Monday 10 August 1663

Up, though not so early this summer as I did all the last, for which I am sorry, and though late am resolved to get up betimes before the season of rising be quite past. To my office to fit myself to wait on the Duke this day.

By and by by water to White Hall, and so to St. James’s, and anon called into the Duke’s chamber, and being dressed we were all as usual taken in with him and discoursed of our matters, and that being done, he walked, and I in the company with him, to White Hall, and there he took barge for Woolwich, and, I up to the Committee of Tangier, where my Lord Sandwich, my Lord Peterborough, (whom I have not seen before since his coming back,) Sir W. Compton, and Mr. Povy. Our discourse about supplying my Lord Teviott with money, wherein I am sorry to see, though they do not care for him, yet they are willing to let him for civility and compliment only have money almost without expecting any account of it; but by this means, he being such a cunning fellow as he is, the King is like to pay dear for our courtiers’ ceremony. Thence by coach with my Lords Peterborough and Sandwich to my Lord Peterborough’s house; and there, after an hour’s looking over some fine books of the Italian buildings, with fine cuts; and also my Lord Peterborough’s bowes and arrows, of which he is a great lover, we sat down to dinner, my Lady coming down to dinner also, and there being Mr. Williamson, that belongs to Sir H. Bennet, whom I find a pretty understanding and accomplished man, but a little conceited.

After dinner I took leave and went to Greatorex’s, whom I found in his garden, and set him to work upon my ruler, to engrave an almanac and other things upon the brasses of it, which a little before night he did, but the latter part he slubbered over, that I must get him to do it over better, or else I shall not fancy my rule, which is such a folly that I am come to now, that whereas before my delight was in multitude of books, and spending money in that and buying alway of other things, now that I am become a better husband, and have left off buying, now my delight is in the neatness of everything, and so cannot be pleased with anything unless it be very neat, which is a strange folly.

Hither came W. Howe about business, and he and I had a great deal of discourse about my Lord Sandwich, and I find by him that my Lord do dote upon one of the daughters of Mrs. [Becke] where he lies, so that he spends his time and money upon her. He tells me she is a woman of a very bad fame and very impudent, and has told my Lord so, yet for all that my Lord do spend all his evenings with her, though he be at court in the day time, and that the world do take notice of it, and that Pickering is only there as a blind, that the world may think that my Lord spends his time with him when he do worse, and that hence it is that my Lord has no more mind to go into the country than he has. In fine, I perceive my Lord is dabbling with this wench, for which I am sorry, though I do not wonder at it, being a man amorous enough, and now begins to allow himself the liberty that he says every body else at Court takes.

Here I am told that my Lord Bristoll is either fled or concealed himself; having been sent for to the King, it is believed to be sent to the Tower, but he is gone out of the way.

Yesterday, I am told also, that Sir J. Lenthall, in Southwarke, did apprehend about one hundred Quakers, and other such people, and hath sent some of them to the gaole at Kingston, it being now the time of the Assizes.

Hence home and examined a piece of, Latin of Will’s with my brother, and so to prayers and to bed.

This evening I had a letter from my father that says that my wife will come to town this week, at which I wonder that she should come to town without my knowing more of it. But I find they have lived very ill together since she went, and I must use all the brains I have to bring her to any good when she do come home, which I fear will be hard to do, and do much disgust me the thoughts of it.

41 Annotations

First Reading

TerryF  •  Link

"pay Lord Peterborough" should be "My Lord Peterborough" say L&M

"(whom I have not seen before since his coming back)" from Tangier, where he's just finished a term as governor, he having been succeeded by Lord Andrew Rutherford, Earl of Teviot

---------------------

"now that I am become a better husband"

this statement having only tangentially to do with his relationship with Elizabeth; as Xjy suggested yesterday, perhaps ADHD..

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"and so to prayers and to bed."

Methinks this has been done nightly of late as a model in diligence and self-disciple for brother John - to encourage him in his studies, &c.; but we will see....

Patricia  •  Link

"whereas before my delight was in multitude of books, and spending money in that and buying alway of other things, now that I am become a better husband, and have left off buying, now my delight is in the neatness of everything, and so cannot be pleased with anything unless it be very neat, which is a strange folly."
Pepys has just given a very neat description of OCD.

Patricia  •  Link

"I must use all the brains I have to bring her to any good when she do come home, which I fear will be hard to do, and do much disgust me the thoughts of it."
If it disgusts YOU, Sam, imagine how your poor wife feels about it!

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Remember, Sam's criteria for being a "better husband" are far different than ours ... neither he, nor many other men (or, I daresay, even some women) of the time would have given a second thought about the wife's point of view when it comes to their marital relations. The stunning thing about Sam and this Diary is his frank explanations (and, as far as he is able, his examinations) of his actions and underlying thoughts.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"for which I am sorry, and though late am resolved to get up betimes before the season of rising be quite past"

What a great glimpse into a time when the seasons and the availability of natural light determined the span and rhythms of people's lives...

("The Season of Rising" deserves to be a song or book title, I think...)

Bradford  •  Link

"anon called into the Duke’s chamber, and being dressed we were all as usual taken in with him and discoursed of our matters,"

Being dressed: what's the sense here? Did they all put on choir robes, or have their hair powdered? Or does it mean "dressed for court"?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"better husband..." Todd, I think Sam's referring to husbandry of his worldly goods. After all he already is the perfect 17th century husband maritally.

***
Ah, the idyllic summer of Brampton is almost over. And both poor John Sr and Bess ready to weep at the thought, no doubt.

***

"My Lord, I would not venture to criticize in any possible way but as your Lordship's most devoted servant and cousin I feel that the service I do owe to your Lordship requires that I..."

"Damnit, Pepys, what the hell are you trying to say? Out with it, man. Is it about Miss Becke? My god, Pepys, I only got going with her after hearing of your antics."

***

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...and now begins to allow himself the liberty that he says every body else at Court takes..."

Can he really be writing this with a straight face?

dirk  •  Link

John Evelyn visited Pett today, and saw the model ships too...

The diary:
"We returned by Sir Nortons, whose house is likewise in a park: This gent: is a worthy person and learned Critic espe[c]ialy in the Gr[eek]: & Heb[rew]: Passing [London] by Chattam we saw his Majesties Royal Navy, dined at Commissioner Pets[,] Master builder there, who shewed me his study & Models, with other curiosities belonging to his art, [he is] esteemed for the most skillfull Naupœgus [=Ship-builder] in the World: he has a prety Garden & banqueting house, potts, statu[e]s, Cypr[e]sses, resembling some villa about Rome; after a greate feast we rod[e] post to Graves-End, & sending the Coach to Lond[on], came by barge home that night:"

Larry Bunce  •  Link

some fine books of the Italian buildings, with fine cuts;

The word "cut" has survived in the world of printing to mean "illustration."
I had not thought of the word as quite this old, and now realize it originally meant a woodcut or envraving.

TerryF  •  Link

“now that I am become a better husband”

this statement having only tangentially to do with his relationship with Elizabeth, sc. how well he can/must stupport her. Now the other meaning of "better husband" will be tested as he wracks his brains over what to do when she comes to town, a prospect that does disgust him.

disgust
1598, from M.Fr. desgoust "strong dislike, repugnance," lit. "distaste," from desgouster "have a distaste for," from des- "opposite of" + gouster "taste," from L. gustare "to taste" (see gusto). Sense has strengthened over time, and subject and object have been reversed: cf. "It is not very palatable, which makes some disgust it" (1669), while the reverse sense of "to excite nausea" is attested from 1650. http://www.etymonline.com/index.p…

Why me? Why now? Now what?!

Australian Susan  •  Link

Dressed

I took that to mean that the Duke was dressed, so they could go in. The punctuation is not SP's remember.

Bryan M  •  Link

“anon called into the Duke’s chamber, and being dressed we were all as usual taken in with him and discoursed of our matters,”

Bradford, I took this to mean that when Sam and the other officers arrived at the Duke’s apartment, they found him up and ready to meet with them.

At the first of their Monday meetings on 8 September 1662, it was a different story: “and so up with Mr. Coventry to the Duke; who, after he was out of his bed, did send for us in; and, when he was quite ready, took us into his closet, and there told us that he do intend to renew the old custom for the Admirals to have their principal officers to meet them once a-week, to give them an account what they have done that week;”

Bergie  •  Link

"now that I am become a better husband, and have left off buying, now my delight is in the neatness of everything, and so cannot be pleased with anything unless it be very neat, which is a strange folly." I think he means he's become better at husbanding (i.e., managing, conserving) his money. Nothing to do with being a husband to his wife.

A touch of OCD, perhaps, and it puzzles him. But Patricia got there with the diagnosis before I did.

Xjy  •  Link

"husband" as in "husbandry"
This change of meaning needs emphasizing here!
The word is related to the Swedish "husbonde" "master" - from "house-living" ie someone who had his own place, usually a farm. "Bonde" came to mean peasant farmer. "Husbonde" was a better-off master peasant so to say, in charge of a household with farmhands etc. Medium or Big Peasant. Lots of pretty nasty kulak types in Swedish history, merging with the lower nobility. Landowners all...

tel  •  Link

yet they are willing to let him for civility and compliment only have money almost without expecting any account of it;
How like our own MP's and, especially, MEP's who are allowed all sorts of expenses without the embarrassment of having to provide evidence. Unfortunately it's the taxpayer, not the Queen, who foots the bill these days. (Sorry, slight anarchist rant).

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: "Can he really be writing this with a straight face?"

Do as I say, not as I do ... my Lord.

And thanks to Robert and all others for clearing up the meaning of "husband" in this context...

jeannine  •  Link

"Can he really be writing this with a straight face?”
My thought is that Sam would not consider his extra-marital sexual exploits in the same realm as that of Charles' court, or what he is pondering about Sandwich. The difference is that Sam's activity has been clandestine and "secret". It's probably NOT the sexual activity outside of marriage that Sam cares about, but rather how it looks when it's known about and made public that is at issue. Usually people who gossip (like Sam does) love to gossip ABOUT other people but HATE to be the target of gossip themselves, so hidden extra-maritial sex would fly, but public activity would not. Sam, as much as we admire him for other things, is all about moral appearances as opposed to being committed to it's actual practice.

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

- being dressed - Could this mean that the Duke was in the process of being dressed by his servants; we have seen before that this took quite a time and that meetings were held during it (the dressing).

Martha Rosen  •  Link

some fine books of the Italian bindings

Some lovely examples of 16th - 19th century British book bindings can be found here:

http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhi…

It is possible that "Italian bindings" refers to decorative half bands, which are "ridges across the spine of a book added between the sewing supports as a form of decoration, popular in Italian bookbinding of the 17th century." (http://lu.com/odlis/odlis_h.cfm)

TerryF  •  Link

Aldine style ( Italian style )
"A style of bookbinding originated by Aldus Manutius but not restricted to the books printed by Aldus or his family. Aldine bindings, which were produced during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, were characterized by the use of brown or red morocco; by solid-faced ornaments with no shading (which were similar to those used in printing the text); and by title or author in simple panels in the center of the upper cover, which could be read while the book lay on a shelf or table. Early examples of the Aldine style were tooled in blind with an outer frame and a center ornament. Possibly because of the Greek binders Aldus employed, as well as the fact that gold tooling (probably) originated in the Near East, Aldine tools display definite signs of Eastern origin. Early Italian bindings convey a consistent feeling of the shape and proportion of the book, which is demonstrated by: 1) the use of border and panel as schemes of design; 2) a remarkable sense of the value accorded ornamentation; 3) the areas of leather left undecorated; and 4) restraint in the decorative detail with the result that it was always in proper subordination to the overall effect of the embellishment. See PLATE IV . (124 , 172 ,280 , 334 )" http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/do…

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"fine books of the Italian buildings, with fine cuts"

"Buildings" is the text I read above or does L&M offer a correction to bindings? I had imagined Pepys convivially examining copies of Palladio, Vignola, Scamozzi or Serlio. However these do not have to be Italian in origin; Serlio appeared in English in 1611, translated by the publisher Robert Peake from the Dutch edition of 1606 in turn translated from the Flemish edition of 1553 which derived from the Venice edition of 1551.

Even if the texts are Italian the bindings might not be; few of the books Evelyn aquired in Italy retained, if they ever had, "Italian" bindings.

Curiously the first printing of any Palladio in English took place this year; Richard's edition of the First Book, London 1663.

TerryF  •  Link

Ah, Michael Robinson, you have found us out!

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Aldine style (Italian style )

The so called "Aldine" style of binding is particularly associated with Venice and classical texts. It appears to have much to do with particular owners or collectors considering themselves as Humanists, or wishing so to be thought by others. Hence its adoption, in various locations with dilutions and transformations, by some patrons across Europe in the early C 16th. There were many other styles of binding practiced in *Italy* at the time.

Mary  •  Link

L&M reads "fine books of the Italian buildings"

The bindings were probably also fine, but are not mentioned in the diary.

TerryF  •  Link

" There were many other styles of binding practiced in *Italy* at the time." Certamente!

Bradford  •  Link

Thanks to all for clarifying who what being dressed with what. Given the flexible syntax of the period, it behooves one to remember that attributive phrases (or whatever the hell they are called) can refer to another noun entirely rather than the one right beside it.

TerryF  •  Link

"the latter part [Greatorex] slubbered over"

slubbered

Nix re 26 Sunday 2003 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Slubbering (OED) —
That slubbers; working in a dirty or slovenly manner; showing haste and carelessness.
a1591 H. SMITH Serm. (1886) I. 314 The Jews abhorred the sacrifice for the slubbering priests. 1594 Zepheria ii, My slubbring pencil casts too grosse a matter. 1642 MILTON Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 325 Who ingrosse many pluralities under a non-resident and slubbring dispatch of soules. 1681 H. MORE Expos. Daniel Pref. 17 His Expositions are..so dilute, shallow and slubbering. 1731 FIELDING Grub St. Op. III. x, Go, and like a slub’ring Bess howl, Whilst at your griefs I’m quaffing. 1818 Sporting Mag. II. 89 A sort of scumming, smearing, slubbering way of sketching. 1854 A. E. BAKER Northampt. Gloss. s.v., A [slovenly] servant is called ?a slubbering thing?....

aqua  •  Link

budgeting [bougette] be the word :"...that I am become a better husband, and have left off buying, ..."
ME husbande= householder archaic also cultivate of soil, not the herder of females.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I am told also, that Sir J. Lenthall, in Southwarke, did apprehend about one hundred Quakers, and other such people, and hath sent some of them to the gaole at Kingston, it being now the time of the Assizes."

The arrests were made under the terms of a proclamation of 27 July, and in fear of the rising which later broke out, chiefly in Yorkshire and Northumberland, in the autumn (the Derwentdale Plot) [aka the Farnley Wood Plot and the Yorkshire Plot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far… ] Sir John Lenthall (brother of Speaker Lenthall) was Marshall of King's Bench Prison, and a very active J.P. (Per L&M footnote)

Bill  •  Link

“Sir J. Lenthall, in Southwarke, did apprehend about one hundred Quakers”

Sir John Lenthall was the elder brother of Speaker Lenthall, and uncle of the person of the same name, mentioned in the Diary, May, 21, 1660. He had been knighted as early as 1616, and was Marshal of the Marshalsea; and, in 1655, was placed in the Commission of the Peace for Surrey, by a special vote of the House of Commons, which explains his crusade against the Quakers. He died in 1668.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Bill  •  Link

"my Lord Bristoll is either fled or concealed himself; having been sent for to the King, it is believed to be sent to the Tower, but he is gone out of the way"

The following annotation gives David Hume's interpretation of this affair:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Ivan  •  Link

L & M reads "disquiet" not "disgust" concerning Sam's thoughts about keeping his wife subjugated!!

" I must use all the brains I have to bring her to any good when she doth come home, which I fear will be hard to do, and do much disquiet me the thoughts of it."

Elizabeth would no doubt be equally disquieted if she knew her husband's thinking.

arby  •  Link

Thanks Ivan, that makes more sense. I'm surprised nobody gave the L&M version ten years ago, that "disgust" really didn't sound right.

Rich  •  Link

It's cute how much Pepys fancies his new rule...Here's a good page of very early slide rules, from the Slide Rule Museum (note: it's not organized chronologically)

http://sliderulemuseum.com/Rariti…

john  •  Link

@Rich: Besides his delight in the actual instruments, his measuring rule is a good management tool. Recall how he checked the incoming wood (07 Aug) at Deptford on-the-spot, to the consternation of Pet and others.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘ . .. some fine books of the Italian buildings, with fine cuts . . ’

cut, n.2 < Old Germanic . .
. . 22. a. A design cut or engraved upon wood, copper, or steel; the impression from this; an engraving, a plate . .
1646   Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 258   Set forth in the Icons or Cuts of Martyrs by Cevallerius. 
1662   J. Evelyn Sculptura iii. 23   The Invention of Copper-cuts, and their Impressions.
1662   J. Evelyn Sculptura iv. 84   With some other cuts in wood known by his mark..All those excellent
. . 1695   London Gaz. No. 3131/3   The Cutts of the University..richly bound, and Printed in Folio at the Theatre . . ‘
………..
Re: ‘ . . the latter part [Greatorex] slubbered over . .

'slubber, v. < Dutch . .
. . 4. To run or skim over hurriedly and in a careless or slovenly manner . . In very common use in the 17th century.
1649   W. Blith Eng. Improver xiv. 80,   I dare say, one Acre of Corne thus throughly husbanded, may be worth two Acres, nay three, slubbered over.
1670   R. Baxter Duty Heavenly Medit. 23   Which may be lost by hasty breaking off, and slubbering over so great a business . . ‘
………..
(OED)

Third Reading

Irish Susan  •  Link

Samuel has become a better husband of his resources, not of his wife.

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