Wednesday 15 July 1663

Up and all the morning at the office, among other things with Cooper the Purveyor, whose dullness in his proceeding in his work I was vexed at, and find that though he understands it may be as much as other men that profess skill in timber, yet I perceive that many things, they do by rote, and very dully.

Thence home to dinner, whither Captain Grove came and dined with me, he going into the country to-day; among other discourse he told me of discourse very much to my honour, both as to my care and ability, happening at the Duke of Albemarle’s table the other day, both from the Duke, and the Duchess themselves; and how I paid so much a year to him whose place it was of right, and that Mr. Coventry did report thus of me; which was greatly to my content, knowing how against their minds I was brought into the Navy.

Thence by water to Westminster, and there spent a good deal of time walking in the Hall, which is going to be repaired, and, God forgive me, had a mind to have got Mrs. Lane abroad, or fallen in with any woman else (in that hot humour). But it so happened she could not go out, nor I meet with any body else, and so I walked homeward, and in my way did many and great businesses of my own at the Temple among my lawyers and others to my great content, thanking God that I did not fall into any company to occasion spending time and money. To supper, and then to a little viall and to bed, sporting in my fancy with the Queen.

25 Annotations

First Reading

Australian Susan  •  Link

Mrs Stewart one day, then the Queen...And when does Bess get back?

Bradford  •  Link

Thank goodness Joan wasn't Pope then, or she'd have been the only higher-ranking woman left in the world for Pepys to aspire to.
(See the Grimms' "The Fisherman and His Wife.")

John M  •  Link

"and to bed, sporting in my fancy with the Queen"

If Sam writes his journal before bed then "sporting in my fancy with the Queen" must have been added the morning after. Sam beat Australian Susan to the first annotation by over 300 years.

TerryF  •  Link

"knowing how against their minds I was brought into the Navy."

Recall 25 June 1660 - "Thence to the Admiralty, where I met with Mr. Turner of the Navy-office, who did look after the place of Clerk of the Acts. He was very civil to me, and I to him, and shall be so. There came a letter from my Lady Monk to my Lord about it this evening, but he refused to come to her, but meeting in White Hall, with Sir Thomas Clarges, her brother, my Lord returned answer, that he could not desist in my business; and that he believed that General Monk would take it ill if my Lord should name the officers in his army; and therefore he desired to have the naming of one officer in the fleet" http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

29 June 1660 "I got my warrant from the Duke to be Clerk of the Acts."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"sporting in my fancy with the Queen"
Isn't that high treason?

Aqua  •  Link

"...thanking God that I did not fall into any company to occasion spending time and money...."
"...then to a little viall ..." not a little Phial
hi treason, nae, just a case of sedatious seditious lust
Sam remembers his Ovid, Ars Amatoria, II,358
or Ovid, Remedia Amoris, 343

Conrad  •  Link

It appears he invited Mrs Lane to go abroad with him, but she declined for an unknown reason, & as he was in a state of 'hot humour',which luckily,as it turns out,he was not able to act upon as he didn't meet with any available,time consuming & expensive,ladies & anyway he had 'great businesses' to do at the Temple, which was just as well, God forgive him!

John M  •  Link

"and how I paid so much a year to him whose place it was of right"

Can anyone explain this please?

Xjy  •  Link

“and how I paid so much a year to him whose place it was of right”
This is the old sinecure (Latin for without care) system. Some high-up gets the official designation for the post and can entitle himself whatever it is (master of the royal lottery or whatever), and gets the official salary or perks. However the job is actually done by some other poor bastard. Now, either this other poor bastard is paid by the official official out of his salary, usually a pittance, or if the poor bastard is lucky (like Sam) he can rent the post by paying the official official some money and trying to make a profit on the salary and perks which now come to him instead.
In Italy (until very recently - 1980s at least - and maybe still, for all I know) the first variant was used in schools a lot. The official teacher paid a pittance to some poor bastard of a student to do the actual work...

Xjy  •  Link

Sam's horny - horny, horny, horny...
Sam's horny tonite...

Robert Gertz  •  Link

“and how I paid so much a year to him whose place it was of right”

Sam's referring to his payoff of old Barlow, 100L per year, that he set up when he took the Clerkship.
***

Apparently Queen Cathy has indeed been looking pretty recently...

Turnabout would be fair play...And if our boy is not the tallest, handsomest, wealthiest thing in England, nobody can match him for enthusiasm and fascinating storytelling. Cathy, you could do worse.

Purgatory...

"And look at this entry." Catherine grins as Charles fumes a bit.

"The little fellow really liked me..." Beam... "And what a nice place in history his work has made for..."

"Oh, shut up about that little clerk!"

"Of course Mr. Evelyn's secret diary...The one he burned before his death...Was even better about me." Another grin.

***

JWB  •  Link

Cooper...do by rote

Reminds me of Herman Woulk's line that goes something like: "The Navy was developed by geniuses to be operated by idiots".

JWB  •  Link

That's Herman Wouk, "The Caine Mutiny": "US Navy as 'a machine designed by a genius to be run by an idiot'".

TerryF  •  Link

Exact quotation from "The Caine Mutiny" -

"The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots." http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/cai…

Sparknotes observation: "Thomas Keefer makes this observation to Willie Keith while the two are sitting in the wardroom decoding messages. The quotation sums up Keefer's view of the Navy, and explains why he is so offended by the Navy. Keefer is a generous, smart person, employed in a task that a monkey could perform. When Keefer is later promoted to a position of command, however, he performs terribly, which suggests that even smart men are not automatically fit for command."

Not OT methinks. This sounds like a standard complaint in any bureacracy, not just the (fictional) USN; there were Keefers in the 17th century also.

Aqua  •  Link

Human abilities come in differing shades of do, those that do and those that get others to do then there be those that say they can, but cannot when the veneer peels off. When the first two be in the same package, then ye have a can do.
Proof of leadership only becomes obvious when the sparks hit the fan, and feathers be lost. There be many tales of goldern covered ones suddenly losing it when catastrophe hits.
'Tis why Charles be no fool, proved by not axing all his senior tars, those that were sailing by the seat of their pants for that dreadful upstart Cromwell, if he had canned all his army and navy and put in charge his agreeing ones, history would be very different.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Sam in 1660 goes through a number of bureaucratic hoops in order to secure his job, but then finds that the Pre-Commonwealth period man, Barlow is still alive and claiming the job!! AArgh! But our lad wins the day by paying Barlow (who is v. old) a portion of his salary, which Barlow accepts. Phew! Job got, happiness reigns and Sam scampers off to make sure he gets the Navy Office loding he has set his heart on. See http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

David Goldfarb  •  Link

It's not clear that the last line was added later: from things said in previous entries it seems that Sam may let several days go by and then update his journal all at once.

Kevin Peter  •  Link

As I understand it, back when Charles I was still king, Dennis Fleming and Thomas Barlow were jointly appointed as Clerk of the Acts. During the civil war, they were replaced by someone during the Cromwell administration. When Charles II came back, many of the Cromwellians got kicked out of their offices, including whoever was last Clerk of the Acts.

Since Dennis Fleming is now deceased, but Thomas Barlow is still living, Barlow now has a legitimate claim the the office of Clerk of the Acts, and could contest Sam's appointment, demanding to get his old job back. Barlow, however, is feeble and getting on in years, so he isn't up to the responsibilities of Clerk of the Acts.

So Sam cuts a deal with Barlow where Sam becomes Clerk of the Acts, but Barlow gets a yearly annuity (I think it was about a third of the Clerk's salary) paid by Sam for as long as Sam remains Clerk and Barlow continues to live.

Pepys figures Barlow won't live much longer, making this a good deal for nice job. So this is the yearly payment Sam makes "to him whose place it was of right", which is Barlow.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

In Commons this day:

Supply bill
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

The Question being put, That the Bill do pass;

It was resolved in the Affirmative, Nemine contradicente.

Resolved, That the Title shall be, An Act for granting Four intire Subsidies to his Majesty, by the Temporalty.

Ordered, That Sir Wm. Compton do carry up the Bill to the Lords.

Jmacg  •  Link

>...and to bed, sporting in my fancy with the Queen.

Is he saying he was wanking in bed, inspired by the Queen?

Gerald Berg  •  Link

The Queen? Really? Not Lady Castlemaine?

What do you call sporting with the Queen?

An insurrection!

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The commonwealth of England had claimed the right, in 1651, to appoint a governor for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, with a provincial council, to be elected by the freeholders and accepted by himself. After the restoration an agent was sent to England, who obtained this charter from Charles II.

Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations - July 15, 1663

CHARLES THE SECOND, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to all to whome these presents shall come, greeting: Whereas wee have been informed, by the humble petition of our trustie and well beloved subject, John Clarke, on the behalf of Benjamine Arnold, William Brenton, William Codington, Nicholas Easton, William Boulston, John Porter, John Smith, Samuell Gorton, John Weeks, Roger Williams, Thomas Olnie, Gregorie Dexter, John Cogeshall, Joseph Clarke, Randall Holden, John Greene, John Roome, Samuell Wildbore, William Ffield, James Barker, Richard Tew, Thomas Harris, and William Dyre, and the rest of the purchasers and ffree inhabitants of our island, called Rhode-Island, and the rest of the colonie of Providence Plantations, in the Narragansett Bay, in New-England, in America,... https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_…

The Rhode Island Royal Charter provided royal recognition to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, approved by England's King Charles II in July 1663. It outlined many freedoms for the inhabitants of Rhode Island and was the guiding document of the colony's government (and that of the state later) over a period of 180 years.

The charter contains unique provisions which make it significantly different from the charters granted to the other colonies. It gave the colonists freedom to elect their own governor and write their own laws, within very broad guidelines, and also stipulated that no person residing in Rhode Island could be "molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for any differences in opinion in matters of religion".

The charter was not replaced until 1843, after serving for nearly two centuries as the guiding force of the colony and then the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Historian Thomas Bicknell described it as "the grandest instrument of human liberty ever constructed".[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rho…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Agent John Clarke drafted the Rhode Island Royal Charter and Charles II approved it onWednesday, July 15, 1663. The charter granted unprecedented religious freedom in Rhode Island and remained in effect for 180 years.

One of the instrumental backstories about Rhode Island's quests for independence from those dedicated Puritans:

https://www.newenglandhistoricals…

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