Queenhithe's importance comes from the fact that it is a surviving dock space dating back to the Saxon and Medieval period.
The dock was probably established by King Alfred after he reoccupied the area within the City walls in 886. At that time, it was called Ethelredshythe after King Alfred's son in law, when it was a place where boats were pulled up on the foreshore with goods being sold from the boats.
The name Queenhithe comes from Queen Matilda, wife of Henry I, who was granted the taxes generated by trade at the dock. Hithe means a small landing place for ships and boats.
Matilda also built London's first public lavatory at the dock, which was available for the "common use of the citizens" of London, and was no doubt built at the dock so the output of the lavatory could flow directly into the river - some things do not change.
Queenhithe is shown in the Agas map (from the mid 16th century to the early 17th century), with a boat with a sail, and a smaller boat being within the dock. The map shows open space between the end of the dock and the houses lining Thames Street, which was presumably used for holding cargos being moved between the ships on the river and the land, and for sales.
Writing in London Past and Present (1891), Henry Wheatley describes Queenhithe as: "It was long the rival of Billingsgate and would have retained the monopoly of the wharfage of London had it been below instead of above bridge. In the 13th century it was the usual landing place for wine, wool, hides, corn, firewood, fish and indeed all kinds of commodities then brought by sea to London."
The dock today is a much smaller part of what was the original dock and trading area. Excavations beneath some of the buildings surrounding the dock have found remains of a Roman quay along with the 9th century shore where trading took place, along with a series of medieval waterfronts, showing how during the medieval period the river wall was gradually being pushed further into the river.
Queenhithe is classed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is one of the areas along the river where mudlarking or disturbance of the dock or foreshore is prohibited.
Alison, my notes are greatly aided by the SEARCH bar top right! I entered Blackborne, and selected ENCYCLOPEDIA, then went to the SUMMARY page, and clicked through to the Diary entries which might be about Will Hewer's employment in 1660, and nothing was said about the family contributing for his what could be described as an apprenticeship.
I read the Diary daily for months before I started keeping notes. It had become a bit over-whelming. Seven years later I now dream about doing searches and annotations. The notes do help by reminding me of a wider context than the individual entries usually give.
Just keep on enjoying the experience -- you're not slacking: You caught me not reading the text and spoke up. Thank you.
The oldest known map of London is Copperplate and very detailed -- it dates from the reign of Queen Mary (the Bloody) -- and shows Moor Fields. The caption says: "Moor Fields: One of the standout locations on the map shows numerous women laying out clothing to dry in the Moor Fields. In one case, a length of cloth has been drawn out and pinned to the ground, a technique known as tentering. Spitalfields, to the top right of the map, still contains a street called Tenter Ground to this day, recalling the practice so beautifully sketched on the Copperplate map. The lower half of the map includes three further areas where long strips of cloth are drawn out along a series of posts.
"The Moor Fields were often waterlogged — partly because the city wall impeded the flow of the Walbrook stream hereabouts. I’d never noticed until colouring in the map just how many water channels are depicted in this area (I’ve shown them in a grey-blue). We can distinguish these rivulets from other boundaries thanks to a number of small bridges that cross over them."
Frequently annotators are surprised by the way 17th century people conducted business -- and social visiting -- from their beds. Unsurprisingly, Louis XIV excelled at this:
"In 17th-century France, royal bedrooms were often treated like reception areas rather than private quarters. Thus, Louis XIV invited his many guests and dignitaries to stand behind a special railing in his bedroom while he held court. Lavish beds, such as the one at the Palace of Versailles, were frequently used by Louis for official business, and he would sprawl out atop the gilded linens during these stately meetings. It was considered a true honor for those guests to gaze upon Louis XIV as he dozed, and it was deemed particularly thrilling to watch the king fall asleep or wake up from his deep slumbers."
Long after the Diary: "With a reign totaling 72 years and 110 days, Louis XIV held the throne longer than any monarch in the history of France... The Sun King, as he was known, embraced opulence to a historic degree throughout his reign (from 1643 to 1715).
"Case in point: His majesty reportedly owned no fewer than 413 beds, which were considered status symbols at the time. Few people [no one else! - SDS] had the wealth, let alone space, to afford and display such a vast collection of luxurious furniture, but the French monarch was a uniquely ostentatious individual. The beds — 155 of which were characterized as having greater importance than the others — were dispersed throughout France’s royal palaces for the personal use of Louis and his family.
"These beds weren’t meager cots, but rather ornately adorned furnishings with features such as fabrics from the far reaches of Persia (modern Iran) and China, as well as gold plating, high pillars, and intricate embroidery."
"gilded linens"? I Googled that and it came back as a paint color, or a type of wallpaper. Something is missing in translation here.
Gilded = covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint: "an elegant gilded birdcage"
Maybe they are referring to embroidery with gold thread, or the tapestry hangings which usually had silver and golden thread woven into them to give them sparkle and life -- and accounts for why so few have survived? I can't see even Louis painting gold onto his sheets.
Alison -- you are right! Thank you -- he even said so: "my money for the first quarter". DUH!
@@@
And thanks, Eric the Bish, for your take on Pepys and religion. I was surprised by how many annotators reacted to Pepys gratitude to God for his good fortune this year. I'm sure Pepys also expresses his gratitude to Sandwich whenever it seems appropriate. And he had better tell the Stuart Brothers how grateful he is frequently as well.
No one, including the House of Commons biographers, seems to know anything about William Hewer's educational background. He went to work for Pepys when he was 18/19 -- old enough to have graduated from University and spent a few years at the Inns of Court learning the basics of law and business. That was standard education for an intelligent and wealthy young man in those days, and Hewer was both.
His HoC biography says Hewer became dep. judge-advocate of the navy in 1677 -- while that undoubtedly required less learning then than it does today, a basic exposure to the law would seem to be needed to qualify for the post.
If not university and the Inns, where was he educated all these missing years? No talk of his being abroad -- and why would he done that? His family were well-connected Puritans, and doing very well during the Interregnum.
7l. 10s. = 150s./365 days = about 5d a day. No one is living, eating and dressing for a government job on that, even in 1660. Hewer and the other clerks must have been 'eligible' for some gratuity situations or there would have been no workers in the Navy Board office.
Does anyone remember if Robert Blackborne paid Pepys a gratuity for taking on Will as his personal servant? I've looked through my notes and see nothing to that end, but it would have been entirely appropriate.
Sofia, yes Pepys is going to keep Will's meager salary of 7l. 10s. to help cover the cost of his board and lodging.
The Hewers are wealthy -- "poor" Will will want for nothing, and is getting an excellent business education and exposure to the most influential people at Court and in politics. He's 19 by now, and a clothes horse as you'll find out.
Curiously neither Wiki or our annotations mention his education, but in 1677, Hewer will be appointed Judge Advocate-General for the Admiralty, so it's probable he had completed University and spent a few years at the Inns of Court in order to be eligible for that role -- standard education for a wealthy and intelligent lad. [As I said, I have no citation for this idea; it just seems probable to me.]
SPOILER: When he moves away from the Pepys in a few years, the 7l. 10s. will be his -- and will not pay for the manner in which he choses to live.
Had he been a poor lad, Pepys might well have made a different decision.
"But I did get, to my great content, my account allowed of fees, with great applause by my Lord Ashly and Sir W. Pen."
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley, was last mentioned by Pepys in June. This is the reason why:
"In June 1668 Anthony Ashley Cooper, later to become the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, underwent abdominal surgery to drain a large abscess above his liver. The case is extraordinary, not simply on account of the eminence of the patient and the danger of the procedure, but also because of the many celebrated figures involved. "A trove of manuscripts relating to this famous operation survives amongst the Shaftesbury Papers in the National Archives at Kew. These include case notes in the hand of the philosopher Dr. John Locke and advice from leading physicians of the day including Francis Glisson, Sir George Ent and Thomas Sydenham. "The majority of this material has never been published before. This article provides complete transcriptions and translations of all of these manuscripts, thus providing for the first time a comprehensive case history. It is prefaced with an extended introduction."
You'd think Pepys would be interested in mentioning something as close as this to his own experience in life. They were both survivors or an horredous experience.
Wiki tells us: "In May 1668, Ashley became ill, apparently with a hydatid cyst. His secretary, John Locke MD, recommended an operation that almost certainly saved Ashley's life and Ashley was grateful to Locke for the rest of his life. "As part of the operation, a tube was inserted to drain fluid from the abscess, and after the operation, the physician left the tube in the body, and installed a copper tap to allow for possible future drainage. "In later years, this would be the occasion for his Tory enemies to dub him 'Tapski', with the Polish ending because Tories accused him of wanting to make England an elective monarchy like the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant…
After so many irrelevant notes about current Latin usage, the fact that it was the universal language of the Middle Ages and Early Modern world hasn't even been mentioned.
No one in Europe learned English. No one in France hears the name of Shakespeare for another 50 years.
This sceptred isle was a cultural backwater, surrounded by Catholic monarchs who believed it their cause to rescue the population from damnation. To keep them at bay, England needed a strong Navy, which also protected its trade routes and fleets. As today, England cannot produce what it needs to feed its population a healthy diet. In order to communicate with all these many opposing factors and courts, Latin was the common denominator.
If a scientific or mathematical paper was to find the circulation needed to influence thinking throughout Europe, it was written in Latin. A book on philosophy, or a play with a strong message, had to be in at least Latin to find its audience.
Italy and Germany were not countries for another 200 years. All those fiefdoms had their own dialects/languages.
Many of the biographies in our blog mention the people translating texts from Latin and Greek into English -- enabling the not-university-educated folk to begin to have an appreciation of information from abroad and/or the days of yore.
People abroad were not studying English yet -- as we experience daily, even the English hadn't quite decided for themselves what it looked like, or how to spell it. The beginnings of the change were due to the translation of the Bible into English, and to Shakespeare and his fellow playwrights.
A notebook, originally thought lost, which belonged to Isaac Newton’s long-time friend and collaborator, John Wickins, was purchased at auction in 2022 thanks to the generosity of Friends of the National Libraries, Friends of Cambridge University Library and other donors.
It was kept by John Wickins while he was Newton’s roommate at Trinity College, and presents the earliest datable evidence of Newton’s theological writing. Containing 12,000 words in English and 5,000 in Latin, the notebook is the longest collection of Newtonian writing to be discovered in the last half a century.
The Latin text records a University ‘disputation’ in which Isaac Newton was required to discuss in public two theological topics. Although the text only contains Newton’s first disputation, concerning the compatibility of God’s perfect foreknowledge with human free will, it reflects how seriously he took the exercise.
Newton spoke in Latin for over an hour on a subject that was as difficult as it was sensitive. What does the manuscript tell us about Newton’s religious beliefs?
Disputations involved students using argumentative skills to defend a set proposition from the counterarguments of their peers, or even their professor. Newton was not exempt from these exercises, and it is interesting that the topics on which he disputed remained central to his theological reading and writing for the next four decades.
The text of the disputation shows Newton facing the big questions of free will and evil head on. Newton seems to have undertaken a program of intense theological reading as shown in the letters he wrote to John Wickins, copied in the notebook, where he supplied bibliographical essays to his friend.
What the notebook shows us is the institutional push that drove Newton to start to engage in a program of theological study and how he was being shaped by the university where he lived and worked.
The manuscript gives us a precious insight into Newton’s relationship with his friend, to whom he addressed himself as ‘your ever loving Chamber fellow’. The pair chose to live together for much of their time at Trinity.
John Wickins acted as an assistant to Newton and helped to copy notes as well as turning their College rooms into a laboratory. Wickins wrote out a number of optical papers for Newton, just as he wrote out the texts in this notebook. Some of the letters in the notebook reveal that during the 1670s Wickins worked with Newton on improving the reflecting telescope.
Newton was an unusual Christian. At some point in his adult years, and certainly by 1690, Newton had dismantled the standard biblical proofs for the doctrine of the Trinity whilst keeping his beliefs to himself.
Charles II has managed to calm Parliament's desire to impose the full force of the Church of England on the provinces -- and the Rev. Ralph for one breathes a sigh of relief.
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection) Tuesday, 2 December, 1660
God good to us in many mercies, gospel liberties and freedom yet continued(,) fears on many, said lists are taken of the fanatic and all honest men that are not as formal as others are so accounted, but gods purpose that shall stand(.) god was good to me in the word this day, help me and mine to walk humbly with thee, and it shall be well with us. (link above -- top right)
It remains to be seen what he'll do about Christmas.
"I went to my Lord St. Albans lodgings, and found him in bed, talking to a priest (he looked like one) that leaned along over the side of the bed, and there I desired to know his mind about making the catch stay longer, which I got ready for him the other day. He seems to be a fine civil gentleman."
Pepys may have been aware of the gossip about Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans: 'Gossip which the historian Henry Hallam accepted as authentic, but which is supported by no real evidence, asserted that Jermyn was secretly married to Queen Henrietta Maria during their exile in France. It was further rumoured during Jermyn's lifetime that he may have been the true father of at least one of her children, even perhaps of Charles II. "The Domestic State Papers for 13 August, 1660, contain a report by Capt. Francis Robinson of Nathaniel Angelo, a Windsor clergyman, asserting that "all the royal children were Jermyn's bastards."' https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Most Englishmen were very wary of anything and everything French (almost a code word for Roman Catholic), and St. Albans was the leading advocate of all things French.
Pepys assuming that the man was a priest is not surprising.
Sandwich had asked Pepys to order the ketch when the Queen Mother, Minette and St. Albans were imminently supposed to return to France. This sounds as if Sandwich was not authorized to release the ketch, although everyone knew their return was rescheduled until next year. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Evidently, St. Albans was grateful for Sandwich and Pepys' care, and was respectful of Pepys' time.
For those amongst us who have forgotten what Latin we knew:
Post proelium, praemium. 'After the battle comes the reward.'
Cucullus non facit monachum, ‘The cowl does not make the monk’ -- A person should not be judged by external appearances. An old proverb quoted by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night.
Pepys saw "The Scornful Lady" 7 times during the Diary years -- we all enjoy re-runs: The first 2 times it was acted by all male casts and he made no comment about it; the third time he saw it with a woman in the lead and liked it more. The fourth time, again no comment about the play, but lots about the nobility in attendance, so he probably was only watching the play peripherally
He takes a 4-year break from the theater, until "to the King’s playhouse, ... and there saw “The Scornfull Lady” well acted; Doll Common doing Abigail most excellently, and Knipp the widow very well, and will be an excellent actor, I think. In other parts the play not so well done as used to be, by the old actors." So by his 5th performance, Pepys was into comparing past and present performances, and of course the ladies. For a lengthy series of annotations about the implication of calling the servant 'Abigail', see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
The 6th visit was unsuccessful as they arrived at 3 and there was no one in the pit. I think this means the show had ended by the time they arrived. And his 7th visit was also unremarkable.
I am struck by how so many 17th century plays feature women who speak up and take agency for their lives. Men fight back, so the authors thought they were writing cautionary tales. But in reality, they were encouraging women to think and own their situations.
Notes from other annotators' comments: "The Scornful Lady" was a comedy written by Beaumont and Fletcher, first acted about 1615 and first published in 1616.
3 quotes: Kiss till the cows come home. - Scornful Lady (act II, sc. 2) Beggars must be no choosers. - Scornful Lady (act V, sc. 3) My dancing days are done. - Scornful Lady (act V, sc. 3)
Five guinea pieces were the largest denomination issued from the reigns of Charles II all the way up to George III, replaced ultimately by the gold 5l. piece. Only the wealthiest and most distinguished members of society would ever have handled a five-guinea piece.
The essence of each king and queen is intrinsically captured in the superb detail in the striking of the portraits, on these remarkable and imposing coins.
... There is little wonder why the five guinea market has continued to go from strength over the last 20 years. In the early 2000s, a five guinea piece in good condition could be acquired for around £8,000, in today’s market, the same coin would cost £40,000 plus.
"Is this Pepys asking Hater to try and get the 30/. from the treasury for him or is it some other money due to him?"
I think Pepys is asking Hater to pick up his annual salary as Clerk of the Acts from the Treasury since "... among the officers do hear that they may have our salaries allowed by the Treasurer," and Pepys will be even more "... very glad, and praise God for it" when that cash is also in his pocket.
You get your money when it is available. Strike while the iron is hot, Pepys. First come, first served.
Title: The Scornful Lady. Authors: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. Date: c. 1609-1610. Genre: City Comedy. Language Difficulty Rating: 8 (more difficult – much slang). Setting: London.
The Scornful Lady is an almost plotless investigation into the driving force some people have to control and manipulate the emotions of others.
The characters are all “everyday” people, and the language reflects the everyday speech of London’s 17th century citizens. You may wish to note the extensive use of animal-related insults and imagery.
Our Story: The scornful lady (who is given no name) is a cold-hearted manipulator, requiring her lover Elder to travel to France for a year to punish him for some indiscreet behavior on his part. Elder fakes his own death, and plans revenge.
"... Soon as dinner was done my wife took her leave, and went with Mr. Blackburne and his wife to London ..."
I was about to observe that once again Robert Blackburne was visiting at the Sandwich apartments, but Pepys doesn't quite say that. Instead, it sounds as if Elizabeth has asked the Blackburnes to pick her up from a prearranged spot outside the Palace of Whitehall after lunch. No harm in emphasizing your family's good connections.
Sandwich has yet to go to work at the House of Lords, which seems to be manditory for all the other peers of the realm. "I'm just too busy rearranging the excess furniture at the Wardrobe" doesn't sound like a good excuse to me.
Comments
Third Reading
About Queenhithe
San Diego Sarah • Link
Queenhithe's importance comes from the fact that it is a surviving dock space dating back to the Saxon and Medieval period.
The dock was probably established by King Alfred after he reoccupied the area within the City walls in 886. At that time, it was called Ethelredshythe after King Alfred's son in law, when it was a place where boats were pulled up on the foreshore with goods being sold from the boats.
The name Queenhithe comes from Queen Matilda, wife of Henry I, who was granted the taxes generated by trade at the dock. Hithe means a small landing place for ships and boats.
Matilda also built London's first public lavatory at the dock, which was available for the "common use of the citizens" of London, and was no doubt built at the dock so the output of the lavatory could flow directly into the river - some things do not change.
Queenhithe is shown in the Agas map (from the mid 16th century to the early 17th century), with a boat with a sail, and a smaller boat being within the dock. The map shows open space between the end of the dock and the houses lining Thames Street, which was presumably used for holding cargos being moved between the ships on the river and the land, and for sales.
Writing in London Past and Present (1891), Henry Wheatley describes Queenhithe as:
"It was long the rival of Billingsgate and would have retained the monopoly of the wharfage of London had it been below instead of above bridge. In the 13th century it was the usual landing place for wine, wool, hides, corn, firewood, fish and indeed all kinds of commodities then brought by sea to London."
The dock today is a much smaller part of what was the original dock and trading area. Excavations beneath some of the buildings surrounding the dock have found remains of a Roman quay along with the 9th century shore where trading took place, along with a series of medieval waterfronts, showing how during the medieval period the river wall was gradually being pushed further into the river.
Queenhithe is classed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is one of the areas along the river where mudlarking or disturbance of the dock or foreshore is prohibited.
About Col. Robert Slingsby (Comptroller of the Navy, 1660-1)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Two discourses of the Navy, 1638 and 1659, by John Hollond; also a discourse of the navy, 1660, by Sir Robert Slyngesbie; edited by J. R. Tanner
Published : 1896
Author : Hollond, John, active 1638-1659.
Text available at
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/…
About Thursday 29 November 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Alison, my notes are greatly aided by the SEARCH bar top right!
I entered Blackborne, and selected ENCYCLOPEDIA, then went to the SUMMARY page, and clicked through to the Diary entries which might be about Will Hewer's employment in 1660, and nothing was said about the family contributing for his what could be described as an apprenticeship.
I read the Diary daily for months before I started keeping notes. It had become a bit over-whelming. Seven years later I now dream about doing searches and annotations. The notes do help by reminding me of a wider context than the individual entries usually give.
Just keep on enjoying the experience -- you're not slacking: You caught me not reading the text and spoke up. Thank you.
About Moorfields
San Diego Sarah • Link
The oldest known map of London is Copperplate and very detailed -- it dates from the reign of Queen Mary (the Bloody) -- and shows Moor Fields. The caption says:
"Moor Fields: One of the standout locations on the map shows numerous women laying out clothing to dry in the Moor Fields. In one case, a length of cloth has been drawn out and pinned to the ground, a technique known as tentering. Spitalfields, to the top right of the map, still contains a street called Tenter Ground to this day, recalling the practice so beautifully sketched on the Copperplate map. The lower half of the map includes three further areas where long strips of cloth are drawn out along a series of posts.
"The Moor Fields were often waterlogged — partly because the city wall impeded the flow of the Walbrook stream hereabouts. I’d never noticed until colouring in the map just how many water channels are depicted in this area (I’ve shown them in a grey-blue). We can distinguish these rivulets from other boundaries thanks to a number of small bridges that cross over them."
To see the map in the original black-and-white, and the new colorized version, see
https://londonist.substack.com/p/…
About Louis XIII (King of France, 1610-1643)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Frequently annotators are surprised by the way 17th century people conducted business -- and social visiting -- from their beds. Unsurprisingly, Louis XIV excelled at this:
"In 17th-century France, royal bedrooms were often treated like reception areas rather than private quarters. Thus, Louis XIV invited his many guests and dignitaries to stand behind a special railing in his bedroom while he held court. Lavish beds, such as the one at the Palace of Versailles, were frequently used by Louis for official business, and he would sprawl out atop the gilded linens during these stately meetings. It was considered a true honor for those guests to gaze upon Louis XIV as he dozed, and it was deemed particularly thrilling to watch the king fall asleep or wake up from his deep slumbers."
Long after the Diary:
"With a reign totaling 72 years and 110 days, Louis XIV held the throne longer than any monarch in the history of France... The Sun King, as he was known, embraced opulence to a historic degree throughout his reign (from 1643 to 1715).
"Case in point: His majesty reportedly owned no fewer than 413 beds, which were considered status symbols at the time. Few people [no one else! - SDS] had the wealth, let alone space, to afford and display such a vast collection of luxurious furniture, but the French monarch was a uniquely ostentatious individual. The beds — 155 of which were characterized as having greater importance than the others — were dispersed throughout France’s royal palaces for the personal use of Louis and his family.
"These beds weren’t meager cots, but rather ornately adorned furnishings with features such as fabrics from the far reaches of Persia (modern Iran) and China, as well as gold plating, high pillars, and intricate embroidery."
For a picture of one, see https://historyfacts.com/world-hi…
"gilded linens"? I Googled that and it came back as a paint color, or a type of wallpaper. Something is missing in translation here.
Gilded = covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint:
"an elegant gilded birdcage"
Maybe they are referring to embroidery with gold thread, or the tapestry hangings which usually had silver and golden thread woven into them to give them sparkle and life -- and accounts for why so few have survived?
I can't see even Louis painting gold onto his sheets.
About Thursday 29 November 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Alison -- you are right! Thank you -- he even said so: "my money for the first quarter". DUH!
@@@
And thanks, Eric the Bish, for your take on Pepys and religion.
I was surprised by how many annotators reacted to Pepys gratitude to God for his good fortune this year.
I'm sure Pepys also expresses his gratitude to Sandwich whenever it seems appropriate. And he had better tell the Stuart Brothers how grateful he is frequently as well.
About Will Hewer
San Diego Sarah • Link
No one, including the House of Commons biographers, seems to know anything about William Hewer's educational background.
He went to work for Pepys when he was 18/19 -- old enough to have graduated from University and spent a few years at the Inns of Court learning the basics of law and business. That was standard education for an intelligent and wealthy young man in those days, and Hewer was both.
His HoC biography says Hewer became dep. judge-advocate of the navy in 1677 -- while that undoubtedly required less learning then than it does today, a basic exposure to the law would seem to be needed to qualify for the post.
If not university and the Inns, where was he educated all these missing years? No talk of his being abroad -- and why would he done that?
His family were well-connected Puritans, and doing very well during the Interregnum.
Any ideas or leads?
About Thursday 29 November 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
7l. 10s. = 150s./365 days = about 5d a day.
No one is living, eating and dressing for a government job on that, even in 1660.
Hewer and the other clerks must have been 'eligible' for some gratuity situations or there would have been no workers in the Navy Board office.
Does anyone remember if Robert Blackborne paid Pepys a gratuity for taking on Will as his personal servant? I've looked through my notes and see nothing to that end, but it would have been entirely appropriate.
About Thursday 29 November 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sofia, yes Pepys is going to keep Will's meager salary of 7l. 10s. to help cover the cost of his board and lodging.
The Hewers are wealthy -- "poor" Will will want for nothing, and is getting an excellent business education and exposure to the most influential people at Court and in politics.
He's 19 by now, and a clothes horse as you'll find out.
Curiously neither Wiki or our annotations mention his education, but in 1677, Hewer will be appointed Judge Advocate-General for the Admiralty, so it's probable he had completed University and spent a few years at the Inns of Court in order to be eligible for that role -- standard education for a wealthy and intelligent lad. [As I said, I have no citation for this idea; it just seems probable to me.]
SPOILER: When he moves away from the Pepys in a few years, the 7l. 10s. will be his -- and will not pay for the manner in which he choses to live.
Had he been a poor lad, Pepys might well have made a different decision.
About Wednesday 28 October 1668
San Diego Sarah • Link
"But I did get, to my great content, my account allowed of fees, with great applause by my Lord Ashly and Sir W. Pen."
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley, was last mentioned by Pepys in June. This is the reason why:
"In June 1668 Anthony Ashley Cooper, later to become the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, underwent abdominal surgery to drain a large abscess above his liver. The case is extraordinary, not simply on account of the eminence of the patient and the danger of the procedure, but also because of the many celebrated figures involved.
"A trove of manuscripts relating to this famous operation survives amongst the Shaftesbury Papers in the National Archives at Kew. These include case notes in the hand of the philosopher Dr. John Locke and advice from leading physicians of the day including Francis Glisson, Sir George Ent and Thomas Sydenham.
"The majority of this material has never been published before. This article provides complete transcriptions and translations of all of these manuscripts, thus providing for the first time a comprehensive case history. It is prefaced with an extended introduction."
But more of the article is protected by copywrite, so if anyone knows more, please share. FROM: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2…
You'd think Pepys would be interested in mentioning something as close as this to his own experience in life. They were both survivors or an horredous experience.
Wiki tells us:
"In May 1668, Ashley became ill, apparently with a hydatid cyst. His secretary, John Locke MD, recommended an operation that almost certainly saved Ashley's life and Ashley was grateful to Locke for the rest of his life.
"As part of the operation, a tube was inserted to drain fluid from the abscess, and after the operation, the physician left the tube in the body, and installed a copper tap to allow for possible future drainage.
"In later years, this would be the occasion for his Tory enemies to dub him 'Tapski', with the Polish ending because Tories accused him of wanting to make England an elective monarchy like the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant…
About Monday 3 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
After so many irrelevant notes about current Latin usage, the fact that it was the universal language of the Middle Ages and Early Modern world hasn't even been mentioned.
No one in Europe learned English.
No one in France hears the name of Shakespeare for another 50 years.
This sceptred isle was a cultural backwater, surrounded by Catholic monarchs who believed it their cause to rescue the population from damnation.
To keep them at bay, England needed a strong Navy, which also protected its trade routes and fleets. As today, England cannot produce what it needs to feed its population a healthy diet.
In order to communicate with all these many opposing factors and courts, Latin was the common denominator.
If a scientific or mathematical paper was to find the circulation needed to influence thinking throughout Europe, it was written in Latin.
A book on philosophy, or a play with a strong message, had to be in at least Latin to find its audience.
Italy and Germany were not countries for another 200 years. All those fiefdoms had their own dialects/languages.
Many of the biographies in our blog mention the people translating texts from Latin and Greek into English -- enabling the not-university-educated folk to begin to have an appreciation of information from abroad and/or the days of yore.
People abroad were not studying English yet -- as we experience daily, even the English hadn't quite decided for themselves what it looked like, or how to spell it. The beginnings of the change were due to the translation of the Bible into English, and to Shakespeare and his fellow playwrights.
For an idea of the domination of Latin in 17th century university education, see
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Trinity College, Cambridge
San Diego Sarah • Link
A notebook, originally thought lost, which belonged to Isaac Newton’s long-time friend and collaborator, John Wickins, was purchased at auction in 2022 thanks to the generosity of Friends of the National Libraries, Friends of Cambridge University Library and other donors.
It was kept by John Wickins while he was Newton’s roommate at Trinity College, and presents the earliest datable evidence of Newton’s theological writing. Containing 12,000 words in English and 5,000 in Latin, the notebook is the longest collection of Newtonian writing to be discovered in the last half a century.
The Latin text records a University ‘disputation’ in which Isaac Newton was required to discuss in public two theological topics. Although the text only contains Newton’s first disputation, concerning the compatibility of God’s perfect foreknowledge with human free will, it reflects how seriously he took the exercise.
Newton spoke in Latin for over an hour on a subject that was as difficult as it was sensitive. What does the manuscript tell us about Newton’s religious beliefs?
Disputations involved students using argumentative skills to defend a set proposition from the counterarguments of their peers, or even their professor. Newton was not exempt from these exercises, and it is interesting that the topics on which he disputed remained central to his theological reading and writing for the next four decades.
The text of the disputation shows Newton facing the big questions of free will and evil head on. Newton seems to have undertaken a program of intense theological reading as shown in the letters he wrote to John Wickins, copied in the notebook, where he supplied bibliographical essays to his friend.
What the notebook shows us is the institutional push that drove Newton to start to engage in a program of theological study and how he was being shaped by the university where he lived and worked.
The manuscript gives us a precious insight into Newton’s relationship with his friend, to whom he addressed himself as ‘your ever loving Chamber fellow’. The pair chose to live together for much of their time at Trinity.
John Wickins acted as an assistant to Newton and helped to copy notes as well as turning their College rooms into a laboratory. Wickins wrote out a number of optical papers for Newton, just as he wrote out the texts in this notebook. Some of the letters in the notebook reveal that during the 1670s Wickins worked with Newton on improving the reflecting telescope.
Newton was an unusual Christian. At some point in his adult years, and certainly by 1690, Newton had dismantled the standard biblical proofs for the doctrine of the Trinity whilst keeping his beliefs to himself.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/red…
About Sunday 2 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Charles II has managed to calm Parliament's desire to impose the full force of the Church of England on the provinces -- and the Rev. Ralph for one breathes a sigh of relief.
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection)
Tuesday, 2 December, 1660
God good to us in many mercies, gospel liberties and freedom yet continued(,) fears on many, said lists are taken of the fanatic and all honest men that are not as formal as others are so accounted, but gods purpose that shall stand(.)
god was good to me in the word this day, help me and mine to walk humbly with thee, and it shall be well with us.
(link above -- top right)
It remains to be seen what he'll do about Christmas.
About Saturday 1 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I went to my Lord St. Albans lodgings, and found him in bed, talking to a priest (he looked like one) that leaned along over the side of the bed, and there I desired to know his mind about making the catch stay longer, which I got ready for him the other day. He seems to be a fine civil gentleman."
Pepys may have been aware of the gossip about Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans:
'Gossip which the historian Henry Hallam accepted as authentic, but which is supported by no real evidence, asserted that Jermyn was secretly married to Queen Henrietta Maria during their exile in France. It was further rumoured during Jermyn's lifetime that he may have been the true father of at least one of her children, even perhaps of Charles II.
"The Domestic State Papers for 13 August, 1660, contain a report by Capt. Francis Robinson of Nathaniel Angelo, a Windsor clergyman, asserting that "all the royal children were Jermyn's bastards."'
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Most Englishmen were very wary of anything and everything French (almost a code word for Roman Catholic), and St. Albans was the leading advocate of all things French.
Pepys assuming that the man was a priest is not surprising.
Sandwich had asked Pepys to order the ketch when the Queen Mother, Minette and St. Albans were imminently supposed to return to France. This sounds as if Sandwich was not authorized to release the ketch, although everyone knew their return was rescheduled until next year.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Evidently, St. Albans was grateful for Sandwich and Pepys' care, and was respectful of Pepys' time.
About Saturday 1 December 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
For those amongst us who have forgotten what Latin we knew:
Post proelium, praemium. 'After the battle comes the reward.'
Cucullus non facit monachum, ‘The cowl does not make the monk’ --
A person should not be judged by external appearances. An old proverb quoted by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night.
About The Scornful Lady (Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Pepys saw "The Scornful Lady" 7 times during the Diary years -- we all enjoy re-runs:
The first 2 times it was acted by all male casts and he made no comment about it; the third time he saw it with a woman in the lead and liked it more.
The fourth time, again no comment about the play, but lots about the nobility in attendance, so he probably was only watching the play peripherally
He takes a 4-year break from the theater, until "to the King’s playhouse, ... and there saw “The Scornfull Lady” well acted; Doll Common doing Abigail most excellently, and Knipp the widow very well, and will be an excellent actor, I think. In other parts the play not so well done as used to be, by the old actors." So by his 5th performance, Pepys was into comparing past and present performances, and of course the ladies.
For a lengthy series of annotations about the implication of calling the servant 'Abigail', see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
The 6th visit was unsuccessful as they arrived at 3 and there was no one in the pit. I think this means the show had ended by the time they arrived.
And his 7th visit was also unremarkable.
I am struck by how so many 17th century plays feature women who speak up and take agency for their lives. Men fight back, so the authors thought they were writing cautionary tales. But in reality, they were encouraging women to think and own their situations.
Notes from other annotators' comments:
"The Scornful Lady" was a comedy written by Beaumont and Fletcher, first acted about 1615 and first published in 1616.
3 quotes:
Kiss till the cows come home. - Scornful Lady (act II, sc. 2)
Beggars must be no choosers. - Scornful Lady (act V, sc. 3)
My dancing days are done. - Scornful Lady (act V, sc. 3)
About Five Guineas
San Diego Sarah • Link
Five guinea pieces were the largest denomination issued from the reigns of Charles II all the way up to George III, replaced ultimately by the gold 5l. piece. Only the wealthiest and most distinguished members of society would ever have handled a five-guinea piece.
The essence of each king and queen is intrinsically captured in the superb detail in the striking of the portraits, on these remarkable and imposing coins.
... There is little wonder why the five guinea market has continued to go from strength over the last 20 years. In the early 2000s, a five guinea piece in good condition could be acquired for around £8,000, in today’s market, the same coin would cost £40,000 plus.
Pictures and more info at
https://www.baldwin.co.uk/the-ico…
About Wednesday 28 November 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Is this Pepys asking Hater to try and get the 30/. from the treasury for him or is it some other money due to him?"
I think Pepys is asking Hater to pick up his annual salary as Clerk of the Acts from the Treasury since "... among the officers do hear that they may have our salaries allowed by the Treasurer," and Pepys will be even more "... very glad, and praise God for it" when that cash is also in his pocket.
You get your money when it is available. Strike while the iron is hot, Pepys. First come, first served.
About The Scornful Lady (Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Title: The Scornful Lady.
Authors: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher.
Date: c. 1609-1610.
Genre: City Comedy.
Language Difficulty Rating: 8 (more difficult – much slang).
Setting: London.
The Scornful Lady is an almost plotless investigation into the driving force some people have to control and manipulate the emotions of others.
The characters are all “everyday” people, and the language reflects the everyday speech of London’s 17th century citizens. You may wish to note the extensive use of animal-related insults and imagery.
Our Story: The scornful lady (who is given no name) is a cold-hearted manipulator, requiring her lover Elder to travel to France for a year to punish him for some indiscreet behavior on his part.
Elder fakes his own death, and plans revenge.
Download and Read The Scornful Lady, with or without annotations at
http://elizabethandrama.org/the-p…
About Tuesday 27 November 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... Soon as dinner was done my wife took her leave, and went with Mr. Blackburne and his wife to London ..."
I was about to observe that once again Robert Blackburne was visiting at the Sandwich apartments, but Pepys doesn't quite say that. Instead, it sounds as if Elizabeth has asked the Blackburnes to pick her up from a prearranged spot outside the Palace of Whitehall after lunch.
No harm in emphasizing your family's good connections.
Sandwich has yet to go to work at the House of Lords, which seems to be manditory for all the other peers of the realm. "I'm just too busy rearranging the excess furniture at the Wardrobe" doesn't sound like a good excuse to me.