Saturday 1 July 1665

Called up betimes, though weary and sleepy, by appointment by Mr. Povy and Colonell Norwood to discourse about some payments of Tangier. They gone, I to the office and there sat all the morning. At noon dined at home, and then to the Duke of Albemarle’s, by appointment, to give him an account of some disorder in the Yarde at Portsmouth, by workmen’s going away of their owne accord, for lacke of money, to get work of hay-making, or any thing else to earne themselves bread.1

Thence to Westminster, where I hear the sicknesse encreases greatly, and to the Harp and Ball with Mary talking, who tells me simply her losing of her first love in the country in Wales, and coming up hither unknown to her friends, and it seems Dr. Williams do pretend love to her, and I have found him there several times.

Thence by coach and late at the office, and so to bed. Sad at the newes that seven or eight houses in Bazing Hall street, are shut up of the plague.

18 Annotations

First Reading

Ding  •  Link

The state of play in London seems to finally be wearing our Sam down a bit. He wakes up tired, the workers are gone for want of pay, the plague is getting worse, Mary is pursued by a doctor who "pretends"...
Let's hope there's a good payoff in the offing to cheer him up.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Mary talking...tells me simply her losing of her first love...."

"simply" -- "foolishly" -- L&M Large Glossary.

simple
c.1220, "humble, ignorant," from O.Fr. simple, from L. simplus "single," variant of simplex (see simplex). Sense evolved to "lowly, common" (c.1280), then "mere, pure" (1303). As opposite of composite it dates from 1425; as opposite of complicated it dates from c.1555. Disparaging sense (1340) is from notion of "devoid of duplicity." Simply (adv.) in purely intensive sense is attested from 1590. http://www.etymonline.com/index.p…

dirk  •  Link

John Evelyn at his best today...

"1 July downe to the fleete, with my Lord San[d]wich now Admiral, with whom I went in a Pinnace to the Buy of the Noore2 where the whole fleete rod at anker: went on board the Prince a vessel of 90 brasse ordnance, (most whole canon) & happly the best ship in the world both for building & sailing: she had 700 men: They made a great huzza or shout at our approch 3 times: here we dined with many noble men, Gent: and Volunteeres; served in Plate, and excellent meate of all sorts: after dinner came his Majestie & the Duke & Prince Rupert: & here I saw him knight Cap: Cuttance, for behaving himselfe so bravely in the late fight: & was amaz’d to [behold] the good order, decency, & plenty of all things, in a vessell so full of men: The ship received an hundred Canon shot in her body:

"Then I went on board the Charles, to which after a Gun was shot off, came all the flag- officers to his Majestie, who there held a generall Council, determining his R: Highness should adventure himselfe no more this summer: I spake with Sir Geo: Ayscogh, Sir William Pen &c: Sir William Coventry (secretary to the Duke) about buisinesse, and so came away late, having seene the most glorious fleete, that ever spread saile: here was also among the rest the Royal Sovraigne: we returned in his Majesties Yacht with my L: Sandwich & Mr. V: Chamberlaine landing at Chattam on Sunday morning: ..."

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the Buoy of the Nore"

THE NORE sandbank in the Thames estuary, SE England, 3 mi (4.8 km) E of Sheerness. At the east end is Nore Lightship. The name is also applied to part of the Thames estuary, a famous anchorage. http://www.questia.com/library/en…

So THAT's where Pepys's crowd are....

dirk  •  Link

"the Buy of the Noore2"

Sorry about the "2" here. It refers to a footnote in the original source text:

"The Buoy of the Nore, in the Thames Estuary."
(See Terry's annotation above.)

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Evelyn "... came all the flag- officers to his Majestie, who there held a generall Council, ..."

A scene probably close to that described today:

'A Royal Visit to the Fleet in the Thames Estuary, 1672'
Willem van de Velde, the Younger, executed c. 1696
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/…
(image can be enlarged)
" ... The painting is a busy scene of yachts and boats moving towards the 'Prince' in response to the signal of a royal standard in the mizzen shrouds calling a council-of-war of all flag officers. The 'Prince' also flies the royal standard at the main, the Admiralty flag at the fore and the Union flag at the mizzen. ..."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Bess Williams' patient? The plot thickens...

The Harp and Ball...

"Ah, Dr. Williams."

#$&@!!

Bess, Williams' patient, eh? The plot thickens...

"Mr. Pepys. How pleasant to find you here. And with our dear Mary."

Die screaming with bulboes as big as goose-eggs you pop-eyed little...

"Yes, just a bit of a chat and tocha...er, talk."

Doctor of what, you quack? Surely there must be someone with running sores at death's door needing to firmly grip your hand nearby.

"Finding yourself much occupied these days, Williams?"

"Quite..."

Though not as occupied as you, you little...

"Dear Mary was just telling me of your attentiveness to her recently. Now, we mustn't forget our duties in such times, doctor."

As in...Go die heroically treating the ill...Now.

"Indeed, Pepys. Glad to see your duties with the Navy don't occupy you quite so much in these times."

What am I paying taxes for? To keep you well soused in the taverns?

"And how is my former patient, your dear wife?"

Who will very interested to hear my tales of your doings in London, you little lecherous...

"Safely off to Woolwich. I'm afraid I am abandoned and lost here now."

And planning to stay...Here...For some time, loser. Woo-hoo!

"Woolwich, eh. Well, I must look her up when I go tomorrow to check on a few patients. I trust she's still the same lovely and delightful creature as ever?"

Heh, heh...

Yes. He's off to Woolwich. Woo-h...

Wait...(Pepys and a frowning Mary)

"Why, what good fortune. I'm heading that way tomorrow myself. We can travel together on my boat. I insist."

On giving you a look at the bottom of the Thames if my boatmen prove true...

Pedro  •  Link

John Evelyn…“1 July downe to the fleete, with my Lord San[d]wich now Admiral,”

The King has declared that the Duke will not return to sea and proposed that Prince Rupert and Sandwich should hold a joint command and remain in one ship. The Prince would not agree but offered to command one squadron with Sandwich another.

Sandwich says in his Journal for the 2nd…

“The King did me high honour, after he had spoken with the Prince, to call me into his cabin (the Duke present), expressed more value for me than I deserve (God knows) and told me I should either to command jointly with the Prince or to be trusted alone with the whole affair.”

Tony Eldridge  •  Link

tells me simply her losing of her first love

Even when I were a lad 'simply' had meanings varying from 'stupid' to, more kindly, 'naive'. Someone described as 'a bit simple' would later be classed as ESN (educationally subnormal) - although ESN may now have become unacceptable in PC terms for all I know.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...tells me simply her losing..."

Poor Mary...Seems like she deserves better and hopefully Williams is such, though one rogue may well sense another.

Herein do we see the secret of Sam's success with some women? Apart from his attraction as an increasingly wealthy, powerful, and known-to-be-coming man, he has the knack of being a good listener as well as an excellent storyteller, winning confidence easily.

djc  •  Link

ESN, "learning difficulties". But of course now we all know what that means so there probably some new term even now being hatched, which will soon enough...
The folly of thinking a change of name is a chane of nature.

Nix  •  Link

"Dr. Williams do pretend love to her" --

As I recall, in Samuel's usage, "pretend" generally means "offer" or "propose", without any necessary imputation of insincerity. So he may be a sincere swain.

cgs  •  Link

pretend has many obsolete meanings;
OED:
pretend; see 12c:
[c. intr. To pay court to (a prospective spouse); to seek to be married to (a person). Obs.
1652 ]

Anglo-Norman and Middle French pretendre, French prétendre to claim, demand (1320 in Old French), to assert, allege (c1380), to aspire to (1409), to feign (a1412 or earlier),
to put forward as a pretext or reason (1470), to intend (a1475), to court (1638) and its etymon classical Latin praetendere to hold or stretch out,
to extend in front, to put forward as a pretext or reason, to allege, to offer or show deceptively, to make a pretence of, to put forward a claim to,
in post-classical Latin also to indicate (a1250 in a British source) < prae- PRE- prefix + tendere TEND v.2 Compare Old Occitan pretendre (1397), Catalan pretendre (1393), Spanish pretender (c1255), Portuguese pretender (1493), Italian pretendere (14th cent.).]

1. trans. To put forward as an assertion or statement; to allege, assert, contend, claim, declare; esp. to allege or declare falsely or with intent to deceive.

a. With clause as object.

b. With simple object. Obs.
1668 M. HALE Pref. Rolle's Abridgm.
b j b, Men not much acquainted with the study..pretend two great prejudices and exceptions against the study of the Common-Law.

c. In pass. with infinitive or complement.
1605 BACON Of Aduancem. Learning I. sig. C2, Those particular seducements or indispositions of the minde for policie and gouernement, which learning is pretended to insinuate

2. a. trans. To offer, present, or put forward for consideration, acceptance, action, etc.; to bring (a charge or action at law). Obs.
1398

a1627 T. MIDDLETON & W. ROWLEY Changeling (1653) IV. sig. G, To that wench I pretend honest love, and she deserves it. 1653 H. HOLCROFT tr. Procopius Hist. Wars II. 55 Women..offered their breasts; but the child would not take womans milk, neither would the Goat leave it; but importunatly..pretended to it her own. So that the women let it alone, and the Goat nursed it.

b. trans. To allege or put forward (a thing) as a reason or excuse; to use as a pretext. Obs.

1600 E. BLOUNT tr. G. F. di Conestaggio Hist. Uniting Portugall to Castill 27 At this time the Irishmen rebelled..pretending the libertie of Religion.
1654 T. GATAKER Disc. Apol. 54 When I pretended mine unfitnes for such a place and imployment.
1658 Whole Duty of Man xiv. §5 We must..not pretend conscience for a cloak of stubbornness.

3. a. trans. To lay claim to or profess to have (a quality, state, etc.). Now only: to lay false claim to, affect, feign, or put on (a quality, state, etc.)....1402

4. a. trans. To profess or claim to have (an authority, power, right, title, etc.). Obs.
1402

1658 J. BRAMHALL Consecr. Bps. vi. 133 Where the Bishop of London never pretended any Iurisdiction.

1667 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. V. 44 Notwithstanding any priviledge hee may pretend as being our servant.

b. trans. With infinitive as object: to claim the right (to do something). Also occas. with clause as object. Obs.

c. trans. To lay claim to or claim ownership or possession of (a thing); to assert (a thing) as a right. Obs.
1430-1
1693 J. EVELYN tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner I. III. 70 The Peach-tree might well pretend a place there, for the Excellency of its good Fruit. 1
d. intr. To lay claim to a right to or share of something. Obs.
1619

5. a. trans. (refl.). With infinitive, noun, adjective, or phrase as complement: to represent oneself as ...; to claim or profess to be ... Obs.
1415

1660 T. FULLER Mixt Contempl. II. xii. 60 Poor petty, pittifull Persons, who pretended themselves Princes.

6. a. trans. With infinitive as object. To claim, feign, or make oneself appear (to be or to do something).
a1420

1662 J. DAVIES tr. J. A. de Mandelslo Trav. 227 He will pretend not to have seen him. 1710 SWIFT Tale of Tub (ed. 5) Apol. sig. A4v, Dryden, L'Estrange..pretended to be Sufferers for Loyalty and Religion.

b. intr. To make pretence; to engage in make-believe or simulation; to feign.
1526

c. trans. With infinitive or clause as object: to feign or simulate in play, to make playful pretence; to imagine oneself to be; to make-believe that.
1865 ‘L. CARROLL’ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland i. 13 This curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.

7. trans. To foretell, portend, prefigure. Obs.
a1420

8. a. intr. fig. To tend to an end or point in action, speech, etc. Also: to extend in time. Obs.
a1425
b. intr. To stretch or reach forward; to move or go forward; to direct one's course; to tend. Usu. with to or for. Obs.
1481

c. trans. To hold out or extend in front of or over a person or thing, esp. as a covering or defence. Obs.
1578 J

1658 J. EVELYN tr. N. de Bonnefons French Gardiner 145 They may pretend them [sc. bells of earth over plants] for the night onely and to pervent hayl. 1670

9. trans. To indicate, mean, signify. Obs.
?a1425

10. trans. To intend, plan.

a. With infinitive as object. Obs.
665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 99 He pretends to make a visit into England with some of his Pieces.

665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 99 He pretends to make a visit into England with some of his Pieces.

c. With simple object. Obs.
a1500

1633 T. STAFFORD Pacata Hibernia I. v. 40, I am given to understand that they pretend a journey towards the Countie of Limerick.

11. intr. To pertain. Obs. rare.
a1470

12. a. intr. To aspire; to have pretensions. Chiefly with to. Obs.
1481

1633 G. HERBERT Temple: Sacred Poems 86 When that my friend pretendeth to a place, I quit my interest, and leave it free.

b. trans. With infinitive as object. To aspire, presume; to venture; to try, attempt. Now rare.
1482

1653 Strathbogie Presb. Bk. (1843) 235 Only tuo [persons] praetended to be married by the said Gilles.

c. intr. To pay court to (a prospective spouse); to seek to be married to (a person). Obs.
1652

1652 J. WRIGHT tr. J.-P. Camus Nature's Paradox IV. 82 In this..the Salvage Podolian had two ends; One, to hinder Liante from pretending to his Daughter.

13. intr. To form designs or plot against. Obs.
a1500
1559-66 Hist. Estate Scotl. in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 63 She said, That it wes against her authoritie that they pretended.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Buoy of the Nore

The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

Until 1964 it marked the seaward limit of the Port of London Authority. As the sandbank was a major hazard for shipping coming in and out of London, in 1732 it received the world's first lightship. This became a major landmark, and was used as an assembly point for shipping. Today it is marked by Sea Reach No. 1 Buoy. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

There's trouble in the Portsmouth docks: Remember on June 2:

"Another letter also come to me from Mr. Hater, committed by the Council this afternoon to the Gate House, upon the misfortune of having his name used by one, without his knowledge or privity, for the receiving of some powder that he had bought.

"L&M: The charge was one of embezzling powder from the King's stores. On the payment of bonds, Hayter was released on 3 June, and five others on 25 June. Those involved were Philip Jones, of Winchester, grocer; Nathaniel Whitfield of London, gent.; *** "Hugh Sallisbury and Thomas Browne, of Portsmouth, gentlemen; and John Daniels, of Portsmouth, widow. *** PRO, OC 2/58, ff. 81v, 88v, 93r."

At the time I wondered if there would be a follow-up to this conspiracy. Maybe this is connected. Sadly we don't know which of the King's stores the embezzled powder came from.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... by workmen’s going away of their owne accord, for lacke of money, to get work of hay-making, or any thing else to earne themselves bread."

Haymaking has been in progress for a month:

“IT is now June, and the Hay-makers are mustered to make an army for the field, where not alwayes in order, they march vnder the Bagge and the Bottle, when betwixt the Forke and the Rake, there is séene great force of armes:
Now doth the broad Oke comfort the weary Laborer, while vnder his shady Boughes he sits singing to his bread and cheese:
the Pay-cocke is the Poore man’s Lodging, and the fresh Riuer is his gracious Neighbour:
Now the Faulcon and the Tassell try their wings at the Partridge, and the fat Bucke fils the great pasty:
the trees are all in their rich aray: but the seely Shéep is turned out of his coat:
the Roses and sweet Herbes put the Distiller to his cunning, while the greene apples on the tree are ready for the great bellied wiues:
Now begins the Hare to gather vp her heeles, and the Foxe lookes about him, for feare of the Hound:
the Hooke and the Sickle are making ready for haruest:
the Medow grounds gape for raine, and the Corne in the eare begins to harden:
the little Lads make Pipes of the straw, and they that cannot dance, will yet bee hopping:
the Ayre now groweth somewhat warme, and the coole winds are very comfortable:
the Sayler now makes merry passage, and the nimble Foot-man runnes with pleasure:
In briefe, I thus conclude, I hold it a sweet season, the senses perfume, and the spirits comfort.” -- From Nicholas Breton's Fantastickes, 1626.

NOTE: Venison pie is now on the menu.

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