Monday 23 September 1661
Up, and sad to hear my father and mother wrangle as they used to do in London, of which I took notice to both, and told them that I should give over care for anything unless they would spend what they have with more love and quiet. So (John Bowles coming to see us before we go) we took horse and got early to Baldwick; where there was a fair, and we put in and eat a mouthfull of pork, which they made us pay 14d. for, which vexed us much. And so away to Stevenage, and staid till a showre was over, and so rode easily to Welling, where we supped well, and had two beds in the room and so lay single, and still remember it that of all the nights that ever I slept in my life I never did pass a night with more epicurism of sleep; there being now and then a noise of people stirring that waked me, and then it was a very rainy night, and then I was a little weary, that what between waking and then sleeping again, one after another, I never had so much content in all my life, and so my wife says it was with her.
31 Annotations
First Reading
Pedro. • Link
"which I took notice to both"
Sorry to bring up this old chestnut, but could this be a watershed? Sam seeing that some of the blame, for the wrangling, may also be a fault of his father. Let's hope that his father is not going doolally!
Stolzi • Link
'Twas ever thus -
Sam writes "a mouthfull of pork, which they made us pay 14d. for, which vexed us much"
This past week I was in England and consumed a Welcome Dinner for our conference for which I had pre-paid 28 pounds. It was a nice enough three-course dinner - not a gourmet meal - no wine, either. Even with UK prices being generally higher than US prices, this was fairly outrageous.
So happy for Sam's luxurious night. Sleeping in rain - not OUT IN the rain of course - is delightful, especially if you can hear it dimly on the window or roof.
A. De Araujo • Link
"with more love and quiet"
yes,SP seems to be more even handed now; may be here the Beatles found inspiration for "what we need is love"
daniel • Link
epicurism of sleep
what a strange and fascinating description of something otherwise mundane!
Robert Gertz • Link
"...epicurism of sleep..."
Interesting that he shared the thought with Beth and that she echoed it. Brushing aside the easy hee-hawing that they slept better apart this is an indication that theirs is a deeper relationship than sometimes the diary suggests.
Pauline • Link
"...epicurism of sleep."
Epicureal from OED: b. Characteristic of a votary of sensual pleasure.
Not an uncommon experience, though rare. Where you are sleeping well and very comfortably; and minor disturbances wake you enough so that you realize that you are sleeping well and very comfortably--the luxury of falling back into sleep and comfort.
Bullus Hutton • Link
"picurism of sleep."
Yes, this wonderfully naive commentary on something as simple as why a nights sleep can be so paradoxically exquisite is right up there with Sam’s evidently boundless enthusiasm on the topic of booze and food (notwithstanding his disappointment at the pricey pork ripoff earlier today) and furtermore I too am starved for Vince’s nightly treasure hunting bag of subtlely mind boggling interpretations of such matters!
I do hope the trip is not long!
Xjy • Link
Pointer to note for yesterday :-)
The French view-
Thanks Jim W for the reference to Saint-Simon's Memoirs of Louis XIV. Here's the whole text in English available for download thanks to Project Gutenberg:
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.…
dr • Link
To expand the "pointer to note for yesterday" -- Voltaire wrote a nice bit of history over the years, really the bulk of his writing. His "Siecle de Louis XIV of France," contains quite a discussion of the exiled English monarch & the various intrigues involving who Louis recognized as King of England.
David A. Smith • Link
"I should give over care for anything unless ... more love and quiet"
From power comes confidence; from confidence comes mercy; from mercy comes the quiet word.
Generations aged more quickly then. The last 18 months have seen a dramatic shift in the inter-generational power relationships. Now Sam is ascendant, successful, rich; now is gone his uncle; now the estate, lands, titles, *and worries* pass into his hands. Sam is becoming a man of the world, not just worldly but more mature, and in this he gains both some stature to intercede between his parents, some grace in the manner of doing so, and perhaps even some appreciation from them both.
The moment when a son becomes spiritual father to his father is a strangely swiftly passing, almost fleeting instant ... and Sam is now on its far side.
Mark Pearson • Link
Do you think Vincente keeps a diary?
David A. Smith • Link
"I never had so much content in all my life"
While I too delighted in Sam's sweet phrase "epicurism of sleep," one has the further sense that his contentment radiates outward from things being well with Elizabeth, with the estate, his parents, his life generally, and the white noise of that gentle evening's rain.
Ruben • Link
"epicurism of sleep"
Wonderful words.
John Fletcher (1579-1625), whom we found a few weeks ago in the diaries and still can find at the theater, wrote a short, nice poem about it:
“Care-charming Sleep” to be found in:
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rp…
Lawrence • Link
Heart Wrenching to see one's parents at each other, but with less diversions than the City has to offer, I suppose it gives the bickering fuel, six of one and half a dozen of the other!
A. Hamilton • Link
O Lente, lente, currite noctis equi
( O Slowly, slowly, run you horses of the night -- Ovid)
Night's horses run fast or slow depending on one's inner state. Sam's inner state is in good shape, it seems. His delight in his restful sleep -- even in spite of those noises off that occasionally swam into his consciousness -- speaks of a mind letting go of worry and tension over the property settlement and friction between parents. We've all had the experience, but who among us has highlighgted the experience like Sam: "of all the nights that ever I slept in my life I never did pass a night with more epicurism of sleep"?
Myles Callum • Link
Enjoyed all the above comments, but why are they limited to Sept. 23 & 24 of 2004?! This marvelous site is obviously going unremarked for far too long. I first read the above passage as a student at NYU in the early 1960's, and loved it; but over the years the paperback edition it was in got lost, and as the decades went by I would think longingly of this passage as among the most soothing and delightful of benign sedatives ... so I was thrilled to rediscover it here. I liked the comments by Pauline, Stolzi and Bullus Hutton. It is raining gently now as I write ... now, if a few of you obliging souls would kindly clump up and down the stairs of the inn, stirring a bit, so that a weary soul could sleep, then wake, and sleep again ... ah, bliss!
JonTom Kittredge • Link
Myles
So glad to hear that you've found your favorite Pepys Passage and that you've enjoyed the comments. What you haven't realized yet is that this is one page of a web site, founded by Phil Gyford, devoted to the project of publishing the entirety of the Pepys diary as a blog, one entry per day: http://www.pepysdiary.com/about. He began on 2003-01-01 with the first entry in the diary, from 1660-01-01. We are now up to 1664-04-19! Check it out: http://www.pepysdiary.com//archiv….
Second Reading
Bill • Link
"I never did pass a night with more epicurism of sleep"
Sam used the phrase "epicure-like" on 3 May 1661 and there are many annotations of epicurism there. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Louise Hudson • Link
Pedro wrote "Sam seeing that some of the blame, for the wrangling, may also be a fault of his father."
That's exactly the first thought I had when I read it--10 years after Pedro's annotation.
I know the history of this site, but, I, too, wish there could have been some comments between 2004 and 2014. Oh, well, That's life. And so to bed!
Tim • Link
That is what I find strange - trying to engage with commentators of a decade ago. Are such as the formidable Vicente and Australian Susan still around?
Bill • Link
It is a bit disconcerting, but just think about those who follow us in 10 or 20 years!
Louise Hudson • Link
Some of the old timers are still around, I had a response from one gentleman after 10 years. I forget who it was now.
Bill • Link
Last year I was chastised by an old-timer for being negative about vincent. I learned my lesson!
Chris Squire UK • Link
I have found some of my posts from 10 years ago.
OED has:
‘epicurism . . 3. a. The disposition and habits of an epicure; cultivated taste in the pleasures of the table.
. . 1665 S. Pepys Diary 21 Aug. (1972) VI. 199 Captain Cocke, for whose epicurisme a dish of Patriges was sent for . .
b. transf.
. . 1661 S. Pepys Diary 23 Sept. (1970) II. 183, I never did pass a night with more epicurisme of sleep . . ‘
eileen d. • Link
update of Ruben's link to Fletcher's "Care-Charming Sleep"
https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/p…
lovely!
Terry Foreman • Link
"we took horse and got early to Baldwick; where there was a fair,"
L&M: For Baldock fair, see VCH, Hertz.,iii. 67.
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
From Sandwich's log, at Oeiras near Lisbon:
September 22. Monday.
Capt. Wye with the Assistance came into the Bay of Oeiras and the Conde de Ponte, Sir Richard Fanshaw[e] and myself met upon the shore near Belem Castle.[1]
Mr. Myles and a disembarcadero came on board me bound for Tangier.
Copied from
The Journal of Edward Mountagu,
First Earl of Sandwich
Admiral and General-at-Sea 1659 - 1665
Edited by RC Anderson
Printed for the Navy Records Society
MDCCCCXXIX
Section III - Mediterranean 1661/62
@@@
[1] M.S. Belline
Oeiras https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Sir Richard Fanshawe https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Belem Castle https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
The Assistance https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
The Conde de Ponte -- Amb. Francisco de Mello e Torres (1620-1667) was made Conde da Ponte in 1661 in recognition of his bringing about the engagement of Charles II to Catherine of Braganza https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Marie333 • Link
so how much is 14d in modern currency? just how badly was Sam getting ripped off here?
San Diego Sarah • Link
There's more than one answer to your question, Marie ...
My reading of the text is that 3 people received one mouthful each of pork for 14d. (we'd say 1s. 2d.), which roughly means 5d. each.
There's the spending power of 14d, the earning power of 14d, and then the banking comparison.
The National Archives website has a currency converter which can be found at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.…
According to that converter, in 1660 1s. 2d. was worth £6.14 in 2017 money.
Now you have to convert that in your head to 2024 money. Say £10 given COVID inflation? (There's always a famine after a pandemic. Our governments have been good about staving off that outcome, but intervention costs money, and people today in the US are furious about grocery prices. Let's NOT annotate this observation!)
And what did 1s. 2d. buy in 1660?
We have an encyclopedia page for 'salaries', and Terry Foreman found an accounts book which gives some prices for commodities back then:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
In 1659 you could get a loin of mutton for 1s. 6d.
And how long did someone work to earn 1s. 2d. in 1660?
Terry's list gives this example:
"a farm carpenter 1s. 6d. per day.
or, 'I finding him,' 1s. per day.
common labourers, generally 1s. per day;"
From time to time Pepys volunteers info which belongs on the 'salaries' page. Please join me in adding the info as it comes up.
Nate Lockwood • Link
"... of all the nights that ever I slept in my life I never did pass a night with more epicurism of sleep;"
Pepys's statement reminds me of a series of books about life in the 1800s in the United States, (I cannot remember the main title) one decade to a book. In one of them is a quote from a contemporary of the time remarking that he had never ever slept alone until the night that his wife gave birth. That appeared wondrously strange to me at the time. I expect not so strange for those in the 17 century British Isles.
Tonyel • Link
14d for a mouthful of pork is surely linked to the fayre. What is nowadays called 'dynamic pricing'. I wonder what they had to pay for the room? Whatever it was it was worth it.