Tuesday 10 February 1662/63

In the morning most of my disease, that is, itching and pimples, were gone. In the morning visited by Mr. Coventry and others, and very glad I am to see that I am so much inquired after and my sickness taken notice of as I did. I keep my bed all day and sweat again at night, by which I expect to be very well to-morrow.

This evening Sir W. Warren came himself to the door and left a letter and box for me, and went his way. His letter mentions his giving me and my wife a pair of gloves; but, opening the box, we found a pair of plain white gloves for my hand, and a fair state dish of silver, and cup, with my arms, ready cut upon them, worth, I believe, about 18l., which is a very noble present, and the best I ever had yet.

So after some contentful talk with my wife, she to bed and I to rest.

35 Annotations

First Reading

Terry F  •  Link

"I am so much inquired after"

Can one imagine that others want to know whether Sam'l is still abed? The cat's away...? OR, did the 'Venice treacle' do its job?

Bradford  •  Link

No doubt the Pepys arms appear elsewhere on the Web, but Google Images returned just this site:
http://www.aaprescott.com/pepys/p…
Does this depiction match match that on the front of Percival Hunt's "Pepys in the Diary"? (Can you verify, Jeannine?).
Has the coat of arms been discussed in the Background somewhere? Can someone more armigeral than me explain the significance of two horses' heads and three fleur de lys, bar dexter (or is it sinister?)? And do we know its colors?

JWB  •  Link

Sir W. Warren
Perhaps Warren, the Baltic timber merchant, was Sam's Danziger pickle source and the gift an "es tut mir Leid" makeup.

By the Grace of God  •  Link

It seems more like the sort of present to curry favour; a handsome gift from a timber merchant of Rotherhithe to a prominent Navy man. (Or perhaps I've been reading too much on Bush and Abramoff.)

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"The Way to be Rich..."

Chapter Six.

"Making One's Position Work for You, 24 Hours a Day."

"So...You have just received your first decent bribe from a great client, disguised with care and taste, delivered in a reasonably appropriate context such as a time of illness. Excellent. You have taken a key step on your way to wealth."

(Beaming Sam nods...Eyeing the plate in its place of honor.)

"Unless you are serving in the Naval Office. Return immediately to Chapter Five."

"How to Survive Parliamentary Investigation into How You Amassed Your Fortune on a Clerk's Salary."

(I'm getting to know this one well, Sam sighs...)

jeannine  •  Link

Bradford, The Coat of Arms is the same as the one on Hunt's book. Wish I could explain the significance, but alas, we'll have to find a coat of arms expert amongst the troops to help out here. Thanks for the link to that site.

Miss Ann fr Home  •  Link

Bradford, my lad, you have excelled yourself. What an interesting site. Makes me want to investigate my own family roots. Well done.

Terry F  •  Link

Robert Gertz, if he receives such tribute, Sam's reading of the lessons from The Great Audley bear repeating, bear repeating, bear repeating,....

dirk  •  Link

coat of arms

Sam's coat of arms is officially described as:

PEPYS, SAMUEL. Sable, on a bend Or between two horse's heads erased argent three fleurs-de-lis sable. [Occasionally differenced with a crescent.]

See:
http://www.imperialcollegeofheral…

Explanation of some of the technical terms (from the same site):

BEND -An ordinary consisting of a band running diagonally across the shield from dexter chief to sinister base. A small bend is bendlet.

SABLE -Black.

ERASED -Cut off roughly, leaving a ragged edge.

ARGENT -Silver/White.

FLEUR-DE-LIS -A stylized form of lily; the emblem of the Kings of France. Applied to a lance tip so shaped.

From Wheatley's introduction to the diary:
"The first of the name in 1273 were evidently but small copyholders. Within 150 years (1420) three or four of the name had entered the priesthood, and others had become connected with the monastery of Croyland as bailiffs, &c. In 250 years (1520) there were certainly two families: one at Cottenham, co. Cambridge, and another at Braintree, co. Essex, in comfortable circumstances as yeomen farmers. Within fifty years more (1563), one of the family, Thomas, of Southcreeke, co. Norfolk, had entered the ranks of the gentry sufficiently to have his coat-of-arms recognized by the Herald Cooke, who conducted the Visitation of Norfolk in that year. From that date the majority of the family have been in good circumstances, with perhaps more than the average of its members taking up public positions."
http://pandemonium.tiscali.de/pub…

dirk  •  Link

Forgot one technical term...

OR -Gold.

Jacqueline Gore  •  Link

Robert, does the modern updated version of Mr. Audely's classic include a chapter on "How to Survive Parliamentary Investigation into Your Reality Show Guest Appearance."?

Can't wait for Chapter Seven.

Terry F  •  Link

Coat of arms

Thanks for that, Jeannine, which also seems to make sense of Sam's decision of 23 March 1661/62: "This morning was brought me my boy’s fine livery, which is very handsome, and I do think to keep to black and gold lace upon gray, being the colour of my arms, for ever." http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive…

Very nice finds, once again, Dirk, O Magister Investigationis!!

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...and very glad I am to see that I am so much inquired after and my sickness taken notice of as I did."

"So ummn...No vacancy, after all, Mr. Coventry?"

"Afraid not, my friend. But I will keep your resume at hand." Coventry nods to the young "well-wisher" who sadly trudges off.

"This mean I have to recall the men who were to divide the place between you and Sir Will, Sir John?" Pett hisses to Minnes who sighs...

"I suppose so..." Damn. Thought for sure that treacle was full strength.

***

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Palm pressing always in Vogue, just do not get caught.(Or perhaps I’ve been reading too much on Bush and Abramoff.)
"To receive a favor is to sell your liberty." Syrus Maxims
" Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere."
then later it can be said "When he says he did you a favour he is asking for one." "quid quo pro"

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

“The Way to be Rich…” Which chapter says find out the name of mistress/boy friend [the one the wife must never know about or other wise there goes the money etc.,or thy puritan Boss and thy promotion] and then hint that thee know all the details.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Heraldry often incorporated puns on the person's name or something to do with his profession. I cannot think of how a horse's head could be connected in any way with a pun on Pepys, so maybe the first Pepys to bear arms was associated with horse-trading in some way. Maybe with France, thus the Fleur-de-lys. Incidently if a Bend on an heraldic shield went the other way, it meant you were of "sinister" or left-hand, ie. bastard descent.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Gift or bribe?

Sam gives no clue here as to how he views this gift. He just seems to express simple pleasure in a lovely object, though he describes how it was "disguised" as a gift of small value gloves so maybe either he is aware this is rather a large gift which has strings attached or he is commenting favourably on the discretion of the giver. 18 pounds sterling would be 1620 pounds applying the x 90 rule for inflation: a very handsome gift. It is also very clearly just for Sam - as Mr W has gone to the trouble of having the coat of arms engraved on it.
Wonder how that compares with the Australian Wheat Board giving $AUS300m to Saddam Hussein's personal account.......?

Terry F  •  Link

Those who say "Pepis" are not armigeral?

Or so methinks is to be inferred in the 16th century, given what Bradford and Dirk have discovered about the branches of the family.

(in Water Writ excepted, of course.)

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

'mens cujusque is est quisque'
see previous takes:
see this page and his take of his Alma mater;
"The frieze inscription 'Bibliotheca Pepysiana 1724' records the date of arrival of the Pepys Library; above it are painted Pepys's arms and his motto Mens cujusque is est quisque (taken from Cicero's De re publica, 'The mind's the man')."
http://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/pepys/a…
ergo I am:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

My take from the 'umble man that I be,
two horses or be it two nags and so don't back the wrong horse, see the two dobbins be split by three lilies of the french connection.

Ruben  •  Link

‘mens cujusque is est quisque’
straining your eyes you can read this Motto in one of Pepys portraits kept at the National Gallery. See:
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search…

Ruben  •  Link

National Portrait Gallery, of course

Ruben  •  Link

At the Royal Society site I find out that the portrait I posted minutes ago(again, I must say) is described by the curator as:
"Head and shoulders, in a long wig and lace cravat. In oval frame on pedestal with motto "Mens cujusque is est Quisque". Engraved by R White after G Kneller. Frontispiece to his "Naval Memoirs", 1690"

AlanB  •  Link

So Aussie Sue cannot see the point of the Horse's head. Following yet another run-in with Our Sam, this was a later addition suggested by Mrs Pepys having viewed "The Godfather Pepys". (She had only asked Sam 'Why the long face ....) Mr Gertz no doubt has the script.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"“The Way to be Rich…” Which chapter says find out the name of mistress/boy friend..."

Why Chapter Eight. "How to Make Thy Superior's Secret Significant Other Significant in Your Life."

Peter  •  Link

AlanB.... Sir J. Minnes sleeps with the fish....

Terry F  •  Link

Dr. James Duport, of Cambridge...

who, the day before yesterday, "made the most flat dead sermon...that ever [Sam'l] heard," was indeed a "a great scholler", later Master of Magdelene College, whose "books bequeathed...at his death in 1679 were kept [in what became the main library of the Pepys building] until 1834. He had contributed substantially to the cost of the building." http://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/pepys/a…

For his long and distinguished career as a classicist (though not as a homilist) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jame…

Robert Gertz  •  Link


"A pair of plain white gloves for my hand..."

Hey, Sam. I thought the gloves at least were supposed to be for you and Bess. Geesh, you got the plate...

Robert Gertz  •  Link

This is my wife's fault...

"But, Sam'l? What can you possibly have done that Sir William Warren would give us such a fine plate?"

Ummn...Well.

"I mean, what do you people do over there all day, anyway?" Bess eyes him. "It's all paperwork and checking things at the naval yards are going properly, right?

Ummn... "Well, more or less..."

Cut to Naval Office...

Coventry, Batten, Penn, Pepys, Hewer, associated clerks in conga-style line.

"In the Naval Office...

You may not sail the seven seas.

But in the Naval Office...

Your life will be a breeze.

In the Naval Office...

Young clerks twil lend a helping hand. (Young clerks in line wave)

In the Naval Office, in the Naval Office...

In the Naval Office...

C'mon and help out dear King Charles.

In the Naval Office...

The late war left his fleet agnarled.

In the Naval Office...

We all serve our fair England.

In the Naval Office, in the Naval Office."

***
"Yes, dull stuff, Bess. Really."

Australian Susan  •  Link

Guaranteed to bring a smile to the face on a (gloriously) wet Sunday! Thank you Robert - this is an image that I will long treasure.

Bradford  •  Link

Pepysians never shirk an earnest request: thanks to all, esp. Dirk with the technicalities and A. Susan with how to armorialize your by-blows.

You note that Elizabeth doesn't even get a stinkin' pair a gloves out of this graft, I mean gift.

jeannine  •  Link

Bradford, Pepys coat of arms link. I finally found a few moments to really look through the site where this led to and it's quite interesting. I recently bought (sight unseen) the book referenced (written by Chappell "Eight Generations of the Pepys Family 1500-1800") and was overwhelmed by the amount of information and how to make sense of how the people related, etc. Needless to say I put the book aside as it was too much for me to figure out. This site actually did all of the work and pulled the Sam/Elizabeth notes together. Thanks for the find~~you saved me hours of frustration!

Second Reading

Nate Lockwood  •  Link

Here is a link to an image of the very last page of Pepys diary with his crossed anchors front-plate. I note that the lines (ropes) that meander around the anchors are not actually attached to the anchors. A hint of impermanence or just artistic license?
https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/pepys/…

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.