Thursday 19 May 1664
Up, and it being very rayny weather, which makes it cooler than it was, by coach to Charing Cross with Sir W. Pen, who is going to Portsmouth this day, and left him going to St. James’s to take leave of the Duke, and I to White Hall to a Committee of Tangier; where God forgive how our Report of my Lord Peterborough’s accounts was read over and agreed to by the Lords, without one of them understanding it! And had it been what it would, it had gone: and, besides, not one thing touching the King’s profit in it minded or hit upon.
Thence by coach home again, and all the morning at the office, sat, and all the afternoon till 9 at night, being fallen again to business, and I hope my health will give me leave to follow it.
So home to supper and to bed, finding myself pretty well. A pretty good stool, which I impute to my whey to-day, and broke wind also.
17 Annotations
First Reading
Pedro • Link
Lord Peterborough's accounts was read over and agreed to by the Lords, without one of them understanding it!
All those meetings over several weeks and we knew it would be just a formality.
Terry F • Link
Lord Peterborough's accounts
Pepys -- "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly." - Macbeth, 1.7
Paul Chapin • Link
"And had it been what it would, it had gone"
Terry's thoughts are loftier than mine. The first comparable saying that popped into my mind was, "Wherever you go, there you are."
A. De Araujo • Link
"A pretty good stool"
Maybe Sam was lactose intolerant.
cape henry • Link
There is an absolute genuineness in Pepys disgust with the lack of attention to details and regard for the king in the workings the committee. Whatever Pepys' shortcomings, this is an aspect of his character that deserves respect.
Michael Robinson • Link
There is an absolute genuineness in Pepys disgust
Yes, but this annotator wonders how much of this might be emotions of disquiet and discomfort with his own conduct in the affair that have been transfered to the Committee: does the apparent incompetence of the 'gentlemen'- indeed what might really be their trust in the integrity of the professional preparing the report presented to them - somehow absolve the shady dealing of the 'professional'? The 'God forgive' does appear to be invoked on SP as well as the Committee.
Terry F • Link
"being fallen again to business, and I hope my health will give me leave to follow it."
God bless Pepys's resolve, given his recent "Sicke" day in great pain and its costive sequelae. It's a good thing he apparently knows not that this was a battle with a stone! His Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder extends the experience of Ye [Bladder] Stone to the other discomforts of his innards.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, OR, The Chronicle of His Gastro-Intestinal Tract.
Today he had a "pretty good stool..., and broke wind also." AHhhhhhhhhh.
Michael Robinson • Link
Constipation and stress
This has certainly been a very stressful time for SP -- Uncle Wight, a significant cash offer, the potential loss of the possibility of a substantial inheritance; requests for financial assistance "tending to my parting with what I get with pain to serve others' expenses" then the passage(forgive the pun) of the Peterborough Account which has been acknowledged by SP in the past as serious source of emotional discomfort ... leads to relief of symptoms.
Do any of our medically informed colleagues know of a linkage between emotional stress and the release/passage of kidney/bladder stones? [What strikes me as interesting is that EP takes to her bed the day after Uncle Wight, two days later SP suffers his attack and is writing about the first night in the marriage spent apart] Might anyone have been tracking Pepys various urinary/gastric symptoms against stressors/behavior?
Robert Gertz • Link
Something tells me Petersborough is sleeping soundly.
***
Oh, it is whey, whey, whey. That lets you... today. Oh yes, it's whey, whey, whey. For which we all say hey. Yes, whey, whey, whey...Forget those ap-ples a day. And just, say, whey.
Robert Gertz • Link
"Do we really have to do this now, officer Robinson?"
"I'm sorry Mrs. Pepys, but your husband was a royal officer. Just the facts, ma'am..."
"Well...He'd been having some...Trouble...Of a digestive nature. So he'd being trying a new diet and thought out here..."
"Sitting on this...What is it, exactly, ma'am?"
"A truffet, Sir John."
"Truffet, right. Get that down, Rico. And he'd been eating from this bowl...What was in the bowl, ma'am?"
"Whey, Officer Robinson. As I said, he'd been trying a new diet. Then Mr. Hewer, here..." notes Will's anxious presence...
"There was something else in the bowl, Sir John." Rico, examining wooden bowl dropped by the truffet carefully. "I'd say...Curds by the smell." Tastes. "Urggh...Yeah, curds."
"I believe Mr. Pepys had included curds in his regimen." Hewer notes helpfully.
"I see..." Robinson nods. "So Clerk of the Acts Pepys was sitting out here, on a truffet...Eating some new wave health food...His curds and whey..."
"When, bamm!!" Rico pounds fist into hand...
"Officer..." Bess stares.
"Sorry ma'am...But we must stick to the facts, ma'am. Murder is never pretty, Mrs. Pepys." Sir John, briskly.
"Murder?! But Mr. Pepys was killed by a spider. I showed you the one Will here killed..."
"That breed doesn't exist in England, ma'am...It's a African spider, ma'am. I find it hard to believe a deadly African spider just suddenly chose to visit Mr. Pepys on his truffet."
"Along came a spider, indeed..." Rico, solemnly.
"Tell me, ma'am...Your husband was involved in the Tangier committee, I believe...?" Sir John asks.
"That's one angle..." Rico nods.
Cut to offices of Wight Fish, Ltd. Solely involved in the fish trade...Uh-huh...
"Well, Iuduco?" Wight eyes his trusty aide.
"Alas, I could not recover my poor Emma before Mr. Pepys' aide reached her...But your problem is dealt with, Mr. Wight." Maes nods.
***
Bradford • Link
"which I impute to my whey to-day":
Send that man some yogurt by the Time Machine!
Avery M. • Link
"...and broke wind also"
Thanks for the info, Pepys. I totally needed to hear that.
Robert Gertz • Link
"Truffet?...you mean tuffet, don't you?" Hewer offers, helpfully.
"Like I say, tuffet..." Rico frowns. "And where were you when that spider was murdering your boss? Making love to his wife?"
If only that were true...Bess inwardly sighs...
***
jeannine • Link
From Ruth Norrington's "My Dearest Minette"
What follows are selections from a letter sent by Charles II to Minette (his sister) who had previously criticized his treatment of his wife and his blatant preference for Lady Castlemaine. He also shares a few of his views of the activities in Parliament:
Whitehall, 19 May 1664
I have ben all this afternoon playing the good husband, having been abroade with my wife, and tis now past twelve a clocke, and I am very sleepy...... I have very much businesse at the end of parlament, which hindered me, and I hope you will thinke my paines not ill imployed, when I shall tell you that never any parlament went away better pleased than this did, and I am sure that I have all the reason in the world to be well satisfied with them, and when they meete again, which will be in November, I make no doubt but that they will do al for me that I can wish, and so good night for I am fast a sleepe. C.R.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Lord Peterborough's accounts
Pepys -- "If it were done when 'tis done, , then 'twere well it were done quickly." - Macbeth, 1.7
On 11 June Pepys will write to Vernatty that he is still at work on them.
(Per L&M footnote)
Bridget Carrie Davis • Link
jeannine on 20 May 2007 • Link • Flag
From Ruth Norrington's "My Dearest Minette"
Thank you Jeannine, that was a delightful surprise to my day.
annettek • Link
Poor S Pepys, his illness was well known, some might go after this set of words, but in my grandfather's life and before kidney problems sent some of his friends to a spa, located you see in his hometown and up the coast.
Monty Python video made a film based on these spa treatments, the waters and other medial remedies for kidney ailments. 1830-1920's.
And Pepys having spent time with Parliament intense work, did his love for home periods give him a respite?