Thursday 6 December 1660
This morning some of the Commissioners of Parliament and Sir W. Batten went to Sir G. Carteret’s office here in town, and paid off the Chesnut.[?? D.W.] I carried my wife to White Friars and landed her there, and myself to Whitehall to the Privy Seal, where abundance of pardons to seal, but I was much troubled for it because that there are no fees now coming for them to me. Thence Mr. Moore and I alone to the Leg in King Street, and dined together on a neat’s tongue and udder.
From thence by coach to Mr. Crew’s to my Lord, who told me of his going out of town to-morrow to settle the militia in Huntingdonshire, and did desire me to lay up a box of some rich jewels and things that there are in it, which I promised to do. After much free discourse with my Lord, who tells me his mind as to his enlarging his family, &c., and desiring me to look him out a Master of the Horse and other servants, we parted. From thence I walked to Greatorex (he was not within), but there I met with Mr. Jonas Moore, and took him to the Five Bells, and drank a glass of wine and left him. To the Temple, when Sir R. Parkhurst (as was intended the last night) did seal the writings, and is to have the 2000l. told to-morrow.
From, thence by water to Parliament Stairs, and there at an alehouse to Doling (who is suddenly to go into Ireland to venture his fortune); Simonds (who is at a great loss for 200l. present money, which I was loth to let him have, though I could now do it, and do love him and think him honest and sufficient, yet lothness to part with money did dissuade me from it); Luellin (who was very drowsy from a dose that he had got the last night), Mr. Mount and several others, among the rest one Mr. Pierce, an army man, who did make us the best sport for songs and stories in a Scotch tone (which he do very well) that ever I heard in my life. I never knew so good a companion in all my observation.
From thence to the bridge by water, it being a most pleasant moonshine night, with a waterman who did tell such a company of bawdy stories, how once he carried a lady from Putney in such a night as this, and she bade him lie down by her, which he did, and did give her content, and a great deal more roguery.
Home and found my girl knocking at the door (it being 11 o’clock at night), her mistress having sent her out for some trivial business, which did vex me when I came in, and so I took occasion to go up and to bed in a pet.
Before I went forth this morning, one came to me to give me notice that the justices of Middlesex do meet to-morrow at Hicks Hall, and that I as one am desired to be there, but I fear I cannot be there though I much desire it.
37 Annotations
First Reading
tc • Link
What a day! What an entry! Thanks, Sam, all these years after.
David Quidnunc • Link
The Chesnut appears to be a ship.
L&M italicize the word (and spell it "Chesnutt"). Carteret's commission was appointed to pay off the military, L&M says in a note for this entry.
vincent • Link
"... Luellin (who was very drowsy from a dose that he had got the last night ..." dose of what? Too much anise? or poppy juice from the Fens?
vincent • Link
"...the Privy Seal, where abundance of pardons to seal, but I was much troubled for it because that there are no fees now coming for them to me ..."
then why did he do it?? any clues?
vincent • Link
"...and there at an alehouse to Doling (who is suddenly to go into Ireland to venture his fortune)..." another appearence since nov 6 [a minor lapse in keeping track] see Doling annot.
Is he associated with the Butlers and their going off to Ireland ?
Pauline • Link
"...I was much troubled for it because that there are no fees..."
I wonder if this is because the pardons are coming down from on high, whereas his other Privy Seal work has been in supplication up, and therefore with a expectation on all sides that a fee was required.
Pauline • Link
"...(who is ..."
How much I like these parenthetics!
A busy and hectic day. What a writerly talent for lining these guys up for inclusion in the record and giving each his due. I suspect that Sam did this with a smile--reeling in one thing after another and thus documenting it as "one thing after another."
dirk • Link
"lay up a box of some rich jewels..."
I'm not quite sure what the idea is here. Any suggestions, or am I missing the point here. Maybe some previous annotation?
margaret • Link
Could he be asking Sam to take the box for safekeeping while he's out of town? Not sure what "lay up" means here.
vincent • Link
My uneducated guess is that he is putting aside some of the family valubles. He [melaud] has an accumulation of some wealth and might afear squandering it on the turn of an ace or two {or maybe even a wench or so } as he has been relaxing a bit lately.. He is thinking of expanding the Retinue and stables and has obtained good valuable breeding Stock.
another quote, history may repeat it self. It has happened all before.
This time from Plautus, Curculio, 380-381
'Qui homo mature quaesivit pecuniam, nisi eam mature parsit, mature esurit.'
"make money quickly ,economise quickly else lose it.
"dot coms?"
Pauline • Link
"...to settle the militia in Huntingdonshire, and did desire me to lay up a box of some rich jewels ..."
Perhaps bringing these jewels in to London from Huntingdonshire for safekeeping, as the militia is unsettled? Advance notice to Sam to be ready to have a place to secure them.
Or asking Sam to prepare a box of rich jewels to underwrite the pay to settle the militia? I would gather that Sandwich, as one of the landowners in Huntingdonshire, has some responsibility towards the pay of the local militia.
"...and things that there are in it..." seems to indicate a specific box that contains secured items of value for financial transactions. I think he is going to Huntingdonshire to pay the local militia.
tc • Link
"...drowsy from a dose...
Laudanum, perhaps?
helena murphy • Link
Doling may have been going to Ireland having purchased land from former Cromwellian officers who were paid in Irish land in lieu of wages.Most of the soldiers sold on the land cheaply as they wanted ready cash and had no wish to settle in Ireland.It is also possible that Doling or his family under the "Adventurers'Act "of 1642 and the "Doubling Ordinance"of 1642 may have invested money in forfeited Irish lands which were to be allotted to Protestant adventurers.
Ian • Link
"which did vex me when I came in, and so I took occasion to go up and to bed in a pet."
Huh?
Phil Rodgers • Link
"pet" means "a fit of petulance or sulkiness" here.
Mary House • Link
"...in a pet" in a fit of bad temper, in a pique.
Sjoerd Spoelstra • Link
"in a pet" apparently means something like "in distress".
If you google it like this:
"was in a pet" -shop -store
you get some olde texts that use it.
vincent • Link
Tc good pick: Laudanum
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lau…
Laudanum' is an alcoholic tincture of opium, sometimes sweetened with sugar and also called wine of opium. Laudanum was introduced into Western medicine by Paracelsus (1493-1541) as an analgesic.some laudenam recipes by boyle.
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle/workdi…
Laudanum. St. & Mor.
{Rx} Salis petrae & tartari ana {pound} 1 detonent prunâ accenso, agitentorque Bacillo ferreo, Elixa, filtra, salemque exiccato.
my guess the name was derived from the latin -Laudo,are -to praise or laus,laudis— “glory” or better “hallulia”: just a thought.
sorry! need a pharmacist to rx this.
M.Stolzenbach • Link
Udder! Mmm yummy!
Jenny Doughty • Link
I've heard 'in a pet' used in the sense of 'in a fit of petulence or sulkiness,' so that interpretation makes more sense to me. 'In distress' doesn't fit with the times I've read it in other texts.
vincent • Link
In a pet(ulance) latin petulant petere insolent rude capricious [ dict:websters]
Laudenum :gerund (noun verb} of laudo laudare= Glory [feeling no pain]praise ,renown.
vincent • Link
Pet[ulant/peeved ME spiteful] latin petulans ,antis: a, pert, saucy,wanton etc,
petulantia, ae, f. inpudent, immodest , [cheap latin oxford dict:]
In Anglo-Saxon: P*** ***. 'tis more downright expressive.
dirk • Link
"lay up a box of some rich jewels”
Things are becoming much clearer with the entry for December 7th:
“After dinner I took a box of some things of value that my Lord had left for me to carry to the Exchequer.”
OK Sam, I think I got it now.
Nix • Link
"no fees now coming" --
I think Pauline has the right idea. These were documents coming from the Crown, not from or for private parties. In most courts these days, private parties must pay the clerk a filing fee, but filings by government agencies are exempt from the fee. Sounds to me like that is what Samuel is talking about.
Peter Roberts • Link
Re Diary entry for 6 Dec - "I was much troubled ... there are no fees"
I am not versed in law, and quote what seems pertinent from `The Practick Part of the Law` [a book known to be by `GT of Staple Inn`] circa 1673, it`s a later impression of a book first published in 1652. Those printed names appearing, include, Wolsey, Clarendon and Harbottle Grimston etc.
From page 201/2:
"Alienation Office
Thomas Ravenfcroft, Francis Poulton, and George Coultrop, Efq; ............ Commiffioners.
Tho. Bond Efq; ........... Receiver.
Take no Fees, but receive a certain ftipend from the King.
Fees taken by the Mafter of the Chancery, for that Office appointed.
For figning every Docquet upon every Licenfe and pardon of alienation ...................2s
The ufual fees taken in the Office of Composition for Alienations, by the Clerks there.
........... For Warrant to the Great Seal for Pardon of Alienation ........................10s ".
.... and so on for virtually everything, including for example;
"For `entring` in another Book remaining in the faid office every Docquet upon a licenfe of Alienation
in the Term time ..................12d.
and in the vacation ...............2s." ......... [the said clerks having already made entries in the main register for which the fee was 6d and 11d respectively!!!]
Most of these fees had remained unchanged from previous monarchs ie 11th year of Elizabeth, and Tertio Caroli Regis, and ..... "6th year of Henry VIII being now about a hundred and ten years fince", and were paid into the Treasury.
Well thats the social history `bit` out of the way, now for goodness sake get real. Perhaps I`m breaking `unwritten rules` but we know he`s not going to accumulate sufficient wealth to buy a new house and afford to run a horse and carriage, buy silver and entertain at a high level as he does, on a `stipend` is he? It is quite clear SP`s diary is revealing he is a `smart operator` on the take .......sorry, `a facilitator smoothing the way for a fee`?
His value is as a social commentator, we know his moral and business ethics were `suspect`, I wonder what the TV programme will reveal?
THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The expression, `Whats the SP`, has nothing to do with a racing horse`s Starting Price odds, but is a direct throw back to C17th Samuel Pepys and the `fees` he charged! Whats the SP? - translation: Whats it going to cost me?
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
The L&M Index says the Chestnut (8-10 guns) was built in Portsmouth 1656; wrecked 1665.
Bill • Link
"to bed in a pet"
To take PET
be in a PET
to be offended, to snuff at, to be angry.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘laudanum, n. Etym: < modern Latin laudanum, used by Paracelsus as the name of a medicament for which he gives a pretended prescription, the ingredients comprising leaf-gold, pearls not perforated, etc. It was early suspected that opium was the real agent of the cures which Paracelsus professed to have effected by this costly means; hence the name was applied to certain opiate preparations which were sold as identical with his famous remedy . . ‘
‘pet, n.3 Etym: Origin unknown. Compare the apparent derivative pettish adj., which is first attested earlier. Offence at being or feeling slighted; a fit of peevishness or ill humour from this cause, (now) esp. a childish sulk. Freq. in in a pet. Also to take (the) pet : to take offence, to become bad-tempered or sulky (now rare, perh. obs.).
. . 1660 S. Pepys Diary 6 Dec. (1970) I. 311 Which did vex me..and so I took occasion to go up and to bed in a pett . . ‘
Louise • Link
It looks as if his mother and father are living in separate residences. Does anyone know the reason for this? Unlikely they were divorced since it was so rare in those days. Perhaps just living separately. Does he mention this?
Mary K • Link
Separate residences????
Why this conclusion? And why does it apply to this entry? On December 5th both parents were apparently living at the same address, but they are not mentioned at all on December 6th.
Annie B • Link
I love this... "yet lothness to part with money did dissuade me from it"
Confirmation of what we've been speculating about!
Terry Foreman • Link
"my Lord, who tells me his mind as to his enlarging his family, &c., and desiring me to look him out a Master of the Horse"
Pepys's friend Robert Ferrer became Master of the Horse. (L&M note)
Ellie • Link
“.. in a pet” definitely means in a sulk.
I have often heard the expression “ a petted lip”. Usually directed at a sulky child, as in “Put away that petted lip”. It means stop sulking; literally “stop sticking your bottom lip out.
San Diego Sarah • Link
John Evelyn's Diary – he and Mary Browne Evelyn live at Saye's Court, Deptford.
http://brittlebooks.library.illin…
@@@
Meanwhile, at the other end of Whitehall Palace:
6 December, 1660.
I waited on my brother and sister Evelyn to Court.
Now were presented to his Majesty those two rare pieces of drollery, or rather a Dutch Kitchen, painted by Dowe, so finely as hardly to be distinguished from enamel.
I was also shown divers rich jewels and crystal vases; the rare head of Jo. Bellino, Titian's master; Christ in the Garden, by Hannibal Caracci; two incomparable heads, by Holbein; the Queen-Mother in a miniature, almost as big as the life; an exquisite piece of carving; two unicorn's horns, etc. This in the closet.
@@@
John Evelyn had two brothers, George and Richard. I'm not sure which one this is. They were both married.
Closet https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Possibly Gerrit Dou (7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), AKA Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders? He specialized in genre scenes and is noted for his trompe-l'œil "niche" paintings and candlelit night-scenes with strong chiaroscuro. He was a student of Rembrandt. Queen Christina of Sweden owned 11 paintings by Dou, and Cosimo III de' Medici visited his house, where he may have bought at least one of the works now in the Uffizi. The Dutch royal court, however, preferred work of a more classical tendency.
Definition of drollery
1: something that is droll, especially: a comic picture or drawing
2: the act or an instance of jesting or burlesquing
3: whimsical humor
https://www.merriam-webster.com/d…
Maybe I don’t know what a Dutch Kitchen is … the fact it came in 2 parts makes me thing it might be a Dutch oven, which were invented around now. But why would anyone give Charles II a Dutch oven, escept as a joke?
https://www.wasserstrom.com/blog/….
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
✹ vincent on 7 Dec 2003 • Link • Flag
... "Laudanum' is an alcoholic tincture of opium, sometimes sweetened with sugar and also called wine of opium. Laudanum was introduced into Western medicine by Paracelsus (1493-1541) as an analgesic. Some laudanum recipes by Sir Robert Boyle. ..."
The link is dead, so I poked around because I have an affection for Robert Boyle -- all the Boyles really -- and found this extraordinary site which has more on his work than can be imagined -- the 2 recipes for laudanum are buried deep within
https://www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle/workd…
Paul Chapin wrote an excellent annotation about the 1660 list of things Boyle wanted to achieve for the human race:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Awanthi Vardaraj • Link
Sarah, thank you for that link! A veritable treasure trove.
Carmichael • Link
"I never knew so good a companion in all my observation."
What a great sentence! I will borrow/steal it when referring to my friends when out at the bar, indulging in "songs and stories in a Scotch tone."
It vexes me not!