Saturday 13 May 1665

Up, and all day in some little gruntings of pain, as I used to have from winde, arising I think from my fasting so long, and want of exercise, and I think going so hot in clothes, the weather being hot, and the same clothes I wore all winter.

To the ’Change after office, and received my watch from the watchmaker, and a very fine [one] it is, given me by Briggs, the Scrivener.

Home to dinner, and then I abroad to the Atturney Generall, about advice upon the Act for Land Carriage, which he desired not to give me before I had received the King’s and Council’s order therein; going home bespoke the King’s works, will cost me 50s., I believe. So home and late at my office. But, Lord! to see how much of my old folly and childishnesse hangs upon me still that I cannot forbear carrying my watch in my hand in the coach all this afternoon, and seeing what o’clock it is one hundred times; and am apt to think with myself, how could I be so long without one; though I remember since, I had one, and found it a trouble, and resolved to carry one no more about me while I lived.

So home to supper and to bed, being troubled at a letter from Mr. Cholmly from Tangier, wherein he do advise me how people are at worke to overthrow our Victualling business, by which I shall lose 300l. per annum, I am much obliged to him for this, secret kindnesse, and concerned to repay it him in his own concernments and look after this.

37 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Act for Land Carriage"

'Charles II, 1662: An Act for providing Carriage by Land and by Water for the use of His Majesties Navy and Ordnance.', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628-80 (1819), pp. 413-414. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…. Date accessed: 13 May 2008.

Recital of 12 Car. II. c. 24. § 12, 13.

Carriages, Horses, &c. may be taken for the Service of the Navy or Ordnance; on Notice to Two or more neighbouring Justices; who shall issue Warrants to Places within Twelve Miles. Rate of Recompense.
II. Admiralty, Commissioners of the Navy, Master and Lieutenant of the Ordnance, may impress Ships, Hoys, &c. for the Service.
Rates of Hire.; If not agreed, to be settled by Trinity House.
III. Persons refusing to furnish Carriages, Ships, &c. or after they have undertaken neglecting, &c. the same;
on Conviction by Oath of Officer or two other Witnesses; Penalty; to be levied by Distress.
IV. Proviso respecting Length of Journey and Continuance in Employment.
V. Justices or Persons appointed by Admiralty, &c. taking Gift to spare any Person, or charging Persons not liable, or impressing more Carriages than necessary. Penalty £10.
Persons not empowered impressing Carriages, Horses, Ships, &c. Punishment as by 12 Car. II. c. 24.
VI. Certain Ships, Hoys, &c. not liable.
VII. Continuance of Act.
VIII. Proviso for extra Allowance for Carriage of Timber within the Division of the New Forest.

Can we trust [Lord Braybrooke's] Monday 23 June 1662 endnote?
“In 1662 was passed “An Act for providing of carriage by land and by water for the use of His Majesty’s Navy and Ordinance” (13-14 Gar. II.[sic], cap. 20), which gave power for impressing seamen, &c.” http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

The Act by that name itself (see above) gives power for impressing only vehicles of conveyance, not seamen.

Nix  •  Link

"I cannot forbear carrying my watch in my hand in the coach all this afternoon, and seeing what o’clock it is one hundred times" --

One of those flashes of recognition: Exactly when I went throught when I first got a cell phone (and I was NOT an early adopter -- this was about two years ago).

Michael L  •  Link

"... and found [a watch] a trouble, and resolved to carry one no more about me while I lived."

What would be such "a trouble" about carrying a watch? Were they heavy and unwieldy? Did clothes not have pockets to carry them, forcing them to be in the hand always? Was it fear of theft? Or what?

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Why such a trouble? I think it was because it was a new toy, and he was constantly playing with it while his inner Puritan scolded him about his pride re: his expensive plaything...

It's funny, during the times when I've been without a watch, it's really bothered me for a week or so, then I've found I'm perfectly fine without it. Funny how you can learn to do without things that, when you have them, you think you can't live without...

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"going home bespoke the King’s works, will cost me 50s., I believe"

Could someone please remind me what this is?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“going home bespoke the King’s works"

Todd, if that could be formatted better, "the the King’s works" might be in italics. Apparently Pepys stopped by his bookseller and reserved (so as to have bound according to his taste) a second-hand copy of *Eikon Basilike (Greek: Εἰκὼν Βασιλική, the "Royal Portrait"), The Pourtrature of His Sacred Majestie in His Solitudes and Sufferings*,...a purported spiritual autobiography attributed to King Charles I of England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiko…

Usually a link makes this clear, but L&M help.

JWB  •  Link

"...bookseller’s, and other places about business, and paid off all for books to this day, and do not intend to buy any more of any kind a good while, though I had a great mind to have bought the King’s works, as they are new printed in folio, and present it to my Lord; but I think it will be best to save the money"
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

What use a pocket watch when it takes 3 years to decide to buy a book.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

JWB, thanks for finding that (I knew we'd run across it before). "I think it will be best to save the money,” which he did, as L&M say, buying a secondhand copy owned by Bridgett ______ (a Catholic?), that he collated in 1700 with another ("expurgated by the Inquisition") in the Lambeth Library that had been taken as a prize in Spain -- no folio here.

***
"I remember...[having a watch], and found it a trouble, and resolved to carry one no more about me while I lived."

I was unable to find in the Diary evidence of this resolve, though he acquired a watch early on.

Roy Feldman  •  Link

How does Pepys stand to lose "300 L" from the Tangier victualling trade? Is it just by his not being able to get gifts/bribes from merchants who want contracts?

Michael Robinson  •  Link

“going home bespoke the King’s works;”
Per L&M 'works' only in italic

[Basilika. Greek] The workes of King Charles the martyr: with a collection of declarations, treaties, and other papers concerning the differences betwixt His said Majesty and his two houses of Parliament.
London : printed by James Flesher for R. Royston, book-seller to His most sacred Majesty, MDCLXII. [1662]
[16], 120, [2], 458, [12], 733, [7] p.,
[3] folded leaves of plates : ill., coat of arms, port. ;
2⁰. (folio) Pepys Library 2577

The footnote in the copy of L&M in front of me (vol vi, London: 1972. p. 101, n. 3) reads " ... It was a second hand copy, and has the words 'Bridgett ..... [illegiible] Her Booke' written (but struck through) on the flyleaf. ..." There is no express statement or implied suggestion that the former owner was a Roman Catholic.

Compiled by William Fulman, (1632–1688), surviving Mss. notes at Corpus Oxford; preliminary “life of Charles I,” signed Richard Perrinchiefe, compiled from Fulman’s notes and some materials of Silas Titus. The substantial bulk of the text by far is the '... collection of declarations, treaties, and other papers ... '

The text of the 'Eikon comprises only p. 1-198 of the second section. According to Falconer Madden 'New Bibliography of the Eikon Basilike' this is the 65th. edition of that portion of the text. The authorship of the Eikon was originally attributed to Charles I, but generally accepted by the Restoration to have been written by John Gauden, (Bishop of Exeter 1660, translated Worcester 1662 http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… ) who probably included some authentic writings of the king. His brother was the the Navy victualer Sir Dennis Gauden http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… who figures in the Diary.

Tony Eldridge  •  Link

"some little gruntings of pain"
Another of Sam's delightful expressions which seem so familiar nearly 350 years later. It reminds me of the sound I make getting into a sports car - a sure sign of growing old as Denis Nordern used to say. (Another is finishing every story "and that was a lot of money in those days").
Talking of which, Sam seems remarkably calm about the possibility of losing 300l.a year.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ... people are at worke to overthrow our Victualling business, by which I shall lose 300l. per annum, ..."

See back in July 1664 where from the 2nd. onward SP spent some time almost every day working on getting his 'group' the contract:

"Thence to White Hall to the Tangier Committee, and there, above my expectation, got the business of our contract for the victualling carried for my people, viz., Alsopp, Lanyon, and Yeabsly; and by their promise I do thereby get 300l. per annum to myself, which do overjoy me; and the matter is left to me to draw up. Mr. Lewes was in the gallery and is mightily amazed at it, and I believe Mr. Gauden will make some stir about it, for he wrote to Mr. Coventry to-day about it to argue why he should for the King’s convenience have it, ..."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

and after trials and tribulations, including the death Alsop, of one initial partners:-

" ... also this afternoon, with great content, I finished the contracts for victualling of Tangier with Mr. Lanyon and the rest, and to my comfort got him and Andrews to sign to the giving me 300l. per annum, by which, at least, I hope to be a 100l. or two the better. ..."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"I think going so hot in clothes, the weather being so hot."
Very good observation Sam, hot weather leads to dehydration and consequently can generate or aggravate renal calculi.

Bradford  •  Link

All you younge fresshe folke, as Mr. Chaucer would say, practice in your youth Not Grunting so that, in later years, you need not give away that yes, even you, are undergoing the aging process.

" . . . I think going so hot in clothes, the weather being hot, and the same clothes I wore all winter."

By which one charitably understands that he has worn the same outfit repeatedly during the cold weather, not that he's never changed the very items all that time.

Patricia  •  Link

"...though I remember since, I had one, and found it a trouble, and resolved to carry one no more about me while I lived."
I don't know why Sam found his watch a trouble, but when I left the office, I stopped wearing my watch. It was like, now my time is my own, I don't have to be dictated to by the clock, I don't need the aggravation you feel when you see time getting on and you're still waiting, or not finished what you're doing, or whatever. Now I only wear a watch when I'm really likely to need to know what time it is.
Clearly, Sam found his watch a distraction, at the very least.

language hat  •  Link

"'… and found [a watch] a trouble, and resolved to carry one no more about me while I lived.'

What would be such 'a trouble' about carrying a watch?"

I felt the same way about my lightweight modern watch. It was a nuisance to have the damn thing on my wrist and find myself pointlessly looking to see if it was 2:13 or already 2:14. My last watch fell off my arm in 1995 and I decided it was a Sign, and have not worn one since. Haven't missed it once.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...the same clothes I wore all winter."

"Pepys, old fellow..." Minnes, diplomatically. "We've all got together a bit of a little note here, a petition, really... Not wishing to give offense nor meaning insult...And taking into consideration that in wartime we're all extremely busy here in the King's..."

"'Mr. Pepys is hearby requested to forthwith produce a change of clothes before his next return to business'?" Sam reads.

"Yes..." Minnes nods thoughtfully. "Just a bit of a change of shirt and linen...Perhaps a little bit of a wash and rub... Not wishing to give offense, but it really has become...Well, Pepys... It's May, after all, old fellow. Time for a change, you know."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I would guess that the old watch, not being so fine as Briggs' 14L gift, constantly broke down, especially under the pressure of Sam's busy life, and so drove Sam to distraction. I used to have the same trouble banging mine around the lab and office till I found a cheap and nearly indestructible model.

Pedro  •  Link

On this day…

At 6 o’clock in the evening the Fleet is around 23 leagues off Flamborough Head.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Clothing and winter

Little Russian peasant children in Siberia used to be rubbed with bacon fat and sewn into their clothes for the whole of the winter up into the 20th century.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ... some little gruntings of pain, ..."

L&M read "grutchings."

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"By which one charitably understands that he has worn the same outfit repeatedly during the cold weather, not that he’s never changed the very items all that time."

Robert's amusing scenario notwithstanding, I think we can safely assume that this means he hasn't yet "shifted" (har har, get me, making a 17th century pun) to his spring wardrobe from his winter one. I don't think he's talking about a single outfit.

JonTom Kittredge  •  Link

'Michael Robinson wrote

” … some little gruntings of pain, …”

L&M read “grutchings.”'

Even better!

JonTom Kittredge  •  Link

Michael L on Tue 13 May 2008, 11:21pm

"What would be such “a trouble” about carrying a watch? Were they heavy and unwieldy? Did clothes not have pockets to carry them, forcing them to be in the hand always? Was it fear of theft? Or what?"

I'm not sure if that is the reason, but my impression, from antique watches I've seen in museums, is that a Seventeenth Century watch would indeed be quite heavy and bulky.

steven  •  Link

very good site
alot of work in it :)

CGS  •  Link

he be not a grutcher; [oed A murmurer, grumbler, complainer.
a1225]

grutching
vbl. n.
The action of the verb GRUTCH; murmuring, complaining; murmur, complaint, reluctance.
grutch n
1. Complaint; = GRUDGE n. 1.

now an old old groutch?

so his belly dothe rumble?

Second Reading

Louise Hudson  •  Link

I was never one to constantly look at my watch, but when my watchband broke I took to putting it in my handbag, from which I would have to deliberately retrieve it to see the time, which I did relatively rarely. So I didn’t get my watchband repaired and carried it in my handbag or occassionally a pocket for a couple of years. Sam, of course, wouldn’t have had a wristwatch and would have carried hos watch n his pocket. Too accessible for Sam, apparently. Now we have cell phones and need watches even less.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Sorry, no pockets at that time. Women tied on pockets like aprons, or carried fabric bags. So I guess Pepys had a man bag?

Which makes me ask another question ... we often hear of Pepys going to other offices to discuss accounts. Did he take boxes (like the Queen gets every day) ... or did he have an early version of a briefcase or suitcase?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Pepys had clerks. Clerks could carry folders of pouches....

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Correction: folders or pouches.

When busy (like Pepys) I carry folders of papers from room to room and a pouch (bag) to carry several folders of papers abroad.

Bryan  •  Link

Watches and Pockets
From Wikipedia: History of Watches, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His…
"Styles changed in the 17th century and men began to wear watches in pockets instead of as pendants (the woman's watch remained a pendant into the 20th century). This is said to have occurred in 1675 when Charles II of England introduced waistcoats. This was not just a matter of fashion or prejudice; watches of the time were notoriously prone to fouling from exposure to the elements, and could only reliably be kept safe from harm if carried securely in the pocket. To fit in pockets, their shape evolved into the typical pocketwatch shape, rounded and flattened with no sharp edges."
So waistcoat pockets and pocket watches are still to come.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ' . . in some little gruntings of pain . . ' where L&M read "grutchings."

< Old French groucier . . to murmur, grumble . . of unknown origin. Obs. exc. dial. or arch.

1.a. The action of the verb grutch v.; murmuring, complaining; murmur, complaint, reluctance.
. . 1892 R. L. Stevenson Vailima Lett. (1895) 241 The rest is grunting and grutching.

(OED)

Christopher Horn  •  Link

The trouble with the watch was not its size, but instead, its command of his attention:

" I cannot forbear carrying my watch in my hand in the coach all this afternoon, and seeing what o’clock it is one hundred times; "

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