Thursday 4 February 1663/64

Up and to the office, where after a while sitting, I left the board upon pretence of serious business, and by coach to Paul’s School, where I heard some good speeches of the boys that were to be elected this year. Thence by and by with Mr. Pullen and Barnes (a great Non-Conformist) with several others of my old acquaintance to the Nag’s Head Taverne, and there did give them a bottle of sacke, and away again and I to the School, and up to hear the upper form examined; and there was kept by very many of the Mercers, Clutterbucke, a Barker, Harrington, and others; and with great respect used by them all, and had a noble dinner. Here they tell me, that in Dr. Colett’s will he says that he would have a Master found for the School that hath good skill in Latin, and (if it could be) one that had some knowledge of the Greeke; so little was Greeke known here at that time. Dr. Wilkins and one Mr. Smallwood, Posers. After great pleasure there, and specially to Mr. Crumlum, so often to tell of my being a benefactor to the School, I to my bookseller’s and there spent an hour looking over Theatrum Urbium and Flandria illustrata, with excellent cuts, with great content. So homeward, and called at my little milliner’s, where I chatted with her, her husband out of the way, and a mad merry slut she is. So home to the office, and by and by comes my wife home from the burial of Captain Grove’s wife at Wapping (she telling me a story how her mayd Jane going into the boat did fall down and show her arse in the boat), and alone comes my uncle Wight and Mr. Maes with the state of their case, which he told me very discreetly, and I believe is a very hard one, and so after drinking a bottle of ale or two they gone, and I a little more to the office, and so home to prayers and to bed.

This evening I made an end of my letter to Creed about his pieces of eight, and sent it away to him. I pray God give good end to it to bring me some money, and that duly as from him.

34 Annotations

First Reading

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"how her mayd Jane going into the boat did fall down and show her arse in in the boat"
Why haven't they done a soap opera with all this? :)

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ... looking over Theatrum Urbium and Flandria illustrata,..."

"... the good effects in some kind of a Dutch warr and conquest..."

That he wrote two days ago, Tuesday the 2nd., now Pepys is examining views and maps of all the cities etc. in the United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands "with great content."

Michael Robinson  •  Link

to the Nag's Head Taverne ...

Cheapside was round the corner from the school; infamous at the time and later as the rumored site of Archbishop Mathew Parker's consecration:-

On the passing of the first Act of Uniformity in Queen Elizabeth's reign, fourteen bishops vacated their sees, and all the other sees, except Llandaff, were at the time vacant. The question was how to obtain consecration so as to preserve the succession called "apostolic" unbroken, as Llandaff refused to officiate at Parker's consecration. In this dilemma (the story runs) Scory, a deposed bishop, was sent for, and officiated at the Nag's Head tavern, in Cheapside, thus transmitting the succession.

Such is the tale. Strype refutes the story, and so does Dr. Hook. We are told that it was not the consecration which took place at the Nag's Head, but only that those who took part in it dined there subsequently. We are furthermore told that the Bishops Barlow, Scory, Coverdale, and Hodgkins, all officiated at the consecration. "

http://www.infoplease.com/diction…

MissAnn  •  Link

"Dr. Wilkins and one Mr. Smallwood, Posers." Is the use of the word "Posers" a description of Dr W & Mr S, or is there a person called Posers present? I thought a poser was a modern description.

Obviously the great libraries of today weren't in existence at this time in history, so I suppose the frequent dropping in to the booksellers to have a free read would be the usual thing to do. I know if I flick through magazines at the newsagents the chap behind the counter is quite happy to call out the fact that "this isn't a library - are you going to buy that?", obviously the bookseller isn't so up front with Sam.

"So homeward, and called at my little milliner's, where I chatted with her, her husband out of the way, and a mad merry slut she is." - great sentence, you just know what Sam has in mind, and the statement that "her husband out of the way" makes the scene all the more real. Coupled with the image of the poor maid upending herself into the boat - I'm with A de Araujo with this, it would usurp Desperate Housewives in a wink.

Patricia  •  Link

" Dr. Wilkins and one Mr. Smallwood, Posers" I assumed this meant that these men posed the questions by which the senior form were examined.

cumgranosalis  •  Link

MissAnn: The Great book sellers of west coast of the Americas have not complained of cheapskates perusing a few magazines or those useing the books for a reference. [evalutintg the written word for good grammar prior to purchase at latter date, of course]
Each of the schools at this date did maintain a Library, usually one of each of the better sort, for all to share by having a top boy read and the lads make copy, all books being donated by a prosperous old boys, after a Master did put the strong arm , threatening to tell of a few indiscretions, while the bared kneed lad be attending one of the lower forms. Unfortunately sometimes a disaster did spoilt it for the future generations and these worthwhile collections did bite the dust.
I believe there be a few of the schools [privat/publick] that got there start under Tudors still have a collections worth perusin'
May be these sources could get the Sixth to scan them or photo them on to the the school web page, for prosperity..

cumgranosalis  •  Link

Interesting the complaint, there be not enough literate latinated or Greek scholars, so the the adage read greek then forget it was in vogue then as there be more opportunities in clerking in commerce rather than clerking in church clerical collar or chasing after wagon spills.
The Laws were were supposed to be in English along with Bible thanks to Cromwell and his ilk,. but Latin crept back in as it was not the done thing for the lessors to know what to beleive or understand the the crime that be committed.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...she telling me a story how her mayd Jane going into the boat did fall down and show her arse in the boat..."

Ok...Bess tells stories Sam finds worth hearing and remembering. We again get evidence that she has a ribald sense of humor.

Iuduco Maes... Quite a name. The last name sounds Dutch? The first, Spanish or Portuguese? One might wonder what sort of circles Uncle Wight might be moving in?

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Maes/Maez?
From a brief googling, Maes does appear to be a Dutch or Flemish surname. However, Maez is an old Hispanic family name here in New Mexico. Perhaps Maes was a spelling variant of it at one time, like Gonzales/Gonzalez or Gomes/Gomez.

Mary  •  Link

The case of Uncle Wight and Mr. Maes.

L&M advise us that this concerns a question of allegedly unpaid Customs duties. Mr. Maes was a Portuguese Jew who had been imprisoned for evasion of such duties and had made an attempt to escape from England in December 1663.

Pedro  •  Link

Iudoco?

Maes seems to be a Portuguese surname, but Iucodo? We need Sr. De Araújo.

Xjy  •  Link

Another kaleidoscopic day

Business, basking (old boy made good), culture (latin and greek), wine, dinner, Sam feeling good with himself indulging his desires (bookshop browsing - mad merry slut), lying ("serious business"), cheating ("her husband out of the way"), sharing a laugh at someone else's expense with Bess (Jane's "arse in the boat"), family troubles (uncle Wight), and finally Creed, pieces of eight and a prayer to God for money.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Hmmn...Seems dear Unc may have other business interests besides fish. Of course Maes might be in the trade but it seems odd he'd get into such trouble over importing fish.

"Well, nephew. You see our plight. Mr. Maes is a man of nice judgments and his efforts are essential to my current scheme."

"Maybe it'd be better if all cards were to be on the table, Uncle."

"Don't think so, sir...Not quite equitable you see. No, nephew...Though I want you to know I think of you as I would my own son...I cannot do business along such lines."

"Uncle, you'll talk or you and Maes here and whatever you're about get handed over to the authorities. I'll not play the sap for you."

"Oh...Mr. Wight." Maes cuts in, fearful. "You cannot let him do this, sir. Not when we have it within our grasp."

"Enough, sir." Wight raises a hand. "Now, nephew...It does seem we must take you into our confidence. However, I warn you...You may not care to hear all I will tell you. My story involving as it does, my dear niece-by-law, your wife."

"Bess?..." Sam quickly conceals his anxiety... "Go on..."

"Well. In 1530, the emperor Charles V bequeath to the Knights of St. John the islands of Malta and Gozo, and Tripoli. It was a gift to them as these gentlemen had been recently driven from their island fortress of Rhodes by the Turk. As a symbol that these lands remained Spanish property and would revert to Spain should the Knights leave, he demanded merely a paltry tribute in the form of a single falcon to be delivered each year. Now, naturally the Knights, immensely wealthy from their years of campaigning in the Orient, for the first year's, wished to display their gratitude properly. So they hit upon the happy thought that the first falcon would not be a mere live bird...But a glorious golden and bejewelled one, bearing the most splendid items from their coffers. We all know the so-called Holy Wars of the East were largely a matter of loot..."

"And that's what Maes was trying to slip past customs...?"

"The statue, lost for centuries, turned up in Paris, in 1654, encased in black enamel to hide its true worth. A dealer there recognized it from his researches...No thickness of enamel could hide true worth from him. My prized Continental agent, Mr. Maes..." smile to simpering Maes... "As always with ear to the ground, was quick to inform me that the item I have sought since I first read of it back in my long hours of fish-gutting, had been uncovered."

"But Bess...?"

"Ah...Well. It seems the dealer had once minor flaw which many men share..." benign smile. Maes grinning as well.

"She knew you?...Back in Paris?"

"Maes needed the help only a beauty could provide. And even at 13, your dear wife was both beautiful...And clever."

Ivo Swinnen  •  Link

Iudoco Maes

In Dutch, it would be 'Jodocus' or 'Jodokus' Maes, or Joost Maes, for short.

A Portuguese Jew with a Dutch name could be possible...
http://www.esnoga.com/

A. De Araujo  •  Link

methinks Iuduco comes from Judah cf Judah Touro or maybe Jacob.
Maes comes from Mares

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"was kept by very many of the Mercers, ... and with great respect used by them all ..."

This must have been a poignant moment for Pepys; St. Paul's is a Mercers foundation and, on leaving, Pepys had been awarded one of the Company's Exhibitions which made his study at Cambridge possible.

Bryant, Man in the Making, 1943. p. 19

dirk  •  Link

Maes

"A Portuguese Jew with a Dutch name could be possible" -- Yes, absolutely!

The Portuguese Jews had been arriving in the Low Countries from 1497 onwards - when Portugal ceased to be a refuge for Jews chased from Spain after the Reconquista. They had settled down and prospered - particularly in Antwerp (now Belgium) - and were mainly active in the spice trade and diamonds.

When the Low Countries finally split up into a protestant north (Netherlands) and a catholic south (Belgium) -- reference date 1585, although it took 80 years of successive episodes of war and peace -- most of these Jews emigrated to the north (Amsterdam) taking with them their expertise... By that time many of the Portuguese Jews had taken Dutch/Flemish names to faciliate integration into what they hoped would be their new safehaven.

The Dutch name "Maes" is genuinely Dutch -- not derived from Maez -- the similarity is purily coincidential, and limited to the written form -- pronunciation is radically different:

Maes (Dutch) is pronounced like Engl. "mass"

I'm no expert at Port. pronunciation [so please Pedro, give me a hand here with a valid transcription] but it's radically different - trust me!

Pedro  •  Link

Maes.

Back to you Dirk as this could quite well be Dutch.

I did not find any Portuguese word maes, only mães with its accent and "s" being the plural of mother. But having put Pedro in front of Maes into Google, it came up with Pedro Maes. Returning to this again, it is actually Pedro Maes Castellain, and Google does not come up with as a surname under Maes or Mães in pages written in Portuguese.

Again to eliminate any Portuguese connection we need Sr. De Araújo (with or without his accent?)

Pedro  •  Link

Maes.

Back to you Dirk as this could quite well be Dutch.

I did not find any Portuguese word maes, only mães with its accent and "s" being the plural of mother. But having put Pedro in front of Maes into Google, it came up with Pedro Maes. Returning to this again, it is actually Pedro Maes Castellain, and Google does not come up with as a surname under Maes or Mães in pages written in Portuguese.

Again to eliminate any Portuguese connection we need Sr. De Araújo (with or without his accent?)

cumgranosalis  •  Link

Names; some seem to be tribal and stay so, others are quite global, Martin is found in many versions of Euro languages, mine, I find it available as a Christian moniker, surname in many lands in the French spelling along with local spellings. The accent naturally changes. My version also wanders unchanged thru many countries on either side of the pond, having traced it back as far as the great pestulance of 1340's Bubonic when the untouched got to get farm land very cheaply for the asking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imag…

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Just to be clear,
I wasn't suggesting that Dutch Maes derived from Spanish (or Portuguese) Maez, but rather that Maes might have been an alternative early spelling of the Hispanic form, quite independent of the Dutch lookalike. However, it's all pure speculation on my part.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to Paul’s School, where I heard some good speeches of the boys that were to be elected this year. "

Sc. elected to leaving exhibitions. This was Apposition Day at the school: q.v.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Here they tell me, that in Dr. Colett’s will he says that he would have a Master found for the School that hath good skill in Latin, and (if it could be) one that had some knowledge of the Greeke; so little was Greeke known here at that time."

The phrase ('Yf suyche may be gotten') occurs not in Colet's will but in the statutes he made in 1518 when founding the school. William Lily, the first High Master, was one of the few Englishmen so qualified. Colet would himself have had difficulty in fulfilling this requirement. (Per L&M footnote)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"alone comes my uncle Wight and Mr. Maes with the state of their case, which he told me very discreetly, and I believe is a very hard one"

Pepys will find out Maes is not alone in his plight and the dowry of Queen Catharine is involved: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This evening I made an end of my letter to Creed about his pieces of eight, and sent it away to him. I pray God give good end to it to bring me some money, and that duly as from him."

See http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Ivan  •  Link

L&M's reading describes the little milliner as a "mad merry soul" not "slut". Sam would appear to be being much more complimentary. I prefer this reading even if his admiration is somewhat dubious.

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Why Colet's desire for a renewed emphasis on Greek?

Colet was a churchman and theologian of the pre-reformation Renaissance, when there was already widespread questioning of Church orthodoxy. Part of this was an interest in the Bible in its original languages, and a desire for new and better translations of the Bible and other early Christian texts. Much of the New Testament was written in Greek, and Christian versions of the Old Testament were based on the Septuagint, a translation of the Torah into Greek by Hellenised or bilingual Jewish scholars, initiated by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. This is why several Old Testament books have Greek names. This was brought home to me when Inter-Railing in 1972, as ΕΞΟΔΟΣ (EXODOS) was stamped in blue upon my passport upon leaving Greece. (The entry stamp was ΕΙΣΟΔΟΣ in red.) :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sep…

One major influence on the Renaissance was the fall of Constantinople in 1453: in the chaos, many scholars and librarians escaped, bringing with them Greek texts which had been lost to scholarship in Western Europe. This helped stimulate developments in mathematics and science amongst many other areas.

Louise Hudson  •  Link

"So homeward, and called at my little milliner’s, where I chatted with her, her husband out of the way, and a mad merry slut she is. "

Looks like he's over his profound disappointment at not being able to join in the gang rape of the girl selling ribbons and gloves that he had his eye on. How comforting is that?

StanB  •  Link

Edward Grove served in the Restoration navy.
In 1661, the Duke of York appointed him to command the Merlin.
In 1663, the Duke appointed him to command the Martin.
In 1664, the Duke appointed him to command the Success.
In May 1665, Edward Grove had been part of an group of ships sent to Norway
to attempt to intercept a Dutch naval stores convoy.
On they way back, they had put into Lowestoft.
When gunfire was heard, three of the ships set sail for the battle.
Edward Grove did not, and he was courtmartialed.
They had found that he was "dead drunk" at the time. He was dismissed from the service by the courtmartial.

James Morgan  •  Link

I was wondering about the transcription of "mad merry slut" vs. mad merry soul". Is the original shorthand online so that we could get a crowd-sourced opinion?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I was wondering about the transcription of "mad merry slut" vs. mad merry soul". Is the original shorthand online so that we could get a crowd-sourced opinion?"

James Morgan, the original shorthand diary is apparently not online. The published transcriptions seldom compete, but, when they do, the Latham and Matthews edition is to be preferred.

This site's page on shorthand: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

From that page a post by Glyn on 14 Jun 2004 • Link • Flag

Here is the illustration of the last page of shorthand in his diary, in May 1669:

http://www.pepys.info/grape/pepda…

The entry Phil posted that day http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

If anyone should like to see a page of his handwriting from the same year, the Pepys Collection in the Prince Henry's Room, Fleet Street has a business letter written in his own hand from 17 July 1669.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ’ Dr. Wilkins and one Mr. Smallwood, Posers.’

‘poser, n.1 < Middle English . .
1. A person who sets testing questions; an examiner; = apposer n. 1. Now hist.
. . 1664 S. Pepys Diary 4 Feb. (1971) V. 38 To Paul's schoole..and up to hear the upper-form examined;..Dr. Wilkins and one Mr. Smallwood, posers . . ‘
(OED)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I just discovered this gem:

While his family lived in Ireland, John Churchill (the future Duke of Marlborough) attended the Free School in Dublin, but in 1663 his studies were transferred to St. Paul's School in London, after his father, Sir Winston Churchill, was recalled as Junior Clerk Comptroller of the King's Household at Whitehall.

for more on Churchill:
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.o…

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