Monday 18 April 1664
Up and by coach to Westminster, and there solicited W. Joyce’s business again; and did speake to the Duke of Yorke about it, who did understand it very well. I afterwards did without the House fall in company with my Lady Peters, and endeavoured to mollify her; but she told me she would not, to redeem her from hell, do any thing to release him; but would be revenged while she lived, if she lived the age of Methusalem.
I made many friends, and so did others. At last it was ordered by the Lords that it should be referred to the Committee of Privileges to consider. So I, after discoursing with the Joyces, away by coach to the ’Change; and there, among other things, do hear that a Jew hath put in a policy of four per cent. to any man, to insure him against a Dutch warr for four months; I could find in my heart to take him at this offer, but however will advise first, and to that end took coach to St. James’s, but Mr. Coventry was gone forth, and I thence to Westminster Hall, where Mrs. Lane was gone forth, and so I missed of my intent to be with her this afternoon, and therefore meeting Mr. Blagrave, went home with him, and there he and his kinswoman sang, but I was not pleased with it, they singing methought very ill, or else I am grown worse to please than heretofore. Thence to the Hall again, and after meeting with several persons, and talking there, I to Mrs. Hunt’s (where I knew my wife and my aunt Wight were about business), and they being gone to walk in the parke I went after them with Mrs. Hunt, who staid at home for me, and finding them did by coach, which I had agreed to wait for me, go with them all and Mrs. Hunt and a kinswoman of theirs, Mrs. Steward, to Hide Parke, where I have not been since last year; where I saw the King with his periwigg, but not altered at all; and my Lady Castlemayne in a coach by herself, in yellow satin and a pinner on; and many brave persons. And myself being in a hackney and full of people, was ashamed to be seen by the world, many of them knowing me.
Thence in the evening home, setting my aunt at home, and thence we sent for a joynt of meat to supper, and thence to the office at 11 o’clock at night, and so home to bed.
24 Annotations
First Reading
Terry F • Link
"without the House" - i.e., outside the House of Lords
Mary • Link
"being in a hackney"
Sam feels that his appearance amongst the 'bon ton' in a mere, hired coach (especially one laden with Rabbit's friends and relations) rather than in his own carriage is distinctly non-U. However, he does take coach more and more often these days, whereas a couple of years ago he spent more time on foot or on the river. He's rising in the world but has reached that uncomfortable, middle-class stage where he can't keep up with the Joneses socially, though he can equal and exceed them professionally and intellectually.
Xjy • Link
Yep, it's not just clothes that make the man. It's the whole deal, down to the apple logs you toss on the fire, the gold trimmings in your private jet, and the appearance of the staff at your seventeenth mansion. Sam has a long long way to climb... ;-)
I mean, he still relies on chance to get to play with Betty L. Seriously rich folk like Onassis and Jackie K regulate all that in their prenups.
jeannine • Link
"where Mrs. Lane was gone forth, and so I missed of my intent to be with her this afternoon"
I sometimes wonder if Sam doesn't have 'appointments' in mind for the days ahead but he just reveals then daily. If he'd been planning to meet Mrs. Lane and did have intentions of a tryst it may help explain his misplaced jealousy towards Elizabeth as of late -nose pulling, keeping her out of church for fear of Pembleton, etc. Maybe his little get togethers (some, not necessarily all) are well planned in advance and his guilt awaiting the next appointment runs awry.
Robert Gertz • Link
The Revolution has come...
"Citizeness Peters, wife of the pardoned aristocrat and servant of the People's Government Citizen Peters...Condemned by denunciation of Party Minister Citizen Pepys (of course our boy landed on his feet) for the crime of imprisoning the good Citizen Joyce, merchant, when the Citizen sought to collect his payment for services rendered."
"I plead..."
"Silence...Your plea of guilt has been recorded. I myself bear witness to your crime." Sam notes coldly.
"Guillotine, guillotine!" Bess calls, looking up from her knitting...
"Not quite invented yet, darling." Party Minister Pepys hisses.
"Well...Beheading, beheading!"
"The Voice of the People has spoken..." Party Minister Pepys notes to the Revolutionary Tribunal...Citizen Joyce a beaming member.
***
"I made many friends, and so did others." Intriguing remark...How does one make "friends" in such a matter?
Still seems awful poor Joyce should face this injustice... Although Sam says little I wonder how the spectacle of seeing how easily an innocent, ordinary man can be squashed like a bug for no good reason by a worthless member of the elite affects him. It was a little different when the government pursued those who to some extent constituted a legitimate (at least potentially) threat like the former regicides but this is just... I expect the end result will be to encourage him to pile up cash harder and faster.
Rex Gordon • Link
"I made many friends, and so did others."
I think this means Sam felt that he persuaded a number of people to support Joyce, as did other friends of Joyce. "Friends" here would mean "supporters."
Ruben • Link
Joyce case:
first recorded case of hard lobbying?
"do hear that a Jew hath put in a policy of four per cent. to any man, to insure him against a Dutch warr for four months; I could find in my heart to take him at this offer, but however will advise first,"
Is the Jew betting there will be a war in less than 4 months or is he betting on the contrary?
andy • Link
my intent to be with her
but was it her intent to be with him? maybe not? was Betty avoiding him, or was the tryst only in his mind?
but yes it's his guilt that shows in the ...shudder.. Pembleton thing.
JWB • Link
Ruben
I think against. His takers would be insuring their ventures in case of disruption by war.
Bradford • Link
Your comments about his midway position astute, Mary; nor has he the self-assurance yet to just brazen it out. Why didn't he just pull his hat down over his face?
JonTom Kittredge • Link
Insuring For or Against War?
I was unclear about that myself, but I tend to think he was seeking a policy to pay out if there is a war in the next four months. My reading is influenced by Pepys saying that he's tempted to take up the offer, since the latest inside information SP has heard has been that the war thing is overblown and will blow over.
My guess is that "the Jew" isn't making a pure bet, but is a merchant who has a lot to lose if there is a war, and so wants to hedge the risk.
Terry F • Link
Inside the House of Lords this day
Joyce, for arresting Lady Petre.
Upon reading the Petition of William Joyce, upon Bail until this Day, for arresting the Lady Elizabeth Petre, Wife of the Right Honourable the Lord Petre, a Peer of this Realm, contrary to the Right of Peerage:
It is ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, That the said Business is hereby referred to the Consideration of the Lords Committees for Privileges, who have Power to send for such Parties and Witnesses as they think fit, whereby they may prepare and state the whole Business for this House: And in the mean Time the said William Joyce is to remain upon his Bail, to appear at such Time as the Committee shall appoint.
From: 'House of Lords Journal Volume 11: 18 April 1664', Journal of the House of Lords: volume 11: 1660-1666, pp. 594-95. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/… Date accessed: 19 April 2007.
A. De Araujo • Link
"and thence we sent for a joynt"
Well I guess that can be an option.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
"Sam feels that his appearance amongst the 'bon ton' in a mere, hired coach (especially one laden with Rabbit's friends and relations"
Sam the only snob in the Hundred Acre Wood?
Clement • Link
"...a policy of four per cent. to any man, to insure him against a Dutch warr for four months..."
"For four months" sounds like the duration of an insurance policy, rather than a bet.
With a vast amount of English trade on the seas it seems likely that this was insurance against loss due to acts of war, which may have been excluded by standard policies for shipping. (I couldn't find a quick answer to that question online.)
Clement • Link
"Well I guess that can be an option."
Purely medicinal reasons, I'm sure.
Terry F • Link
"arresting the Lady Elizabeth Petre...contrary to the Right of Peerage"
Schooling myself, descendant of ex-colonists as this session took place, about the immunity marriage to a Peer conferred on the peerless harlot, Lady Peters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priv…
A similar freedom from arrest provision was included in the U.S. Constitution, but extending only to members of Congress, not to their spouses, however virtuous.
Terry F • Link
To be clearer: I was, of course, not descended yet on 18 April 1664, but a sufficient number of my ancestors were (whose weren't?) and were colonists on the West side pf the Pond.
Paul Chapin • Link
"A similar freedom from arrest provision was included in the U.S. Constitution"
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there are a couple of crucial differences:
1) The freedom pertains only to actual presence in Congress, and traveling to and from, not everywhere and in all circumstances (otherwise some of our currently incarcerated former Congressmen could not have been);
2) In the case of a prohibited arrest, the member of Congress would be released without charge, but there would be no civil or criminal penalties for the arresting officer, unless the arrest was a false arrest under general terms of law.
Todd Bernhardt • Link
"Purely medicinal reasons, I'm sure."
Well, Sam *has* been having eye troubles ... could be a touch of the ol' glaucoma, I s'pose... 8-)
cumsalisgrano • Link
Re: Tradesmen and the privilege ones, Most small businesses had to keep a running Tab for upper betters, and the tradesmen hated it, because for many, collecting minute sums like 30 Li for a year was like pulling hens teeth, and they could not charge interest unlike modern bankers with credit cards.
Mistress Petre had made idiot of her better half, so the Lords appear to have sympathy for Joyce and comrade, BUT they could not have a tradesman haul their Rumps to Clink for failing to pay the tab, otherwise all the debtor prisons would be full, and no room for the poorer sort.
If thy peruse the Parliament records for these times, thee would see how often blue blud privilege was invoked, and the arresting Hofficer had to go on bended Knee and beg for an indulgence and pay a fee for doing his duty.
Terry F • Link
"I saw the King with his periwigg, but not altered at all"
The first time Pepys has seen the king thus. I find the last phrase puzzling.
cumsalisgrano • Link
:maybe ill fitting or as me olde Sgt.Maj. would comment on an ill fitting Busby, big enought to cover a mares rump.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"my Lady Peters...told me she would not... do any thing to release him; but would be revenged while she lived, if she lived the age of Methusalem."
Methusalem, the German transliteration of מְתֿוּשָׁלַח for what is of great age, now brands such entities as a band, a record label and a beer.
The English transliteration of the Hebrew, known by Lady Petre and Pepys, is, of course, Methuselah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meth…