Saturday 11 May 1661

This morning I went by water with Payne (Mr. Moore being with me) to my Lord Chamberlain at Whitehall, and there spoke with my Lord, and he did accept of Payne for his waterman, as I had lately endeavoured to get him to be. After that Mr. Cooling did give Payne an order to be entertained, and so I left him and Mr. Moore, and I went to Graye’s Inne, and there to a barber’s, where I was trimmed, and had my haire cut, in which I am lately become a little curious, finding that the length of it do become me very much.

So, calling at my father’s, I went home, and there staid and saw my workmen follow their work, which this night is brought to a very good condition.

This afternoon Mr. Shepley, Moore, and Creed came to me all about their several accounts with me, and we did something with them all, and so they went away. This evening Mr. Hater brought my last quarter’s salary, of which I was very glad, because I have lost my first bill for it, and so this morning was forced to get another signed by three of my fellow officers for it.

All this evening till late setting my accounts and papers in order, and so to bed.

32 Annotations

First Reading

Bradford  •  Link

"to a barber's, where I was trimmed, and had my haire cut, in which I am lately become a little curious, finding that the length of it do become me very much.”

Curious: several possibilities for the meaning then: “painstaking, careful” or “discriminating” (from the L&M Companion, though citing passages from later years, not this one).

Hic retearius  •  Link

Haircut

A poster observed recently that we don

dirk  •  Link

and had my haire cut (...) finding that the length of it do become me very much

"Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas"
(transl. Vanity of the vanities, and all is vanity)
Eccl. I, 2

On the other hand, some degree of vanity seems not unfitting, considering Sam's recent rise in social status well...

vicente  •  Link

Sounds like our Sam is in the non Chartered Accounts business:
"...This afternoon Mr. Shepley, Moore, and Creed came to me all about their several accounts with me, and we did something with them all, and so they went away..."
"Opinion of Book-keeping's Antiquity," the author states, on the authority of another writer, that the form of book-keeping referred to had then been in use in Italy about two hundred years, "but that the same, or one in many parts very like this, was used in the time of Julius Caesar, and in Rome long before." He gives quotations of Latin book-keeping terms in use in ancient times, and refers to "ex Oratione Ciceronis pro Roscio Comaedo"; and he adds:
"That the one side of their booke was used for Debitor, the other for Creditor, is manifest in a certaine place, Naturalis Historiae Plinii, lib. 2, cap. 7, where hee, speaking of Fortune, saith thus:
Huic Omnia Expensa.
Huic Omnia Feruntur accepta et in tota Ratione mortalium sola
Utramque Paginam facit."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acco…

here all expenses,
here all [ I am borne] that i am owed, credit side and in total the calculations, man made and forsaken.
and both sides made [balanced]
The final page to be 'sigh=ned' off.
tis for a Chartered one [or CPA]to correct.

roberto  •  Link

"to a barber's, where I was trimmed, and had my haire cut”

Did he have his beard or mustache trimmed and his hair cut?

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Hic retearius,
Sorry, but I don't know where to find the 'related photo' album, despite having looked in several places. I would like to see the portrait of SP you mention. Can you provide a link? Thanks!

Mary  •  Link

beard, mustache.

Most men at this time were clean shaven; at least, that was the aim although it appears that a daily shave was not always de rigueur, so there would have been some stubbly chins about.

Despite the fact that Charles II seems to have worn a thin mustache for much of this life, portrait evidence in general indicates that this did not catch on as a widely-followed fashion.

Mary  •  Link

'saw my workmen follow their work'

At this point, L&M reads 'fallow their work', but I think that this must be a simple misprint. OED offers no possible application of 'fallow' (normally an agricultural or landscape term) that would make any sense in this passage unless Pepys were having the new staircase stained 'a dull, yellowish brown' which is one adjectival meaning of the word. Even in that case I should expect him to say that it was being painted or stained, rather than 'fallowed'.

Ray Hyde  •  Link

finding that the length of it do become me very much

Is it that Sam had shorter hair in the years leading up to the diary and is gradually transforming himself Cavalier-style now the Roundheads have gone?

Ann  •  Link

As to "curious," I expect its this definitio from OED:

2. Careful as to the standard of excellence; difficult to satisfy; particular; nice, fastidious. Obs. a. esp. in food, clothing, matters of taste.

c1380 WYCLIF Sel. Wks. III. 205 Take meete and drinke in mesure, ne to costli ne to licorouse, and be not to corious eraboute. 1489 CAXTON Faytes of A. I. vii. 17 Not curyous of mygnotes, folyetes ne of iewellis. 1579 LYLY Euphues (Arb.) 118 Be not curious to curle thy haire. a1592 H. SMITH Serm. (1866) II. 329 Christ was not curious in his diet. 1605 CAMDEN Rem. (1637) 285 There was one that was very curious in keeping of his beard. 1781 GIBBON Decl. & F. II. 45 They soon became..curious in their diet and apparel. 1821 SCOTT Kenilw. iii, In arranging which [the hair] men at that time..were very nice and curious.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: Sam, the modern executive

Hic, you done it! Excellent.

(Oh, and you owe me a new keyboard ... this one is slowly getting ruined by the coffee spewed over it from the spit-take I did when I saw your work :-)

JWB  •  Link

Curious Payne...
Is Payne such good waterman that Sam's reco will win him kudos from Lord Chamberlain, or is Sam working in an agent? How explain two postings on seeming trifle matter?

Ruben  •  Link

Curious Payne- JWB…
I think SP felt something new had happened to him. He was herd and had some influence on such high people like the Lord Chamberlain, not a small achievement for someone like him…and a good reason to put it on paper.

Emilio  •  Link

"fallow their work"

Mary, this is more likely an example of L&M's reconstructed 17th-century spelling, like 'maister', rather than a misprint. Just think of pronouncing the "fa" as in 'fa la la la la'.

vicente  •  Link

Why the favor? Maybe he Knows Paine from some previous time, but also [remotely] because he was short of the Doe Rae Me, and Samuel P. told him he would not regret giving him a free ride to Wesminster. Many have done and some do follow through with these vague promises.[Remember he did short change the cabby at one time]

Glyn  •  Link

Vincent: "Maybe he knows Payne from some previous time." Quite right!

If we refer back to two days ago Pepys writes: "I spoke for my old waterman Payne" So it seems he was helping out an ex-employee

Pauline  •  Link

Why the favor?
Maybe he found Payne to be an excellent fellow and good at his work and is happy to give his career a boost. This is how such hiring is done. The court doesn't have an employment office/human resources department.

Mary  •  Link

Emilio: follow/fallow

I can't find a single instance of 'follow' being rendered 'fallow' in 16th-17th century citations in OED. The verb entered English with a short O (OE folgian) and has hung on to that vowel ever since.

If 'fallow' is not a misprint in L&M, perhaps Pepys himself mis-spelled the shorthand by placing the vowel-marker in the wrong position.

Rich Merne  •  Link

Follow etc.
Why not accept "folow" in that printed form, and then it's sense as, *attend to*, their work. I think this is especially likely since they (the workmen) have not attended to (followed) their work much in his absence.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

Vincent:

I appreciated your comment on Sam's balance sheet work. He does so much of it, and its informative to learn how ancient is double-entry bookkeeping (which I learned as a lad but seldom use).

Linda Camidge  •  Link

Ray, I speak into the ether seven years on - in fact it's a bit of a myth that the Cavaliers had a monopoly on lovely long hair, lact twirls etc, as many portraits show.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"there staid and saw my workmen fallow their work, which this night is brought to a very good condition."

Did he watch them put it down, let it lie -- it having been finished?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Did he watch them put it down, let it lie -- it having been finished? Alas, not; it will go on.

Tim  •  Link

Ray, I speak into the ether seven years on - in fact it's a bit of a myth that the Cavaliers had a monopoly on lovely long hair, lact twirls etc, as many portraits show.

Yes- it's more to do with fashion and class than an ideological or religious statement - Under Parliament the richer and more prominent had flowing locks. Quite natural that SP feels the need for his hair to grow along with his status

Bill  •  Link

Tim, The early meme seems to have been that the "parliament-party" had short hair.

Round-Heads [in the time of the civil wars in England] a name given to those of the parliament-party, who generally had their hair cut short.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.

The Character of a Roundhead. 1641.

What Creature's this with his short Hairs,
His little Band and huge long Ears,
That this new Faith hath founded?
The Puritans were never such,
The Saints themselves, had ne'er so much,
Oh, such a Knave's a Roundhead.
---A collection of loyal songs written against the Rump parliament. 1731.

...yet, at first Interview, he much suspected Mr. Jackson to be a Round-head, observing how little Hair William Penderel's Scissers had left Him; but at last being fully satisfied they were all Cavaliers, he soon laid open his Heart...
---Boscobel. T. Blount, 1725.

The apprentices it seems wore the hair of their head cut round and the queen observing out of a window, Samuel Barnardiston among them, cried out "See what a handsome young Round-head is there" and the name came from thence...
---The History of England. R. de Thoyras, 1759.

More on Roundheads in the encyclopedia: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

OED has the gen (having no doubt debated this entry at some length, as these issues are as contentious now as in 1641):

‘Roundhead, n. and adj. Originally (in sense A. 1a) with allusion to the Puritan custom of wearing closely cropped hair, as opposed to the long hair typically worn by Royalists; compare quot. 1651 at sense A. 1a. The name appears to have arisen in 1641. Compare quot. 1641, and also the following:

a1690 J. Rushworth Hist. Coll.: Third Pt. (1692) I. 463 The House of Commons met on Monday Dec. 27th. [1641]... There being three or four Gentlemen walking near, one of them named David Hide a Reformado in the late Army against the Scots..began to bussle and said he would cut the Throat of those Round-headed Dogs that bawled against Bishops (which passionate Expressions of his, as far as I could ever learn, was the first minting of that Term . . of Round-heads, which afterwards grew so general).
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. 456 [In the account of the year 1641] And from those contestations the two Terms of Round-Head and Cavalier grew to be received in discourse, and were afterwards continued for the most Succinct distinction of affections throughout the quarrel: They who were looked on as Servants to the King, being then called Cavaliers; and the other of the Rabble contemned, and despised under the names of Round-Heads.

A. n. 1. a. Brit. Hist. Usu. with capital initial. A member or adherent of the Parliamentary party during the English Civil War; = parliamentarian . .
1641 R. Brathwait Mercurius Britanicus iv. sig. D4v, Lord, with what pricked up eares, these round heads harken to their oratour Prinner and admire in hearing him.
. . 1651 W. Lilly Monarchy or no Monarchy 107 The Courtiers againe, wearing long Haire and locks, and alwayes Sworded, at last were called by these men [sc. the Puritans] Cavaliers; and so after this broken language had been used a while, all that adhered unto the Parlament were termed Round-heads; all that tooke part or appeared for his Majestie, Cavaliers, few of the vulgar knowing the sence of the word Cavalier.
. . 1930 W. C. Sellar & R. J. Yeatman 1066 & All That xxxv. 63 We come at last to the Central Period of English History..consisting in the utterly memorable Struggle between the Cavaliers (Wrong but Wromantic) and the Roundheads (Right but Repulsive) . . ‘

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This evening Mr. Hater brought my last quarter’s salary"

Public Record Office archives 25 March: £87 10s. for Pepys;, £15 for his two clerks. (Per L&M note)

John Wheater  •  Link

Mary, Emilio: follow/fallow

It's definitely not a misprint. It appears many times, nine of which are quoted in Chris Gutteridge's page at http://www.wyldesnoyse.co.uk/cjg/…, and two I puzzled over at 30Sep62, following a citation in Ollard p.94.

And, it is mentioned explicitly at L&M 1.lix. Seven words are mentioned there, and all except 'fallow' are easy enough to see. So you'd think the Mighty Ones might have given us a glossary entry - but No.

AND, there is a problem. Mary points out that other texts don't include it, and the OED gives just one brief mention in the etymology of 'follow', with no quotation. So why did Pepys use it (in longhand, say L&M)? And, since he definitely did, why don't the OED include it?

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, a service symbolically made amends:

On 21 May 1650 the royalist hero James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, was publicly executed by hanging on a scaffold at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, and his body dismembered.

An account of expenses held by National Records of Scotland throws light on how, 10 years later, Montrose’s remains were reassembled with great ceremony, ready for an elaborate funeral.

The former Scottish covenanting commander was captured in 1650. Rather than facing honourable execution by beheading, the Marquess was hanged like a criminal. He went to his death defiantly, maintaining his adherence to the Covenant. He was stylishly dressed in a black suit, a scarlet coat with silver trimmings, and a beaver hat.

In a move designed to inspire fear in the populace, his head was placed on a spike on the Edinburgh Tolbooth next to the High Kirk (St. Giles), his limbs distributed to other Scottish burghs, and his torso buried near the Burghmuir loch, at the east end of the modern Meadows.

For royalists, Montrose became a symbol of loyalty and a martyr for their cause.

After the Restoration, the royalists took revenge on their enemies, including the trial and execution of the Marquis of Argyll in May 1661.

Meanwhile, a grisly piece of theatre was carefully stage-managed to emphasise Charles II’s authority, and the undoing of the covenanting regime’s acts – what Professor David Stevenson has called ‘the most potent ceremonial celebration’ of the king’s restoration in Scotland (‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography’).

In January 1661, 6 ‘grave makers’ were paid £18 Scots for ‘raising’ the corpse.

Robert Johnstone was paid £3 for showing the burial place, where the exhumation took place by torchlight. Surgeons washed the bones, wrapped them in cloth, and placed them in a coffin. The coffin were covered with ‘best velvet mortcloth’, for which John Kniblo, a local merchant, was paid £24, including ‘drink money’, a customary additional payment for work.

Montrose’s heart was missing, having been removed by sympathisers in 1650, embalmed and kept safe.

The accounts also show that 100 planks (‘daills’) were made into scaffolding and a stage ‘for the trumpeters for the down taking of my lord Marques head’ from the spike on the Tolbooth.

After the coffin containing Montrose’s remains lay in state at Holyrood Abbey for 8 weeks, a magnificent funeral took place on 11 May 1661.
His remains were buried in St. Giles.
(They were disturbed by later alterations, after Queen Victoria expressed astonishment in 1886 on seeing a simple slab inscribed ‘Montrose 1661’.)

Excerpted from Dr Tristram Clarke, Head of Outreach, National Records of Scotland's account: https://blog.nrscotland.gov.uk/20…

MartinVT  •  Link

Follow/fallow:

As a resolution to this conundrum, I offer the following:
(a) As John Wheater showed, above, by quoting Chris Gutteridge's page which includes nine uses by Sam of "fallow" to mean "follow", but:
(b) Mary (2004) et al, above, show that the OED offers no 17thC citations for "fallow" to mean "follow", therefore:
(c) "Fallow" in place of "follow" in this instance and others in the diary is just an occasional misspelling unique to Sam and therefore not picked up by the OED, but correctly used by L&M since they aim to reflect the exact text of the diary, warts, misspellings and all.

That said, Sam does know how to spell "follow" correctly, because he does so 220 times in the entire diary. So his misspelling here is really just a glitch in his shorthand, which has its imperfections on a regular basis. Or alternatively, "fallow" is just an occasional glitch in L&M's rendition of the shorthand, since there is apparently some ambiguity in how vowel marks are to be interpreted.

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