Thursday 19 January 1664/65
Up, and it being yesterday and to-day a great thaw it is not for a man to walk the streets, but took coach and to Mr. Povy’s, and there meeting all of us again agreed upon an answer to the Lords by and by, and thence we did come to Exeter House, and there was a witness of most [base] language against Mr. Povy, from my Lord Peterborough, who is most furiously angry with him, because the other, as a foole, would needs say that the 26,000l. was my Lord Peterborough’s account, and that he had nothing to do with it.
The Lords did find fault also with our answer, but I think really my Lord Ashly would fain have the outside of an Exchequer, —[This word is blotted, and the whole sentence is confused.]— but when we come better to be examined. So home by coach, with my Lord Barkeley, who, by his discourse, I find do look upon Mr. Coventry as an enemy, but yet professes great justice and pains.
I at home after dinner to the office, and there sat all the afternoon and evening, and then home to supper and to bed.
Memorandum. This day and yesterday, I think it is the change of the weather, I have a great deal of pain, but nothing like what I use to have. I can hardly keep myself loose, but on the contrary am forced to drive away my pain. Here I am so sleepy I cannot hold open my eyes, and therefore must be forced to break off this day’s passages more shortly than I would and should have done.
This day was buried (but I could not be there) my cozen Percivall Angier; and yesterday I received the newes that Dr. Tom Pepys is dead, at Impington, for which I am but little sorry, not only because he would have been troublesome to us, but a shame to his family and profession; he was such a coxcomb.
28 Annotations
First Reading
Pedro • Link
“and yesterday I received the newes that Dr. Tom Pepys is dead, at Impington, for which I am but little sorry,”
Has something been missed out here, should it read “for which, God forgive me, I am but little sorry”?
gunwale • Link
19th. Jan. 1665.
"...26000l. was my Lord Peterburgh's account and that he had nothing to do with..."
The 26,000l was in dispute between Povey as Treasurer of Tangier and Peterborough as Governor (1661-2),
and appears to have represented payments made for the garrison.
Routh, p.365; PRO,E 351/357
Latham and Matthews Vol.VI.1665
London: G.Bell and Sons Ltd. May 1974.
gunwale • Link
19th.Jan.1665.
"...but I think verily my Lord Ashly would fain have the outside of an Exchequer-but when we comes better to examined..."
Possibly " an Exchequer" is a slip for the "the Exchequer". Some obscurities still remain, but the meaning may be that Ashley ( Chancellor of the Exchequer) would prefer to have nothing to do with the Excheger if accounts were not better presented for examination. (suggestion to Dr H.G Roseveare.)
Latham and Matthews. Vol.VI.1665.
London: G.Bell and Sons Ltd. May 1974
Pedro • Link
"and appears to have represented payments made for the garrison."
26 thousand quid, and lucky if the squaddies saw 26 bob between them.
gunwale • Link
19th.Jan.1665.
"... not only because he would have been troublesome to us,.."
As a creditor of Pepys's brother Tom.
Latham and Matthews. Vol VI.1665
London: G.Bell and Sons Ltd. May 1974.
gunwale • Link
19th. Jan 1665
"...Exeter House..."
Lord Ashley lived for several years at Exeter House
(on the north side of the Strand), on the side of the present Burleigh and Exeter Streets.
Henry.B.Wheatly. Vol.I
Random House.New York.1893.
cgs • Link
Mud , Mud nutin' like it for coolin' the blud.
"...to-day a great thaw it is not for a man to walk the streets,..."
Of course, it was convenient to throw sum.[Mud that is and sum mite stick.]
JWB • Link
"I can hardly keep myself loose, but on the contrary am forced to drive away my pain"
Is he alluding to opium/laudanum induced contipation?
cgs • Link
Wet weather for me always brings out aches and pains of damages done in the past, except for the concuss , there I have no pain just a blank.
JWB • Link
Like Sam, I see I've retained my "s" in the above post. He writes that he's forced to drive away pain. How else but by opiate? And one of the consequences is constipation. That Symrna ship captured before Christmas may have been so valuable because of the opium it carried. I know later Symrna was a major exporter. Figs & raisins, tobacco & opium-they had you coming and going.
Mary • Link
laudanum.
The first apothecary to formulate and sell laudanum was one Thomas Sydenham, who introduced this remedy to the English market in 1680. It was a compound of opium, sherry and herbs.
Sam's apparent symptoms (possible constipation and attested sleepiness) could be ascribed to the use of opium, but if this is the case I'm surprised that he hasn't mentioned the substance. He's usually fairly careful to note down exactly what affects his health and, in particular, the circumstances in which his pain returns. Hollyard dined with the Pepyses on 12th January, but no mention was made in that entry of any new prescription.
Ruben • Link
Dear Mary
Thomas Sydenham was the best Doctor in Medicine of his century!
To his credit he prefered Primum non nocere to any other non demonstrated treatment.
Robert Gertz • Link
So Povy's "folly" is beginning to look like an unwillingness to fully join in the cover-up of accounts for Lord Peterborough. One could where Sam, having spent so much time and energy at just that, might be vexed with the man.
cgs • Link
The Fen country produced a weak opiate from its lush growth of Poppies.
petasuspilleusgaleruscaput • Link
a story of Poppie.
Culpepper also tells us:
'it is more cooling than any of the other Poppies, and therefore cannot but be as effectual in hot agues, frenzies, and other inflammations either inward or outward. Galen saith, The seed is dangerous to be used inwardly. ' http://www.botanical.com/botanica…
Codeine was once an over the counter
Laudanum Tincture of opium.
Usually a liquid, but the alcoholic extract can be subsequently dried as well. Preparation instructions from Culpepper's Complete Herbal, 1653:
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.…
House of Lords - Section 6 - Medicinal uses of Cannabis
6.3.1 Culpepper (1616-1654) advocated the use of a decoction (tea) of t
http://www.idmu.co.uk/hol6.htm
Methylnaltrexone Mechanisms of Action and Effects on Opioid Bowel Dysfunction and Other Opioid Adverse Effects
Chun-Su Yuan, MD PhD
http://www.theannals.com/cgi/cont…
list of goodies to fix what ails you H of C 1830;
e.g. Detergent Pills. another :Female Pills.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
petasuspilleusgaleruscaput • Link
navigable? do not tell the Dutch
DIE Jovis, 19 die Januarii.
"An Act for making the River of Medway, from Maidston upward, navigable."
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
K. Charles' Martyrdom.
Resolved, That this House will, on the Thirtieth of January instant, solemnize the Anniversary Day of Humiliation, for the Martyrdom of King Charles the First, in St. Margarett's Church, Westminster: And Dr. Outrim, Rector of St. Margarett's, is desired to preach before the House in the Forenoon, and Mr. Craddock, the Chaplain of Graye's Inn, in the Afternoon, of that Day: And Sir Anthony Irby is desired to give notice to Dr. Outrim, and Sir Clifford Clifton, to Mr. Craddocke.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Australian Susan • Link
If Sam is constipated, it is probably because of his diet - not enough roughage or water.
Did the Crusaders bring opium poppies back with them from their travels?
dirk • Link
Opium and the crusades
Susan, as far as I have been able to find out, the crusaders - and more in particular the Hospital Knights (later known as the Knights of Malta) were familiar with the use of opium as a sedative. The drug was used for that purpose by the Arabs, and the Knights were open to new knowledge. It seems that most of this new knowledge was lost after the crusades. Opium was then reintroduced in the 16th century.
Some interesting reading:
http://www.discern-malta.org/pdf_…
The text is written from a (modern) Maltese perspective, but contains a lot of historical info.
Australian Susan • Link
Thank you!
GrahamT • Link
All this discussion of opiates may be correct, but is it possible that Pepys is just referring to having to strain to "make stool" when he says "[I am] forced to drive away my pain. " because he is not "loose"?
Terry Foreman • Link
In support of Ruben's view of Sydenham
"Thomas Sydenham 1624-89, English physician, called 'the English Hippocrates.' He studied at Oxford and Montpellier, and practiced in London. His conceptions of the causes and treatments of epidemics and his classic descriptions of gout, smallpox, malaria, scarlet fever, hysteria, and chorea established him as a founder of modern clinical medicine and epidemiology. He advocated direct observation instead of theorizing to determine the nature of disease and introduced the use of such drugs as cinchona bark (containing quinine) in treating malaria, and laudanum in treating other disorders." http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1…
Second Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
'So Povy's "folly" is beginning to look like an unwillingness to fully join in the cover-up of accounts for Lord Peterborough.'
I think Povy's "folly" is that he has been caught doing a lousy job. Lord Peterborough may have been the Gov. of Tangier and the entire African continent, but to account for such a large amount of money in his personal account, instead of having an account for the "salaries" of everyone else, is nuts. It's such a large sum that Creed, Sam, Sherwin or Beale should have spotted it yesterday. No wonder they tried to pull together a cover story ... and no wonder the Lords didn't buy it.
I bet Sam had his hat off today. And I bet he wasn't wearing his red suit. This was a day for the 2 year old black clerk's outfit.
Sasha Clarkson • Link
Povey is one of the more difficult and contradictory characters to assess in Pepys' diary, but I agree with Sarah. We know that he is a wealthy merchant/plantation/slave-owner, and the encyclopaedia entry suggests that he is intelligent and successful in his own field, so why does his public career seem beset by incompetence?
Perhaps he didn't have the patience to comply with the bureaucratic requirements of public accountability, nor the temper to play the associated political games?
San Diego Sarah • Link
Or perhaps, Sasha, he didn't know how. There were no standard accounting procedures taught at business school back then -- I'm not sure they had even figured out double entry bookkeeping, never mind P&L accounts.
When Charles II came back, presumably there was a "clean sweep" of Puritans out of the offices -- and not everyone who escaped the cuts was disposed to do a good job. Pepys became aware that the Navy Board accounts were unhelpful a year ago, and sought out a better system. After he saw Auditor Beale's standards, he took Treasurer Carteret to take a look, and presumably they adopted those standards. (Always a good idea to know what the Auditor wants!) SEE https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Povy was too dumb, lazy, cheap or incompetent to get organized. Maybe the Tangier Committee didn't fund an assistant and he wouldn't use his own money to stay out of trouble. Whatever the reasons, I'm sure he regretted it by now.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Povy was too dumb, lazy, cheap or incompetent to get organized. Maybe the Tangier Committee didn't fund an assistant and he wouldn't use his own money to stay out of trouble. Whatever the reasons, I'm sure he regretted it by now."
Or perhaps Povey was over committed ?
San Diego Sarah • Link
Smart, wealthy, over-committed people usually hire help. Which is why this situation is so fascinating, puzzling and bizarre 350 years later.
Sasha Clarkson • Link
Administration improved under Cromwell, because the Commonwealth/Protectorate regime was innately more meritocratic. Some of this regime were turned out, but others were retained. Pepys was a new man, but was prepared to learn from Protecorate officials such as Blackborne, Will Hewer's uncle.
Povy on the other hand, was of an older generation, doing well enough in his own business, and perhaps too stick-in-the-mud for the new times. The Restoration was a change of bosses, but it certainly didn't turn the clock back.
San Diego Sarah • Link
I just discovered a note from Essex for today:
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection)
Thursday 19 January 1665
document 70014595
19. buried old Hutton, that went out to work and fell down dead in the field by his house. said his father died 2 fields farther, there were living at once in the parish, workmen to Mr Harlakenden. Henry Hutton his first wife. Guy Hutton son, his first wife. Henry grandchild his first wife. and Henry sons to 3 children, but now the string is twice broken