Sunday 18 February 1665/66

(Lord’s day). Lay long in bed discoursing with pleasure with my wife, among other things about Pall’s coming up, for she must be here a little to be fashioned, and my wife hath a mind to go down for her, which I am not much against, and so I rose and to my chamber to settle several things. At noon comes my uncle Wight to dinner, and brings with him Mrs. Wight, sad company to me, nor was I much pleased with it, only I must shew respect to my uncle. After dinner they gone, and it being a brave day, I walked to White Hall, where the Queene and ladies are all come: I saw some few of them, but not the Queene, nor any of the great beauties. I endeavoured to have seen my Lord Hinchingbrooke, who come to town yesterday, but I could not. Met with Creed and walked with him a turne or two in the Parke, but without much content, having now designs of getting money in my head, which allow me not the leisure I used to have with him, besides an odde story lately told of him for a great truth, of his endeavouring to lie with a woman at Oxford, and her crying out saved her; and this being publickly known, do a little make me hate him. Thence took coach, and calling by the way at my bookseller’s for a booke I writ about twenty years ago in prophecy of this year coming on, 1666, explaining it to be the marke of the beast, I home, and there fell to reading, and then to supper, and to bed.

19 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"a booke, writ about twenty years ago in prophecy of this year coming on, 1666, explaining it to be the marke of the beast."

So transcribe L&M. The "I" in the Gutenberg version is maybe a scanning-error?

Lawrence  •  Link

"besides an odde story lately told of him for a great truth, of his endeavouring to lie with a woman at Oxford, and her crying out saved her"

Is Pepy's suggesting attempted Rape here?

cape henry  •  Link

This entry had me going along easily enough, wondering how much "fashioning" poor Pall might require and if, indeed, there were enough fashioning in London to do the job. From there to the 1666 equivalent of the Red Carpet and the stroll with Creed that Pepys only half attended before throwing the Molotov cocktail off the screen. Creed? A rapist? Then he gets in his coach and off to buy a book...

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I take it it's not John Creed, attempted rapist, but John Creed, publicly known attempted rapist, that causes Sam to "hate him a little". Couldn't the man find some poor schnook of a carpenter or laborer working for Sandwich with a pretty wife or daughter he could quietly pressure into offering favors?

Anyway, thank God the women of 17th century England have such a champion in Samuel Pepys...

***
Our Fair Paulina...

"Sam'l, in four weeks, two if she has a good ear and a nimbler mind than I remember, I shall make a court lady out of this draggle-tailed guttersnipe."

With all due respect to your dear parents...Professor St Michel-Pepys hastily notes.

"On our household budget?" Sam stares...

"Lord, no...Do I look like Christ arisen? We'll need at least fifty pounds."

"I could get Aunt Wight taken for the Queen for 50Ls."

"Do you want her winning a husband who can take her off our hands for good...Even perhaps bring something in? Or do you want your sister gracing your old age with her permanent presence?"

"You know we did have rather a good year..."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Hah! 1666, the mark of the beast, pffth!" Sam closes book with disdain.

"I don't know, Mr. P." the bookseller sighs. "That one did say the year before would be terrible visitation on the land..."

"Coincidence, my good fellow...Many a would-be prophet's salvation. I mean, just look here...'The Great City will be purged with God's fiery wrath in the year of the beast.'...Come now, we live in an age of reason, my man. No such nonsense for us...See here, "...and lo the following year will the Kingdom be brought low by its enemies."

"We do be at war, sir." the seller notes.

"And what, will the Dutch then attack our principal naval base and take our fleet in harbor? Stuff and nonsense..."

Lawrence  •  Link

Sixhundred, three score, and six, be the mark of the beast! when the terrible events of 9/11 had unfolded on the world, many of the Nostradamus sites went of line, due to the size of hits they were recieving, people then? as now? put much credence in this type of thing, and there was a rush on his Nostradamus pubilcations! http://wikipedia.org/wiki/nostrad…
I wonder if Pepy's could have abtained a copy of such books then?

Mary  •  Link

Let's hope that poor Pall rubs up a little better than Daisy Ashford's Mr. Salteena.

A.De Araujo  •  Link

"do a little make me hate him"
This from someone who a few months ago was enjoying seeing someone being raped(it is there somewhere).

Res Ipsa  •  Link

“do a little make me hate him”

And what of YOUR treatment of poor Mrs. Bagwell?

Mary  •  Link

"this being publickly known" is probably the aspect that sticks hardest in Pepys craw. The episode with Mrs. Bagwell was, so far as we know, kept 'decently' private.

Phoenix  •  Link

"to lie with a woman ..."

Perhaps he is making a distinction between cajoling, enticing, persuading,pleading and buying, which, as far as I can tell is what he has been doing, and the exercise of brutal force in pursuit of sexual gratification. Is it possible that in his time his way was playing by the rules and Creed's approach simply very bad manners?

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

FWIW, I agree with Phoenix on this. Sam clearly thinks he is following the "rules," while Creed is not. Plus, as Mary says, getting caught only worsens Sam's opinion of Creed.

jeannine  •  Link

“Lay long in bed discoursing with pleasure with my wife, among other things about Pall’s coming up, for she must be here a little to be fashioned,”

I can just picture the new 1666 reality show version of “What Not To Wear” with a total makeover of Pall. She could have her ‘before’ and ‘after’ portraits painted by Hales, a 1666 version of the transformations below!

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites…

Second Reading

mountebank  •  Link

The mention of Pall reminds me that on BBC radio at the weekend there was a repeat of "Pauline Pepys's Dowry", a pilot episode of a sitcom with Olivia Colman and David Mitchell. It was mentioned here years back: https://www.pepysdiary.com/news/2…

It's actually available on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8…

A warning though. Purists will be horrified. I found myself tutting at the way through at inaccuracies but then had to laugh at myself.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"At noon comes my uncle Wight to dinner, and brings with him Mrs. Wight, sad company to me, nor was I much pleased with it, only I must shew respect to my uncle. "

18 months ago having Uncle Wight to lunch was a big deal. I'm guessing Mrs. Wight was a daughter, or she would have been called "my aunt". I'm more interested in how Bess felt about this visit.

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Entry is well worth parsing.

Creed is no longer of interest because SP's schemes are all about making money and Creed is of no help in that. Creed's attempted rape is now publicly known so is that the reason he is of no help financially and the reason for the hate? Or, is it because he got caught that Pepys hates him?

I have also come the the conclusion the Pepys' writing plays the straight man to his life.

"sad company to me, nor was I much pleased with it"

Suzanne in MI  •  Link

I would think Samuel wouldn’t be pleased with seeing Uncle Wight regardless of who he brought with him. But he will make nice since there could still be an inheritance involved.

As for Creed, not only was he caught, but since he was at Oxford with the court could he have been trying to poach on someone else’s interest? Sam doesn’t need to have any shadow this type of scandal could throw on him as he’s trying to steer a clear course for himself amongst those rocky shores.

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