Sunday 28 June 1663

(Lord’s day). Early in the morning my last night’s physic worked and did give me a good stool, and then I rose and had three or four stools, and walked up and down my chamber. Then up, my maid rose and made me a posset, and by and by comes Mr. Creed, and he and I spent all the morning discoursing against to-morrow before the Duke the business of his pieces of eight, in which the Treasurer makes so many queries.

At noon, my physic having done working, I went down to dinner, and then he and I up again and spent most of the afternoon reading in Cicero and other books of good discourse, and then he went away, and then came my brother Tom to see me, telling me how the Joyces do make themselves fine clothes against Mary is brought to bed. He being gone I went to cast up my monthly accounts, and to my great trouble I find myself 7l. worse than I was the last month, but I confess it is by my reckoning beforehand a great many things, yet however I am troubled to see that I can hardly promise myself to lay up much from month’s end to month’s end, about 4l. or 5l. at most, one month with another, without some extraordinary gettings, but I must and I hope I shall continue to have a care of my own expenses.

So to the reading my vows seriously and then to supper. This evening there came my boy’s brother to see for him, and tells me he knows not where he is, himself being out of town this week and is very sorry that he is gone, and so am I, but he shall come no more. So to prayers, and to bed.

24 Annotations

First Reading

TerryF  •  Link

Lots of counting and accounting today.

E.g., "the business of [the Duke's] pieces of eight"

11 May - "we attended the Duke of York: and...Sir G. Carteret and I had a great dispute about the different value of the pieces of eight rated by Mr. Creed at 4s. and 5d., and by Pitts at 4s. and 9d., which was the greatest husbandry to the King? he persisting that the greatest sum was; which is as ridiculous a piece of ignorance as could be imagined. However, it is to be argued at the Board, and reported to the Duke next week; which I shall do with advantage, I hope." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Clement's clarification of Pepys's position is the beginning of a longer discussion of it: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

12 May - "We sat till late, our chief business being the reconciling the business of the pieces of eight mentioned yesterday before the Duke of York, wherein I have got the day, and they are all brought over to what I said, of which I am proud." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"At noon, my physic having done working..."

I will resist wondering about that eventful morn with poor Creed...I will...

***
Poor Wayneman...Safe with Jane, lets hope.

Bob T  •  Link

last night’s physic worked and did give me a good stool, and then I rose and had three or four stools

So where did he have the first one? You don't think that he..............

JWB  •  Link

Hooke claimed the inverse square law of gravitational attraction v Newton. With this "physic" experiment, in that 3 pills wrought 12 w/ Hooke v 4 w/Pepys, I think we can conclude that Hooke was full of it.

TerryF  •  Link

"a good stool, and then...had three or four stools"

Does the vaguery of the count suggest....?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Heaven...

"Now look..." Bess frowns. "Now they're debating about your movements. Next it'll be my ... I warned you about these 21st century types, Sam'l."

Suppose it's best not to let her see those other days, Sam notes to himself.

dirk  •  Link

The Rev. Josselin's diary today:

"A sad wet afternoon. lord in mercy remember us for good, the lord good to me in the word, company of friends, although much griped in my bowels. news as if the Portugal near Lisbon had utterly routed the Spanish army which was confirmed to be done near Evora. on May. 29. in which all the English did like themselves valiantly"

Joe  •  Link

Stools, 7£, Waynman.... I guess the theme for today is expulsion.

AussieRene  •  Link

Given the interest in Sam's stools, the following link gives you a history of what people, including Samuel, may have used as toilet paper.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...yet however I am troubled to see that I can hardly promise myself to lay up much from month’s end to month’s end, about 4l. or 5l. at most, one month with another, without some extraordinary gettings, but I must and I hope I shall continue to have a care of my own expenses."

You're putting me on...Creed.

What? And you work for me? In my administration?...Charles.

Samuel. It is the fees you get outside the job...Sandwich, patiently.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha...Batten and Penn.

Didn't ye read Chapter 25?...Hugh Aubry, (The Way to Grow Rich).

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Oops...Hugh Audley's "Way to Be Rich"

Don McCahill  •  Link

telling me how the Joyces do make themselves fine clothes against Mary is brought to bed

Okay, this one has me totally at sea. I know Mary brought to bed means her pregnancy, but what does this have to do with making fine clothes?

jeannine  •  Link

"telling me how the Joyces do make themselves fine clothes against Mary is brought to bed"
Don, I think that Sam is using the definition of "against" to mean "in preparation of" so that the Joyces are making fine clothes in preparation of the birth and most likely the christening of Mary's baby. I don't have the OED so I'm not exactly sure of the usage during Sam's time, so others may know more or have a better interpretation.

Ant  •  Link

"walked up and down my chamber"

...the Aztec two-step, perchance ? Sorry.

TerryF  •  Link

"reading in Cicero and other books of good discourse."

I wonder what of Cicero they were reading?
We know that during the time Harry Vane was executed, a year ago, Samuel might have reread Cicero’s Second Oration against Catiline, concerning which see language hat's annote http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
presumably from a volume of Cicero's Orations in Latin http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ci…. The L&M Index also indicates Pepys read/owned Cicero's *Works*, though the locus they cite for it (4/410 & n. 4) lists other books, but none by Cicero.

Can Michael Robinson or another peritus on Pepys's books shed any light on today's (or any other day's) readings of Cicero, who has his own page http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

dirk  •  Link

Cicero & discourse

On the role of rhetoric in Sam's world:

"Twentieth century readers and writers, of course, believe that the literary process is essentially separate from the ordinary transactions of life, and the humanists' assumption is somewhat difficult for us to grasp. It is alien to us, for instance, to think of the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury as legitimately within the area addressed by a theory of literature. [...] And yet, in 1610 [...] when Lord Salisbury, Lord Treasurer of England, needed to inform the king about the state of royal finances, he wrote a literary treatise modeled explicitly on the orations of Cicero. And Salisbury's chief assistant, Sir Julius Caesar, Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote his report to Salisbury in the form of a humanist dialogue modelled on Cicero's De Oratore. [...]"the varied uses of everyday life" offered precisely the situation within which literature was most genuinely literary, and poets based their particular apologia on their claims to be able to improve the normal transactions of everyday experience by making society more eloquent and individuals more virtuous."

Source:
On Thomas Wilson's (1524-1581) "Introduction to The Art of Rhetoric"
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~nsharp…

TerryF  •  Link

"So to the reading my vows seriously"

Methinks this is the first time he has so writ, and its provocation is a 7l. deficit month over month, but he knew it was coming, so what's the problem here? Apparently a willingness to forego the long-term pain for petty short-term pleasures - and with the long-term responsibilities he bears, and not just for himself, that is serious indeed.

Bradford  •  Link

Jeannine's interpretation of Pepys's use of "against" is exactly right. (It's cropped up in discussion before, but as a preposition-of-sorts, it's not been added to the Glossary as many nouns and verbs have.) "My wife baked several mince pies against Christmas" would be another typical usage.

Patricia  •  Link

Why, Lord, Why? I can just picture the maid, on emptying the chamber pot, talking to Sam like people talk to little kids--"Did we do big poops today? Oh, what a clever boy!"
Sam needs some physic for his OCD.

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

On Tuesday, June 30, 1663, Pepys says, "My wife in the country with Ashwell, her woman, with my father; myself at home with W. Hewer and my cook-maid Hannah, my boy Wayneman being lately run away from me."

Hannah was the heroic cook (and cleaner-up-after) of the 4 April 1663 feast in honor of Pepys' 1658 stone-cutting, for which she earned a 12d. tip: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…...

Apparently she makes possets worthy of note too.

Third Reading

Log in to post an annotation.

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