Sunday 3 May 1663

(Lord’s day). Up before 5 o’clock and alone at setting my Brampton papers to rights according to my father’s and my computation and resolution the other day to my good content, I finding that there will be clear saved to us 50l. per annum, only a debt of it may be 100l.

So made myself ready and to church, where Sir W. Pen showed me the young lady which young Dawes, that sits in the new corner-pew in the church, hath stole away from Sir Andrew Rickard, her guardian, worth 1000l. per annum present, good land, and some money, and a very well-bred and handsome lady: he, I doubt, but a simple fellow. However, he got this good luck to get her, which methinks I could envy him with all my heart. Home to dinner with my wife, who not being very well did not dress herself but staid at home all day, and so I to church in the afternoon and so home again, and up to teach Ashwell the grounds of time and other things on the tryangle, and made her take out a Psalm very well, she having a good ear and hand. And so a while to my office, and then home to supper and prayers, to bed, my wife and I having a little falling out because I would not leave my discourse below with her and Ashwell to go up and talk with her alone upon something she has to say. She reproached me but I had rather talk with any body than her, by which I find I think she is jealous of my freedom with Ashwell, which I must avoid giving occasion of.

18 Annotations

First Reading

Bradford  •  Link

Elizabeth to Samuel: "She reproached me but I had rather talk with any body than her,"

"The Shorter Pepys" renders the phrase thus:

"She reproached me that I rather talk with anybody then her---"

(no "had," "then" = "than," and dashes instead of commas)
*
As for simple young Dawes and the well-off handsome young lady he stole away:
"[H]e got this good luck to get her, which methinks I could envy him with all my heart"---the pricklouse still stinging from his recent verbal bout with the beggar.

TerryF  •  Link

“She reproached me that I had rather talk with anybody then her—-“

is how L&M render it in Vol. 4 (1663).

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"hath stole away from Sir Andrew Rickard,her guardian"
Beaumarchais never read S.Pepys,otherwise I would think he got his inspiration for The Barber of Seville,here.

Miss Ann  •  Link

How long do we think Miss Ashwell will stay now that Beth is actually verbalising her fealings of jealousy to Sam? I think her days may be numbered ... we can only wait.

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

The dream of any rake, is to be to able steal the [goods} 'eiress from the Guardian, thereby he can then live in abundance for he dothe believe he has that right [looks ye know, later a title].

dirk  •  Link

The Rev. Josselin's diary today

"God good to us, but mans folly, dashes water often into his wine and embitters his mercies. the season vehemently drying, god good to me in the word, my freedom and liberty yet continued; my neighbour Mathew very ill. god in mercy restore him"

"vehemently drying" -- I've never seen the word used this way before...

Miss Ann  •  Link

“vehemently drying” - I would have thought as England heads towards Summer, and ergo are in the grip of Spring, that the season would be anything but drying, especially vehemently, which sounds a bit voilent to me. I imagine spring flowers, a bit of sunshine and a slightly better mood all round, but the good Rev. seems anything but jolly.

Miss Ann  •  Link

Sorry, typo - should be "violent".

steveh  •  Link

?hath stole away from Sir Andrew Rickard,her guardian"

The jealous, aging guardian having his rich and beautiful ward stolen away by a penniless young man is one of the three or four basic plots of comedy from Plautus to the 20th century, including Beaumarchais mentioned above. It is a favorite of the Beaumont & Fletcher canon so often enjoyed by Pepys at the theatre, and a staple of Restoration comedy. It's interesting to see it happening in real life.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

The dream of any rake ... basic plot of comedy

Sam is told about the luck of young Dawes: "He is, I doubt, but a simple fellow. However, he got this good luck to get her, which methinks I could envy him with all my heart." Then goes home to discord, then writes down the day's events, and I can't help thinking his jealousy of Dawes is excited in part by the disharmony in his household and the contrast between the imagined graces of the young heiress and the actual experience of a no longer young "beggar." But we know nothing of the temperament of young miss Christian (Sadie?) Hawkins (surely this isn't the right surname if her father is named Lyons or Lygons?) nor of young Mr. Dawes, and it is a rare household that is free of discord. "Happily ever after" is a pretty rare condition. Sam is something of a pricklouse to let these ideas infect his relationship with Elizabeth.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: "now that Beth is actually verbalising her fealings of jealousy to Sam"

Miss Ann, Sam describes Elizabeth's reproaches, "by which I find *I think* [emphasis mine] she is jealous of my freedom with Ashwell," but I don't think Elizabeth is saying anything outright ... yet.

Mr. Hamilton, I think you're on the money again. Sam comes home from church with "grass is always greener" feelings to a wife who hasn't bothered to get dressed, and who dresses him down later for his familiarity her companion, and this influences the tone of this entry.

This is one of those instances where hindsight makes things fairly clear ... I wonder how Sam felt about this as he re-read it decades later.

Pedro  •  Link

“but a simple fellow. However, he got this good luck to get her,”

Better to be born lucky than rich!

TerryF  •  Link

No report on either the sermon or the Solemn Oath today.

Cherchez les femmes? No, rather, the consciousness and conscience of their perturbed pursuer, whose search for happiness is tied up in knots by the psycho-somatic conundrum of his relation to women, and love through/of obstacles, similar to the love/fear of God.

(Not restricted to Samuel Pepys, the age and centrality of this affliction is well-documented in Denis De Rougemont’s *Love in the Western World*. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/… )

Australian Susan  •  Link

Music Lessons
Oh dear, oh dear! Imagine the scene. Sam and Ashwell close together on the piano stool - he showing her chords and so forth - she copying - hands touch etc. No wonder Elizabeth was slightly twitchy about all this. I was reminded of a 19th century short story (cannot remember author)when the mother of a teenage girl trusted her alone with the young male paino teacher as long as she could hear music being played. What she didn't know was that he was playing the bass with his left hand, she playing the treble with her right and........

Pedro  •  Link

Meanwhile in Tangier…

On May 3rd 1663 Lord Peterborough was enticed by Guyland to let the garrison outside the city walls. They ran out “in a confused manner”, without prior knowledge of the strength or position of the Moors. The result was disaster. The British pursued the retreating Moors who led them into a prepared trap. Surrounded on three sides the British were routed and only a third of force regained the safety of the town.

This serious setback sapped the confidence of Peterborough and his garrison. No parties were sent out of the town and the gates were permanently shut; the Moors were permitted to steal cattle from under the very noses of the sentries. A change of command was required.

(Childs…The Army of Charles II)

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

" the young lady which young Dawes...hath stole away from Sir Andrew Rickard, her guardian"

The marriage license of John Dawes of St Olaves, Hart St (bachelor, aged 30) and Christian Hawkins (spinster, aged 16) is dated 21 April 1663. It states that that the brides parents were dead and that consent had been given by her aunt, the wife of [Sir Andrew] Rickard of St Olave's. A petition by Dawes to the King about the disputed guardianship is in the National Archives. Dawes was the son and heir of Sir Thomas Dawes (who had been ruined by his loyalty in the wars), and was created a baronet on 1 June 1663. (Per L&M footnote)

SPOILER -- Sir John Dawes will die in 1671. In 1678 she will marry Sir Anthony Deane, FRS, MP and she die in 1687.

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