Sunday 21 September 1662
(Lord’s day). Got up betimes and walked to St. James’s, and there to Mr. Coventry, and sat an hour with him, talking of business of the office with great pleasure, and I do perceive he do speak his whole mind to me. Thence to the Park, where by appointment I met my brother Tom and Mr. Cooke, and there spoke about Tom’s business, and to good satisfaction. The Queen coming by in her coach, going to her chappell at St. James’s (the first time it hath been ready for her), I crowded after her, and I got up to the room where her closet is; and there stood and saw the fine altar, ornaments, and the fryers in their habits, and the priests come in with their fine copes and many other very fine things. I heard their musique too; which may be good, but it did not appear so to me, neither as to their manner of singing, nor was it good concord to my ears, whatever the matter was. The Queene very devout: but what pleased me best was to see my dear Lady Castlemaine, who, tho’ a Protestant, did wait upon the Queen to chappell. By and by, after mass was done, a fryer with his cowl did rise up and preach a sermon in Portuguese; which I not understanding, did go away, and to the King’s chappell, but that was done; and so up to the Queen’s presence-chamber, where she and the King was expected to dine: but she staying at St. James’s, they were forced to remove the things to the King’s presence [chamber]; and there he dined alone, and I with Mr. Fox very finely; but I see I must not make too much of that liberty for my honour sake only, not but that I am very well received.
After dinner to Tom’s, and so home, and after walking a good while in the garden I went to my uncle Wight’s, where I found my aunt in mourning and making sad stories for the loss of her dear sister Nicholls, of which I should have been very weary but that pretty Mrs. Margaret Wight came in and I was much pleased with her company, and so all supper did vex my aunt talking in commendation of the mass which I had been at to-day, but excused it afterwards that it was only to make mirth. And so after supper broke up and home, and after putting my notes in order against to-morrow I went to bed.
24 Annotations
First Reading
Pedro • Link
The Queen coming by in her coach, going to her chappell at St. James's' (the first time it hath been ready for her),
Queen's Chapel, St.James's Palace...During the Commonwealth the Chapel was probably stripped of its treasures and in 1650 a Council of State directed that it should he used as a library. In 1662, however, it was refurnished and restored as a place of worship bv Charles II for his Queen, Catherine of Braganza.
She appointed the Benedictine Father Huddleston who had hidden Charles II in his priest's hole after the Battle of Worcester (1651), to the Queen's Chapel and installed a community of friars of the Order of St Peter Alcantara in the Chapel's friary.
Her coat of arms (the Stuart arms impaled with those of Portugal) can be seen over the east window and over the fireplace in the royal gallery and constituted part of the 1682 refurbishment undertaken by Sir Christopher Wren, Grinling Gibbons and Robert Streater.
Most of the interior of Queen Catherine's chapel has survived. Subsequently it was used by Mary of Modena, the second wife, and Queen, of James II.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Pa…
Bradford • Link
Pepys's attitude toward the music he heard in the Queen's Chapel will change over time---and the fascinating tale of his developing taste makes for one of the most ingenious articles in the book Jeannine discovered for us, Hunt's "Samuel Pepys in the Diary"; cf.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
Terry F • Link
"a sermon in Portuguese; which I not understanding, did go away"
L&M note: "In 1667 Pepys managed to understand some of a sermon in Portuguese...."
To see how that comes about will be interesting, I wot!
(From you in the know, NO SPOILERS, please.)
A. Hamilton • Link
"The Queen's Chapel ... was the first post-Reformation church in England to be built for Roman Catholic worship."
From the Royal Family site cited by Pedro.
And so it appears from Sam's description to have been used by Queen Catherine. The Stuarts must have given offense by the choice of RC wives from "unutterably bloody" abroad.
Sam takes a chance telling his aunt he had been to a mass. Is this the source of the subsequent libel against him?
Terry F • Link
I "did vex my aunt talking in commendation of the mass which I had been at to-day, but excused it afterwards that it was only to make mirth."
L&M note: "Answering the charge of being a papist in 1674, Pepys, in a speech to the Commons, is reported to have challenged 'the whole world that he has not been once in his life at Mass': Grey, ii.427. He was not counting the occasions on which he had been a spectator...."
Here he joins (or is swept along by) the crowd in the Queen's train, was not a happy "auditor," but was a happy spectator of the finery; and, of course, "what pleased [him] best was to see [his] dear Lady Castlemaine" -- perhaps a religious* experience at a Mass after all!
*"religious" in the sense of "a matter pf one's 'ultimate concern'" (a definition proposed by 20c Protestant German-American theologian Pail Tillich http://www.angelfire.com/md2/time… )
A. De Araujo • Link
"I heard their musique too"
Portuguese lithurgical music of the time was wonderful,at least to my ears
cf:Masterpieces of Portuguese Polyphony
Duarte Lobo,Felipe de Magalh
Jeannine • Link
"The Queene very devout: but what pleased me best was to see my dear Lady Castlemaine, who, tho’ a Protestant, did wait upon the Queen to chappell."
This is an example of how Lady Castlemaine tormented the Queen. Although Castlemaine "won" her postion as a bedchamber lady, she carried out her vindictiveness towards the Queen by basically being "in her face", even following her to church and waiting outside her Sunday services.
Jeannine • Link
Per Pedro's comment about the Queen, "she appointed the Benedictine Father Huddleston who had hidden Charles II in his priest's hole after the Battle of Worcester (1651)” … a Charles II spoiler but outside of the diary and to come much later..Father Huddleston was the Catholic priest who actually attended Charles II on his deathbed and in secret (but upon Charles’ request) converted him to the Catholic church. At that conversion he is famous for saying he had “once saved Charles’ body and now would save his soul”.
Australian Susan • Link
For details about Fr Huddleston in 1651, see Richard Ollard's book "The escape of Charles II after the battle of Worcester." Amazon ref: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos…
Ollard describes him "exactly the man for the present crisis" i.e. the problem of what to do with Charles in the immediate aftermath of the battle.
Australian Susan • Link
According to Ollard, Fr Huddleston was (as a reward for services) given quarters in Somerset House by Charles in 1660, where he was under the protection of Queen Henrietta Maria (who had been the first user of the Chapel Royal in the Palace.) It was only after her death in 1669, that he became one of Queen Catherine's chaplains, preserving his priveleges and giving him a salary as well as an additional pension from Charles (who did not forget any of those who had helped his escape). Huddleston died in 1698 aged 90. Ollard says that he was chosen by chance to hear Charles's deathbed confession as he was the only English-speaking Catholic priest available,the other priests in Catherine's household being Portugeuses and Mary of Modena's Italian. (Mary of Modena was James's 2nd wife).
JWB • Link
"...I heard their musique too; which may be good, but it did not appear so to me,"
You think Mark Twain read Pepys?
Clement • Link
Twain read Pepys appreciatively, and also "wrote" Pepys, in his bawdy faux memoir, "1601."
Only mildly off-topic:
(Between the writing of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn he...) "read extensively in one of his favorite books, Pepys' Diary. Like many another writer Mark was captivated by Pepys' style and spirit, and 'he determined,' says Albert Bigelow Paine in his 'Mark Twain, A Biography', "to try his hand on an imaginary record of conversation and court manners of a bygone day, written in the phrase of the period. The result was 'Fireside Conversation in the Time of Queen Elizabeth', or as he later called it, '1601'.
For anyone interested the text starts on page 9 of this link:
http://mark-twain.classic-literat…
JWB • Link
mildly off
Thanks Clement. Can turn loose infinite monkeys.
Terry F • Link
Not off at all, as Clement shows:
"I have been told that Wagner's music is better than it sounds." -- Mark Twain, *Autobiography* (1924) http://www.music-with-ease.com/wa… -- clearly what JWB had in mind. Clement, thank you for explaining that Samuel Pepys is the inspiration for Samuel Clemens' *1601* (of which, I, whose family is rooted in Hannibal, have had a copy for years).
Terry F • Link
Correction: what Mark Twain wrote about Wagner's music:
"The late Bill Nye once said, 'I have been told that Wagner's music is better than it sounds.' *Mark Twain's Autobiography*, Vol. I http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/…
This puts the usual "Mark Twain quote" at a further remove.
(The copyright laws in Australia are more sane than in the US.)
Robert Gertz • Link
Sam, Bess, Catherine, chorus of priests, raging mob of outraged citizens:
"Goin' to the chapel and we'll...All be ar...rested.
Goin' to the chapel and we'll...All be burned as Papists.
Gee...I really like the music and the fin...er...ry.
Goin' to the Chapel Roman...er Royal..."
Terry F • Link
We don't hear about the "Sunday oaths" today.
It seems Sam records his saying them if
- they are conspicuously applicable;
- he has extra time;
- they occupy a special place in his day
none of which is applicable today.
Australian Susan • Link
Copyright Law
Australia and the US have entered into a free trade agreement: one of the aspects of this is to work towards an accord about copyright law - not sure who will benefit from this!
Leslie Katz • Link
"The copyright laws in Australia are more sane than in the US."
Retired Australian judge's view: if so, then barely!
Cumgranissalis • Link
It is unfortunate that the facets of religious thought be so fractured and unreported for the fear of total censure, but cash does rule the conscience of many.
RE: At the latter date, the Rev. Dodgson in order to keep teaching and weaving tales for young set,was quoted to say that there be a Hell [as stated by the conformists]but their be nobody in residence.
From the beginning of recorded history there be only one opinion, and that it be ****. In Samuell's time, he saw the lost of power by the reformers [too many to have a concensus], it was now the turn of the Bishops, to get back their wealth,a seat on the power benches [H of Lords],income which was not to go to fatten the Vatican TREASURY, inspite of their idiology [Some used the catholic rituals to the fullest , upsetting many a Calvanist trained ] they let the Charles skate on his [in]vestment as he did like to have spending monies he remembers when it were not so, like so many, one keep one's real thoughts to one self until you had had the power to wield the axe. [James later, found out the hard way] Charles knew his wealth came from the City [ they be hard harted, they had changed the world of wealth, the other royals in big power, got it by digging it up, while the northern protesting mob created it, by transforming it from the earth and created more wealth,rather than use the ore for self grandisement .
Lesson learned by most, is keep ones political and religeous thought to one self if the want the honors of being top dog.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
The Chapel had been built by Inigo Jones, 1623-7, and used by Queen Henrietta-Maria for Roman Catholic services. It was now served by Benedictines and by a small group of Portuguese Observant Franciscans. (L&M footnote)
Louise Hudson • Link
Does anyone suppose the "fryers" were making fish and chips?
Sasha Clarkson • Link
"Friar Tuck's" is a popular name for Fish and Chip shops!
Bridget Davis • Link
Thank you, Terry Foreman; I wondered at the Portuguese mass.