Tuesday 30 August 1664

Up and to the office, where sat long, and at noon to dinner at home; after dinner comes Mr. Pen to visit me, and staid an houre talking with me. I perceive something of learning he hath got, but a great deale, if not too much, of the vanity of the French garbe and affected manner of speech and gait. I fear all real profit he hath made of his travel will signify little. So, he gone, I to my office and there very busy till late at night, and so home to supper and to bed.

21 Annotations

First Reading

Terry F  •  Link

Fortunately, Pepys's expectation of the future of Sir W. Penn's son proves mistaken: two years hence the dandy's pantaloons will be shed for a Quaker's more humble garb. "As a pacifist Quaker, Penn considered the problems of war and peace deeply, and included a plan for a United States of Europe, 'European Dyet, Parliament or Estates,' in his voluminous writings. Before moving to America, Penn owned ironworks in the Kent village of Hawkhurst." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will…

Terry F  •  Link

Penn's An ESSAY towards the Present and Future Peace of Europe by the Establishment of an European Dyet, Parliament, or Estates (1693)
http://olldownload.libertyfund.or…

The advantage of a diet with representation proportionate to wealth (state by state) will be clear "especially such as have made the great Tour of Europe" (15) -- so his travels had some benefit. Of course, "Another Advantage is,The Great Security it will be to Christians against the Inroads of the Turk, in their most Prosperous Fortune" (15). Penn's proposal is but a sketch, but an interesting one. I had not known "the grand tour" was so venerable.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

As Terry points out, the "Pen" mentioned above is Penn the younger, who will eventually emigrate to America.

I'd love to find out what exactly Sam means by Penn's "vanity of the French garbe and affected manner of speech and gait."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Hey, it's the 60s Sam, lighten up...

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Bet Bess gushed for hours about the young and charming Mr. Penn. Oh, what refined sensibility and manner, a thorough gentleman...Oh, such wonderful taste, a true appreciation of the finer things...Ah, what a perfect accent, he could pass for French... While Sam and Will Hewer glowered and endured.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Of course Penn Sr. probably helped a lot.

"My son and heir, William, fresh from France, Mr. Pepys." broad (I got one and you don't, you pathetic wuss) smile.

***

JWB  •  Link

For those of you interested in a bit of Quaker history in America here's an article from the mid 20's I came across this afternoon rummaging in Ohio Historical Society's Journal:
The Quakers, Their Migration to the Upper Ohio, Their Customs and Discipline
by H. E. Smith
http://publications.ohiohistory.o…

Cum Grano Salis  •  Link

The Sorbonne touche and all those grande Chateaus and luverly statutes of young Tinges. A year on the continent going the rounds, worth 4 years sitting on thy bench rowing the tems.

andy  •  Link

Another Advantage is,The Great Security it will be to Christians against the Inroads of the Turk

seems we haven't progressed so far either. The EU (latest pan-European institution set up following 2 World Wars, 2 Balkan wars in 1912/13 and the population shift between Greece and Turkey in 1923 following a war and subsequent Treaty of Lausanne) is still coming to terms with Turkey: there is a Turkish speaking population in south-Eastern Bulgaria (new EU state) where the border with Turkey is the EU's Easternmost; the entry negotiations with Serbia are influenced by the Kosovo populations and the future of FYR Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo and FYRM having large and significant Muslim populations from the days of the Ottoman Empire; and there are fraught negotiations with Turkey over entry.

Mr Pen certainly did learn a lot from his gap year.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Penn owned ironworks in the Kent village of Hawkhurst.

Ironically, cannon production was the major activity of the Weladen iron industry; the superior quality and lighter weight of the English canon made possible the increased firepower of English ships in the seventeenth century.

see Rodger, 'Command of the Ocean,' 2004/5 pp. 224-5.

Ruben  •  Link

Should Pepys have gotten the Quaker virus instead of young Penn, today the big American Capital city's name would have been Pepysville (pronounce Peepsville), or maybe the State's name be Bethsylvania or Cornucopia's State, who knows?

Palinuro  •  Link

I linked The Diary of Samuel Pepys as one of my favourite blogs for blogday 2007.

Rex Gordon  •  Link

Yes, Ruben ...

And March 26th would be a state holiday of thanksgiving, in honor of its Founder's miraculous survival. A stone-case would be kept reverently in a hermetically-sealed display near the Liberty Bell. Schoolchildren would file by, saying, "Ewwwwwwwww!"

Cum Grano Salis  •  Link

"the vanity of the French garbe" luverly gams or be it gammon, oh! such a ham unsalted.

Cum Grano Salis  •  Link

garbe ? a wheat-sheaf now obsolete, it has nice roots, finally :
OED: 1. Grace, elegance, stylishness of manners or appearance. [= F. galbe, It. garbo.] Obs.
1591

2. A person's outward bearing, behaviour, carriage, or demeanour. Obs.
1605 B. JONSON Volpone IV. i, First, for your garb, it must be grave and serious, Very reserv'd and lock'd; not tell a secret On any terms, not to your father. a1661 FULLER Worthies, Surrey III. (1662) 82 So graceful is their Garbe, that they make any kind of Cloathes become themselves.

of course never becaught streaking, garbless else you be considered Garbage and never be a garbee
"..1617 MARKHAM Caval. I. 6 That which Horsemen call garbadge, which is wheate strawe and the eares, chopt small together. .."
but ye can be polite and be called a garbist
But then I be always was a bit garbled but never was a Garbologist even if it has many rewards.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"There's just something in the Grand Tour and some time in France that gives a certain polish to a man. Don't you agree, Mr. Coventry?" Penn Sr., beaming.

"Certainly, certainly."

"And you, Pepys?..." even broader smile.

Pepys, sporting "Magdalene...We try harder." T-shirt, glares. "Yeah, yeah."

Second Reading

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The Penn Pepys met today was a callow privileged youth of 19.
The Penn who founded Pennsylvania was forged after his religious conversion, in the fires of familial strife, hardship and persecution.

Louise Hudson  •  Link

Todd Bernhardt wrote: I'd love to find out what exactly Sam means by Penn's "vanity of the French garbe and affected manner of speech and gait."

I suspect Sam thought Penn was a fop, putting on airs.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘ . . the vanity of the French garbe . . ’

‘garb, n.2 < . . Italian
.. . 4.a. Fashion of dress, esp. official or other distinctive dress; hence concr. dress, costume.
1622 H. Peacham Compl. Gentleman xv. 191 Be thriftie also in your apparrell and clothing..vsing that moderate and middle garbe, which shall rather lessen then make you bigger then you are . . ‘

(OED)

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