Sunday 29 July 1660
Lord’s day. I and my boy Will to Whitehall, and I with my Lord to White Hall Chappell, where I heard a cold sermon of the Bishop of Salisbury’s, and the ceremonies did not please me, they do so overdo them.
My Lord went to dinner at Kensington with my Lord Camden. So I dined and took Mr. Birfett, my Lord’s chaplain, and his friend along with me, with Mr. Sheply at my Lord’s.
In the afternoon with Dick Vines and his brother Payton, we walked to Lisson Green and Marybone and back again, and finding my Lord at home I got him to look over my accounts, which he did approve of and signed them, and so we are even to this day. Of this I was glad, and do think myself worth clear money about 120l. Home late, calling in at my father’s without stay. To bed.
25 Annotations
First Reading
Paul Brewster • Link
... cold sermon of the Bishop of Salsbury, Duppa, and the ceremonies did not please me ...
Wheatley apparently left out the name of the bishop. L&M includes the name, Duppa, and the following note: "Brian Duppa as Lord Almoner and Gilbert Sheldon as Dean of the Chapel Royal made Whitehall Chapel the headquarters of the Laudian revival at this time."
Pauline • Link
Archbishop Laud
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.…
The revival is of Archbishop Laud's attempts to re-establish the Church of England as a part of the universal catholic church.
Barbara • Link
Quite a good Sunday afternoon walk, from Whitehall to Lisson Green via Marylebone, and back. He would have ended up somewhere near what later became Lord's Cricket Ground, where a test match begins later this week.
Paul Brewster • Link
My Lord went to dinner at Kensington - with my Lord Camden
L&M make the location of the dinner more specific. They place it at "Campden House on what is now Campden Hill; the largest house in the parish after Holland House."
Paul Brewster • Link
Bishop of Salsbury, Duppa
Wheatley notes "Brian Duppa, born March 10th, 1588-9, tutor to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II, successively Bishop of Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester. Died March 26th, 1662."
Paul Brewster • Link
his brother Payton
L&M identify this fellow as his brother-in-law [Thomas] Blayton.
chip • Link
Is this a case of the good puritan reared Pepys rejecting the returning liturgy? Were they, God forbid, singing in latin? I do believe Pepys is 20% wealthier, and in but a month or two. He stands to make good money at the new post.
Todd Bernhardt • Link
Paul, thanks again for the L&M cross references, and for filling in Wheatley's gaps (intentional or otherwise).
David A. Smith • Link
"we are even to this day ... I do think myself worth clear money about 120l."
Perhaps because Sam himself has made no comment on the subject, the economic relation between Pepys and Montagu has gone unremarked among us commenters.
Rather than being a salaried employee or retainer, Sam is apparently an independent contractor. He is tasked with certain outcomes and advanced money to achieve them. He takes the risk of cost overruns but gets the benefits of cost savings and (sound of fingers rubbing together) the small gratuities that may flow his way from happy customers and supplicants.
What we by our lights may see as venality, graft, or corruption, may have in the context of the time been simple tipping -- To Insure Promptness -- that even we accept as a matter of course.
Glyn • Link
Chip: I don't think Pepys was ever a Puritan, although his mother may well have been.
A few months ago, someone said that Sam was attending Sunday Anglican church services when that was still technically illegal, which would imply that he had sincere beliefs of his own. Can someone more knowledgeable say if that's correct?
Paul Brewster • Link
Pepys: Puritan or Anglican?
The first sentence of the L&M Companion article on Religion says, "When the diary opens, Pepys was attending the illegal Anglican services which survived, with only occasional interruption from the authorities, in the London of the Commonwealth." It goes on to describe in an extended entry the middling course that SP seemed to navigate on matters of faith and religion.
Brian McMullen • Link
SP an independent contractor? An interesting thought but, more likely, SP is functioning within the economic structure of the day. 'Civil Service' as we understand it is still not developed and everything 'costs'. More likely SP is operating on ground familiar to all who can 'afford' to pay the price. I think 'tipping' (from our context) would not be understood by SP who is doing his 'job' and being paid for it in an 'acceptable' form.
helena murphy • Link
Had Pepys'mother had puritan leanings and hoped thereby to imbue her son with similar,his behaviour with women from his student days onward would indicate failure in this arena,let us not forget Sam's behaviour with the unfortunate Mrs Bagwell et al.
Arbor • Link
Puritan leanings? Not really, but it must be remembered that Sam's wife was the daughter of a Huguenot refugee from France. The Huguenots were hounded, many slaughtered and exiled from France by the Roman Catholic Church for their (Evangelical and Dissenting) beliefs. Large numbers of these refugees ended in England, and to this day Huguenot names are common.
Paul Brewster • Link
Mr. Birfett -> Mr. Borfett
According to L&M it's "Mr. Borfett, my Lord's chaplain”
Laura K • Link
Sam's wife a Huguenot?
I didn't realize that. Huguenot refugees came to New York State (where I live) in 1677, founding the town of New Paltz, meant to be a bastion of religious and political freedom. Their descendants, as well as restored homes and churches, are still celebrated there.
I'm not sure if this is off-topic and constitutes annotative drift? Apologies if it does. I was happy to find a connection between Pepys and a place I love, no matter how many degrees of separation.
Jim Petty • Link
Was Sam Pepys a Puritan?.
He was in a situation where theAnglican Church did not exist for som 15 or 20yrs. From the beginning of the Civil War to 1643 it was hard if not impossible for the average Anglican to worship as he was meant too. The (chiefly protestant) Parliament sought to destroy the Church. In 1646 the Anglican Church was abolished by law and only operated abroad, chiefly in France and that by the help of Queen Mary,(Henrietta Maria) and not with the help of the Papists. So that Pepys being a young man at the restoration of the Church would have a whole new scene opening before him. It is obvious that he chose the ancient church and over the years developed a love for it and its teachings. So much so, that at the so called Glorious Revolution, Samuel Pepys followed the strictly orthodox Non Juring side in the schism that followed and prefered to follow the Laudian teaching of the Non Juring Clergy led by the @Good Father Hickes, Bishop of Stetford. This places him firmly in the Anglican Catholic ,or traditional position. When Sam died Bishop Hickes was the officiant at his funeral I believe.
Second Reading
Sasha Clarkson • Link
Sam was never a puritan, but the Anglican church in general had moved in a moderately puritan direction over the course of the previous century. Laud and his followers tried, with little success, to undo this. Overt symbols of Papism were unpopular amongst Anglicans as well as Presbyterians etc. It wasn't until the 19th century Oxford movement that Anglo-Catholicism made any significant headway.
Rob • Link
Our boy would not consider the little kick-backs as corruption. It was all in day's work, you would do business (Sam scrupulously looking for the best the King's money could buy) and beforehand or afterwards you would get a "suitable" gift, There are seevral instances where he refuses gifts or feels uneasy because the gifts are either to expensive (not fitting the transaction) or he doesn't want to do business at all with the giver. There is one entry where he has a very clear opinion on (I think ) Sir Batten for accepting a gift for a purchase of below standard goods. As said, it was accepted practice but Sam at least had the decency to ensure that good stuff was puchased.
Bill • Link
Giving and receiving “gifts” can be a valid way of establishing and maintaining relationships, even business relationships. Though the quote signs indicate my unease, because, really, western society, and we personally, no longer look kindly on the way Sam is enriching himself. We understand that Sam didn't feel that way, I don't think we judge him harshly, and we read this diary to immerse ourselves in a different time and also a different way of thinking.
But. Would Sam have let a gift, a better gift than others might give, influence a decision? Would he take multiple gifts before a decision was made? There are situations, as Rob notes, that even he might be uncomfortable with. And, don't forget, “My Lord” must get his cut.
My impression is that at this stage of Sam's career he's getting multiple small amounts for doing routine bureaucratic functions. Sort of like gratuities. Later the scale, and the possibility for "corruption," will change.
Gillian Bagwell • Link
According to Claire Tomalin's biography of SP, in 1652 the mother of Elizabeth St. Michel (Sam's wife) "was alone in Paris with her two children. She was persuaded to hand them over to Catholic friends, who placed Elizabeth in an Ursuline convent and Balthasar [her brother] as page to the papal nuncio." Later, when Pepys was suspected of being Catholic, Balthasar wrote a statement "with the specific intention of proving that his sister was a staunch Protestant.whereas It is clear from Pepys's own account that the Catholic faith never lost its hold on her: when, for instance, he bought a mass book for himself in 1660 and sat up late reading it, it 'gave great pleasure to my wife to hear that that she long ago was so well acquainted with.'"
Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, p. 57.
Gillian Bagwell • Link
On July 30, Pepys mentions being paid his first quarter's salary, so he did have a formal arrangement.
Bryan • Link
"my first quarter’s salary as Secretary to my Lord" July 30
In March SP was appointed secretary to Mountagu in his capacity as General at Sea. SP was Secretary to the Fleet, an official naval position and the salary relates to this position.
AndreaLouise Hanover • Link
I wish I knew more about Mr Shepley and had a picture of him.
Terry Foreman • Link
Paul Brewster on 29 Jul 2003 • Link • Flag
My Lord went to dinner at Kensington - with my Lord Camden
L&M make the location of the dinner more specific. They place it at "Campden House on what is now Campden Hill; the largest house in the parish after Holland House."
Campden House
https://www.chippingcampdenhistor…