Saturday 2 November 1661
At the office all the morning; where Sir John Minnes, our new comptroller, was fetched by Sir Wm. Pen and myself from Sir Wm. Batten’s, and led to his place in the office. The first time that he had come hither, and he seems a good fair condition man, and one that I am glad hath the office.
After the office done, I to the Wardrobe, and there dined, and in the afternoon had an hour or two’s talk with my Lady with great pleasure. And so with the two young ladies by coach to my house, and gave them some entertainment, and so late at night sent them home with Captain Ferrers by coach.
This night my boy Wayneman, as I was in my chamber, I overheard him let off some gunpowder; and hearing my wife chide him below for it, and a noise made, I call him up, and find that it was powder that he had put in his pocket, and a match carelessly with it, thinking that it was out, and so the match did give fire to the powder, and had burnt his side and his hand that he put into his pocket to put out the fire. But upon examination, and finding him in a lie about the time and place that he bought it, I did extremely beat him, and though it did trouble me to do it, yet I thought it necessary to do it. So to write by the post, and to bed.
43 Annotations
First Reading
dirk • Link
"I did extremely beat him, and though it did trouble me to do it, yet I thought it necessary to do it."
Sounds very British public school like: it's going to hurt me more than you, my boy!
In true Biblical tradition, Sam is acting as the boy's father supposedly would - and let's be honest: the boy deserves a punishment of some kind for this fireworks trick.
Robert Gertz • Link
To be fair, Sam says he questioned Wayneman and on top of injuring himself and very likely risking a fire in the house, the kid lied. Given corporal punishment was the norm Sam's feelings do him credit. I'm interested that Beth seems not to have expressed much concern over Wayneman's injuries, but perhaps she did and he was giving her a rough time...
Red Robbo • Link
Gunpowder, Treason & Plot ?
Young lads playing with gunpwder at this season of the year, now where have I heard of this before. Does anyone know whether there was a tradition of fireworks in England during November that predates Guy Fawkes adventures.?
Mark Ynys-Mon • Link
Predates? Er, Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plott was 1605.
Bob T • Link
Gunpowder and a match in his pocket?
The boy isn't the brightest light in the harbor. People in Sam's time were almost paranoid about fire, and they had good reason to be. It's not too many years down the road, that their fears become reality.
David A. Smith • Link
"I did extremely beat him ... yet I thought it necessary"
*Extremely* beat him, a telling word.
Methinks Sam was right, yet his anger o'ercame him.
Look for him to be nice to Waynemann in the future, if the lad takes to his lesson and makes due apologies.
(Not a spoiler alert, I have no idea what's coming.)
vicente • Link
Beat 'im! wot guesses are there about instrument of torture used , Hand? belt? walking stick[cane]? or nice piece of Hazel branch? or even a riding crop that he could have for his riding habit. I wander, if it would be a civil three or a dastardly twelve?
A match, how made? a self striking type?
vicente • Link
match? did young Wayneman invent the stiking match before Sir R Boyle did 1680.
an answer:
In 1680, an English physicist named Robert Boyle (of Boyle's Law fame) devised a small piece of paper coated with phosphorous. He had a separate splinter of wood with sulfur on it. When he drew the wood through the paper, it burst into flames. FIRE! However, phosphorous was rare in those days, so it soon disappeared before anyone knew of them
http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/…
http://inventors.about.com/librar…
http://www.liv.ac.uk/~bdw/matches…
http://www.ideafinder.com/history…
So wot did our young tyke do, to set off his fireworks,what kind of match?
vicente • Link
"Sounds very British public school like: it's going to hurt me more than you, my boy” Me old master never said that to me, when I had to touch me old toes and wait for the sound of paper being hit, for which I got double dose after removing said protection against insult to the derriere from the thin hardened switch of Hazel.
Oh! the good old days???
dirk • Link
what kind of match?
re - vicente
The only reference I could find to anything like matches in Sam's time is the "stoupell"
"Stoupell (also stouple, stopple) - a quick-match, a fuse. A quick-burning match used for firing cannon, igniting fire-works, shells, etc., consisting of cotton-wick soaked in a composition of gum, spirits, water and gunpowder."
From:
http://www.reeddesign.co.uk/kiteh…
upper_left_hand_corner • Link
What kind of match?
Most likely exactly what we would call a match today, only without any phosphorus on it. Just a stick of wood you would put into the fire, and then use to transfer the flame to another place quickly.
Mary • Link
What kind of match?
OED has two useful citations here. The first explains that 'match' was a term applied to the wick of a candle, recorded from the 14th century to the 17th.
The second cites the term as naming an article of domestic use, consisting of cord, cloth, paper, wood etc. dipped in melted sulphur so as to be readily ignited by the use of a tinder-box. The first supporting quotation comes from 1539.
Either definition could apply to Wayneman's match.
DrCari • Link
Wayneman will prove to be quite an incorrigible young fellow as the diary unfolds. I don't want to spoil any surprises here, but Wayneman will continue to provide diary fodder and Sam will have great influence on Wayneman's future.
Pedro. • Link
"Sounds very British public school like.”
Not only Public schools but Grammar schools, up to at least the early 1960’s.
language hat • Link
"and gave them some entertainment, and so late at night sent them home"
This sounds suspicious, but I suppose with his wife at home nothing inappropriate was going on.
john lauer • Link
"...a match carelessly with it, thinking that it was out, and so the match did give fire..." is what he wrote -- which obviously refers to a burnt (but hot) ember, nothing more modern!
Robert Gertz • Link
"...and gave them some entertainment, and so late at night sent them home"…
This sounds suspicious, but I suppose with his wife at home nothing inappropriate was going on.”
Well, these were Sandwich’s girls, not actresses, barmaids, or neighbors’/acquaintances’ wives. Apart from having to be very careful in such a case (“My ex-servant Pepys did what to my daughters?!!”), Sam had a reasonably unselfish affection for the young Montague ladies.
Wim van der Meij • Link
Match.
When little we lighted the laces of our shoes and they would slowly but almost unstoppably smoulder away, to the exasperation of our mother. It also gave off a terrible stink. I think Wayneman's match was of the same sort of fabric (cotton?).
Al Day • Link
Match
In the early days of making firearms loose powder or a fuse "quick match" carried the flame into the main powder chamber. This was ignited with a "slow match" which was a smoldering piece of cord or wick. It might be impregnated with a bit of salt peter to help keep it burning.
Glyn • Link
Perhaps he meant he played music or card games with them. Sending them home with the dashing Captain Ferrers probably kept them safe from brigands, but did it keep them safe from Captain Ferrers?
vicente • Link
Sorry: how was the Wick lit ?. by flint? word Match is intriguing too?
Peter • Link
Vincent..."match"....never really thought about it before, but based on the descriptions here of wicks and fuses it looks like the word "match" could come from the French "meche" (sorry, can't put a grave accent on the first e) - meaning "wick". Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Mary • Link
match: derivation
Yes, indeed. Originally from something like Vulgar Latin miccia, via Old French messche. Even earlier Greek origins have been suggested but (per OED) are the subject of debate.
Al • Link
Slow match
I think they smoldered very slowly, perhaps 15 to 30 minutes per foot of cord, so you might carry several feet of it depending on your purposes. If you were a soldier going into battle with a "matchlock" musket (where the trigger mechanism pushed the smoldering end down into the finely ground priming powder) you might have a foot or two of it with an end lit and more in reserve. I would guess that to fire a cannon they would have the cord on the end of a stick. By the way, if the main charge did not catch, you would have a "flash in the pan".
Ken • Link
I have missed a couple of weeks of the diary. Has Will been discharged or is Wayneman (sounds very much like a computer game character) simply another employee of Sam's?
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Will was dismissed 5 September 1660: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Bill • Link
"and a match carelessly with it, thinking that it was out"
MATCH (meche, F.) a Sort of Rope made on Purpose for the firing of Guns, or the setting Fire to Trains of Mines, &c.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1675.
Bryan • Link
"and a match carelessly with it, thinking that it was out"
Slow matches were used in Europe to fire matchlock firearms up to the early 1700s. From Wikipedia: "Slow matches were most suitable for use around black-powder weapons because a slow match could be roughly handled without going out, and only presented a small glowing tip instead of a large flame that risked igniting nearby gunpowder." No mention of the risk with gunpowder in pockets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow…
Bill • Link
"he seems a good fair condition man, and one that I am glad hath the office"
They [the Western Britains] have not, saies Diodorus Siculus, the craft and subtilty of other Nations, but are fair Condition'd People, of a plain and upright Dealing.
---Britannia antiqua illustrata. A. Sammes, 1676
Good or fair condition'd, De bon naturel, de bonne humeur. Ill-conditioned, De mauvais naturel, de mauvaise humeur.
---The Royal Dictionary. A. Boyer, 1728.
Sasha Clarkson • Link
Adding to Al Day's comment, slow matches were like a slower version the "blue touch paper" on the fireworks that we used to buy when I was young. Those of us with access to garden chemicals used to make our own by soaking newspaper in nitrate fertiliser solution and then drying it. It would be handy to make extended fuses for mischief and/or quick getaway purposes.
Boys will be boys, but poor Wayneman seems a bit dim. As has been mentioned, corporal punishment was the norm more or less universally in those days. Flogging was only abolished in the British Army in 1880, following the Cardwell reforms of 1868 - and that was in the teeth of the opposition of the entire officer class. It's quite possible that Sam was unusual in that it troubled him: it was a conscious decision and not the kind reflex reaction which was all too common in some schools even in my childhood.
Chris Squire UK • Link
The OED entry:
'fair-conditioned adj. (a) pleasant-natured, good-tempered (now rare) . .
1473 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 463 Wherffor, iff ye knowe any lykly men and fayre condycioned and good archerys, sende hem to me.
. . 1634 W. Laud Let. 9 Oct. in Wks. (1860) (modernized text) VII. 92 A very honest, fair-conditioned man.
1767 Addr. People of Eng. on Manners of Times 32 All others in proportion to the extent and influence of your character..will be just, fair conditioned, gentle . . ‘
Terry Foreman • Link
"where Sir John Minnes, our new comptroller, was fetched by Sir Wm. Pen and myself from Sir Wm. Batten’s, and led to his place in the office. The first time that he had come hither, and he seems a good fair condition man, and one that I am glad hath the office."
L&M note Pepys's opinion soon changed.
Michaela • Link
Please, please don’t post spoilers, I don’t want to know about Pepys’ future opinion until it happens. This really does spoil my enjoyment of the diary
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sadly, Michaela, you're 17 years too late with that request.
Phil Gyford • Link
On the one hand, please do bear in mind that people are still reading this day-to-day and don't want to know about "future" events - requesting no spoilers is entirely reasonable.
On the other hand, it's debatable how much of a spoiler noting Pepys's opinions changing is - it's interesting to know in advance, and it's not like saying when someone will die, for example.
San Diego Sarah • Link
True, Phil ... my point was that people have been posting spoilers for 17 years, despite many pleas for them to stop. Are you going to take out all those existing annotations?
No. Too much work, plus the blog continuity would be lost.
Terry is enriching our text with L&M's annotations, making this more like the printed book experience. It's hard to argue with that.
Some of the annotations may better live in the Encyclopedia so the information is available for the entire Diary, but I'm grateful for it, wherever it is.
Michaela • Link
I am also very grateful for annotations and links, it is only unexpected information presented without warning in the comments which affects the feeling that I am living alongside Sam. Like being yanked by the scruff of the neck back into the present. I also know that it’s impossible to eliminate spoilers already given, I was only requesting that no more be made by people still posting.
Third Reading
Dorset Richard • Link
A match, in the sense of a smouldering cord, was used to fire guns by igniting gunpowder in the 16th - 18th centuries (and into the 19th, as it could be more reliable than the flint replacements).
Initially the match was held in a ‘linstock’, a long stick so that the gun could be fired from a safe distance. By Sam’s time the matchlock gun held the cord ‘match’ in a hinged, curved device called a serpentine that swings it into the gunpowder when the trigger is pulled, making it the first gun that can be properly aimed and fired by one man. However the separate match and linstock were still used for larger artillery pieces and for naval guns.
As a naval administrator, Sam may have had to buy lengths of match of that sort. I can easily imagine him having bits of it lying around the house, pinched from work as a convenient way of lighting candles, first lighting the cord ‘match’ in the fire.
The matchlock mechanism was developed by 1475, as a form of arquebus, but the OED says that the actual term was not recorded until 1638.
www.oed.com/dictionary/matchlock_…
However ‘matchlock’ was a portmanteau word, so ‘match’ in the sense of a smouldering cord would have been in use earlier, so would have been in use as a technical term in Sam’s time, certainly for those in military or naval circles.
RLB • Link
What puzzles me is why Wayneman would have gunpowder just randomly in his pocket, whether loose or as a packet. It's not as if he is expected to load a pistol any moment of the day.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Good question, RLB. I suspect young teens enjoyed the 5th of November gunpowder treason and plot celebrations, with bonfires and fireworks, just as much as we do. But I've no idea how he got the gunpowder. Presumably it wouldn't be readily available then any more than it is today.
RLB • Link
Ooh, I'd forgotten that now is Bonfire Night, @Sarah! Good catch, presuming you really are in California. (If you're secretly English, well...)
As for how he got it, modern smokeless power is an industrial product, but old-fashioned black powder is famously easy to make, requiring one completely common ingredient, one which is not that hard to get, and one which is doable.
Charcoal is, obviously, easy. Saltpetre would have been readily available just for curing meat. You'd have to buy it, but it would have been sold in shops. Pure sulphur doesn't have any other domestic (!) uses, but surely apothecaries would have it? Alchemy and early (pseudo-) medicine used it.
And then it's just a matter of taking the right proportions, and a pestle and mortar.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Yes, RLB, I really am in San Diego, and I really am British born. You can see my bio in the ROLL CALL section -- please feel free to leave us a little info about you, too.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/news/2…
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thank you, RLB. Loved your bio in Roll Call, and we all welcome your expertise and access to documents in languages we can't fathom. The biodiversity is just one of the great joys of this blog.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/news/2…