Wednesday 2 September 1663

Up betimes and to my office, and thence with Sir J. Minnes by coach to White Hall, where met us Sir W. Batten, and there staid by the Council Chamber till the Lords called us in, being appointed four days ago to attend them with an account of the riott among the seamen the other day, when Sir J. Minnes did as like a coxcomb as ever I saw any man speak in my life, and so we were dismissed, they making nothing almost of the matter. We staid long without, till by and by my Lord Mayor comes, who also was commanded to be there, and he having, we not being within with him, an admonition from the Lords to take better care of preserving the peace, we joyned with him, and the Lords having commanded Sir J. Minnes to prosecute the fellows for the riott, we rode along with my Lord Mayor in his coach to the Sessions House in the Old Bayley, where the Sessions are now sitting. Here I heard two or three ordinary tryalls, among others one (which, they say, is very common now-a-days, and therefore in my now taking of mayds I resolve to look to have some body to answer for them) a woman that went and was indicted by four names for entering herself a cookemayde to a gentleman that prosecuted her there, and after 3 days run away with a silver tankard, a porringer of silver, and a couple of spoons, and being now found is found guilty, and likely will be hanged.

By and by up to dinner with my Lord Mayor and the Aldermen, and a very great dinner and most excellent venison, but it almost made me sick by not daring to drink wine. After dinner into a withdrawing room; and there we talked, among other things, of the Lord Mayor’s sword. They tell me this sword, they believe, is at least a hundred or two hundred years old; and another that he hath, which is called the Black Sword, which the Lord Mayor wears when he mournes, but properly is their Lenten sword to wear upon Good Friday and other Lent days, is older than that. Thence I, leaving Sir J. Minnes to look after his indictment drawing up, I home by water, and there found my wife mightily pleased with a present of shells, fine shells given her by Captain Hickes, and so she and I up and look them over, and indeed they are very pleasant ones. By and by in comes Mr. Lewellin, lately come from Ireland, to see me, and he tells me how the English interest falls mightily there, the Irish party being too great, so that most of the old rebells are found innocent, and their lands, which were forfeited and bought or given to the English, are restored to them; which gives great discontent there among the English.

He being gone, I to my office, where late, putting things in order, and so home to supper and to bed. Going through the City, my Lord Mayor told me how the piller set up by Exeter House is only to show where the pipes of water run to the City; and observed that this City is as well watered as any city in the world, and that the bringing the water to the City hath cost it first and last above 300,000l.; but by the new building, and the building of St. James’s by my Lord St. Albans,1 which is now about (and which the City stomach I perceive highly, but dare not oppose it), were it now to be done, it would not be done for a million of money.

31 Annotations

First Reading

TerryF  •  Link

Very pleased with the Lord Mayor today, but not 6 mos. ago -

17 March 1662/63 -"my Lord Mayor I find to be a talking, bragging Bufflehead, a fellow that would be thought to have led all the City in the great business of bringing in the King, and that nobody understood his plots, and the dark lanthorn he walked by; but led them and plowed with them as oxen and asses (his own words) to do what he had a mind when in every discourse I observe him to be as very a coxcomb as I could have thought had been in the City." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

dirk  •  Link

John Evelyn's diary today...

"I went home."

:-)

Michael Robinson  •  Link

City of London Swords

"A BBC news item which looks at London's historic past with the presentation to the City of London of a sword, a replica of the City's seventeenth century Sword of State. "

http://www.birth-of-tv.org/birth/…

Aqua  •  Link

I be so pleased that Justice be sure and swift, no hanging around mopeing about ones fate, no trying to find a publick defender, no wasteing of monies on room and bored, expecting a good Jury, whom all be men of substance, having a worth valued at least 20 quid a year from property, who can apprecate the loss of service and incidental items "...after 3 days run away with a silver tankard, a porringer of silver, and a couple of spoons..."
Poor Mayde had good taste, but did not have enough time to enjoy her pease and quaff.

TerryF  •  Link

One who stole "a silver tankard, a porringer of silver, and a couple of spoons, and being now found is found guilty, and likely will be hanged"

If I were she, I'd rather have my right hand cut off.

Aqua  •  Link

A grand Investment in the Future "... that the bringing the water to the City hath cost it first and last above 300,000l.;..." Any one know the last amount of replacing of [city of] London's [or Westminster ] water pipe system, the cost that be?

Aqua  •  Link

A man of Substance now "...By and by in comes Mr. Lewellin, lately come from Ireland...."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"So that girl's likely to be hanged, eh? The maid who ran off with her master's silver?" Sam shredly eyes the old fellow, clearly of the legal profession in the seat next him, in the tavern near the Old Bailey...

Loud rumbling from the old fellow, a large wrinkled man who eyes Sam with a firm look...

"No, old darling...She'll not. For she's not guilty."

"Not guilty? They say she was caught with the things on her person."

"And why would she be taken like that? Running away after three days, the silver stuffed in her pockets? My dear old darling...Please. No, she had the things by all means. But she'd not taken them...Herself."

"You're sure of that? But..."

"As the play says...'Tis pity she's a whore'...But that is not the crime of which our little girl is accused. And so, being not guilty she'll not hang."

"But she was convicted this morning..."

"The judgment will be overturned, old darling...This very afternoon. And the charges quietly dropped." a wry smile on the fat, wrinkled face.

"It would hardly do the family good to hang their own and only son...He being the one who took the things and gave them to her to sell." tap to the man's large and somewhat rubicund nose.

"Horace...They've called you into the court. His Honor's agreed to let the matter drop." a well-dressed man tapped the large old man on his shoulder.

"Yes, I thought so..." the old man majestly rose. "Well, once again a rare moment of justice for a poor ninny of a girl who let her heart overtake her head. Hope she learns from the experience. Good day, sir. Mr...?"

"Pepys, sir. And you?..."

"Horace Rumpole, sir...Of the Old Bailey. Where you shall probably find me and my descendants, whoever, poor lads, they may be, forever charging into the obvivion we call our legal system."

***

Aqua  •  Link

In and out "...Here I heard two or three ordinary tryalls, among others one (which, they say, is very common now-a-days,..."
Cheap skate employers, no vitualls with the Pease on stale bread. Of course no plum pud.
London since Charles I lost his titfer, had become a haven for masterless men, and had enjoyed the freedom of the press, but now be backsliding to the old controls over the meaner sort and if thy give lip, thy get pink slip.
No Severence pay for sum, ie back pay, could cause hardship as had to leave in the rags the came with.
A nice excuse, says she quaking "me laud, me lidy, say clean the silver so I took it to the cleaners and forgot it, I had such a aked 'ead, I dun nutin bad me laud"
The Justice looks to his jury of fair minded gents and watches for a show of thumbs. Then asks "Stocks, Branding, Lashes or ride to Tyburn."

TerryF  •  Link

Municipal planning

London, "as well watered as any city in the world, and that the bringing the water to the City hath cost it first and last above 300,000l.; but" has the Fleet Ditch as the municipal house of office.

TerryF  •  Link

"the Black Sword, which the Lord Mayor wears when he mournes, but properly is their Lenten sword to wear upon Good Friday and other Lent days"

It it so-called because it is "hung in black" as has the Church been during Lent?

***

Very nicely done, Robert, old top!

Pedro  •  Link

“the riott among the seamen the other day… the Lords having commanded Sir J. Minnes to prosecute the fellows for the riott,”

Interesting to see if Sam follows this up…

“Throughout the reigns of Charles and James... (Concerning seamen) Almost all cases of protest and mutiny, and most serious cases of desertion which were recorded in this period were concerned with pay, victuals, or conditions of service.”

(Davies…Gentlemen and Tarpaulins)

Red Robbo  •  Link

Any one know the last amount of replacing of [city of] London’s [or Westminster ] water pipe system, the cost that be?

Now that Thames Water is responsible for the City's water supply, it is almost certain, that they still haven't replaced the pipes, since Pepys time. Which may go some way to explain their leakage rate.

Pedro  •  Link

“a cookemayde to a gentleman that prosecuted her there, and after 3 days run away with a silver tankard,”

“Me Lord it was all a joke, that prankster in the gallery was supposed to send a ramsom note!”

JWB  •  Link

Moll Flanders & the "race of convicts":

"...1665 under Charles II. twenty-four convict felons were ordered to be shipped “within two months for the island (sic) of Virginia, or Barbadoes or some other part of America inhabited by British subjects.”

In 1667 eighteen convicts were transported to Virginia6 and in 1670 cattle killers and burners of corn-stacks became liable according to statute either to death or to transportation to the plantations. The provincial authorities of Virginia, the same year, passed the notable act prohibiting the importation of convicts; but this act, like all others of a similar aim in all the colonies, was overruled and nullified by orders from the king to his Virginian..."

Author: Butler, James Davie
Title: “British Convicts Shipped to American Colonies"
http://www.dinsdoc.com/butler-1.h…

Also those interested in Irish & Scottish POW's & their families will find this paper interesting.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

s well watered as any city in the world,

New River (England) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The New River is a man-made waterway in England, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water taken from the River Lee and from springs and wells along its course."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_…

Glyn  •  Link

Slightly outside our timeline (it starts in 1674) although Pepys is mentioned in it later on his life when he is robbed by a highwayman, but the proceedings of the Old Bailey court give an idea of the crimes of the time:

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/

Jesse  •  Link

"common now-a-days, and ... likely will be hanged"
Death penalty as a deterence, poor chance of getting caught(?), nothing to lose. Why was it worth the risk?
"indeed they are very pleasant ones"
Readers forgive me, but I'm guessing they're "mightily pleasant" to the Mrs. mostly for the attention she receives. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"So someone left these fine shells for you...?" Sam hesitates... A certain image forming in his mind of a tall, dark-haired...Mysteriously garroted...Dancing master.

"Captain Hickes left these for me..." Watchfully roguish gleam in Bess' eye.

"Oh... Hickes? The fellow who weighs 300 pounds? The one they call 'The Ponderosa'?" Sam sighs with relief. "Well, lets see if our gallant Capt. Falstaff did right by my girl."

Damn... Why didn't I say that idiot fop of a dancing master...What's his name?...Left them. Bess frowns.

Aqua  •  Link

"...Why was it worth the risk?..." Why, the v.short pleasure outweighs any future consequence. Sam'l treats his Hirelings well, at least it appears so in the Diary, He lashes out once in a while, but many of the lessors are just drudges, in many households hateing every dreaded moment of their scurvey lives, even one of Sam'l's potty emptying maydes would nip off to the local 'Gin' Parlor for the pleasure of forgetting the dressing a nice Dinner and then only to eat the left over crumbs.
Workmen were lucky to get a mite [forepunce]a day, a quart of cheap plonk cost atepence [8d], 6 farthings would get thee a gallon of week ale.
so there be not much available for simple pleasures, so the opportunity to obtain some perks without being offered , would be truly tempting.
"so wot duth thy get for forpunce"
A pound of mousetrap best [cheese be 4 farthings/lb], a loaf [10 oz.] of bread be another 1d , 1d may get the cot in some ones room for the night and then goto Tyburne and fight for a nice pair of pantaloons from member of gibet group, of course thee walk there as the fare on the coach would be a 1s.
{have a penny left over for the guy?}
'Tis why every thing be recycled, or as a popular saying by one of betters, money trickles down [ eventually ]
PS sic every where.

Bradford  •  Link

Here a coxcomb, there a coxcomb . . . Merriam-Webster tells us that the word derives from the Middle English "cokkes comb," a rooster's red head appendage. (Insert learned disquisition on its physical composition and physiological function.) All the senses are currently considered obsolete:

1a: a jester's cap adorned with a strip of red; b: pate, head
2a: fool; b: a conceited foolish person: fop

I move that we Pepysians revive 2a in daily discourse, for which (to take but one example) a certain upcoming midterm election will allow ample non-partisan opportunity.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"sic every where"
Thanks, Aqua, but superfluous; we all do that already with your contributions. They're worth it.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Mr. Lewellin, lately come from Ireland,...tells me how the English interest falls mightily there, the Irish party being too great, so that most of the old rebells are found innocent, and their lands, which were forfeited and bought or given to the English, are restored to them; which gives great discontent there among the English."

Peter Llewellyn was referring to the work of the commission appointed under the act for the settling of land disputes in Ireland. The "old rebels" are those of 1641. (Per L&M footnote)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"my Lord Mayor told me how the piller set up by Exeter House is only to show where the pipes of water run to the City"

At this date water was supplied to the city mainly from the London Bridge waterworks begun in 1580 and worked by tidal waterwheels; by the New River Company, established under James I, with its reservoirs by Sadler's Wells; and by the much more ancient works constructed at various dates by the city corporation, of which the most important drew from the Tyburn. The great increase of buildings between Temple Bar and Piccadilly made necessary the marking of the line of the water-pipes. (L&M footnote))

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"but by the new building, and the building of St. James’s [Fields] by my Lord St. Albans, which is now about (and which the City stomach I perceive highly, but dare not oppose it), were it now to be done, it would not be done for a million of money."

The city corporation was consistently opposed to new buildings and especially to new markets, one of which, in defiance of the city's zoning laws, specif. its chartered monopoly thereof, was shrewdly included in St Albans's plans.
(Per L&M footnote)

Bill  •  Link

“the building of St. James’s by my Lord St. Albans”

St. Albans Street and Market, on the north side of Pall Mall, removed for the Regent Street improvements. Jermyn Street, St. James's, also takes its name from him.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"a woman that went and was indicted by four names for entering herself a cookemayde to a gentleman that prosecuted her there"

An L&M note indicates this was Anna Pettis, alias Reade, alias Cade, indicted for stealing goods to the value of £5 12s. of Richard Bridges. Sentence to be hanged, she was reprieved by the court after judgment. See the Old Bailey records for the case. (The online records date from 1674. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ )

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"They tell me this sword, they believe, is at least a hundred or two hundred years old; and another that he hath, which is called the Black Sword, which the Lord Mayor wears when he mournes, but properly is their Lenten sword to wear upon Good Friday and other Lent days, is older than that."

Mourning sword in Thatcher ceremony was last used at Churchill's funeral
The blade is believed to date from the 1500s... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/p…

Bill  •  Link

“we talked, among other things, of the Lord Mayor’s sword. They tell me this sword, they believe, is at least a hundred or two hundred years old; and another that he hath, which is called the Black Sword, which the Lord Mayor wears when he mournes, but properly is their Lenten sword to wear upon Good Friday and other Lent days, is older than that.”

Mr. W. H. St. John Hope, assistant secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, has paid particular attention to the history of the municipal insignia of the City of London, and in 1891 he read a paper on the subject before that society. It appears that until 1520 the City swords were provided, not by the Chamberlain, but at the charges of the Mayor for the time being. We are told by Mr. Hope that the swords now belonging to the City of London are four in number: (1) the pearl sword, (2) the Sunday sword, (3) the Old Bailey sword, and (4) the mourning sword. No. 1 is a "fine sword said to have been given to the City by Queen Elizabeth on the occasion of the opening of the Royal Exchange in 1570." There is, however, no mention of such a gift in the City records, neither do Stow nor other old writers notice it. The sword is certainly of sixteenth century date, and is very possibly that bought in 1554, if it be not that "verye goodly sworde" given by Sir Ralph Warren in 1545. "It has long been the custom in the City as in other places to have a sword painted black and devoid of ornament, which is carried before the Lord Mayor on occasions of mourning or special solemnity. . . . The present mourning sword has an old blade, but the hilt and guard, which are of iron japanned black, are of the most ordinary character and seemingly modern. The grip and sheath are covered with black velvet."
---Wheatley, 1893.

mountebank  •  Link

[Slight spoiler below]

Big weekend coming up, the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London. There are loads of events in London and, luckily it not being far away from here, I'll be going to town to take part in a few. For those not so lucky, BBC Radio 4 has lots of Pepys/Great Fire programmes coming up:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b…

The Pepys dramatisations are done by Hattie Naylor who in my view captures the man and the times very well.

Log in to post an annotation.

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