Monday 3 September 1660

Up and to Mr. ——, the goldsmith near the new Exchange, where I bought my wedding ring, and there, with much ado, got him to put a gold ring to the jewell, which the King of Sweden did give my Lord: out of which my Lord had now taken the King’s picture, and intends to make a George of it.

This morning at my Lord’s I had an opportunity to speak with Sir George Downing, who has promised me to give me up my bond, and to pay me for my last quarter while I was at sea, that so I may pay Mr. Moore and Hawly.

About noon my Lord, having taken leave of the King in the Shield Gallery (where I saw with what kindness the King did hug my Lord at his parting), I went over with him and saw him in his coach at Lambeth, and there took leave of him, he going to the Downs, which put me in mind of his first voyage that ever he made, which he did begin like this from Lambeth. In the afternoon with Mr. Moore to my house to cast up our Privy Seal accounts, where I found that my Lord’s comes to 400 and odd pounds, and mine to 132l., out of which I do give him as good as 25l. for his pains, with which I doubt he is not satisfied, but my heart is full glad. Thence with him to Mr. Crew’s, and did fetch as much money as did make even our accounts between him and me.

Home, and there found Mr. Cooke come back from my Lord for me to get him some things bought for him to be brought after them, a toilet cap and comb case of silk, to make use of in Holland, for he goes to the Hague, which I can do to-morrow morning.

This day my father and my uncle Fenner, and both his sons, have been at my house to see it, and my wife did treat them nobly with wine and anchovies.

By reason of my Lord’s going to-day I could not get the office to meet to-day.

17 Annotations

First Reading

Paul Brewster  •  Link

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This is an inch long slug of white space in the L&M. I imagine SP couldn’t remember the fellow’s name and left space to insert it when his memory came back which it apparently never did.

Paul Brewster  •  Link

I could not get to the office to meet today.
L&M insert the first "to" in the last sentence. I think it makes a bit more sense. Without looking at the shorthand I obviously can't tell if Wheatley dropped the word or L&M inserted it to make more sense. I would bet on the former.

Paul Brewster  •  Link

jewell, which the King of Sweden did give my Lord
L&M: "The medal given by Charles X to Sandwich in August 1659 on his departure from the Sound ... It was bequeathed in his will to his wife, and there described as a 'jewell set with dyamonds on the one side And a Picture case on the other side'."

Paul Brewster  •  Link

to give me up my bond
l&M: "The recognizances Pepys entered into when admitted as Downing's clerk in the Exchequer."

Paul Brewster  •  Link

of his first voyage that ever he made
L&M: "To the Mediterranean in February 1656."

Paul Brewster  •  Link

my Lord's comes to 400 and odd pounds, and mine to 132l - out of which I do give him as good as 25l
L&M: “Detailed accounts (By Pepys and Moore) for March-July 1661 … make clear some of the principles on which fees were divided. Each of the four clerks of the office took charge for a month at a time, and the fees for the four months were then divided equally among them and the Lord Privy Seal. A deputy was paid an agreed proportion of his principal’s share. Sandwich’s share in the second quarter of 1661 had dropped to £176 1s 8d, Moore’s to £3 7s 9d.”

Pauline  •  Link

"...out of which my Lord had now taken the King's picture, and intends to make a George of it.”
Contrary to the link, I think Sam means the King of Sweden’t picture.
Anyone know what making a George out of it means? What purpose the gold ring serves or where it is attached?

Mary  •  Link

A George

(OED)is the jewel that forms part of the insignia of the Order of the Garter, so called because it shows an image of St. George on horseback. According to an Ashmolean manuscript of 1672, the George was to be fastened (by a ring?) to the middle of the collar that forms a major part of the regalia. The collar iself is an impressive chain of office.

chip  •  Link

Pepys seems to be averaging more than the 3 pounds daily from the Privy Seal he quoted some weeks back. It is refreshing to see the shifting of paper and metal (buying or rings and toiletries), money coming from here going to there, the world indeed does not change, just us.

Nix  •  Link

The "George" --

There was some discussion of this back when Montague was knighted. See the entry of May 27.

To amplify Paul Brewster's comment above on Downing "giv[ing] me up my bond", a recognizance is defined in Black's Law Dictionary as "An obligation of record, entered into before some court of record, or magistrate duly authorized, with condition to do some particular act; as to appear at the assizes, or criminal court, to keep the peace, to pay a debt, or the like. It resembles a bond, but differs from it in being an acknowledgment of a former debt upon record." As a clerk in Downing's office, Samuel would have had to do this as security for performing his duties -- if he falsely approved payment of public funds to a third party, or otherwise caused the government to incur unjustified expenses, the bond/recognizance was the basis for assuring that he would be on the hook to repay it. Releasing the bond clears this obligation off the books, which makes Samuel more creditworthy.

Peter  •  Link

I find the comments on Downing quite interesting. Back on 28th of June Sam described what seemed to be definitive break up of any association with Downing. Yet here we see that there was still money outstanding for the period when Sam was at sea (when Sam has effectively sub-contracted his duties for Downing to Moore and Hawly). Strange that Sam has not chased Downing for several weeks and only brings the matter up now in a chance meeting. Sam doesn't seem to like dealing with Downing, but could it be that he doesn't push because the money would go straight to Moore and Hawly? Moore is probably not too concerned, he has been coining it in along with Sam at the Privy Seal. But what of Hawly? Sam seems to have let him down on July 13 when he was due to bear witness for him. With these two things I wonder what Hawly would say if were able to go back to 3 September 1660 and ask his opinion of Mr Pepys?

Second Reading

Dick Wilson  •  Link

I suspect an error in reading the shorthand or some such, when it comes to "and intends to make a George of it". I think he means "Gorge" or "Gorget", instead of "George" -- in other words, he plans to make a necklace of it. The "jewel" appears to have been some sort of locket. Putting a gold ring on it would allow it to be suspended at the throat from a chain around the neck. Alternatively, it could have been pinned to the lapel of a coat at the collar; that is, at the gorge of the coat. It might well have been an error made by Pepys in writing the shorthand, or in spelling "gorge".

Bill  •  Link

The following source:

The Institution, Laws & Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. Elias Ashmole, 1672.

states that in the 13th year of his reign, Henry VIII decreed "That every Knight of the Order, should wear loosely before his Breast the Image of St. George in a Gold chain, or otherwise in a Ribband, the same to be thence forward placed within the ennobled Garter; ... And thus the wearing the Medal or Jewel usually called the Lesser George to distinguish it from the other George worn at the Collar of the Order was first enjoined and hath since been constantly so used."

This source refers dozens of times to "the George" when discussing this "Medal or Jewel." Since Sandwich recently joined the Order of the Garter, surely the reading of the word as "George" is correct.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

OED has:

‘George, n. Etym: < the male forename George, especially as the name of a saint . .
. . 1. b. spec. A representation of St George, typically jewelled or enamelled, and forming part of the insignia of the Order of the Garter; . .
. . a1616 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. i. 30 Looke on my George, I am a Gentleman.
1672 E. Ashmole Hist. Inst. Order Garter 221 At the middle of the Collar before, is to be fastned the Image of St. George armed, sitting on Horseback, who having thrown the Dragon upon his back, encounters him with a tilting Spear . .
. . 1964 C. V. Wedgwood Trial of Charles I (1967) viii. 218 He now took off his George,..and gave it to the Bishop with the one word ‘Remember’.
1997 Daily Tel. 22 Apr. 22/1 King George IV's Greater George was worn by Charles I, Charles II and James II... . . ‘

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Garter Collar and Great George George 1661; collar c.1685

This magnificent Great George was supplied to Charles II in 1661 by the Royal goldsmith, Robert Vyner. It was described as ‘A v. large enamelled George set with 20 large diamonds and one hundred and odd lesser diamonds’. Charles II is depicted wearing it, together with the new coronation regalia, in John Michael Wright’s portrait of c.1670. The Great George was illustrated with Charles II’s other insignia in Ashmole’s History of the Garter, 1672. It has subsequently lost the flowing cloak worn by St George and the large diamond-set fleur-de-lis suspension loop with which it was attached to the collar. Some of the surviving stones are sixteenth century cuts and indicative of the reuse of stones following the Restoration. The oak leaves on the underside are, perhaps, an allusion to the Boscobel Oak in which Charles II hid to escape from Cromwell’s forces after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. https://www.royalcollection.org.u…

Third Reading

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

Other occasions than Cromwell's death, if slightly contrived, are fortunately available to give the people something else to celebrate today, but do we detect a wistful note at the end of this report from Mercurius Politicus, as Thomas Rugge summarized it in 1672, with 12 years' worth of hindsight?

"In this month the citty of Worester, it beeinge the 3 day September, kept a great day of rejoycinge for the deliverance of his Majesty, it beeinge that his Majestie lost the day of battel with Oliver Cromwell, for on that day of the month hee had a great victory in Ireland and another on that day at Dunbarre in Scotland, and that day of the month hee died. Vale [farewell], Oliver."

(https://doi.org/10.1017/S20421710…, p. 110; paywalled).

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