Saturday 26 May 1660
Thanks to God I got to bed in my own poor cabin, and slept well till 9 o’clock this morning. Mr. North and Dr. Clerke and all the great company being gone, I found myself very uncouth all this day for want thereof. My Lord dined with the Vice-Admiral to-day (who is as officious, poor man! as any spaniel can be; but I believe all to no purpose, for I believe he will not hold his place).
So I dined commander at the coach table to-day, and all the officers of the ship with me, and Mr. White of Dover. After a game or two at nine-pins, to work all the afternoon, making above twenty orders.
In the evening my Lord having been a-shore, the first time that he hath been a-shore since he came out of the Hope (having resolved not to go till he had brought his Majesty into England), returned on board with a great deal of pleasure.
I supped with the Captain in his cabin with young Captain Cuttance, and afterwards a messenger from the King came with a letter, and to go into France, and by that means we supped again with him at 12 o’clock at night.
This night the Captain told me that my Lord had appointed me 30l. out of the 1000 ducats which the King had given to the ship, at which my heart was very much joyed.
To bed.
30 Annotations
First Reading
Todd Bernhardt • Link
RIP, Sam.
Three hundred years ago, Sam sloughed off this mortal coil, leaving we who remain to Rest in Pepys.
Courtesy of fellow Pepyshead Keith Wright, who alerted me to an excellent article by Ferdinand Mount at the Times Literary Supplement ( http://www.the-tls.co.uk/this_wee… ), here's what Evelyn had to say on the day that Sam went away:
"This day dyed Mr. Sam. Pepys, a very worthy, Industrious and curious person, none in England exceeding him in the Knowledge of the Navy, in which he had passed thro all the most Considerable Offices, Clerk of the Acts, and Secretary to the Admiralty, all which he performed with greate Integrity: when K: James the 2d went out of England he layed down his Office and would serve no more: But withdrawing himself from all publique Afairs, lived at Clapham with his partner (formerly his Cleark) Mr. Hewer, in a very noble House and sweete place . . . . was universaly beloved, Hospitable, generous, Learned in many things, skill'd in Musick, a very greate Cherisher of Learned men of whom he had the Conversation.”
Thanks to the power of Sam’s pen — and the commitment of such people as Wheatley, Latham, Matthews and, yes, Gyford — the Conversation continues. Here’s to another 300 years!
Paul Brewster • Link
Mr. White
L&M Footnote him as Thomas White, navy agent. They go on to say that he was also a Storekeeper at Dover since at least 1657. "He had a salary of L100 p.a. and looked after the despatch, repair, cleaning and refitting of H.M. ships. In 1667 he applied for permission to surrender the post."
Paul Brewster • Link
who is as officious, poor man! as any spaniel can be; but I believe all to no purpose, for I believe he will not hold his place
Interesting to see how SP underestimates the power of a spaniel to win the heart of King Charles.
Per L&M: "Lawson (republican and Anabaptist in the past) now won the King's favor. He was knight in September 1660 and was given several commands before his death in 1665.
chip • Link
I would be willing to wager that SP, when called yesterday by the Duke of York, did upon his desire, make sure of the 30l he received today. I would also bet that Pepys today never imagined that it would be the month and day carved on his stone.
language hat • Link
I found myself very uncouth all this day:
This is a strange use of "uncouth"; the OED gives it its own subentry. After
5. Of places: Not commonly known or frequented; solitary, desolate, wild, rugged, rough.
b. Of life, surroundings, etc.: Unattractive, unpleasant, uncomfortable. Obs. or arch.
They add:
c. Strange; uneasy; at a loss. Obs. [1 occurrence]
1660 PEPYS Diary 26 May, All the great company being gone, I found myself very uncouth all this day for want thereof.
I don't understand "so I dined commander at the coach table to-day"; is this how the L&M edition reads?
mary • Link
So I dined commander ...
L&M note that 'dined' here replaces 'supped' but does not indicate where 'supped' might have appeared.
I would guess that Sam means that he took the head of the table, presided over it etc. at dinner in the coach. Although he mentions all the officers being with him, this probably doesn't include the Captain, who is normally mentioned by name and who would take precedence over Sam, even though the latter is basking in Mountagu's reflected glory.
Mary • Link
uncouth
As Language Hat says, a singular use of the word. All those of rank and consequence now having departed the ship, perhaps Sam feels that he has been left with the hoi polloi of the Naseby's (now The Charles's) company and this has brought him uncomfortably back to earth in his own estimation, reminding hm that he is not a man of rank or consequence yet.
He's clearly feeling very flat and out of place after all the excitement and heady glory of the last few days. Maybe claiming the head of the table at dinner is his way of compensating for this in a small way?
Paul Brewster • Link
L&M note that "dined" here replaces "supped" but does not indicate where "supped" might have appeared.
The Reader’s Guide in the L&M indicates that the word ‘repl’ in the textual notes indicate Pepys’s alterations. These alterations I assume are among the “many corrections and changes, perhaps 4000 all told [that] are made [in the manuscript] so neatly that only close examination reveals their existence” as discussed by L&M in their Introduction (p. xliv)
It may have been that upon rereading he noticed that he had used the phrase supped three times in the same entry. He probably decided to differentiate between “dined” for the midday meal and “supped” for the evening meal on the same day. The situation is further confused by the fact that he "supped … again at 12 a-clock at night."
helena murphy • Link
The Vice-Admiral , Sir John Lawson ,will continue to hold his rank and his place due simply to his professional seafaring experience ,irrespective of his previous political views. Charles and the Duke of York, now Lord High Admiral ,are sufficiently pragmatic to be unaffected by his past,and in fact an Act of Indemnity and Oblivion was passed to pardon lesser figures who had taken the Parliamentarian side. Neither is the King oblivious to Dutch naval strength , and wealth based on its far flung maritime empire. Like his father before him, Charles will be committed to building up the Royal Navy to meet this challenge.
vincent • Link
(who is as officious, poor man! as any spaniel can be; but I believe all to no purpose, for I believe he will not hold his place),
Lawson, V.adm.- 'e can't say the Kings henglish, not washed with "cam water" but knew how to run a fleet: One of the first up from the ranks. Sam will learn there is more to the feller than his ingratiating ways: He had to compensate for the lack of his Latinised vocabulary, Thanks Helena Murphy:
Paul Brewster • Link
Veblen on dogs
A friend pointed me to this quote from Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, which seems appropriate here as well as in the previous day's entry ...
"The dog has advantages in the way of uselessness as well as in special gifts
of temperament. He is often spoken of, in an eminent sense, as the friend of
man, and his intelligence and fidelity are praised. The meaning of this is
that the dog is man's servant and that he has the gift of an unquestioning
subservience and a slave's quickness in guessing his master's mood. Coupled
with these traits, which fit him well for the relation of status -- and
which must for the present purpose be set down as serviceable traits -- the
dog has some characteristics which are of a more equivocal aesthetic value.
He is the filthiest of the domestic animals in his person and the nastiest
in his habits. For this he makes up is a servile, fawning attitude towards
his master, and a readiness to inflict damage and discomfort on all else."
jamie yeager • Link
30 pounds
If Sam's net worth, which he cast up earlier onboard during the voyage as 40 pounds, remained the same, then he almost doubled his net worth at a stroke with this gift from the King via his Lord...
Second Reading
Bill • Link
Vice Admiral John Lawson did indeed survive any bureaucratic infighting and will be knighted in September. He died in the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665. More at http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
Pat McCann • Link
Todd. Shouldn't the "RIP Sam" have a 'Spoiler Alert' warning? :)
What a fantastic few weeks we have just been through. Second time around and I still love my daily fix of Pepys.
Bob Terry • Link
I've got a question. How did the high priced help, Dukes, Admirals, the King, and Princesses, get on and off these ships? Did they climb a rope ladder? Get hoisted aboard on the end of a rope or what?
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘ . . In June 1661, as second to Montagu, now earl of Sandwich, he was sent to the straits to subdue the Barbary corsairs and secure England's new acquisition, Tangier. During the next four summers he was commander of a powerful Mediterranean squadron . . in . . the first encounter [of the Second Anglo-Dutch War] off Lowestoft, on 3 June 1665 . . After he and the duke had pounded their way through the Dutch centre and destroyed their admiral's flagship, in the ensuing chase Lawson was struck in the knee by a musket ball. The wound was not considered dangerous but gangrene set in and he died at Greenwich on 29 June . . ‘ [DNB]
John Wheater • Link
Lawson
had been aggressively and successfully anti-Royalist. Pepys was not alone in thinking he would fail: many in the new Parliament wanted him degraded (he was already resentful at being superseded by 'my Lord'), but Charles adopted the classic pragmatic adage 'Whatever you were before, now you are one of Ours'.
It's also interesting to reflect that his previous (1653) visit to Scheveningen had been to wipe out the Dutch navy.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Information from CHARLES II AND HIS COURT
BY A. G. A. BRETT
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
LONDON: METHUEN & GO. LTD.
1910
https://archive.org/stream/charle…
Charles II stayed in Canterbury from May 25 - Monday, May 28, and while there he knighted Gen. George Monck and Secretary William Morice, giving the former the Garter, 1 and sending it to Admiral Edward Montagu.
1 James, Duke of York put the George on Monck, and Henry, Duke of Gloucester the Garter. (Ludlow.)
Charles II also found time to write the following letter to his sister [Minette] on May 26: "I was so tormented with business at The Hague, that I could not write to you before my departure, but I left orders with my sister the Princess of Orange to send you a small present a from me 2, which I hope you will soon receive.
2 The present was a side-saddle with trappings of green velvet, embroidered, and trimmed with gold lace.
142 CHARLES II AND HIS COURT
“I arrived yesterday at Dover, when I found Monck, with a great number of the nobility, who almost overwhelmed me with kindness and joy for my return. My head is so dreadfully stunned with the acclamations of the people, and the vast amount of business, that I know not whether I am writing sense or nonsense. Therefore pardon me if I say no more than that I am entirely yours. For my dear sister."
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Thanks to God I got to bed in my own poor cabin, and slept well till 9 o’clock this morning. Mr. North and Dr. Clerke and all the great company being gone, I found myself very uncouth all this day for want thereof."
Imagine you are the P.A. to the General Manager of a remote hotel, and the Royal Family and a gang of film stars come for the weekend. Parties, celebrities, food, dogs, chaos, rumors, gambling, 24/7 -- and then they are gone.
Plus there had been some concern that not everyone on the beach at Dover were going to be friendly, and that didn't happen.
Yes, Pepys got to sleep late in his own cabin, but the letdown is clear. Plus there is relief -- and the Adrenaline Rush is over.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... the Vice-Admiral to-day (who is as officious, poor man! as any spaniel can be; but I believe all to no purpose, for I believe he will not hold his place)."
Maybe the word "officious" had a different meaning to Pepys. Maybe he meant that Vice Adm. Lawson is conducting himself today as a Vice Adm. should, giving orders while being anxious to be of service to the General-at-Sea -- just as he has been up until now.
Pepys has seen the Captains with questionable allegances fired recently. He clearly thinks it's now Lawson's turn to take a hike. These mealtime chats with Montagu must have convinced him that Lawson was loyal enough to continue in Charles II's Navy.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... afterwards a messenger from the King came with a letter, and to go into France, ..."
I guess that's Charles' letter to Minette. How charming. Charles has a Navy, so he's using it. Dash the expense!
San Diego Sarah • Link
MEANWHILE, in London ...
In January 1660 Dr. James Sharp and 5 other Scottish ministers had been sent to London by the leading Resolutioner ministers to share the views of the Scottish Presbyterian party with Gen. George Monck.
Dr. Sharp stayed in London until May 4, 1660, when Gen. Monck sent him to Breda to ask for Charles II’s agreement to this settlement of ecclesiastical affairs in Scotland.
Dr. Sharp returned to London on May 26, 1660, and stayed until the middle of August, talking with the leading persons there while staying in close contact with the Presbyterian clergy of Scotland, who placed their entire confidence in him. (His letters are in the university of Glasgow library and in Wodrow’s History.)
https://www.electricscotland.com/…
MartinVT • Link
"very uncouth all this day" —
"uneasy," "unpleasant" from the OED cited by Languagehat back in 2003 seem correct for "uncouth". Basically, he is grumpy because his buddies aren't around, and the visiting vice-admiral is officious.
But regarding "all this day," actually by dinnertime (lunchtime) he must be over it, getting to preside at the high table, and then playing some ninepins. Plus, he learns that he's 30 pounds richer for a few weeks of work.
Terry Foreman • Link
Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class
Chapter Six ~~ Pecuniary Canons of Taste
The caution has already been repeated more than once, that while the regulating norm of consumption is in large part the requirement of conspicuous waste, it must not be understood that the motive on which the consumer acts in any given case is this principle in its bald, unsophisticated form. Ordinarily his motive is a wish to conform to established usage, to avoid unfavorable notice and comment, to live up to the accepted canons of decency in the kind, amount, and grade of goods consumed, as well as in the decorous employment of his time and effort. In the common run of cases this sense of prescriptive usage is present in the motives of the consumer and exerts a direct constraining force, especially as regards consumption carried on under the eyes of observers. But a considerable element of prescriptive expensiveness is observable also in consumption that does not in any appreciable degree become known to outsiders—as, for instance, articles of underclothing, some articles of food, kitchen utensils, and other household apparatus designed for service rather than for evidence. In all such useful articles a close scrutiny will discover certain features which add to the cost and enhance the commercial value of the goods in question, but do not proportionately increase the serviceability of these articles for the material purposes which alone they ostensibly are designed to serve.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8…
[ scroll down for the paragraph on the dog]
Stephane Chenard • Link
Bob Terry 10 years ago asked how the Quality (and the rest) got on (and now off) the ship. We just can't let a good question go unanswered. William Lower at the end of his "Relation in the form of a journal" says MyLord received the king "at the top of the ladder, by which one goes up onto the ship". What with all the ribbons and the petticoats &c., it must have been a sight, but apparently nobody fell.
Terry Foreman • Link
Meanwhile in the House of Lords in Westminster - 5/26/1660
Message from H. C. with a Declaration for suppressing Troubles in Ireland.
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by the Lord Angier; who brought up a Declaration for suppressing some Troubles in the Kingdom of Ireland, wherein they desire their Lordships Concurrence.
Read Twice.
The Answer returned was:
Answer.
That this House will return an Answer by Messengers of their own.
Committee for preparing a Proclamation against the Rebels in Ireland.
ORDERED, That a Proclamation be drawn up, to be sent to His Majesty, by the Advice of both Houses, to be issued in His Majesty's Name, to the same Effect.
And these Lords following were appointed to prepare the same, and report it to the House:
1 Comes Northumb.
6 Comes Portland.
2 Comes Bridgwater.
3 Comes Leycester.
4 Comes Denbigh.
5 Comes Berks. 7 Viscount Say & Seale.
1 Ds. Willoughby.
2 Ds. Paget.
3 Ds. Robertes.
Justice Malet to assist.
Terry Foreman • Link
House of Commons - 5/26/1660
Irish Rebellion.
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
A Message from the Lords, by Doctor Child, Mr. *, Two Masters of Chancery;
Mr. Speaker, The Lords desire a present Conference with this House about the Declaration, received this Morning, concerning the Rebellion of Ireland, in the Painted Chamber.
Resolved, That a Conference be presently had with the Lords upon the said Declaration: And that Mr. Finch, Sir John Temple, Mr. Annesley, Sir Anth. Irby, Lord Aungier, Col. Shapcott, Sir Edward Deering, be a Committee to manage this Conference.
The Messengers were again called in; and Mr. Speaker gave them this Answer;
The House hath considered of your Message; and they do agree to a Conference, as is desired, in the Painted Chamber.
Terry Foreman • Link
House of Lords - 5/26/1600
King's Goods, &c. that have been seized, to be delivered to Kynnesley.
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
ORDERED, That Colonel Wm. Hawley and Colonel Hercules Lowe, who (having been authorized by the Lords Committees for receiving Information concerning the King's Goods, Jewels, &c. to seize and secure such Goods and other Moveables belonging to the Crown as they should find to be concealed) have accordingly seized and secured sundry Goods belonging to the Crown, be, and are hereby, authorized and required to deliver to Mr. Kynnersley such of the said Goods now in their Custody as shall be of present Use for the Furnishing of His Majesty's Court at Whitehall.
Kem to deliver a Canopy of State to him.
Whereas Mr. Henry Kem of Westm. hath in his Custody a Canopy of State belonging to the Crown, for which he hath really paid the Sum of Thirty Pounds, which Canopy of State is of present Use, for the furnishing His Majesty's Prefence Chamber, in His Court at Whitehall:
It is ORDERED, That Mr. Kynnersley do require and receive the said Canopy of State of Mr. Kem aforesaid, giving him his Receipt for the same, to the End the said Mr. Kem may be hereafter further satisfied.
Adjourn.
House adjourned till 5a post meridiem.
john • Link
@Stephane Chenard -- A most interesting image of embarkation as they would have used rope ladders then.
john • Link
Sorry, I write corrected on my assumption of rope ladders. Here is a Getty image titled "Cornelis De Wael (1592-1667), Troops Embarking on a Galley in the Port of Genoa. Genoa Pegli, Civico Museo Navale (Boat Museum)": https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail…
The troops are embarking via wooden ladders between boat and galley. So the question of means of ingress remains.