Thursday 26 July 1660
Early to White Hall, thinking to have a meeting of my Lord and the principal officers, but my Lord could not, it being the day that he was to go and be admitted in the House of Lords, his patent being done, which he presented upon his knees to the Speaker; and so it was read in the House, and he took his place.
I at the Privy Seal Office with Mr. Hooker, who brought me acquainted with Mr. Crofts of the Signet, and I invited them to a dish of meat at the Leg in King Street, and so we dined there and I paid for all and had very good light given me as to my employment there. Afterwards to Mr. Pierces, where I should have dined but I could not, but found Mr. Sheply and W. Howe there. After we had drunk hard we parted, and I went away and met Dr. Castle, who is one of the Clerks of the Privy Seal, and told him how things were with my Lord and me, which he received very gladly. I was this day told how Baron against all expectation and law has got the place of Bickerstaffe, and so I question whether he will not lay claim to wait the next month, but my Lord tells me that he will stand for it.
In the evening I met with T. Doling, who carried me to St. James’s Fair, and there meeting with W. Symons and his wife, and Luellin, and D. Scobell’s wife and cousin, we went to Wood’s at the Pell Mell1 (our old house for clubbing), and there we spent till 10 at night, at which time I sent to my Lord’s for my clerk Will to come to me, and so by link home to bed. Where I found Commissioner Willoughby had sent for all his things away out of my bedchamber, which is a little disappointment, but it is better than pay too dear for them.
23 Annotations
First Reading
john lauer • Link
"...so by link home to bed."
So is this "link" "A torch formerly used for lighting one's way in the streets."? -Am. Heritage Dict., 3rd, 1992
Paul Miller • Link
"we went to Wood's at the Pell Mell”
In a few years Pepys writes of seeing the game Pell Mell played.
“Afterwards to St James's Park, seeing people play at Pell Mell, where it pleased me mightily to hear a gallant, lately come from France, swear at one of his companions for suffering his man (a spruce blade) to be so saucy as to strike a ball while his master was playing on the Mall.”
chip • Link
If you remember Willoughby had the house that Pepys now has. Obviously his furniture is still in Pepys' bedroom and he (Pepys) has taken a shine to it. But Willoughby is asking too much. Sam appears the new frat boy in this entry (and recent ones), treating everyone to dinner and drinks no doubt ('and had very good light given me'). He is learning his post. I found the notes on the pall mall fascinating. And John Lauer if you type 'link' in the upper right corner and search, you will see that Glyn in the first entry of the second date mentions steve h who explains clearly that your suspicion is correct.
Mary • Link
so by link home...
From time to time annotators comment on Pepys' unhealthy diet (no veg. to speak of, plenty of meat and drink, fruit never yet mentioned) but here is one clue to his well-being. After a very long day of work, negotiations, briefings interspersed with hard drinking and what looks like a thoroughly convivial supper, he now walks the approx. 3 miles home. This on top of all the tripping about that he has done during the day. He always gets his exercise.
Larry Bunce • Link
I have heard that London streets were not safe after dark until the Bobbies were organized in the 1840's. It occurs to me that Sam walks home late on a regular basis, and so far has not written about any unpleasant incidents.
Mary • Link
Safety in the streets.
According to Liza Picard (Restoration London) pick-pocketing was the most common street crime and burglary/house-breaking the commonest domestic crime. There were constables appointed by each parish (3 or 4 per parish) but this was a poorly paid job and unpopular, though obligatory to accept such an appointment once it was made.
The threat of really violent crime seems to have been strongest outside the city limits, where highwaymen could hope to make a reliable getaway into the darkenss of the countryside ... a useful resource when the theft of any property above 12 pence in value automatically qualified for the death penalty.
Pepys doesn't seem nervous about walking home with just the linkboy as escort, does he? Using main streets, he seems to have felt reasonably secure, so the situation can't have been too bad and, in theory at least, householders were bound to light their own little patch of street during the hours of darkness (a discussion that came up back in January).
Paul Brewster • Link
whether he will not lay claim to wait the next month
According to an L&M footnote "the clerks of the Privy Seal took duty for a month at a time."
Paul Brewster • Link
our old house for clubbing
L&M footnotes this as "A weekly meeting of young government clerks which Pepys and his friends held 'in Cromwell's time'."
Glyn • Link
"and had very good light given me as to my employment there"
I think he means that he was being given "inside information" about how to do his new job, office politics etc - being given the benefit of these more senior people's experience and knowledge. So they were showing aspects of his job in a new light.
Part of Pepys job as a "personal assistant" to Montagu has been to get all the relevant news while Montagu is out of London - now he is doing it for himself.
Paul Brewster • Link
Signet vs Privy Seal
Earlier Montagu appeared to be confused about the office that he held in reversion. SP recorded that the Earl remembered it as the Clerk of the Signet but we now know that it was Clerk of the Privy Seal.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Now I to am puzzled about the distinction between the two offices since they seem to be closely tied in the persons of Mr. Hooker and Mr. Crofts in this entry.
I found a list of office-holders (our old friend Samuel Morland seems to be the last recorded incumbent) but no discussion of the Signet office or its function at the following site:
http://www.history.ac.uk/office/s…
Second Reading
Bill • Link
"After we had drunk hard.."
I'm getting the impression that a lot of people are walking around London with a buzz on!
Bill • Link
Shot:—a common contribution, or clubbing, to pay a tavern bill.
---English etymology. G.W. Lemon, 1783.
Terry Foreman • Link
Signet and Privy Seal Offices
From as early as 1444 the use of the signet at an early stage on the passage of grants under the great seal was regulated by the Privy Council and also involved the Privy Seal Office. However, this system of a chain of official responsibility in the making of royal grants was not established by Parliament until the Clerks of the Signet and Privy Seal Act of 1535 laid down that all grants by the King (or in his name) should be brought to the Secretary or one of the clerks of the signet and that a warrant from a Clerk of the Signet to the Keeper of the Privy Seal, to be followed by one from a Clerk of the Privy Seal to the Keeper of the Great Seal, should be the authority in ordinary cases for affixing the great seal to a grant. A scale of fees for the clerks of the Signet and Privy Seal Offices was fixed by the act and provision was made for the payment of these fees in cases where the grant was passed by immediate warrant and did not go through the two offices.
The business of the Signet Office was performed by four clerks acting in person or by deputy. Their primary duty, upon receipt of a warrant under the royal sign manual countersigned by a Secretary of State (or the Treasury commissioners), was to draw out on parchment the king's bill which was sent to the Secretary of State for the royal sign manual. At some period it became necessary for the Attorney General or Solicitor General to prepare the bills in certain cases,such as creations of nobility, charters, commissions and patents for invention. When a king's bill was returned to the Signet Office duly signed, a transcript was made of it. The signet was affixed to this transcript, which was then sent to the Privy Seal Office and was known as the signet bill, being the authority for the writ of privy seal to the Lord Chancellor.
The Signet Office was abolished by the Great Seal Act of 1851 which substituted simpler forms for the passing of grants under the great seal for those previously in use. http://discovery.nationalarchives…
Terry Foreman • Link
"my Lord...it being the day that he was to go and be admitted in the House of Lords, his patent being done, which he presented upon his knees to the Speaker; and so it was read in the House, and he took his place."
E. of Sandwich introduced.
This Day Edward Mountagu was introducted, between the Earl of North'ton and the Earl of Leichfeild, the Lord Great Chamberlain and Garter at Arms going before; and he having presented his Patent upon his Knee to the Speaker, at the End of the Woolsack, and it being delivered to the Clerk, it was read publicly. The said Patent bears Date the 12th Day of July Instant, in the Twelfth Year of King Charles the Second, whereby the said Edward Mountagu is created Baron of St. Neotes, Viscount Hinchingbrooke, and Earl of Sandwich.
After the Reading of the said Patent, he was brought to his proper Place and Seat.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
AndreaLouise Hanover • Link
Where I found Commissioner Willoughby had sent for all his things away out of my bedchamber - I don't understand why in some countries people sell their belongings with their houses. In South Africa we take everything with us and clean up the entire house (hygene), except for the stove/oven!
Terry Foreman • Link
"the Woolsack"
The Woolsack is the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords, the Upper House of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In the 14th century King Edward III (1327–1377) commanded that his Lord Chancellor whilst in council should sit on a wool bale, now known as "The Woolsack", in order to symbolise the central nature and huge importance of the wool trade to the economy of England in the Middle Ages. Indeed, it was largely to protect the vital English wool trade routes with continental Europe that the Battle of Crécy was fought with the French in 1346. From the Middle Ages until 2006, the presiding officer in the House of Lords was the Lord Chancellor and the Woolsack was usually mentioned in association with the office of Lord Chancellor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woo…
Terry Foreman • Link
"In the evening I met with T. Doling, who carried me to St. James’s Fair, and there meeting with W. Symons and his wife, and Luellin, and D. Scobell’s wife and cousin, we went to Wood’s at the Pell Mell (our old house for clubbing),"
A weekly meeting of young government clerks which Pepys and friends held 'in Cromwell's time': http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… Taverns and inns were much used for club meetings of this sort. (L&M footnote)
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I don't understand why in some countries people sell their belongings with their houses. In South Africa we take everything with us and clean up the entire house (hygene), except for the stove/oven!"
In the USA, in many "custom" houses, the furniture remains with the house because it was specially made for the house, or would be damaged by moving it. Sometimes the owners specify what they are taking, and what's included in the sale. The other stuff will be sold -- unless the buyer pays extra. Everything can be negotiated.
In Pepys' day very often the trouble of lowering beds out of the windows because the stairs were tiny meant that large pieces stayed where they were. It sounds like Pepys made assumptions and hadn't negotiated with the Commissioner for what he wanted.
Third Reading
MartinVT • Link
From Terry Foreman on 3 Jul 2013 above:
"The said Patent bears Date the 12th Day of July Instant, in the Twelfth Year of King Charles the Second..."
So for official purposes at least, Charles II's reign is considered to have begun immediately upon the death of Charles I, who was executed on 30 January 1649, despite the Interregnum during which Charles II was in exile.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Correct, MartinVT -- and the same logic applied when the Rump Parliament recalls were made in the Spring, and the Long Parliament legally dissolved itself and declared new elections. They were making Charles II's reign as legitimate and consistent as possible.
And this led to all the disputes about which minister should legally have the parish living, and who legally owned sequestered property.
Great time to be a lawyer.
David G • Link
Returning to the discussion of 20 years ago about the potential dangers of traversing London late at night, I can't recall any instance in the diary when Sam says that he was robbed. He was afraid of theft, and he lost money due to carelessness, but I can't recall reading about an actual robbery (and this is my third time through the diary), which is interesting given that Sam frequently walks around London at night over the diary period.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Without being chastized for revealing a spoiler, we can't answer you, David G -- if you're on the Pepys Group email I'll answer you that way?
I suspect Pepys didn't walk alone, and he didn't dress in a splashy way, so the thieves probably thought there were better victims.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I suspect Pepys didn't walk alone" -- no he certainly didn't. He had the strapping big teenager, Will Hewer, with him.