Monday 26 February 1665/66

Called up about five in the morning, and my Lord up, and took leave, a little after six, very kindly of me and the whole company. Then I in, and my wife up and to visit my Lady Slaving in her bed, and there sat three hours, with Lady Jemimah with us, talking and laughing, and by and by my Lady Carteret comes, and she and I to talke, I glad to please her in discourse of Sir G. Carteret, that all will do well with him, and she is much pleased, he having had great annoyance and fears about his well doing, and I fear hath doubted that I have not been a friend to him, but cries out against my Lady Castlemaine, that makes the King neglect his business and seems much to fear that all will go to wracke, and I fear with great reason; exclaims against the Duke of Albemarle, and more the Duchesse for a filthy woman, as indeed she is.

Here staid till 9 o’clock almost, and then took coach with so much love and kindnesse from my Lady Carteret, Lady Jemimah, and Lady Slaving, that it joys my heart, and when I consider the manner of my going hither, with a coach and four horses and servants and a woman with us, and coming hither being so much made of, and used with that state, and then going to Windsor and being shewn all that we were there, and had wherewith to give every body something for their pains, and then going home, and all in fine weather and no fears nor cares upon me, I do thinke myself obliged to thinke myself happy, and do look upon myself at this time in the happiest occasion a man can be, and whereas we take pains in expectation of future comfort and ease, I have taught myself to reflect upon myself at present as happy, and enjoy myself in that consideration, and not only please myself with thoughts of future wealth and forget the pleasure we at present enjoy.

So took coach and to Windsor, to the Garter, and thither sent for Dr. Childe; who come to us, and carried us to St. George’s Chappell; and there placed us among the Knights’ stalls (and pretty the observation, that no man, but a woman may sit in a Knight’s place, where any brass-plates are set); and hither come cushions to us, and a young singing-boy to bring us a copy of the anthem to be sung. And here, for our sakes, had this anthem and the great service sung extraordinary, only to entertain us. It is a noble place indeed, and a good Quire of voices. Great bowing by all the people, the poor Knights particularly, to the Alter. After prayers, we to see the plate of the chappell, and the robes of Knights, and a man to shew us the banners of the several Knights in being, which hang up over the stalls. And so to other discourse very pretty, about the Order. Was shewn where the late [King] is buried, and King Henry the Eighth, and my Lady [Jane] Seymour. This being done, to the King’s house, and to observe the neatness and contrivance of the house and gates: it is the most romantique castle that is in the world. But, Lord! the prospect that is in the balcone in the Queene’s lodgings, and the terrace and walk, are strange things to consider, being the best in the world, sure.

Infinitely satisfied I and my wife with all this, she being in all points mightily pleased too, which added to my pleasure; and so giving a great deal of money to this and that man and woman, we to our taverne, and there dined, the Doctor with us; and so took coach and away to Eton, the Doctor with me.

Before we went to Chappell this morning, Kate Joyce, in a stage-coach going toward London, called to me. I went to her and saluted her, but could not get her to stay with us, having company.

At Eton I left my wife in the coach, and he and I to the College, and there find all mighty fine. The school good, and the custom pretty of boys cutting their names in the struts of the window when they go to Cambridge, by which many a one hath lived to see himself Provost and Fellow, that had his name in the window standing. To the Hall, and there find the boys’ verses, “De Peste;” it being their custom to make verses at Shrove-tide. I read several, and very good ones they were, and better, I think, than ever I made when I was a boy, and in rolls as long and longer than the whole Hall, by much. Here is a picture of Venice hung up given, and a monument made of Sir H. Wotton’s giving it to the College.

Thence to the porter’s, in the absence of the butler, and did drink of the College beer, which is very good; and went into the back fields to see the scholars play. And so to the chappell, and there saw, among other things, Sir H. Wotton’s stone with this Epitaph

Hic facet primus hujus sententiae Author:— Disputandi pruritus fit ecclesiae scabies.

But unfortunately the word “Author” was wrong writ, and now so basely altered that it disgraces the stone.

Thence took leave of the Doctor, and so took coach, and finely, but sleepy, away home, and got thither about eight at night, and after a little at my office, I to bed.

And an houre after, was waked with my wife’s quarrelling with Mercer, at which I was angry, and my wife and I fell out. But with much ado to sleep again, I beginning to practise more temper, and to give her her way.

35 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir G. Carteret...I fear hath doubted that I have not been a friend to him"

Surely here by "doubted" Pepys avoids repetition to say "feared" (Large Glossary).

So the clause would be: "Sir G. Carteret...I fear hath feareded that I have not been a friend to him"

Carl in Boston  •  Link

Yes, yes, .... yes... what a day. I have read many a Pepsyian entry in a dark and dreary hour, but never before have I seen such a pleasing entry. Coins dispensed on every side, the commoners gobsmacked at the manner of his coming, and staying, and going. A little raspy at the end with Elizabeth, but soon made up. This is a good one to bookmark. Six days before March 4, the day we all March Forth to sing Sam's praises and carve our names in the windowsills for a memorial. This is a good day for the Pepsyians.

JWB  •  Link

"...was waked with my wife’s quarrelling with Mercer,..."

Another Wotton fit:
"You meaner beauties of the night"

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...and not only please myself with thoughts of future wealth and forget the pleasure we at present enjoy."

Words to live by...

as are...

"But with much ado to sleep again, I beginning to practise more temper, and to give her her way."

***
So at last Mercer is having some trouble with Bess...Though odd time to start quarreling with your companion/maid. What did the mistress call for a chamber pot or something and the companion stood on her dignity of place?

Nix  •  Link

Hic facet primus hujus sententiae Author:— Disputandi pruritus fit ecclesiae scabies.

[Here lies the first Maxim of this Author:
-- An itch for disputation is the incurable disease of the church]

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle…

Michael L  •  Link

Hic facet primus hujus sententiae Author:— Disputandi pruritus fit ecclesiae scabies.

The translation is slightly off. It should instead be, "Here lies the first *author* of this *maxim*...", which makes more sense, since this is in an epitaph!

The error that Pepys alludes to is that the Latin word should be "auctor" rather than "author." It's a pretty blatant mistake, especially since "th" is a strange construction for Latin.

JWB  •  Link

Sam's just taken leave of Sandwich who is to be an "ambassador in exile" then, in turn, visits Wotton's remains-Wotton the exile turned diplomat. Preternatural coincidence's enough to infect one with that churchman's disease about which Wotton spoke in tongues.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

Auctor, auctor!

Eric Walla  •  Link

We can only hope Sam remembered through all the hard times the joy of this glorious day, when he enjoyed the heights of youth, prestige and money--and all the more importantly, his sense of place alongside a beaming Elizabeth.

cgs  •  Link

"...Hic facet primus hujus sententiae Author:— Disputandi pruritus fit ecclesiae scabies...."

facet or be it jacet.

http://anglicanhistory.org/walton…
The Life of Sir Henry Wotton
by Izaak Walton

"Hic jacet hujus sententiæ primus auctor -
Disputandi pruritus sit ecclesiarum scabies."
"Nomen alias quære."

THE ITCH OF DISPUTATION WILL PROVE
THE SCAB OF THE CHURCH.
Inquire his Name elsewhere.
transcribed by Irene C. Teas

......
And if any shall object, as I think some have, that Sir Henry Wotton was not the first author of this sentence: but that this, or a sentence like it, was long before his time; to him I answer, that Solomon says, "Nothing can be spoken, that hath not been spoken; for there is no new thing under the sun." But grant, that in his various reading he had met with this, or a like sentence, yet reason mixed with charity should persuade all Readers to believe, that Sir Henry Wotton’s mind was then so fixed on that part of the communion of Saints which is above, that an holy lethargy did surprise his memory.
....
http://met.open.ac.uk/GENUKI/big/…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the custom pretty of boys cutting their names in the struts of the window when they go to Cambridge, by which many a one hath lived to see himself Provost and Fellow, that had his name in the window standing."

L&M cite *A History of Eton College*, By H. C. Maxwell Lyte (1911). The 1877 edition, pp. 271-272, contains Pepys's text and p. 272, footnote 1 says, "The earliest date which we have noticed is 1528, but the regular series does not begin till 1564. After 1645 the names were cut on the pillars, the space on the shutters having been filled."

http://snipurl.com/cqk2k

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the boys’ verses, “De Peste;"

I.e., poetry "On the Plague" --

Pedro  •  Link

“and by and by my Lady Carteret comes, and she and I to talke …exclaims against the Duke of Albemarle, and more the Duchesse for a filthy woman, as indeed she is. “

So it is not only Lord Sandwich that sneers and rages against this pair. And now my Lady and Sam as well!

C.J.Darby  •  Link

"I do thinke myself obliged to thinke myself happy, and do look upon myself at this time in the happiest occasion a man can be, and whereas we take pains in expectation of future comfort and ease, I have taught myself to reflect upon myself at present as happy, and enjoy myself in that consideration". A lesson for us all in these times when so much care is given to material things, perhaps a moment of positive reflection should be part of each day. Thanks Sam.

JWB  •  Link

"...that an holy lethargy did surprise his memory."

Hmmm, Twain must'a read Walton. Rivermen solidarity. How do you tell the difference vs. holy & unholy lethargy? Is it whether you've got a fishing pole in hand?

Lawrence  •  Link

"Was shewn where the late [King] is buried, and King Henry the Eighth, and my Lady [Jane] Seymour"

I'm glad sam visited St. George's Chapel, I've just finised a small book that had this passage in it.

In the chapel they found that Colonel Whichcot the governor had already had a shallow grave prepared in the chancel on the south side of the communion table. This was rejected by Richmond and his friends who wished to lay their master in the vault where the bones of earlier kings were known to rest. But it was more than a hundred years since any sovereign had been buried at Windsor and some doubt existed as to the whereabouts of the vault. They found it in the end by stamping on the pavement until they heard a hollow echo. A stone was levered up and on looking into the vault below they saw a large leaden coffin still covered with the rotting of a purple pall.
On one side of it was a small coffin, and on the other space for a third. They surmised correctly that here lay King Henry VIII with his third wife Jane Seymoure, the mother of his son. there would have been room for Katerine Parr, his sixth wife and surviving widow, on the other side, but she had married again and was buried elsewhere. That left-as their further investigations showed-room for the coffin of Charles.
Taken form a book called "THE TRIAL OF CHARLES I" by C.V. WEDGWOOD.

Tom Carr  •  Link

I hope to repeat Sam's visit to Windsor castle when I visit England for the first time next month!

cgs  •  Link

"...But unfortunately the word “Author” was wrong writ, and now so basely altered that it disgraces the stone..."
Samuel, Author be rite, so wot if some one has said it before, there nutin new in this world,So I will rite it thus i be de author, 'tis me mind that did it.

A.Hamilton  •  Link

A generous description of Eton College by an Old Pauline, coming from arguably a more ancient school. Perhaps school rivalries were not as intense in the days before interscholastic athletics?

Bradford  •  Link

“[G]oing home, and all in fine weather and no fears nor cares upon me, I do thinke myself obliged to thinke myself happy, and do look upon myself at this time in the happiest occasion a man can be, and whereas we take pains in expectation of future comfort and ease, I have taught myself to reflect upon myself at present as happy, and enjoy myself in that consideration[.]”

They are not long, the days of wine and roses. . . .

Australian Susan  •  Link

Following on from Bradford - to misquote Herrick

Gather ye rosebuds whilst ye may
Rheumatism may set in any day

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Latin education at Eton

One sort of composition, however brief, seems to have been done daily. The lower forms translated English into Latin, the intermediate boys wrote themes, the seniors verses....There was a relaxation of work about Christmas time, but the boys remained at Eton: on the first of January, verses were written on the events of the previous year, a custom which continued in force till recent years, the Captain of the School composing a copy called Calendae. In January, on the 13th of the month, the "exequis" of William of Waynflete were celebrated. On Shrove Monday verses were written in praise of Father Bacchus, on long rolls of paper. Pepys alludes to this in his Diary, adding that the Shrovetide verses which he saw on a visit to Eton were "better I think than ever I made when I was a boy." -- Fasti Etonenses: A Biographical History of Eton, Selected from the Lives of Celebrated Etonians, By Arthur Christopher Benson, 1899, pp. 49-50.
https://books.google.com/books?id…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to St. George’s Chappell; and there placed us among the Knights’ stalls (and pretty the observation, that no man, but a woman may sit in a Knight’s place, where any brass-plates are set)"

Then, as now, canons -- and their wives -- occupied the knights' stalls in their absence. Nothing is known of the rule which Pepys mentions (L&M note)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"And here, for our sakes, had this anthem and the great service sung extraordinary, only to entertain us."

L&M: I.e. the service set in a rich, contrapuntal style, with repetitions of phrases of the text.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"It is a noble place indeed"

L&M: Descriptions in Megalotti, pp. 282-3 [1669]" Celia Fiennes, Journeys (ed. Morris), pp. 274-5 [c. 1698]. Se the engravings by Hollar (c. 1663) in Elias Ashmole, Institutions, laws and ceremonies of the...Order of the Garter (1672), pp. 131+; two are reproduced in W. H. St John Hope, Windsor Castle, pl. 53.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Great bowing by all the people, the poor Knights"

L&M: The Poor Knights (now the Military Knights) were part of the foundation of the chapel. They attended services daily and prayed for the good estate of the sovereign and of the Knights of the Garter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to the King’s house, and to observe the neatness and contrivance of the house and gates: it is the most romantique castle that is in the world. "

L&M: Pepys preserved a Hollar engraving (c. 1663). of the castle PL 2972 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"The school "

I.e. the 15th-century school room known as Lower School. (L&M note)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the custom pretty of boys cutting their names in the struts of the window when they go to Cambridge"

The names of boys proceeding to Kings's College were were carved on the shutters in Lower School. Since 1645 the pillars had been used. (Per L&M note)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"in rolls as long and longer than the whole Hall, by much."

L&M: An exaggeration.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Here is a picture of Venice hung up given, and a monument made of Sir H. Wotton’s giving it to the College. "

In 1636 Sir Henry Wotton (Provost of Eton, 1624-30, ambassador to Venice under James I) had presented a large painted map of Venice by Odoardo Fialetti which until 1970 hung in College hall , with an inscription on wood recording the gift. It is now in the college picture gallery.
https://www.art.com/products/p122…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"did drink of the College beer, which is very good"

L&M: Charles II and Rupert regularly drank the college beer when at Windsor. The brewhouse was just outside the hall, and now houses inter alia the picture gallery.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"went into the back fields to see the scholars play."

L&M: The playing fields are first mentioned in 1507.

LKvM  •  Link

" . . . whereas we take pains in expectation of future comfort and ease, I have taught myself to reflect upon myself at present as happy, and enjoy myself in that consideration . . . . "
Me too. BTW, of all the beautiful places I have been to and have seen, St. George's Chapel at Windsor is by far the most impressive.

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