Wednesday 3 June 1663

Up betimes, and studying of my double horizontal diall against Dean Honiwood comes to me, who dotes mightily upon it, and I think I must give it him.

So after talking with Sir W. Batten, who is this morning gone to Guildhall to his trial with Field, I to my office, and there read all the morning in my statute-book, consulting among others the statute against selling of offices, wherein Mr. Coventry is so much concerned; and though he tells me that the statute do not reach him, yet I much fear that it will.

At noon, hearing that the trial is done, and Sir W. Batten come to the Sun behind the Exchange I went thither, where he tells me that he had much ado to carry it on his side, but that at last he did, but the jury, by the judge’s favour, did give us but 10l. damages and the charges of the suit, which troubles me; but it is well it went not against us, which would have been much worse.

So to the Exchange, and thence home to dinner, taking Deane of Woolwich along with me, and he dined alone with my wife being undressed, and he and I spent all the afternoon finely, learning of him the method of drawing the lines of a ship, to my great satisfaction, and which is well worth my spending some time in, as I shall do when my wife is gone into the country. In the evening to the office and did some business, then home, and, God forgive me, did from my wife’s unwillingness to tell me whither she had sent the boy, presently suspect that he was gone to Pembleton’s, and from that occasion grew so discontented that I could hardly speak or sleep all night.

29 Annotations

First Reading

TerryF  •  Link

"he dined alone with my wife being undressed" - Whoa, time out: put up a sheet!!

Easy does it. L&M read: "he dined alone with me, [my] wife being undressed"

Deep cleansing breath. Elizabeth's honor rrrrrrrrrescued.
She's in her room and isn't "decent" (properly dressed for company).

PegH  •  Link

"...home to dinner, taking Deane of Woolwich along with me, and he dined alone with my wife being undressed..."

WOT?? Well, I've read it over again and I don't think that Sam, thinking to distract Bess from her dancing teacher, is going to let her dine in her skivvies alone with his good friend Deane.

Is it a scanning error? Could this mean "WE dined alone, because my wife wasn't dressed to receive company?"

PegH  •  Link

Thanks Terry! Apologies for not checking to see if one of you had been in annotes first.

Bradford  •  Link

Well, if Elizabeth had sent the boy to Pembleton, she'd surely have had a story ready if called on it. My bet is she sent him to buy (or fetch) some purchase she unwisely is not fessing up to.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...he dined alone with my wife being undressed, and he and I spent all the afternoon finely..."

Thanks, Sam. God bless the Restoration era.

Even if Terry had to go and spoil a beautiful (whack from wife reading at same time) image.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Actually she's sent the boy off to sell the last of the claret...
***

"Now Wayneman, boy...Tell me. Who did Mrs. Pepys send you to this afternoon?"

"Who, sir?"

"Wayneman. You know I regard you as I would my very own son..." Sam nods to Hewer who turns a large crank on the strapado/rack mechanism (a gift from Greatorex) from which poor Wayneman is currently suspended, hands and feet pulled from opposite directions.

Ahhh!!...

"...but if one loses one son, it is always possible to get another. Now, to whom were you sent by Mrs. Pepys today?"

TerryF  •  Link

Sorry, Robert. Was the whacker your wife or Sam's?

jeannine  •  Link

Hey Gay,

Give him one from us too--just to keep him in line...

Bess obviously sent "the boy" out with an alert to the attendees of the Weekly Discussion Book Club that the next scheduled reading of the "Diary of Sam Pepys" would be held in a new location as the wine cellar was no longer secure. The notice went out to Hewer, Ashwell, the maids, the Naval employees, Sam's family,Pembleton, the Duke, Castlemaine, the King, etc. stating that the new meeting location would be at St. Olaves church-somewhere he'd NEVER frequent during the week, or if by chance he showed up, he'd sleep through the meeting anyway. It also reminded people that from now on it was BYOB (bring your own beverage).

dirk  •  Link

Robert, you have my moral support -- men have to stick together ;-)
(whack - Ouch!)

ignis fatuus  •  Link

Why the open door to the treasure of France's Finest? It could be all those desperados [girls], as Culpeper does not have acure, in a bottle of an herbe for the scurge of the female needing pain killing relief .

Michael Robinson  •  Link

The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By."

Lawrence  •  Link

Sam know's that Honiwood want's His toy, He just think's that Pembleton want's His play mate!

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I have to say, getting off the day's topics a mo...Though this has been an undercurrent for some time...that I'm puzzled about Bess' summer trip to Brampton. She seems perfectly willing to go off and leave Sam alone in London for a few weeks which is something I would have thought she'd dread. I suppose the prospect of visiting with Lady Jemina is very appealing and London must be uncomfortable at this time of year, not to mention the nearly annual outbreaks of plague. Still she does seem a bit too willing to go. Perhaps looking forward to the daily attentions of a certain gallant Captain?

Interesting if Sam is happily and blindly moving her out of the relatively innocent clutches of the flying Pembleton and into those of the fiery Ferrers.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

Interesting if Sam is happily and blindly moving her out of the relatively innocent clutches of the flying Pembleton and into those of the fiery Ferrers.

Robert Gertz, your flair for the dramatic gives the diary all the suspense of the old Saturday serials. The Perils of Bess?

Pedro  •  Link

Bess’ summer trip to Brampton

And now that she can dance!

dirk  •  Link

ignis fatuus

For those who might wonder: as far as my Latin goes, this translates roughly as "foolish passion"... A man can go by many names and still be the same man...

TerryF  •  Link

ignis fatuus

"ignis" being fire, someone seems to be progressing through the elements.

Pedro  •  Link

someone seems to be progressing through the elements.

Spoiler…Sam may give us an insight, in the coming months, to the original form of this reincarnation.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Wonder if Pembleton was gay and actually more interested in Sam than Elizabeth........Just a thought.

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

'foolish fire', a name given to methane gas coming off the dumps and bogs, it hurteth not but only feareth fooles.

Mary  •  Link

ignis fatuus

Otherwise known as Will o' the Wisp.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I think Pembleton was primarily interested in landing a client with court ties. Probably the "leering" in church was a desperate attempt to give a gracious nod and smile at a couple whose favor he considers potentially vital to his career.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the statute against selling of offices"

The much-evaded act of 1552 against corrupt buying and selling of offices. (5 and 6 Edward VI c. 16) See Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart England By Linda Levy Peck, pp. 6-7.
https://books.google.com/books?id…
It was the defects of this act which had now suggested the need for another bill.
(Per L&M footnote)

Pyrat Robert  •  Link

The annotators often refer to Sam as a "little" man (not necessarily in this entry, I've been meaning to ask for a while now...). I don't remember reading anything one way or another about his stature - while he is younger than most of his colleagues, is there any evidence that he was bigger or smaller than average? Why not "that hulking young brute Pepys" in the imaginary commentaries by contemporaries?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"is there any evidence that he was bigger or smaller than average?"

See Susan on 21 Feb 2004

Claire Tomalin [Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self] says Pepys' height was around 5' (150cm), so for him to be calling someone "little" he must have been diminutive indeed. Charles I was only 4' 10", but Charles II was "above two yards high" accordingly to the descriptions of him circulated after his escape from the battlefield at Worcester in 1651.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

According to historian Pauline Gregg, Charles I reached 5 foot 4 inches tall.

Of course, Monty Python tells a different story:
"The most interesting thing about Charles I is that he was 5'6" tall at the beginning of his reign, but only 4'8" tall at the end of it ...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D…

Log in to post an annotation.

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