Monday 26 September 1664
Up pretty well again, but my mouth very scabby, my cold being going away, so that I was forced to wear a great black patch, but that would not do much good, but it happens we did not go to the Duke to-day, and so I staid at home busy all the morning. At noon, after dinner, to the ’Change, and thence home to my office again, where busy, well employed till 10 at night, and so home to supper and to bed, my mind a little troubled that I have not of late kept up myself so briske in business; but mind my ease a little too much and my family upon the coming of Mercer and Tom. So that I have not kept company, nor appeared very active with Mr. Coventry, but now I resolve to settle to it again, not that I have idled all my time, but as to my ease something. So I have looked a little too much after Tangier and the Fishery, and that in the sight of Mr. Coventry, but I have good reason to love myself for serving Tangier, for it is one of the best flowers in my garden.
13 Annotations
First Reading
jeannine • Link
"Journal of the Earl of Sandwich" edited by R.C. Anderson
26th Monday. Went ashore to Tichfield (my Lord Treasurer's house). His stables have 20 stalls for horses 6 foot in breadth each stall. Above the rack up to the hay loft is ceiled so that the hay drops down without any dust falling on the horses. They say the Great Park is 5 mile about it, so it contains 1272 acres, and they say they have 1400 deer in it. The lesser park they say is 3 miles about.
Cum grano salis • Link
nice phrase "...but I have good reason to love myself for serving Tangier, for it is one of the best flowers in my garden...."
A. De Araujo • Link
"best flowers in my garden"
He is thinking about Florins,not Flowers.
Patricia • Link
"...my mouth very scabby..." Cold sores, do you think?
cape henry • Link
This self examination, like the new year's resolutions many undertake, show Sam struggles to maintain his industry and perseverance as many do.
I agree with His Serene Salinity on the aptness of that phrase regarding the garden.
Jesse • Link
"looked a little too much after Tangier ... in the sight of Mr. Coventry"
Continuing from a couple days ago, I'm inclined that there's remorse more for neglected duties rather than over ethics on receiving 'commissions'. Neglected duties are probably why he can still find "good reason to love myself" while tending his "garden."
Cactus Wren • Link
Cold sores, possibly -- but at the line "my mouth very scabby", I thought of the dreadful chapped nose and lips I always get when I have a cold (and poor Sam didn't even have Kleenex, much less the kind with lotion).
Robert Gertz • Link
"Remember Pepys, I count on you. The fleet's survival and perhaps the Nation's in this war will depend on the care and efficiency of our office in the next months."
"Yes, Mr. Coventry."
***
"So, Penn...Where's our little Cato the Censor?"
"Tangier Committee and the Fishery, Sir Will."
Ah, Batten happily eyes the pile of fresh new contracts...
"So. We need rope and masts, I see... Well, let me deal with this."
Hmmn...
***
Six months later...The fleets clash...
"Pull those ropes tight, boys! My God!! The damned stuff's old rotted and tarred!"
"Sir! The masts must have been inferior, they're cracking like matchsticks!!"
"We are undone!!! Save yourselves, lads!!!"
"The Englander fleet is helpless!! We are victorious!!! Hoot Mann!!!"
***
Andrew Hamilton • Link
Hoot Mann?
You mean my homeboy Hootie?
Pedro • Link
"but I have good reason to love myself for serving Tangier, for it is one of the best flowers in my garden."
(SPOILER) And 19 years and 7 days later...
Evening. (19th September) Rode with Mr. Sheres to the Mole, and on the shore: harp, guitar, and dance, with Mr. Sheres, in his garden, with mighty pleasure. Night. On chairs, hands and face covered, yet neck, eyes, and other places bitten.
(Tangier Papers)
Todd Bernhardt • Link
re: cold sores?
As someone who occasionally suffers from this (herpes simplex), I think this is exactly what Sam is talking about, Patricia. It would explain his description about his palate being "down," for example -- I sometimes even get them inside my mouth, along the gumline, and almost always get swollen lymph glands under my jaw and a low-grade fever when they're first coming out. The condition is s probably also combined with an illness/cold ... I know that stress or illness will bring them on for me.
Thank goodness for modern anti-virals, which make quick work of the horrible things.
Second Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
Notes from http://www.englishcivilwar.org/20…
Titchfield Abbey (AKA Place House), Hampshire is known for its Shakespeare associations: Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, was the playwright's patron, and some of the bard's plays were first performed there.
Lying between Southampton and Portsmouth and inland from the Solent, Titchfield Abbey was established in the 13th century. It remained a monastery until the Dissolution, although it was also used as royal stopping-off place and marriage venue.
Position between two major ports, Titchfield was an ideal base for visits to the Isle of Wight or continental Europe: Richard II and Anne of Bohemia stayed here in 1393, Henry V in 1415, and in 1445 the abbey church saw the wedding of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou. Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth also stayed here as guests.
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, who, under Thomas Cromwell, became Lord Chancellor in 1544. Wriothesley built up the property befitting a senior courier by partial demolition of the Abbey and conversion of buildings into a new mansion.
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton and Shakespeare's patron, died in 1624, fighting in the Netherlands. His teenage son, Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, hosted the new monarch, King Charles and his new wife, at Place House in June 1625.
Fleeing the plague, the stay for the newly-weds was unhappy as their English and French entourages did their best to spoil the honeymoon. Quarrels between Charles and Henrietta over religion and status were exacerbated by their own intransigence and the refusal of their courts to compromise. Resolutions were difficult because the size of their Courts meant that one house could not accommodate everyone. While Henrietta lodged at Place House, Charles stayed at Beaulieu Abbey, the other side of Southampton Water in the New Forest. While Charles amused himself hunting, Henrietta retreated into religious devotions, horrifying the English by living the life of a nun, fasting and going barefoot, activities deemed inappropriate for a queen.
Charles and Henrietta returning briefly to Place House in 1630 after the birth of Charles - presumably a happier visit.
Charles' next visit, was in desperate times. In 1647, after escaping from Hampton Court, he stayed at Place House on his way to the presumed safety on the Isle of Wight.
Charles II visited Place House in 1675 to dine with Edward Noel, 1st Earl of Gainsborough, husband of Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton's eldest daughter, who had inherited it from her father.
Place House was identified as a convenient place from which Mary of Modena could flee to France when a Dutch invasion was imminent in 1688.
Place House, Titchfield survived another 100 years, when much was demolished for building stone, leaving the romantic ruin we see today.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Okay Pepys, you've been thinking about Coventry's pep talk for 10 days. Knuckle down.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Saturday 17 September 1664
Up and to the office, where Mr. Coventry very angry to see things go so coldly as they do, and I must needs say it makes me fearful every day of having some change of the office, and the truth is, I am of late a little guilty of being remiss myself of what I used to be, but I hope I shall come to my old pass again, my family being now settled again.