Thursday 9 November 1665

Up, and did give the servants something at Mr. Glanville’s and so took leave, meaning to lie to-night at my owne lodging. To my office, where busy with Mr. Gawden running over the Victualling business, and he is mightily pleased that this course is taking and seems sensible of my favour and promises kindnesse to me. At noon by water, to the King’s Head at Deptford, where Captain Taylor invites Sir W: Batten, Sir John Robinson (who come in with a great deale of company from hunting, and brought in a hare alive and a great many silly stories they tell of their sport, which pleases them mightily, and me not at all, such is the different sense of pleasure in mankind), and others upon the score of a survey of his new ship; and strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody, Sir W. Batten and Sir J. Robinson being now as kind to him, and report well of his ship and proceedings, and promise money, and Sir W. Batten is a solicitor for him, but it is a strange thing to observe, they being the greatest enemys he had, and yet, I believe, hath in the world in their hearts.

Thence after dinner stole away and to my office, where did a great deale of business till midnight, and then to Mrs. Clerk’s, to lodge again, and going home W. Hewer did tell me my wife will be here to-morrow, and hath put away Mary, which vexes me to the heart, I cannot helpe it, though it may be a folly in me, and when I think seriously on it, I think my wife means no ill design in it, or, if she do, I am a foole to be troubled at it, since I cannot helpe it.

The Bill of Mortality, to all our griefs, is encreased 399 this week, and the encrease generally through the whole City and suburbs, which makes us all sad.

22 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

In this entry Pepys makes at least three very keen observations about human nature that include himself.

"a great many silly stories they tell of their sport, which pleases them mightily, and me not at all, such is the different sense of pleasure in mankind)"

"strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody"

"I am a foole to be troubled at it, since I cannot helpe it"

Splendid!

cape henry  •  Link

"...which pleases them mightily, and me not at all, such is the different sense of pleasure in mankind..."
To understand this fully, one has only to have spent a Christmas with relatives. But here, in his remarkable way, Pepys sketches in a bit over a dozen words something which each of us has undergone, like surgery without benefit of aesthetics.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...the King’s Head at Deptford, where Captain Taylor invites Sir W: Batten, Sir John Robinson (who come in with a great deale of company from hunting, and brought in a hare alive and a great many silly stories they tell of their sport, which pleases them mightily, and me not at all, such is the different sense of pleasure in mankind)..."

Perhaps we now know why Lady Robinson spends her time with Captain Cocke and those so-commandment-breakable Dutch prisoners. I can't help visualizing Sir John as our own Nigel Bruce character.

***
Sam is so vexed I wonder if it was actually Mercer, not Mary the chambermaid as the link suggests.

***

Australian Susan  •  Link

Never talk about field sports!
".. 'Been hunting at all,' Anthony asked Linda. "Oh, yes, we were out yesterday. ''Good day?'Yes, very. We found at once and had a five mile point and then - 'Linda suddenly remembered that Lord Merlin had once said to her: 'Hunt as much as you like, but never talk about it, it's the most boring subject in the world.'
'But that's marvellous, a five mile point! I must come out with the Heythrop again soon, they are doing awfully well this season I hear. We had a good day yesterday too.' He embarked on a detailed account of every minute of it, where they found, where they ran to, how his first horse had gone lame, how, luckily, he had then come upon his second horse, and so on. I saw just what Lord Merlin meant....."
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, pp62-63.

Pedro  •  Link

Never talk about field sports!

"Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear."

Auguries of Innocence, William Blake (1757-1827),

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“I am a foole to be troubled at it, since I cannot helpe it”

A version of the saying of Epictetus we have seen Pepys cite often before (*Encheiridion* 1.1): * τών οντων τά μέν έστιν εκ εφ ήμιν, τά δε ουκ εφ ώμιν” (‘Of things, some are in our power, others are not’).

Tony Eldridge  •  Link

The link to Captain Taylor seems to have been hijacked.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Sam's remark quoted by Terry also is reminiscent of the serenity prayer, which we have talked about before. This link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sere…
has a nursery rhyme citation from 1695 - the sentiment seems to have been around for a long time, even if the prayer was only formalised in the mid-20th century. And Sam would have known the Latin quotation (probably?) cited by TF.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

SP surely read Epictetus in school and quoted him in Greek in the Diary, 9 September 1662: "The more fool am I, and must labour against it for shame, especially I that used to preach up Epictetus’s rule: [A phrase in Greek is omitted from the transcript. P.G.]1 [This is the phrase I supplied above. T.F.]

1“Some things are in our power, others are not” Pepys means, “I ought not to vex myself about what I cannot control.” http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

A. Hamilton  •  Link

The link to Capt. Taylor remains hijacked.

language hat  •  Link

You should drop Phil a line about it -- he often doesn't have a chance to read all the comments.

Phil Gyford  •  Link

I happened to notice the comments, thanks all (as Language Hat suggested, my attention is often too thinly spread). The Captain Taylor link was wrong due to me mis-typing it. It's fixed now.

JonTom in Cambridge  •  Link

"Never talk about field sports!"

AS, like you, I immediately thought of that passage from PoL. I also thought of Wilde's description of "the English country gentleman galloping after a fox [as] the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable."

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Captain Taylor invites Sir W: Batten, Sir John Robinson....and strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody, Sir W. Batten and Sir J. Robinson being now as kind to [ Captain Taylor ], and report well of his ship and proceedings, and promise money, and Sir Sir W. Batten is a solicitor for him, but it is a strange thing to observe, they being the greatest enemys he had, and yet, I believe, hath in the world in their hearts."

Batten had opposed Taylor's appointment as Navy Commissioner at Harwich: cf. : http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"The Bill of Mortality, to all our griefs, is encreased 399 this week"

L&M: From 1031 (24-31 October) to 1414 (31 October-7 November).

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"The Bill of Mortality, to all our griefs, is encreased 399 this week, and the encrease generally through the whole City and suburbs"

The "suburbs" would be where the plague might be expected to be endemic: "As populations grew during the Early Modern Period in Europe, urban towns swelled with a steady influx of people from the countryside. In some places, nearby settlements were swallowed up as the main city expanded. The peripheral areas on the outskirts of the city were generally inhabited by the very poorest." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub…

StanB  •  Link

Sorry I haven't posted for a while but just had to share some news with you and I apologise for it being off topic
After many disappointments over the years last week I finally added to my collection a copy of John Gaudens Eikon Basilike dated 1649 so an early, early edition published not long after the execution of Charles 1st
Needs more investigating I'm hoping its a first edition published just 10 days after the death of the King
So that's one off my bucket list I'm thrilled with it and had to share as i have made mention of my search in here before

john  •  Link

Terry, methinks Pepys' dislike of cock-fighting, bear-baiting, rat-baiting, and similar cruelty is due to basic decency rather than Puritanical values. I have never understood how people find enjoyment in the suffering of animals.

Timo  •  Link

100% agreed John. Sam derives his pleasure through appreciation of science and the arts, poetry, music and theatre. He is truly part of the metropolitan elite of which we hear so much derision these days.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

StanB -- AWESOME! I think our Encyclopedia has a page for the Eikon Basilike, so please feel free to post there about your book so the details don't get lost. I hope you're using gloves when you touch it!!!

StanB  •  Link

Thank you, Sarah
Yes I have it fully protected in an acid-free folder
Just Milton's Eikonoklastes now to balance out Gauden, then Butlers Hudibras

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