Thursday 2 January 1661/62

An invitation sent us before we were up from my Lady Sandwich’s, to come and dine with her: so at the office all the morning, and at noon thither to dinner, where there was a good and great dinner, and the company, Mr. William Montagu and his Lady (but she seemed so far from the beauty that I expected her from my Lady’s talk to be, that it put me into an ill humour all the day, to find my expectation so lost), Mr. Rumball and Townsend and their wives. After dinner, borne by water, and so to the office till night, and then I went forth, by appointment, to meet with Mr. Grant, who promised to meet me at the Coffee-house to bring me acquainted with Cooper the great limner in little, but they deceived me, and so I went home, and there sat at my lute and singing till almost twelve at night, and so to bed.

Sir Richd. Fanshaw is come suddenly from Portugall, but nobody knows what his business is.

21 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro.  •  Link

"Sir Richd. Fanshaw is come suddenly from Portugall, but nobody knows what his business is."

Sam has not been listening to the word on the street, she was pregnant.

From her memoirs....
"At the latter end of Christmas my husband returned from Lisbon, and
was very well received by the King; and upon the 22nd of February
following I was delivered of my daughter Elizabeth."

She had quite a few children...
"My dear husband had six sons and eight daughters, born and christened,
and I miscarried of six more, three at several times, and once of
three sons when I was about half gone my time."

Pedro.  •  Link

Oops! The above should refer to Mrs Fanshaw.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"so far from the beauty that I expected her from my Lady's talk"
Beauty is the eye of the beholder! Is it?

daniel  •  Link

"so far from the beauty that I expected her from my Lady's talk"

Again this candor is as endearing as it is characteristsic.
I wonder whether others (Beth?) noticed this ill-humour.

Mary House  •  Link

Were portrait miniatures fashionable at this time? There is something very charming about these tiny works of art.

Bradford  •  Link

One would think miniatures would be a natural favorite, given the popularity of "cabinets," a fine place to exhibit them.
The L&M Companion,* in its "Art and Architecture" essay, offers a detailed exploration of Sam's collecting over the years, and his ability to pronounce on works of art not only in general but technically: "Samuel Cooper the miniaturist made the colour of Elizabeth's skin 'a little forced'." (p. 12)

*All lovers of this site, Get This Book: worth every penny, even at 1661/62 values.

dirk  •  Link

"Sir Richd. Fanshaw is come suddenly from Portugall, but nobody knows what his business is." - re Pedro

There was something more here - Sir Fanshawe had been on an errand for the King...

"Now it was the business of the Chancellor to put your father as far
from the King as he could, because his ignorance in state affairs was
daily discovered by your father, who showed it to the King; but at
that time the King was so content that he should almost and alone
manage his affairs, that he might have more time for his pleasure,
that his faults were not so visible as otherwise they would have been,
and afterwards proved. But now he sends to your father and tells him
that he was, by the King's particular choice, resolved on to be sent
to Lisbon with the King's letter and picture to the Princess, now our
Queen, which then, indeed, was an employment any nobleman would be
glad of; but the design from that time forth was to fix him here.
(...)
At the latter end of Christmas my husband returned from Lisbon, and
was very well received by the King; and upon the 22nd of February
following I was delivered of my daughter Elizabeth."

From Lady Fanshawe's Memoirs
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/ete…

Mary  •  Link

"but they deceived me"

I take 'deceived' here to be used in a sense that parallels the same French verb, and means 'disappointed'.

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

"they deceived me": could it be that they just did not show up at the Coffee-house?
Anyway, after a day with such disappointments it is good to make music: one of the best ways to take your mind off things.

Mary  •  Link

Precisely, Wim.

And thus, they disappointed Sam, he was disappointed at their failure to appear.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"singing till almost twelve at night"
I wonder what the servants,Elisabeth and the neigbours thought about his singing.

Ruben  •  Link

miniatures were annotated a year and a half ago. I did not try go get back to the exact date but it is possible to find it.

vicenzo  •  Link

yesterday Sam missed "a solemne foolery of the Prince de La Grange at Lincolne Inne: where came also the King, Duke &c: beginning with a grand Masque and a formal pleading, before the mock- princes(Grandes), Nobles & knights of the Sunn: He had his L. Chancelor, Chamberlaine, Treasuer & other royal officers gloriously clad & attended, which ended in a magnificent Banquet: one Mr. Lort, being the young spark, who maintain'd the Pagenentrie:" lifted from E.S. de Beers version of J.Evelyn 'Kalendarium' Page 432.

Glyn  •  Link

How many really beautiful people would you ever see in your lifetime if you had no access to magazines, television etc and spent most of your life within a day's walk of your home? Of course, it's different for Pepys, who lives in a city that is large even by current standards, but then again he certainly is always desperately eager to see a beautiful woman. The disappointment in this entry is palpable.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

vicenzo, there is "a solemne foolery of the Prince de La Grange at Lincolne Inne" tomorrow, "Faithorne...being gone to Lincoln’s Inn this afternoon to see the Revells there; there being, according to an old custom, a prince and all his nobles, and other matters of sport and charge. " http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

"so far from the beauty that I expected her from my Lady's talk"
Sam was always craving new sights, new experiences. This disappointing lady's appearance was not worth mentioning to others and thus robbed Sam the Talker of a subject to expound upon. One has to chuckle that it put him in such "an ill humor all the day." Really Sam, grow up!

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir Richd. Fanshaw is come suddenly from Portugall, but nobody knows what his business is"

Compare Lady Fanshaw's account (see dirk, above) with this by L&M:

He had been sent as ambassador to Portugal in 1661 to exchange ratifications of the marriage treaty and to see that the Portuguese fulfilled their obligations under it. On 3/13 January the Venetian resident [in London] reported 'Sir Fanscio's' unexpected arrival on 31 December: 'The reason ...is not known It is supposed that it may be because all the things promised by Portugal...are not going well' (CSPVwn. 1661-4, p. 95). He appears to have come by order of Queen Catherine, and because her departure had been delayed: HMC, Heathcote, p. 123.

Third Reading

Irish Susan  •  Link

Gosh, poor Lady Mary, to fall so short of expectations! Her conversation may have been witty and scintillating and she may have been a paragon of virtue, but she just wasn’t pretty enough for Sam!

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