Tuesday 31 January 1664/65

Up and with Sir W. Batten to Westminster, where to speak at the House with my Lord Bellasses, and am cruelly vexed to see myself put upon businesses so uncertainly about getting ships for Tangier being ordered, a servile thing, almost every day.

So to the ’Change, back by coach with Sir W. Batten, and thence to the Crowne, a taverne hard by, with Sir W. Rider and Cutler, where we alone, a very good dinner. Thence home to the office, and there all the afternoon late. The office being up, my wife sent for me, and what was it but to tell me how Jane carries herself, and I must put her away presently. But I did hear both sides and find my wife much in fault, and the grounds of all the difference is my wife’s fondness of Tom, to the being displeased with all the house beside to defend the boy, which vexes me, but I will cure it. Many high words between my wife and I, but the wench shall go, but I will take a course with the boy, for I fear I have spoiled him already.

Thence to the office, to my accounts, and there at once to ease my mind I have made myself debtor to Mr. Povy for the 117l. 5s. got with so much joy the last month, but seeing that it is not like to be kept without some trouble and question, I do even discharge my mind of it, and so if I come now to refund it, as I fear I shall, I shall now be ne’er a whit the poorer for it, though yet it is some trouble to me to be poorer by such a sum than I thought myself a month since. But, however, a quiet mind and to be sure of my owne is worth all. The Lord be praised for what I have, which is this month come down to 1257l.. I staid up about my accounts till almost two in the morning.

32 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Navy communications of this day inventoried in the Carte Calendar

Matthew Porter to Ormond
Written from: St Malo

Date: 31 January 1665

Shelfmark: MS. Carte 34, fol(s). 29

Document type: Original

Proposals in relation to the setting forth of frigates [privateers] to attack Dutch commerce. ...

PS.: The writer & his colleagues have empowered Mr John Porter to attend his Grace the Lord Lieutenant, with reference to their former proposals transmitted to Sir Nicholas Plunkett.

-----------------------------
Vice-Admiral Sir John Lawson to Sandwich
Written from: on board H.M.S. Royal Katherine, in the Hope

Date: 31 January 1665

Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 145-146
Document type: Holograph

Reports the state and needs of his squadron. Submits a proposition from Colonel Middleton, Commissary at Portsmouth, with respect to certain portions of the cargoes which may be taken as prize goods.

-----------------------------
William Coventry to Sandwich
Written from: [St James's]

Date: 31 January 1665

Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 147
Document type: Holograph

Communicates instructions from H.R.H. the Lord Admiral as to some changes in the command of ships specified, and as to certain ships which need to be cleaned. Is in hope to send a speedy reinforcement, with a favourable wind.

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

alanB  •  Link

No action on the bars and curtains (drapes) front.

Perhaps it was a peeping Tom cat on the leads discovered by Jane. Why do we suppose Bess wishes to defend the lad, eh Sam?

Carl in Boston  •  Link

The Lord be praised for what I have, which is this month come down to 1257l.. I staid up about my accounts till almost two in the morning.
Yes, yes, .... yes. Ebenezer Scrooge had no more joy than our Sam, rubbing his hands over his thoughts of gold, reading his accounts over and over, telling the story of 1257 l over and over, never tiring to think of all that money, honey, till 2 AM in the morning, and all the while cackling Psalms of Praise. Cackle, cackle. Meanwhile Elizabeth shivers in her bed of gold.
It is not possible to go to bed at 2AM night after night without getting into a B shift schedule and getting up at 10 AM, day after day. What happened to his arising betimes? There was a picture of a rooster writing in his diary, "Arose betimes, and crowed". Maybe in the Spring he will get back to the regular schedule of a rooster, if the mice on the roof will let him sleep.
Then there is thought of what one rooster in the barnyard will do with all the hens. C'mon, hens, what's the cackle about that d**n rooster?

Patricia  •  Link

This isn't the first time Sam has sided with a servant against his wife. Unspeakable! Who is the lady of the house here, and who the hired help? I don't get the impression that Mrs. P ranks any higher than the servants in Sam's eyes. It may be a nuisance to have to find a new maid, but still Sam should show loyalty to his wife by taking her side. He can always write a nice reference for the girl, and give her a severance bonus, if he thinks (privately) that Mrs. P has been unfair.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Actually, in public Sam seems to be siding with Bess. He's accepted the need for Jane's dismissal and it looks like it's only to the Diary and perhaps the boys in the office that he confides his quite sincere misgivings. I imagine Tom's "course" will come separately and we shall see if Bess sides with her husband in public over her substitute child.

cape henry  •  Link

Some of us annotating here, Patricia, have thought for a while that Elizabeth, for the moment at least, is very little more in Pepys' eyes than a sort of chief servant and occasional arm candy. And even the latter has been less frequent of late. In this particular instance, Pepys is smarting from a slight handed him by Bellasses earlier in the day. Elizabeth then conveniently provides him an excuse to lash out.

CGS  •  Link

Late to bed tells it all, Samuell has been in the dog house,'tis why he be a catting looking for the mouses.

Nate  •  Link

"it’s only to the Diary and perhaps the boys in the office that he confides his quite sincere misgivings."

I suspect that it's only to his journal that he complains as what goes on in his house he considers a major part of the core of his privacy. If he talks about it to others he probably won't lay the blame on his wife.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Thence to the office, to my accounts, and there at once to ease my mind I have made myself debtor to Mr. Povy for the 117l. 5s. got with so much joy the last month, but seeing that it is not like to be kept without some trouble and question, I do even discharge my mind of it, and so if I come now to refund it, as I fear I shall, I shall now be ne’er a whit the poorer for it, though yet it is some trouble to me to be poorer by such a sum than I thought myself a month since."

This is about Pepys's risky deal of 9 December 1664: "walked to Mr. Povy’s, and there, not without some few troublesome questions of his, I got a note, and went and received 117l. 5s. of Alderman Viner upon my pretended freight of the 'William' for Tangier, which overbears me on one side with joy and on the other to think of my condition if I shall be called into examination about it" http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… There L&M explained that Pepys was likely [illegally] sending pieces-of-eight for vyner to the garrison in Tangier.

CGS  •  Link

Ladies, the head line could read "The king be getting large hat pins for the ladies to defend themselves against the fumbling man"

Pin makers Bill.

Hodie 2a vice lecta est Billa, "An Act for Confirmation of a Contract made by the King's Majesty, with the Corporation of Pin-makers of the City of London, comprehending all the Pin-makers in England and Wales."
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

CGS  •  Link

Hand in cookie jar be not worth sleepless nights, .
"...But, however, a quiet mind and to be sure of my owne is worth all..."

Inner most thoughts know the moral law usually trump mans law or law of the jungle ['wot' thee can can skim off without being condemned ]
Temptation, The sins of the flesh be strong.

CGS  •  Link

Pride,Envy,Wrath, Sloth,Avarice,Gluttony & Lust,
----no sign of sloth?

Margaret  •  Link

"This isn’t the first time Sam has sided with a servant against his wife."
Jane is "family" too--she's been with the Pepys for more than five years. We'll see more of her.

As for the shady money transaction--I don't really understand what Sam was doing (I could never be a forensic accountant) but I can see that what he has lost is "paper money". I know what he means: when the stock market goes down, we lose money on paper, and though it hurts, it doesn't hurt nearly as much as losing the same amount in cash from your pocket would.

Ralph Berry  •  Link

"But I did hear both sides"

In doing this Sam is openly questioning his wife's judgement so the rest of the household would be well aware of the tension.

It is very hard not to give the people in Sam's diary the characters of people we know. I used to know a man who seems so like Sam in both looks and manner it is hard to believe it is not a re-incarnation. This fellow was very "handy" with any attractive female around as I imagine Sam was. I wonder if the real reason Beth wanted rid of Jane was because Sam was getting too "handy" with Jane.

Australian Susan  •  Link

In the Diary entries over the Christmas period Elizabeth was largely confined to the house because Sam had walloped her, leaving her with a black eye. She seemed to spend night after night playing games and generally whooping it up with the servants whilst Sam went to bed. The 12 days of Christmas are traditionally a time of misrule, of roles reversed and so on. Maybe Jane had forgotten that this time is over, Plough Monday is long come and gone, nearly at Candlemass, so perhaps Elizabeth has come down on Jane's behaviour as impertinent now - but it was tolerated over Yuletide.

Bryan M  •  Link

Trouble seems to have been brewing between Mrs P and Jane since early January.

On the 5th:
"At noon dined at home, troubled at my wife’s being simply angry with Jane, our cook mayde (a good servant, though perhaps hath faults and is cunning), and given her warning to be gone."

And the 6th:
"Lay long in bed, but most of it angry and scolding with my wife about her warning Jane our cookemayde to be gone and upon that she desires to go abroad to-day to look a place. A very good mayde she is and fully to my mind, being neat, only they say a little apt to scold, but I hear her not."

There may even have been signs of a little bit of "attitude" at their first encounter on 27 May 1664:
"This morning my taylor brought me a very tall mayde to be my cook-mayde; she asked 5l., but my wife offered her but 3l. 10s. — whether she will take it or no I know not till to-morrow, but I am afeard she will be over high for us, she having last been a chamber mayde, and holds up her head, as my little girle Su observed."

Perhaps Elizabeth felt that even if Sam didn't give her due respect, she would make sure the servants did.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"... cruelly vexed to see myself put upon businesses so uncertainly about getting ships for Tangier being ordered, a servile thing, almost every day."

Only, I assume, because SP is not getting a cut on the freight.

"...received 117l. 5s. of Alderman Viner upon my pretended freight of the ‘William’ for Tangier, which overbears me on one side with joy ..."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
(Per Terry F. above)

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...debtor to Mr. Povy..." Another hint that Povy's "folly" is largely that he asks troublesome questions?

"Pepys? About this 117Ls for freight to Tangier?"

"Ah, yes." suppressed sigh... "Got it right here, Povy. Small mistake in the charges."

Well, got to keep the 5s.

Gus Spier  •  Link

cruelly vexed ...

I parse this to mean that Sam is less than pleased. He has worked hard to amass expertise and prestige with the admiralty. Now, arranging for ships to Tangier, all his good work has stood for nothing and this mere soldier, Bellasses, has him running up and down as if he were nothing more than a minor functionary.

By the way, how is "Bellasses" pronounced?

Mary  •  Link

How is 'Bellasses' pronounced?

I've always assumed that the pronunciation was "Bell-assize' but am ready to be corrected. English proper names can be very misleading, e.g. Wriothesley = 'Risley'.

CGS  •  Link

Belasys, Bellasys, Bellasse, etc., any lurking Yorkshireman from the old school should fill us in.

it 'mite' be Be- lasses.???

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"no sign of sloth?"
cgs those staying late in bed can be classified as sloth unless he pays for some indulgences.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ... I will take a course with the boy, for I fear I have spoiled him already."

Given that SP has in the past been jealous of even the dogs mating, might he not just be jealous of the female attention the boy was receiving from the household?

language hat  •  Link

"How is ‘Bellasses’ pronounced?"

These days, either BELL-uh-siss or buh-LAY-siss, but of course it may have been different in Sam's day.

Paul Dyson  •  Link

"Jane is “family” too—she’s been with the Pepys for more than five years. We’ll see more of her."

There were two Janes who were servants of the Pepyses, as indicated in the People section:

"Jane [Birch], who took up her duties on August 26th, 1658, and for three years formed a comfortable background to the household."

"Jane, surname unrecorded, was the Pepyses’s cook-maid, 27 June 1664-4 February 1665."

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... and am cruelly vexed to see myself put upon businesses so uncertainly about getting ships for Tangier being ordered, a servile thing, almost every day."

John, 1st Baron Belasyse of Worlaby MP PC (24 June 1614 – 10 September 1689) is done buttering up the clerk. Since he's not nobility, Pepys is being instructed to do things like hire ships before plans are finalized. If he does this, and then has to cancel the reservations too often, he will hurt his reputation with the ship owners and other vendors. But he's dispensable.

I think Pepys' hat is well and truly off as far as Belasyse is concerned.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘ . . to see myself put upon businesses so uncertainly . . ’

1. a. . . at random, by chance or accident.
. . 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe Pref. sig. ***2 That Motion of Sensless Atoms Declining Uncertainly from the Perpendicular . .’

(OED)

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘how is "Bellasses" pronounced?’ As written, as this Sam’s attempt to spell out what he heard others say. Forget about ‘Belasyse’, which he wouldn’t have seen.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

At Court today Charles II knights William Temple and elevates him a Bart., probably at the urging of Secretary Bennet, Lord Arlington.

William is related by marriage to Thomas Osborne (later better known as the Earl of Danby); Thomas' sister was Dorothy Osborne who left us some delightful letters when it looked as if they could never marry because of Interregnum politics.

Although Pepys never mentions William Temple, his name appears many times in the Annotations because of his up-coming diplomatic career.

He was born 30 Apr. 1628, the first son of Sir John Temple.
Like Pepys, he grew up with relatives: Temple was brought up at Penshurst, seat of the Sidneys, by his uncle, Dr Henry Hammond, the distinguished Laudian divine.
Like Pepys he went to the local grammar school (at Bishop’s Stortford), and then Cambridge University (Emmanuel College).

From 1648-54 Temple traveled abroad. Specifically, during 1649-50 he was travelling on the Continent with Sir Thomas Osborne, of a Cavalier family, whose kinswoman he eventually married.

Dorothy Osborne and William Temple married on 31 Jan. 1655.

After useful service in the Dublin Parliament, Temple came to England in 1663 with recommendations from the Lord Lt. James Butler, Duke of Ormonde addressed impartially to Chancellor Clarendon and Sir Henry Bennet. It was the latter who launched William Temple on his distinguished diplomatic career.

Sir William Temple, 1st Bart., was Charles II's Envoy to Brussels 1665-7;

and then the ambassador to The Hague 1668-71. Strongly pro-Dutch, Temple was recognized as the principal architect of the Triple Alliance in 1668.

Sir William Temple, having arranged the Triple Alliance of 1668, retired from public service to his country estate, Moor Park, Sheen, Surrey, to tend his gardens and write his memoirs. But he kept being pulled back into the fray.

Temple's major coup in foreign policy was negotiating the marriage between William of Orange and Princess Mary in the decade after the Diary.

In the 1680's Sir William Temple took on as his secretary one Jonathan Swift, who "was often trusted with matters of great importance."

He was an MP later in life. Most of this information I got from his biography there: https://www.historyofparliamenton…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

“The best rules to form a young man are: to talk little, to hear much, to reflect alone upon what has passed in company, to distrust one’s own opinions, and value others that deserve it.” — Sir William Temple (1628 – 1699)

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