Monday 6 January 1661/62

(Twelfth day). This morning I sent my lute to the Paynter’s, and there I staid with him all the morning to see him paint the neck of my lute in my picture, which I was not pleased with after it was done. Thence to dinner to Sir W. Pen’s, it being a solemn feast day with him, his wedding day, and we had, besides a good chine of beef and other good cheer, eighteen mince pies in a dish, the number of the years that he hath been married, where Sir W. Batten and his Lady, and daughter was, and Colonel Treswell and Major Holmes, who I perceive would fain get to be free and friends with my wife, but I shall prevent it, and she herself hath also a defyance against him. After dinner they set in to drinking, so that I would stay no longer, but went away home, and Captain Cock, who was quite drunk, comes after me, and there sat awhile and so away, and anon I went again after the company was gone, and sat and played at cards with Sir W. Pen and his children, and so after supper home, and there I hear that my man Gull was gone to bed, and upon enquiry I hear that he did vomit before he went to bed, and complained his head ached, and thereupon though he was asleep I sent for him out of his bed, and he rose and came up to me, and I appeared very angry and did tax him with being drunk, and he told me that he had been with Mr. Southerne and Homewood at the Dolphin, and drank a quart of sack, but that his head did ache before he went out. But I do believe he has drunk too much, and so I did threaten him to bid his uncle dispose of him some other way, and sent him down to bed and do resolve to continue to be angry with him. So to bed to my wife, and told her what had passed.

25 Annotations

First Reading

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...to bed to my wife, and told her what had passed."

"What, Sam'l? William drunk?" Beth stares at him. "Shocking...Wherever could he have picked such bad behavior up?" she rolls her eyes as he turns away.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"and Major Holmes.....would fain get to be free with my wife........and Captain Cock who was quite drunk,comes after me.........."
these Christmas parties can be very upseting!

Mary  •  Link

Captain Cock.

At it again, we see.

Nix  •  Link

"my man Gull" -

Was this a scanning error? I don't recall Samuel using a nickname in the past.

Mary  •  Link

My man Gull.

L&M reads 'Gul' and italicizes the name: for Gulielmus (i.e. William) Hewer.

Glyn  •  Link

Pepys seems to treat the artist in the same way as the workmen who decorated his house, by monitoring them as closely as possible. Presumably standing behind the painter all the morning, who doesn't need him there to be painted, would have been quite irritating - especially if Pepys was making 'helpful' suggestions as to how to paint the lute.

BradW  •  Link

Major Holmes, who I perceive would fain get to be free and friends with my wife, but I shall prevent it, and she herself hath also a defyance against him.

Whenever I see Sam (or any man) being jealous over (subjectively-judged) attentions to his wife or gal, I always wonder if any other witnesses would agree, or if he's the pathologically possessive type. Here, at last, we have a second witness (Liz herself) backing up his perception. To me that vindicates his character somewhat.

Maybe she can even teach him a thing or two about the injury wrought by a wandering eye, before it's too late....

vicenzo  •  Link

'uman nature, it don't change when the head is being decontrolled by a little vino.
Interesting take on Gul [Will], Where does our young man, get enough pocket money to indulge in time old game of inbibing.
Seneca the elder, did write but Sam may not remember "Bibamus, moriendum est" from Controversiae, II, 6, 3.
We drink, dying is certain.

vicenzo  •  Link

"...who I perceive would fain get to be free and friends with my wife, but I shall prevent it, and she herself hath also a defyance against him..." Wheres the Glove? Sam, and a trip to hide parke, behind those clusters of bushes.

vicenzo  •  Link

Such a waste of hard earned coin "... I hear that he did vomit before he went to bed...", Sams says nowt about his wasting of his intake, [ maybe Sam has never experience such humiliation]on the the flower bed. Sam was upset about the mess created, rather than the 'ead aking, I doth think.

vicenzo  •  Link

"...to see him paint the neck of my lute in my picture, which I was not pleased with after it was done...." but Sam! ye be a pain in the ..... but of course! 'I want me hard earned monies worth,' could be Sam's thought.

David Goldfarb  •  Link

That "bibamus" is stronger than "we drink", it's in the subjunctive mood and so is "let us drink".

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Gul. Hewer "had been with Mr. Southerne and Homewood at the Dolphin". L&M note these are clerks at the Navy Office. The severity of Pepys's pique at Will may well be due to concerns about the habits of all those who are and are known at the Dolphin to be his subordinates -- whatever his own drinking habits may be (see vicenzo's post about Seneca).

Bill  •  Link

"his wedding day, and we had ... eighteen mince pies in a dish"

The same custom is noticed, Feb. 3, 1661-62.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Kelvin Hard  •  Link

Does anyone know when mince pies stopped having meat in them?

eileen d.  •  Link

"Does anyone know when mince pies stopped having meat in them?"

per Wikipedia article:
"...as Great Britain entered the Victorian age, the addition of meat had, for many, become an afterthought (although the use of suet remains).[16] Its taste then was broadly similar to that experienced today, although some 20th-century writers continued to advocate the inclusion of meat.[17]..."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Glyn on 7 Jan 2005 • Link • Flag

"Pepys seems to treat the artist in the same way as the workmen who decorated his house, by monitoring them as closely as possible. Presumably standing behind the painter all the morning, who doesn't need him there to be painted, would have been quite irritating - especially if Pepys was making 'helpful' suggestions as to how to paint the lute."

Keenly observed, Glyn. For Pepys apparently any kind of painter is a craftsman - he works with his hands. He would therefore not be the kind of person Pepys would be comfortable having at his dining table, as we will see later with another person of this class who is not family. Methinks Pepys is trying to escape being the son of a tailor (son of a "pricklouse" said his wife in anger)..

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Thence to dinner to Sir W. Pen’s, it being a solemn feast day with him, his wedding day, and we had, besides a good chine of beef and other good cheer, eighteen mince pies in a dish, the number of the years that he hath been married"

L&M: He had married Margaret van der Schuren, widow, in 1643 at St Martin's Ludgate. A certificate of 1652 in HMC, Portland, ii.84, gives the date as 6 June - presumably a mistranscription.

Third Reading

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