Monday 4 December 1665
Several people to me about business, among others Captain Taylor, intended Storekeeper for Harwich, whom I did give some assistance in his dispatch by lending him money. So out and by water to London and to the ’Change, and up and down about several businesses, and after the observing (God forgive me!) one or two of my neighbour Jason’s women [L&M have this as “my neighbour hermosa mohers”. P.G.] come to towne, which did please me very well, home to my house at the office, where my wife had got a dinner for me: and it was a joyfull thing for us to meet here, for which God be praised! Here was her brother come to see her, and speake with me about business. It seems my recommending of him hath not only obtained his presently being admitted into the Duke of Albemarle’s guards, and present pay, but also by the Duke’s and Sir Philip Howard’s direction, to be put as a right-hand man, and other marks of special respect, at which I am very glad, partly for him, and partly to see that I am reckoned something in my recommendations, but wish he may carry himself that I may receive no disgrace by him. So to the ’Change. Up and down again in the evening about business and to meet Captain Cocke, who waited for Mrs. Pierce (with whom he is mightily stricken), to receive and hide for her her rich goods she saved the other day from seizure. Upon the ’Change to-day Colvill tells me, from Oxford, that the King in person hath justified my Lord Sandwich to the highest degree; and is right in his favour to the uttermost. So late by water home, taking a barrel of oysters with me, and at Greenwich went and sat with Madam Penington … [con laquelle je faisais almost whatever je voudrais — con mi mano, sino tocar la chose même; and I was very near it, – L&M] and made her undress her head and sit dishevilled all night sporting till two in the morning, and so away to my lodging and so to bed. Over-fasting all the morning hath filled me mightily with wind, and nothing else hath done it, that I fear a fit of the cholique.
14 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
To correct, fill in and disclose
“…. And after observing (God forgive me) one or two of my neighbor hermosa [beautiful] mohers [i.e., the phonetic spelling of Sp. mujeres = "women"} come to town, which did please me very well, home to my house at the office, where my wife had got dinner for me.” [ my translation ]
….
“So late by water home, taking a barrel of oysters with me; and at Greenwich went and sat with Madam Penington, con laquelle je faisais almost whatever je voudrais (with whom I did almost whatever I wanted) con mi mano, sino tocar la chose meme (with my hand to touch her thing); and I was very near it, and made her undress her head and set disheveled all night, sporting till two in the morning; and so away to my lodging, almost cloyed with this dalliance, and so to bed. ….” [ Duncan Grey translation] http://www.pepys.info/bits2.html
cgs • Link
sport: not this meaning:
1660 S. PEPYS Diary 19 Sept. (1970) I. 248 Some of us fell to Handycapp, a sport that I never knew before.
But
!c. Lovemaking, amorous play; (also) sexual intercourse; an instance of this, an amorous exploit. Obs.
In later use freq. punning on sense 1b.
c1450 (c1400) Sowdon of Babylon (1881) l. 2087, xxxti maydens, lo..The fayrest of hem ye chese; Take your sporte.
?sporting
Not 'untin' phishin' , shootin'
adj: 1. Chiefly of a person.
but
a. Participating, or inclined to engage in recreation, amusement, or pleasure; (in later use chiefly N. Amer. slang) spec. (a) (of a woman or girl) sexually promiscuous; engaged in prostitution; (b) (chiefly of a man) inclined to gamble, esp. as a regular occupation or activity. Now rare.
See also sporting girl n. and sporting man n. at Special uses.
c1475 (
noun
It did not mean this:
c. The deviation of organisms, esp. plants, from the parent stock or type, esp. by spontaneous mutation; (also) an abnormal form or variation so produced; a sport (SPORT n.1 6a).
1827 Gardener's Mag. 2 195 Two of the varieties described, the pale pink and cluster pink, are recorded as the result of sporting.
sporting house n. a building in which sport or entertainment may be found; esp. a house of ill repute; a brothel, a gambling den.
1615 H. PARROT Mastive sig. C, Cucullus, carefull of his reputation, Chose euermore your priuat'st *sporting house.
????1600 SHAKESPEARE Henry IV, Pt. 2 IV. i. 330 Like a schoole broke vp, Each hurries toward his home, and sporting place.
cape henry • Link
"Over-fasting all the morning hath filled me mightily with wind..." This would make sporting more dicey than it might otherwise be. But after the rather odd, voyeuristic lechery of the morning, he grabs a barrel of oysters and gets down to the real business in the evening anyway. "Colique," indeed.
A. Hamilton • Link
sino tocar la chose meme
except touch the thing itself
tonyt • Link
Sam obviously found Madam Penington a fascinating woman and she does seem to have been a cut above his previous amours. Her father (mentioned in the Nov 15th diary entry) was Lord Mayor of London in 1642 and both father and mother were zealous Puritans. Her brother Isaac (half-brother I think) was a leading Quaker whose writings are still widely quoted in Quaker circles whilst another brother apparently became a Catholic priest! What an extraordinary family.
It would appear that Judith never married.
Mary • Link
Mrs Pierce, with whom he is mightily stricken.
Would that we had a picture of this astonishing woman, who seems to have been able to enchant all the gentlemen with her beauty despite years of unremitting childbearing (19 pregnancies that we know of).
cgs • Link
A few people are naturally happy and by their very presence are uplifting ,and because they radiate warmth, it gives them a beauty to behold, it is the glow that they give off , like an aroma of happiness.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Here was [Bess's] brother [Balty] come to see her, and speake with me about business. It seems my recommending of him hath not only obtained his presently being admitted into the Duke of Albemarle’s guards, and present pay"
See 19 October 1665: "I went to the Duke of Albemarle’s this evening, which I did; and among other things, spoke to him for my wife’s brother, Balty, to be of his guard...at which I am very glad, partly for him, and partly to see that I am reckoned something in my recommendations" http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Robert Gertz • Link
"It seems my recommending of him hath not only obtained his presently being admitted into the Duke of Albemarle’s guards, and present pay, but also by the Duke’s and Sir Philip Howard’s direction, to be put as a right-hand man, and other marks of special respect, at which I am very glad, partly for him, and partly to see that I am reckoned something in my recommendations, but wish he may carry himself that I may receive no disgrace by him."
"Don't worry, brother Pepys, your life and career and safely in the hands of the (if God is ever just) heir to the Sieur de St. Michel, Balthazar Marchant de St. Michel."
Think I'll go and hang myself right now...Why waste the Parliamentary investigating committee's time? Sam sighs.
Robert Gertz • Link
Heaven...
Dinner with the Pierces...
"James...To the...Second-luckiest man (cheshire cat grin to a coolly nodding...Got that right...Bess) man I ever knew." Sam raises glass.
"Nineteen pregnancies and in Sam'l's entry for today you're still enthralling a certain captain. I admit I yield, Betty." Bess sighs.
(No, we'll not go that easy route...)
"Indeed." Betty smiles. "But it was more than luck, you know. I can tell them, now, James?"
James, beaming nod.
"What?"
"James assembled me from corpses in his spare time...Though I was the brain of a girl he loved as a student. Good job for seventeenth century medical science, plus a little alchemy, eh?" Betty, fond beam on James.
"That explains a lot..." Sam nods.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"Several people to me about business, among others Captain Taylor, intended Storekeeper for Harwich"
Capt. Silas Taylor now replaced John Brown, suspended (and later dismissed) for embezzlement. He is to be distinguished from Capt. John Taylor, Navt Commissioner at Harwich. (L&M note)
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... and after the observing (God forgive me!) one or two of my neighbour Jason’s women [L&M have this as “my neighbour hermosa mohers”. P.G.] come to towne, which did please me very well, ..."
Do you think this was the local house of disrepute, and Pepys is checking out the talent?
Al Doman • Link
@San Diego Sarah: When fed "hermosa mohers" Google Translate suggests "hermosa mujeres", Spanish for "beautiful women".
If true, that doesn't shed much light on their occupation...
Charles Taylor • Link
Sometimes, when Sam gets excited, he manages to mangle several languages at once.It's quite a talent. But here only one.