Wednesday 20 July 1664

Up, and a while to my office, and then home with Mr. Deane till dinner, discoursing upon the business of my Lord Chancellor’s timber in Clarendon Parke, and how to make a report therein without offending him; which at last I drew up, and hope it will please him. But I would to God neither I nor he ever had had any thing to have done with it!

Dined together with a good pig, and then out by coach to White Hall, to the Committee for Fishing; but nothing done, it being a great day to-day there upon drawing at the Lottery of Sir Arthur Slingsby. I got in and stood by the two Queenes and the Duchesse of Yorke, and just behind my Lady Castlemayne, whom I do heartily adore; and good sport it was to see how most that did give their ten pounds did go away with a pair of globes only for their lot, and one gentlewoman, one Mrs. Fish, with the only blanke. And one I staid to see drew a suit of hangings valued at 430l., and they say are well worth the money, or near it. One other suit there is better than that; but very many lots of three and fourscore pounds. I observed the King and Queenes did get but as poor lots as any else. But the wisest man I met with was Mr. Cholmley, who insured as many as would, from drawing of the one blank for 12d.; in which case there was the whole number of persons to one, which I think was three or four hundred. And so he insured about 200 for 200 shillings, so that he could not have lost if one of them had drawn it, for there was enough to pay the 10l.; but it happened another drew it, and so he got all the money he took. I left the lottery, and went to a play, only a piece of it, which was the Duke’s house, “Worse and Worse;” just the same manner of play, and writ, I believe, by the same man as “The Adventures of Five Hours;” very pleasant it was, and I begin to admire Harris more than ever.

Thence to Westminster to see Creed, and he and I took a walk in the Parke. He is ill, and not able yet to set out after my Lord, but will do to-morrow. So home, and late at my office, and so home to bed.

This evening being moonshine I played a little late upon my flageolette in the garden.

But being at Westminster Hall I met with great news that Mrs. Lane is married to one Martin, one that serves Captain Marsh. She is gone abroad with him to-day, very fine. I must have a bout with her very shortly to see how she finds marriage.

42 Annotations

First Reading

Terry F  •  Link

"Dined together with a good pig,"

Well, Samuel, and what was his/her name?

Terry F  •  Link

"Dined together with a good pig,"

Take it away, Robert Gertz or whoever will!

Terry F  •  Link

Pepys's view of the lottery complements Evelyn's.dated yesterday.

:July 19. To Lond. to see the event of the Lottery, which his Majestie had permitted Sir Arth: Slingsby to set up for one day in the Banqueting house at whitehall: I gaining onely a trifle, as well as did the King, Queene Consort, & Q: Mother for neere 30 lotts: which was thought to be contriv'd very un-handsomely by the master of it, who was in truth a meer shark:" http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Is Evelyn here today, having arrived in town yesterday? Sorta sounds like it.

Paul Dyson  •  Link

drawing at the Lottery

This sounds like what is often known as Tombola at a village fete, rather than a lottery as understood today, i.e. all the prizes are numbered and are of widely varying value; entrants win the prize corresponding to the ticket number they draw. Topical point for British readers - is the "meer shark" of Evelyn's description the 1664 equivalent of the BBC production team?

Patricia  •  Link

"I must have a bout with her very shortly to see how she finds marriage." Depending upon the nature of this bout, Sam may shortly find himself having a bout with Mr. Martin.

"I played a little late upon my flageolette" I can never get used to that word! Always makes me think of "flagellum", and that Sam is punishing himself for going to the play, etc. Instead, he's just punishing the neighbours who have to hear him play.

cape henry  •  Link

"...how to make a report therein without offending him; which at last I drew up, and hope it will please him."

Spin. Fear and promise, both. Nothing new is there?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Dined together with a good pig...

"Pepys and the Shipbuilder were walking close at hand,
They wept like anything to see, such fine trees left to stand.
'If these could but be hauled away, our good fleet would be grand.'
'Deane, if seven men with vigorous chops
Worked it by night for half the year.
Do you suppose,'the CoA said,
"That they could get it away clear?"
"I doubt it," said our good Tony Deane,
And shed a bitter tear.

'O wise pigs, come and walk with us!"
The CoA did beseech.
'A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Till my lovely home we reach:
We'll keep you there till not past four,
Your advice we plead of each.'

The elder pig looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest pig winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the Clarendon sty

'The time has come', the CoA said, 'To talk of many things...
Of masts and ships and cut-rate tar-
Of incompetent kings
And whether Povy's now boiling hot
And what pity you pigs have no wings.'

'But wait a bit,' the piggy cried,
'Before we have our chat;
For I am somewhat out of breath,
And all of three us are fat.'
'No hurry!' said the Shipbuilder.
He thanked him much for that.
Pepys frowned a bit and hissed to Deane,
'I'm sure I'm not that fat.'

"You know it seems a shame," the CoA said,
"To play him such a trick,
After we've brought him out so far,
And made him trot so quick!"
Mr. Deane said nothing but
'The mustard's spread too thick!'

'I weep for you,' the CoA said:
'And I vow to heed your good advise.'
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Pieces of the largest size,
Making notes in shorthand quick
Before his streaming eyes.

'O piggy,' said the Shipbuider,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?
To the forest of Clarendon-'
But answer there was none...

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Well, well, well. Betty Lane, er Martin, the old married woman. Did ye wear white, my girl?"

"Bugger off, you."

"Betty...Now, now..."

"Here, now. Who might you be? And what might you be doing with me wife?"

"Ah, yes. You must be Mr. Martin. Pepys, sir. Samuel Pepys, esquire. Clerk of the Acts of His Majesty's Navy and good customer to your dear wife."

"Aye? Well, good customers are welcome...Long as they keep their hands to the merchandise, not the Missus."

"Indeed, sir. I should hope you are not suggesting... Sir, you are speaking to Samuel Pepys. A gentleman,sir, of propriety and duty..."

"Wait? Pepys?..."

"Now, Martin, dearest. Mr. Pepys is with the Naval Office..."

"Is this the fellow? The one James saw through the window that day? The one who tousled you and pinched yer..."

"Sir, I do think you have mistaken...Unhand me, sir! Hewer!!!"
***

Paul Chapin  •  Link

I concur with Sam in admiring Mr. Cholmley, who figured out a nearly risk-free way to make a profit from this event. Maybe that's why we don't see lotteries like this any more (at least I don't, although Paul Dyson seems familiar with the concept, under the name of Tombola).

Terry F  •  Link

Robert Gertz, a wonderfully swinish turn of verse!! 10' Alice would be pleased. And yo, Paul Chapin, Mr. Cholmley's probably illegal metalottery without Sir Arthur Slingsby's royal permit -- or a bit like a bear-baiting, prize-fight or dog-fight.

Mary  •  Link

The lottery.

What is not clear is the origin of the goods that were available for winning. Some of these prizes were plainly very valuable. Presumably some folk sought to gain kudos by giving them. Or perhaps they simply had their arms twisted?

AussieRene  •  Link

Twas an evening in November
That he'll very well remember
Sam was strolling down the street in drunken pride
When his knees went all a flutter
Sam'l landed in the gutter
And a pig came up and lay down by his side

Yes he lay there in the gutter
thinking thoughts he could not utter
When a colleen passing by did softly say
"Ye can tell a man that boozes
By the company he chooses"
At that, the pig got up and walked away

Pedro  •  Link

"and good sport it was to see how most that did give their ten pounds did go away with a pair of globes only for their lot"

No wonder Sam had good sport, he only paid 3l 10s.for his!

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

But think of all the sport they will have when to the globes with their wives, and then to bed!

jeannine  •  Link

From "Journal of the Earl of Sandwich" edited by R.C. Anderson, today's entry reads:

20th Wednesday. From Canterbury I went towards Deal. About Ash the commanders of the ships met me. At Sandwich port Captain Titus and the Mayor and assistants of Sandwich met me. I went to the Lion and received courtesy from the Mayor. Then near Sandwich Castle my boats lay ready and about one of the clock I boarded the London in the Downs. Sandown Castle gave me guns at going off, but neither ships nor any other castle spent powder at my request.

Fleets then in the Downs (note: formatting below differs from actual journal)

Admiral Squadron: London, Gloucester, Happy Return, Dover, Kent, Drake, Nonsuch ketch

Vice Ad. Squadron: Plymouth, Dreadnought, Crown, Breda, Guernsey, Lily

Rear Ad. Squadron: Revenge, Elizabeth, Hampshire, Pearl, Hector

Pedro  •  Link

The Fleet in The Downs.

When Sam was approached to sound out Sandwich...

"to know whether I do understand my Lord Sandwich's intentions as to going to sea with this fleete; saying, that the Duke, if he desires it, is most willing to it; but thinking that twelve ships is not a fleete fit for my Lord to be troubled to go out with,"

It is no coincidence that when it was clear of Sandwich's mind to go, the fleet was increased to eighteen.

Bradford  •  Link

Ah, now Mrs. Lane will have another basis for comparing performance.

A tombola was a feature of Anglican church fêtes too, in the 1950s (cf. Barbara Pym's novels). Imagine Our Lady Castlemaine as the Pocket Lady! But as Mary asks: who supplied the prizes, and why?

Paul Dyson  •  Link

Lottery - Tombola

For further information readers may like to visit the following link.

http://www.charnwood-catalogue.co…

There are variants on this activity but usually the prizes are donated so that all takings are profit, especially if it's in aid of a charity.

In England a licence is still needed if the tickets are to be sold to the general public, but not (I think) if at a private function. Some organisations e.g. certain churches would disapprove of tombola as a form of gambling.

Xjy  •  Link

Hm, I think Pat n Bob are misjudging the degree of understanding and complicity between our Sam and his Betty. Every now and then they slip into an interstice between worlds and have a bit of fun together. And now they're on an equal footing in the "real" world re the ball-and-chain, my guess (being totally ignorant of what's gonna happen) is that now they will be seeing more of each other and not less, business permitting.

Terry F  •  Link

"'Worse and Worse;' just the same manner of play, and writ, I believe, by the same man as "The Adventures of Five Hours'"

L&M say not writ by the same man, but -- that, as Phil has indicated with the links -- "Worse and Worse" was an adaptation by the 2nd Earl of Bristol (George Digby), whereas "The Adventures of Five Hours" was by Sir Samuel Tuke.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Oh, I doubt Sam and Betty have seen the last of each other and their sporting days by a long shot...

Especially if Martin is working for the Navy.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"who supplied the prizes, and why?"
I supposed that Sir Arthur was having a large estate sale of his own stuff, to raise some money and get rid of some excess possessions, but I searched in vain for any evidence for this supposition. And there is some evidence against it - it doesn't seem likely that Sir Arthur would have owned multiple pairs of globes. So it's a good question where the prizes came from, and where the proceeds went.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Sandwich port and Castle
Do you suppose that Mountagu, as Earl of Sandwich, had any special privileges at Sandwich port and/or Sandwich Castle, aside from those due to anyone of high rank? Would they keep a suite of rooms in the Castle specifically for his use, for example?

Jeannine, thanks for posting his journal.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Tombola
There's a funny description of a contemporary tombola at a political fund-raiser, which is "fixed" behind the scenes, in Alexander McCall Smith's "44 Scotland Street". Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Scotland-St…

Pedro  •  Link

And alas Sandown Castle...

It was built in 1537 - 1540 to a very similar design to that used for Walmer Castle but almost nothing now remains. The sea stared to breach the defences in 1785 but it was still used for another 50 years before being totally abandoned. Since c.1900 when the picture showing the north side starting to collapse was taken, some of the stone was removed for use in the town, but the castle was then left to the sea. It has now been covered in concrete to form part of the sea defences. A few loose stones are left to mark the spot.
http://www.ecastles.co.uk/sandown…

For picture of Walmer Castle see...

http://content.answers.com/main/c…

Dan Jenkins  •  Link

Pedro, you looked up Sandown, not Sandwich.

Pedro  •  Link

"Then near Sandwich Castle my boats lay ready and about one of the clock I boarded the London in the Downs. Sandown Castle gave me guns at going off, but neither ships nor any other castle spent powder at my request."

A tale of two castles.

Dan Jenkins  •  Link

My confusion betwixt the two castles. My apologies.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"... the Lottery of Sir Arthur Slingsby."

There appears to have been a published catalog of the prizes:-

An inventory of the goods exposed in and by the banquetting-house for a rifle or lottery, wherein His Majesty is an adventurer.
[London : s.n., 1664?]
16 p. ; 2⁰. Wing (CD-ROM, 1996), I 285

ESTC cites two copies only; National Library of Scotland and Worcester College, Oxford.

pepf  •  Link

"...good sport it was to see how most that did give their ten pounds did go away with a pair of globes only for their lot"

"No wonder Sam had good sport, he only paid 3l 10s.for his!"
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
"But think of all the sport they will have when to the globes with their wives, and then to bed!"

"...it doesn’t seem likely that Sir Arthur would have owned multiple pairs of globes."

Perhaps somebody could check up on those multiple pairs of *globes* which sound in context rather like consolation prizes. More than 200 pairs of globes might have been difficult to procure, methinks, and would have substantially reduced the lottery profit.
I wouldn't be surprised if the "inventory of the goods" or the L&M transcription had pairs of *gloves* instead, and even better sport for SP when those gloves amount to 5s. a pair.
"...upon a payre of embroydered and six payre of plain white gloves I laid out 40s."

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Pepf, "gloves" makes a lot more sense than "globes" here. Good suggestion. Can somebody check L&M?

Mary  •  Link

"gloves" it is in the L&M edition.

Much more reasonable than globes as consolation prizes.

Second Reading

Marquess  •  Link

Lady Castlemayne, whom I admire greatly. She sounds like a woman who oozed sensuality.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"To Lond. to see the event of the Lottery, which his Majestie had permitted Sir Arth: Slingsby to set up for one day in the Banqueting house at whitehall:"

John Evelyn rewrote/edited his diary before he died, so I suspect he misdated this version. He clearly says it was a one day event. I think Pepys' dating system is more reliable.

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"Mountagu, as Earl of Sandwich" wouldn't have had any special privileges at Sandwich Castle merely because of the name of the title. Even by the 16th century, the link between a peer's title and the eponymous place was becoming more tenuous than in previous centuries, when a title implied land ownership.

So why was Montagu's earldom named after Sandwich? The answer is that M'Lord was "Admiral Of The Narrow Seas" (The English Channel), and, crucially "Lieutenant Admiral to The Duke of York", ie James' deputy.

As well as being Lord High Admiral, James was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, which gave privileges over the various towns in the Cinque Ports confederation, of which Sandwich was a part. So the title 'Earl of Sandwich' is an acknowledgement of Montagu's military relationship with James, and of James' patronage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cin…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Tombola is a game which originated in Southern Italy. With the massive Italian emigration of the 19th and 20th centuries, the game was exported abroad, where it took different forms. A variation of the game is a popular form of raffle in the UK and elsewhere.

In Italy, a tombola is a traditional board game, first played in the city of Naples in the eighteenth century. It is similar to the game of bingo. It is mostly played at Christmas time, and prizes are often only symbolic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

A lottery is a form of legalized government gambling that involves the drawing of numbers for a prize. Although the English probably first experimented with raffles and similar games of chance, the first recorded official lottery was chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, in the year 1566, and was drawn in 1569. This lottery was designed to raise money for the "reparation of the havens and strength of the Realme, and towardes such other publique good workes". Each ticket holder won a prize, and the total value of the prizes equalled the money raised. Prizes were in the form of silver plate and other valuable commodities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lot…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

From the earliest days of colonial history in America, lotteries were essential to the project’s survival.

In the summer of 1612, the Virginia Company held a lottery to raise additional funding for the struggling settlement at Jamestown. (A tailor named Thomas Sharplisse won the largest prize — 4,000 crowns, a small fortune.)

Three years later the company tried again, with a focus on the great good that would come from white people colonizing the New World. “As pitched by the Virginia Company, buying a lottery ticket was an act of charity that could save a savage’s soul,” Matthew Sweeney writes in The Lottery Wars. Unfortunately lotteries didn’t save the Virginia Company’s settlers from starvation.

The first lottery used to raise government revenue and offer a cash prize was held in Florence, Italy, in 1530. France next adopted this innovative means of raising money, and the British crown followed suit in 1569.

By the 1700s, lotteries were a popular way to raise money for all sorts of projects. They were not seen as a sinful pastime, but more of a civic duty.

In the early 18th century, The Independent reports the Archbishop of Canterbury lent his good name to lotteries, raising fund for the British Museum and Westminster Bridge.

FROM http://www.atlasobscura.com/artic…

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

‘tombola, n. . . < tombolare to turn a somersault, fall upside down, tumble.
. . A kind of lottery resembling lotto*.
. . Daily News 19 July 5/7 There were various other Chinese articles for sale, and a tombola with all prizes and no blanks.
1883 World No. 471. 13 One of the features of the Savage Club, which is not advertised, on account of the Lottery Act, is a tombola.
1907 Daily Chron. 7 June 7/3 The law has now stepped in, and forbidden the tombola, on the ground that it would be a contravention of the Gaming Act. The tombola was arranged on the novel principle of no blanks, and a prize for every ticket-holder.

*lotto, n.1 < French lot lot n.
1. Originally: a game of chance in which numbers are drawn at random and players place counters on corresponding numbers on cards, the winner being the first to cover a row or other required pattern of numbers; now usually called bingo . .

2. A lottery; esp. (the name of) any of various state lotteries.
Originally with reference to the lottery of Genoa.
. . 1826 W. Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 1535 To the honour of the Hanoverian government, no Lotto was ever introduced into it, though many foreigners offered large sums for permission to cheat the people in this manner . . ‘

Now we have: https://www.national-lottery.co.u… which pays for https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org…

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