Thursday 27 July 1665
Called up at 4 o’clock. Up and to my preparing some papers for Hampton Court, and so by water to Fox Hall, and there Mr. Gauden’s coach took me up, and by and by I took up him, and so both thither, a brave morning to ride in and good discourse with him. Among others he begun with me to speak of the Tangier Victuallers resigning their employment, and his willingness to come on. Of which I was glad, and took the opportunity to answer him with all kindness and promise of assistance. He told me a while since my Lord Berkeley did speak of it to him, and yesterday a message from Sir Thomas Ingram. When I come to Hampton Court I find Sir T. Ingram and Creed ready with papers signed for the putting of Mr. Gawden in, upon a resignation signed to by Lanyon and sent to Sir Thos. Ingram. At this I was surprized but yet was glad, and so it passed but with respect enough to those that are in, at least without any thing ill taken from it. I got another order signed about the boats, which I think I shall get something by. So dispatched all my business, having assurance of continuance of all hearty love from Sir W. Coventry, and so we staid and saw the King and Queene set out toward Salisbury, and after them the Duke and Duchesse, whose hands I did kiss. And it was the first time I did ever, or did see any body else, kiss her hand, and it was a most fine white and fat hand. But it was pretty to see the young pretty ladies dressed like men, in velvet coats, caps with ribbands, and with laced bands, just like men. Only the Duchesse herself it did not become. They gone, we with great content took coach again, and hungry come to Clapham about one o’clock, and Creed there too before us, where a good dinner, the house having dined, and so to walk up and down in the gardens, mighty pleasant. By and by comes by promise to me Sir G. Carteret, and viewed the house above and below, and sat and drank there, and I had a little opportunity to kiss and spend some time with the ladies above, his daughter, a buxom lass, and his sister Fissant, a serious lady, and a little daughter of hers, that begins to sing prettily. Thence, with mighty pleasure, with Sir G. Carteret by coach, with great discourse of kindnesse with him to my Lord Sandwich, and to me also; and I every day see more good by the alliance. Almost at Deptford I ’light and walked over to Half-way House, and so home, in my way being shown my cozen Patience’s house, which seems, at distance, a pretty house. At home met the weekly Bill, where above 1000 encreased in the Bill, and of them, in all about 1,700 of the plague, which hath made the officers this day resolve of sitting at Deptford, which puts me to some consideration what to do. Therefore home to think and consider of every thing about it, and without determining any thing eat a little supper and to bed, full of the pleasure of these 6 or 7 last days.
25 Annotations
First Reading
tyndale • Link
The final article of the July 27 'Newes':
London, July 26
His Majesty is, God be praised in health, and at present at Hempton Court, but intends his remove tomorrow morning toward Salisbury; that is to say, having first given by the way such necessary orders about the great Affair of his Royal Fleet, as to his Princely Wisdom shall seem expedient.
The Sickness encreases exceedingly in the Out-Parishes that have been long infected; insomuch that in seven of them there died of it 1209 this last week. The total of the Plague Bill is 1843 whereof only 128 [or 328?] within the Walls of the City. As to the particulars I shall still refer the Reader to the Bills of Mortality.
Robert Gertz • Link
Who calls so loud? At 4am.
Robert Gertz • Link
"...them the Duke and Duchesse, whose hands I did kiss."
Well, so much for that.
Robert Gertz • Link
"Therefore home to think and consider of every thing about it..."
Fewer dames, can't keep watch over the growing horde in the basement, no longer the heroic last officer at the helm of the office, fewer dames around, can't monitor the (admittedly dwindling) London gossip, have to leave the horde unprotected, fewer dames at hand, can't keep a firm finger on the latest war intelligence so easily, much fewer dames, won't be able to dash off so much on Carteret-Montagu wedding business, hardly more dames than Mrs. Bagwell at hand in Deptford...
And Bess no doubt will expect more frequent visits and overnights, meaning...Fewer dames.
Something to ponder carefully.
Terry Foreman • Link
"without any thing ill taken from it."
L&M say Gauden acceped the same terms as Lanyon, so for Pepys it's Egal.
***
"I got another order signed about the boats, which I think I shall get something by."
Cp. 4 July 1665 - "This morning I did a good piece of work with Sir W. Warren, ending the business of the [lighters = boats to be used in Tangier roadstead], wherein honestly I think I shall get above 100l.." http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive…
Australian Susan • Link
"...it was pretty to see the young pretty ladies dressed like men, in velvet coats, caps with ribbands, and with laced bands, just like men...."
Was this just a fashion? Or was it similar to the practice of dressing boys as girls until three or four (when they were "breeched" or put into trousers for the first time), because it had been observed that boy babies die more frequently than girl babies and the cross-dressing was supposed to fool the Angel of Death??
See http://images.google.com.au/imgre…
This picture is of the 3 eldest children of Charles I - the one in the middle is James future Duke of York and King James III & VII, despite looking almost exactly like his sister on the left - Mary, future Princess of Orange.
Australian Susan • Link
Sorry, did not convey enough with above annotation - I meant to question whether the cross-dressing was seen as a plague preventive.
Pedro • Link
Aussie Sue…Was this just a fashion?
In her biography of Catherine, Davies says the following about the Court travelling to Salisbury…
A new costume which had just been introduced for riding and driving was worn by Catherine and her ladies on their journey south. It consisted of a velvet coat, exactly resembling that worn by men, and caps with ribbons and bands. This new fashion was afterwards adopted for walking wear, and their coats, periwigs, and hats, they were hardly to be distinguished from men, save for their long skirts dragging below the coats’ hem.
jeannine • Link
Aussie Sue…Was this just a fashion?
Just to add to the cutting edge fashion news of the times (from memory-don't have the book or exact quote handy). At some point Catherine would introduce a dress which ended just above the ankle. The other ladies at Court, who didn't have Catherine's slender ankles didn't take to it too kindly.
And today's fashion is quite a long way away from the farthingdale style that Catherine arrived in! http://employees.oneonta.edu/ange…
Albatross • Link
Is it just me, or does Pepys seem to be having an inordinately good time for someone living in a plague-ravaged city in the midst of a war? Or is this a case of "Eat, drink, and be merry..."?
Robert Gertz • Link
That's our boy.
tyndale • Link
A summary of the rest of today's Newes (leaving out the items already printed in the Intelligencer):
Dublin: the great faith-healer Valentine Greatrakes has performed numerous miraculous cure here
Bruges: four Dutch mutineers hanged; men drawn from the garrisons complaining that they are supposed to be doing land-service, not sea-service
Paris: ships of the West India company going to the American isles were apprehended by the English in the channel, but the king had them set free on learning who they really were
Antwerp: the Dutch are constantly spreading rumors, that De Ruyter is taken near Scotland, or that he never came near there, or about the readiness of the fleet; from the East Indies comes news that Christianity is making great progress in China, and that a notorious Pirate was killed, but that his son has turned into an even worse pirate, so that the 'Tartarian Emperor is afraid of him'; the Dutch are in fear of sending their fleets out of their own ports because of the war; the States Deputies are now taking over from the Admirals; they are worried abou the army of the Bishop of Munster
Rotterdam: rumors that the Dutch were sending a large fleet out of the Texell are false; De Ruyter reportedly in Norway
Amsterdam: more about the Deputies going out with the fleet; English navy lurks to the North; more fears of the Bishop of Munster, who has various German princes allied with him
The Hague: proceedings against Mr. Oudart and Mr Corney, no one knows what they are charged with; two Councils of War to be constituted aboard the fleet; ; Prince Maurice is to command the Dutch land forces, and other preparations to face the Bishop; De Ruyter is "making friends of the unrighteous Mammon" and daily expects that they will demand "an accompt of his stewardship"
Tangier: 'Lord Bellasis' arrived and greeted enthusiastically; a Dutch fleet has lingered neearby, but has not attacked, and a battery has been set up to drive them off
York: shooting heard from here
Durham: magistrates dealing with the plague by mooving suspected families into huts in the fiels, though they care for these families; English fleet seen passing recently
Plymouth: English fleet arrived recently with six vessels from Cadiz
Hull: captain of a captured privateer has died of his wounds
Also an ad asking for the return to Captain Ensom, commander of the Swallow, of "a Blackamore about 25 years old, tall and slender, in a white Cloth Coat with silver Buttons, a white Hat, and a blew Suit, blew Stockins topt with Cloth, large shotes and jagged with Iron. He speaks only Spanish, and is marked in his Temples, and upon one of his legs."
CGS • Link
thanks for the news, much appreciated, now we have an idea of the talk at the den of caffeine addicts.
Terry Foreman • Link
"my cozen Patience’s house"
L&M transcribe "my cozen Pepys's house" and note it is here -- and at 7 October 1666 -- that the name is written in shorthand as 'P-e-p-s', a monosyllable, which "could be pronounced 'Peeps', 'Pepps' or 'Payps'. But writing his name in Greek letters on the flyleaf of one of his books (Xenophon's *De Cyri institutione libri octo*..., he used the long 'e' ('eta'): 'Πηπυς'. There is little room for doubt, therefore, that he pronounced his name 'Peeps'."
Terry Foreman • Link
"the officers this day resolve of sitting at Deptford"
"On Tuesday and Thursday mornings" note L&M -- leaving Pepys in a quandary.
CGS • Link
There no derogative words surrounding Samuells name in the 17C.
mono syllable be the easiest to use for a name.
peep 1. A flock of chickens. hist.
B. int. Representing the feeble, high-pitched sound or cheep typically made by a young bird, mouse, etc. In later use also: representing a high-pitched mechanical or electronic beep. (Freq. reduplicated).
a1500
Peep 2
1. a. The first appearance of daylight or of the sun; esp. in peep of dawn, peep of the morning. Also (occas.): a tiny speck of light.
Cf. also PEEP OF DAY n.
1530
b. An act of peeping; a quick look or glance, esp. through a narrow opening or out of a place of concealment; a surreptitious or furtive glance.
In quot. 1677 referring to the game of peekaboo.
1677
Brian • Link
"At this I was surprized but yet was glad."
Sam's been so busy with the marriage arrangements that he is unaware of Creed and the others' Tangier plans. At least Gauden did Sam the courtesy of telling him the plan before he was presented with the fait accompli to sign. And, to his credit Sam was willing to accept their dealings.
Second Reading
Vikki V • Link
I think Fissant is Elizabeth's Gauden's sister, and Denis Gauden's sister in law. (Though they wouldn't have made that distinction as often as we may now do.)
I think her name was Abigail, and her married name was Pheasant/Pheasaunt.. I've seen it spelled different ways.
She is not the same sister of Denis Gauden referred to earlier... that is his late brother's wife, Elizabeth Gauden. (Her husband was Dr. John Gauden.)
What I can't figure out is if Abigail Pheasant lived at Hutton Hall, Essex, or if it was the bishop's widow who lived there. I believe it was probably Abigail Pheasant. But not being in England there's only so much I can track down by the Internet!
Terry Foreman • Link
"my cozen Patience’s house"
L&M transcribe "my cozen Pepys's house" and note this is Thomas Pepys's house at Hatcham Barnes, Surrey.
Terry Foreman • Link
"At home met the weekly Bill, where above 1000 encreased in the Bill, and of them, in all about 1,700 of the plague, which hath made the officers this day resolve of sitting at Deptford"
L&M say there was an increase in burials of 1204; 1843 had died of the plague in the week 18-25 July.
The officers of the Navy Board were now resolved to sit at Deptford on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Who calls so loud? At 4am"
A couple of weeks ago Pepys told us his alarm clock was broken, and he was using a loaner from his watchmaker. Maybe it was back ... if I were Pepys, I'd give it to the maid so she could make him a nice hot cup of something and deliver it to his bedroom when she wakes him up. That way he'd know his small beer and snacks would be ready downstairs when his boy had dressed him in his red suit with bands trimmed in lace and dress sword.
No mention of what his boy is up to while Pepys is off gallivanting with the rich and famous. I suppose he's running errands for the cook and delivering document for Hewer? Taking cookies to Elizabeth? Picking the lock of the wine cellar?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... we with great content took coach again, and hungry come to Clapham about one o’clock, and Creed there too before us, where a good dinner, the house having dined, and so to walk up and down in the gardens, mighty pleasant."
Alderman Sir Dennis Gauden had a big house at Clapham as of 1661. Many years later, when Gauden falls on hard times, Hewer purchases it and Pepys lives with him there until he dies. This sounds like Pepys first visit to his future home.
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . his daughter, a buxom lass, . . ‘
‘buxom < Middle E. . .
II. Blithe, jolly, well-favoured.
3. Blithe, gladsome, bright, lively, gay. arch.
. . 1675 C. Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 267 A fine Miss..as free, Buxom, and amorous as He.
. . 4. Full of health, vigour, and good temper; well-favoured, plump and comely, ‘jolly’, comfortable-looking (in person). (Chiefly of women.)
. . 1681 E. Hickeringill Vindic. Naked Truth 22 Those lazy and bucksome Abby-Lubbers ‘ ’
San Diego Sarah • Link
Cross-dressing wasn't unheard of in those days. I came across this story today (abbreviated):
Lysons, in his Environs of London, has a memoir of one Russell, a native of Streatham, who is recorded in the Register as buried on 14 April, 1772: "This person was always known under the guise or habit of a woman, and answered to the name of Elizabeth, as registered in this parish Nov. 21, 1669, but at death proved to be a man."
John Russell, his father, had 3 daughters and 2 sons, William and John; who were baptized in 1668 and 1672. "There is little doubt, therefore, that the person here recorded was one of the two," and must have been either 100 or 104 years of age at the time of his death; but he himself used to aver that he was 108 years old.
Early in life young Russell associated with gipsies, and accompanied the celebrated Bampfylde Moore Carew in many of his rambles. He also visited most parts of the continent as a stroller and vagabond; and having acquired a knowledge of astrology and quackery, he returned to England, and practiced in both arts with much profit. This was after his assumption of the female garb; and Lysons remarks, that "his long experience gained him the character of a most infallible doctress": “Elizabeth” Russell was, likewise, "an excellent sempstress, and celebrated for making a good shirt."
In 1770, “Elizabeth” Russell applied for a certificate of his baptism, under the name of his sister Elizabeth, who had been christened here in November 1669. About the same time, he became a resident at his native place [Streatham]; where his extraordinary age obtained him the charitable notice of many respectable families; and among others, of that of Mr. Thrale, at whose house “Dr. Johnson, who found him a shrewd sensible person, with a good memory, was very fond of conversing with him."
“Elizabeth” Russell died suddenly, and his true sex was then discovered, to the surprise of all the neighborhood; "and the wonder was the greater, as he had lived much among women, and had frequently been his landlady's bedfellow when an unexpected lodger came to the house." — Environs, vol. i. pp. 489 — 491.
A TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF SURREY.
HUNDRED OF KINGSTON.
By Edward Wedlake Brayley, John Britton, Edward William Brayley, Gideon Algernon Mantell
https://books.google.com/books?pg…
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
The King and Queen set out for Salisbury ...
In July, 1665, when the plague broke out in London, six companies of the "The First Regiment of Foot Guards" escorted Charles II to Salisbury, and in September, they escort him to Oxford.
Charles has managed to hang on to his private standing army!
Information taken from
https://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/ind…
and https://www.grengds.com/history
THE NAME OF THE REGIMENT IS IN QUOTES AS I’M NOT SURE WHEN THE NAME CHANGES OCCURRED.