Thursday 29 September 1664
Up and to the office, where all the morning, dined at home and Creed with me; after dinner I to Sir G. Carteret, and with him to his new house he is taking in Broad Streete, and there surveyed all the rooms and bounds, in order to the drawing up a lease thereof; and that done, Mr. Cutler, his landlord, took me up and down, and showed me all his ground and house, which is extraordinary great, he having bought all the Augustine Fryers, and many, many a 1000l. he hath and will bury there. So home to my business, clearing my papers and preparing my accounts against tomorrow for a monthly and a great auditt. So to supper and to bed.
Fresh newes come of our beating the Dutch at Guinny quite out of all their castles almost, which will make them quite mad here at home sure. And Sir G. Carteret did tell me, that the King do joy mightily at it; but asked him laughing, “But,” says he, “how shall I do to answer this to the Embassador when he comes?”
Nay they say that we have beat them out of the New Netherlands too;1 so that we have been doing them mischief for a great while in several parts of the world; without publique knowledge or reason.
Their fleete for Guinny is now, they say, ready, and abroad, and will be going this week.
Coming home to-night, I did go to examine my wife’s house accounts, and finding things that seemed somewhat doubtful, I was angry though she did make it pretty plain, but confessed that when she do misse a sum, she do add something to other things to make it, and, upon my being very angry, she do protest she will here lay up something for herself to buy her a necklace with, which madded me and do still trouble me, for I fear she will forget by degrees the way of living cheap and under a sense of want.
28 Annotations
First Reading
Pedro • Link
"Holmes suddenly left the coast of Africa, sailed across the Atlantic, and reduced the Dutch settlement of New Netherlands to English rule, under the title of New York." (Campbell's "Naval History," vol. ii, p., 89).
Never fear of making a mistake in your annotations ever again!
Paul Chapin • Link
"Mr. Cutler, his landlord, took me up and down, and showed me all his ground and house, which is extraordinary great, he having bought all the Augustine Fryers, and many, many a 1000l. he hath and will bury there."
Garbling spices pays well.
Terry F • Link
The property referred to as Augustine Fryers, aka Austin Friars is here http://www.londontown.com/LondonS…
Australian Susan • Link
Augustine Fryers
I think this is where and what is meant by this.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Anyone else think Cutler must be rather a conceited twit to boast of his money and where he intends to secret it?
And poor Bess and the household accounts! I do sympathise! And surely, surely, saving on the housekeeping money to buy oneself the odd personal item or three is one of the common law rights of womenkind down the ages?! Up until the generation before me, wives frequently did not know what their husbands earned and received housekeeping allowances weekly. Good economy = savings = a new hat (or something). I can remember my mother (in a private mother and daughter chat) telling of a friend who "didn't get a dress allowance" (from husband), but was expected to get her clothing etc out of the general housekeeping. This was felt to be unfair. Bess seems to have to wheedle a new dress out of Sam, but he pays Mr Unthank's bills, not Bess from the housekeeping allowance. It does, however, sound as though Bess needs to do Bookkeeping 101. There's a lovely bit in Eliot's Silas Marner describing the Squire's wife as only being able to balance her housekeeping books if she imagines little piles of coins and moves a coin from one pile to another in her head.
Australian Susan • Link
Terry F was quicker off the mark than I! Sorry for duplication!
Patricia • Link
"and many, many a 1000l. he hath and will bury there." Oblique reference by Sam to his own 1000£. My question is, does he mean Cutler will literally bury his gold on this property, or simply that he will have to sink a lot of money into the property doing improvements before he can lease it out?
Patricia • Link
"and many, many a 1000l. he hath and will bury there." Oblique reference by Sam to his own 1000£. My question is, does he mean Cutler will literally bury his gold on this property, or simply that he will have to sink a lot of money into the property doing improvements before he can lease it out?
Andrew Hamilton • Link
"and many, many a 1000l. he hath and will bury there."
I read it that the property is a money pit, not a place to bury treasure.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
Nay they say that we have beat them out of the New Netherlands too;
Interesting passing reference to a momentous event. My forebear Sarah Rapalye would have been 29 at this point, having been the first European child born in New Netherlands.
Michael Robinson • Link
"Holmes ... sailed across the Atlantic, and reduced the Dutch settlement of New Netherlands ..." (!)
Could not believe that the source cited would substantiate the annotation, but it does!
See Campbell (London: 1812) vol. ii, @ pp. 329-30, the footnote for text in quotes.
http://www.openlibrary.org/detail…
Cum grano salis • Link
Of course they used a concorde to arrive in time for getting the Wall street flag or was it a time machine they used.
The department of Africa intelligence was not in sinc with the department of Virginy and they failed to inform the Admiralty whom was not saying what the House of York be doing.
I love it when the right hand is out of step with the left hand.
It be good when that happens then when events do not pan out then one can trot out thy reasons for being on the correct side of the events.
Charles be so glad there be no inter net or esp.
Terry F • Link
Michael R, methinks Robert Holmes must have ghost-written p. 329.
Robert Gertz • Link
"...so that we have been doing them mischief for a great while in several parts of the world; without publique knowledge or reason."
Somehow that sounds so familiar...
Robert Gertz • Link
Hmmn...
Mr. Cutler, incredibly wealthy merchant and landlord.
Sir G. Carteret, Treasurer of the Navy, Friend of the King famed for ruthlessness in any cause important to him, tenant.
Tricky, even if Sir George is not likely to cut off the hand that he gathers from. Something tells me Sir George's rent is surprisingly reasonable.
Bradford • Link
Elizabeth's biggest error at maths was to confess her method, but Samuel's is larger yet, supposing that contrary to the evidence of her own eyes she must stay resigned to "living cheap and under a sense of want." As a later philosopher put it, "Once we have tasted a pleasure, we are loathe to give it up."
Andrew Hamilton • Link
"Could not believe that the source cited would substantiate the annotation"
Lest anyone should credit the annotation, New Amsterdam fell to a small fleet sent out by James, Duke of York in the spring of 1664 for the purpose of claiming what is now New York. It was commanded by Richard Nicolls, who became the first English governor. According to the Britannica 11th edition, Nicolls attached himself to the service of James.
"Soon after the Restoration he became groom of the bedchamber to the duke of York, through whose influence he was appointed in 1664 on a commission with Sir Robert Carr (d. 1667), George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, to conquer New Netherland from the Dutch and to regulate the affairs of the New England colonies and settle disputes among them. The expedition set sail from Portsmouth on the 25th of May 1664, and New Amsterdam was surrendered to Nicolls on the 8th of September."
Holmes, on the coast of West Africa, had nothing to do with it, apparently.
Robert Gertz • Link
Great Scott, Holmes! You've been falsely accused!!
JWB • Link
Mr. Hamilton
I understand that Sarah Rapalje & descendants very fruitful and have subsequently overwhelmed Jan Vigne claimants. What say you?
Michael Robinson • Link
"... New Amsterdam fell to a small fleet ... commanded by Richard Nicolls ..."
For discursive annotations on background etc. see:-
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Andrew Hamilton • Link
JWB
I understand her descendants number a million or more living Americans, though I can't remember where I read this. Google informs me that Jan Vigne is the rival claimant to being to first European child born in New Netherland. His line claims Eleanor, Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt. I don't know if there are similarly prominent descendants of Sarah Rapalje, or of her parents Joris Jansen Rapalje and Catalyntje Trico, but the odds suggest that there probably are. Both the Rapaljes and the Vignes, by the way, were French, not Dutch. The Dutch population of New Amsterdam soon outnumbered the original Walloons (among whom Rapalje and Vigne were counted) and church services in French became rare, according to early accounts.
Cum grano salis • Link
"...my balance to come to 1203l..."would that be in "Guinny's", gold, 27lbs of gold or be that in silver, 1203 lbs ? Most likely a mix, all those purses to hide under a rock.
Pedro • Link
In defence of Holmes.
Campbell, in my opinion, is not the only one to have given incorrect information concerning Holmes. Many accuse him, as do sites on the internet, of single-handedly starting two Dutch wars. I think we can see from the evidence and background so far in the Diary, that the worst you could accuse him of was that he was "used" to cause the Wars.
Campbell also gives us a big spoiler...
"The King sent Holmes, when he returned, to the Tower, and did not discharge him; till he made it evidently appear that he had not infringed the law of nations"
And Sam says...
"Fresh newes come of our beating the Dutch at Guinny quite out of all their castles almost, which will make them quite mad here at home sure. And Sir G. Carteret did tell me, that the King do joy mightily at it;"
Pedro • Link
"so that we have been doing them mischief for a great while in several parts of the world; without publique knowledge or reason."
What does Sam mean here by the use of the word mischief?
If I read it correctly it is Sam who is of this opinion. While it may not be public knowledge to the gossips, I assume that it is well known to the likes of Coventry.
Why should the mischief be without reason when Coventry, being on the Plantations Committee, advised the King of the damage that the Dutch were causing that led to the decision to capture New Amsterdam? Coventry also issued the instructions for the voyage of Holmes to Guinea, which were accepted by James.
tonyt • Link
On the same day as I first read this diary entry, I came across the book 'The Island at the Centre of the World' by Russell Shorto (published 2004 and subtitled 'The Untold Story Of Dutch Manhattan and the Founding of New York'). Fascinating for anyone wishing to read round the background to this period. The book essentially ends with the seizure of New Netherlands by the British with its main theme that the Dutch colony had a far more enduring influence on the way that the future United States developed than has been credited.
Turning to the diary entry itself, I wonder if the abruptness of the reference to New Netherlands reflects some element of peek on Sam's part. I would of thought he would be rather upset to find out that, apparently, the Duke of York had kept the Navy Office completely in the dark over the purpose (? even the existence) of a fairly major naval expedition.
Also, I wonder whether Campbell's erroneous reference to Holmes comes from a contemporary source. Sir George Downing seems to have deliberately misled the Dutch by telling them that the Nicolls' expedition was aimed solely at the (somewhat troublesome) New England colonies. When news of the seizure of New Netherlands first broke in Europe, Holmes exact whereabouts were unknown - so someone could easily have put two and two together and made five.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
New Netherland: more background, including its August 27, 1664, taking by four English frigates, led by Richard Nicolls.
The colony was conceived as a private business venture to exploit the North American fur trade. During its first decades, New Netherland was settled rather slowly, partially as a result of policy mismanagement by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and partially as a result of conflicts with Native Americans. The settlement of New Sweden encroached on its southern flank, while its northern border was re-drawn to accommodate an expanding New England. During the 1650s, the colony experienced dramatic growth and became a major port for trade in the North Atlantic. The surrender of Fort Amsterdam to England in 1664 was formalized in 1667, contributing to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. In 1673, the Dutch re-took the area but relinquished it under the Second Treaty of Westminster ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War the next year.
The inhabitants of New Netherland were Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, the latter chiefly imported as enslaved laborers. Descendants of the original settlers played a prominent role in colonial America. For two centuries, New Netherland Dutch culture characterized the region (today's Capital District around Albany, the Hudson Valley, western Long Island, northeastern New Jersey, and New York City). The concepts of civil liberties and pluralism introduced in the province became mainstays of American political and social life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New…
Terry Foreman • Link
Robert Holmes in Guinea and the aftermath
Setting out with a small squadron in September, 1663, he had struck a series of quick blows against the Dutch trading stations in W. Africa, taking, between January and mid-May, all the Dutch ports in that region (loosely called the 'Guinea coast') excepting Elmina, seat of the Dutch government. As a gesture of appeasement (nothing mote) , Holmes was lodged in the Tower for two months on his return: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… Pepys later acquired a copy of his log of the voyage. PL 2698. (L&M footnote)
San Diego Sarah • Link
I was just reading the Wikipedia page for George Downing, and it says:
"More than any other man Sir George Downing was responsible for arranging the acquisition of New York from the Dutch, and is remembered there in the name of two other streets named after him in New York, one in Greenwich Village and one in Brooklyn."
This isn't the impression I have been given so far by the Diary or annotations. He just seems to be full of bad information about the Dutch intentions in Guinea. Can anyone enlighten me on this ... perhaps he's helpful later, so I just need to be patient?
Terry Foreman • Link
Austin Friars, London was an Augustinian friary in the City of London from its foundation, probably in the 1260s, until its dissolution in November 1538. It covered an area of about 5.5 acres (2.2 hectares) a short distance to the north-east of the modern Bank of England and had a resident population of about 60 friars. A church stood at the centre of the friary precinct, with a complex of buildings behind it providing accommodation, refreshment and study space for the friars and visiting students. A large part of the friary precinct was occupied by gardens that provided vegetables, fruit and medicinal herbs.
In addition, some of the precinct and land immediately adjoining it was used to build rented tenements which were occupied by a number of notable figures including Erasmus and Thomas Cromwell, the principal official of King Henry VIII. As Cromwell's fortunes rose, he obtained more of the friary's land to build one of the largest private mansions in London. However, his house was seized by the Crown following his fall from power and execution in July 1540. It was sold off along with the friary precinct, much of which was subsequently demolished. The mansion became the Drapers' Hall, while the nave of the friary church became the Dutch Church at Austin Friars. Sir William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester acquired the monastic buildings and built a town house on the site. It survived until 1844, when it was turned into warehouses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aus…