Monday 26 August 1661
This morning before I went out I made even with my maid Jane, who has this day been my maid three years, and is this day to go into the country to her mother. The poor girl cried, and I could hardly forbear weeping to think of her going, for though she be grown lazy and spoilt by Pall’s coming, yet I shall never have one to please us better in all things, and so harmless, while I live. So I paid her her wages and gave her 2s. 6d. over, and bade her adieu, with my mind full of trouble at her going.
Hence to my father, where he and I and Thomas together setting things even, and casting up my father’s accounts, and upon the whole I find that all he hath in money of his own due to him in the world is but 45l., and he owes about the same sum: so that I cannot but think in what a condition he had left my mother if he should have died before my uncle Robert. Hence to Tom Trice for the probate of the will and had it done to my mind, which did give my father and me good content.
From thence to my Lady at the Wardrobe and thence to the Theatre, and saw the “Antipodes,” wherein there is much mirth, but no great matter else. Hence with Mr. Bostock whom I met there (a clerk formerly of Mr. Phelps) to the Devil tavern, and there drank and so away. I to my uncle Fenner’s, where my father was with him at an alehouse, and so we three went by ourselves and sat talking a great while about a broker’s daughter that he do propose for a wife for Tom, with a great portion, but I fear it will not take, but he will do what he can. So we broke up, and going through the street we met with a mother and son, friends of my father’s man, Ned’s, who are angry at my father’s putting him away, which troubled me and my father, but all will be well as to that.
We have news this morning of my uncle Thomas and his son Thomas being gone into the country without giving notice thereof to anybody, which puts us to a stand, but I fear them not.
At night at home I found a letter from my Lord Sandwich, who is now very well again of his feaver, but not yet gone from Alicante, where he lay sick, and was twice let blood. This letter dated the 22nd July last, which puts me out of doubt of his being ill. In my coming home I called in at the Crane tavern at the Stocks by appointment, and there met and took leave of Mr. Fanshaw, who goes to-morrow and Captain Isham toward their voyage to Portugal. Here we drank a great deal of wine, I too much and Mr. Fanshaw till he could hardly go. So we took leave one of another.
55 Annotations
First Reading
dirk • Link
"letter dated the 22nd July last"
Sent off 22 July - arrived 26 August.
32 days to get from Alicante to London! I wonder whether the letter went by regular mail (coach north through Spain, then France, then Thurn & Taxis mail boat to cross the channel) or by one of His majesty's Ships...
dirk • Link
"45£, and he owes about the same sum”
So Sam’s father’s net financial value is nil! Compare to Sam’s statement some time ago that he (Sam) found himself to worth 500£ plus.
Glyn • Link
and so harmless, while I live
Regarding the phrase "while I live", a contemporary Londoner might say instead "as I live and breathe" - it just emphasises how strongly he feels about what he's saying.
2 shillings and 6 pence = 30 pennies. Jane gets paid at a rate of two pennies a day (3 pounds a year), so this is the equivalent of 15 days' pay for Jane; and talking of money matters, is the 28-year-old son is now worth 10 times more than his father?
Meanwhile, Jane is leaving her job and the city and so is Pall (reluctantly); his father's servant Ned is leaving his job (not voluntarily); Thomas and his son Thomas have already left the city for Brampton (surreptitiously); and Mr Fanshaw and Captain Isham are leaving for Portugal (drunkenly).
Todd Bernhardt • Link
re: "...so that I cannot but think in what a condition he had left my mother if he should have died before my uncle Robert."
No wonder Sam's mother has been nagging her husband! Sounds as if he hasn't exactly been keeping up his side of the bargain.
Otherwise, an action-packed entry. My head's reeling after simply reading it, and I haven't even hit the wine (yet). At least we've found another reason why Sam was mad at Pall ... she's been a bad influence on (sweet) Jane.
daniel • Link
Australian Susan?
what do you find of the "Antipodes," wherein there is much mirth, but no great matter else?
Pat • Link
The Antipodes. Richard Brome (written 1636), perhaps his best-known play, in which the central character is afflicted by a morbid obsession with travel and the exotic. In order to cure him, the other characters organize an elaborate charade to trick him into believing he has travelled to the other side of the world, and in the process are all forced to confront the idea of a society where everything is upside-down.
David Ross McIrvine • Link
*The Antipodes, or, The World Turn'd Upside Down* Richard Brome comedy, 1636.
Excerpt from a modern synopsis by "Shakespeare's Globe Theatre" at
http://www.albemarle-london.com/g…
"Peregrine Joyless has been driven mad with his obsession to travel the world and so his family bring him to London for help. A famous doctor sets about curing Peregrine by pretending to take him to the Antipodes - or the world upside down - where lawyers beg not to be payed, deer pursue the hounds, women rule the men, and they keep their cats in cages from 'mice that would devour them else'."
The play, claims Clare Dover in the Sept. 9, 2000 number of the *British Medical Journal*, created "one of the first practicing psychiatrists on to the English stage."
http://www.findarticles.com/p/art…
Remember Sam has just seen Brome's *The Joviall Crew* recently. Again, that was the last play performed before the Parliament closed the theaters.
Brome was a Caroline playwright and poet, who wrote not only about city issues (*The Antipodes* is an urban comedy) but also about the folk of the rural north, and about some oddball women.
Some more on Brome:
http://search.eb.com/shakespeare/…
Australian Susan • Link
Antipodes
"Much mirth". Well, there's not much mirth around at the moment!Facing dreadful election - dire choice between 2 poor politicos and now we learn that Australians have to pass language test to be allowed to get into the UK (on BBC website yesterday). Makes us as cross as cats on a hot barbie. Sorry -off topic!
The play is concerned with topsy-turveydom, but Sam would have been very intrigued by Australian wildlife if he had ever seen any - pity he never commented on the cassowaries! What would he have made of kangaroos and platypuses?
David Ross McIrvine • Link
There is a complete scholarly text of
Brome and Heywood's *The Late Lancashire Witches* online at
http://www.gabrielegan.com/public…
Gabriel Egan, who is the editor, also has links to the Non-Shakespeare Dramatic Database at the home page
http://www.gabrielegan.com
as well as links to his other publications, from which section his edition of Heywood & Brome's play comes.
Bradford • Link
Sam very sanguine today---"all will be well as to that." No doubt, depending on the hour of writing, the clarifying effect of the drinks.
Jesse • Link
"wherein there is much mirth, but no great matter else"
Some of us might find much "great matter" in clever "mirth". The synopsis seems enticing. I wonder if there's a clue about Sam's sense of humor here or is he a typical man of his time?
john lauer • Link
Tom and Tom leave "without giving notice thereof to anybody, which puts us to a stand, but I fear them not."
To put to a stand, to stop; to arrest by obstacles or difficulties. --Webster (1913), via dict.die.net
Does this mean: Tom and Tom left without a word, which we can't explain, but we are not worried about them.
The meaning is not clear.
vicente • Link
"...So I paid her her wages and gave her 2s. 6d. over, and bade her adieu..." And he seems to think he is Mr Wonderful. Not bad TIP for all that delousing.
reminds me of an old farmer story.
one boy, one mans day work dun
Two boys, half boys day work dun
Three boys, nowt dun.
vicente • Link
Nice social comment....
"...going through the street we met with a mother and son, friends of my father's man, Ned's, who are angry at my father's putting him away, which troubled me and my father, but all will be well as to that…”
They no be knowing, that Paps does not even have an angel to show for his lifes work.
No wonder Ma be blankety blank.
Sam indicates that things will work out, I wonder? does he mean that the local poor house will supply a penny loaf and paliasse?
Pauline • Link
"...my uncle Thomas and his son Thomas being gone into the country without giving notice thereof to anybody...but I fear them not."
Uncle Thomas is the heir-at-law to Uncle Robert's estate and has claim on some properties not properly documented for direct willing by Uncle Robert to Sam and his father. These past days they have been settling with the Trice brothers. There is more ahead to come to agreement with Uncle Thomas and his son. It is reasonable that Sam express interest in their going quietly up to Brampton ahead of Mr. Pepys--even concern; but he probably feels confident that he and his father established their interests in all the various meetings they had before leaving Brampton after the funeral.
Australian Susan • Link
"All will be well as to that"
This could refer to their "troubled" consciences - meaning we shall soon push the niggling conscience out of sight. Or is that too cynical?
Maybe Sam and dad have plans to make things better? But certainly not of dad's immediate resources (lack thereof!). Maybe from the Great Legacy?? After all, they are in "great content" about this and it seems to have gone to probate with no problems, now they have satisfied the Trice faction.
"puts us to a stand"
I took that to mean they were flummoxed by this and could neither understand nor proceed, but are not bothered by this possibly underhand action - maybe because of the "great content" about the will being proved. Sort of None Can Touch Us Now! HA! kind of attitude.
"hardly forbear weeping"
Sam is genuinely fond of Jane, I'm sure.But is Elizabeth suspicious? Wonder if he discussed the 2/6d with her?
Australian Susan • Link
"Thurn & Taxis"
Were this great mail company operating internationally as early as this? Their story is amazing. For years I thought they were just a figment of Thomas Pynchon's imagination (see "The Crying of Lot 49" by Thomas Pynchon. Penguin, 1974, ISBN 0140037330)
Mary • Link
"propose a wife for Tom"
The question of a marriage for Tom has become urgent, it seems, as this is the second possible wife to have been proposed within the space of a few days. Possibly Father Pepys's departure for Brampton and the leaving of the running of the tailoring firm to Tom makes the matter more pressing; he will need a wife to oversee the domestic side of the family firm.
As to Sam's dismay at his father's precarious financial position, he's only too aware that, had papa died before his brother Robert, Sam would have inherited the burden of supporting the rest of the family on a long-term basis .... fractious mother, student John, disobedient Pall and less-than-promising Tom.
Mary • Link
"till he could hardly go" = till he could hardly walk.
Ruben • Link
if you are interested in "Thurn & Taxis" read at:
http://www.eurohistory.com/thurn.…
but in Sam’s days letters for London came by a irregular way. Probably by a ship send by his Lordship himself. It took whatever it took to overcome winds, etc.
Jenny Doughty • Link
"yet I shall never have one to please us better in all things, and so harmless, while I live."
I read this slightly differently from you, Glyn. The phrase 'and so harmless' is set in apposition by the commas around it. If you remove it from the sentence, to me it means he never expects again to have another maid to please them better in all things. The 'and so harmless' is merely another phrase to describe the maid.
bradw • Link
friends of my father's man…who are angry…but all will be well as to that
Here’s another way to read this: Sam and Dad are confronted in the street with: “You’ve ruined my good fried Ned, who doesn’t deserve the bad name your dismissal has gotten him! You’re unfair and wicked” or words to that effect. Sam feels the sting a bit, being perhaps unused to hearing the consequences of such decisions, or perhaps guilty about Pall, Will and other dismissals. But he and Dad weigh the pros and cons (“must look after our own interests first,” or “it will shake the lazy ones up and make them better workers for their next master”) and conclude that these moves are for the best.
Gus Spier • Link
What is the economic situation at this juncture? Pall sent away, Jane sent away, Ned fired ... Are there droves of rovers in the countryside sleeping under hedgerows and tithing the fields?
Ann • Link
Why did Jane have to leave? Was this some sort of indenture? Is Momma sick?
Mary • Link
Jane's departure.
At this point, Jane Birch has been working for the Pepys family for 3 years; 2 years in Axe Yard and now a further year in Seething Lane. Her decision to leave their employ, which will become clearer later (small spoiler) is that her mother needs her help at home 'in the country'. We don't know which part of the country she came from.
Jane's younger brother, Wayneman, remains in Pepys's employ.
Pedro. • Link
The Antipodes, where are they?
From my perspective in the UK, I have always been led to believe that they were a group of Islands off the coast off New Zealand, and directly on the other side of the Globe. However, it now seems to be a general term for the whole of Australasia.
Is the term used by Annotators in other parts of the Globe to refer to their antipode?
Pauline • Link
"a general term for the whole of Australasia"
Interesting point, Pedro. I've made the correction: mine is now the Crozet Islands.
Todd Bernhardt • Link
re: the Antipodes
The American Heritage Dictionary says this:
1. Australia and New Zealand. Usually used informally.
2. A group of rocky islands of the southern Pacific Ocean southeast of New Zealand, to which they belong. They were discovered by British seamen in 1800 and are so named because they are diametrically opposite Greenwich, England.
Make the "A" lower-case, and you get this:
1. Any two places or regions that are on diametrically opposite sides of the earth.
2. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) Something that is the exact opposite or contrary of another; an antipode.
A. De Araujo • Link
"Here we drank a great deal of wine.I too much"
Let us see if he is going to work tomorrow or if he has a headache or if he goes for the morning draft.
vicente • Link
On the 24th, I be a thinking that Our Sam was being a tad rebellious in his entry, like oh! well Manana [Portuguese version], he did not let on, that he has a couple of days to be a good ladd and get all the data that Sandwich needs. Remember, when he missed the boat, when His Lordship shipped out the first time. He had to find that special delivery the Dover sole [sorry Margate Hoy].
Of course he had the option to send his package by Hoy again,if Capt:Isham had to tack down the Thames as the wind could have come from Calais, and not from Richmond, [but I do not think that Sam would really risk that again.]
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
To day "...and there met and took leave of Mr. Fanshaw, who goes to-morrow and Captain Isham toward their voyage to Portugal..."
the 24th "... Home and there met Capt. Isham inquiring for me to take his leave of me, he being upon his voyage to Portugal, and for my letters to my Lord which are not ready...."
Australian Susan • Link
Crozet islands
For location see
http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/…
Robert Gertz • Link
Little wonder Sam loves casting those growing stacks after seeing his beloved dad's net worth after a lifetime of honest, hard labor...
Thank God for Brampton, dear ole Uncle Robert, and his most timely exit. As Elizabeth is no doubt silently echoing, contemplating having the disapproving in-laws on her hands.
Hope Fanshaw makes the boat... "Farewell and ado to yoooou, fair Portugese ladies..." "Sam'l!? Mon Dieu!"
"Jest hepin gud ole Fany to da boat, honey...Oh, da boat's not here...Fany? Wheresa boat?..." "I...Dunno, Sam'l..."
Pedro. • Link
"Capt. Isham...he being upon his voyage to Portugal, and for my letters to my Lord which are not ready."
Presumedly the letters reach Monty by a third person? He would have left Alicante by now and is on his way to secure Tangier ready for the handover to Lord Peterborough in January next year. There is no evidence that he went to Portugal until the Queen was ready to set sail for England.
dirk • Link
"Thurn & Taxis"
Thurn & Taxis operated a connection Calais-London and a mail boat Dunkerque-Dover from somewhere around 1600 (could't find the exact dates). The "rapid" service over land Granada-Brussels was guaranteed to take no more than 15 days. I don't know about Alicante. In the 1600's T&T were responsible for postal services from Spain to the outside world (and vice versa), as far as Brussels, Prague, Vienna and Venice, as well as transit mail for Russia and Scandinavia.
dirk • Link
Thurn & Taxis and English mail
By sheer coincidence, data on mail volumes from Britain to the continent in 1661/1662 are still available in T&T archives. (It just happens that the average mail volume 1661/1662 was used at a later date as a reference for determining continental postage rates for British letters.)
Averages 1661/1662:
20 080 "single" letters (1/4 ounce),
1 777 "double" letters (1/2 ounce),
1 256 unspecified ounces of mail.
British mail would normally arrive in the port of Antwerp by mail boat (8 boats per month). There a first sorting took place: mail for north and central Europe and Italy was distributed further through Antwerp, mail for France and Spain went to Brussels (1/2 day away from Antwerp) and was sent through from there. There were normally 2 post rides a week.
We also know that e.g. the continental postage rate from Antwerp to Venice for a letter coming from Britain was 9d in 1678 -- to be added to the local postage in Britain itself in order to obtain the total cost for the sender -- so quite expensive really...
Source:
"De Post van Thurn und Taxis - La Poste des Tour et Tassis", Brussels, 1992
Second Reading
Bill • Link
"which puts us to a stand"
A STAND, a Pause or Stay, Doubt or Uncertainty.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘stand . . 6. A state of being unable to proceed in thought, speech, or action; a state of perplexity or nonplus. Nearly always in the phrases to be at a stand , to put to a stand . .
. . 1657 E. D'Oyley Let. 28 Feb. in Coll. State Papers J. Thurloe (1742) VI. 834 The prints telling me, that the heads of their people are..accounted conspirators..hath put me to some stand how to carry myself towards them.
1739 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. (ed. 2) IV. 212 There is one point however that puts me to a stand . . ‘
Terry Foreman • Link
Samuel Pepys to Sandwich
Written from: Lincoln's Inn Fields
Date: 29 August 1661
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 73, fol(s). 585
Document type: Holograph
Mentions family news [see MS. Carte 73, fol. 581]. States that the present season is generally sickly both in town & country; "Even to a contagion, or very neere it" ... "The known Dr. Fuller (of the Holy War) is dead" ... "All but Church matters are very quiet, & them [sic], especially in Scotland, make great noise". Mentions the delay of the fleet for Lisbon, "through want of tidings from Portugal". http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
Terry Foreman • Link
"I called in at the Crane tavern at the Stocks by appointment, and there met and took leave of Mr. Fanshaw, who goes to-morrow and Captain Isham toward their voyage to Portugal. "
Lyonel Fanshawe, secretary to his cousin Sir Richard Fanshawe, now going to Lisbon to prepare for the visit of Sandwich, who was to bring Charles II's bride to England. (L&M note)
Terry Foreman • Link
"I made even with my maid Jane, who has this day been my maid three years, and is this day to go into the country to her mother."
L&M: Jane Birch twice returned to Pepys's service, in March1662, for almost a year, and in March 1666, until in 1669 she married his manservant, Tom Edwards. She always remained a favourite with the
Pepyses.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Hence to my father, where he and I and Thomas together setting things even,"
L&M: An inventory of the goods left in the house in Salisbuty Court on loan by John Pepys to his son Thomas is in Rawl. A 182, f. 311r in the hand of Thomas Pepys; dated 25 August, and witnessed by Pepys and William Hewer: (printed in fFamily Letters, pp. 13-15).
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thomas Townsend to Sandwich
Written from:
Date: 26 August 1661
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 73, fol(s). 583
Document type: Original
Has solicited both the Lord Treasurer, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer for moneys to satisfy the creditors of the Wardrobe, but hitherto in vain.
Procured the king's attention to the matter by means of the Lord Chamberlain, but still has little hope of any money until after Michaelmas.
Out of the order for £6,000 upon the Coronation account, has received as yet only £2,505 ...
FROM:
Carte Calendar Volume 32, June - December 1661
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Edward Edwards, 2005
Shelfmark: MS. Carte Calendar 32
Extent: 464 pages
https://wayback.archive-it.org/or…
@@@
Sandwich wishes Charles II was as responsible about paying his bills in a timely manner as Pepys is.
Thomas Townsend, Clerk of the Great Wardrobe
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
San Diego Sarah • Link
Also from the Carte Collection:
Edward Montagu to Sandwich
Written from: London
Date: 26 August 1661
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 223, fol(s). 234
Document type: Holograph
Has this day received the earl's letter, from Alicant, of 22 July, together with that enclosed, therewith, for the Lord Chancellor, which was immediately delivered. It gave great joy to the Chancellor, and also to the King.
The only news at court is of some little apprehensions of the stirring of some discontented people; to which the writer attaches small importance or credit ...
@@@
Edward "Ned" Montagu is house-sitting the Whitehall apartment, and apparently talking with the neighbors.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
What "discontented people"? All I could find:
"During 1661 and 1662 Scotland experienced one of the largest witch hunts in its history. Within the space of 16 months no fewer than 660 persons were publicly accused of various acts of sorcery and diabolism. The hunt began to the east of Edinburgh in the villages and small burghs of Midlothian and East Lothian, where 206 individuals were named as witches between April and December 1661. The hunt did not remain restricted to that area, as the privy council busily issued commissions to local authorities throughout the country to try suspected witches. We do not know how many people were executed during the hunt, but the report of John Ray, the English naturalist, that 120 were believed to have been burned during his visit to Scotland suggests that the total number was substantial. It is true that some of the witches tried in the justiciary court (the central Scottish criminal court, also known as the justice court) were acquitted, and a number of those who were simply named as accomplices never came to trial. This should in no way detract from the size and importance of the hunt. At no other time in Scottish history, with the possible exception of 1597, were so many people accused of witchcraft within such a brief period of time."
https://www.cambridge.org/core/jo…
But I doubt this was what Ned was talking about.
@@@
"At night at home I found a letter from my Lord Sandwich, who is now very well again of his feaver, but not yet gone from Alicante, where he lay sick, and was twice let blood. This letter dated the 22nd July last, which puts me out of doubt of his being ill."
This tells us that it takes a month to get mail from Spain to London, in summer weather, and presumably by sea.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Saturday, 24 August, 1661: "... Capt. Isham inquiring for me to take his leave of me, he being upon his voyage to Portugal, and for my letters to my Lord which are not ready."
No wonder there has been such a deluge of letters to Sandwich in the last few days, and Pepys finally gets his act together today. He must have been visiting the Crew family for it to come from Lincoln's Inn Fields. Capt. Isham and Lionel Fanshawe are safe hands for the mail.
@@@
Pedro's guess: Sandwich "would have left Alicante by now and is on his way to secure Tangier ready for the handover to Lord Peterborough in January next year. There is no evidence that he went to Portugal until the Queen was ready to set sail for England."
Well, yes, there is evidence. His logs tell us he's on his way to Lisbon now, and Tangier was not being readied for anything -- unless there was another action about which I know nothing.
Sandwich left Vice Adm. John Lawson patrolling off ALGIERS at the beginning of August, having been unable to attack them because of the winds: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Does anyone have Lawson's logs available?
Cynara • Link
A thought about Pepys Senior’s manservant - I believe men were costlier to employ, certainly in later periods (recall Lady Catherine De Burgh’s shady “your uncle keeps a manservant!”). Does this speak to poor management on father Pepys’ part, a diminished income, or hopes that never materialized? Do Sam and Elizabeth have a mature man in their employ? I know there are boys/youths, but I always had the impression they were young & therefore affordable.
Nate Lockwood • Link
" ... a society where everything is upside-down." Immediately brought to mind an episode of Red Dwarf.
Matt Newton • Link
" ... a society where everything is upside-down." Immediately brought to mind an episode of Red Dwarf."
And Alice in Wonderland, for me.
Neville • Link
I immediately took Sam's father's man to be someone who worked in the tailors shop rather than a manservant. Thomas would hardly have worked on his own and Tom apparently wasn't much cop. Perhaps a case of business restructuring rather than a household.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Do Sam and Elizabeth have a mature man in their employ?"
Yes and no: William Hewer was taken on as Pepys' live-in manservant when he was 19/20, and Pepys has found he's good at office work, so Hewer's focus seems to be there now.
Wayneman is the house runner and general help, and I'm guessing he's about 13 from his behavior.
"Manservant" doesn't translate to "butler" if that's what you're asking. Hayter isn't serving them dinner or wine, or answering the front door wearing a braided velvet uniform. He's more like a live-in apprentice, with Latin quizzes thrown in whenever the boss feels like it.
Pepys seems to like being assisted with his daily ablutions and buttoning and bow tying by the maids. (No zippers or elastic in those days, of course.)
And I think they wait at the Pepys' table.
It sounds as if the house is "cozy" for the Pepyses and 2 maids, Hewer and young Wayneman (who probably slept on a pallet bed in the kitchen). Much later in the Diary we'll hear of an adult male living with them -- when the house is larger, and he's not employed in the "butler" role either.
As a Navy Commissioner, Pepys has access to people who perform other services when he needs them -- from boatmen to messenger services, not to mention carpenters and roofers. And he can outsource help for cooking, parties and doing the laundry, just as we do today.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... my father’s man, Ned’s, who are angry at my father’s putting him away, ..."
"I immediately took Sam's father's man to be someone who worked in the tailors shop rather than a manservant."
John Pepys Snr. owns his own tailoring business, run from his own house in Salisbury Court. He is the proprietor. I don't recall any mention of help or apprentices.
I'm guessing Tom wants to take over his father's business -- and therefore his house, which can accommodate paying guests. For that he needs a wife, and the search is on.
Lodgers:
Peter Honywood, of all the vast Honywood family, seems to have stayed there the most frequently
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
The overflow of Montagu servants could also stay there -- I've just spent 2 hours trying to find an entry showing this (I recall at least 2) and neither has shown up. Sorry, It was someone like Mr. Moore or Howe ... not an insignificant person.
Mama and papa are packing up, and have told their servant, Ned, that he won't be moving to Brampton with them.
Ned now becomes homeless and jobless -- one of hundreds of thousands of servants in England at this time. Hopefully he has carried coal and water, mended windows and run errands efficiently during his years of service, and will get a tip, a good reference, and the clothes he stands up in as severance. (Pepys paid Jane her wages and gave her 2s. 6d. over for 3 years work.)
Pepys would probably prefer to sell the house and give John Snr. some cash for his retirement in the country -- if they can stop mama from spending the fantasy inheritance first.
If they don't sell the house, where will the 45/. come from? I doubt Tom can afford it, hence the need for a dowry from his new wife.
L&M says Tom was good enough at tailoring that he was made free [of the obligations of apprenticeship] of the Merchant Taylor's Company as a 'foreign' tailor (i.e. living outside the city boundaries) in 1653."
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
And the accounts show why there is no dowry for poor, angry Pall.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Terry posted above a letter from Pepys to Sandwich regarding civil unrest and sickness being in London.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Both must have been bad, and it's a puzzle that Pepys doesn't mention either in the Diary that I recall. The Venetian Ambassadoir reported on both to the Doge:
46. Francesco Giavarina, Venetian Resident in England, to the Doge and Senate.
"... Evil humours still persist in this kingdom and are hard to purge away while there is the diversity of religions and creeds which at present infects England.
"These persons think of nothing but how to shuffle the cards again and rekindle civil strife, and win advantages for their party, which is by no means small. It seems that with the help and correspondence of the malcontents of Scotland, who are not a few, they were meditating some disturbance in this city, and thought the king's journey a favourable opportunity to give it effect. When his Majesty was gone and London almost empty owing to the multitude that would follow the Court there would be a chance to let blaze the wrath which the sectaries cherish.
"But the plans prepared being discovered it was easy to prevent them by the measures taken. Houses were searched, persons arrested, arms sequestered and various munitions of war of which a great quantity were found scattered about in different parts of the metropolis, in secret underground places, and in several parts of the kingdom; so they were able to explode the threatened mine.
"For this reason and for others also which do not permit the Court to be far away, it would seem that the king's journey is put off and perhaps postponed altogether to some more opportune time, when affairs are more pacified which as yet are far too balanced and unstable.
"London, the 9th September, 1661."
[Italian.]
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So Charles II's trip to Worcester never happened?! He prorogued Parliament on the excuse that he wanted to leave for a progress there on July 30.
"Evil humours still persist in this kingdom and are hard to purge away while there is the diversity of religions and creeds which at present infects England."
Does this refer to sickness being hard to overcome because God is upset by all presence of non-Conformists, Anglicans and Catholics? The Ambassador is, of course, Catholic and would find London a very Un-Godly place.
Or is it part of what I've made into a seperate paragraph, which changes the meaning of the "evil humours" making them lead to "rekindle civil strife"?
I've opted for it being two paragraphs with the first addressing the sickness and the second the unrest because of Pepys letter. London was suffering from two problems.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Letter 46 is written in Seotember 1661, reflecting on past events.
This is the letter Francesco Giavarina, Venetian Secretary in England, wrote to the Doge and Senate today:
The ambassadors extraordinary [Angelo Correr and Michiel Morosini] left for home a week ago and I have heard since that they crossed the sea safely. It was much calmer than when they came from Dunkirk, when they spent several days and nights in the passage.
The news from Lisbon about the treaty tarries. The delay must needs cause suspicion of the Portuguese proceedings, and some at the Court here are becoming suspicious about the fulfilment. For the rest such delay is irritating and inopportune in a matter of such consequence.
The arrangement made between Holland and Portugal also serves to increase suspicion, seeing that the treaty excludes the English from any pretensions they might have in Brazil and in the trade in those parts.
This is entirely contrary to what was agreed between the Portuguese and this crown, to which they granted full liberty of trade to the Indies, Brazil being specifically mentioned.
This gives further cause for doubting the good faith of Portugal, the more because they promise other advantages to the Dutch which were already granted to the English.
So the outcome of this masquerading cannot fail to excite general curiosity. Thus the Resident Douning, besides complaining of the form of the agreement, has also protested against it, and he is at present considering how he can put things straight.
But no conclusions can be drawn before the replies come from Lisbon, about the agreement with England and the adjustment with Holland alike.
Douning = Sir George Downing, envoy extraordinary to the Dutch Republic 1661-5 https://www.historyofparliamenton… I imagine Charles II is fuming!
Meanwhile it is greatly to be feared that these recent unfriendly proceedings of the Dutch, which have made a very bad impression here, to which other considerations have contributed, may move the English to a quarrel and a rupture.
Time will show; but there is no doubt that these evil humours are greatly invigorated by the traders here, as in addition to their old animosity and rancour against the Dutch, they are the ones who are most deeply affected by the above named resolutions, which touch their pockets.
Though the parliament of England is ended those of Scotland and Ireland still go on, passing resolutions and laws for the benefit of the people, and for the utter destruction of the unquiet spirits who might remain after the late commotions there.
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION:
By the last letters from the fleet they have learned with great regret of the serious illness of General Montagu. This obliged him to land at Alicante to recover, where the Spanish ministers received him with every mark of esteem, indicating the desire of the Catholic to cherish the most friendly and sincere relations with England.
Great regret is felt over this unexpected accident as it may hold up their plans against Algiers, which admit of no delay, in view of the overweening arrogance of those pirates, whose audacity alarms and troubles all Christian princes and threatens great disorders, if God does not provide a remedy before they take firmer root.
General Monck also has fallen sick here, and as it is serious the whole court is distressed.
The king is preparing for his journey through the kingdom, the delay in perforating it being due solely to the lack of cash.
Good sums are now entering the royal exchequer every day arising from the voluntary grant, made by every one in fulfilment of the last act of parliament. This comes in time to supply the needs of this journey and for all the other things required to perform it in a fitting manner.
London, the 26th August, 1661.
[Italian.]
FROM 'Venice: August 1661', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 33, 1661-1664, ed. Allen B Hinds( London, 1932), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
What are the Portuguese up to?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Great regret is felt over this unexpected accident as it may hold up their plans against Algiers, which admit of no delay, in view of the overweening arrogance of those pirates, whose audacity alarms and troubles all Christian princes and threatens great disorders, if God does not provide a remedy before they take firmer root."
Algiers was basically ungovernable. According to Wiki, the Eyala / Pasha / Governor nominally was Ramadam Agha, but when I searched for information about him, this came up:
"The Eyala of Algiers has been in a preliminary and fundamental phase since 1659, when the leaders of the sea and the Diwan of Soldiers rejected the pasha system. This prompted the Ottoman Caliphate to pledge non-interference in Algeria, by submitting a royal proclamation proclaiming the Sublime Porte's abstention to send a governor to Algeria, saying, "We will not send you a governor, pledge allegiance to whomever you wish."
"As a result, the Janissaries office at the Eyala raced to pick Khalil Agha (1659-1660) as the reigning authority's representative. The latter attempted to implement new procedures for the Agha's authority, while Ramadan Agha (1660-1661) attempted to implement a system for the distribution of marine spoils and prizes for regular troops in order to raise their income level and regulate their movements.
"Those who succeeded in reigning after Ramadan Agha experienced assassinations and internal turmoil during their reigns. Which caused the navy leaders to descend on the scene and participate in the fall of Ali Agha in 1671."
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Hayter isn't serving them dinner or wine, or answering the front door wearing a braided velvet uniform. ..."
Apologies, this should read Hewer, not Hayter.