Monday 18 June 1660

To my Lord’s, where much business and some hopes of getting some money thereby. With him to the Parliament House, where he did intend to have gone to have made his appearance to-day, but he met Mr. Crew upon the stairs, and would not go in.

He went to Mrs. Brown’s, and staid till word was brought him what was done in the House. This day they made an end of the twenty men to be excepted from pardon to their estates.

By barge to Stepny with my Lord, where at Trinity House we had great entertainment.

With my Lord there went Sir W. Pen, Sir H. Wright, Hetly, Pierce, Creed, Hill, I and other servants.

Back again to the Admiralty, and so to my Lord’s lodgings, where he told me that he did look after the place of the Clerk of the Acts1 for me. So to Mr. Crew’s and my father’s and to bed. My wife went this day to Huntsmore for her things, and I was very lonely all night.

This evening my wife’s brother, Balty, came to me to let me know his bad condition and to get a place for him, but I perceive he stands upon a place for a gentleman, that may not stain his family when, God help him, he wants bread.

23 Annotations

First Reading

Paul Brewster  •  Link

where at Trinity House we had great entertainment.
L&M point out that this was "Trinity Monday when the corporation met to elect its officers for the year.

JonTom Kittredge  •  Link

Lonely all Night
We come now apparently to the end of the period (mentioned in annotations for June 9th) when Pepys didn't write out his entries in detail and included only rough notes. Now that he is writing more fully, he mentions Mrs. Pepys and how much he misses her. Perhaps it's her very absence, i.e.feeling at loose ends, that leads him to resume his diary more fully.

The speculation on the cause of his lack of mention of his wife in the preceding entries reminds me that it is always iffy to argue from absence of evidence when it comes to history, where our evidence is always incomplete. Perhaps Mr Pepys has indeed been peeved at, or even indifferent to, Mrs Pepys since he returned from sea, and only today discovered what she means to him. Who knows? In my experience, though, people have a way not behaving as we think they should. I wouldn't be too certain of a conclusion like "if he really loved his wife, he would have mentioned her."

Nix  •  Link

"This day they made an end of the twenty men to be excepted from pardon to their estates."

Can anyone parse this? I understand that the general pardon is exempting 20 men -- but what does he mean, they "made an end" of them? And what does "to their estates" mean in this context?

***

Samuel's condescension toward his brother-in-law is interesting, considering how recently he came to his own good fortune through the good offices of a relative. Of course, Balty is a mere in-law, not blood -- and French, to boot!

Roger Miller  •  Link

This is a page about the numbers involved at various stages in the trial and execution of Charles I: http://www.axtellfamily.org/axfam…

Here is a description of a pardon given to Montagu's brother-in-law Sir Gilbert Pickering.

http://www.pitts.emory.edu/Archiv…

Montagu 'influenced Pickering's removal from the list of Cromwellian supporters who would be punished by the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion (1660)'

Pauline  •  Link

Perhaps it's her very absence…
I think you’ve hit on a very reasonable connection, JonTom. The stretch of sketched-out entries could well reflect devoting his late evenings to Elizabeth.

vincent  •  Link

What we do not put down, is usually the obvious standard day to day routine, to the chronicier: It is so difficult to recognise that the Reader may not have the same set of experinces and could be interested in how we sipped the soup? (fingers or spoon or straight from the saucer).What is standard faire to "ME " should be the same for thou, n'est pas: why is it? you do not read my mind ?
Balty, The way I sense it, is one of those brats that expects all and gives nowt: 'Tis the story of many brothers in laws of literature:

Paul Chapin  •  Link

that may not stain his family ...
Are we to interpret this as written, meaning (I suppose) something like a blot on the escutcheon, or is this an alternate or archaic (or just misspelled) form of "sustain", which would seem to make more sense in the context? Does anyone know, or have access to a relevant reference?

Alan Bedford  •  Link

"...that may not stain his family ..." i.e., that would not reflect badly on his family's social position. Balty appears to be looking for a prestigious position at a time when he should be willing to take pretty much anything he can get; as Sam says, "God help him, he wants bread."

chip  •  Link

Yes Pauline, I buy into your idea. Of course he's been with her, that explains the curtness of the entry the night he got back and the use of the rough script these last weeks. He's been making up for time lost....it is a pleasure to get to know Sam. Thanks to all you annotators who make the detective work so much easier.

Mary  •  Link

.... that may not stain his family

L&M Companion has a long entry on Balty (too long to quote here) which chooses Ollard's description of him as 'an absurd, posturing, melodramatic egotist' as its keynote quotation. The St. Michels had no social (or financial) position in England, but claimed descent from (minor) French nobility and plainly felt that more was due to them than they ever achieved

Matthew  •  Link

"A place for a gentleman"
It may be worth mentioning that the term "gentleman" had a more restricted meaning in those days. A full history of the word (up to 1911) is given at:
http://1911encyclopedia.org/G/GE/…

Jenny Doughty  •  Link

'I perceive he stands upon a place for a gentleman, that may not stain his family when, God help him, he wants bread.' I read this as Balty insisting on a place suitable for what he perceives his position in the world to be (a 'gentleman') when as Sam sees it he should be willing to take anything he can get in order to have money with which to support himself. I've known some young adults like this...

tamara  •  Link

I'm reading Claire Tomalin's biography and her very first mention of Sam's brother-in-law Balthasar (Balty) says that "he had been reared to give himself the airs of a gentleman, with no resources to back them." So far (I'm still in the years before Sam starts keeping the diary) Balty sounds like a ne'er-do-well pain in the ass. Although apparently his parents were probably partly responsible for this--they seem charming but impractical and were evidently always broke and on the move.

Yonmei  •  Link

Remember that "gentleman" was a precise and restrictive caste in those days. Being a gentleman meant potential access to far greater rewards. Taking a job that was below-caste, while not as damaging for a man as it would be for a woman, was still a serious point. It's not like today when having done a stint of minimum-wage labour would hardly reflect badly on you in later life: in Pepys' time, it was something that potentially could even be blackmail material, assuming that Balty rose later on: for possible consequences, don't think McDonalds: think rather of a young person refusing to work as a prostitute, in a country where it's perfectly legal to do so, even though s/he needs the money, on the grounds that such work is degrading.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Nix asks: "I understand that the general pardon is exempting 20 men -- but what does he mean, they "made an end" of them? And what does "to their estates" mean in this context?"

They "made an end of them" = today Commons ended the listing of the 20, individually named, discussed and voted on, whose lives and "their estates" will not be forfeit. Commons have been about this for at least since 17 May:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Proceedings against the Regicides.

Resolved, upon the Question, by the Commons assembled in Parliament, that all the Persons who sat in Judgment upon the late King's Majesty, when Sentence of Death was pronounced against him, and the Estates both real and personal, of all and every the said Persons, whether in their own Hands, or in the Hands of any other, in Trust for their or any of their Uses, who are fled, be forthwith seized and secured: And the respective Sheriffs, and other Officers, whom this may concern, are to take effectual Order accordingly.

Resolved, By the Commons assembled in Parliament, that nothing in the Orders touching the seizing of the Persons or Estates of those who sat in Judgment upon the late King, do in any wise extend to Col. Matthew Tomlinson, or his Estate.

Resolved, By the Commons assembled in Parliament, that the Council of State do forthwith take Order for stopping of all the Ports; to the end that none of those who are ordered to be apprehended, as having sat in Judgment upon the late King's Majesty, may make Escape beyond the Seas.

Resolved, That these Votes, with a List of the Names of those who are to be secured, be sent up to the Lords; and their Concurrence desired:

And Mr. Pryn is to carry these Votes to the Lords..

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Re Mountagu absenting himself from Parliament. Many former Commonwealth men switched their loyalties to the new regime: William Prynne (Mr Pryn) being prominent amongst them. But Mountagu might well not have wanted to be seen voting for the punishment of regicides at the same time as receiving his own plaudits and honours.

Changing sides might not have been a big deal, but having a part in the revenge might well have felt and looked bad. In those troubled and turbulent times, Mountagu was a man of moderation.

Dick Wilson  •  Link

Pepys does not appear to appreciate how important the post of "Clerk of the Acts" was, or how profitable it could be, at least not yet.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to my Lord’s lodgings, where he told me that he did look after the place of the Clerk of the Acts for me. "

The office which Pepys held until he became Secretary to the Admiralty in 1673, and in which he made his reputation as an administrator. The Clerk of the Acys was secretary to the Navy Board, which conducted the civil administration of the navy. The Admiralty consisted at this period of the Admiral (the Duke of York), his secretary (Coventry) and a small staff of clerks. (L&M notes)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"He went to Mrs. Brown’s, and staid till word was brought him what was done in the House."

L&M: Mountague was due to receive the thanks of the House
( https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… )
but his visit was postponed by the arrival of a message from the King asking the Commons to speed the passage of the bill of indemnity and oblivion: CJ. viii. 66-7. Mrs Browne was Elizabeth, second wife of John Browne, Clerk of the Parliaments: his first wife (d. 1634) was Temperance Crew, aunt of Mountagu's wife. The Brownes lived in Old Palace Yard in the Clerk's official residence.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

John Evelyn's Diary – he and Mary Browne Evelyn live at Saye's Court, Deptford.

http://brittlebooks.library.illin…

@@@

18 June, 1660.
I proposed the embassy to Constantinople for Mr. Henshaw; but my Lord Winchelsea struck in.
Goods that had been pillaged from Whitehall during the Rebellion were now daily brought in, and restored upon proclamation; as plate, hangings, pictures, etc.

@@@

John Evelyn’s friend was Thomas Henshaw FRS, known as an alchemist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tho… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

Lord Winchelsea was Sir Heneage Finch, 2nd/3rd Earl of Winchilsea (1628–1689) of Eastwell, Kent. The confusion came from his widowed grandmother being created the Countess of Winchilsea is her own right. Her son, Thomas, was therefore technically the 1st Earl but was also the 2nd generation to hold the title. The 2nd/3rd Earl and was the nobleman sent as the (prolific) Ambassador to Constantinople. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

Hangings means tapestries, curtains, bed hangings, etc. and were expensive and valued. Rich people took them with them when they moved, but the Royal Family had fled and left everything. The Cromwells probably brought some household items with them, and Cromwell held a boot sale/yard sale of royal items to raise funds for the Parliamentary war effort after King Charles was executed. For more about the efforts to find and reclaim the artwork, see
https://www.countrylife.co.uk/lux…

Also, tapestries hung in places like the House of Commons when they were sitting, but when the House was prorogued, the hangings went elsewhere. When Charles II was welcomes back to London, the tapestries hung outside, but they returned inside once the parade was over. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… first paragraph on page 335

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