I recall Milton was the Latin Secretary for Cromwell for a while (responsible for translating official documents into the international language of Latin). Never heard of Mr. Odart before ... anyone else know of him? Evelyn's spelling is always a challenge, so perhaps this isn't how we know the man now.
All-Hallows-by-the-Tower is very, very old. Go down into its crypt museum, almost overlooked under the stairs, and you will find one of the most perfectly preserved tessellated Roman pavements in the City.
The Church predates the Tower of London by a good 400 years.
There has been a church here since 675, an offshoot of the Abbey in distant Barking. Independence brought expansion and Royal connections. The heart of Richard I is said to be buried in the churchyard, and the church was used to house decapitated heads of traitors prior to their removal to spikes on London Bridge.
The church was nearly destroyed in the Great Fire of London, but was saved by Admiral William Penn. Restored in the late 19th century, it was gutted by WW2 bombs and rebuilt in the 1950s. But, unless you look for it, the restoration might escape notice.
Down a narrow staircase at the back of the church and you’ll find yourself in a gloomy corridor that is part of the Saxon church crypt. The crypt museum has lots of displays in glass cases. The model of Roman London looks like something a school might have put together, but is interesting. Historic documents sit in displays within alcoves with lights that switch on as you approach – or not. A rare use of the camera flash helps.
If you don’t know the Church's history, the drawing of Barking Abbey might confuse, but the panorama of London should be instantly recognizable.
The church has a strong links with the maritime trades as you'll see throughout the building.
The altar at the end of the corridor sits in a smaller chapel. This was originally outside the Saxon-era church and contains three burial urns. The three stones under the Altar came from Israel, probably brought by the Knights Templar.
At the other end, under the stairs you came down, you’ll see the famous Roman floor. Considering the scale of other Roman remains in London it’s not that impressive, but it is the best flooring of them all. It comes from a domestic house and has a gully thought to be the position of a lost wall. The house might have been part of the nearby Roman Bath House complex, which currently sits under an office block, and is open occasionally.
The Crypt museum is open whenever the church is open, which is most of the day throughout the week.
Considering its age, it’s not a surprise that All Hallows also hosts important City ceremonies, such as the Beating the Bounds and the Knolly’s Rose.
The Synagogue the Pepys' visited was on Creechurch Street. After 40 years there was enough support to build a purpose-built Synagogue, and the congregation moved to one which is open to visitors today. It is very interesting because it has never been "renovated" -- yes they have added electricity, but the chandeliers are still set up for candles, etc. And it was designed by a Christian.
The result is, if you want to see a true 17th century London church, visiting this Synagogue is probably the closest you can get.
CLARET ... the beverage of choice for the Scots nobility:
The Auld Alliance was a military and commercial alliance between France and Scotland to keep English expansionism in check -- and was also founded on the Scots love of wine!
It was due to this special relationship that in earlier centuries Scottish merchants had the privilege of selecting the finest wines, much to the annoyance of wine drinkers south of the border. Wine landed in barrels at ports like Leith was mostly for consumption by the elite of Scottish society (commoners were apparently content with drinking whisky or beer).
The Auld Alliance was rocked by the Reformation, and trade between Protestant Scotland and Catholic France would obviously no longer be feasible -- with the exception of claret. The Scots seemingly could not exist without it.
Records show Scottish merchants going to Bordeaux to bring back their favorite choice wine, claret, as late as 1670.
Even after the Union of Parliaments with England in 1707, claret continued to be smuggled into Scotland, thus avoiding taxes. Scots demonstrated their affinity with their French friends by toasting ‘the King over the water’ with a fine drop of claret.
The original alliance that granted dual citizenship in both countries was eventually revoked by the French government in 1903. With BREXIT, I wonder if this well-established independent relationship will blossom again?
Lady Esther Crofts Poley (d. 1714) -- Wife of Sir Edmund Poley, MP for Bury St. Edmunds. They married circa 1651.
Esther was daughter of Sir Henry Crofts of Little Saxham, Suff., her aunt was the mother of Secretary of State Sir Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, and three of her brothers were in exile with Charles II. The eldest, William, took charge for a time of the upbringing of the future Duke of Monmouth, then called ‘James Crofts’. But probably the most important of all reasons for Pepys to be at this party was the fact that Sir Edmund was a Prize Commissioner.
"There I left them, and myself by coach to St. James’s, where we attended with the rest of my fellows on the Duke, whom I found with two or three patches upon his nose and about his right eye, which come from his being struck with the bough of a tree the other day in his hunting; and it is a wonder it did not strike out his eye."
What did they use to stick patches on their faces?
"Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning,"
AGENDA 1. How to avoid being fired 2. How to repair the fleet with no money 3. Where to send ships now Greenwich and Deptford are under-staffed from the plague 4. Accounting procedures to meet Coventry's promise to James, Duke of York 5. Penn's report from Sheerness -- Peter Pett -- cause of fighting at Chatham 6. How to protect the Navy Office Complex and staff the next time there is a riot
"On February 5th 1667 he even manages some stimulation with Betty while sitting next to his wife:
"I did come to sit avec Betty Michell, and there had her main, which elle did give me very frankly now, and did hazer whatever I voudrais avec l', which did plaisir me grandement"
"His French is clear: avec = with, main = hand, elle = she, hazer = make, voudrais avec la = would have with her, plaisir = pleasure, grandement = greatly, besar = kiss
"I perceive by the new face at Mrs. Pierces door that our Mary is gone from her."
So the Pepys' former maid has now left Mrs. Pierce. Perhaps that's how Mrs. Pierce heard Bess' unkind comments about how few outfits she had?
"... but I would make no words, but put the discourse by as much as I could (it being about a report that my wife said was made of herself and meant by Mrs. Pierce, that she was grown a gallant, when she had but so few suits of clothes these two or three years, and a great deale of that silly discourse), and by and by Mrs. Pierce did tell her that such discourses should not trouble her, for there went as bad on other people, and particularly of herself at this end of the towne, meaning my wife, that she was crooked, which was quite false, which my wife had the wit not to acknowledge herself to be the speaker of, though she has said it twenty times."
In what I can unravel from this sentence, I don't think the L&M definition of crooked can apply here. Maybe "devious" would be more appropriate -- but it's hardly a word I would apply to Bess. For a gossip, sometimes Pepys is too obscure.
"... how poorly my Lord carried himself the other day to his kinswoman, Mrs. Howard, and was displeased because she called him uncle to a little gentlewoman that is there with him, which he will not admit of; for no relation is to be challenged from others to a lord, and did treat her thereupon very rudely and ungenteely."
Brouncker treated his relative, Mrs. Howard (housekeeper of James' Deptford Treasurer's House, and known to the Evelyns -- i.e. she is a lady, not a servant) poorly because she called him "uncle" to a little gentlewoman who is living in his Covent Garden house, which he will not admit to.
Illegitimate children were often explained away when the father take them in and introduce the inconvenient child as being a niece or nephew. Mrs. Howard is starting gossip Brouncker does not welcome.
Brouncker is turning out to be quite the Lothario.
"So it wasn't Pepys himself who rubbed Brouncker up the wrong way the other day, it was just that he had called at the Covent Garden house at a most inconvenient time when B. was dealing with a jealous and hysterical maitresse en titre."
I disagree with Mary. It was Pepys who offended Brouncker ... he was told it was a bad time to visit, so Pepys and Creed walk around outside waiting to ambush Brouncker when he came out to his coach.
If a servant like a footman says it's a bad time, etiquette requires you go away. Stalking is bad manners yesterday and today.
"... by water to my Lady Montagu’s, at Westminster,"
I wonder if the Sandwichs have sold or rented the great house in Lincoln's Inn Fields? Sandwich had apartments at Whitehall ... but Lady Sandwich's staying in Westminster. Any ideas anyone?
"and there visited my Lord Hinchingbroke, newly come from Hinchingbroke, and find him a mighty sober gentleman, to my great content."
I bet Hinchingbrooke was sober ... but we see from this that he doesn't confide in Pepys as much as Pepys assumes.
Hinchingbrooke doesn't mention seeing the Queen at Tunbridge Wells or his broken engagement!
{According to A PROFANE WIT, The Life of JOHN WILMOT, Earl of Rochester by James William Johnson, University of Rochester Press, page 85, ISBN 978-1-58046-336-2.
In July and August 1666, Lord Hawley was in the retinue of Queen Catherine when she went to Tunbridge Wells to take the waters. Lady Warre and Elizabeth Mallet (his niece) were also there, as was Lord Hinchingbrooke. While Hawley wrote letters expressing pleasure about being attendant on the Queen, Elizabeth was breaking up with Hinchingbrooke -- and she showed a discernible measure of satisfaction in so doing. Apparently the previous February she had offered herself as his wife, and he had not exhibited any enthusiasm or romantic attention since, and she was no longer interested.)
Samuel - if you compile the numbers, please remember to share.
And as to "has anyone worked out how many women he was consorting with (or seeking to consort with) at any one time? And I wonder how exceptional (or otherwise) in this regard he might have been?" -- your guess is as good as ours.
Remember Ecclesiastes 2: "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die"? Gluttony, lust, greed, etc., are old problems, and Pepys was a flawed human like the rest of us. He dealt with his stressers as best he could.
Compared to the Court of Louis XIV, where they were holding black masses, and murder by poison implicated Louis' mistress, the Court of St. James behaved quite benignly.
This is 1666 --- for decades the millennialists had warned of the end of the world this year. Evidently Pepys didn't buy it, but as a population stressor, it was there. And those pesky comets in 1665 didn't help.
The Civil Wars killed 10 per cent of the population. Building it back up was essential. Then came the plague. Charles and James were role-modeling the necessary behavior to rebuild the country (consciously or unconsciously I have no idea). We have just seen the manpower shortage affect the Navy's ability to protect the nation.
Many of the older men, including Charles, had PTSD. Gambling, sex, drinking and reckless risk taking (like duels) are ways to self-medicate. The French were self-medicating the same ways at the same time.
Many of the younger men, including Rochester and Pepys, were fatherless children. They had abandonment issues, separation anxiety, and grew up with a lack of male role models. At Court, many inherited wealth, titles and responsibilities at unusually young ages. Young people away from home with money often live wildly.
I try to remember not to judge too harshly; I am very happy not to have walked a mile in their chopines. The Roaring 20's and the Swinging 60's and 70's show me we have not evolved very far.
Wandsworth was convenient to Whitehall, and so there were a number of manor houses and estates where courtiers and their families could live.
When the old manor house of Wandsworth was pulled down, upon removing some old paneling a little cupboard was discovered, full of dusty phials and mouldy pillboxes bearing the names of Queen Anne's numerous children who died in infancy – perhaps they had been sent there for wet nurse services?
In Pepys’ time Endymion Porter, gentleman of the bedchamber and one of the favorite attendants of King Charles I took a lease of the manor of Allfarthing for 31 years, to commence in 1646.
The manor of Dunsford was sold in 1664 to the family of Sir Allen Brodrick MP, in whose possession it continued for several generations.
Mortlake ... where Dr John Dee lived, and where the famous Mortlake tapestries were made for Charles I. Of course, Cromwell shut down the factory, and Charles II promised to start their manufacture again, but never got around to it.
Why didn't Charles II organize serious lotteries? The selling of a patent for the monopoly was the established, easy way to do it, but the people running the lotteries made the big bucks, as would be needed to finance war. His courtiers loved to gamble, so this would have fleeced the right people
But Charles sold the patents, and after the Restoration lotteries of all sorts became popular. They were started under pretense of aiding poor royalists who had suffered in the civil wars. Gifts of plate, supposedly from the Crown, were disposed of 'on the behalf of the truly loyal indigent officers.'
'The Royal Oak Lottery' caused the most comment. It continued to the end of the century and met with lots of criticism. The organization was frequently the subject for satirists.
In 1699, a lottery was proposed with a capital prize of 1,000l., which could be won for risking one penny.
Speculation characterized the English in the early 18th century, culminating in the South Sea Bubble, and favored all kinds of lotteries. There were 'great goes' in whole tickets, and 'little goes' in their subdivisions; the lottery speculators took out insurance; fortune tellers sold 'lucky numbers.'
A writer in The Spectator reported, 'I know a well-meaning man that is well pleased to risk his good-fortune upon the number 1711, because it is the year of our Lord. ... a certain zealous dissenter, who, being a great enemy to popery, and believing that bad men are the most fortunate in this world, will lay two to one on the number 666 against any other number ...'
The Guildhall was a scene of great excitement when drawings were held there, and poor medical practitioners attended, ready to let blood when the sudden proclaiming of the winning tickets had an overpowering effect.
Lotteries were not confined to money prizes: Plate and jewels were favorites; books were common; but the strangest was for deer from Sion Park.
Henry Fielding wrote a farce produced at Drury Lane Theater in 1731, set in a lottery office. The action ridiculed the office keepers and the credulity of their victims.
A whimsical pamphlet was published around the same time, claiming to be a prospectus of 'a lottery for ladies;' with the chief prize being a husband and coach and six, for 5 pounds (the price of each share). Husbands of “inferior grade, in purse and person” were the second, third and fourth prizes. A similar lottery for wives was soon advertised. This was legitimate satire, but despite reason and ridicule, lotteries continued to be supported by a gullible public.
Some legitimate lotteries were held. In 1736 an act was passed to build a bridge at Westminster by lottery, consisting of 125,000 tickets at £5 each.
Comments
Second Reading
About Friday 10 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
John Evelyn's Diary -
10 August, 1666 -- Dined with Mr. Odart, Secretary of the Latin tongue.
http://brittlebooks.library.illin…
I recall Milton was the Latin Secretary for Cromwell for a while (responsible for translating official documents into the international language of Latin). Never heard of Mr. Odart before ... anyone else know of him? Evelyn's spelling is always a challenge, so perhaps this isn't how we know the man now.
About All Hallows Church, Barking
San Diego Sarah • Link
All-Hallows-by-the-Tower is very, very old. Go down into its crypt museum, almost overlooked under the stairs, and you will find one of the most perfectly preserved tessellated Roman pavements in the City.
The Church predates the Tower of London by a good 400 years.
There has been a church here since 675, an offshoot of the Abbey in distant Barking. Independence brought expansion and Royal connections. The heart of Richard I is said to be buried in the churchyard, and the church was used to house decapitated heads of traitors prior to their removal to spikes on London Bridge.
The church was nearly destroyed in the Great Fire of London, but was saved by Admiral William Penn. Restored in the late 19th century, it was gutted by WW2 bombs and rebuilt in the 1950s. But, unless you look for it, the restoration might escape notice.
Down a narrow staircase at the back of the church and you’ll find yourself in a gloomy corridor that is part of the Saxon church crypt. The crypt museum has lots of displays in glass cases. The model of Roman London looks like something a school might have put together, but is interesting. Historic documents sit in displays within alcoves with lights that switch on as you approach – or not. A rare use of the camera flash helps.
If you don’t know the Church's history, the drawing of Barking Abbey might confuse, but the panorama of London should be instantly recognizable.
The church has a strong links with the maritime trades as you'll see throughout the building.
The altar at the end of the corridor sits in a smaller chapel. This was originally outside the Saxon-era church and contains three burial urns. The three stones under the Altar came from Israel, probably brought by the Knights Templar.
At the other end, under the stairs you came down, you’ll see the famous Roman floor. Considering the scale of other Roman remains in London it’s not that impressive, but it is the best flooring of them all. It comes from a domestic house and has a gully thought to be the position of a lost wall. The house might have been part of the nearby Roman Bath House complex, which currently sits under an office block, and is open occasionally.
The Crypt museum is open whenever the church is open, which is most of the day throughout the week.
Considering its age, it’s not a surprise that All Hallows also hosts important City ceremonies, such as the Beating the Bounds and the Knolly’s Rose.
For pictures, see https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/…
About Wednesday 14 October 1663
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Synagogue the Pepys' visited was on Creechurch Street. After 40 years there was enough support to build a purpose-built Synagogue, and the congregation moved to one which is open to visitors today. It is very interesting because it has never been "renovated" -- yes they have added electricity, but the chandeliers are still set up for candles, etc. And it was designed by a Christian.
The result is, if you want to see a true 17th century London church, visiting this Synagogue is probably the closest you can get.
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/…
About Thursday 9 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I being sleepy by my late want of rest, notwithstanding my endeavoring to get a nap of an hour this afternoon after dinner."
Pepys is getting old ... his first nap that I'm aware of!
About Wine
San Diego Sarah • Link
CLARET ... the beverage of choice for the Scots nobility:
The Auld Alliance was a military and commercial alliance between France and Scotland to keep English expansionism in check -- and was also founded on the Scots love of wine!
It was due to this special relationship that in earlier centuries Scottish merchants had the privilege of selecting the finest wines, much to the annoyance of wine drinkers south of the border. Wine landed in barrels at ports like Leith was mostly for consumption by the elite of Scottish society (commoners were apparently content with drinking whisky or beer).
The Auld Alliance was rocked by the Reformation, and trade between Protestant Scotland and Catholic France would obviously no longer be feasible -- with the exception of claret. The Scots seemingly could not exist without it.
Records show Scottish merchants going to Bordeaux to bring back their favorite choice wine, claret, as late as 1670.
Even after the Union of Parliaments with England in 1707, claret continued to be smuggled into Scotland, thus avoiding taxes. Scots demonstrated their affinity with their French friends by toasting ‘the King over the water’ with a fine drop of claret.
The original alliance that granted dual citizenship in both countries was eventually revoked by the French government in 1903. With BREXIT, I wonder if this well-established independent relationship will blossom again?
Information from https://www.historic-uk.com/Histo… and speculation from me.
About Mrs Pooley
San Diego Sarah • Link
Lady Esther Crofts Poley (d. 1714) -- Wife of Sir Edmund Poley, MP for Bury St. Edmunds. They married circa 1651.
Esther was daughter of Sir Henry Crofts of Little Saxham, Suff., her aunt was the mother of Secretary of State Sir Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, and three of her brothers were in exile with Charles II. The eldest, William, took charge for a time of the upbringing of the future Duke of Monmouth, then called ‘James Crofts’. But probably the most important of all reasons for Pepys to be at this party was the fact that Sir Edmund was a Prize Commissioner.
Notes taken from https://www.historyofparliamenton… and https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Wednesday 8 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"There I left them, and myself by coach to St. James’s, where we attended with the rest of my fellows on the Duke, whom I found with two or three patches upon his nose and about his right eye, which come from his being struck with the bough of a tree the other day in his hunting; and it is a wonder it did not strike out his eye."
What did they use to stick patches on their faces?
About Tuesday 7 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Unspoken part of Pepys' Agenda:
Be nice to Brouncker.
About Tuesday 7 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning,"
AGENDA
1. How to avoid being fired
2. How to repair the fleet with no money
3. Where to send ships now Greenwich and Deptford are under-staffed from the plague
4. Accounting procedures to meet Coventry's promise to James, Duke of York
5. Penn's report from Sheerness -- Peter Pett -- cause of fighting at Chatham
6. How to protect the Navy Office Complex and staff the next time there is a riot
Busy men ... I wish we had the Minutes
About Tuesday 5 February 1666/67
San Diego Sarah • Link
No one has translated this one yet:
"On February 5th 1667 he even manages some stimulation with Betty while sitting next to his wife:
"I did come to sit avec Betty Michell, and there had her main, which elle did give me very frankly now, and did hazer whatever I voudrais avec l', which did plaisir me grandement"
"His French is clear: avec = with, main = hand, elle = she, hazer = make, voudrais avec la = would have with her, plaisir = pleasure, grandement = greatly, besar = kiss
http://www.pepys.info/bits.html
About Monday 6 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I perceive by the new face at Mrs. Pierces door that our Mary is gone from her."
So the Pepys' former maid has now left Mrs. Pierce. Perhaps that's how Mrs. Pierce heard Bess' unkind comments about how few outfits she had?
"... but I would make no words, but put the discourse by as much as I could (it being about a report that my wife said was made of herself and meant by Mrs. Pierce, that she was grown a gallant, when she had but so few suits of clothes these two or three years, and a great deale of that silly discourse), and by and by Mrs. Pierce did tell her that such discourses should not trouble her, for there went as bad on other people, and particularly of herself at this end of the towne, meaning my wife, that she was crooked, which was quite false, which my wife had the wit not to acknowledge herself to be the speaker of, though she has said it twenty times."
In what I can unravel from this sentence, I don't think the L&M definition of crooked can apply here. Maybe "devious" would be more appropriate -- but it's hardly a word I would apply to Bess. For a gossip, sometimes Pepys is too obscure.
About Monday 6 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"So I home, calling on W. Joyce in my coach, and staid and talked a little with him, who is the same silly prating fellow that ever he was,"
Pepys really did not want to go home!
About Monday 6 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... how poorly my Lord carried himself the other day to his kinswoman, Mrs. Howard, and was displeased because she called him uncle to a little gentlewoman that is there with him, which he will not admit of; for no relation is to be challenged from others to a lord, and did treat her thereupon very rudely and ungenteely."
Brouncker treated his relative, Mrs. Howard (housekeeper of James' Deptford Treasurer's House, and known to the Evelyns -- i.e. she is a lady, not a servant) poorly because she called him "uncle" to a little gentlewoman who is living in his Covent Garden house, which he will not admit to.
Illegitimate children were often explained away when the father take them in and introduce the inconvenient child as being a niece or nephew. Mrs. Howard is starting gossip Brouncker does not welcome.
Brouncker is turning out to be quite the Lothario.
About Monday 6 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... Greenwich is at this time much worse than ever it was, and Deptford too: ..."
I assume these plague numbers mean the shipyards will be impacted by dead and missing workers. Repairing the fleet just became more difficult????
About Monday 6 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"So it wasn't Pepys himself who rubbed Brouncker up the wrong way the other day, it was just that he had called at the Covent Garden house at a most inconvenient time when B. was dealing with a jealous and hysterical maitresse en titre."
I disagree with Mary. It was Pepys who offended Brouncker ... he was told it was a bad time to visit, so Pepys and Creed walk around outside waiting to ambush Brouncker when he came out to his coach.
If a servant like a footman says it's a bad time, etiquette requires you go away. Stalking is bad manners yesterday and today.
About Monday 6 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... by water to my Lady Montagu’s, at Westminster,"
I wonder if the Sandwichs have sold or rented the great house in Lincoln's Inn Fields? Sandwich had apartments at Whitehall ... but Lady Sandwich's staying in Westminster. Any ideas anyone?
"and there visited my Lord Hinchingbroke, newly come from Hinchingbroke, and find him a mighty sober gentleman, to my great content."
I bet Hinchingbrooke was sober ... but we see from this that he doesn't confide in Pepys as much as Pepys assumes.
Hinchingbrooke doesn't mention seeing the Queen at Tunbridge Wells or his broken engagement!
{According to A PROFANE WIT, The Life of JOHN WILMOT, Earl of Rochester by James William Johnson, University of Rochester Press, page 85, ISBN 978-1-58046-336-2.
In July and August 1666, Lord Hawley was in the retinue of Queen Catherine when she went to Tunbridge Wells to take the waters. Lady Warre and Elizabeth Mallet (his niece) were also there, as was Lord Hinchingbrooke. While Hawley wrote letters expressing pleasure about being attendant on the Queen, Elizabeth was breaking up with Hinchingbrooke -- and she showed a discernible measure of satisfaction in so doing. Apparently the previous February she had offered herself as his wife, and he had not exhibited any enthusiasm or romantic attention since, and she was no longer interested.)
About Sunday 5 August 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Samuel - if you compile the numbers, please remember to share.
And as to "has anyone worked out how many women he was consorting with (or seeking to consort with) at any one time? And I wonder how exceptional (or otherwise) in this regard he might have been?" -- your guess is as good as ours.
Remember Ecclesiastes 2: "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die"? Gluttony, lust, greed, etc., are old problems, and Pepys was a flawed human like the rest of us. He dealt with his stressers as best he could.
Compared to the Court of Louis XIV, where they were holding black masses, and murder by poison implicated Louis' mistress, the Court of St. James behaved quite benignly.
This is 1666 --- for decades the millennialists had warned of the end of the world this year. Evidently Pepys didn't buy it, but as a population stressor, it was there. And those pesky comets in 1665 didn't help.
The Civil Wars killed 10 per cent of the population. Building it back up was essential. Then came the plague. Charles and James were role-modeling the necessary behavior to rebuild the country (consciously or unconsciously I have no idea). We have just seen the manpower shortage affect the Navy's ability to protect the nation.
Many of the older men, including Charles, had PTSD. Gambling, sex, drinking and reckless risk taking (like duels) are ways to self-medicate. The French were self-medicating the same ways at the same time.
Many of the younger men, including Rochester and Pepys, were fatherless children. They had abandonment issues, separation anxiety, and grew up with a lack of male role models. At Court, many inherited wealth, titles and responsibilities at unusually young ages. Young people away from home with money often live wildly.
I try to remember not to judge too harshly; I am very happy not to have walked a mile in their chopines. The Roaring 20's and the Swinging 60's and 70's show me we have not evolved very far.
About Wandsworth, Surrey
San Diego Sarah • Link
Wandsworth was convenient to Whitehall, and so there were a number of manor houses and estates where courtiers and their families could live.
When the old manor house of Wandsworth was pulled down, upon removing some old paneling a little cupboard was discovered, full of dusty phials and mouldy pillboxes bearing the names of Queen Anne's numerous children who died in infancy – perhaps they had been sent there for wet nurse services?
In Pepys’ time Endymion Porter, gentleman of the bedchamber and one of the favorite attendants of King Charles I took a lease of the manor of Allfarthing for 31 years, to commence in 1646.
The manor of Dunsford was sold in 1664 to the family of Sir Allen Brodrick MP, in whose possession it continued for several generations.
Highlights from an 18th century history of Wandsworth https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
About Mortlake
San Diego Sarah • Link
Mortlake ... where Dr John Dee lived, and where the famous Mortlake tapestries were made for Charles I. Of course, Cromwell shut down the factory, and Charles II promised to start their manufacture again, but never got around to it.
For a fascinating history of the area, written in 1792, see
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
About Petty's 'A Treatise of Taxes & Contributions'
San Diego Sarah • Link
Why didn't Charles II organize serious lotteries? The selling of a patent for the monopoly was the established, easy way to do it, but the people running the lotteries made the big bucks, as would be needed to finance war. His courtiers loved to gamble, so this would have fleeced the right people
But Charles sold the patents, and after the Restoration lotteries of all sorts became popular. They were started under pretense of aiding poor royalists who had suffered in the civil wars. Gifts of plate, supposedly from the Crown, were disposed of 'on the behalf of the truly loyal indigent officers.'
'The Royal Oak Lottery' caused the most comment. It continued to the end of the century and met with lots of criticism. The organization was frequently the subject for satirists.
In 1699, a lottery was proposed with a capital prize of 1,000l., which could be won for risking one penny.
Speculation characterized the English in the early 18th century, culminating in the South Sea Bubble, and favored all kinds of lotteries. There were 'great goes' in whole tickets, and 'little goes' in their subdivisions; the lottery speculators took out insurance; fortune tellers sold 'lucky numbers.'
A writer in The Spectator reported, 'I know a well-meaning man that is well pleased to risk his good-fortune upon the number 1711, because it is the year of our Lord. ... a certain zealous dissenter, who, being a great enemy to popery, and believing that bad men are the most fortunate in this world, will lay two to one on the number 666 against any other number ...'
The Guildhall was a scene of great excitement when drawings were held there, and poor medical practitioners attended, ready to let blood when the sudden proclaiming of the winning tickets had an overpowering effect.
Lotteries were not confined to money prizes: Plate and jewels were favorites; books were common; but the strangest was for deer from Sion Park.
Henry Fielding wrote a farce produced at Drury Lane Theater in 1731, set in a lottery office. The action ridiculed the office keepers and the credulity of their victims.
A whimsical pamphlet was published around the same time, claiming to be a prospectus of 'a lottery for ladies;' with the chief prize being a husband and coach and six, for 5 pounds (the price of each share). Husbands of “inferior grade, in purse and person” were the second, third and fourth prizes. A similar lottery for wives was soon advertised. This was legitimate satire, but despite reason and ridicule, lotteries continued to be supported by a gullible public.
Some legitimate lotteries were held. In 1736 an act was passed to build a bridge at Westminster by lottery, consisting of 125,000 tickets at £5 each.
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