Friday 9 November 1660

Lay long in bed this morning though an office day, because of our going to bed late last night. Before I went to my office Mr. Creed came to me about business, and also Mr. Carter, my old Cambridge friend, came to give me a visit, and I did give them a morning draught in my study. So to the office, and from thence to dinner with Mr. Wivell at the Hoop Tavern, where we had Mr. Shepley, Talbot, Adams, Mr. Chaplin and Osborne, and our dinner given us by Mr. Ady and another, Mr. Wine, the King’s fishmonger. Good sport with Mr. Talbot, who eats no sort of fish, and there was nothing else till we sent for a neat’s tongue.

From thence to Whitehall where I found my Lord, who had an organ set up to-day in his dining-room, but it seems an ugly one in the form of Bridewell.

Thence I went to Sir Harry Wright’s, where my Lord was busy at cards, and so I staid below with Mrs. Carter and Evans (who did give me a lesson upon the lute), till he came down, and having talked with him at the door about his late business of money, I went to my father’s and staid late talking with my father about my sister Pall’s coming to live with me if she would come and be as a servant (which my wife did seem to be pretty willing to do to-day), and he seems to take it very well, and intends to consider of it. Home and to bed.

22 Annotations

First Reading

Elizabeth Perry  •  Link

My Lord has a portative organ in the shape of a prison?!?!? I can see why Pepys found it ugly.

martha wishart  •  Link

Why is Pall coming to live with Sam as a servant? Is she in the "poor relation" category?

vincent  •  Link

Sister Pall: No money no eaty: 'tis the way of life then for most and now for some. There was always the poor house. Still had to work:
Read up on the Bridewell system and other "reforming " way schemes. You want to eat, then you must earn it, anyway you know how, even in the nick. There were no hand outs except for those branded beggar.
At least if you went to work for a relative for minimum,You had a roof and a pallias and some hand me downs.See Liza Lizard Pages 250-257 Restoration London (50 % of the population lived 3L 5. 0 per head/year or 2-1/2 p per day [1 new pe]) So living with a rich relative who live in a spacious dwelling was better than finding quarters in a Rookery even if one had to empty the slops.

David Quidnunc  •  Link

Bridewell Organ

... captive audience ...

Nix  •  Link

Paulina the servant --

It is a sign of Samuel's rising status that relatives are looking to join his household. The term "servant" takes in a lot of territory -- remember that Samuel is Montague's "servant", and is by no means a menial. As the master's sister, Pall could be more a companion and assistant to Elizabeth in the running of the household -- a "lady-in-waiting" type -- than a menial.

helena murphy  •  Link

There would be advantages to both Samuel and Pall in this new domestic arrangement.Socially Pepys would be demoting himself were he to treat his sister as a menial, but inevitably women in such circumstances are the butt of subtle if not cruel innuendo from in -laws due to their financial dependence on them.Pall can keep Elizabeth company when Pepys is absent,such socialization is healthy and necessary if we consider the peculiar behaviour of Lady Davies next door who comes across as rather neurotic, perhaps due to lonliness.Pall may well hope to meet a suitable husband in London through Pepys' very wide social network.Women in her circumstances are to be both admired and pitied ,but one cannot help from wondering if racy adventurous girls are more suited to and successful in Restoration London than a genteel girl like her.

vincent  •  Link

Pall is 20 years of age, beside Sam, has 2 brothers Thomas aged 26 and baby John 18.. and no prospects.

Harvey  •  Link

Sam is being helpful to his sister here... she is being put in a comfortable situation where she will be exposed to a lot of relatively rich contacts of SPs, one of whom may take a liking to her and propose. Even if that doesn't happen, she gets to live well and safely, and she is not giving up her old friends either as it seems easy enough to visit her and Sams's parents, so she is not moving far.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Lords have The King's Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

(fn. *) "His Majesty's Declaration to all His loving Subjects, of His Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales, concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs.

"CHARLES R.

[A quite long, sly and portentous document, the climax of which is....]

"To conclude, and in this Place to explain what We mentioned before, and said in Our Letter to the House of Commons from Breda, "That We hoped in due Time Ourself to propose somewhat for the Propagation of the Protestant Religion, that will satisfy the World, that We have always made it both Our Care and Our Study, and have enough observed what is most like to bring Disadvantage to it:" We do conjure all Our loving Subjects to acquiesce in, and submit to, this Our Declaration concerning those Differences, which have so much disquieted the Nation at Home, and given such Offence to the Protestant Churches abroad, and brought such Reproach upon the Protestant Religion in general from the Enemies thereof, as if, upon obscure Notions of Faith and Fancy, it did admit the Practice of Christian Duties and Obedience to be discountenanced and suspended, and introduce a Licence in Opinions and Manners, to the Prejudice of the Christian Faith. And let us all endeavour, and emulate each other in those Endeavours, to countenance and advance the Protestant Religion Abroad, which will be best done by supporting the Dignity and Reverence due to the best Reformed Protestant Church at Home; and which, being once freed from the Calumnies and Reproaches it hath undergone from these late ill Times, will be the best Shelter for those Abroad, which will by that Countenance both be the better protected against their Enemies, and be the more easily induced to compose the Differences among themselves, which give their Enemies more Advantage against them. And We hope and expect that all Men will henceforward forbear to vent any such Doctrine in the Pulpit, or to endeavour to work in such Manner upon the Affections of the People, as may dispose them to an ill Opinion of Us and the Government, and to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom; which if all Men will in their several Vocations endeavour to preserve with the same Affection and Zeal We Ourself will do, all Our good Subjects will, by God's Blessing upon Us, enjoy as great a Measure of Felicity as this Nation hath ever done, and which We shall constantly labour to procure for them, as the greatest Blessing God can bestow upon Us in this World.

"Given at Our Court at Whitehall, this Twentyfifth Day of October, 1660.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to Sir Harry Wright’s, where my Lord was busy at cards, and so I staid below with Mrs. Carter and Evans (who did give me a lesson upon the lute), till he came down, and having talked with him at the door about his late business of money,"

Sir Harry Wright’s sounds like a gambling house, gaming upstairs and retainers below. I wonder how many places like this Sir Edward Mountagu was an habitue at. Pepys had been told by Mr, Moore that Milord had been losing money. and was in debt -- whereupon Mountagu bragged on the lifetime of income the King had granted him. Was this what the last phrase is about -- "having talked with him at the door about his late business of money"?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"From thence to Whitehall where I found my Lord, who had an organ set up to-day in his dining-room, but it seems an ugly one in the form of Bridewell."

L&M: Possibly the organ-case resembled Bridewell Hospital (originally a Tudor royal palace: illust. in E. G. O'Donoghue, Bridewell Hosp., opp. pp. 56, 58).

Third Reading

MartinVT  •  Link

Perhaps the lunchtime sport with Mr. Talbot, who does not eat fish, involves the similarity between "turbot" and "talbot".

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Lay long in bed this morning though an office day, because of our going to bed late last night."

That means the Navy Board sat today to discuss business. However, it only takes 2 for a quorum, so Pepys didn't have to be there.
This is the first time I recall him giving himself the morning off from such an event -- who knows what mischief the remaining Commissioners will get up to without his maintaining law and order amongst the files.

No doubt the trusty Hewer is on the lookout for the winks, significant throat clearings and any surprising grunts of agreement.

3Lamps  •  Link

Sharing some exciting news: ‘Unboxing’ the Latham and Matthews’ edition

I have been reading these diaries online daily since the start of the third reading (1 January 2023), and I have thoroughly enjoyed them to the extent that I decided to purchase the complete 11 volumes of the 1970-83 Latham and Matthews (often credited as ‘definitive’) edition. It took me a while to find a complete set for sale in good condition. When I did, they were for sale by Hawkridge Books in Bakewell (in Derbyshire, UK), and I had to ship them to Adelaide, Australia. My thanks to Joe and the team at Hawkridge, who used the most secure packaging I have ever seen for a book shipment. Their customer service was unfailingly excellent, too. The books have finally arrived, and I have excitedly opened them today.

My first impression was that their dimensions are slightly smaller than the photos of the set led me to believe. This is neither here nor there. My almost concurrent second impression was just how good a condition this set of books is in. They were clearly well cared for by their previous owner, who is armigerous and left an excellent bookplate in the front. I am also armigerous, and am excited to add my own bookplate to ensure the history of this specific set of books is further captured. The bookplate, along with newspaper clippings of Latham’s obituary (published in The Times, London, 12 January 1995) neatly folded inside the back of the first volume, has reinforced that I do not truly own these volumes. Rather, I will be their custodian for a while, and will need to ensure I keep them in their current condition until I too pass them on – something which I am sure would have Pepys’ own approval.

Flicking through the first volume, it contains 152 pages of extensively researched introductory material, including maps of Pepys’ London showing locations of his houses and main workplaces; and a black-and-white photos of half-a-dozen pages of Pepys’ original shorthand. The diary entries themselves begin with only the day of the month, presented as if it were a paragraph number (very similar to how the dates appear in Pepys’ original entries). For months and years, reference to page headers is required. All entries are extensively notated, with footnotes at the bottom of each page (much easier to refer to than end notes would have been). The typeset is Times New Roman, likely size 12 for the body text and 10 for the notes, easy to read but small enough that the entries for 1660 total 325 pages inclusive of notes. The volume’s postscript includes an extensive ‘select’ glossary and list of persons mentioned in the diary. All of this is only my initial observations of the first volume – I am yet to properly read it, or to flick through the other volumes.

I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Though this annotation is not directly related to today’s entry, I am posting it today as I have received the books today – and I was too excited to keep this to myself!

Michael Sheahan  •  Link

A nice little anecdote, 3Lamps. I hope you get many years of enjoyment from them.

john  •  Link

A worthy addition to any personal library, 3Lamps. Congratulations. (Paperback versions, which I have, were published in the US by U. Cal. P. and Harper-Collins elsewhere.)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Thank you 3Lamps -- you brought back my joy at being gifted a set of L&M -- they will increase your enjoyment of the Diaries. Can't wait to hear your joy when you crack open the Companion!

3Lamps  •  Link

Thank you for your kind replies Michael S, john, and SDS. I am glad my self indulgence brought a small amount of joy to others as well.

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