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San Diego Sarah has posted 9,748 annotations/comments since 6 August 2015.

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Second Reading

About Saturday 19 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"to Charing-Cross, to the post-house," The White Hart by the Inner Spring Garden and opposite the royal mews.
(L&M note)

This is a different Spring Garden than the one Pepys usually goes to in Vauxhall.

One of the sights of London in the 17th century was the garden which lay between St. James's Park and Charing Cross, called Spring Gardens. The place was laid out as a bowling-green; it had also butts, a bathing-pond, a spring made to scatter water all around by turning a wheel. There was also an ordinary, which charged 6s. for a dinner — then an enormous price — and a tavern where drinking of wine was carried on all day long. In the "Character of England," 1659, attributed to Evelyn, the following account of Spring Gardens is found:

"The manner is as the company returned [from Hyde Park] to alight at the Spring Gardens so called, in order to the Park, as our Thuilleries is to the Course; the enclosure not disagreeable, for the solemness of the grove is broken by the warbling of the birds, as it opens into the spacious walks at St. James's; but the company walk in it at such a rate, you would think that all the ladies were so many Atalantas contending with their wooers. ... But fast as they run they stay there so long as if they wanted not time to finish the race; for it is usual here to find some of the young company until midnight; and the thickets of the garden seem to be contrived to all advantages of gallantry; after they have been refreshed with the collation, which is here seldom omitted, at a certain cabaret, in the middle of this paradise, where the forbidden fruits are certain trifling tarts, neats' tongues, salacious meats, and bad Rhenish; for which the gallants pay sauce, as indeed they do at all such houses throughout England."

This was 1659 -- the end if the Interregnum.

About Saturday 19 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

My understanding of the debacle at Bergen is that, after the defeat, Thomas Clifford MP was put ashore at midnight disguised as a sailor, for a conversation with commandant Major Gen. Johan Caspar von Cicignon. The conversation was conducted in mixed Latin and French, but it went against the English, who were looking for a second chance.

A second chance to attack the VOC ships without Cicignon's troops firing back with cover? Does Montagu mention this risky adventure?

http://www.historyofparliamentonl… says: 'Having done as much as any man (except perhaps Sir George Downing) to start the war, Thomas Clifford MP did not personally shirk the consequences. He served as a volunteer in the naval campaign of 1665, ...'

Clifford was related by marriage to John Evelyn, and one of the Commissioner for the sick and wounded.

All it says in Wikipedia is that "Clifford distinguished himself in naval battles, and was knighted."

My admiration for my fellow Devonian increases. The Cliffords of Chudleigh were a hardy band of seafarers.

About Saturday 19 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Hanibal Sehested (a son-in-law of Frederick III of Denmark) must have been a charming man, because he got away with a lot. In early 1651 he was prosecuted for embezzlement by the Danish government, so from then until 1660 he lived abroad. At the end of 1655, Sehested met the exiled Charles II at Cologne and lived a part of the following year with him in the Spanish Netherlands. In the summer of 1657 Sehested returned to Denmark, but Frederick III refused to receive him, so he quickly left Copenhagen and by the crisis of the Second Northern War of 1658, Sehested was at the headquarters of Charles X of Sweden.

By seeking protection from his country’s worst enemy, Hanibal Sehested approached treason, but never quite committed it. When it seemed likely the war would not annihilate Denmark, Sehested secure his future by working in Denmark’s interests while staying in Sweden. In April 1660, Frederick III had invited him to Copenhagen to negotiate with the Swedes. The Treaty of Copenhagen, which saved Denmark’s honor, was largely Sehested's work.

Hanibal Sehested was one of the willing abettors of Frederick III in the revolution of 1660, when he re-entered the Danish service as lord treasurer and councilor of state.
He continued as a statesman and diplomat until his sudden death in Paris on 23 September 1666.

For more info see https://www.revolvy.com/page/Hann…

About Saturday 19 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Sir Gilbert Talbot had been posted to Venice from 1634-1645, and served as a gentleman usher of the privy chamber to Charles II during the Interregnum, during which he is credited with the idea for the Sealed Knot. He was a founding members of the Royal Society, but briefly resumed his diplomatic career as envoy to Denmark from 1664-1666 during the second Dutch war, although without conspicuous success, as he was accused of responsibility for the misunderstanding that caused the fiasco at Bergen. For more info see http://www.historyofparliamentonl…

About Cranbourne Lodge, Windsor Park

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

http://www.berkshirehistory.com/c…

"After the Restoration, Anne Hyde's father, the 1st Earl of Clarendon, had it as a retreat from public life. The diarist, Samuel Pepys, visited many times when his superior, Sir George Carteret, Treasurer of the Navy Board, was the Keeper in the 1660s. They would walk together in the Great Park discussing Navy business. Once his guide got lost on the way there and Pepys had to navigate by the moon. When he eventually arrived, the lodge was in the middle of being rebuilt. There was no way in and he had to ascend a ladder up to Carteret's bedroom and climb in at the window.

"John Evelyn tells us of a great dinner given for Charles II there in 1674.

"Lord Ranelagh, the Paymaster General of the Army, lived at the lodge in the 1690s. He amassed a huge fortune under rather dubious circumstances and spent much of it improving the park and gardens at Cranbourne, as well as founding Ranelagh School in Winkfield and now Bracknell. "

About Staines, Surrey

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Brentford is about 10 miles from London, so it was the first staging post where coach horses were rested or changed before carrying on to Hounslow Heath, Staines, Windsor and Bath, ...

About Staines, Surrey

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

https://mercuriuspoliticus.wordpr…

Below are the steps John Taylor took on his journey to see King Charles in Newport:
19 October 1648. He took the Southampton coach from the Rose at Holborn Bridge. He went along St. Giles to Brentford and then on to Staines, where he stayed the night at the Bush Inn.
20 October 1648. John Taylor left Staines and went through Bagshot and Blackwater, before reaching Alton where he stayed in the White Hart. ... and on to Newport, Isle of Wight.

About Hounslow

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Hounslow no longer exists as Pepys would have known it, as it's next to Heathrow airport, but there are echoes. Back then:

http://hidden-london.com/gazettee…

By 1635 Hounslow had already acquired significance as a coaching halt, conveniently located just before the Bath and Staines roads diverged across Hounslow Heath. Although the village barely extended beyond the High Street, there were over 100 residents and at least five inns, some of which had been in existence for more than a century. The separate village of Lampton lay to the north.
&&&

https://www.britannica.com/place/…

In the late 13th century a bridge was built across the River Brent, and Brentford grew as a market town in rural Middlesex.

During the English Civil Wars, Chiswick (on the present border between Ealing and Hounslow) was the site of the Battle of Turnham Green, which was fought at Brentford, Turnham Green, and Acton in 1642; as a result of the battle, the Parliamentarians blocked the advance of King Charles into London.

Hounslow Heath was a vast woodland extending over thousands of acres; the area was notorious for attacks by highwaymen.

Nearby estates include Syon House (1547–52), Boston Manor House (1623), and Osterley Park House (16th century) all of which are set in pleasant landscaped parkland. The present Chiswick House was built in Palladian-style by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. Syon House was the home of the dukes of Northumberland. The Gresham family had owned Osterley Park House in Isleworth, and the gardens are now a sizable public park. Other mansions include Gunnersbury Park Estate and Hogarth’s House (c. 1700), which displays prints of William Hogarth’s work.

About Saturday 19 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

There were stables (mews) all over London. I continue to be surprised the Navy Office complex didn't include a small one with a few horses and a couple of coaches for the use of the staff. Having to borrow a horse from a vendor is not only embarrassing but compromising.

About Plague

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Leviticus 14 – St. James Bible
https://biblehub.com/kjv/leviticu…

33And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
34When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; 35And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: 36Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house:37And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; 38Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: 39And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; 40Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: 41And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: 42And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.
43And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered; 44Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. 46Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. 47And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. 48And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 50... 51... 52... 53... [all about killing birds and using cedar wood, etc.] 54This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall,

About Thursday 17 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I agree, Tonyel ... "But your Majesty, we needed to get away from the smog in London to see the new comet, and the yacht needed a trial after some maintenance, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. We did discuss business while we were drinking your wine and eating your deer. Pepys is sorry about the fat drippings on the velvet pillow he used, aren't you Pepys?" Yada yada yada.

About Thursday 17 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Charles II paid for lunch (by which I think they were given food from Whitehall which would go bad otherwise) ... then off on the King's yacht to lie on his velvet cushions to look at the stars. A nice day out for the boys. Bonding at its best. I hope the Court is enjoying themselves as much in Salisbury.

About Wednesday 16 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Bunhill Cemetery today: https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/…...

And the Salty One's favorite Millennium preacher was to be found there at this time:
In 1656 Thomas Vincent was incorporated at Cambridge. He was soon put into the sequestered rectory of St. Mary Magdalene, Milk Street, London, and held it until the Uniformity Act of 1662 ejected him. Vincent retired to Hoxton, where he preached privately while assisting Thomas Doolittle in his school at Bunhill Fields.
For more information see http://www.apuritansmind.com/puri…...

George Fox was interred in the Nonconformists' burying ground at Bunhill Fields on 16 January, 1691 in the presence of thousands of mourners.

Bunhill Fields burial ground's historic significance has been recognized by its designation as a grade II listed building, as part of the Bunhill Fields Burial ground and Finsbury Square conservation area.

It is the last resting place for about 120,000 bodies. The site has a long history as a burial ground, but is most significant for its Nonconformist connections, dating from the 17th century, and the burial of prominent people including William Blake, Daniel Defoe, John Bunyan and Susannah Wesley.

About Wednesday 16 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

GETTING AHEAD OF OURSELVES:

"L&M: Sandwich on 18 December abandoned negotiations for the match on hearing that the King had disposed the hand of Elizabeth Malet elsewhere, and in 1667 Hinchingbrooke married Lady Anne Burlington. He had been abroad -- with a tutor in Paris and traveling -- for the past four years."

Sandwich WILL abandon negotiations next February 1665/66 -- see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… . Hinchingbrooke will marry Lady Anne BOYLE, daughter of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork (niece of Robert Boyle FRS).

And now Elizabeth has just branded an impoverished 18-year-old Earl as 'notorious'. He only got home from his grand tour on December 25 (delivered a letter from Minette to Charles II) and then was taken home to Ditchley, OXON by his tutor. He's been cooling his heels in the country, wondering how to make a living, and thinking a rich wife would be a good start ... hence the kidnapping which got him into a boat-load of trouble with the King, who loves him (because he's fun, rather like his father who shared Charles' escape after Worcester, and his years abroad). But 'notorious'? -- not yet.

About Friday 11 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... having a young married woman brought me by her father, old Delkes, ..., to get her husband off that he should not go to sea, ..."

Sounds to me like Mr. Robins has been impressed, and "old" Delkes and young (newly married?) Judy have conspired to do whatever they can to rescue him. Perhaps Robins is the family wage earner? -- they must be desperate to suggest this.

About Sunday 13 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"'I shall be in much better state of soul…' Apart from a bit of opportunistic adultery, of course." -- "Wasn't the Protestant Ethic more concerned with accumulation (as a sign of God's grace) than with sexual mores?"

Oscar Wilde says it best: ​"Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality."

Pepys and 17th century men considered playing around with the ladies a normal and healthy thing to do. For women it was verboten, but there are lots of examples of women who did also stray (and some were high society).

Instead of judging, please accept that we are prudish, emancipated Victorians at heart, and they were much more realistic about sex, life and death, and bodily functions than we are.

About Tuesday 15 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Thence he [CARTERET] and I to Sir J. Minnes’s by invitation, where Sir W. Batten and my Lady, and my Lord Bruncker, and all of us dined upon a venison pasty and other good meat, but nothing well dressed. But my pleasure lay in getting some bills signed by Sir G. Carteret, ..."

Further evidence that Mennes has housing in Deptford. This luncheon group sounds like a Quorum of the Navy Board.

About Monday 14 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

:... and so by water to the ferry, and there took Sir W. Batten’s coach that was sent for us, and to Sir W. Batten’s, where very merry, good cheer, and up and down the garden with great content to me, ..."

Sir William Batten’s country house: The Rectory Manor House, Church Hill, Walthamstow, Essex.

About Monday 14 August 1665

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"I down to Deptford to Sir G. Carteret, ..."
"Thence by agreement to Sir J. Minnes’s lodgings, ..."

We know Carteret had the official residence at the Deptford yard; however, this isn't the first time that it also sounds as if Mennes has a place to live in Deptford also. I have a note that Pepys visited him there in 1663, but no date. Sorry. Perhaps someone has better notes than me?