charles II did a few things to avoid being poisoned. One standard thing was to display food on a credenza in the dining hall before it was served.
A credenza is a specialized piece of Italian Renaissance cabinetry which was developed in the 16th century. It’s name derives from the verb ‘to believe’ (credere) since in periods when the purposeful poisoning of food might be suspected, servants first displayed and then publicly tasted the monarch or employer's food before serving it, so diners could believe in its purity.
About Monday 21 May 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
It's not surprising Pepys was familiar with Shakespeare's best seller, "Venus and Adonis".
By 1640 it had gone through 16 editions in 50 years. Amazing -- and a new version is coming out soon:
https://www.apollo-magazine.com/m…
About English Royal Africa Company ("Guinea Company")
San Diego Sarah • Link
Today's Gresham College in London has a continuing series of lectures on a wide assortment of subjects. They are in the midst of a series on slavery ... and for those of us not in London, they are available, free, in podcasts. So go for it ... here's the link for the slavery set:
"Freedom has been central to the identity of the City of London for centuries. But from the 17th to the 19th centuries, the African Slave Trade and Plantation Slavery in the Americas were key to London’s banking, insurance, shipping, manufacturing, commodity trades with Europe, gold and silver supply in London, and later merchant banks like Barings, Schroeder and Kleinwort. The City also benefited from the end of Slavery, as compensated emancipation liberated a flood of liquid capital and provided a £500,000 per annum income stream to its funders."
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lecture…
About Monday 28 August 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
Today's Gresham College in London has a continuing series of lectures on a wide assortment of subjects. They are in the midst of a series on slavery ... and for those of us not in London, they are available, free, in podcasts. So go for it ... here's the link for the slavery set:
"Freedom has been central to the identity of the City of London for centuries. But from the 17th to the 19th centuries, the African Slave Trade and Plantation Slavery in the Americas were key to London’s banking, insurance, shipping, manufacturing, commodity trades with Europe, gold and silver supply in London, and later merchant banks like Barings, Schroeder and Kleinwort. The City also benefited from the end of Slavery, as compensated emancipation liberated a flood of liquid capital and provided a £500,000 per annum income stream to its funders."
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lecture…
About Tuesday 16 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
You read me right, John. Sometimes my ironic British side gets the better of me.
It's hard to fathom the disdain the upper classes in Britain felt for their servants and less fortunate people. I put it in the past tense because people are more enlightened today and most try to behave better ... but you could argue class in Britain has been just as poisonous to the national identity as slavery. You can see from the way Pepys treated his mayds and boys that he was on the slippery slope to the mindset that condoned slavery and outright cruelty. Pepys concern with the recent impressment was that the men didn't get the King's shilling, so it was technically illegal, not that it was an insanely cruel way to run the Navy in a war.
One of our Queen's first acts stuck a knife in the heart of the class system 65 years ago when she refused to meet debutantes. Yes, there is still a "coming out" season in England, but it no longer has royal patronage.
Charles II learned a lot from his adventures after Worcester and being poor and homeless in Europe for 11 years. He also had to rebuild a nation which had lost 100,000 people (that's the equivalent of about 10 million people in the USA today). He had to promote from the ranks -- another manifestation of the problems this caused was the "Gentlemen Captains and Tars" rivalry and lack of cooperation the Generals-at-Sea had to handle this year.
I suspect class is also one of the problems Elizabeth has with the other Commissioners' wives. She may claim her father is French nobility, but she never has her parents visit or introduces them to the neighbors so they probably think she's lying. Pepys' tailor dad and crazy mom are welcome guests, so you can imagine how undesirable her parents must be! I can hear the whispers from behind the lace curtains now.
About Saturday 27 January 1665/66
San Diego Sarah • Link
On 20 April, 1661, Denzil Holles MP was created 1st Baron Holles of Ifield in Sussex, and served as the English ambassador to Paris from 1662-1667, but his obsession with protocol was severely criticized.
I like the A Biographical History of England. J. Granger, 1779 note: "... He refused the insidious presents offered him by Louis XIV with as much disdain as he had before refused 5,000l. offered him by the parliament, to indemnify him for his losses in the civil war.”
Ambassador Holles, who was an excellent French scholar, arrived in Paris on 7 July, 1663. He was ostentatiously English, and a zealous upholder of the national honor and interests; but his position was rendered difficult by the absence of home support.
On 27 January, 1665/66 war was declared against France, but Ambassador Holles was not recalled from Paris until May. Perhaps the fact that he was courting and married Esther Richer, widow of Jacques Richer, a French nobleman in 1666 might have had a little to do with it? Plus I'm sure he had spies to coordinate.
http://bcw-project.org/biography/…
http://www.britannica.com/EBcheck…
https://spartacus-educational.com…
About Tuesday 16 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
I had no idea what beeves were ... thought Ireland had sent something medieval to the City of London:
Merriam Webster definition of beeves:
plural of BEEF.
Very appropriate, considering the Cattle Bill outlawing their import into England is under discussion.
About Tuesday 16 October 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey’s services in the administration of Ireland were especially valuable. He filled the office of vice-treasurer from 1660 until 1667, served on the committee for carrying out the declaration for the settlement of Ireland and on the committee for Irish affairs, SPOILER and in 1667 he exchanged his post of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland for that of Treasurer of the Navy. So Pepys will be getting to know him soon.