Monday 20 April 1663

Up betimes as I use to do, and in my chamber begun to look over my father’s accounts, which he brought out of the country with him by my desire, whereby I may see what he has received and spent, and I find that he is not anything extravagant, and yet it do so far outdo his estate that he must either think of lessening his charge, or I must be forced to spare money out of my purse to help him through, which I would willing do as far as 20l. goes.

So to my office the remaining part of the morning till towards noon, and then to Mr. Grant’s. There saw his prints, which he shewed me, and indeed are the best collection of any things almost that ever I saw, there being the prints of most of the greatest houses, churches, and antiquitys in Italy and France and brave cutts. I had not time to look them over as I ought, and which I will take time hereafter to do, and therefore left them and home to dinner.

After dinner, it raining very hard, by coach to Whitehall, where, after Sir G. Carteret, Sir J. Minnes, Mr. Coventry and I had been with the Duke, we to the Committee of Tangier and did matters there dispatching wholly my Lord Teviott, and so broke up.

With Sir G. Carteret and Sir John Minnes by coach to my Lord Treasurer’s, thinking to have spoken about getting money for paying the Yards; but we found him with some ladies at cards: and so, it being a bad time to speak, we parted, and Sir J. Minnes and I home, and after walking with my wife in the garden late, to supper and to bed, being somewhat troubled at Ashwell’s desiring and insisting over eagerly upon her going to a ball to meet some of her old companions at a dancing school here in town next Friday, but I am resolved she shall not go. So to bed.

This day the little Duke of Monmouth was marryed at White Hall, in the King’s chamber; and tonight is a great supper and dancing at his lodgings, near Charing-Cross. I observed his coat at the tail of his coach he gives the arms of England, Scotland, and France, quartered upon some other fields, but what it is that speaks his being a bastard I know not.

35 Annotations

First Reading

dirk  •  Link

brave cutts ???

Prints of some or other heroic event? Or "naughty" stuff?

dirk  •  Link

Letter from Rowland Mansell to "My Lord" Sandwich

Written from: Tangier
Date: 20 April 1663

"Solicits a lease for seven years of the house & garden at Tangier, of which he is at present the yearly tenant."

Apparently My Lord has property in Tangier -- and is renting it out to some of the officers/merchants out there! Money makes money!

In an earlier letter to Captain Charles Harbord in Tangier on 5 April My Lord had pointed out that he "Does not wish to lay out more money upon the houses at Tangier until he sees what they return."

-----------

Source:
Bodleian Library
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

Bradford  •  Link

"brave" = fine, enjoyable (Companion Large Glossary)
In this context, it would seem to signify noteworthy or remarkable prints. A first viewing might not be a prudent occasion to show a visitor anything spicier, if such were in the collection.

One awaits with impatience to learn whether Ashwell goes to her class reunion or no.

"what it is that speaks his being a bastard I know not."
Behavior, generally.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"brave cutts"
methinks woodcuts Dirk.

TerryF  •  Link

"quartered upon some other fields"

Lives in a tent in Cornwall? (sorry, I didn't resist, Lent being over, &c.)

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...but what it is that speaks his being a bastard I know not."

Very funny, Pepys.

"Guards!!"

***

Sam. What's this crap about no ball for our Ashwell? You're just worried Bess will get worked up over no ball for her, you cheap...

dirk  •  Link

"and after walking with my wife in the garden late, to supper and to bed, being somewhat troubled at Ashwell’s desiring and insisting over eagerly upon her going to a ball to meet some of her old companions at a dancing school here in town next Friday, but I am resolved she shall not go"

Another one of these elliptic sentences... To me it's not clear whether that last "she" refers to Ashwell or to Elizabeth.

Both interpretations are possible: Ashwell -- or Liz (possibly because she's such a poor dancer that she might put her husband to shame)?

jeannine  •  Link

Monmouth’s wedding

From “My dearest Minette” , editor Ruth Norrington, p 64-65

“Charles, always anxious to get his illegitimate children off his hands by marrying them to great wealth, decided that Anne Scott, the Countess of Buccleuch, one of the richest heiresses in England, would make the young Duke of Monmouth a suitable wife. She was barely twelve years old. Anne and James were married on 20 April, and were created the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch.”

Whitehall, 20 April 1663
“You must not by this post expect a long letter from me, this being Jameses [the Duke of Monmouth] marriage day, and I am goeing to sup with them, where we intend to dance and see them abed together, but the ceremony shall stop there, for they are both too young to be all night together. The letters from France are not yet come, which keeps me in a paine, to know how the Queen Mother does, I hope James Hamilton will be on his way home before this comes to your handes. I send you here a title of a little booke of devotion, in Spanish, which my wife desires to have, by the directions you will see where ‘tis to be had, and pray send two of them by the first conveniency. My dearest sister, I am intirely yours.
For my dearest sister C.

Note: Anne of Austria had been very ill and that is the Queen referred to above. James Hamilton referred to is the eldest son of Sir George Hamilton. Why he went to France is not known.

Australian Susan  •  Link

"differenced with a baton sinister silver"

It is this part of the Heraldic description given in the excellent site found by dirk (thanks) which "speaks of his being a bastard", but either Sam does not know this or, the D of M was not displaying the proper arms. If he was displaying royal arms with no bastardy distinction this was a hell of a cheek and also gives ground to the idea that Charles married Lucy and/or Charles intended to make Monmouth his heir and would have given Monmouth grounds for thinking he had a right to the Crown. Most interesting. Typical of Sam to be interested in the little details. Is this the first time the D of M has borne the royal arms? (whether with or without the silver diagonal bar across them)

jeannine  •  Link

"the D of M was not displaying the proper arms" From the article on the titling of Monmouth at (part II)
http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth…

"It should be noted, as Fraser points out that when James was actually created Duke of Monmouth that the “baton sinister, which proclaimed his illegitimate birth, [was] omitted from his coat of arms [and Queen] Catherine felt it necessary to protest. A second grant of arms included it”. (Fraser, p. 275)"

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Monmouth's wedding
Monmouth, 14, and his bride, 12, are old enough to marry, but "too young to be all night together," says Charles. I presume this means they had to wait to some undetermined future date to consummate their marriage. Interesting glance at the mores of the time. Their first child was born more than 9 years later - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jame…

Thanks to Jeannine for passing on to us this wonderful letter!

TerryF  •  Link

"I had not time to look [John Graunt's collection of woodcuts] over as I ought"

The OED says "ought", originally the. past tense of "owe," > "indebted" > "obliged" later > "what is generally expected or suitable, fit," while still retaining the sense of came of obligation in re a moral duty.

Interesting that something like Sam'l's POV was adopted 85 years later by David Hume in *An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals.* (1748), Section I. "Of the General Principles” would argue in effect that, as the EB has it, "Moral decisions are grounded in moral sentiment. Qualities are valued either for their utility or for their agreeableness, in each case either to their owners or to others." (Thomas Edmund Jessop, Maurice Cranston. "Hume, David" Encyclopædia Britannica) http://search.eb.com/eb/article?e… [Accessed April 16, 2002]. (c) 2002 Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. For Hume's original treatuse see http://oll.libertyfund.org:81/Tex…

andy  •  Link

but I am resolved she shall not go

No reason given why she should not go.

Do I detect a rather petty, authoritarian streak in Sam, sometimes, and towards his female servants (= lesser people)? Remebmer him being too proud to get Jane back, etc.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Ashwell seems to have struck a nerve in Sam by happily declaring that she should like to go and thinks she ought to be able to go and he seems to be taking this as a challenge to the Master's authority. No mention of whether she got Bess' permission.

In addition if he lets her go, no doubt Bess will be unagreeably pensive at the thought of her woman going off to a gay evening with friends...And the 'Master' prefers not to face that.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Enjoy it while you can, Master Lord Pepys...Your secure universe is about to be rocked.

***
Pepys and Hewer enter the office. Pepys happily relating the tale of how the Master reasserted his authority...

"So then, Will, I gave our Miss Ashwell a firm piece of my mind. Tis the only way to handle the fairer sex as well as one's employees and inferiors, Hewer. Bear it well in mind." firm forefinger wags.

"Yes, Mr. Pepys." Will nods.

"O, beware my lord..."

"Hater?"

"Mr. Pepys?"

"Why the devil are you quoting Iago's lines to yourself...especially during office hours? Is there a new production of Othello coming to town?"

"One...Might say that, sir." thin smile from the ambitious Mr. Hater.

Tom Burns  •  Link

" ...but we found him with some ladies at cards: and so, it being a bad time to speak, we parted..."

A different world! One could not simply make a phone call and inquire whether it was a good time to visit. I'm sure this kind of thing led to many an interesting situation.

Nix  •  Link

"too young to be all night together" --

From Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

"The marriage of Anna [Buccleuch] and James Scott [Duke of Monmouth] was celebrated at Whitehall on 20 April 1663 and consummated on 9 February 1665. It lasted in conjugal terms until 1679, and produced six children, of whom only two sons, including Henry Scott, first earl of Deloraine, survived childhood. On the scaffold Monmouth remained professedly steady to his six-year attachment to Lady Henrietta Wentworth, his last but not his first infidelity."

Stolzi  •  Link

"No reason given why she should not go."

I think Pepys would have said that he hired her as a companion to his wife, not to gad about on her own.

The line about the ball, like previous descriptions of Ashwell's school and the young ladies at church there, puts me in mind of the much later world of Jane Austen.

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Andy->Unwritten law be CASH ""...but I am resolved she shall not go..."
No reason given why she should not go.
Do I detect a rather petty, authoritarian streak in Sam, sometimes"
It be Cab fare, etc. and Eliza be exposed to giggly girls talkin' the talk of snickering tittling tattering females???

Ebo  •  Link

"... to spare money out of my purse to help him through, which I would willing do as far as 20l. goes."

Can someone with more information on the fiscal situation in 1663 please tell me whether this is generous, moderate, or mean?

jeannine  •  Link

“… to spare money out of my purse to help him through, which I would willing do as far as 20l. goes"

Ebo, VERY BIG SPOILER HERE. I don't know what the equivalent of this would be today (someone else may know the conversion) but I do know that when you look at how the estate finally falls out that this issue of 20 l will be a good amount towards John Sr's living expenses, so I'd say very generous. There will be an accounting of the estate to come OUTSIDE of the diary in around a month. I gave Phil the documentation (Sam's letter to his father and spread sheet)to post along with a specific day's entry, so, as they say, hang tight and "stay tuned". Sam is currently working through the process of gathering the data from his father as to his expenses, etc. over the course of his visit so that he can figure out the overall situation and advise him. And, advise him he will, in his own unique and forthright style, and that 20 l will come with a most interesting request on the behalf of Sam.

TerryF  •  Link

Generous indeed, as Jeannine says.

In 2005, £20 0s 0d from 1663 is worth:
£2,032.86 using the retail price index
(using an interactive conversion site posted by David Gurliacci on the 4 Jan 1660 entry: http://eh.net/hmit/ppowerbp/ )

Margaret  •  Link

How was Buccleuch pronounced? Is it still a name known to most English people, that is, the name of a family, title, or place still extant?

Ruben  •  Link

To Michael Robinson
In Background - People you may find more info about Graunt, posted a year ago.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Thanks, Ruben

Found the link above after I had done a quick and dirty web search (to see if there was a Graunt sale catalogue known) and didn't realzie till after the post made that I was duplicating prior effort.

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

“I observed his coat at the tail of his coach he gives the arms of England, Scotland, and France, quartered upon some other fields, but what it is that speaks his being a bastard I know not.”

The arms granted to the Duke of Monmouth, 8th April, 1665, were, Quarterly, i. and iv.; Ermine, on a pile gu. three lions passant gardant or; ii. and iii., or, an inescutcheon of France, within a double tressure flory counter flory, gu. On the 22nd of April, 1667, another grant was made to the Duke of the arms of Charles II., with a baton sinister arg.; over all, an inescutcheon of Scott. The present Duke of Buccleuch bears these arms quarterly. It is quite clear that Pepys knew nothing of heraldry.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Bill  •  Link

“tonight is a great supper and dancing at his lodgings, near Charing-Cross.”

The Duke of Monmouth's "lodgings near Charing Cross" were probably in Hedge Lane, now Dorset Street. "Monmouth Court" preserves the memory of his residence. The king gave his son apartments in Whitehall, and Mr. Marshall, in his work on "Tennis" (pp. 87, 88), quotes from Harl. MS. 1618, fol. 224, a reference to "Charges in doing divers workes in making lodgings in the old Tennis Court at Whitehall for ye Duke of Monmouth," June, 1664.
---Wheatley, 1893.

Bill  •  Link

“there being the prints ... and brave cutts“

CUT ...
9. A picture cut or carved upon a stamp of wood or copper, and impressed from it.
---A Dictionary Of The English Language. Samuel Johnson, 1756.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"With Sir G. Carteret and Sir John Minnes by coach to my Lord Treasurer’s, thinking to have spoken about getting money for paying the Yards; but we found him with some ladies at cards: and so, it being a bad time to speak, we parted, ..."

Different times, indeed. First, did they go to Lord Treasurer Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton's office or home to ask for money to pay wages? Often it was almost the same place, as in Sam's case. The encyclopedia says the Treasurer's Office was on Broad Street, near the Tower (and the Mint), so that's why they went by coach. Second, you have the inconvenience of no established working times or days ... you did what you had to do to get the job done before someone higher up the pecking order became inconvenienced, or the sailors rioted. I'm surprised Charles II didn't want his money man at Whitehall, but perhaps he didn't want to be nagged?

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Re the £20 for papa Pepys:

Sam's informal income and expenses are increasing now, but it's only three years since he was keeping a wife and a servant on £50 per year.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: How was Buccleuch pronounced? etc . . : Buccleuch is a pair of wee hamlets tucked away in a fold of the Scottish Borders which get their name from Buck Cleuch (Scots; pron: Brit. /kluːx/, /kluː/, U.S. /kluk/ , /klux/ , /klu/ , Scottish /kl(j)uːx/). a steep sided small valley carved into a hillside: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/….

Monmouth’s new wife was Anne Scott, 4th Countess of Buccleuch. She was created Duchess of Buccleuch in her own right along with her husband, so that the title was unaffected by Monmouth's attainder of 1685. The wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duk… explains all and displays several coats-of-arms with the royal arms with bar sinister in the first quarter.

The current Duke of Buccleuch, Richard Scott, the 10th Duke, is the largest private landowner in the United Kingdom.

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