Sunday 27 September 1663
(Lord’s day). Lay chatting with my wife a good while, then up and got me ready and to church, without my man William, whom I have not seen to-day, nor care, but would be glad to have him put himself far enough out of my favour that he may not wonder to have me put him away. So home to dinner, being a little troubled to see Pembleton out again, but I do not discern in my wife the least memory of him.
Dined, and so to my office a little, and then to church again, where a drowsy sermon, and so home to spend the evening with my poor wife, consulting about her closett, clothes, and other things. At night to supper, though with little comfort, I finding myself both head and breast in great pain, and what troubles me most my right ear is almost deaf. It is a cold, which God Almighty in justice did give me while I sat lewdly sporting with Mrs. Lane the other day with the broken window in my neck. I went to bed with a posset, being very melancholy in consideration of the loss of my hearing.
36 Annotations
First Reading
Patricia • Link
Poor Pembleton can't even go to church without Sam thinking ill of him. That's the guilty conscience which imagines Mrs. P doing the same things he does, the same guilty conscience which now remembers the draft from the broken window while he sported with Mrs. Lane, and sees God's retribution in his cold. Sadly, there are still people today who see illness as God's punishment for sin.
TerryF • Link
Isn't church the very place where conscience strikes best?
The matter of the "broken window" is puzzling. Is this a detail only now recorded in the journall?!
Robert Gertz • Link
"...without my man William, whom I have not seen to-day, nor care, but would be glad to have him put himself far enough out of my favour that he may not wonder to have me put him away." Nice irony, Sam. Looks like it's the woodshed for Will Hewer. Now what would our Will be up to, risking the certain Wrath of Sam anyway?
in aqua • Link
She be not having over any of the Gossip groups, so cannot catch up on the affairs of over the garden wall,[ see how lucky we be to-day to have fresh soaps.]
"...evening with my poor wife,..." she misses the miss.
Robert Gertz • Link
"Oh, Lord...Forgive me my most grievous trepass and in thy mercy, restoreth my hearing. Please!"
"Sorry, Sam. Milton's asking for his eyesight back and my rule is one miracle in England per week."
Bradford • Link
You get sick, then wonder, "How did it happen?" Broken window, raw spinach, itching your eye with a dirty finger....
Robert Gertz • Link
"But Lord? I'm Clerk of the Acts of the Royal Navy of England. Surely my services must outweigh a former regicide-supporting poet...Who held a high place under Cromwell."
"I seem to remember a young Roundhead student saying something about the king deserving to have his pate cropped?"
Uh... "But Lord. I've been reasonably faithful to my vows. A shilling to the poor box on each lapse."
"Sam...I did give you that cushy job and nice house. Not to mention Elisabeth. You know a lot of folks would do a lot of praying for what you've got."
"But Lord. Without hearing, how can I defend the King's interests against the wily Sir Wills?"
"Right. Trade "Paradise Lost" for a slight effort to hold the line in British naval spending. Uh-huh."
"Paradise What?"
"Wonderful thing. You've got to read it, Samuel. Milton's take on my bad boy Satan is just wonderful. Jesus and I haven't been able to put it down. Have to admit it does make me see the kid in a different light. He did have guts to challenge the old man and strike out for himself."
"Yes...But Lord..."
"Well...I can't deny I'm fond of you and that Diary of yours, boy. But seeing as it's probably of little use to try and get you to treat poor Bess better...Lets see. Ok, first you buy Bess that new dress...Tomorrow."
"Yes, Lord. And I was planning to do better by my poor wretch. I came home to dinner, right?"
"I can imagine how long that'll last. Ok, next...Stand on one leg and sing the old St. Paul's anthem through. The version you boys did during Cromwell's time."
"Lord?"
"You really want that hearing back?"
"Thy ways are most hard, O Lord."
"Very nice. Ok, now...Pile up your hair and go put on one of Bess'...Lamentably few...Dresses."
"Now, Lord."
"Still able to hear me, Sam? Won't last long at the rate your dread illness is progressing."
dirk • Link
The Rev. Josselin's diary for today...
"God good in manifold mercies friends health at London, the prints mention as if the Turks were stopped at Newsol. god grant. old prophesies mention their taking Colen. though Brightman prophecy their destruction. by. 1696. and their begin(in)g to fall 40 years sooner. which is begun already, we may fear Hiltenius prophecy of them to scourge Christians. but then he says for good."
Anybody knows more about all these prophecies?
Eric Walla • Link
I see this William is linked to William Howe, not Hewer. Do we in fact know which William we have ... uh ... absent today?
in aqua • Link
Will Howe be Sandwiche's Man. This could be another William, Sam could have impressed him from Sandwich, very questionable, as Sam was not duly impressed with this lad's abilities of tying his laces [et al], and from previous entries, Howe impressed Samuel with his comments on Sandwich just recently, so my minimal conclusion , not the same person.
Note it not be Will , an lessor to equal, no family name thereby not a better type but William suggesting very unhapppy with the lads performance. ["WILLIAM cum 'ere" now type of person.
Old English culture of use of titles, nicknames and given and Christian, to indicate pecking order and quality of communication.
in aqua • Link
P.S. Not Hewer either i'd dothe fink. It could be that rascal, who hangs out at the big wall under the gibbet, where he commiserates with the other ragamuffins on his sorry lot.
Sam has yet to give this tyke his severence pay?
TerryF • Link
This be Wm. Hewer: we have L&M's word on it.
They refer us to 31 October, where Pepys, in the month's summing up, notes the family's "mighty out of order by this fellow Will's corrupting the mayds by his idle talke and carriage" http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
TerryF • Link
Why is /1663/10/31/ read as /1663/01/31/?
TerryF • Link
"Sam has yet to give this tyke his severence pay?" - in due course.
MILD SPOILER. The 31 October entry continues - "his idle talke and carriage, which we are going to remove by hastening him out of the house, which his uncle Blackburne is upon doing, and I am to give him L20 per annum toward his maintenance."
TerryF • Link
Rev. Josselin's prophets and their prophecies
Thomas Brightman (1562-1607), Puritan scholar and one of the founders of English Presbyterianism. A Cambridge graduate, he was a constant student. He read the Greek New Testament every two weeks....His admirers called him "the English Prophet." [Re the 7 trumpets in Rev. 3:8-11} The first four trumpets he expounds as the great heresies which befell the church, and the barbarian woes on the Western Roman Empire, the fourth being the Vandals. The fifth trumpet, darkening a third part of the sun (the church in Africa), he assigns to a religious persons in the West and to the Saracens in the East, and the sixth trumpet to the Turks - which oppressed by their tyranny not only the false church but also the true church - the latter, Brightman significantly adds, "began to come forth abroad at the year 1300."
http://www.historicist.com/trumpe…
Johann Herwick aus Ilten bei Hannover (called Hiltenius), d. ca.1500 in Eisenach and foresaw the Reformation. http://www.horstkannemann.de/kale…
Michael Robinson • Link
" ... more about all these prophecies" (? spoiler)
For an update on the current situation see:-
Rapture Index The prophetic speedometer of end-time activity"
http://www.raptureready.com/rap2.…
Roy Feldman • Link
"the broken window in my neck"
I missed two weeks of Pepys while on vacation. (I know, I know: tut, tut.) Can anyone explain what this curious phrase means? Much obliged...
Roy Feldman • Link
Sorry, never mind.
Should've read Patricia's comment -- that clears it up. (Although TerryF's comment suggests that Patricia's description is only an educated guess.)
alanB • Link
This broken window is a pane in the neck. It begs the question as to how it got broken. Didn't Sam and Betty have trouble before when they started their shenanigans? I suspect too-goodey Miss Lizzie or perhaps Pemberton threw the stones or even absent Will. Well Mr Gertz, wot's the story here?
Mary • Link
the broken window.
Sam was sporting with Mrs. Lane on 24th September somewhere in Lambeth. That, surely ,is where he encountered the broken window, not anywhere in his own house. Proper retribution for conducting a hole and corner assignation?
jeannine • Link
"It is a cold, which God Almighty in justice did give me while I sat lewdly sporting with Mrs. Lane the other day with the broken window in my neck. I went to bed with a posset, being very melancholy in consideration of the loss of my hearing."
If God really was doing justice here she would have given Sam a case of laryngitis and have him make his own damn posset! At least Elizabeth and the rest of the household would be "rewarded" in the process and most likely enjoying his illness!
I can just picture Sam whining like a wimp and having Elizabeth wait on him hand and foot for his little "cold" when he should consider himself lucky that he didn't get some sort of venereal disease (and then sadly pass it on to his innocent wife as so many of the Libertines of the day did).
Bradford • Link
And of course it's more likely Mrs. Lane was acting as a carrier for cold germs, since (it struck me in the middle of a chilly night), no matter how much worse it might make you feel if you get one, a mere draft will not give you a bona fide cold.
TerryF • Link
What causes colds? what century are "we" in?
"a mere draft will not give you a bona fide cold" - but what will? I was taught it was a viral disease. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comm… with many links to other sources. Of course, old wives have told another tale for 'eye,
Hugh Yeman • Link
"It is a cold, which God Almighty in justice did give me while I sat lewdly sporting with Mrs. Lane the other day with the broken window in my neck."
Sam frequently praises God for his good fortune, and in that he is not uncommon. The logical consistency of his worldview, however, is uncommon. It's quite endearing to hear him attribute something bad to God, especially since he owns that he had it coming.
andy • Link
"he had it coming".
yes, he did. And he knows it. And he can't tell Bess about it.
Australian Susan • Link
Sam links sin with illness, but even Jesus refuted this:
"As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him." (John 9:1-3)
But this connection continued for eons - even given medical sanction. Think of all those Victorian schoolboys who were severely warned: stop that or you'll go blind.......
Hmm. Sam had eyesight problems, didn't he?
Jacqueline Gore • Link
It seems Robert Almighty has already punished him enough.
Gee, I'd love to see a pic of Sam in that dress.
A. De Araujo • Link
"I went to bed with a posset"
Could it be that he is scared of the Plague?The insecurity of the times!!!!
language hat • Link
"as if the Turks were stopped at Newsol"
I may be the only one who worries about these things, but just in case someone else was wondering: "Newsol" (from the Rev. Josselin's diary) is the anglicized form of Neusohl, which is the German name of the Slovakian city of Banská Bistrica (which was part of Hungary until WWI, and in the disputed border region between Christendom and the Turk in Pepys' day).
in aqua • Link
Thanks LH. Took a ganda and it be 43 miles from the Danube nnne of BudaPest [ BP be 70m / 120k as the crow flies on a map] and it not on a major river [strange ] ? Vienna be 120 miles in a
swww direction. Christian Civilisation be under another Threat from another of 'uman dissatisfactions with their lot.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"as if the Turks were stopped at Newsol"
Banská Bystrica; German: Neusohl; Hungarian: Besztercebánya) is a city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains.....The Ottoman Empire's thrust northwards led the magistrate to improve the city's fortifications with modern stone walls in 1589, but the Turks never occupied the region. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ban…
Mary Ellen • Link
Seems simple in that he is feeling guilty for cheating on his wife... and he makes a direct connection between getting sick and when he was cheating. I am sure it is normal even today for people to assume that they are somehow getting 'punished' when they get sick. ("What did I do to deserve this?")
StanB • Link
Dined, and so to my office a little, and then to church again, where a drowsy sermon,
The more things change the more they stay the same, Weren't Sunday afternoons designed for 'Drowsy' Swop the office for a Sunday pint with your mates, Then home to dinner, replacing the Pulpit with watching your favourite Football Team drowsily from your comfy armchair, a perfick Sunday Afternoon
Sasha Clarkson • Link
There are few relationships which don't have a rocky patch, and that between Sam and Will is having one now. Will is twenty-one this year, on the verge of legal adulthood, and is probably chafing at being a servant in another man's household: especially given that his own background is prosperous.
We know that the difficulties are eventually overcome: the how will be interesting!
mountebank • Link
You'd have a heart of stone to read this woeful entry without laughing
Terry Foreman • Link
"(Lord’s day). Lay chatting with my wife a good while, then up and got me ready and to church, without my man William, whom I have not seen to-day, nor care, but would be glad to have him put himself far enough out of my favour that he may not wonder to have me put him away{
L&M: Hewer appears to have been 'corrupting the maids by his idle talk and carriage': https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… Jane Birch in particular made complaints about him: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… On 14 November he left for lodgings of his own and never returned to live in the Pepys household during the diary period. Good relations with his master were soon, however, resumed.