Sunday 5 July 1663

(Lord’s day). Lady Batten had sent twice to invite me to go with them to Walthamstow to-day, Mrs. Martha being married already this morning to Mr. Castle, at this parish church. I could not rise soon enough to go with them, but got myself ready, and so to Games’s, where I got a horse and rode thither very pleasantly, only coming to make water I found a stopping, which makes me fearful of my old pain.

Being come thither, I was well received, and had two pair of gloves, as the rest, and walked up and down with my Lady in the garden, she mighty kind to me, and I have the way to please her.

A good dinner and merry, but methinks none of the kindness nor bridall respect between the bridegroom and bride, that was between my wife and I, but as persons that marry purely for convenience.

After dinner to church by coach, and there my Lady, Mrs. Turner, Mrs. Lemon, and I only, we, in spite to one another, kept one another awake; and sometimes I read in my book of Latin plays, which I took in my pocket, thinking to have walked it.

An old doting parson preached. So home again, and by and by up and homewards, calling in our way (Sir J. Minnes and I only) at Mr. Batten’s (who with his lady and child went in another coach by us), which is a very pretty house, and himself in all things within and without very ingenious, and I find a very fine study and good books.

So set out, Sir J. Minnes and I in his coach together, talking all the way of chymistry, wherein he do know something, at least, seems so to me, that cannot correct him, Mr. Batten’s man riding my horse, and so home and to my office a while to read my vows, then home to prayers and to bed.

35 Annotations

First Reading

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"only coming to make water I found a stopping, which makes me fearful of my old pain."

Does this mean he passed a stone while peeing?

"she mighty kind to me, and I have the way to please her."

Do you now, Sam? Anyone care to speculate on exactly what he means by this?

Bradford  •  Link

I'll pass on that, but what about the scene in church?---where "my Lady, Mrs. Turner, Mrs. Lemon, and I only, we, in spite to one another, kept one another awake." Given that they had to keep a decent silence, what did they do to achieve this? Pinch each other?

daniel  •  Link

"“my Lady, Mrs. Turner, Mrs. Lemon, and I only, we, in spite to one another, "

I suppose so, Bradford, or poked each other or coughed in a middle-voice. It is a charming image in its candor.

TerryF  •  Link

"coming to make water I found a stopping"

This sounds he felt the urge to urinate, but, in the event, couldn't, or couldn't completely.

TerryF  •  Link

"had two pair of gloves, as the rest"

23 January 1661/62 - "Pauline on Mon 24 Jan 2005, 6:25 pm | Link
"choosing our gloves"
Sounded like a custom such as the providing of mourning clothes or mourning rings. Found the following with a quick google:

“The lovely custom of distributing Wedding Favors has been around since ancient times. In the the late 17th century, guests were given favors such as scarves, garters and gloves.”
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"but as persons that marry purely for convenience"
Beth and I, we married for Love!Mrs Martha and Mr Castle are marrying for convenience and that is exactly what my brother Tom should do.

jeannine  •  Link

"kept one another awake; and sometimes I read in my book of Latin plays, which I took in my pocket, thinking to have walked it. An old doting parson preached. "...

Sam's Prayer

When sermons are long and they’re boring
Dull words all around me are pouring
I start counting sheep
To catch up on my sleep
And pray that I don’t get caught snoring

jeannine  •  Link

"methinks none of the kindness nor bridall respect between the bridegroom and bride..."
Sam answers the issue here later on without even knowing it -obviously what's missing in this new marriage is the "chymistry".
Sounds to me that he is also missing his wife more and more as she is away-absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: "This sounds he felt the urge to urinate, but, in the event, couldn’t, or couldn’t completely."

I thought of that too, Terry, but the "I found a..." seemed strange phrasing to me. I thought perhaps a stone could be called a stopping, since it might stop-up your urethra. Then again, you may very well be right. Language Hat, others...?

dirk  •  Link

"my book of Latin plays, which I took in my pocket, thinking to have walked it"

I have absolutely no clue what Sam means here by "thinking to have walked it". Anyone?

TerryF  •  Link

“my book of Latin plays, which I took in my pocket, thinking to have walked it”

I took to mean he thought he would read it as he walked.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"A good dinner and merry, but methinks none of the kindness nor bridall respect between the bridegroom and bride, that was between my wife and I, but as persons that marry purely for convenience."

No wild passion causing one to throw over all thoughts of commonsense and dowry there, eh Samuel ole boy?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...walked up and down with my Lady in the garden, she mighty kind to me, and I have the way to please her."

Right, nothing like groveling deferrence to win milady's heart.

in Aqua epistula  •  Link

Reading a little book of Latin. Amo amas I loved a lass or be it I do like the lass.
In the good old days, no cell phone stuck in ear listening to the craze of mars, one would enjoy little books [Sam had many when thy looks into his cabinette] for reading around the quad. Priests and other Reverend Brethern still have that habit to consult their version of the Bible on a daily basis [except where it be on a CD].

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Eh, so Mr. Pepys, do tell us about your own wedding to that...(brittle smile) Pretty little half-French...Wife of yours. I hear tell it was a rather charming little bit of a thing." Lady Batten smiles.

"Oh, a simple thing, my Lady, Bess' father, the Sieur de St. Michel, being temporarily embarrassed by his earnest strivings for the safety of his fellow French Protestants. But we did manage to amuse ourselves."

Cut to shot of wild conga line...Young Sam, young Bess, the Hunts, Jane Turner, Balty, a slightly reluctant John and Maggie, Jack Cade, other clerks and their wives, etc from the Exchequer...Several musical friends of Sam's and John's up front making those strings and things zing! "There's a party goin' on right here!" Cade hops on table. "A celebration to last the year..." Sam whirling a howlingly gleeful Bess round...Clerks and their ladies doing rather good Travolta imitations.

"All right, lets 'ave another take the stage!" Cade...

"Bess!! Bess!!! Bess!!!!"

A reluctant Bess is hoisted on table...Demure curtsy to all, beam to new husband. Wink to Cade and clerks who hoist Sam to table beside her.

"Good Monsieur husband, translate..."

(La Vie En Rose)
Bess (French)/Sam (English):

"Des yeux qui font baisser les miens"
"The eyes that make mine lower"

"Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche"
"A laughter that gets lost on his mouth"

"Voilà le portrait sans retouches"
"There is the portrait without retouchings"

"De l'homme auquel j'appartiens"
"Of the man whom I belong to..."

"Quand il me prend...dans ses bras"
"When he takes me in his arms"

"Il me parle tout bas"
"He speaks me all bottom" (Whoa!...cheer from Cade)

"Je vois la vie en rose"
"I see life in rose (pink)"

"Il me dit des mots d'amour"
"He tells me words of love"

"Des mots de tous les jours"
"The words of every day"

"Et ça m'fait quelque chose"
"Are made for me the same thing"

"Il est entré dans mon coeur"
"He entered into my heart"

"Une part de bonheur"
"A part of happiness"

"Dont je connais la cause"
"Of which I know the cause"

"C'est lui pour moi, moi pour lui, dans la vie"
"It's he for me, me for him, in life"
(Belts to cheers)
"Il me l'a dit"
"He told it to me"
"\l'a juré"
"\swore he"

"\pour la vie..."
"\for life"

"Quand il me prend dans ses bras"
"When he takes me in his arms"

"Il me parle tout bas"
"He speaks me all bottom" (John frowns, Maggie stares)

"Je vois la vie en rose"
"I see life in rose (pink)"

"Et dès que je t'aperçois"
"And as soon as I see him"

"Alors je sens dans moi"
"Then I feel in me"

"Mon coeur qui bat..."
"My heart...that beats..."
Demure curtsy to cheers...

"Yes..." Sam smiles to my Lady Batten. "Quite a charming little time we had."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Sir John Minnes was a chemist...Sir John is no more.

For what he thought was H20...
Was H2SO4...

TerryF  •  Link

"talking all the way of chymistry"

I wonder what they talked about *specifically*.

In 1661 Robert Boyle had published ‘The Skeptical Chymist’ (1661), "in which he showed that old teachings should not be blindly accepted, and whose work included describing how gases are atoms with lots of empty space between them, accounting for their compressibility." http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webproj…

Pepys and Mennes didn't read the digital version of the work online.
http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/…

Great fun, Robert: catchy and bilingually inclusive!

TerryF  •  Link

The etext online is a facsimile version, quite readable.

Xjy  •  Link

"Convenience" and reading Latin plays in church
Wonder if this is more like French "convenance" - ie convention - than our usual meaning of the word.
As for the plays in church, Sam is really having a day off here. Up to mischief with the girls, and reading some bawdy comedy.
Robert Graves mentions how when he was at school (one of the big publics) he'd take a volume bound to look like a prayer book into chapel with him. His favourite during prayers was the Satyricon.
Even I my humble self did similar stuff in the sixth form standing at t'back of t'hall, reading my Rouge et noir Livre de poche during assembly.
It's fun during a staff meeting too.
As is making "notes" in shorthand that no-one else can read. This is when learning stuff by heart really comes into its own...

Don McCahill  •  Link

H2SO4

For those of us not as chemically astute as Robert, this is apparently the formula for sulpheric acid. (I googled it.) Makes the poesy more apt when you know that.

Paul Dyson  •  Link

H2SO4

Sam, and possibly Sir John too, might have enjoyed the Flanders and Swan dialogue-cum-song, to be found at the following link - though it's better with the music.

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cach…

in Aqua epistula  •  Link

"... Mrs. Martha being married already this morning to Mr. Castle, at this parish church. I could not rise soon enough to go with them, but got myself ready,..." or was it earlier,
"... now Mr. Castle and Mrs. Martha Batten do own themselves to be married, and have been this fortnight. Much good may it do him, for ..."

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
6 week delay???????
Churched or not churched or would that be by a Cromwellian edict that be no longer valid, to get the Vicars ok to make Society happy.
So living in Sin, be not a modern gesture of the 20th Century. Twas done but the Common laws, be not good enough for ensuring that any offspring be able to get the heritage, note that Charlie two would like to invoke the Common law for his eldest to enjoy the benefits of being churched, rather than unchurche as be a swinging Batchelor..
When thee invoke one set of laws, the ones that thee don't agree with, will hit thee beneath the belt or backside.
Did they Castle and Mistress Martha, get hitched officially to get some loot for the house, and did the maids of the Bride get any benefits to share with the grooms men.

Din nae forget strong waters, vitae aquae. remember a test for sulphuric acid is that it spits when it is dropped on water.

Pedro  •  Link

“talking all the way of chymistry”

As Sam has recently been reading “The Way to be Rich” by Audley, perhaps they were talking of how to turn some of the Navy base metal to gold, or the search for the “Stone”.

Newton and Boyle were still into alquemy?

Robert Boyle: the secret alchemist

http://physicsweb.org/articles/re…

Martin King  •  Link

In Aqua epistula should be wary he does not suffer the same fate as Sir John Minnes. The spitting occurs when water is added to the acid, not the other way round. Always add acid to water.

in altae fossae  •  Link

In Aqua epistula thanks Martin King for the acid test, it be a problem when the mind fails the etching test, no wonder the lasses never came to see my home maid etchings.. mea aes.

GrahamT  •  Link

H2SO4:
The mnemonic I was taught at school - to warn us not to drink anything in the chemistry lab, and remind us of the formulae of two common liquids - was:

Johnny's dead,
and is no more,
for what he thought was H2O,
was H2SO4.

By the way, litmus paper is a better test for an acid than dropping one unknown liquid into another. Glycerine in water - no problems; Glycerine in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid - do not shake, do not drop, leave the building quickly and quietly.

Rashers  •  Link

There's a bit missing from the start of this entry - it should be "Lay, being weary and not very well last night, long asleep. Anon, about 7 a-clock, the maid calls me, telling me that my Lady Batten..."

alta turpis fossa or caput  •  Link

G T. OED quotes that oil of Vitriol [pre 1790 Lavoisier's Elem. Chem]
1605 TIMME Quersit. I. ix. 37 Some of these salts are bytter as wormewood, some sharpe as vitriolls.
1656 J. SMITH Pract. Physick 6 They that drink of them purge forth black excrements by reason of the vitrials.
1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. I. 21 Comatous children are..cured by Vomitive Salt of Vitriol

Hence the the modern warning in the old chem lab.

cgs  •  Link

errata 'in altae fossae ' it be an rudimentary error that warrants one to be interred alta fossa never to be ex fossa.

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

✹ TerryF on 6 Jul 2006 • Link • Flag
“my book of Latin plays, which I took in my pocket, thinking to have walked it” -- I took to mean he thought he would read it as he walked.

I thought this too, Terry, until I remembered that Pepys had hired a horse. Perhaps he was going to read the book as the horse ambled home? Or maybe he planned to walk the 6 miles to Walthamstow, before realizing he didn't have enough time and hired the horse. Either way, with all the mud and ruts, I think it better to look where you are going. The road would not have been flat like a paved courtyard.

(He sounds like one of our distracted pedestrians and drivers! Did Parliament make legislation on the subject?)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

in Aqua epistula asks about the six week delay between Mrs. Martha confessing to her step-father and making the relationship official. I believe that's how long it takes to get the Banns read in the Anglican church. Gives time for the news to spread and former spouses to come forward to stop bigamy from taking place.

JayW  •  Link

Thinking to have walked it ..... Sam was going to church by coach so I took this to mean that he had expected to walk instead and would have read his book on the way to church and back.

Gerald Berg  •  Link

R Gertz "a little grovelling" is a misinterpretation I feel.

Isn't this a kind of look see for Pepys into what Batten graft results in? Good luck has it, he gets along with the man's wife. I recall it happening on another occasion with milady.

The boat, she sails on.

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