Wednesday 9 August 1665

Up betimes to my office, where Tom Hater to the writing of letters with me, which have for a good while been in arreare, and we close at it all day till night, only made a little step out for half an houre in the morning to the Exchequer about striking of tallys, but no good done therein, people being most out of towne.

At noon T. Hater dined with me, and so at it all the afternoon. At night home and supped, and after reading a little in Cowley’s poems, my head being disturbed with overmuch business to-day, I to bed.

13 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

A3. SAMUEL PEPYS TO JOHN EVELYN (1)

[Pepys seeks advice for the sick and wounded in Ireland]

Mr Evelyn

Navy Office
9 August 1665 (2)

Sir,

I am once more to trouble you with my old question concerning the provision made for the sick and wounded seamen in Ireland (3), for that a charge is and hath for a good while beene running on at Kinsale in expectation of paiement from this office; which we have yet no authoritie to make nor is it fitt the care of it should be put upon persons soe little at leisure to look after it as the Officers of the Navy; besides that, I have been told, That it hath beene by the King and Councill left to the Lord Leiuetent of Ireland to give directions in: I beseech you Sir what advice you can give me in any part hereof, be pleased to let me receive, for that what is disburst must soone or late be paid some where, and the longer it’s left unsettled ’tis likely the King will be soe much the more Sufferer.

Sir I have looked after when you woulde thinke fitt (in pursuance of our last discourse (4), and Sir William Coventrie’s advice) to intimate at what ports, and what number of recovered men are ready to be called for, That soe as we have Ships in the way they may be directed to take them in. I remaine

Your affectionate and most humble
Servant

SPepys

Source: BL.1080. Endorsed by E, ‘Mr Pepys 9 Aug 1665 Navy-office.’

2 MS: ‘Navy Office 9 August 1665 Mr Evelyn’ at foot of letter.

3 See letter of 27 April 1665 (A1). http://www.romanbritain.freeserve…

4 Although P records visiting E’s house on 1 and 5 May 1665, he does not record a face-to-face meeting until 9 September (diary). This letter and the previous one suggest that his diary is unintentionally misleading in this respect. It seems clear that they must have met before this letter and very probably before that of 27 April.

http://www.romanbritain.freeserve…

Eric Walla  •  Link

You get the feeling that anybody who is anybody has left town, with London populated only by those too poor to leave, or by those who recognize that their continuing rise in the world demands that they keep functioning. Sam seems to be simply putting his back into it, determined to make his work thorough and complete. Right now I can't find any fault in the attitude that, if he can make a little while doing the King's business, he has a right.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Have to give credit to Hayter, who seems determined to show his loyalty to the boss who stuck his neck out for him earlier. Pepys' concern for Tom Hayter and Will Hewer and his staunch defense of both has been one of his most appealing qualities. Looks like he's now reaping the benefits from both men as Hewer also has stayed in town at least until fairly recently.

Nate  •  Link

...with London populated only by those too poor to leave, or by those who recognize that their continuing rise in the world demands that they keep functioning. Sam seems to be simply putting his back into it...

Right, Eric, and we must remember that there is a war going on and it's a naval war, too, so there really is important work to be accomplished. I'll bet the service will be remembered.

CGS  •  Link

just a thought
was it this one;

Platonick Love
from The Mistress, Poems (1656; editor's copy)
1.

Indeed I must confess,
When Souls mix, 'tis an Happiness;
But not compleat till Bodies too do joyne,
And both our Wholes into one Whole combine;
But half of heaven the Souls in glory tast,
Till by love in Heaven at last,
Their Bodies too are plac't.

2.

In thy immortal part
Man, as well as I, thou art.
But something 'tis that differs Thee and Me; 10
And we must one even in that difference be.
I Thee, both as a man, and woman prize;
For a perfect Love implies
Love in all capacities.

3.

Can that for true love pass,
When a fair woman courts her glass?
Something unlike must in Loves likeness be,
His wonder is, one, and Varietie.
For he, whose soul nought but a Soul can move,
Does a new Narcissus prove, 20
And his own Image love.

4.

That souls do beauty know,
'Tis to the Bodies help they ow;
If when they know't, they strait abuse that trust,
And shut the Body from't, 'tis as injust,
As if I brought my dearest Friend to see
My Mistris, and at th' instant Hee
Should steal her quite from Mee.
Stanza-forms where obscured by initials in 1656 have been normalized by their own rule; English text normalized in the same way as Cowley's "Hymn to Light."

The Abraham Cowley Text and Image Archive

from The Mistress, Poems (1656; editor's copy)

http://etext.virginia.edu/kinney/…

Mary  •  Link

"people being most out of town"

SPOILER.
At this rate, with the town emptying of those who are essential to its conduct, the pursuit of many aspects and business and finance will shortly become very difficult indeed. Tallies, notes of hand, letters of credit etc. need the surety of gold (and hence merchants and goldsmiths on the spot) to back them.

Pedro  •  Link

On this day...

De Ruyter is at Dogger Bank.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

“just a thought/was it this one Platonick Love/ from The Mistress"

That SP alludes today to "Verses Lately Written on Several Occasions" 1663 assumes this is the same book he refers to in November 1663 -- in context of that entry L&M assume it is the second, later, issue of the work.

"and I walked home again reading of a little book of new poems of Cowley’s, given me by his brother."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

He could have owned also one of the two separate editions of 'The Mistress' issued by Moseley in 1647, and/or the 1656 edition of the 'Poems,' which includes 'The Mistress.' Even assuming he notes every purchasing visit to a bookseller in the Diary period there are enough occasions where he does not itemize to prevent precision about the exact content of his collection at various dates in the Diary period. He does allude to reading one of Cowley’s plays in 1662 so he certainly was capable of purchasing early separate editions of Cowley, ( eg. “spent the evening in reading of a Latin play, the “Naufragium Joculare.” which in context has to be the edition of 1638 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… ).

[spoiler -- What one does know is that the two bookcases acquired in July 1666 held about 250 vols each and were more or less full by January 1668, which indicates his rate of purchase was larger than the Diary reference alone would suggest. The majority of his surviving library was purchased in retirement post 1689. If he did own either the Mistress (1647) or Poems (1656) these editions of Cowley’s verse would have been superseded by his purchase of the 1674 (4th.) edition of Cowley's 'Works' and, working from the evidence of survivals, all one knows for certain is that, in general, he discarded prior texts when he replaced volumes in his library with the 'latest' edition; this appears to have been the fate of the copy of ‘Verses’ 1663. So here, as in some other instances, there is no way of being absolutely certain what the particular volume might be that SP alludes to.]

dirk  •  Link

From the Carte Papers, Bodleian Library
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

Sir George Carteret to Sandwich

Written from: Salisbury
Date: 9 August 1665

After long details on family matters and about the settlement in preparation he mentions that
Salisbury "is still free of the sickness, but it is spread in the kingdom"; ... and that, on one occasion of like pestilence, he was himself, on the coast of Barbary, in a ship which had caught the infection, but, "by the care that was taken of keeping the ship very sweet & clean", seven men only died, out of a crew of 200; and describes the methods pursued. ...

-----

Philip Carteret to Sandwich

Written from: Scots Hall
Date: 9 August 1665

Feels his own unworthiness of the many blessings which God has bestowed upon him, in moving the Earl to consent to the writer's happiness by his so happy marriage; but hopes that in course of time, he may be enabled so to improve his good fortune as to acquire some part of the worth now lacking in him.

Prays that the Earl's endeavours may be crowned with honour & victory...

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

When did Evelyn and Pepys meet?

Wednesday 19 April 1665

John Evelyn's diary:
"... where I had business with the Commiss[ione]rs of the Navy, and to receive the second L5,000 imprest for his Majesties service of the sick and wounded prisoners. &c. Thence to our Society where were divers poisons experimented on Animals."

and Pepys: "... away home, Creed with me; and there met Povy; and we to Gresham College, where we saw some experiments upon a hen, a dog, and a cat, of the Florence poyson."

see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

&&&

Wednesday 15 March 1665

John Evelyn's Diary:
"... Afternoon at our Society, where was tried some of the Poysons sent from the King of Macassar out of E. India, so famous for its suddaine operation: we gave it a wounded dog, but it did not succeed."

"... and anon to Gresham College, where, among other good discourse, there was tried the great poison of Maccassa upon a dog,1 but it had no effect all the time we sat there." [Pepys made a communication at this meeting of the information he had received from the master of the Jersey ship, who had been in company of Major Holmes in the Guinea voyage, concerning the pendulum watches (Birch's "History," vol. ii., p. 23).]

See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

So we know of at least two situations where they were in the same room at the same time before the letters were written.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

On this day... De Ruyter is at Dogger Bank.

Highlights from https://www.britannica.com/place/…

The Dogger Bank is an extensive isolated shoal in the North Sea, lying about 60 miles (100 km) off the northeastern coast of England. It rises 70 feet (20 metres) higher than the surrounding seafloor, is 160 miles (260 km) long and 60 miles wide at the 120-foot (35-metre) level, and reaches its shallowest point (50 feet [15 metres] below the sea surface) at its western end.

The bank is a huge moraine deposited at the southern limit of the last glaciation. For centuries it has been a well-known fishing ground.

The constant mixing of waters in the shallow sea basin provides a rich supply of nutrient salts upon which the lower forms of marine organisms — the basis of the sea’s food chain — depend. The resulting abundance of plant and animal plankton supports a varied and rich supply of commercially valuable fish, including sizable quantities of plaice, cod, haddock, turbot, dabs, and herring, and over the centuries led to Fishery Wars.

The major fishing countries are Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. These days a unique fisheries arrangement, the Common Fisheries Policy, has been adopted by members of the European Community establishing catch quotas each year for the various North Sea species beyond territorial sea limits.

The origin of the name is obscure, but the Dutch dogger (a trawling vessel) was formerly applied to two-masted ships employed in North Sea fishing and, by extension, to their crews (doggermen) and the fish taken (doggerfish).

The lines demarcating the international rights of Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Norway to the North Sea intersect just north of the Dogger Bank; all but Norway have rights to the bank itself.

Few parts of the North Sea are more than 300 feet (90 metres) in depth. The floor dips to the north and is irregular. In the south, depths measure less than 120 feet (35 metres); many shallow, shifting banks, presumably of glacial origin, have been reworked by tidal currents. These present serious navigational hazards.

In contrast, the waters deepen in the Norwegian Trench, an unusual depression that runs parallel to the coast of southern Norway from north of Bergen around to Oslo. It is between 15 and 20 miles (20 to 30 km) wide and is some 1,000 feet (300 metres) deep in the vicinity of Bergen, reaching a maximum depth of about 2,300 feet (700 metres) in the Skagerrak.

There are also deep trenches in the western part of the North Sea, including Devils Hole off Edinburgh (where depths exceed 1,500 feet (450 metres)), and Silver Pit (nearly 320 feet (95 metres) deep) off the bay of The Wash. These trenches may have been formed at the time of the last glaciation, when parts of the North Sea were free of ice, and rivers coming off the mainland could have eroded deep channels in the basin floor.

Timo  •  Link

For those interested in going a little further back into prehistory and the effects of climate change, here is a little more for Wikipedia on Doggerland https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D…

Doggerland is the name of a land mass now beneath the southern North Sea that connected Great Britain to continental Europe. It was flooded by rising sea levels around 6,500–6,200 BC. Geological surveys have suggested that it stretched from Britain's east coast to the Netherlands and the western coasts of Germany and the peninsula of Jutland.[1] It was probably a rich habitat with human habitation in the Mesolithic period,[2] although rising sea levels gradually reduced it to low-lying islands before its final submergence, possibly following a tsunami caused by the Storegga Slide.[3]

The archaeological potential of the area had first been identified in the early 20th century, but interest intensified in 1931 when a fishing trawler operating east of the Wash dragged up a barbed antler point that was subsequently dated to a time when the area was tundra. Vessels have dragged up remains of mammoth, lion and other animals, as well as a few prehistoric tools and weapons.[4]

Doggerland was named after the Dogger Bank, which in turn was named after the 17th century Dutch fishing boats called doggers.

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