Tuesday 3 October 1665

Up, and to my great content visited betimes by Mr. Woolly, my uncle Wight’s cozen, who comes to see what work I have for him about these East India goods, and I do find that this fellow might have been of great use, and hereafter may be of very great use to me, in this trade of prize goods, and glad I am fully of his coming hither. While I dressed myself, and afterwards in walking to Greenwich we did discourse over all the business of the prize goods, and he puts me in hopes I may get some money in what I have done, but not so much as I expected, but that I may hereafter do more. We have laid a design of getting more, and are to talk again of it a few days hence.

To the office, where nobody to meet me, Sir W. Batten being the only man and he gone this day to meet to adjourne the Parliament to Oxford.

Anon by appointment comes one to tell me my Lord Rutherford is come; so I to the King’s Head to him, where I find his lady, a fine young Scotch lady, pretty handsome and plain. My wife also, and Mercer, by and by comes, Creed bringing them; and so presently to dinner and very merry; and after to even our accounts, and I to give him tallys, where he do allow me 100l., of which to my grief the rogue Creed has trepanned me out of 50l.. But I do foresee a way how it may be I may get a greater sum of my Lord to his content by getting him allowance of interest upon his tallys.

That being done, and some musique and other diversions, at last away goes my Lord and Lady, and I sent my wife to visit Mrs. Pierce, and so I to my office, where wrote important letters to the Court, and at night (Creed having clownishly left my wife), I to Mrs. Pierces and brought her and Mrs. Pierce to the King’s Head and there spent a piece upon a supper for her and mighty merry and pretty discourse, she being as pretty as ever, most of our mirth being upon “my Cozen” (meaning my Lord Bruncker’s ugly mistress, whom he calls cozen), and to my trouble she tells me that the fine Mrs. Middleton is noted for carrying about her body a continued sour base smell, that is very offensive, especially if she be a little hot. Here some bad musique to close the night and so away and all of us saw Mrs. Belle Pierce (as pretty as ever she was almost) home, and so walked to Will’s lodging where I used to lie, and there made shift for a bed for Mercer, and mighty pleasantly to bed.

This night I hear that of our two watermen that use to carry our letters, and were well on Saturday last, one is dead, and the other dying sick of the plague. The plague, though decreasing elsewhere, yet being greater about the Tower and thereabouts.

30 Annotations

First Reading

James in Illinois  •  Link

"...he do allow me 100l., of which to my grief the rogue Creed has trepanned me out of 50l.." Trepanning refers to using a trephine to bore a hole in the skull! The older meaning of trepan (n) that is reflected here is a trickster or a snare, so the verb here is to lure or entrap. Sam'l feels that Creed has tricked him out of 50 l.

Nix  •  Link

"to my grief the rogue Creed has trepanned me out of 50l." --

OED -- trepan v. (2nd def.)

trans. To catch in a trap; to entrap, ensnare, beguile.

1656 BLOUNT Glossogr., To Trepan, or rather trappan (from the Ital. Trappare or trappolare, i. to entrap, ensnare, or catch in a gin) in the modern acception of the word, it signifies to cheat or entrap [etc.]. 1658 SIR H. SLINGSBY Diary (1836) 431, I see that I am trepan'd by these two fellows. 1664 BUTLER Hud. II. III. 617 Some by the Nose with fumes trappan 'em, As Dunstan did the Devil's Grandamm [= Grannam]. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman (1841) II. xxxvi. 87 To lie upon the catch to trepan his neighbour. 1827 SCOTT Surg. Dau. vi, That he should have trepanned the friend who had reposed his whole confidence in him. 1894 CROCKETT Raiders 38 Fellows who would..trepan a lass from the Cumberland shore, or slit the throat of a Dumfries burgher.

b. To lure, inveigle (into or to a place, course of action, etc., to do something, etc.).

a1661 FULLER Worthies (1662) II. 2 Some Setters trapanned him..to hear Masse. 1678 DRYDEN Limberham I. i, Hast thou trepan'd me into a Tabernacle of the Godly? 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 227 These Men trapan that sort of People to go a Voyage that commonly proves their Destruction. a1715 BURNET Own Time (1766) II. 18 To make use of him to trepan a man to his ruin. 1829 SCOTT Rob Roy Introd., James Mohr Drummond was secretly applied to to trepan Stewart to the sea-coast, and bring him over to Britain. 1838-9 HALLAM Hist. Lit. III. III. vii. §7. 353 Pallavicino having been trepanned into the power of the Pope, lost his head at Avignon.
c. To do (any one) out of (a thing) by craft or guile; to cheat or beguile out of; to swindle.

1662 J. DAVIES tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 163 Ten of those Rogues had trapann'd him out of 500. Crowns. 1725 DE FOE Voy. round World (1840) 12 The Spanish Captain..greatly enraged..at being..trepanned out of his ship. 1832 AUSTIN Jurispr. (1879) II. xxxvi. 629 Trepanned out of their interests by that ridiculous juggling.
Hence trepanned (-pænd) ppl. a.2; trepanning vbl. n.2 and ppl. a.2; whence trepanningly adv., by cheating or strategy (Bailey, 1731).

1670 WALTON Lives, Hooker 222 A slander which this Age calls Trepanning. 1682 in Lond. Gaz. No. 1714/5 That..Insinuating and Trapaning Association. 1701 GREW Cosm. Sacra 189 Some may think of Jael, that..she was no better than a Trapanning Hussy. 1702 C. MATHER Magn. Chr. III. II. v. (1852) 384 Pursevants employed for the trepanning and entrapping of them. 1824 GALT Rothelan I. II. xii. 259 The fate of the trapanned page. 1826 W. E. ANDREWS Exam. Fox's Cal. Protestant Saints 94 Trepanning questions about the power of the pope and the queen in spirituals were put to him.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

La Belle Pierce must be tres belle indeed today! Several mentions by our Sam ... though I wonder if a bit of beauty-vs-beauty jealousy is behind the report of Mrs. Middleton's "sour base smell"?

Also, I wonder what made Woolley so potentially valuable?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

A8. JOHN EVELYN TO SAMUEL PEPYS (1)

[ "What I shall do with these miserable Creatures"? ]

For Samuell Pepys Esqr

Sayes Court

3 October 1665 (2)

Sir,

I was in some doubt whither those Letters you commanded me to prepare, ariv’d timely enough to accompany yours to Court on Saturday-night (3); For finding divers Chyrurgeons, and Sick-persons at my dores who had come from Several places with sad complaints that they could not procur quarters for them. I was forc’d to dispatch Warrants to the Connestables and other Officers to be ayding and assistant to my Deputyes, and some of these concernd me as far as Deale and Sandwich, where we are so overlayd, that they send them back upon us, and they perish in the returne; so that I had not a moments leasure to finish my letters, till it was neere 7 of the Clock; and I would be glad to know whither [any] (4) came to your hands at all....

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Sir, I have had earnest intreaties from Severall of the Commanders (riding before Woolwich) to dispose of their Sick- and wounded-men on shore, but the Clearke of the Cheque (5) there reproches our Chyrurgeon, and obstructs the effect of the Warrant I sent to the Connestable, upon a pretence, of bringing the Contagion amongst them; whiles in the meane time, I am sure, they suffer others to tipple in the Ale-houses; And Sir Theophilus Biddulph was with me to spare Greenewich, because of your sitting there, and Deptford in reguard of his Majesties Yard: I would be glad to know (Since Chatham, and Graves-End can hold no more,) and that I have peopld all the intermedial Villages, what I shall do with these miserable Creatures, who are not able to move? Though had halfe of these but bread to eate (I speake not here of the Prisoners, but our owne men) we should not have neere the multitudes, which are impos’d upon us.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Source: PRO S.P. 29/134, f.23-4. Endorsed by P, ‘3 Octobr 65 Says Court Esqr Evelin.’

2 MS: ‘Says-Court 3:Octo:-65’. P’s diary entry for the 5th gives a flavour of his approach to the problem, ‘...so away to Mr Evelings to discourse of our confounded business of prisoners and sick and wounded seamen, wherein he and we are so much put out of order.’ (5 Oct 1665). Pepys was not so concerned about the subject that on his way to Evelyn’s he had overlooked the opportunity to ‘pass some time with Sarah’, moving on to visit Mrs Bagwell and ‘there did what I would con ella’ (ibid). He and E then spent the rest of the evening discussing trees and gardens which contrasts markedly with the subject matter of the letters.

3 Saturday, 30 September. See previous letter.

4 MS torn but enough survives to make the reading fairly certain.

5 MS: ‘Cheq’.

6 MS torn.

7 MS torn.

8 MS torn.

9 MS: ‘their’; ‘ir’ struck out.

10 ‘With the task unfinished’.

11 Replaces ‘take’ (struck out).

12 Replaces ‘skill’ (struck out).

13 Note in the margin; the * is E’s.

14 A copy of this, dated 8 June 1665 and endorsed by E, is amongst P’s papers, now Bod MS Rawl. A289, f.89.

15 MS reading uncertain. Appears to read ‘faces’, perhaps using ‘face’ as an analogy for the various offices E was having to perform.

16‘Which I am sensible’ is inserted.

17 I.e. out of his own pocket.

18 Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. It is not extant, and E did not retain a copy.

19 Replaces ‘I hope will’, struck out.

http://www.romanbritain.freeserve…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

[The third section]

Sir, I do not tell you these stories out of any designs to engage or trouble you with other folkes buisinesse, as you have lately seem’d to impute it to me; because without monnye I could not feede two-thousand Prisoners; but to let you see, that it is not without reason I have made my Complaints nor at all my crime, if his Majesties Subjects perish for want of harbor. It was also tr[eat]ed as a failure in my Industry, that I had not receiv’d the Prisoners into my c[are] (6) and assisted towards the raising the £5000 to be assign’d me; But upon my pa[rticular] (7) applications to my Lord Bro[u]ncker and Sir John Mennes (according to his Graces direction) a[bout?] (8) my Yesterdays dispatching two very able Officers to take their names, receive them out of the (9) respective prizes and shipps; there were none of those Vessells ready you were pleas’d to name, nor roome in them for a quarter of the number; so as my Martials return’d re infecta (10), and could not fall downe with them to Graves End when I had also provided Guards to secure (11) them: For this service Sir, I therefor yet attend your Commands, and am ready, when the Vessels are so; and more then so, to take them quite off your hands, and the Vessels too when I have touch’d the mony which must make them live; having since I saw you contracted with my Lord Culpeper (fourty miles from this place,) for Leeds-Castle, where I am repairing, and fitting things for their safty, that I may not seeme to be indiligent, because I am unhappy, and have no talent (12) to rayse monnye, though I can tell where it may be had, when I know the Commodity:

Terry Foreman  •  Link

[The fourth section]

Sir, I have at this moment* [*which belong to all 4 Commissioners and not to my care alone.] (13) Chelsey College, two Hospitals in London and Nine other townes, besides Villages, where I have Deputys, Physitians, Chyrurgeons, and Martials, who employ me with buisinesse sufficient to take up any one persons time, but to reply to their Letters, make them Warrants, send them Medicaments, Mates, Monye, if I had not the importunity of a thousand Clamors at my dores which neither lets me rest day nor night: Sir, in a Word, I have studied my Commission (14), and the Instructions annex’d to them, and I hope shall be able to justifie every article, though I cannot compare my faces (15) and abillities with others: Nor did I in the least obtrude the importunity which I am sensible (16) the Prisoners have been to you; but upon his Grace’s certaine knowledge of our wants of monyes (17) to feed them, and without any provocation of mine (more then what you heard of our poverty) he was pleased to Order what was so very necessary, and I have not I hope presum’d to any favour upon my own Score; for I no where find, by my Commission, that I was to provide monyes, but to dispense it when I had it, and to give a just accoumpt of its application which I am ready to do with joy: Nor have I yet been wanting in giving notice to the Greate-ones at Court, from post to post-day (long before this as having prospect sufficient of what is befallen us) in a style more zealous and peremptory, than perhaps becomes me; and as I continu’d to do this very morning in a letter I writ to my Lord High Chancellor (18) which I sent by Sir Richard Browne; having alarm’d all the rest (not one excepted) with my continual representations of our miserys: And if (as I could tell you from a Person that best knowes in England) I should shew you from whence this neglect of us proceedes, it would not add a Cubite to your stature: Be assur’d Sir, from me, that I shall be most tender of adding to your trouble, (whose burthen I find is already so insupportable) and I hope I shall not be esteem’d remisse, when I also keepe within my owne Sphære. What has come collateraly on you (not through my fault) ought not be imputed to me; And I hope when you do know me well (as I am greatly ambitious of that honour) you will find I have taken too exact a measure of your reale merits, and personal Civilities to me, then to forfaite them by my impertinencies; as I beseech you to believe, that I have not in this paper exaggerated any thing of mine Owne Sufferings, to magnifie the poore Service I have hitherto don (as by little acts we are prone to do) but that you would looke on me as a plaine-Man, who desires to serve his Majestie (till he is pleas’d to release me) in the station I am assigned to the best of my abilities; and which I shall be sure to improve, if you still allow me a part of your Esteeme, who cannot eclipse the brightnesse of your Example from

Sir

Your most faithfull, and
most obedient Servant

JEvelyn

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Sorry folks, but MovableType doesn't like these lengthy Evelyn letters.

CGS  •  Link

A great read:

Thanks:
Allows one to get a good feel for the times:
Having been on the wrong side of the ledger, I feel for the Tars, and for the lads of Holland.

Nate  •  Link

"...she tells me that the fine Mrs. Middleton is noted for carrying about her body a continued sour base smell, that is very offensive, especially if she be a little hot.

Considering that no one bathed much in those times she must have been ripe indeed!

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I wonder how Creed's making out in the prize goods looting. Surely he hasn't missed his chance there.

****

"Mr. Pepys...I have heard so much about you." offers lovely hand, extending...

"Ah, Mrs. Middleton...Your fame proceeds you." gently taking...Oh, my God! Struggle to refrain from gasping.

"Would you take to take a stroll, Mr. Pepys?" warm, incredibly beautiful beam. "I'm so interested in hearing about the workings of our magnificient Navy. I'm told you are the life and brain of its administration."

Really...My God, she's glorious. Yes, yes...Stroll, stroll. Takes offered hand, trying to keep nose in opposite direction. The gardens, yes...Strong breeze and in time I'll get used to it.

"Shall we tour the..." oh...ah, ah...Bad idea...Wind my direction...Oh...

"Pray...Excuse...Me...Madam...I must see to some important business and I'm sure my wife inside is tiring."

"Oh? I'm so sorry, Mr. Pepys..." adjusts cleavage...Surely that will get him...Betty Pierce said he couldn't keep his hands off a pretty woman's chest for ten seconds when alone... "Are you sure you must go?"

Oh....Lord why dost thou torment thy poor servant so? All right, I vow to try and be true to Bess a little.

"I must...Madam." And with the wind blowing my way again, I really must.

"Mr. Pepys?..." forlorn look...As Sam retreats hastily.

Shoot...Throws down fan. I know I'm a great beauty. Why the heck am I still a virgin? Do I look like the Virgin or something and scare them off?

"Oh...Hello there..." smiles to handsome young man, cloak dashingly thrown over shoulder.

"Mrs. Middleton?...Choo..." Will sneezes... "Pardon me, ma'am. A bad cold these weeks. Mr. Pepys asked me to bring ye some punch." Offer cup.

Choo...My...That's quite a woman...And quite...Eyes exposed cleavage.

"Thank you, Mr...?"

"Hewer, ma'am. William...Choooooo...Oh, sorry ma'am....Hewer."

"Not at all. Mr. Hewer...Mr Pepys wasn't able to take me through the gardens. Would you perhaps have a moment to do the honors? I don't like stroll alone."

She's alone? Will blinks.

Ummn... "Why, certainly, ma'am..." Offering arm.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"pretty handsome and plain"
???

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Attractive but plainly dressed I think Sam means.

CGS  •  Link

"...where I find his lady, a fine young Scotch lady, pretty handsome and plain..."
Handsome----
5. a. Of conduct, etc.: Fitting, seemly, becoming; courteous, gracious, polite. Now in stronger sense, denoting a quality that evokes moral admiration (cf. sense 6): Generous, magnanimous.
1621 FLETCHER Pilgrim IV. ii, Was it fair play? did it appear to you handsome?
b. spec. Of military exploits: Soldierly, gallant, brave, admirable. Obs. or arch.
1665 MANLEY Grotius' Low C. Warres 293 Now was a very handsom Sally made out of Coevorden. 1

6. a. Having a fine form or figure (usually in conjunction with full size or stateliness); ‘beautiful with dignity’ (J.) ‘fine’. (The prevailing current sense.)
1590 SPENSER F.Q. II. iv. 3 A handsom stripling.\
1662 J. DAVIES tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 17 Young Lords, very handsome, both as to Face and Body.
other variations:
-some sum suffix ....representing OE. -sum, = OFris. -sum,....

'...while others (chiefly dating from the 14th century) have remained current, as cumbersome, fulsome, gamesome, gladsome, handsome, lightsome, loathsome, noisome, wholesome. ..."
[Known only from 15th c., f. HAND n. + -SOME: cf. toothsome. Cf. early mod. (16th c.) Ger. handsam, Ger. dial. and EFris. handsam, early mod. Du. handsaem, Du. handzaam, all in sense 1.]

A. adj.

1. a. Easy to handle or manipulate, or to wield, deal with, or use in any way. Obs.
c1435

b. Handy, ready at hand, convenient, suitable. Obs. or dial.
1530.....
1600 HOLLAND Livy XXV. xxix. 571 Whatsoeuer came next to their hands, and lay handsome for them, they rifled.

2. a. Of action, speech, etc.: Appropriate, apt, dexterous, clever, happy: in reference to language, sometimes implying gracefulness of style (cf. 3, 6). ? Obs. exc. U.S.
1563-8

b. Of an agent: Apt, skilled, clever. Obs. exc. in U.S., or as associated with other senses.
1547....a1631 DRAYTON Moon-Calf (R.), If some handsome players would it take, It (sure) a pretty interlude would make.

3. Proper, fitting, seemly, becoming, decent.
1597...1654 in Whitlock's Zootomia To Author Aivb, Wit, Learning, and Variety of matter, put into a handsom Dresse.

4. a. Of fair size or amount; ‘decent’, fair, considerable, moderately large. Now unusual.
1577....a1649 WINTHROP New Eng. (1825) I. 7 The wind at E. and by N. a handsome gale with fair weather.

1670 NARBOROUGH Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. I. (1711) 31 Cut the Bodies in good handsome pieces.

b. Of a sum of money, a fortune, a gift, etc.: Considerable. Now (by association with 5) in stronger sense: Ample, generous, liberal, munificent.
1577
c. Humorously, of a reproof or punishment: Ample, strong, severe, ‘fine’.
1726

CGS  •  Link

Plain : not a scheming wench, just a straight shooter;

This Lassie be very pleasing to the eye and to the ear.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

Thanks Robert and GGS.

jeannine  •  Link

"that the fine Mrs. Middleton is noted for carrying about her body a continued sour base smell, that is very offensive, especially if she be a little hot."

Another person to add to the list of poor souls who will be known in history predominately for some odd, negative comment(s) about them that Sam has reported on! Think of all of the people with disgusting hands ( a favorite stomach turner of Sam’s), ugly faces, poor manners, etc. whose memory survives through Sam’s Diary. I wish we’d kept a list of them! It would be great to have some college student do their research on that subject and it would be a hoot to read! I am sure that the collective group of people in their ill-fitted clothing complete with stinky body odor are whacking him in the head right about now.

CGS  •  Link

Lluverly detail, pearls, and the fruit.
Be they English grapes? and the pearls be they fresh Colchester?
Thanks JWB

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Anon by appointment comes one to tell me my Lord Rutherford is come;"

Rutherford was now settling some Tangier accounts, as heir of the 1st Baron Rutherford, Earl of Teviot, lately Governor there.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"my Lord Rutherford['s] lady, a fine young Scotch lady"

Christian Urquhart was the daughter of Sir Alexander Urquhart of Cromarty and Jean Elphinstone. She married, firstly, Thomas Rutherfurd, 2nd Lord Rutherfurd circa 24 February 1662/63. She married by contract, secondly, James Crichton, 2nd Viscount Frendraught, son of James Crichton, 1st Viscount Frendraught and Marion Irvine, on 14 November 1669. She married, thirdly, George Morison, 2nd of Bogie, son of Alexander Morison, 1st of Bognie, in 1680.

From circa 24 February 1662/63, her married name became Rutherfurd. As a result of her marriage, Christian Urquhart was styled as Viscountess Frendraught on 14 November 1669. From 14 November 1669, her married name became Crichton. From 1680, her married name became Morison.
http://www.thepeerage.com/p17167.…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This night I hear that of our two watermen that use to carry our letters, and were well on Saturday last, one is dead, and the other dying sick of the plague. The plague, though decreasing elsewhere, yet being greater about the Tower and thereabouts."

L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

“… having since I saw you contracted with my Lord Culpeper (fourty miles from this place,) for Leeds-Castle, where I am repairing, and fitting things for their safty, …”

I found a paper on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch PoWs and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, exploring whether or these functions were government, public/private or totally privatized functions.
The paper by Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…

My take is: Civil prisons, while nominally institutions of the Crown, were run on private-enterprise lines. County gaols, such as Winchester and Colchester Castle, were run by sheriffs, and municipal prisons by the town authorities.

London prisons may have remote landlords (ecclesiastical or other foundations) who leased them to sub-contractors. The Tower and the Marshalsea Prison were under direct Crown control and were used for officers and special prisoners.

Since the Middle Ages the running of a prison had usually been sub-contracted to a gaoler or keeper, who needed it to be a profitable enterprise. For the inmates, the resulting fee-taking regime was often harsh. For everything but the most basic subsistence, money was demanded from prisoners, not only by the gaoler but also by their underlings (turnkeys).

Civil prisons are an example of the hybrid public/private culture. Finding room in them for PoWs was possible because of a drop in civil indictments.

When hundreds of PoWs were taken after a sea-fight in the second war, attention turned to places in London where the captured troops from the last battles of the Civil War had been held. Among these were the artillery ground at Tothill Fields in Westminster, the Mews prison on the site of the old royal stables, and Chelsea College.

In June 1665 the High Sheriff of Kent was summoned by warrant to allow prisoners to be received into the county gaols of Canterbury, Maidstone and Rochester, and to provide other places for them ‘if these be not sufficient’.

This was soon the case and, with Chelsea College also full, Evelyn was charged with finding more accommodation. High Sheriffs were told to help him by providing guards. Evelyn had to search for facilities where the government writ did not automatically run, necessitating negotiation.

His search took him to Lord Culpeper, owner of Leeds Castle, Kent, which he leased. This privately-owned Jacobean country house occupied the site of an earlier castle, but the moat survived, making it secure for PoWs.

Improvised gaols like Chelsea College and Leeds Castle had no prison organization so Evelyn had to appoint marshals to secure the PoWs, and to supply them with straw and basic needs, and sutlers for their provisioning.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

“Nor have I yet been wanting in giving notice to the Greate-ones at Court, from post to post-day (long before this as having prospect sufficient of what is befallen us) in a style more zealous and peremptory, than perhaps becomes me; …”

The paper I found on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch PoWs and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, exploring whether or these functions were government, public/private or totally privatized functions.
Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing's paper is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…

They say that, from Dover and other prisons the directives of Charles II’s Council to receive PoWs went unquestioned, except at Winchester where authorities tried to refuse to take PoWs when the Great Plague was at its height in September 1665.

So ‘the Greate-Ones' were not deaf to Evelyn’s pleas.

At smaller coastal towns, PoWs needed to be moved directly inland, for example from Harwich to Colchester Castle, or from Southwold to Sudbury. Dover Castle and its associated forts, and Landguard Fort in Suffolk formed part of the national coastal defenses and were thus under military jurisdiction.

The most significant reason for the miserable conditions was the desperate lack of money that afflicted the government. The revenue granted by Parliament to Charles II following the Restoration, although sufficient for peacetime purposes, was totally inadequate for a war economy. We are seeing just the beginnings of this now -- worse is to come.

The Plague was an additional disruption during the second war. Evelyn’s diary and correspondence with Pepys and others are full of his desperate attempts to raise money to feed, clothe and care for PoWs, when the condition of the English sick and wounded in the commissioners’ care was no less critical, and English unpaid seamen were starving to death in the streets.

It was not until the wars at the end of the 18th century that purpose-built state accommodation for PoWs began to be constructed.

arby  •  Link

Thanks, SDS, very informative.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Phil has since added a section for the Commission on the Sick and Wounded Prisoners:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

I also discovered that good ol' Lord Culpepper wasn't living at Leeds Castle. He'd left his wealthy Dutch wife there, and gone to live with his mistress in the Isle of Wight. I'm sure Lady Culpepper was thrilled to have all these prisoners as house guests:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

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