Wednesday 7 March 1665/66

Up betimes, and to St. James’s, thinking Mr. Coventry had lain there; but he do not, but at White Hall; so thither I went and had as good a time as heart could wish, and after an houre in his chamber about publique business he and I walked up, and the Duke being gone abroad we walked an houre in the Matted Gallery: he of himself begun to discourse of the unhappy differences between him and my Lord of Sandwich, and from the beginning to the end did run through all passages wherein my Lord hath, at any time, gathered any dissatisfaction, and cleared himself to me most honourably; and in truth, I do believe he do as he says. I did afterwards purge myself of all partiality in the business of Sir G. Carteret, (whose story Sir W. Coventry did also run over,) that I do mind the King’s interest, notwithstanding my relation to him; all which he declares he firmly believes, and assures me he hath the same kindnesse and opinion of me as ever. And when I said I was jealous of myself, that having now come to such an income as I am, by his favour, I should not be found to do as much service as might deserve it; he did assure me, he thinks it not too much for me, but thinks I deserve it as much as any man in England. All this discourse did cheer my heart, and sets me right again, after a good deal of melancholy, out of fears of his disinclination to me, upon the differences with my Lord Sandwich and Sir G. Carteret; but I am satisfied throughly, and so went away quite another man, and by the grace of God will never lose it again by my folly in not visiting and writing to him, as I used heretofore to do. Thence by coach to the Temple, and it being a holyday, a fast-day, there ’light, and took water, being invited, and down to Greenwich, to Captain Cocke’s, where dined, he and Lord Bruncker, and Matt. Wren, Boltele, and Major Cooper, who is also a very pretty companion; but they all drink hard, and, after dinner, to gaming at cards. So I provoked my Lord to be gone, and he and I to Mr. Cottle’s and met Mrs. Williams (without whom he cannot stir out of doors) and there took coach and away home. They carry me to London and set me down at the Temple, where my mind changed and I home, and to writing and heare my boy play on the lute, and a turne with my wife pleasantly in the garden by moonshine, my heart being in great peace, and so home to supper and to bed. The King and Duke are to go to-morrow to Audly End, in order to the seeing and buying of it of my Lord Suffolke.

19 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"So I provoked my Lord to be gone"

"provoked"

"urged" (L&M Select Glossary).

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"it being a holyday, a fast-day"

For the Plague.

Carl in Boston  •  Link

and so went away quite another man, and by the grace of God will never lose it again by my folly in not visiting and writing to him, as I used heretofore to do.
Rather a long thought, about not biting the hand that feeds you, and being reconciled, much as the hand deserves a good bite. Hard to observe, hard to take in, but Sam did it, and .... and ... and ... hard to say to the world ... this is a good thought. Period.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"Thence by coach to the Temple, and it being a holyday, a fast-day, there ‘light, and took water, being invited, and down to Greenwich, to Captain Cocke’s, where dined"

So it's a fast-day at the Temple, but not at Greenwich? Maybe because Greenwich didn't get hit (so hard) by the plague? Or are Sam and company simply ignoring the fast?

Lawrence  •  Link

"and a turne with my wife pleasantly in the garden by moonshine"
I know we've been over this one in the past, sam sharing almost the same moon phases as us, his full moon will be on the 10th, and ours, the 11th of this month, I also was walking by brave moon light last night, and couldn't, help feeling closer to Sam, knowing that although centries apart, we both had gazed at the queen of the night, though I only caught glimes through the clouds at mine!

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...'a very pretty companion'..."

I wonder if Major Cooper is pleased to be so remembered for Posterity.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...a turne with my wife pleasantly in the garden by moonshine, my heart being in great peace..."

I presume our boy, heart much eased, chose not to return to Greenwich to Cocke's by boat (light at Temple as before) and instead went home to enjoy some peace and quiet with Bess. Nice reflection on what he gets or expects to get from her.

Fortunately she wasn't in rage at Mercer or one of the other maids...

Ah, the joy of returning to my peaceful home and my beautiful, gentle...

"Sam'l!!!!" Bess, ttriding angrily his way.

"Darling?"

"You must find me another maid. I've fired that wicked girl, Susan!!! She's been telling lies about my giving money to my brother and parents again...And telling the others I favor Tom Edwards!!!!"

"Hello, Tommy." she nods kindly to Tom standing by Sam... "Milk and supper for you in the kitchen."

Kiss to Sam as he watches Tom head off...

"Sam'l?!!! You did hear me?!!! You must warn that girl not to spread such tales!!!"

"Bess, it doesn't sound so..."

"Lies!!!! Lies!!!! How can you believe such a girl?!!! My darling, you doubt me?!!!"

"Bess, you know I'd never begrudge you a few..."

"OHHH!!!..." sobs...

"I didn't mean it that way, Bess."

"Let me be!!! Oh, my husband has no faith in me!!! Will you believe now that I flirt with every dancing master in town as well?!!!"

"I'll be in my office...See you at supper, dearest."

"Sam'l?! Sam'l!!!! Where are you going?!!! I'll come with you, we must talk! Sam'l?!!! Are you listening to me?!!!"

Sam covering ears as he walks, Bess chasing him...

If I hurried I could make the next boat for Greenwich...

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Audley End

This was the family seat of the Barons Braybrooke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baro… , where Richard Griffin, 3rd Baron Braybrooke (1783-1858) would edit the the edition of *The Diary of Samuel Pepys* used on this site (see the bottom of p. 6). http://snipurl.com/da5yq

JWB  •  Link

Audley End

Wikipedia: "After the war, the ninth Lord Braybrooke resumed possession, and in 1948 the house was sold to the Ministry of Works, the predecessor of English Heritage. Lord Braybrooke moved to the Abbey House in the grounds of Audley End, an irregular L-shaped two-storey house with an early 17th timber-framed..."

Called to mind Wordsworth's "London, 1802":
"...the heoric wealth of hall and bower
Have forfeited their ancient English dower..."

Terry Foreman  •  Link

John Evelyn's Diary

7 March, 1666.
Dr. Sancroft, since Archbishop of Canterbury,
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will… ]
preached before the King about the identity and immutability of God, on Psalm cii. 27. [ Ps 102:27 But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end. ]

[On the occasion of the fast.]

cape henry  •  Link

"...he of himself begun to discourse..." This is heady stuff when you take in this whole passage.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"So it’s a fast-day at the Temple, but not at Greenwich? Maybe because Greenwich didn’t get hit (so hard) by the plague? Or are Sam and company simply ignoring the fast?"

I think "fast days" didn't necessarily mean you didn't eat at all -- rather, I think you were supposed to avoid red meat and perhaps other foodstuffs (perhaps someone with more authoritative knowledge can help out here?) ... certainly, Sam has not adhered strictly to fasts in the past.

Australian Susan  •  Link

I thought the fast was just for the City of London and therefore Greenwich was exempt?

As well as " pretty" not meaning what we mean by it nowadays, naughty didn't either, so I can call RG naughty with impunity. In the 21st century. Naughty man.

And different again from James Naughtie, whose gh is Scots.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I don't know...My wife says I'm a very pretty man though only somewhat naughty.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

“So it’s a fast-day at the Temple, but not at Greenwich?

"... The fast to be observed within the cities of London and Westminster and places adjacent, on Wednesday the twelfth of this instant July, and both there and in all parts of this realm on the first Wednesday in every month during the visitation”
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Greenwich would appear to be located "in all parts of this realm."

cgs  •  Link

Naught[y] as per OED has some choice meanings back in the good old days, naught meaning zero or

2. a. Wickedness, evil, moral wrong. Cf. NOUGHT pron. 3b. Obs.
naught-fremend n. [< NAUGHT n. + FREME v. + -END suffix1] evildoer.
In early modern use chiefly in to do (also play the) naught. In quots. 1594 and 1597 spec. with reference to adultery (cf. sense C. 2c.).
eOE ÆLFRED

b. A thing of no worth or value. Obs. rare.
1340

c. Something wrong or faulty in method. Obs.
1557
d. An evil or wicked thing. Also: a bad or wicked person. Obs.
a1639

1657 J. TRAPP Comm. Esther vii. 7 Unlesse it be Harang, that naughtiest of all naughts. 1855 E. C. GASKELL North & South I. xviii. 223 The law expenses would have been more than the hands themselves were worth{em}a set of ungrateful naughts!

3. a. The figure or character 0, representing zero; = NOUGHT pron. 4. Now chiefly U.S.
1649

etc ...

only in recent times bar the Antipodes has the word naughty lost its strength of evil.
[ c. orig. and chiefly Austral. and N.Z. An act of sexual intercourse.]
1959
c. to be naught with: to have illicit sexual relations with, to commit adultery with. Obs.
1552 H. LATIMER Serm. & Remains (1845) 30 His mistress, perceiving his beauty,..would have him to be naught with her. 1606 P. HOLLAND tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 3 But her afterward hee divorced, suspecting that she had beene naught with P. Clodivs.

Australian Susan  •  Link

"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world."
Merchant of Venice v - 1 - 80-81 - spoken by Portia who was thinking of something much much stronger than nursery misdemenours, which the word evokes nowadays, reducing Portia to a sort of nannyish finger wagger.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"The King and Duke are to go to-morrow to Audly End, in order to the seeing and buying of it of my Lord Suffolke."

L&M: They went with Prince Rupert and spent the rest of the week there: London Gazette, 12 March. The warrant to execute the conveyances [the contracts for transferring title] was not issued until 8 May 1669. When the house was returned to the Earls of Suffolk in 1701 two-thirds of the purchase price of £50,000 was still unpaid: W. Addison, Audley End, p. 52.

Conveyancing in England and Wales at the present time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Con…

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