Sunday 26 November 1665

(Lord’s day). Up, though very late abed, yet before day to dress myself to go toward Erith, which I would do by land, it being a horrible cold frost to go by water: so borrowed two horses of Mr. Howell and his friend, and with much ado set out, after my horses being frosted (which I know not what it means to this day), and my boy having lost one of my spurs and stockings, carrying them to the smith’s; but I borrowed a stocking, and so got up, and Mr. Tooker with me, and rode to Erith, and there on board my Lord Bruncker, met Sir W. Warren upon his business, among others, and did a great deale, Sir J. Minnes, as God would have it, not being there to hinder us with his impertinences. Business done, we to dinner very merry, there being there Sir Edmund Pooly, a very worthy gentleman. They are now come to the copper boxes in the prizes, and hope to have ended all this weeke. After dinner took leave, and on shore to Madam Williams, to give her an account of my Lord’s letter to me about Howe, who he has clapped by the heels on suspicion of having the jewells, and she did give me my Lord Bruncker’s examination of the fellow, that declares his having them; and so away, Sir W. Warren riding with me, and the way being very bad, that is, hard and slippery by reason of the frost, so we could not come to past Woolwich till night. However, having a great mind to have gone to the Duke of Albemarle, I endeavoured to have gone farther, but the night come on and no going, so I ’light and sent my horse by Tooker, and returned on foot to my wife at Woolwich, where I found, as I had directed, a good dinner to be made against to-morrow, and invited guests in the yarde, meaning to be merry, in order to her taking leave, for she intends to come in a day or two to me for altogether. But here, they tell me, one of the houses behind them is infected, and I was fain to stand there a great while, to have their back-door opened, but they could not, having locked them fast, against any passing through, so was forced to pass by them again, close to their sicke beds, which they were removing out of the house, which troubled me; so I made them uninvite their guests, and to resolve of coming all away to me to-morrow, and I walked with a lanthorne, weary as I was, to Greenwich; but it was a fine walke, it being a hard frost, and so to Captain Cocke’s, but he I found had sent for me to come to him to Mrs. Penington’s, and there I went, and we were very merry, and supped, and Cocke being sleepy he went away betimes. I stayed alone talking and playing with her till past midnight, she suffering me whatever ‘ego voulais avec ses mamilles … [and I almost led her by discourse to make her tocar mi cosa naked, which ella did presque and did not refuse. – L&M] Much pleased with her company we parted, and I home to bed at past one, all people being in bed thinking I would have staid out of town all night.

20 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"set out, after my horses being frosted (which I know not what it means to this day)"

[Frosting means, having the horses' shoes turned up by the smith.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) offers another meaning:

Frost nail, a nail with a sharp head driven into a horse's shoe to keen him from slipping. http://dictionary.die.net/frost%2…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“…. And Cocke being sleepy, he went away betime. I stayed alone talking and playing with her till past midnight --­ she suffering me a hazer whatever ego voulus avec ses mamelles (to do whatever I wanted with her breasts)­ -- and I had almost led her by discourse to make her tocar mi cosa naked, (touch my bare penis) which ella (she) did presque (almost) and did not refuse.” [L&M text; Duncan Grey translation] http://www.pepys.info/bits2.html

JWB  •  Link

Frost nails are horseshoe nails with stud heads for shoes without calks. Frosting is sharpening the calks to get purchase on ice, calks being the turned-down cleats fore & aft.

John Aislabie  •  Link

I am confused. Mrs Pennington is noted as the daughter of Sir Isaac Pennington, but if she is married she would have changed her name (unless she married another Pennington, which seems improbable). So is she a Daughter-in-Law of Sir Isaac or is she not a "Mrs"?
My apologies if this has been cleared up before

Australian Susan  •  Link

"...my boy having lost one of my spurs..."

Mr Tooker: "I say, Pepys, you're riding in circles again!"

"I know! Where's that ******** boy! Dropping spurs indeed! "

JWB  •  Link

Spurs on a borrowed horse? Some people have no sense of propriety. Wonder if Hobson allowed his customers to use them?

classicist  •  Link

Re Mrs Pennington--at that date Mrs was simply the abbreviation of Mistress, and was used for unmarried as well as married women of some status, so I'd guess she isn't married.

language hat  •  Link

"after my horses being frosted (which I know not what it means to this day)"

I absolutely love this. It's easy to forget that some of the specialized terminology that's obscure to us was obscure to non-specialists back then too! (And thanks to those who have added the explanation.)

JWB  •  Link

Here are some 17th C. spurs dug up in Maryland: http://www.chesapeakearchaeology.…

Note the button fasteners for quick release to prevent something like this:

"...another neighbour of ours, Mr. Hollworthy, a very able man, is also dead by a fall in the country from his horse, his foot hanging in the stirrup, and his brains beat out."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

cgs  •  Link

"John Aislabie on 'I am confused'"
MRS is not this amongst other translations:
# Marginal rate of substitution (economics)

Mistress, the feminine counterpart of master, may mean:

* Mistress (lover) – a woman, other than his wife, with whom a man has a continuing sexual relationship
* Mistress (form of address) – an old-fashioned term for the lady of the house, especially one who is head of the household
* Mistress meaning wife: used in some Commonwealth dialects, but not currently in most British dialects of English
* A dominatrix in BDSM
* The woman who owns a slave, or employs a servant (comparable to master and servant)
* Schoolmistress, or female school teacher (also called a "schoolmarm"). The term is now obsolete in the UK; see schoolmaster

* Mrs — original abbreviation

“Mrs” originated as a contraction of the honorific “Mistress”, the feminine of “Mister” or “Master”, which was originally applied to both married and unmarried women. The split into “Mrs” for married women and “Miss” for unmarried women began during the 17th century and was well-established by the time of the introduction of Ms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs

This article is about Mistress as a lover
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mist…

? Charles TWO caused the split, by having so many MRS blahs and lady blahs ?????

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...met Sir W. Warren upon his business, among others, and did a great deale, Sir J. Minnes, as God would have it, not being there to hinder us with his impertinences."

Impertinences like "Pepys, shouldn't this go out to bid?" "Isn't it illegal to do official naval business in private like this?" "Did he just offer you a bribe?" ...Sam?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"They are now come to the copper boxes in the prizes, and hope to have ended all this weeke."

Oooh...The copper boxes. If copper metal, it presumably was too soon for copper sheathing of ships, which according to numerous sources (http://www.reedconstructiondata.c…; http://freepages.genealogy.rootsw…; http://www.all-model.com/Clippers… among others) did not occur on a regular basis until at least the mid-eighteenth century. So what would have been the preferred use at the time? In alloys such as bronze, mainly?

Second Reading

Ivan  •  Link

On his frosty ride to Erith with Mr.Tooker I don't suppose Mr.P had much to say about his molestation of Mr. T's daughter[?] Mrs. Fr. Tooker three days previously["I sent for little Mrs. Fr. Tooker; and after they were gone, I sat dallying with her an hour, doing what I would with my hand about her.." Did Mr.P feel comfortable with Mr.Tooker, one wonders, or has he forgotten all about it?

[This is my first annotation. I began reading the diary from the beginning last year but only discovered this web-site having reached 1665.]

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"my boy having lost one of my spurs and stockings, carrying them to the smith’s; but I borrowed a stocking, and so got up", ii.e. mounted.

L&M: Leather riding-stockings covering the knees.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"ode to Erith, and there on board my Lord Bruncker, met Sir W. Warren upon his business, among others, and did a great deale, Sir J. Minnes, as God would have it, not being there to hinder us with his impertinences. Business done, we to dinner very merry, there being there Sir Edmund Pooly, a very worthy gentleman. They are now come to the copper boxes in the prizes, and hope to have ended all this weeke."

L&M: Brouncker and Mennes were in charge of two Dutch prizes at Erith.

john  •  Link

Comments on frosting: Nowadays, there are many options (as a quick google of "winter horseshoe options" will show). Of all these, I have only seen and used screw-in studs during very icy conditions.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"rode to Erith, and there on board my Lord Bruncker, met Sir W. Warren upon his business, among others, and did a great deale, Sir J. Minnes, as God would have it, not being there to hinder us with his impertinences. Business done, we to dinner very merry, there being there Sir Edmund Pooly, a very worthy gentleman. They are now come to the copper boxes in the prizes, and hope to have ended all this weeke."

L&M: Brouncker and Mennes were in charge of two Dutch prizes at Erith.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The last Sunday in November was known as Stir Up Sunday. On this day, the family would gather to make Christmas puddings which needed to age before they were served at Christmas dinner.

The day became known as “Stir Up Sunday,” not because of the great deal of stirring done, but because the opening words of the main prayer in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 for that day are: ‘Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people...’

Christmas pudding was prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and the 12 apostles then stirred up all family members who must take a hand in the stirring, using a special wooden spoon (in honor of Christ's crib and stable).

The stirring must be done clockwise, from east to west to honor the journey of the Magi, with eyes shut, while making a secret wish. After the family stirred the pudding, tiny charms might be added to the pudding to reveal their finders’ fortune.

The pudding was steamed in a cloth bag, then hung up to dry on hooks for weeks prior to serving in order to enhance the flavor.

Once dried, they were wrapped in alcohol-soaked cheese cloth, stored in earthenware/crockery, and placed somewhere cool for the duration. More alcohol may have been added during this period. The puddings might also have been sealed against air with suet or wax to aid in preservation. When served, they were typically set aflame.

Many households have their own recipe for Christmas pudding, some handed down through families for generations. Recipes from different centuries show remarkable similarity in ingredients.

But Pepys, coming from a Puritan background, probably didn't have these family traditions.

Cliff  •  Link

Elizabeth Pennington.

I have a hazy memory of her being the daughter of a pre-revolution Lord Mayor of London who was thrown into the Tower for his Royalist sympathies but later released.

I believe Elizabeth's brother despaired of her behaviour and wrote the most heartbreaking letter to her on a "whither goest thou?" theme.

I've searched the Pepys companion for the details and also The Unequalled Self to no avail. (I didn't bother with looking in Bryant, I felt that that would be stretching a point).

As an amusing sideline Pepys records that he was on the verge of having his wicked way with her - at last - BUT somehow decides to walk around the block whilst she prepares herself - and gets himself lost! By the time be returns - just how large was that block??? - Pepys is informed that the mistress has retired for the night and is sent away! (Did the servant mistake her Mistress' intentions???)

As Elizabeth was way, way above Pepys usual mark ie barmaids and servants etc., I wonder whether he simply lost his nerve and invented the 'lost story to cover his embarrassment?

But then, why reveal the incident at all?

Captain Cocke is obvious throughout the whole series of meetings having initially introduced the pair to each other.

It all resembles an hilarious Whitehall farce scenario! If you catch the reference.

Pepys surely was complex.

Anyone who can pin down the reference to the Brother's letter would be on for a pint!

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