Wednesday 16 January 1660/61

This morning I went early to the Comptroller’s and so with him by coach to Whitehall, to wait upon Mr. Coventry to give him an account of what we have done, which having done, I went away to wait upon my Lady; but coming to her lodgings I find that she is gone this morning to Chatham by coach, thinking to meet me there, which did trouble me exceedingly, and I did not know what to do, being loth to follow her, and yet could not imagine what she would do when she found me not there. In this trouble, I went to take a walk in Westminster Hall and by chance met with Mr. Child, who went forth with my Lady to-day, but his horse being bad, he come back again, which then did trouble me more, so that I did resolve to go to her; and so by boat home and put on my boots, and so over to Southwarke to the posthouse, and there took horse and guide to Dartford and thence to Rochester (I having good horses and good way, come thither about half-an-hour after daylight, which was before 6 o’clock and I set forth after two), where I found my Lady and her daughter Jem., and Mrs. Browne and five servants, all at a great loss, not finding me here, but at my coming she was overjoyed. The sport was how she had intended to have kept herself unknown, and how the Captain (whom she had sent for) of the Charles had forsoothed her, though he knew her well and she him. In fine we supped merry and so to bed, there coming several of the Charles’s men to see me before, I got to bed. The page lay with me.

62 Annotations

First Reading

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Again, no mention of luggage!

Sam goes home to put on his boots, but makes no mention of gathering up clothing and/or carrying luggage. Again, does anyone have info about how people handled trips like this back then? Did they carry "necessaries" with them, or did innkeepers/hosts provide the essentials, and clothes just got worn and worn and worn and worn...

(FWIW, I just asked about this at http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… )

Nice to see that Sam has his priorities straight, and takes care of her who helps take care of him who helps take care of him. :-)

Love the use of "forsooth"! I'm going to try to use that in conversation over the weekend...

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"The page lay with me"Does anybody know the age of this page? Had SP lived in Neverland in the XXI century he would be in big trouble if the page was under 14 years old.

Judith Boles  •  Link

" The sport was how she had intended to have kept herself unknown..." Could anyone explain why "my lady" would wish to remain anonymous?

Carolina  •  Link

The Page, I was just wondering, was he the guide ? or staffmember of My Lady's.
In either case, he is sleeping with the "lower" classes again.

As for Todd's worry about luggage, Sam never mentions undressing, or washing before he goes to bed either. Were the same underclothes worn until they fell off ?
Did they just change outer garments for the occasion or fashion? If so, what did Jane wash on washdays ?
One shudders to think !!

Glyn  •  Link

"about half-an-hour after daylight, which was before 6 o’clock"

What does "after daylight" mean here?

"and so over to Southwarke to the posthouse"

The posthouse: from which you travelled "post-haste". A bit like the Pony Express in 19th-century America except no-one was shooting arrows at you. (I wonder if Elizabeth was at home when he dashed back to get his boots?)

Glyn  •  Link

From a Travel Guide of the period:
"From London to Dover 71 Miles, thus reckoned.
To Deptford 5, to Crayford 8, to Dartford 2, to Northfleet 5, to Chalkstreet 3, to Rochester 5, [WHERE PEPYS STOPPED] to Sittingbourn 11, to Bocton Street 2, to Canterbury 5, to Dover 15, a Place in Kent, well fortified both by Art and Nature, and defended by a large and strong Castle. It enjoys large Immunities; is one of the Cinque Ports; and yields a Prospect to Calais in France, to which it is the readiest Passage, the Channel here being but 7 Leagues [21 MILES/35 KM] over."

He changed horses at least once (perhaps twice) and he and his guide must have been riding flat out. Before the invention of the railway, a man on a galloping horse was the fastest possible way to travel.

I'm quite puzzled as to why Pepys felt he had needed to go back to London (which is exactly in the opposite direction to where he ended up). If he had stayed in the Dockyards for just one day longer he could have attended on the King and his brother (getting his face known) as they toured the place, and then met Lady Montague as she passed by on her way to Chatham; or else have a much shorter journey to the coast. It doesn't sound as if he had any particularly urgent work in London (with Lord Montague out-of-town), and while Pepys may be the type of person who doesn't want to be away from his desk for too long he does seem to have been expected elsewhere.

Mary House  •  Link

I read "after daylight" to mean "after sunset," when daylight no longer exists. Poor Sam must have been in quite a state to ride so furiously for fear of disappointing Lady Montague.

dirk  •  Link

"about half-an-hour after daylight, which was before 6 o'clock”

Interesting! This can be interpreted in two ways: either the sun rose sometime before 5:30 (“half-an-hour after daylight”=”before 6 o’clock”), or the sun rose qometime before 6:00 (“daylight”=”before 6 o’clock”), depending on which part of the first clause the pronoun “which” refers to.

Either way - considering it’s early January - this suggests a clock system different from ours: at 5:30 or 6:00 hrs (according to our present system) in the morning there is no light yet this time of year. ???

dirk  •  Link

"daylight" - correction

My mistake - it's of course 6 o'clock in the afternoon. I had it all wrong.

dirk  •  Link

"Sam never mentions undressing, or washing before he goes to bed" (Carolina)

Specific clothing for the night (nightshirts, gowns etc) was not yet commonly used. Most people slept naked, or if it was really very cold with some old piece of clothing (an old shirt e.g.). So "undressing" to go to bed would have meant just that in many cases. For Sam this is obviously such an everyday event that he doesn't mention it in his diary (would you keep track in your diary of your brushing your teeth in the morning?).

As for washing, the rule was that you washed your hands and face when you got up in the morning. During the day you would only bother to wash your hands (or any other parts of the body) if one or other unfortunate event had made them particularly dirty. As a rule you would only wash all over every so many weeks.

No specific web references, but an article on the history of private life, with some refs to personal hygiene:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/…

Ruben  •  Link

Luggage:
may be SP was not alone. His boy would carry his luggage and that being a routine, is not mentioned in the diary except in special cases.

Pauline  •  Link

"The sport was how she had intended to have kept herself unknown"-
Yes, Judith, this is very intriguing. I wonder if there was a misunderstanding on her part about where Sam was and if she went to meet him there just for the journey and interest of it.

Perhaps a woman of her position was free to travel from one protective place to another, but arriving and the expected “protection” not there put her in a bad position. She calls the captain and he understands her position and extends a greater formality than already being well known to her calls for, to protect her.

Sam is astute to the situation when he learns that Mr. Child (protective male attached to her husband’s household, as is Sam) has had to turn back. Sam takes off “post-haste” and is received with joy and relief.

Judy Bailey  •  Link

I doubt very much if Pepys takes "luggage" or does much packing for any trip. He tells us only that he goes home to put on his boots. Since people did not change clothing every day or commonly use special clothing to sleep in, no luggage was necessary.

He usually tells us when his "boy" Will accompanies him and he does not mention him here or luggage. In fact, he points out that he sleeps with the page.

Mary  •  Link

Sam's movements.

In answer to Glyn's question, Sam betrays no knowledge of any impending visit to the Dockyards by Charles and James, so he returns to London when he feels that his business there is done. He expects to find Lady M in town and that is where at least part of his duty lies.

Lady Montagu, however, appears to have gone on her own jaunt to Kent on a whim, knowing that Sam had preceded her but not knowing that he had already returned to London. Perhaps she had got wind of a royal visit and assumed that Sam knew about it too?

Whatever the reason, both parties make mistaken assumptions about the other's movements and Sam is thrown into a panic when he realises that Lady M. has gone to Rochester with no 'competent' escort. Hence the rush back home to get his boots (street-shoes not being suitable for hard riding)and the hiring of a post-boy to show him the fastest route to Chatham.

Xjy  •  Link

Sam's duties and priorities
First himself, then his patron -- including my Lady and Jem -- *then* his office. This explains why he was so surprised at all the captains and high officers showing deference to him at the dockyards. He is only slowly discovering the position in the hierarchy that his personal connections have propelled him into. And of course his duty to his patron means that if my Lady heads off on a wild goose chase expecting to find Sam (dragging a large family party with her) then Sam had better be there whether he is or not :-) He spots a crisis like lightning and spares no effort to find a solution! Adroit, adaptable, conscientious, energetic!!

Harry  •  Link

From a Travel Guide of the period

According to the Michelin guide the distance from London to Rochester is 30 miles (48 km) and he has managed to get there in less than four hours (from home or from Southwark?). When the traffic is bad it would be difficult to do better nowadays

Mary  •  Link

Sam's horsemanship.

I'm considerably impressed with his riding ability. For a man who spends almost all of his time in the city and who has mentioned taking to horse no more than a handful of times in the last 12 months, this is an impressive ride, not least because it was clearly done at top speed. By rights, he should be as stiff as a board tomorrow; we shall see.

Daniel  •  Link

Excuse my thickness, but what is the significance of the quote
"and so to bed"?
It seems to be one of the most cited from Pepys...

Alan Bedford  •  Link

"The sport was how she had intended to have kept herself unknown"-

I believe that Lady M. had at least intended to surprise Sam et al., which is why she did not send word ahead of her intentions. She may have traveled in disguise, which would explain why the Captain did not immediately recognize her.

The conceit of disguise is, of course found commonly in plays from Shakespeare through the Restoration. She may have found the idea of traveling in disguise very theatrical.

Alan Bedford  •  Link

"…and so to bed"

Sam occasionally uses the phrase "and so to bed" (or a variant thereof) to conclude the day’s diary entry. Not nearly as frequently as you’d think, though, given how closely the phrase is associated with the diary.

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

"I’m quite puzzled as to why Pepys felt he had needed to go back to London."

In further answer to Glyn's question, Sam seems to me the sort of person who attends to the business in front of him. Having completed his mission to arm the work force of the shipyards, he'd naturally turn to thoughts of his London duties and rsponsibilities. The comedy of errors that led Lady Montague to seek him at Chatham was a common sort of misadventure in the days before the telephone. Nowadays Blackberry messages would fly back and forth to share the news of the King's visit to the Dockyards and ascertain Sam's plans. Of course, it appears Lady Montague planned to surprise Sam by pretending to be an unknown lady calling on him -- perhaps a teasing reference to his known eye for beauty and taste for adventure? It was a risk to set out not knowing his plans, and Sam was right to appreciate the awkward situation she had put herself in and hasten to look after her welfare. Altogether a gallant gesture.

Ed LeZotte  •  Link

Why, what would the diary be without "and so to bed" ? -- it's, well, part of literary history is it not? Certainly is in my book.

David A. Smith  •  Link

"at a great loss, not finding me here, but at my coming overjoyed"
Amplifying Mary's and Xjy's comments, Sam measures himself by the reactions of others (Montagu firstly, Lady M secondly). This is also why he's non-plussed when strangers show him deference; he hasn't fully internalized that he is not merely Montagu's man but now, by virtue of his Office, a person in his own small right.
Meanwhile, to gain my Lord's or Lady's smile, Sam will rush pell-mell about Pall Mall, sparing no thought for himself. Though such anxiety can descend into toadying, Sam's breathless arrival and genuine concern will be ever charming to Lady M., and to Montagu. "Such a one," my Lord will think, "will always serve me as I would wish." And as the Restoration spins its ever-more-complex webs of intrigue and power, that simple unswerving loyalty will be, I suspect, ever rarer.

helena murphy  •  Link

I agree with Alan that Lady Montague's behaviour here is the stuff of Restoration comedy. It also testifies to the little mild innocent flirtation between the two,at Chatham Lady Montague becomes the damsel in distress purely due to her own antics when she does not find him ,and Sam sets off in "gallant mode" to her rescue!It is altogether a very enjoyable episode and one can imagine Sandwish guffawing at the lighter side of life when he gets to hear of it.

Eric Walla  •  Link

I agree, a most enjoyable entry ...

... but how about an analysis of "and so to bed"? I believe Daniel is asking what particular merit does the phrase hold. WHY is such a common phrase part of literary history?

From my angle I would suggest that a large percentage of phrases that enjoy historical status do not in themselves form something extraordinary. It is their fate to be inseparable from the greater text as a whole, just as Ed suggests. An allusion to the phrase clues listeners into the fact that they share a common education, a common aesthetic, perhaps entirely common values with the speaker. We share the same books, we may share much else (OK, going overboard here).

"And so to bed" acts both as a notable repetition in the text and, I would say, demonstrates Sam's intention (or conceit) in every entry: to record everything significant that occurs in his day, from waking until sleep.

JWB  •  Link

Restoration comedy?
Heads are on pikes, "upholsters on horseback" are patrolling the streets, thousands are being picked up and thrown into prison, Fanatics are seen here and eveywhere setting off panic and alarms. Lady Montigu's not on a jount,on a whim; she's running for her safety and in disguise. You can imagine Sam's fate if anything had happened to her. As an aside on nightdress, I think it was Tomalin who wrote the Sam had probably never seen his wife, Elizabeth, naked.

Ruben  •  Link

"And so to bed"
I hardly heard about SP before 2003. English is a foreign language to me.
I read with an English dictionary by my side.
First thing that struck me was the immediacy and economy of his wording.
(May be because it is a diary). There are days that SP goes to bed with a ligth and reads. But when he says "and so to bed", the intention, I think, is that darkness precludes activity like writing or reading, so he sleeps.
In our time it is different, as you can go to bed and read, watch TV or hear the radio easily.
That is the reason that if you use SP's words today it will sound anachronistic.

Carolina  •  Link

Ruben, you write better English than most English !
"and so to bed" to me sounds the same as when you finish a letter to someone and you have nothing else to say, and you say , "must go now"

I must say, I don't really care that much for all these analyses, I just enjoy what Sam writes.
The other day when he said about all the neat houses, he described so much in nine! lines.

Just now, looking back over recent diary entries, he gives us so much information in so few words. No modern writer could hope to equal him, and we have the temerity to question his every word !!!
The man was a genius and lovable with it!
I will say though, if he had realised how good he was at commenting on events, he would, probably, have been unbearable !

David A. Smith  •  Link

"And so to bed"
It appeals because it is so pithy, so mundane, and so final. Whatever else happened during the day -- a king restored, a city burned down (spoiler alert!), a hideous plague (another!) -- when it is done, 'and so to bed.' It is Sam's textual signature.

Laura K  •  Link

"No modern writer could hope to equal him, and we have the temerity to question his every word"

Hm. Seems to me I read many a writer, modern and otherwise, who are Pepys' equal and then some. I do enjoy Sam's style, very much so, but calling him a genius seems a bit over the top to me.

Each to her own, of course, but for many of us, the annotations add invaluable insight - they really make this website. Rather than rely solely on my own feeble insights, I have the benefit of dozens of other readers, their specialized knowledge, and their ongoing research. For many or most of us, the annotations are why we read the diary here and not in book form.

language hat  •  Link

"she's running for her safety and in disguise”
Where on earth do you get this? If that were the case, Sam would hardly have talked about “the sport.”

Pauline  •  Link

Lady Sandwich and "running for safety"
Being protective of her has to do with her position as Lord Sandwich's wife and his position as commander of the Navy -- status considerations, not questions of physical safety. She requires the kind of reception that just suddenly showing up doesn't prepare for. If she chooses to show up informally as Sam is fulfilling an asssignment in Chatham, he is in a position to smooth such an informal arrival. To just arrive on her own puts the captains in a tailspin. Sam was not the Naval officier assigned to distribute arms and muster the troops in Chatham, Lord Batten was. Lady Montagu/Sandwich got it wrong and Sam had returned early to town. Once it is all sorted out, she gets the salute owing to her station; and Sam avoids Batten.

I'm guessing. And enjoying both her and Sam's interest in the tour of ships they are given. They really are soul mates. All other considerations matter naught, this friendship warms the heart.

David Quidnunc  •  Link

17th century practices

I agree, Roger, it seems reasonable to believe that the vast majority of the time this was as innocent as Jackson says he is when he's slept with kids. On the other hand, the tiny minority who molested children probably amounted to a lot of uncaught child abuse.

Liza Picard's "Restoration London" has this to say about sodomy and pages (Chap. 10, p. 162):

"As to buggery, Samuel [Pepys] sanctimoniously recorded that 'blessed be God, I do not to this day know what is the meaning of it, nor which is the agent nor which the patient'; but his friends assured him that 'buggery is now almost grown as common among our gallants as in Italy, and the very pages of the town begin to complain of their masters for it' (that is, it was not in their contracts of employment)."

Picard was quoting from Sam's entry of 1 July 1663. The words appear about two-thirds of the way through the entry, which is five(!) pages long in L&M (Vol. 4, p. 210).

Dennis Richards  •  Link

I'm intrigued by Sam's urgent need to get to Rochester/Chatham as quickly as possible. We know from Glyn that the distance from London ( I assume Southwark ((pronounced 'suthuck' I believe!))) to Rochester is 28 miles and he completes the journey in just over 4 hours- an average speed of 7 miles per hour. Not being a rider myself I don't know what the average speed of a man on horseback would be in these conditions,or how long a horse could keep going at that speed, does anyone know? Since both Chatham and Dover are important naval towns, there would be a well established system of post houses along the way at which a tired horse could be exchanged for fresh horse both for Sam and his guide who I suppose was needed for his familiararity with the shortcuts en-route. I would think that there was more than one horse change in a journey of this nature, and one which in Sam's day could be quite hazardous.

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

Sam's horsemanship

Pony Express riders averaged 10 miles per hour, according to various websites about the 1860-61 mail service in the American West. The riders were young men selected for their endurance in the saddle; they supposedly had only 2 minutes to change mounts, which they did every 10-15 miles. They rode an average of 33 miles before handing off the mail to a new rider. If one assumes that Sam changed mounts at least twice during his trip, taking 30 minutes to do so, "post haste" would appear to be a fitting description of his pace.

wisteria53  •  Link

re luggage: changes of clothing would have been an unneccessary luxury in an era where washing was infrequent. Within living memory - my mother-in-law remembered poorer families in North Wales between the wars being sewn into their clothing for the winter (and Sam's travelling in that season now).

Bradford  •  Link

The Ellis show was a musical adaptation of J. B. Fagan's 1926 play of the same title, starring Edmund Gwynn as Samuel and French actress Yvonne Arnaud (1892-1958) as Elizabeth, a role for which she was long remembered. The site Roger M. gives above indicates that recorded excerpts of the musical exist, with Mantovani conducting a ten-piece orchestra in Ellis's "intriguing 17th century style score containing a mixture of musical influences such as a madrigal, jig, saraband and rigaudon in a variety of numbers including" Pepys's own setting of "Beauty Retire," and of course a title song "And So to Bed." A theme song for a Website?

Kevin Sheerstone  •  Link

"And so to bed"

Yes, as inseperable from Pepys as "elementary, my dear Watson" is from Sherlock Holmes. But at least Sam did use his phrase - nowhere in the works of Conan Doyle does "elementary, my dear Watson" appear, or so I am informed by those who have read the lot, something I do not intend to do.

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

"how the Captain (whom she had sent for) of the Charles had forsoothed her, though he knew her well and she him."

FORSOOTH, an Interjection of Contempt or Derision. See further in the Encyclopedia

Louise  •  Link

We in the 20th century are so used to clean clothes and clean bodies that we don't think about what sanitation was like 400 years ago. If we were to go back to Pepys' London we'd be horrified at the lack of cleanliness--by our standards--even among the aristocracy. The smell of dirty bodies would be overpowering. Don't forget, it was the era of the contents of chamber pots being thrown out of windows--the only means of sanitation. Baths were nearly unheard of. It was said of one of the queens that she took a bath once a month whether she needed one or not.

"And so to bed" was like saying, "Day is done."

Mary K  •  Link

"the only means of sanitation"

Not so, despite the frequency with which this canard appears. Recall that Pepys's own accommodation had its house of office, as did his neighbours. The inhabitants of other substantial dwellings would have had similar facilities. There were also public conveniences ( usually close to the Thames) at points in the city of London. Defenestration may have been common, but it was not the only means of sanitation in the city.

Weavethe hawk  •  Link

Dental hygene would have been non-existant as well. The oder from people's breath alone would be overwhelming to modern sensitivities.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

OED confirms the meaning given in the link above:

'forˈsooth v. (trans.) to say ‘forsooth’ to, treat ceremoniously.
1661 S. Pepys Diary 16 Jan. (1970) II. 15 The sport was how she had entended to have kept herself unknown and how the Captaine..of the Charles had forsoothed her, though he knew her well enough, and she him.'

Michaela  •  Link

Ruth Goodman the historian, who has experimented in living for short periods as they did in other historical periods, says that not smelling bad was very important (in Tudor times, so I imagine In the 17th century too) as the link between bad smells and illness was clear. Outer clothes were not washed, but under linen might have been more often. Not every day though. The idea was to wash hands and face and to rub down with linen cloth rather than bathing.
She has found that washing the body in the modern way with soap but not changing linen leads to a horrible smell, but not washing but changing linen more regularly leads to no noticeable smell other than woodsmoke (in the context of a Tudor farm). Also, returning to the modern world, she found the smell of modern synthetic perfumes in soap and shampoo etc stuck unpleasantly in her throat. Although the very poor and struggling might have smelt much worse than today, on the whole people don’t smell better today - just different.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"He usually tells us when his "boy" Will accompanies him and he does not mention him here or luggage."

There seems to be some backstories that need unravelling to make sense of this.

Last night Pepys, Will and Wayneman were at Seething Lane. Elizabeth was at Elizabeth Turner's. This morning Wayneman probably went back to Elizabeth with his news, while Pepys and Will went to see the Duke of York, and then onto the Sandwich chambers.

Sandwich has left Pepys in charge of the household while he is at sea with the royal family. Pepys, knowing Lady Jem is surrounded by all the King's men at Whitehall, felt no need to run over there and protect her during the recent Uprising. He went about his naval duties with a clear conscience.

Evidently Lady Jem didn't feel so secure -- after all, Hinchingbrooke is in Puritan country, and she might know how strong Fifth Monarchist feelings were in that part of the countryside.
Also Charles II's guards travel with him, so maybe the remaining Whitehall guards were less competant than Pepys imagined.

Obviously Lady Jem can't take her children to her husband, so she goes where she thinks his appointed surrogate has gone.

Pepys now sends Will Hewer to Elizabeth with instructions to protect her, while he catches up with Lady Jem and family.

Does he pack more than his nice new riding boots? I hope so -- they had saddle bags. No doubt he could buy a new shirt at Chatham if he needed one. More important to have some silver and gold coins with him than shirts.

MartinVT  •  Link

"in fine" = "enfin", French, meaning "finally" or "in the end".

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... I found my Lady and her daughter Jem., and Mrs. Browne and five servants, ... The sport was how she had intended to have kept herself unknown, and how the Captain (whom she had sent for) of the Charles had forsoothed her, though he knew her well and she him. "

Lady Sandwich's party of 8 were travelling incognito for safety. We know there were many recently-released soldiers and sailors who have not been given their full backpay, and that they were robbing people. Plus the round-up of suspects continued, following the recent Venner's Rising so people were probably on edge and suspicious.

Keeping the Sandwich party unknown probably means they left the best coach with the Sandwich coat-of-arms on the doors and the best set of horses at Whitehall, and Lady Sandwich told everyone to wear travelling clothes and to leave unnecessary finery at home.

Capt. Roger Cuttance knows Lady Sandwich and the family well; he pretended not to in order to protect her and the party's identity, so they won't be taken advantage of by the innkeeper and/or the motley crew of ne'er-do-wells hanging out in the bar.

Normally the nobility arranged ahead of time to stay with other well-to-do families, not at the local pub. This indicates to me that Lady Sandwich fled from Whitehall, as arrangements for better, secure housing like that had not been made.

I now realize that Charles II is home (don't know about James -- Pepys and Slingsby reported to Coventry this morning, and James isn't mentioned today or yesterday -- perhaps he stayed with Minette and the Queen Mother?); so the A Team of guards presumably are back in town.

I wonder what caused Lady Sandwich to decide to run now?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"As an aside on nightdress, I think it was Tomalin who wrote the Sam had probably never seen his wife, Elizabeth, naked."

Where did Tomalin or whoever get that idea?
Look at John Donne’s poetry, written 60 odd years before Pepys Diary.
For an example, we might consider his elegy “To His Mistress Going to Bed.”
There, Donne directs his lover in the art of the strip tease, verbally peeling off her clothes and drawing her into the bed where he lies, waiting.

Your gown going off, such beauteous state reveals,
As when from flowery meads the hill’s shadow steals.
Off with that wiry coronet and shew
The hairy diadem which on you doth grow:
Now off with those shoes, and then safely tread
In this love’s hallow’d temple, this soft bed.
…
To teach thee, I am naked first; why then,
What needst thou have more covering than a man?

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As we will discover, Pepys was in need of some lessons! But I'd bet money he saw all of Elizabeth.

RM  •  Link

Sam was fortunate that London to Chatham would have been pretty (and literally) straightforward, as the direct route would have been the former Roman road, still visible on the map as it is overlaid by a modern version for much of the way: A gallop down the Old Kent Road to Deptford bridge, up onto Blackheath and over Shooters Hill, through Bexleyheath, on through Dartford and finally dropping down to the Medway river at Rochester, Chattham being a mile or so futher on the other side.

Squiddy  •  Link

I live in Rochester and many of the inns that would have been there in Peyps’ time are still around, and candidates for the one he slept in. Many brag of their royal associations from when Rochester was a significant place - kings and queens have lodged in them too. Try Googling The Coopers Arms

Cynara  •  Link

Thank you to Michaela for her post of a couple years ago! I was wondering how much googling I was going to do to find that same info, which I remembered but could not attribute. :)

And others have pointed out that our smells (car exhaust, commercial cleansers, etc) might be equally appalling to them, not to mention our constant noise pollution.

Sophia  •  Link

Thank you Michaela and SanDiegoSarah for bringing up Ruth Goodman's research into this forum. I think that in recent dress history discourse there has been a lot of mythbusting about the idea that in the past everyone just went around in dirty clothes stinking to high heaven, but I'm not sure if it's filtered into the general knowledge yet.

There are simple explanations as to why Pepys doesn't mention luggage or changing his body linens, and it's not just 'He didn't ever change his clothes'. Travel preparations such as packing and carrying luggage were the responsibility of a servant. And I certainly wouldn't think to write in my dairy that I had changed my underwear, even though I do it every day. The diary is known for Pepys' extreme honesty--since he will discuss his bathroom habits, etc, we think that we are getting every detail. But he doesn't actually mention every time he goes to the toilet, only those occasions when it's noteworthy.

Even though he hasn't directly mentioned his dress hygiene habits yet, there have been several other indications in the diary of the importance of care and hygiene in clothing. Consider the enormous sums he spends and the pride with which he describes the clothing in fine materials he has bought since coming up in the world.

Consider the great trouble and time spent on the grueling wash day. If they didn't care about bodily hygiene as many here have suggested, what are they washing if not bed linens and body linens (underwear)? Textiles and doing laundry were both time consuming and expensive, but household accounts indicate that people would invest in making it possible to change their linen base layer as often as they could, ideally every day.

Consider Pepys' dismay at his wife's perceived slovenliness, which to me is a clear indication of both personal and cultural sensibilities which place a high moral value on cleanliness and neatness. These people had noses just like ours. They believed that bad smells caused disease. The means by which they pursued hygiene may be different from our modern habits, but they absolutely did not wear the same underwear continually until it fell apart!

And no, they did not take baths. Just you try filling a person-sized tub full of hot water, one kettleful at a time. However, it is entirely possible to thoroughly bathe out of a basin and pitcher. It's a sad indictment of the modern person's imagination when we assume that our ancestors didn't clean themselves at all just because they didn't have the technology to clean themselves exactly as we do.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Thank you, RM, for mentioning Shooters Hill, near Greenwich. It was notorious for highwaymen, as Pepys will observe in this coming April.
That's probably why the Countess did not advertise her status.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

Alison ONeill  •  Link

My tuppence about the ride from Southwark to Rochester:
The distance is roughly 30 miles. He set off about 2pm, arrived before 6pm (times will have been more sun-related and less precise than today). Say 3.5 hours. Allow a break to rest and change horses, maybe half an hour. So 3 hours to cover 30 miles. A horse walks at on average about 4 miles an hour, trots at 8-12 miles an hour, canters at 12-15 miles an hour, and can gallop for short distances at 25-35 mph. Not more than 2 miles. Changing horses is time-consuming so more efficient to ride 1-2 more gently over the distance than have to change at least 15 times (although if he had he might have been there in little over one hour - if all the horses were ready and he hadn't had to negotiate for them and so on). I think he's most likely to have trotted a fair part of the way, with maybe brief stretches cantering where the going was good. I doubt he would gallop much - that's for messengers in wartime and racing. He's a respectable clerk and needs to arrive in fair condition himself. Also, tollgates may have necessitated stops. It's no more good for a horse to be going from 0-60 (metaphorically) and then braking hard than it is for a car. And that's without going into the risks of riding at speed (no helmets, etc).

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I like your logic, Alison ONeill -- he hustled as was safely reasonably.

One point, though: "Also, tollgates may have necessitated stops."

"The first turnpike road, whereby travellers paid tolls to be used for road upkeep, was authorised in 1663 for a section of the Great North Road in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire.
The term turnpike refers to the military practice of placing a pikestaff across a road to block and control passage. Upon payment of the toll, the pike would be "turned" to one side to allow travellers through. Most English gates were not built to this standard; of the first three gates, two were found to be easily avoided.
The early turnpikes were administered directly by the justices of the peace in quarter sessions.

"The first trusts were established by Parliament through an Act of Parliament in 1706, placing a section of the London-Coventry-Chester road in the hands of a group of trustees.

"The trustees could erect gates as they saw fit, demand statute labour or a cash equivalent, and appoint surveyors and collectors, in return they repaired the road and put up mileposts.
Initially trusts were established for limited periods – often 21 years. The expectation was that the trust would borrow the money to repair the road and repay that debt over time with the road then reverting to the parishes. In reality, the initial debt was rarely paid off and the trusts were renewed as needed.

"Shortly after the creation of Great Britain in 1707, turnpike acts began to be passed by Parliament to encourage the construction of toll roads in Scotland in the same way they had been used successfully in England and Wales.
The first turnpike act for a road scheme in Scotland was passed in 1713 for the construction of a road in Midlothian.

"Although in the south of England common carriers' carts became frequent, they were not seen for a long time north of York or west of Exeter.
Long trains of packhorses still carried goods through Settle until the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike was started in 1753.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tol…

So Pepys and his guide were dealing with rain, cold, wind, trains of packhorses, mud, and yet more slippery mud.

Alison ONeill  •  Link

Thanks for the info, SD Sarah! I knew toll roads were an ancient thing, so thought they might be in place. I bet pepys has something to say about them once they are introduced. I doubt they were popular - except with those levying the fees.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Today was one of the founding meetings of what became the Royal Society.

John Evelyn attended:
"16th January, 1661. I went to the Philosophic Club, where was examined the Torricellian experiment. I presented my 'Circle of Mechanical Trades', and had recommended to me the publishing what I had written of Chalcography."

Chalcography = the art of engraving on copper or brass

Evelyn's 'Circle of Mechanical Trades' was fundamental to the purpose and direction of the Royal Society.
Francis Bacon, back in the 1620's, proposed that a wealthy young man should volunteer to spend his life's work in collecting and documenting the trade secrets of every skill. Those "secrets" would inspire people to innovate and apply the knowledge in other fields, and everyone would prosper.
John Evelyn came of age in 1640 (born 1620), quickly realized that fighting wasn't for him, and went to the Continent. He decided to be Bacon's wealthy young man, and his early Diary is full of details about architecture, horticulture, water systems, etc. He quickly discovered that trade secrets are trade secrets for a reason, and some pages of his note book are blank apart from the headline stating a subject to be studied.

Now came along the Invisible College, and an alternative method of finding and sharing information about how the world works. He must have been relieved to pass along the weight of this self-imposed project.

https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Torricelli's experiment was invented in Pisa in 1643 by the Italian scientist Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647). The purpose of his experiment is to prove that the source of vacuum comes from atmospheric pressure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor…

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