Tuesday 17 July 1660
This morning (as indeed all the mornings nowadays) much business at my Lord’s.
There came to my house before I went out Mr. Barlow, an old consumptive man, and fair conditioned, with whom I did discourse a great while, and after much talk I did grant him what he asked, viz., 50l. per annum, if my salary be not increased, and (100l. per annum, in case it be to 350l.), at which he was very well pleased to be paid as I received my money and not otherwise.
Going to my Lord’s I found my Lord had got a great cold and kept his bed, and so I brought him to my Lord’s bedside, and he and I did agree together to this purpose what I should allow him.
That done and the day proving fair I went home and got all my goods packed up and sent away, and my wife and I and Mrs. Hunt went by coach, overtaking the carts a-drinking in the Strand. Being come to my house and set in the goods, and at night sent my wife and Mrs. Hunt to buy something for supper; they bought a Quarter of Lamb, and so we ate it, but it was not half roasted.
Will, Mr. Blackburne’s nephew, is so obedient, that I am greatly glad of him. At night he and I and Mrs. Hunt home by water to Westminster.
I to my Lord, and after having done some business with him in his chamber in the Nursery, which has been now his chamber since he came from sea, I went on foot with a linkboy to my home, where I found my wife in bed and Jane washing the house, and Will the boy sleeping, and a great deal of sport I had before I could wake him. I to bed the first night that I ever lay here with my wife.
24 Annotations
First Reading
Glyn • Link
"I went on foot with a linkboy to my home"
Steve h explained about linkboys in an entry back on 4 February:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
But, following on from yesterday's discussions, we know that this must have been after 9 o'clock - it's been another long day.
Paul Brewster • Link
and (100l. per annum, in case it be to 350l.),
L&M footnote: "Pepys was still uncertain about the new rates of salary awarded to the Principal Officers because their patents of appointment, issued after the council order of 4 July fixing the new rates, had specified the old, lower rates. But on 16 July the Admiral's warrant put the council order into effect."
Eric Walla • Link
100l. per annum sounds rather steep.
I started to believe Sam was going to get away with it altogether ... but this must be the price he would pay for peace of mind.
I will be interested to see if the transaction is recorded in the diary from year to year (and no, I'm not asking for a spoiler).
Grahamt • Link
"my wife and I and Mrs. Hunt went by coach, overtaking the carts a-drinking in the Strand"
Carts, Plural: so I guess one handcart wasn't big enough. "Carts a-drinking": is that the horses being watered, or the carters getting drunk?
chip • Link
Rather touching that last line. I wonder what happened to the half-roasted lamb. Did they try to keep it warm, near a fire, for the next day? Funny, I assumed the carters were slaking their thirst, I never thought of the poor horses. Imagine what those streets were like! I don't think Pepys plans to be paying Barlow too many years, as he calls him consumptive. As Vincent has told us, he dies 4 years later. Barlow himself may have visited Pepys expressly to demonstrate this.
vincent • Link
"... where I found my wife in bed and Jane washing the house, and Will the boy sleeping, and a great deal of sport I had before I could wake him...."
Does not SP paint a wonderful scene, in so few words.
Arbor • Link
A tale of two homes. Sam starts off calling Axe Yard 'home' and Seething Lane 'house'... and finishes calling SL 'home'. Funny how the mind works. The route from Axe Yard to Seething Lane would have taken the carters past innumerable ale-houses (and a good many horse troughs)... Whitehall > Charing Cross > Strand > Fleet Street > Ludgate Hill (past St. Pauls) > Cheapside or Eastcheap to SL. The Tower is just 400 metres from SL.
Mary • Link
....overtaking the carts a-drinking....
Sounds more like the horses drinking from a horse-trough. Surely Sam couldn't have been so unconcerned about the carters having slipped into an ale-house, leaving his houshold goods on open carts in the street for anyone to poke, prod or half-inch.
Paul • Link
Mr. Barlow, an old consumptive man...
I guess that SP is thinking any payment arrangement with Mr Barlow will not last too long!
A. De Araujo • Link
"Imagine what those streets were like"Chip,as someone who goes to the horse riding trails in Central Park looking for horse manure for my houseplants I think horse droppings were a disputed commodity at the time.
Paul Brewster • Link
Mr. Barlow, an old consumptive man, and fair-conditioned -- with whom I did discourse a great while;
I seem to see in the words, "fair-conditioned" and in the general tone of the entry that SP has developed a form of respect for the man during the course of his conversations/negotiations.
An OED entry for this compound:
1634 Laud Wks. (1860) VII. 92 A very honest, *fair-conditioned man.
Alan Bedford • Link
So Sam brings Mr Barlow , who has tuberculosis, presumably, into the room of Montagu, who's hacking away with his "great cold." Couldn't have been very healthful for Barlow. Sam's promised payments of 100 l. per year are looking safer.
Sam's use of the linkboy may have been a bit earlier than 9:00 pm, since these events occurred in the pre-British Summer Time days...
David A. Smith • Link
"50l. per annum, if my salary be not increased"
Following up on Paul and Eric's points, Sam's actions here demonstrate five qualities:
Prudence. Rather than tough it out with Barlow, Sam eliminates a risk at a price he can afford (it's a lot in nominal terms, but he's giving away futures, and only for a finite time, so he can clearly afford it).
Quick study. He has shaped his behavior by interviewing Montagu and emulating Montagu's successful tactics.
Innovation. Sam shares his salary upside/ downside with Barlow (I get paid, you get paid), a gesture that is so transparently equitable I am confident it bought him Barlow's good will.
Compassion. I concur with Paul; Sam found himself liking Barlow and whether shrewdly or kindly, he settled in a way his supplicant must have thought generous.
Decision. He heard the case, he made a decision, and he sealed the bargain -- business traits all too rare!
This is a clever, nimble, charitable man. I predict he will go far. (What, I'm right!?! How do YOU know?)
vincent • Link
For A. De Araujo "as someone who goes to the horse riding trails in Central Park looking for horse manure for my houseplants I think horse droppings were a disputed commodity at the time" Yep they even 'ad a recyling yard for shipping to the the farms. See next to the timber yard at white fryers stairs
http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/Se…
Glyn • Link
Horse dung, sanitation and sewage (also known as "night soil") in olde London:
http://www.jasa.net.au/london/san…
Grahamt • Link
Dung was used in industry too:
It was used to make saltpeter (nitre) for the production of gunpowder. A field was well dunged, allowed to "mature", then woollen blankets were lain upon it and wet to leach the nitre out of the soil. The blankets were soaked in water and the nitre solution produced evaporated to leave behind the saltpeter crystals.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Gunpowder production was the basis of the wealth of the family of John Evelyn, who will come to know Pepys, correspond with him ex officio and befriend him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John…
Terry Foreman • Link
"Will, Mr. Blackburne’s nephew, is so obedient, that I am greatly glad of him. "
L&M note this is William Hewer, a boy of just 18, now introduced by his uncle into Pepys's service. He lived to become Pepys's closest friend and and companion, making a career in the Navy Office and rising to be a Commissioner of the Navy under James II.
Terry Foreman • Link
"I to my Lord... in his chamber in the Nursery, which has been now his chamber since he came from sea,"
L&M note this was in Whitehall Palace.
Bill • Link
"...an old consumptive man, and fair conditioned..."
Il fait le doux Dien dessous une pesle. He behaves himself gently, bears himself mildly, he is a fair conditioned man
---A French and English dictionary. R. Cotgrave, 1673.
Weavethe hawk • Link
"they bought a Quarter of Lamb, and so we ate it, but it was not half roasted" I grew up in England, in an era when everything was over-cooked, meat vegetables, the lot. I'm sure he would be aghast at today's trend of consuming under-cooked beef, lamb etc.
Terry Foreman • Link
"I to my Lord, and after having done some business with him in his chamber in the Nursery, which has been now his chamber since he came from sea,"
Since he returned from sea Mountagu's quarters have been in the "Nursery" in Whitehall Palace. (L&M note)
Third Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"...my wife in bed and Jane washing the house, and Will the boy sleeping, and a great deal of sport I had before I could wake him."
This is Will the Footboy, not Will Hewer.
San Diego Sarah • Link
I like David Smith's assessment of Pepys' character as shown by his dealings with Barlow.
And I feel sorry for Pepys -- the sooner Sandwich gets a new secretary the better.
He can't be Clerk of the Acts by day, and running off to Whitehall every evening. And then walking home with a linkboy; as Arbor mapped out the route, it's a few miles.
Thank goodness the rain had stopped, but even so ...