Tuesday 9 January 1665/66

Up, and then to the office, where we met first since the plague, which God preserve us in! At noon home to dinner, where uncle Thomas with me, and in comes Pierce lately come from Oxford, and Ferrers. After dinner Pierce and I up to my chamber, where he tells me how a great difference hath been between the Duke and Duchesse, he suspecting her to be naught with Mr. Sidney.1 But some way or other the matter is made up; but he was banished the Court, and the Duke for many days did not speak to the Duchesse at all. He tells me that my Lord Sandwich is lost there at Court, though the King is particularly his friend. But people do speak every where slightly of him; which is a sad story to me, but I hope it may be better again. And that Sir G. Carteret is neglected, and hath great enemies at work against him. That matters must needs go bad, while all the town, and every boy in the streete, openly cries, “The King cannot go away till my Lady Castlemaine be ready to come along with him;” she being lately put to bed. And that he visits her and Mrs. Stewart every morning before he eats his breakfast. All this put together makes me very sad, but yet I hope I shall do pretty well among them for all this, by my not meddling with either of their matters. He and Ferrers gone I paid uncle Thomas his last quarter’s money, and then comes Mr. Gawden and he and I talked above stairs together a good while about his business, and to my great joy got him to declare that of the 500l. he did give me the other day, none of it was for my Treasurershipp for Tangier (I first telling him how matters stand between Povy and I, that he was to have half of whatever was coming to me by that office), and that he will gratify me at 2 per cent. for that when he next receives any money. So there is 80l. due to me more than I thought of. He gone I with a glad heart to the office to write, my letters and so home to supper and bed, my wife mighty full of her worke she hath to do in furnishing her bedchamber.

21 Annotations

First Reading

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Excuse the frantic tone in my typing -- I haven't even had a chance to read today's entry, but I just found out that the 2008 Weblog Awards are once again up and running, and once again Neil Gaiman's Journal is in the lead. Are we going to let that happen? What would Sam and Elizabeth say? And, my Lord! What would "my Lord" say?

http://2008.weblogawards.org/poll…

You can vote once a day on each computer you own or can access (it tallies by IP address, I presume) until the polls close Tuesday, January 13, 10:00 p.m. GMT / 5:00 p.m. EST / 2:00 p.m. PST. So can your friends, family, co-workers, enemies, pets, etc.

Come one, come all, my Pepys. Let's get it on. We're already 9 days behind, and only have a few days to go!

And so to vote...

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"All this put together makes me very sad, but yet I hope I shall do pretty well among them for all this, by my not meddling with either of their matters."

Our Sam, the level-headed pragmatist. And indeed, as evidenced by his interaction with Gauden (and his willingness to let his "wife [be] mighty full of her worke she hath to do in furnishing her bedchamber"), he's doing very well indeed.

Michael L  •  Link

‘Pray, madam, ask the Doctor a few more questions’ (from the footnote) -- good evidence that dry British humor goes back to at least Sam's day.

cgs  •  Link

it just was "nutin'

I suspect the more modern word naughty
"...where he tells me how a great difference hath been between the Duke and Duchesse, he suspecting her to be naught with Mr. Sidney..."

c. Of food or drink: unwholesome, bad; unfit for consumption. Cf. NAUGHTY adj. 4b. Obs.
1588...
1661 S. PEPYS Diary 29 Oct. (1970) II. 203 We..would have been merry; but their wine was so naught..that we were not so.

2. a. Morally bad, immoral; wicked. Occas. also in weakened sense: naughty. Now arch. and rare.
1536...
. 1603 M. DRAYTON Barrons Wars III. iii. 49 A man as subtile, so corrupte, and naught. 1656 R. SANDERSON Serm. (1689) 487 Where the Gods are naught, who can imagine the Religion should be good.

2b. With reference to sexual behaviour: promiscuous, licentious. Cf. NOUGHT adj. 1c. Obs.
1550 Bibliotheca Eliotæ, Aquariolus,..a wyttall, that suffreth his wife to be naught.

1594 J. LYLY Mother Bombie I. i. sig. A2v, Rascall, doest thou imagine thy mistres naught of her bodie?

1617 T. MIDDLETON & W. ROWLEY Faire Quarrell V. sig. I, I say shee's naught... Your intended Bride is a whore.

2c. to be naught with: to have illicit sexual relations with, to commit adultery with. Obs.
1552...
a1641 R. MONTAGU Acts & Monuments (1642) 264 That he had, in his absence, been naught with Mariamne.

1699 T. COCKMAN tr. Cicero Offices III. xxv. 305 Upon a false Suspicion, that he had been naught with his Mother-in-law.

cgs  •  Link

democratic it ain't,all yee that come to this site add thy vote to the above awards list, oh! preety please . ... Sam has winning entries in the OED so he should be winning blog .

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Thanks to cgs for giving us the OED scoop on "naught", a new word to me. I don't understand, though, his comment "I suspect the more modern word naughty." The OED entries show that Sam was using "naught" entirely correctly according to the usage of the time.

Linda F  •  Link

Todd, Thanks for the alert, and the voting link in your entry -- voting could not be easier. Sorry to be off point and also sorry to report that Pepys has only 190 votes to Gaiman's 1,543. No time to be shy. For Sam, for Bess, and most of all, for Phil and this phenomenal site. . . .

jeannine  •  Link

The King cannot go away till my Lady Castlemaine be ready to come along with him;” she being lately put to bed…

Lady Castlemaine had given birth to a child in December. Allen Andrews in “The Royal Whore” gives a good indication of what going on while she was in Oxford and her unpopularity. I’ll gloss over the vulgar word (you can easily fill in the blank!) but the story is so funny, I thought it would bring a good background and add some dimension to Pierce’s tale.... Andrews explains

“”The five-months decent of the factious, frivolous and surprisingly dirty court was a disaster for the academicians of Oxford, though the tradesman ran to curry favor and enter debits. Anthony Wood said, ‘The greater sort of courtiers were high, proud, insolent and looked upon scholars no more than pedants or pedagogical persons…Though they were neat and gay in their apparel, yet they were very nasty and beastly, leaving at their departure their excrements in every corner, in chimneys, studies, coalhouses, cellars. Rude, rough, whoremongers; vain, empty, careless.’

Barbara Castlemaine made herself widely unpopular. Her natural shrewishness was intensified by bad temper stemming from the poor quality of her lodgings and the necessity to pass the last months of her pregnancy in such uncomfortable surroundings.

The King’s constant visits to her left the scholars in no doubt to their relationship. And after Barbara had given birth to her fifth child, George, in Merton College on December 28, 1665, the men of the gown posted a notice on her door explaining at large that it was only the privilege of her special position that kept this scold and strumpet from the ducking stool which Oxford retained for such unruly women. The notice was written in elegant Latin and Explicit English [just English follow]

The reason why she is not duck’d
Because by Caesar she is -------“

There are probably few at Oxford who will be sorry to see their uninvited guests depart!

Bryan M  •  Link

"Though they were neat and gay in their apparel, yet they were very nasty and beastly, leaving at their departure their excrements in every corner, in chimneys, studies, coalhouses, cellars. Rude, rough, whoremongers; vain, empty, careless."

Thanks for the post Jeannine. It puts some of Sam's behaviour into context.

language hat  •  Link

I tried to find the Latin version, but this early source doesn't indicate there was one:

"Denis De Repas to Sir Robert Harley, at Brampton.

1665[-6], March 8. London [...] I have sent the news to Sir Edward who will acquaint you with all ; one only which I doe not send him is about my Lady Castelmaine who being att Oxford, this pasquin was sett in the night upon her door :

The reason why she is not duck'd
Is because she is by Caesar ------.

A 1000/. was profered to any one who should discover the author.

You know that the custume of Oxford is to duck all the w-----."

"The manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Portland, preserved at Welbeck abbey," pp. 295-96
http://books.google.com/books?id=…

language hat  •  Link

Aha, I found the Latin in, of all places, the Bryn Mawr Classical Review:

"It deserves to be better known than I fancy it is that Lucan is the source of what is, for my money, the most brilliantly (mis)applied quotation from a Latin poet on record, the libel affixed to the Countess of Castlemaine's door in Merton College (the Court then being in Oxford) in January 1666:

hanc Caesare pressam a fluctu defendit onus ...

coarsely but effectively rendered

The reason why she is not ducked, Because by Caesar she is ----"
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/19…

The Lucan quote should have "defendet," not "defendit"; it's literally translated "weighed down by Caesar, its burden will defend it from the waves."
http://books.google.com/books?id=…

cgs  •  Link

thanks LH for the source

jeannine  •  Link

Language Hat, thanks for the document links. It's nice to know that the 'code of silence' prevailed and the guilt party got away with it. It would have been a waste of a thousand pounds to pay the reward as it could never repair Castlemaine’s reputation (besides where would Charles get the money anyway???). This reminds me of the saying (which I just can't seem to find or remember exactly) but basically 'why is the King running around protecting Castlemaine's reputation when she's doing nothing to protect it herself?'

JonTom in Massachusetts  •  Link

"The Lucan quote should have 'defendet,' not 'defendit';
it’s literally translated “weighed down by Caesar, its
burden will defend it from the waves.'"

Yes, LH, many thanks for the background. Can you tell us the context of the original Lucan quotation? From the comment on it as "the most brilliantly (mis)applied quotation", I assume that it was quite different from that of Charles and Castlemaine.

language hat  •  Link

Click on the second link in my last comment; it takes you to a chapter on the Lucan play (Bellum Civile) and has a translation and discussion of the whole passage.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"comes Mr. Gawden and he and I talked above stairs together a good while about his business, and to my great joy got him to declare that of the 500l. he did give me the other day"

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

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... Mr. Gawden and he and I talked above stairs together a good while about his business, ... (I first telling him how matters stand between Povy and I, that he was to have half of whatever was coming to me by that office), and that he will gratify me at 2 per cent. for that when he next receives any money. ... "

Am I right in thinking Gawden is going to write up his paperwork at 2 per cent less that reality, so Pepys can short Povy?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Pepys had heard a lot of this before from Sandwich:

Friday 17 November 1665
"As an infinite secret, my Lord tells me, the factions are high between the King and the Duke, and all the Court are in an uproare with their loose amours; the Duke of Yorke being in love desperately with Mrs. Stewart. Nay, that the Duchesse herself is fallen in love with her new Master of the Horse, one Harry Sidney, and another, Harry Savill. So that God knows what will be the end of it. And that the Duke is not so obsequious as he used to be, but very high of late; and would be glad to be in the head of an army as Generall; and that it is said that he do propose to go and command under the King of Spayne, in Flanders. That his amours to Mrs. Stewart are told the King. So that all is like to be nought among them."

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

George [Palmer] Fitzroy was born in Oxford on 28 December 1665, to Charles II and Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine. He was created Earl of Northumberland in 1674, and Duke of Northumberland in 1683.

George Fitzroy married twice, but died without issue on the 28 June, 1716 at the age of 50.

The first Duchess of Northumberland was Catherine Wheatley Lucy FitzRoy, widow of Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, a Captain in the Royal Horse Guards -- I'm guessing it was his father's wedding Elizabeth and Samuel Pepys attended in 1659/60.

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