Sunday 10 January 1663/64
(Lord’s day). Lay in bed with my wife till 10 or 11 o’clock, having been very sleepy all night. So up, and my brother Tom being come to see me, we to dinner, he telling me how Mrs. Turner found herself discontented with her late bad journey, and not well taken by them in the country, they not desiring her coming down, nor the burials of Mr. Edward Pepys’s corps there. After dinner I to the office, where all the afternoon, and at night my wife and I to my uncle Wight’s, and there eat some of their swan pie, which was good, and I invited them to my house to eat a roasted swan on Tuesday next, which after I was come home did make a quarrels between my wife and I, because she had appointed a wish to-morrow. But, however, we were friends again quickly. So to bed. All our discourse to-night was Mr. Tryan’s late being robbed; and that Collonell Turner (a mad, swearing, confident fellow, well known by all, and by me), one much indebted to this man for his very livelihood, was the man that either did or plotted it; and the money and things are found in his hand, and he and his wife now in Newgate for it; of which we are all glad, so very a known rogue he was.
20 Annotations
First Reading
Bradford • Link
"I invited them to my house to eat a roasted swan on Tuesday next, which after I was come home did make a quarrels between my wife and I, because she had appointed a ^wish^ to-morrow."
Impulse to emend to "dish." Is "wish" correct? If so, please translate.
A. De Araujo • Link
"eat some of their swan pie.....to my house to eat a roasted swan"
I guess swan has not been in the menu these days,if so I wish they would switch to Canada geese.
Glyn • Link
Tomorrow is Monday, so on past experience I think it's "wash" not "wish" - the vowels might look similar. The regular Monday washday always takes a lot of effort from all of the women in the household and leaves the place in a mess, and now Elizabeth is expected to arrange obtaining and roasting a swan as well in their state-of-the-art oven (and she's not a particularly experienced cook, as I recall). Anyway, this falls in her household responsibilities, so she should have been consulted first.
Can't you just imagine her biting her tongue and smiling through clenched teeth as her husband blithely invites people around, and then giving him a tongue-lashing when they're alone.
jeannine • Link
"Collonell Turner (a mad, swearing, confident fellow"
A wonderful description of a person -you can just imagine what he's like through Sam's word.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
Lay in bed with my wife till 10 or 11 o'clock....Invited them to my house to eat a roasted swan on Tuesday next, which after I was come home did make a quarrels between my wife and I....But, however, we were friends again quickly. So to bed.
Am I wrong to sense connections between all this bed-time with Beth ( which seems very cosy), Sam's urges to roam, set down yesterday, and Beth's prior prolonged period of feeling ill?
Is this a case of all's well that ends well?
Don McCahill • Link
a confident fellow
Today this would be a compliment, but I don't assume Sam thought it was. Would this be the meaning of confident that led to the term 'con man'?
language hat • Link
confident:
This would be the OED's definition 4. (In bad sense:) Over-bold, unduly self-reliant; forward, presumptuous, impudent.
JonTom Kittredge • Link
No Church?
Granted, SP could excuse himself from the morning service on grounds of being indisposed (not getting enough sleep the night before). But he was well enough to spend all afternoon at the office. This is the first time I remember him missing both services without the excuse of sickness or pressing business for the Kings service.
djc • Link
L+M has 'wash' also a note "preceeding part of entry crowded into bottom of page"
Sean Adams • Link
Col. Turner
Brisk work - 17th century justice. Crime committed on 7th of January, Col. Turner in prison by 9th, tried and executed on 21st.
Brian • Link
"to my uncle Wight's, and there eat some of their swan pie."
This couldn't be the same pie that they failed to eat on New Years's Day, could it? Yuck!
Robert Gertz • Link
Hey, Uncle Wight didn't become a wealthy fishmonger by cooking a fresh swan every time guests come over...
Robert Gertz • Link
At this rate, swan might well replace venison pasty.
Kevin Peter • Link
It's interesting to see the contrast between Sam's description of Colonel Turner and the description in the Newgate Calendar page linked to a couple days ago by Clement and Paul Chapin.
http://www.exclassics.com/newgate…
The page describes Colonel Turner as a well-respected merchant who was an unlikely criminal, whereas Sam describes him as an arrogant rogue who deserved what was coming to him. It's apparent from this that although Colonel Turner may have been respected by many, at least some people (including Sam) didn't respect him in the least.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Colonel Turner was a notorious confidence-man, about whom, L&M say, there were at least two pamphlet lives. This linked accounts seems to be a partial one. It says: "There was one Mr Francis Tryon, a great merchant, who lived in Lime Street, whom Colonel Turner knew to be very rich. In order to rob this man, one of the above-mentioned fellows conveyed himself into his cellar in the dusk of the evening, and as soon as Mr Tryon was abed and, as he thought, asleep, he let the colonel in at the door. They went up together to his bedchamber, bound him, gagged him, and used him in a very barbarous manner; and then, going into his warehouse, they took from thence a large quantity of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, etc., which Turner knew where to find. Then they took all the money in the house, which amounted to a very large sum; so that the whole booty was reputed to be of the value of five thousand nine hundred and forty-six pounds four shillings and threepence. They made off with all this quietly....." http://www.exclassics.com/newgate…
Louise Hudson • Link
Sam and Beth turned their noses up at Swan at Uncle Wight's on New Year's day and would have none of it. I thought at the time that they thought Swan was beneath them. I guess not.
Sasha Clarkson • Link
If "turned their nose up" is the correct expression in this case, it was the company that Sam & Bess were eschewing on New Year's Day, and not the dish.
Swans belong to the monarch who, as 'Seigneur of the Swans' has the right to dispose of them, hence swan is a royal dish. As Mary pointed out in the Jan 1 annotations, Sandwich was Master of the King's Swans. Will Howe, Sandwich's servant had brought the swan(s) to Pepys, presumably at his master's behest, and they were a very high status gift.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
jude cooper • Link
Wondering if they are having roast swan next Tuesday to celebrate old twelfth night on the 17th
NJ Lois • Link
Collonell Turner (a mad, swearing confident fellow) confident in the old sense: overbold, unduly self reliant, forward, presumptuous, impudent," sounds like our president-elect.
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . a mad, swearing, confident fellow, . . ’
‘confident, adj. and n. < Latin . .
. . 4. In bad sense: Over-bold, unduly self-reliant; forward, presumptuous, impudent. Obs.
. . 1664 S. Pepys Diary 6 July (1971) IV. 197 Mrs. Clerkes kinswoman sings very prettily, but is very confident in it.
1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia iii. i. 48 Oh she's a Confident thing! . . ‘