Monday 22 February 1663/64
Up and shaved myself, and then my wife and I by coach out, and I set her down by her father’s, being vexed in my mind and angry with her for the ill-favoured place, among or near the whore houses, that she is forced to come to him. So left her there, and I to Sir Ph. Warwick’s but did not speak with him. Thence to take a turn in St. James’s Park, and meeting with Anth. Joyce walked with him a turn in the Pell Mell and so parted, he St. James’s ward and I out to Whitehall ward, and so to a picture-sellers by the Half Moone in the street over against the Exchange, and there looked over the maps of several cities and did buy two books of cities stitched together cost me 9s. 6d., and when I came home thought of my vowe, and paid 5s. into my poor box for it, hoping in God that I shall forfeit no more in that kind.
Thence, meeting Mr. Moore, and to the Exchange and there found my wife at pretty Doll’s, and thence by coach set her at my uncle Wight’s, to go with my aunt to market once more against Lent, and I to the Coffee-house, and thence to the ’Change, my chief business being to enquire about the manner of other countries keeping of their masts wet or dry, and got good advice about it, and so home, and alone ate a bad, cold dinner, my people being at their washing all day, and so to the office and all the afternoon upon my letter to Mr. Coventry about keeping of masts, and ended it very well at night and wrote it fair over.
This evening came Mr. Alsopp the King’s brewer, with whom I spent an houre talking and bewailing the posture of things at present; the King led away by half-a-dozen men, that none of his serious servants and friends can come at him. These are Lauderdale, Buckingham, Hamilton, Fitz-Harding (to whom he hath, it seems, given 2,000l. per annum in the best part of the King’s estate); and that that the old Duke of Buckingham could never get of the King. Progers is another, and Sir H. Bennett. He loves not the Queen at all, but is rather sullen to her; and she, by all reports, incapable of children. He is so fond of the Duke of Monmouth, that every body admires it; and he says the Duke hath said, that he would be the death of any man that says the King was not married to his mother [L&M have “her”. P.G.]: though Alsopp says, it is well known that she was a common whore before the King lay with her. But it seems, he says, that the King is mighty kind to these his bastard children; and at this day will go at midnight to my Lady Castlemaine’s nurses, and take the child and dance it in his arms.
That he is not likely to have his tables up again in his house,1 for the crew that are about him will not have him come to common view again, but keep him obscurely among themselves.
He hath this night, it seems, ordered that the Hall (which there is a ball to be in to-night before the King) be guarded, as the Queen-Mother’s is, by his Horse Guards; whereas heretofore they were by the Lord Chamberlain or Steward, and their people. But it is feared they will reduce all to the soldiery, and all other places taken away; and what is worst of all, that he will alter the present militia, and bring all to a flying army.
That my Lord Lauderdale, being Middleton’s enemy, and one that scorns the Chancellor even to open affronts before the King, hath got the whole power of Scotland into his hand; whereas the other day he was in a fair way to have had his whole estate, and honour, and life, voted away from him.
That the King hath done himself all imaginable wrong in the business of my Lord Antrim, in Ireland; who, though he was the head of rebels, yet he by his letter owns to have acted by his father’s and mother’s, and his commissions; but it seems the truth is, he hath obliged himself, upon the clearing of his estate, to settle it upon a daughter of the Queene-Mother’s (by my Lord Germin, I suppose,) in marriage, be it to whom the Queene pleases; which is a sad story. It seems a daughter of the Duke of Lenox’s was, by force, going to be married the other day at Somerset House, to Harry Germin; but she got away and run to the King, and he says he will protect her. She is, it seems, very near akin to the King: Such mad doings there are every day among them!
The rape upon a woman at Turnstile the other day, her husband being bound in his shirt, they both being in bed together, it being night, by two Frenchmen, who did not only lye with her but abused her with a linke, is hushed up for 300l., being the Queen Mother’s servants.
There was a French book in verse, the other day, translated and presented to the Duke of Monmouth in such a high stile, that the Duke of York, he tells me, was mightily offended at it. The Duke of Monmouth’s mother’s brother hath a place at Court; and being a Welchman (I think he told me) will talk very broad of the King’s being married to his sister.
The King did the other day, at the Council, commit my Lord Digby’s chaplin, and steward, and another servant, who went upon the process begun there against their lord, to swear that they saw him at church, end receive the Sacrament as a Protestant, (which, the judges said, was sufficient to prove him such in the eye of the law); the King, I say, did commit them all to the Gate-house, notwithstanding their pleading their dependance upon him, and the faith they owed him as their lord, whose bread they eat. And that the King should say, that he would soon see whether he was King, or Digby.
That the Queene-Mother hath outrun herself in her expences, and is now come to pay very ill, or run in debt; the money being spent that she received for leases.
He believes there is not any money laid up in bank, as I told him some did hope; but he says, from the best informers he can assure me there is no such thing, nor any body that should look after such a thing; and that there is not now above 80,000l. of the Dunkirke money left in stock.
That Oliver in the year when he spent 1,400,000l. in the Navy, did spend in the whole expence of the kingdom 2,600,000l..
That all the Court are mad for a Dutch war; but both he and I did concur, that it was a thing rather to be dreaded than hoped for; unless by the French King’s falling upon Flanders, they and the Dutch should be divided.
That our Embassador had, it is true, an audience; but in the most dishonourable way that could be; for the Princes of the Blood (though invited by our Embassador, which was the greatest absurdity that ever Embassador committed these 400 years) were not there; and so were not said to give place to our King’s Embassador. And that our King did openly say, the other day in the Privy Chamber, that he would not be hectored out of his right and preeminencys by the King of France, as great as he was.
That the Pope is glad to yield to a peace with the French (as the newes-book says), upon the basest terms that ever was.
That the talke which these people about our King, that I named before, have, is to tell him how neither privilege of Parliament nor City is any thing; but his will is all, and ought to be so: and their discourse, it seems, when they are alone, is so base and sordid, that it makes the eares of the very gentlemen of the back-stairs (I think he called them) to tingle to hear it spoke in the King’s hearing; and that must be very bad indeed. That my Lord Digby did send to Lisbon a couple of priests, to search out what they could against the Chancellor concerning the match, as to the point of his knowing before-hand that the Queene was not capable of bearing children; and that something was given her to make her so. But as private as they were, when they came thither they were clapped up prisoners. That my Lord Digby endeavours what he can to bring the business into the House of Commons, hoping there to master the Chancellor, there being many enemies of his there; but I hope the contrary. That whereas the late King did mortgage ‘Clarendon’ to somebody for 20,000l., and this to have given it to the Duke of Albemarle, and he sold it to my Lord Chancellor, whose title of Earldome is fetched from thence; the King hath this day sent his order to the Privy Seale for the payment of this 20,000l. to my Lord Chancellor, to clear the mortgage!
Ireland in a very distracted condition about the hard usage which the Protestants meet with, and the too good which the Catholiques. And from altogether, God knows my heart, I expect nothing but ruine can follow, unless things are better ordered in a little time.
He being gone my wife came and told me how kind my uncle Wight had been to her to-day, and that though she says that all his kindness comes from respect to her she discovers nothing but great civility from him, yet but what she says he otherwise will tell me, but to-day he told her plainly that had she a child it should be his heir, and that should I or she want he would be a good friend to us, and did give my wife instructions to consent to all his wife says at any time, she being a pettish woman, which argues a design I think he has of keeping us in with his wife in order to our good sure, and he declaring her jealous of him that so he dares not come to see my wife as otherwise he would do and will endeavour to do. It looks strange putting all together, but yet I am in hopes he means well. My aunt also is mighty open to my wife and tells her mighty plain how her husband did intend to double her portion to her at his death as a jointure. That he will give presently 100l. to her niece Mary and a good legacy at his death, and it seems did as much to the other sister, which vexed [me] to think that he should bestow so much upon his wife’s friends daily as he do, but it cannot be helped for the time past, and I will endeavour to remedy it for the time to come.
After all this discourse with my wife at my office alone, she home to see how the wash goes on and I to make an end of my work, and so home to supper and to bed.
54 Annotations
First Reading
Pedro • Link
"be guarded, as the Queen-Mother's is, by his Horse Guards;"
And on the 22 February 2007...
"Prince Harry's regiment is to be sent to Iraq for a six-month tour of duty, defence officials have confirmed."
The Blues and Royals were formed in 1969 from an amalgamation of The Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) and The Royal Dragoons (The Royals).
http://www.army.mod.uk/armcorps/r…
Patricia • Link
Sam is first of all disgusted with the neighbourhood where his father-in-law lives, and angry with his wife about it (presumably for persisting in visiting her parents in such a back-slum.) Then he is cross with Uncle Wight for spending money on his wife's relatives. Perhaps it stings, does it Sam? to see someone else doing for their in-laws what you could, but won't, do for yours?
Terry F • Link
"what is worst of all, that he will alter the present militia, and bring all to a flying army."
L&M clarify: replace "the part-time milita officered bt the gentry (established 1662)," tied to the places of their residebcy, with a small professional force that could go wherever needed, such as had been created in Scotland in 1663 to enforce an Anglican occupation.
(A gloss, my fellow Yanks, on the Second Amendment to the Constitution.)
An hour's worth of gossip and speculation brought by Mr. Alsopp the King's brewer -- for which Pepys has a prodigious memory!
cumsalisgrano • Link
Strange,"...Mr. Alsopp the King's brewer..." When I be getting my daily shilling and drinking with the Shiny Tens [Royal Enniskilleins Hussars, each be riding in 400 horses of unfettered oats], we had a brew which blessed by us all, as All-Slops but word on the bottle be Allsop's fine ale].
Todd Bernhardt • Link
"It looks strange putting all together, but yet I am in hopes he means well."
Hope springs eternal!
Whew, this is some entry ... reading this one was almost as prodigious a task as completing my catch-up, having fallen almost a month behind. Terry, a belated welcome back! And to the rest, a belated thank-you for your continued insights...
cumsalisgrano • Link
Samuell "old chap, did thee goe pell mell down Pell Mell with all those swells"
cumsalisgrano • Link
"...and so to a picture-sellers by the Half Moone in the street over against the Exchange, and there looked over the maps of several cities and did buy two books of cities stitched together cost me 9s. 6d., and when I came home thought of my vowe, and paid 5s. into my poor box for it,...
Today I was in the mood to buy exquisite world atlas of 1665. "The Atlas Maior", the cartographical masterpiece,this work contains maps of England, Ireland, and Scotland from Joan Blaeu's ...
available on line or at BN for 12 quid [24.00$ Plus TAX: 4 hrs of cleaning the kitchen floor. It would take poor lively Susan two months labour of washing Sams smalls to get such a prize of latitudes ]
Ruben • Link
I agree with Todd about today's entry. I will read it again tomorrow after gracious annotators, I hope, explain some of the more obtuse parts of this incredible entry.
"...and so to a picture-sellers by the Half Moone in the street over..."
Did not know Sellers had a Half Moone picture...
AlanB • Link
'It looks strange putting all together, but yet I am in hopes he means well'.
Well Sam, reflect and deny the facts. From this distance, Uncle Bill is obsessed by Bess and uncle's better half knows it. Uncle Wight's second brain (first?) has kicked in and he will promise the world.
Rgemini • Link
This entry, more than any other, has made me realise just what a sorry excuse for a ruler Charles II actually was. I'd previously thought of him as the 'Merry Monarch' we learnt about at school. Reading the Diary regularly had already begun to open my eyes but this particular Diary entry highlights just what a selfish, conceited and careless fool he really was.
Snorri • Link
What do you think, could Henrietta-Maria have a child from Jermyn, or were that just rumours?
djc • Link
I have just finished reading
Restoration: Charles II and His Kingdoms, 1660-1685 by Tim Harris (Penguin 2007)
Which gives a very good background to the politics of this day's diary.
deepfatfriar • Link
What a litany!
More than anything else, it reminds me of a somewhat similar list of grievances articulated in the Declaration of Independence........
George R • Link
Allsops still being brewed. Favourite tipple of troops in "Devils Kitchen", Aden, in 1960s was Allsops Lager (Slopps). Was then brewed by Inde Coupe and is now produced in East Africa.
Still have my well used can opener. There is a Pub in Gloucester Place called Allsop Arms.
Martin • Link
"...paid 5s. into my poor box for it..."
Sam, dammit, you have a library to assemble! Forget those qualms about buying books! Full speed ahead! You've got the money, and full dispensation from your 21st century fans. You'll be worth 1000 pounds soon enough!
Andrew Hamilton • Link
What a litany
Read in conjunction with Friday's entry it seems plain that the merchants of London don't like what they see at court and compare Charles II unfavorably to Oliver Cromwell for the former's extravagance and his passive response to Dutch affronts. Trouble is brewing between King and Commons.
jeannine • Link
"This entry, more than any other, has made me realize just what a sorry excuse for a ruler Charles II actually was".....Thanks RGemini, I had just taken a sip of tea and read this and then almost choked laughing! What a great comment to start the day with ~ I loved it!
Djc, I just bought the book you mentioned and haven't read it yet (what else is new-the unread pile is growing!). From the Amazon summary (url below) I believe it's one of the bios of Charles that does not paint a very good picture of him??? What I do find interesting about him as a 'character' is that there are so many different opinions about him through the eyes of the historians/biographers who have written about him. I try to read more than one bio about a person to get a well-rounded perspective and often a person's character, morals, etc. are presented in a similar manner. In the case of Charles they are usually split--sometimes' he's the ultimate schemer, politician, manipulator, pulling all of the strings to the puppet show and sometimes he's the puppet. One of the more interesting comments about his character is in his the character sketch written by one of his ministers, George Savile the Marquis of Halifax's "Character of K. Charles II, where his opinion of the monarch is that "He lived with his Ministers as he did with his Mistresses; he used them, but he was not in love with them."
Anyway, you look at him he seems a tough cookie to crack.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Restorati…
JWB • Link
Alsopp
Sounds like progenitor of Stew & Joe.
Pedro • Link
Mr. Alsopp the King's brewer,
But Lord, if Alsop had kept a Diary!
ann • Link
Is it just me, or does anyone else suspect a possible ulterior motive behind Uncle Wight's attentions to Bess? Seems to be a little TOO friendly, if you ask me. Cornering Bess the other day to tell her privately how much he loves her, constantly asking her if she is "with child," now telling her to stay in good graces with his wife, etc. Could he be hinting he's willing to help her out in the pregnancy department? (After all, he lost all of his children.) Could Sam be fooling himself into seeing only good intentions behind UW's actions because of the possibility of inheriting? I tend to be a skeptic when it comes to human nature, but I've been suspecting this for some time.
Rod McCaslin • Link
May I be the first to wish Sam a Happy Birthday!!!
And many happy returns of the day to
all his readers.
Cheers!
language hat • Link
"It looks strange putting all together"
...And so light begins to dawn...
language hat • Link
"a flying army"
OED, flying 4.d.:
Mil. and Naval. Said of a body of troops, or a squadron of ships, designed and organized for rapid movement, as in flying army, brigade, column, fleet, hospital, party, squadron.
Pedro • Link
"commit my Lord Digby's' chaplin, and steward, and another servant, who went upon the process begun there against their lord, to swear that they saw him at church, end receive the Sacrament as a Protestant, (which, the judges said, was sufficient to prove him such in the eye of the law);"
Bristol back to his old tricks. Sam had written in September '63...
"This day I read a Proclamation for calling in and commanding every body to apprehend my Lord Bristoll."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
(Digby)... In January 1664 he caused a new sensation by his appearance at his house at Wimbledon, where he publicly renounced before witnesses his Roman Catholicism, and declared himself a Protestant, his motive being probably to secure immunity from the charge of recusancy preferred against him.
(Wikepedia, Terry's background)
cumsalisgrano • Link
Ye be judged by the Company thy keep:
Birds of a feather,
flock together. Still true
If thee sleep with flea bitten dogs thee will be bitten too.
Pedro • Link
" Turnstile"
Naming of London Streets
The Great and Little Turnstiles were originally closed by revolving barriers, in order to keep the cattle pastured in Lincoln's Inn Fields from straying into Holborn.
(From the Book of Days)
Terry F • Link
"a flying army"
Thanks for what the OED says,LH; to which I would add that what seems to be troubling to SP is any kind of "standing army," as we would say, which must be somewhere and do something.
(A navy can be at sea, and there are the Dutch....)
cumsalisgrano • Link
"Wot" has change [see Pg 4 La times 23 Feb 2007:] The Story of Privilege:
"...The rape upon a woman at Turnstile the other day, her husband being bound in his shirt, they both being in bed together, it being night, by two Frenchmen, who did not only lye with her but abused her with a linke, is hushed up for 300l., being the Queen Mother's servants. ...}
Australian Susan • Link
"ate a bad, cold dinner"
Surely Sam could have gone to a pub and eaten the "ordinary" on washing day!
If Sam had got to hear of the rumours about the Queen being barren, presumably it was common knowledge: poor Catherine! Having her medical condition being talked about by all and sundry. But of course Royalty's child-bearing abiltities or not were important in that century (think of Louis XVI insisting his wife lay on her back as she gave birth so he could see better and all the baby in the warming pan rumours which resulted when James II's second wife insisted on privacy when in labour) and even beyond: when Queen Victoria had her first baby (a disappointing girl), there was a whole roomful of Govt and Court officials in the next room, with the doors open listening and waiting. At least the worst we have to put up with as regards invasion of privacy are medical students doing their obstetrics rotations.
djc • Link
"Charles II and his kingdoms"
the book by Harris is not a biography but a political history, a prelude to his "Revolution - The great crisis of the British monarchy 1685-1720".
On the matter of standing armies ("flying army"): the power of Parliament rests on its control of taxation. So long as the King cannot afford to pay an army he cannot oppress the people. (A navy is ok, it serves a mechantile economy and has no power to affect domestic politics). It is a theme that runs through British politics right into the nineteenth century (and beyond); money granted to the crown can be used to fund not only an army but a 'payrol vote' of public servants; hence public expenditure tends to be viewed as a bad thing. It is viewed not so much as a benefit to the public as increasing the power of the state.
cumsalisgrano • Link
Monies, royal or plebian.
1: There will always be someone to waylay its travel from source to USER. By law or by sword
2: He/She who has the string of purse rules. By Knight or by tab
3: When there be none, then there be malarchy then anarchy.
John Rex spent and lost half his lands and all his gold, so his Vice presidents put him in the field of meade, and then Rex handed some the rights of expenditure and collection, so that he got some cash.
From then on, monies of the City were in control {?} of the elected,an d as long as the Players got their share all be okie dokie, then Charles One thought that devine right of kings was still his, and the Money bags said no, thus we had an inter regnum, but that became too expensive for the City , so CII had another go at divine right of Kings, which lead to down fall JII and GIII, thus allowing every 4 years for each leader to have the function of spending excess wealth.
Last rule always follw the money not the words.
Pedro • Link
Standing and Flying Armies.
For a detailed description The Army of Charles II by John Childs is a mine of information.
Australian Susan • Link
Amazon link for above book
http://www.amazon.com/army-Charle…
Robert Gertz • Link
"...being vexed in my mind and angry with her for the ill-favoured place..."
Well, Sam, then cough up. I'm sure Father Alex would rejoice at ten pounds a year from his son-in-law.
Course it would all probably go into the perpetual motion machine or the smokeless chimney...
Robert Gertz • Link
"...though she says that all his kindness comes from respect to her she discovers nothing but great civility from him, yet but what she says he otherwise will tell me, but to-day he told her plainly that had she a child it should be his heir, and that should I or she want he would be a good friend to us, and did give my wife instructions to consent to all his wife says at any time, she being a pettish woman, which argues a design I think he has of keeping us in with his wife in order to our good sure, and he declaring her jealous of him that so he dares not come to see my wife as otherwise he would do and will endeavour to do. It looks strange putting all together, but yet I am in hopes he means well."
On the one hand, Sam. You have a dear and honest wife. Praise God.
On the other hand, Sam. C'mon...The only question is how far are you prepared to let dear Uncle Lothario (I picture a rather pathetic, rotund Uncle Wight desparately trying to make his move on our Bess...) go in your pursuit of a legacy?
Robert Gertz • Link
"Happy Birthday, nephew. And to make it especially happy for you and my dear niece..." Pause...
OH...Yes, yes, yes...
"I should care to make a rather...Interesting proposal to you both."
A ring is a thing that is quite sentimental...But cold hard cash is Sam's best friend...C'mon favorite unc of mine...Lets see that will...
"I should like to pay you 400ls to sleep with your wife."
Hmmn?
"Uncle?!!" Bess rises, raging...
Hmmn...Yes, awful...Absolutely...Utterly...
Though of course, nowadays given our lewd Court...
"Ah, pardon me...I see I lack a little of the suave polish of our Court...500Ls?...And you may keep any offspring as your own so long as you give it my first name...William or Wilhelmina for a girl."
"Sam'l?!!" Bess stares...
Hmmmmmmnnn....
Well, at least Uncle's not a poor dancing master nor a gambler and spendthrift like Sandwich.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"That my Lord Lauderdale, being Middleton’s enemy, and one that scorns the Chancellor even to open affronts before the King, hath got the whole power of Scotland into his hand; whereas the other day he was in a fair way to have had his whole estate, and honour, and life, voted away from him."
On 5 January Middleton had been forced to resign from the captain-generalship and the keepership of Edinburgh Castle -- Rothes, Lauderdale's agent, succeeding him in both offices. Lauderdale, Secretary to the Scottish Privy Council, was now supreme, after a rivalry which had been fierce and open since the Restoration. (Per L&M footnote)
Terry Foreman • Link
"That the King hath done himself all imaginable wrong in the business of my Lord Antrim, in Ireland; who, though he was the head of rebels, yet he by his letter owns to have acted by his father’s and mother’s, and his commissions"
Antrim (a leader of the Roman Catholic royalists and not 'the head of rebels' as Pepys has it) had given valuable service to Montrose in Scotland during the civil war, and to support him the King had written a letter to Ormond, the Lord-Lieutenant, a copy of which was sent to the commissioners adjudicating the land settlement. It had been published illegally in the autumn of 1663 in *Murder will out, or, The King's letter justifying the Marquess of Antrim and declaring that what he did in the Irish rebellion was by direction from his royal father and mother, and for the service of the crown.* Collection of letters and declarations chiefly by Charles, and a letter from Pope Gregory XV. Includes Charles's letter exonerating MacDonnell [Antrim] which is signed: By His Majesty's command, Henry Bennet. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/t…
Terry Foreman • Link
"he hath obliged himself, upon the clearing of his estate, to settle it upon a daughter of the Queene-Mother’s (by my Lord Germin, I suppose,) in marriage, be it to whom the Queene pleases; which is a sad story. "
There is no truth in this story: it was inspired by the fact that Henrietta Maria and Jermyn (and court Catholics generally) supported Antrim. (L&M footnote)
Terry Foreman • Link
"The rape upon a woman at Turnstile the other day, her husband being bound in his shirt, they both being in bed together, it being night, by two Frenchmen, who did not only lye with her but abused her with a linke, is hushed up for 300l., being the Queen Mother's servants."
They were in fact condemned in the April sessions. (Per L&M footnote)
Terry Foreman • Link
"the Princes of the Blood (though invited by our Embassador, which was the greatest absurdity that ever Embassador committed these 400 years) were not there; and so were not said to give place to our King’s Embassador."
A canard: Holles was not received in audience by Louis XIV until 10 March.
(Per L&M footnote)
Terry Foreman • Link
"That the Pope is glad to yield to a peace with the French (as the newes-book says), upon the basest terms that ever was."
In The Intelligener of 22 February
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Part of the treaty was published in the 14 March Intelligencer. (Per L&M note)
Bill • Link
“The Duke of Monmouth’s mother’s brother hath a place at Court”
Mr. Justice Waters, said to be “of the Temple,” by Thurloe.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.
Marquess • Link
One of the longest entries so far and quite diverse, from the sexual abuse of a womanmto talk of the duke of Monmouth.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Yes, Sam could easily have gone out to eat. But his wife was also out all day, and he created an excuse to stop in and make sure the maids were all working hard. Gotta keep the sluts on their toes. And to make sure Hewer isn't there creating diversions, of course.
JayW • Link
Compare all these reports with Terry F's notes above, and it becomes clear that 'fake news' was about long before the Internet.
jimmigee • Link
"Such mad doings there are every day among them!" Sam, take a time machine to 2019 and you'll witness the same.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"That my Lord Lauderdale, being Middleton’s enemy, and one that scorns the Chancellor even to open affronts before the King, hath got the whole power of Scotland into his hand; ...
"The Duke of Monmouth’s mother’s brother hath a place at Court; and being a Welchman (I think he told me) will talk very broad of the King’s being married to his sister."
The House of Commons blog tells us that
In early 1664, when James Croft’s marriage to Lady Anne Scott was being arranged, a process was begun under Scots law for the young Duke of Monmouth to be granted letters of legitimation and it was probably to this that should be attributed the beginning of rumors that Charles intended to acknowledge him as his legitimate son. Nothing of the kind happened, but at the height of the Exclusion Crisis of 1681, Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury, and others agitated for Charles II to acknowledge Monmouth as his heir.
https://thehistoryofparliament.wo…
Sounds like the Secretary of State for Scotland, John Maitland, 2nd Earl of Lauderdale was earning his keep.
Third Reading
徽柔 • Link
"That the King hath done himself all imaginable wrong in the business of my Lord Antrim, in Ireland; who, though he was the head of rebels, yet he by his letter owns to have acted by his father’s and mother’s, and his commissions; but it seems the truth is, he hath obliged himself, upon the clearing of his estate, to settle it upon a daughter of the Queene-Mother’s (by my Lord Germin, I suppose,) in marriage, be it to whom the Queene pleases; which is a sad story. It seems a daughter of the Duke of Lenox’s was, by force, going to be married the other day at Somerset House, to Harry Germin; but she got away and run to the King, and he says he will protect her. She is, it seems, very near akin to the King: Such mad doings there are every day among them!“
The little girl was the eleven-year-old Mary Stewart, step-granddaughter of Antrim and niece of Buckingham. It seems that she was not very close to her uncle George (As she ran to her cousin the King when in trouble)though she was George Buckingham's closest relative by blood. It is comforting to see the king protecting his little orphan cousin.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"That the King hath done himself all imaginable wrong in the business of my Lord Antrim, in Ireland; who, though he was the head of rebels, yet he by his letter owns to have acted by his father’s and mother’s, and his commissions; but it seems the truth is, he hath obliged himself, upon the clearing of his estate, to settle it upon a daughter of the Queene-Mother’s (by my Lord Germin, I suppose,) in marriage, be it to whom the Queene pleases; which is a sad story. It seems a daughter of the Duke of Lenox’s was, by force, going to be married the other day at Somerset House, to Harry Germin; but she got away and run to the King, and he says he will protect her. She is, it seems, very near akin to the King: Such mad doings there are every day among them!"
"Oh what a tangled web we weave." Pepys didn't need AI to get the stories wrong.
1. Henrietta-Maria employed Henry "Harry" Jermyn, now the Earl of St. Albans, as her Chancellor for years. Everything historical indicates they were good friends, and he was her protector for decades. His wealth saved her from starvation a few times during the Civil Wars. She never had an illigitimate child.
2. The Catholic Earl of Antrim was technically George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham's stepfather. But the children of Katherine Manners Villiers, Duchess of Buckingham were taken from her when she turned Catholic, and brought up by King Charles to make sure they were Protestant.
3. Neither the Antrims nor the Buckinghams were related by blood to the Stuarts.
4. In 1663 Charles II was pardoning the Marquis of Antrim following lengthy investigations both in the Tower and in Ireland. Evidently some deal was made about his estate since he was childless, but it couldn't be what Pepys reports.
5. George's sister, Mary “Mall” Villiers Herbert Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox had two children with James Stuart, Duke of Richmond and Lennox: A son, Esme, who died in Paris in 1660, and a daughter, Mary Stuart, Baroness Clifton (of Leighton Bromswold) who was baptized on 10 July, 1651, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
So yes, this little girl is Mary Stuart, who is 12 going on 13.
Harry Jermyn (1636–1708) is the 26-year-old nephew of the Earl of St. Albans, and was not a suitable suitor to such a well-connected young lady IMHO. What was Mall thinking?
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Yes, that young Mary felt free to appeal directly to the King was good, and that she didn't go to her uncle Buckingham might be telling.
Buckingham could have been out-of-town (he was Lord Lt. of the West Ridings, and loved his Yorkshire home), or she might have thought he agreed with Mall that this was an appropriate match.
We need more evidence on this before reaching a conclusion.
徽柔 • Link
“What was Mall thinking?”
According to some of the studies on Mall(Ephelia) by Maureen E. Mulvihill, Mall has borne a secret feeling for the Earl of St. Albans. Maybe she thought the union could bring them closer.
I don't think Buck would agree with Mall on such an arrangement. The girl was his heiress, too important to marry a mere Baron.(At this point he must have already realized his inability to produce offspring)
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Mall has borne a secret feeling for the Earl of St. Albans."
That answers a lot. And he was very wealthy. Always good to have money in the family.
Agreed Buckingham and Mary Fairfax had not produced a legitimate living heir yet.
Your comment about Ephelia needs clarification: Ladies were supposed to be seen and not heard in those days. And ladies certainly did not write poetry and have it published under their real names.
But some excellent apparently-female poets in the Restoration times were published. Of course, they might have been Buckingham's "Merry Wits" teasing us from afar as pseudonyms hide their identities.
One of these poets used the pseudonyms of "Ephelia":
'In 1885, H. B. Wheatley contributed an undocumented, one-line identification of "Ephelia" as "Mrs. Joan Phillips" to A Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous English Literature edited by Halkett and Laing (VIII: 1885).'
'But who was "Joan Phillips"? It is not entirely preposterous, in view of Ephelia's probable identity in the tricksy 'Mall' Villiers, that "Joan Phillips" was yet another alter-ego of Mary Villiers Herbert Stuart, Duchess of Richmond, an urban identity or cover which allowed this inventive Duchess easy access to the colorful street culture of Restoration London.
'Within the constricted confines of the Court, the Duchess of Richmond was the pseudonymous writer, "Ephelia"; on the streets of Restoration London, she was "Joan Phillips."
'A woman of imposed multiple identities all her long life, the Duchess of Richmond, in the 1660s and 1670s, finally had the freedom, time, and personal space to recreate herself through multiple poetic voices and identities. From her privileged position at Court, 'Mall' had the resources and surely the talent to bring off such trickery.'
This article also proposes other theories, including Ephra/Joan Phillips being Aphra Behn.
http://www.ephelia.com/textual_li…
www.poetryfoundation.org
Also arguing against it being Mary "Mall" Villiers Stuart:
'The strongly promoted attribution of the verse of late-17th century woman poet ‘Ephelia’ to Mary Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, should be rejected. Maureen E. Mulvihill's arguments for it are vitiated by circular reasoning and uncritical use of evidence. They also require explaining away much apparently autobiographical reference in the works as fraudulent or part of an elaborate private code. Taking these references at their face value is more likely to bring about a satisfactory identification.'
https://academic.oup.com/res/arti…
We will never know for sure. Time travel doesn't appear to be a possibility yet.
徽柔 • Link
“These are Lauderdale, Buckingham, Hamilton, Fitz-Harding (to whom he hath, it seems, given 2,000l. per annum in the best part of the King’s estate); and that that the old Duke of Buckingham could never get of the King.”
Was Pepys' suggesting that George Villiers the elder cannot even get 2,000l. per annum from the king?(That doesn't make sense, old George was the sweetheart of James I and Charles I) Or was "old Duke of Buckingham " actually the second duke?
San Diego Sarah • Link
I think we have a problem with Pepys' shorthand and Victorian punctuation muddying the waters, 徽柔 .
Try this: "Fitz-Harding (to whom he hath, it seems, given 2,000l. per annum in the best part of the King’s estate); and that that the old Duke of Buckingham could never get of the King."
I read this to mean that old Buckingham wanted an estate which was worth 2,000l. per annum, and never could persuade James I or Charles I to part with it. But Johnny-come-lately playboy Fitz-Harding has wheedled it out of Charles II without much trouble.