Monday 10 April 1665

Up, and to the Duke of Albemarle’s, and thence to White Hall to a Committee for Tangier, where new disorder about Mr. Povy’s accounts, that I think I shall never be settled in my business of Treasurer for him. Here Captain Cooke met me, and did seem discontented about my boy Tom’s having no time to mind his singing nor lute, which I answered him fully in, that he desired me that I would baste his coate. So home and to the ’Change, and thence to the “Old James” to dine with Sir W. Rider, Cutler, and Mr. Deering, upon the business of hemp, and so hence to White Hall to have attended the King and Lord Chancellor about the debts of the navy and to get some money, but the meeting failed. So my Lord Brunkard took me and Sir Thomas Harvy in his coach to the Parke, which is very troublesome with the dust; and ne’er a great beauty there to-day but Mrs. Middleton, and so home to my office, where Mr. Warren proposed my getting of 100l. to get him a protection for a ship to go out, which I think I shall do. So home to supper and to bed.

22 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Rumors of Romanist plots


A Writer not herein named to Sir Theophilus Jones

Date: 10 April 1665

Shelfmark: MS. Carte 215, fol(s). 168
Document type: Original

Sends intelligence as to rumoured endeavours, set on foot by the Court of Rome and its emissaries, "to extirpate heresy out of the King of England's dominions"; and also of endeavours elsewhere contrived "to make a faction amongst the fanatics of England, in the behalf of Holland".

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

"Theophilus" is a biblical reference, whether the writer's name or no
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...so hence to White Hall to have attended the King and Lord Chancellor about the debts of the navy and to get some money, but the meeting failed."

I'm assuming the boys never showed rather than Charles and Clarendon feeling round in their pockets for loose change...

"Ah, here's 3000Ls." Charles, brightly.

"No, wait that's for Barbara's dog's new collar."

***

"Catherine? Get what boring ole meeting with that bumpety fellow of Sandwich's...That one always hopping about...Er, Pepys, that's it, yes...I managed to duck?"

"Charles...Sire? Wasn't that to fund your Majesty's Navy for the war?"

"Ummmn...Well...I suppose...Well, Ed Hyde never showed either."

***

"Here Captain Cooke met me, and did seem discontented about my boy Tom’s having no time to mind his singing nor lute, which I answered him fully in, that he desired me that I would baste his coate."

So is Sam to baste Cooke's coat or poor overworked Tom's? Lets hope it's Cooke...Yes...A good fight in the street reported by ours truly, participant.

"Pepys! That boy's a talent. I let you have him as I expected you'd do more with him than turn him into a paper shuffling clerk. He's a musician, man. Anything else...Sheer waste."

"I've no time to be coddling your proteges, Cooke! I have damn far better things to do with my time and money, man. And the boy's hardly the prodigy you seem to think. He should think himself lucky that I devote such time as I do to giving him an honest profession."

"And I thought you a man of taste, one who appreciated music. But you're a mere lackey to the great, affecting a love of the fine! Pepys, you mealy-mouthed, pompous little..."

"Enough, sir! Were I not so sorely needed to attend my duties in such times as these, I should baste your coat well, well I say, sir!"

"Well, indeed...Indeed I should like you to try, sir...Yes...Lets see you baste me coat, you jumped-up tailor's boy!"

"Nothing I should like better, sir...Were I not required to wait on Sir William Ryder."

"Another name dropped...Oh, yes the great Sir William Ryder has pressing business with you. What, he want a clerk to take his papers? Yes, go, you pricklouse of a coward. Baste my coat, you will...Certainly."

"Come, Tom. Let us leave this petty and unprofitable unpleasantness."

Wait a bit?...Only Bess calls me 'pricklouse'.

"Tom?! When I'm at the office...Has Captain Cooke ever come to...?"

"Afraid so, sir." Tom sighs.

JWB  •  Link

"...observing some things to be laid up not as they should be by the girl, I took a broom and basted her till she cried extremely ,..." http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Robert, lest your eloquence persuade others Cooke has in mind that Pepys perform some odd-job tailoring on his garb, he has in mind that Pepys, ah, corporeally, ah, prompt young Tom.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Mr. Warren proposed my getting of 100l. to get him a protection for a ship to go out"

Warren would pay Pepys to issue warrants exempting from impressment seamen on ships bringing essential naval supplies from the Baltic and the Mediterranean (L&M make that clear in a note). Evidently Pepys HAS that power.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Yes, but it would be so much more fun and far more fair for Cooke and Sam to duke it out...It being after all Sam's fault for keeping Tom away from his music.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

I fear we have our Captains cocked up. The link goes to Captain George Cocke, but Sam was surely referring to Captain Henry Cooke, a composer, actor, and singer, see http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… .
If the seafaring Captain Cocke had any musical inclinations, they remain unremarked by history.

CGS  •  Link

To baste not to baste and and be a baster not be a bastard.

baste v3 1660 PEPYS Diary 1 Dec., I took a broom, and basted her, till she cried extremely.I would baste his coate

1 baste, n.1 *
2 baste, n.2 *
3 baste, v.1 *
[a. OF. bastir (mod. bâtir), cogn. with Sp. bastear, embastar, It. imbastire ‘to stuffe, to quilt..to baste as taylers trans. To sew together loosely: hence {dag}a. To stitch through (the folds of a doublet, contents of a bag or cushion), so as to keep them in place, to quilt (obs.); b. in mod. use, To sew or ‘tack’ together with long loose stitches the parts of (a piece of work), in order to hold them in place for the time. c. transf. or fig.
a. c1440


4 baste, v.2

[Origin unknown: it has been conjectured to be a transferred sense of the next, with idea of ‘stroking’ (Wedgwood), which is not favoured by the relative dates of the two words, or to be from Romanic bastire (see BASTE v.1), with general sense of ‘prepare’; but nothing like the special sense occurs in Romanic.]

1. To moisten (a roasting joint, etc.) by the application of melted fat, gravy, or other liquid, so as to keep it from burning, and improve its flavour.*

baste, v.3 * [Of uncertain origin, not known before 16th c.; the early instances being all in pa. tense or pa. pple. basit, baste, baist, might be from a present bas, base, to be compared with Sw. basa ‘to baste, whip, beat, flog.’ With baste, if it was the original form, cf. Icel. beysta, beyrsta ‘to bruise, thrash, flog,’ Sw. bösta ‘to thump’; but the vowels do not agree with the Eng. Possibly, after all, a figurative use of the preceding: cf. anoint in sense of thrash.]

trans. To beat soundly, thrash, cudgel.1533


6 baste, v.4 [f. BASTE n.1]

A modern variant of to BEAST (retaining the former pronunciation).
*

[ Sam the baster]
baster
[f. BASTE v.3 + -ER1.]

He who or that which bastes or thrashes; hence, a stick or cudgel; also, a heavy blow.

bastinado, n.

CGS  •  Link

Charles does not want Parliament to control ppppurse strings, so trying to get cash by other lawfull means, i.e. following in Daddies footsteps running a war without city folks interfering.

It dothe remind me of someone else in history.

" I'm the decider not the city, I will get all those spices to pay for it all. I have a Wall street newly minted to help, Baccy from viginny and that upstart Morgan in training".

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Quite a little moral issue here, though Sam makes no mention of it...100Ls bribe to ensure that Warren's merchant sailors won't be dragged off their ships at sea or in port by naval press gangs. I do note Sam makes no attempt to suggest this one is in the King's interest. A bit chilling to be so casual about what amounts to life or death (and perhaps starvation and other misery for their families) for 100+ men.

JWB  •  Link

"...100l. to get him a protection for a ship to go out..."

L&M aside, sounds to me Warren's asking for escort; if warrants to stave off press gangs, protection would have been asked for in-bound ships.

JWB  •  Link

On reconsideration, please disregard my latest above.

Pedro  •  Link

"where Mr. Warren proposed my getting of 100l. to get him a protection for a ship to go out,"

Terry says L&M make clear that Warren would pay Pepys to issue warrants exempting from impressment seamen on ships bringing essential naval supplies from the Baltic and the Mediterranean.

This would make sense, as JWB points out above, that protection (against pressing) would have been asked for in-bound ships. It would be very unusual to press on out going merchant trade already arranged. We have seen that Trade to the Levant has suffered due to lack of protection on the journey.

In the Sandwich journal it happens at times that protection is given, and therefore as Warrens ship is outgoing, Sam may be able to pull some strings for protection.

So L&M are correct but in this case it may not any thing to do with pressing. But they have never been wrong before have they?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

L&M have been shown to be in error *rarely* (a couple of times), since they do rely on other primary sources, but in this case they do not -- it is asserted.

Jesse  •  Link

"protection for a ship to go out”

My take after reading the above is that Warren is looking to purchase a little impressment insurance up front. Just because the ship is "to go out" doesn't mean it ain't (hopefully) comming back.

Is it a bribe? The ships are bringing in 'essential naval supplies'. It may be hard for Warren to form a crew w/o the warrant. Pepys is serving both king and merchant and perhaps in those times it wasn't unusual to collect from both.

Pedro  •  Link

Thomas Warren.

It is interesting to note that this is the first mention in the Diary of this chap, being the brother of Sir William. L&M say he is possibly the Thomas Warren that traded to the Baltic, but more positively say he trade to Tangier and Madeira in the 60’s.

If the destination of this ship was Tangier he would be more likely to get protection as a presence of warships is still needed off Tangier to ensure that the Spanish and others do not try to join with the Moors and attack Tangier, even though there the coming war is to be fought in home waters.

Crew would very unlikely to be pressed outgoing, as the supplies would be needed for the garrison, and so Jessie could well be right that Warren would want exemption of his crew from pressing on the return journey.

I believe also that the Dutch are much stronger in the Baltic and could easily take many English merchantmen in that area.

Harvey  •  Link

"A bit chilling to be so casual about what amounts to life or death (and perhaps starvation and other misery for their families) for 100+ men."

200+ actually, since the 100 'saved' will need to be replaced with an extra 100 pressed.

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"baste his coat"
His = Tom, not Cooke.
Took me a while to figure that out, even with the help of annotations. I suppose it would be scary, but not excessively painful, administered with his coat on.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Warren would pay Pepys to issue warrants exempting from impressment of the seamen on ships bringing essential naval supplies from the Baltic and the Mediterranean (L&M make that clear in a note). Evidently Pepys HAS that power."

Sounds like a new line of fund-raising for Sam. He'll need it if he has to pay the Navy's bills. (DON'T DO IT, SAM. Kings invariably don't pay, and if he does, it won't be in full.)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... the Court of Rome and its emissaries ..."

I suppose this means Pope Alexander VII is also looking for a cheap "victory" to take people's minds off bad news. And it is a way Rome and Louis XIV can agree on something for future negotiations.

In 1662 the hostile Duc de Crequi was made French ambassador to Rome. By his high-handed abuse of the traditional right of asylum granted to ambassadorial precincts in Rome, he precipitated a quarrel between France and the papacy, which resulted in Pope Alexander VII's temporary loss of Avignon and his forced acceptance of the humiliating Treaty of Pisa in February 1664."

For more see http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/0…

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.