Sunday 14 October 1660
(Lord’s day). Early to my Lord’s, in my way meeting with Dr. Fairbrother, who walked with me to my father’s back again, and there we drank my morning draft, my father having gone to church and my mother asleep in bed. Here he caused me to put my hand among a great many honorable hands to a paper or certificate in his behalf.
To White Hall chappell, where one Dr. Crofts made an indifferent sermon, and after it an anthem, ill sung, which made the King laugh. Here I first did see the Princess Royal since she came into England. Here I also observed, how the Duke of York and Mrs. Palmer did talk to one another very wantonly through the hangings that parts the King’s closet and the closet where the ladies sit.
To my Lord’s, where I found my wife, and she and I did dine with my Lady (my Lord dining with my Lord Chamberlain), who did treat my wife with a good deal of respect.
In the evening we went home through the rain by water in a sculler, having borrowed some coats of Mr. Sheply. So home, wet and dirty, and to bed.
21 Annotations
First Reading
Paul Brewster • Link
who did treat my wife with a very great deal of respect
L&M substitute "very great" for "good".
Mary • Link
a sculler
A waterman rowing a scull, i.e. a small river-boat rowed by a single man with one pair of oars.
In theory, watermen were not allowed to ply for hire on The Lord's Day, but this chap must have decided that it was worth his while to bend the rules on a wet Sunday in autumn.
Paul Brewster • Link
sculling on a Sunday
This issue came up back on July 22, 1660, "It was the first time that ever I went by water on the Lord's day.” On that date L&M supplied the following footnote: 'Because of his official position Pepys was not subject to the general rules against Sunday hire.' I don’t think we ever traced a specific source for the exemption.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
vincent • Link
"skulling" Just goes to prove that Olde adage "it's not wot yer know, but who yer know , in order to get to know who, always have some of the ever ready."
All rules can be broken by the priveledged, 'tis why one wants to become priveledged.
Nigel Pond • Link
For more on the Thames Watermen, see the entry at:
http://www.taxi-l.org/anect.htm
chris Bailey • Link
Sam takes a morning(?) draft before church. What would that consist of? Ale, or something stronger. Also what is the nature of the closets in the chapel?
Paul Brewster • Link
closet
per the OED:
2. a. The private apartment of a monarch or potentate; the private council-chamber; a room in a palace used by the sovereign for private or household devotions. Obs. exc. Hist. Clerk of the Closet: ... A pew in the chapel of a castle occupied by the lord and his family, or in a Chapel Royal by the Royal family. Obs.
c1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. ... Chaplaynez to be chapeles chosen be gate be lorde loutes berto, & be lady als, In-to a comly closet coyntly ho entrez. 1530 Palsgr. … Closet, chapelle. 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. … Shall any of his sworne chapelins? No. Thei bee of the clausset and kepe close such matters. 1565 Act 8 Eliz. … Common Prayer in Churches, Chapels, Closets and Oratories. 1565 J. Jewel Def. Apol. … That S. Peter sitteth with him [the Pope] in Consistory, or in Clauset, discussing of Cases. 1625 Meade in Ellis Orig. Lett. … If the Queens Closet where they now say masse were not large enough, let them have it in the Great Chamber. 1769 Junius Lett. … You have now a strength sufficient to command the closet. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. … James called into his closet Arnold Van Citters and Everard Van Dykvelt. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. … Dealings in the royal closet would be likely to be known to a courtier and royal chaplain.
vincent • Link
From which we get Water Closet(W.C.)Slightly less space than Charlies; He did so need it for his Hobbies.
Then the Expression coming out of the Closet, and one is closetted with ( wench) then in the close ....so on so on.
JonTom Kittredge • Link
Closets in Church
I recently read a description of the private chapel of a Victorian country house: "the family pew was hung with red velvet curtains and looked like an opera box." I imagine these "closets" in the Whitehall Palace chapel as being something like that, taking into account a two century difference in time.
Nix • Link
The King's closet --
was a study or private office adjacent to his bedchamber. I have the sense that this is very much larger than what we now would envision as a family pew or an opera box.
http://www.okima.com/tour/whiteha…
Is anyone familiar enough with Whitehall Palace to know whether there would have been a separate "closet" in the Whitehall chapel, or did the chapel open off the closet-by-the-bedroom?
For a description and picture of the king's closet at Hampton court, go to:
http://www.hrp.org.uk/webcode/con…
Peter • Link
Presumably the document that Dr Fairbrother asks Sam to sign is not too contentious. We have seen Sam do some fancy footwork in the past to avoid signing petitions in favour of certain people. Presumably the list of "many honourable hands" reassures him here. If he hadn't seen that list I suppose it would have been a case of: "sorry, I don't seem to have my quill on me".....
Speaking of which, Sam does a lot of work on the hoof (paying off ships, signing documents etc). He presumably has to carry writing materials with him, the tools of his trade as it were. Does anybody know how this was done? Some quills, a bottle of ink etc. in a natty little box, perhaps?
Kevin Peter • Link
"...after it an anthem, ill sung, which made the King laugh."
I suppose when you're the King, you don't have to worry too much about being polite.
Paul Brewster • Link
King's Closet
According to the L&M Companion: It was "in a gallery [of the chapel]. Curtains separated the King from the ladies of the bedchamber who sat at either side." The map of Whitehall Palace shown in the same book shows the King's Closet "in the ante-chapel" portion of the Chapel. It is quite a distance from the residential sections of the sprawling complex.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"...how the Duke of York and Mrs. Palmer did talk to one another very wantonly through the hangings that parts the King’s closet and the closet where the ladies sit." SPOILER: she's not interested in HIM, but in his older brother!
Bill • Link
CLOSET. [from close.]
1. A small room of privacy and retirement. Wotton.
2. A private reposítory of curiosities. Dryden.
---A Dictionary Of The English Language. Samuel Johnson, 1756.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Here he caused me to put my hand among a great many honorable hands to a paper or certificate in his behalf."
L&M: An ex-royalist, Fairbrother was job-hunting.
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M Companion: It was "in a gallery [of the chapel]. ..."
This made it possible for members of the Royal Family to hear services every day, even when they were not well, which was considered very important.
In this case it moved a large segment of the congregation out of the body of the chapel, which was convenient for them on a rainy day, and made security easier -- not to mention adding space to accommodate more people like Pepys downstairs, who could then gawk at the upstairs people.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Here I also observed, how the Duke of York and Mrs. Palmer did talk to one another very wantonly through the hangings that parts the King’s closet and the closet where the ladies sit."
Didn't anyone notice that Mrs. Barbara Villiers Palmer was 5 months pregnant? They were a gossipy lot, and Pepys hadn't heard or didn't suspect anything?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"To my Lord’s, where I found my wife, and she and I did dine with my Lady (my Lord dining with my Lord Chamberlain), who did treat my wife with a good deal of respect."
Oh good -- Lady J did include Elizabeth. Hurt feelings would have ensued othrwise.
David G • Link
San Diego Sarah makes a good point. Upper class women’s fashion included tight waists in the early 1660s so Barbara Villiers might have had trouble hiding her condition, though she was tall and only 19 in 1660, so maybe she was still able to get by at five months.
On the question posed 20 years ago about whether Sam carried writing implements when he was traveling on business, I assume that if he needed to write frequently and he couldn’t just go to an inn and request paper and ink, that’s what the boy was for. Although Sam only occasionally mentions the various boys he employed and even less occasionally the clerks who worked for him at the Navy Board, it’s likely that the boy and possibly a clerk would have accompanied him on what we now would refer to as business meetings or a business trip.
RLB • Link
He was at his father's house at this point. I'm sure he'd feel free to borrow a spare quill and inkpot.
(OTOH, I myself always carry a fountain pen and a pocket book. More convenient than quill and inkpot, but I wouldn't be surprised at Sam carrying a nice pocket set of quill-and-ink.)