Wednesday 28 December 1664

I waked in the morning about 6 o’clock and my wife not come to bed; I lacked a pot, but there was none, and bitter cold, so was forced to rise and piss in the chimney, and to bed again. Slept a little longer, and then hear my people coming up, and so I rose, and my wife to bed at eight o’clock in the morning, which vexed me a little, but I believe there was no hurt in it all, but only mirthe, therefore took no notice.

I abroad with Sir W. Batten to the Council Chamber, where all of us to discourse about the way of measuring ships and the freight fit to give for them by the tun, where it was strange methought to hear so poor discourses among the Lords themselves, and most of all to see how a little empty matter delivered gravely by Sir W. Pen was taken mighty well, though nothing in the earth to the purpose. But clothes, I perceive more and more every day, is a great matter. Thence home with Sir W. Batten by coach, and I home to dinner, finding my wife still in bed. After dinner abroad, and among other things visited my Lady Sandwich, and was there, with her and the young ladies, playing at cards till night. Then home and to my office late, then home to bed, leaving my wife and people up to more sports, but without any great satisfaction to myself therein.

25 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro  •  Link

28th December John Evelyn...

Some of my poor neighbours dined with me, and others of my tenants, according to my annual custom.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Poor Sam ... doesn't even have a pot to piss in.

He and Elizabeth are certainly living separate lives lately, aren't they? But "without any great satisfaction to myself therein" ... Sam is no doubt (I hope) embarrassed by his actions, and I'm sure Elizabeth's friends don't exactly approve.

Something tells me that the black eye has been a defining point in their relationship. In a twisted kind of way, this is a good thing, because it shows that such violence is not an everyday occurrence between them.

cape henry  •  Link

"But clothes, I perceive more and more every day, is a great matter." Again the instincts of the middle manager are noted. There is a line that must be approached, addressed, but never crossed. Finding that line is the skill.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“But clothes, I perceive more and more every day, is a great matter.”

'So, you see, Bess, "Clothes make the man" (note, not the woman. Queen Bess? Ah, everyone knows she was a man).'

Hmmmm, a new fur-lined cloak, perchance, but of a different color? "Midwinter spring is its own season." -- T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, Little Gidding, I. http://www.ubriaco.com/fq.html

---
(cape henry, Michael R, the same sentence in Pepys seems to have singled us all out!)

Martha Wishart  •  Link

Piss in the chimney? I suppose he means in the ashes of the fire. That'd be a nasty mess for someone else to clean up.

cape henry  •  Link

I'm afraid using the fireplace for that purpose was quite common.

cape henry  •  Link

(Note to MR: I have bookmarked the 'Pooter.' Just the name Weedon Grossmith was enough for a chuckle. Thanks.)

Patricia  •  Link

Sam has risen a lot in the world since he began this diary, but here he is without a pot to piss in.

cgs  •  Link

"...and bitter cold.[too].." not too many lurking here will know the bitterness of London early morn without the blessing of a good fireplace with a fire well banked fire, heating a back-boiler.
I can empathise with poor old Sam in his night cap and night shirt not wanting to face the run on the cold staircase to the house of Honors.

That Eliza be not telling the girls to get up and do the normal maydes worke of putting out the nights replacement potties and getting the coles from the basement and have a nice roaring fire to welcome the master of the house, you better believe it. She and the girls be letting that ************ blank ******** stew, for wot 'e did to the Mistress,no wonder they be gambolling and gambelling the nite away.
Elizabeth is no push over.

cgs  •  Link

Playing of cards and placing money was not known as gambling until the next century if the word was spoken it be considered slang.

The vb. has not been found till about 1775-86; the apparent derivatives GAMBLER, GAMBLING ppl. a., occur earlier, and in the 18th c. were regarded as slang. The word is prob. a dialectal survival of an altered form of ME. gamene-n, OE. gamenian to sport, play, f. gamen GAME n.; cf. ‘gamel, to gamble, to gambol; gamler, a gambler’ (Northumb. Gloss.); cf. also the rare 16-17th c. gameling ppl. a. and vbl. n., which seem to imply a vb. *GAMEL. Continental Teut. words of similar meaning and form are MHG. gämeln to jest, sport, play (still in various Ger. dialects), Swiss Ger. gammeln to make merry, whence gammler buffoon, jester.]

1. a. intr. To play games of chance for money, esp. for unduly high stakes; to stake money (esp. to an extravagant amount) on some fortuitous event.
As the word is (at least in serious use) essentially a term of reproach, it would not ordinarily be applied to the action of playing for stakes of trifling amount, except by those who condemn playing for money altogether.
1775 ASH, Gamble [printed Gamblet], to game, to cheat; to make a practice of gaming.

Jesse  •  Link

"forced to rise and piss in the chimney"

Don't you hate when that happens? Interesting that Pepys bothers to record this - as entertaining as it is to some of us.

Mary  •  Link

the Pepys's quarters at the Navy Office.

If Sam has been able to sleep through the gambolling and general merrymaking of the rest of his household, then the building in which he lives must be very solidly built with stout walls and doors.

Tony Eldridge  •  Link

my wife to bed at eight o’clock in the morning, which vexed me a little, but I believe there was no hurt in it all, but only mirthe, therefore took no notice.

Either Sam has suddenly become naive or his guilt about the black eye doesn't allow him to even think about criticising Bess. I favour the latter.

JWB  •  Link

Another famous fireplace abuser was Jackson Pollock, whose dribbling in the ashes were abstractly expressionistic.

jeannine  •  Link

“Journal of the Earl of Sandwich” edited by R.C. Anderson

28th Wednesday. Mr Pickering and Mr Creed came hither on board. In the evening I saw the Blazing Star again in the Eye of the Whale, Cor Leonis being about 7 degrees high. He was then distant from Upper Horn of Aries - 18°33’, Aldebaran - 30° 28’, Pleiades - 23° 37’, Os Baleni - 5° 53’, 2d. Star in Ore Baleni - 3° 50’. His stream of light was almost right upon the Bull’s Eye, 12° 00’ towards it, reaching unto 2 small stars that stand close together at that distance from the Comet. Methought this night he looked as pale a colour as any of the other stars.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

It's mot as though Sam really had an alternative...
***

I suspect "clothes" refers to clothing for the seamen being now a major issue...And potential source of profit.

Capt. Petrus.S. Dorpmans  •  Link

28 December 1664.

"I abroad with Sir W. Batten to the Council-Chamber, where all of us to discourse about the way of measuring ships and the freight fit to give for them by the Tun-where it was strange methought, to hear so poor discourses among the Lords themselfs: and most of all, to see how little empty matter, delivered gravely by Sir W. Penn, was taken mighty well, though nothing in the earth to the purpose".

The measuring of ships by tonnage was a diffcult matter, on which shipwrights often differed among themselves, as well as from their own Company and from the Navy Board. Pepys claimed in 1683 that the memorandum he now wrote formed the basis of a Council order of 2 January 1665, effective for over a generation: Naval Minutes, pp.210-II; MB, Add.36782, ff.23-4.

Pedro  •  Link

28th December.

Back in 1661 Allin heads his Jourmal for this day as Innocents' Day.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Innocents' Day.

The Massacre of the Innocents is the biblical narrative of infanticide by Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed King of the Jews. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mas…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The Coventry Carol is part of the Feast of the Holy Innocents, celebrated December 28, commemorating the massacre of the young children of Bethlehem ordered by King Herod in an attempt to eliminate the Messiah.

The origins of the Coventry Carol are not clear. It may go back as far as 1392. The lyrics known today are attributed to Robert Croo in 1534 (based on early 19th century copies of a manuscript that was destroyed in 1875), and the music to an unknown composer in 1591. There are conflicting references for this song, but it is known to have been popular in the 16th century in some form, and is still popular today.

A lovely version is available on You Tube, with the Westminster Cathedral Choir: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI…

Per http://englishhistoryauthors.blog…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I'm with Robert Gertz on the subject of clothes.
For more information about "slops" (barrels of spare clothes loaded onto a ship to be distributed as needed, with the money deducted from the seaman's pay at the end of the voyage) see: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I think Bess is punishing Pepys with another round of passive-aggressive tactics. I wonder how she will reestablish control of the help after all this joie de vivre. "Fun's over. Wash Day tomorrow. Everyone up at 3. Hewer, what are you doing in the wine cellar with Besse?"

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"I wonder how she will reestablish control of the help after all this joie de vivre ... ?"

Possibly originating in the Roman Saturnalia, it was a tradition in well-off houses, to relax the social barriers and let off steam at Christmastide:
I wonder whether Will played the part of a 'Lord Of Misrule'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lor…

Louise Hudson  •  Link

Todd Bernhardt: “Something tells me that the black eye has been a defining point in their relationship. In a twisted kind of way, this is a good thing, because it shows that such violence is not an everyday occurrence between them.”

Oh, yes, a black eye every few weeks or so should be seen as acceptable behavior from a husband.

Elizabeth sounds depressed to me. Bad sleeping patterns are a good indication: up all night, sleeping most of the day. She has good reason to be depressed.

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