Wednesday 14 March 1665/66

Up, and met by 6 o’clock in my chamber Mr. Povy (from White Hall) about evening reckonings between him and me, on our Tangier business, and at it hard till toward eight o’clock, and he then carried me in his chariot to White Hall, where by and by my fellow officers met me, and we had a meeting before the Duke. Thence with my Lord Bruncker towards London, and in our way called in Covent Garden, and took in Sir John (formerly Dr.) Baber; who hath this humour that he will not enter into discourse while any stranger is in company, till he be told who he is that seems a stranger to him. This he did declare openly to me, and asked my Lord who I was, giving this reason, that he has been inconvenienced by being too free in discourse till he knew who all the company were. Thence to Guildhall (in our way taking in Dr. Wilkins), and there my Lord and I had full and large discourse with Sir Thomas Player, the Chamberlain of the City (a man I have much heard of for his credit and punctuality in the City, and on that score I had a desire to be made known to him), about the credit of our tallys, which are lodged there for security to such as should lend money thereon to the use of the Navy. And I had great satisfaction therein: and the truth is, I find all our matters of credit to be in an ill condition. Thence, I being in a little haste walked before and to the ’Change a little and then home, and presently to Trinity house to dinner, where Captain Cox made his Elder Brother’s dinner. But it seemed to me a very poor sorry dinner. I having many things in my head rose, when my belly was full, though the dinner not half done, and home and there to do some business, and by and by out of doors and met Mr. Povy coming to me by appointment, but it being a little too late, I took a little pride in the streete not to go back with him, but prayed him to come another time, and I away to Kate Joyce’s, thinking to have spoke to her husband about Pall’s business, but a stranger, the Welsh Dr. Powell, being there I forebore and went away and so to Hales’s, to see my wife’s picture, which I like mighty well, and there had the pleasure to see how suddenly he draws the Heavens, laying a darke ground and then lightening it when and where he will. Thence to walk all alone in the fields behind Grayes Inne, making an end of reading over my dear “Faber fortunae,” of my Lord Bacon’s, and thence, it growing dark, took two or three wanton turns about the idle places and lanes about Drury Lane, but to no satisfaction, but a great fear of the plague among them, and so anon I walked by invitation to Mrs. Pierces, where I find much good company, that is to say, Mrs. Pierce, my wife, Mrs. Worshipp and her daughter, and Harris the player, and Knipp, and Mercer, and Mrs. Barbary Sheldon, who is come this day to spend a weeke with my wife; and here with musique we danced, and sung and supped, and then to sing and dance till past one in the morning; and much mirthe with Sir Anthony Apsley and one Colonell Sidney, who lodge in the house; and above all, they are mightily taken with Mrs. Knipp. Hence weary and sleepy we broke up, and I and my company homeward by coach and to bed.

19 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The Hooke Folio Online

march 14. 1665/6 [ vere 1666/67 ] (The society met againe vpon summons) mr. Boyles hydrostaticks presented)
mor. Petit of the comets. The reading of which was recommended to mr Hooke and he likewise desired to giue an account of it to the company.
(virginia silkwormes pods as big as hen eggs. 4ll of them yeald 1ll of silk whereas 7ll. of the ordinary yeald noe more) seed from a bermoodas tree 8 foot high. both purging & vomiting. 3/4 of the seed oyle souerain for aches and good for common vse
(news of an Inuention to destroy ships comming from Florence)
Dr. wilkins & mr. Hook gaue account of the business of the chariotts. vizt that after great variety of tryalls they conceiued they had brought it to a good Issue, the defects found since it came to London being thought easy to be remedyd. It was one horse to draw two persons with great ease to the Riders both to him that sits in the chariot and to him that sitts ouer the horse vpon a springy saddle -
that in Plain ground 50ll pound weight descending from a pulley would draw this chariot with two persons whence he inferred that twas more easy for a horse to trauell with such a weight draught than to carry a single person. That Dr. wilkins did trauell in it and did beleiue it would make a very conuenient post chariot. It was orderd that Dr. wren & mr Hook should Ioyne in mending what might be amisse in this chariot and Indeauour to bring it to perfection.
mr. Hooke gaue some account of what Expts. he had made by weighing of bodys in a ^ /very/ deep well, and aboue ground, and that he had found noe difference in their weight in those differing places. he was orderd to bring in these Expts. in writing.
(Sr. R moray account of trying Lead oar) history of masonry).
mr. Dan Cox, account of tryalls of salts, supposes all salts originally sea salts differenced by mixtures He was vrged to goe on vigorously in soe noble a subject and to desire in it the conjunction of mr Boyle Sr R moray. mr Henshaw Dr. Goddard. mr. Hook.
(Dr. Clark about transfusion.)
Dr. Dickenson at Oxford had turned 3 or 4 ounces of water into soe much earth wthout addition) of hardning tooles in water made out of [mercury] .)
Dr. Dickenson kept a toad 6 monthes wthout food It Dyed & turnd to a gelly out of that gelly next year 2 toads. Soe kept also, which dying turned to water but produced noe more toads
(wallis tht. musick expt. were tryd at Oxon.

http://webapps.qmul.ac.uk/cell/Ho…

cgs  •  Link

"...he then carried me in his chariot to White Hall,..."
hi tech as minutes of the boys club dothe say..

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ... Mr. Povy (from White Hall) about evening reckonings between him and me, on our Tangier business, and at it hard till toward eight o’clock, ..."

One wonders what took so long and was unresolved and caused SP to duck the continuation of the meeting later in the day: it should be easy for SP's to set out his 'winnings' to date on the Tangier account and determine 50%. We do know that Povy is a poor book-keeper and accountant and SP has shown a dab hand in the past at massaging accounts when there is something to gain thereby ... or perhaps reading the diary every day has given me a C17th. cynicism about such matters.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"his credit and punctuality in the City"

"punctuality" had a more general laudatory meaning in Sam's time than it does today. OED lists several senses, of which I think the following is the closest to today's text:

3. a. Precise observance of rule or obligation; strictness in the performance of duty; scrupulousness. Now rare or arch.
1640 Howell Dodona's Gr. 169 Those that+hereafter should serve other Princes with that punctuality as Sophronio had done. 1689 D. Granville in Surtees Misc. (1858) 95, I did faithfully, and with as much punctuallity as I was able, discharge those trusts. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. x. 406 The resolution of the English at the fire, and their trustiness and punctuality elsewhere, was the general subject of conversation. 1863 A. Blomfield Mem. Bp. Blomfield II. ix. 185 Scrupulous punctuality in all his engagements.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"mr. Hooke gaue some account of what Expts. he had made by weighing of bodys in a ^ /very/ deep well, and aboue ground, and that he had found noe difference in their weight in those differing places."

This bit of Terry's excerpt from the Hooke folio (thanks Terry!) is interesting. Recall that Newton is still in his early 20s. The virtuosi, however, were already suspecting that gravity might vary according to the distance from the center of the gravitational mass. Their instrumentation was not precise enough to detect the effect in Hooke's experiment, but they were clearly thinking along the right lines. As Newton said, he stood on the shoulders of giants.

Lawrence  •  Link

"Mrs. Pierce, my wife"
Other's may remember better, but didn't Pepys joke abouth Mrs. Pierce being his wife, as she looked somewhat like, his wife? I know both Women are good looking Ladies!

Mary  •  Link

Sam really is making Povy feel the difference in their positions as regards matters of finance and accounting, isn't he? Povy has to start the day early in order to travel from Whitehall to Sam's chamber for a 6 a.m. meeting and then is dismissed later in the day when he is "a little too late" for a further meeting.

At this point Povey is a solid citizen of mature (51) years. It must be a bit galling for him to be treated thus by a chap who's nearly 20 years younger than him.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

"took two or three wanton turns about the idle places and lanes about Drury Lane, but to no satisfaction,"

Couldn't find the Muffin Man, I suppose.

Bradford  •  Link

Pepys may well have had in mind an idea of how he would waste, I mean spend, the rest of his evening by putting off Povy---though that means their business will have to be resumed later, which will take even more time than had he dispatched it now. Slighting oneself in order to slight another---that's no way to "Faber fortunae."

jeannine  •  Link

"it growing dark, took two or three wanton turns about the idle places and lanes about Drury Lane, but to no satisfaction, but a great fear of the plague among them"

It seems odd to me that Sam mulls around in spaces and places where the plague is feared and almost seems 'fearless' about getting it himself.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"he has been inconvenienced by being too free in discourse till he knew who all the company were"

Sounds to me like a good rule to follow, esp. when you're physician to the king and duke...

As for Sam's quick turn through Drury Lane, I think he was looking for some eye candy, Jeannine (or "pastry," AH?) -- something to spark the imagination -- following a strict "look, don't touch" policy.

Quite a day for our boy today! 19-20 hours of activity.

JWB  •  Link

Paul Chapin: "As Newton said, he stood on the shoulders of giants."

So Newton wrote in a letter to Hooke. Hooke was a hunchback. Was he "stickin it" to him?

cgs  •  Link

I.N.:lifted from wiki
"In 1665, he discovered the generalized binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that would later become infinitesimal calculus"

* The binomial a2 − b2 can be factored as the product of two other binomials:

a2 − b2 = (a + b)(a − b).

Australian Susan  •  Link

So punctuality as used by Sam here really means punctilious now. Thanks Paul.

I think it is rather sweet that, having been thwarted in having his family business discussion, Sam's first thought on how to kill time is to go and look at his wife's portrait.
And he has a book about his person to pass time with as well (person after my own heart - being cross at the moment that current book [Mawson's Antarctic Diaries] is too large to go in handbag for bus journey)
"..but to no satisfaction, but a great fear of the plague among them,.."
I took this to mean that the tarts would have nothing to do with a stranger - though maybe obliging regular clients - because of plague fear.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Mrs. Barbary Sheldon, who is come this day to spend a weeke with my wife"

L&M: Her stay was prolonged until 2 April, but is not much noticed in the diary. She was the niece of William Sheldon of Woolwich, in whose house Mrs Pepys had lodged during the worst months of the Plague.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Paul Chapin: "As Newton said, he stood on the shoulders of giants."

By this time the aphorism was centuries old: see Robert K. Merton. On the shoulders of giants: A Shandean postscript (The Vicennial Edition). San Diego, New York, London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/d…

Gerald Berg  •  Link

'wanton turns' What do you think he means? Finding new solicitations?

Hooke definitely resented the weight.

Mary K  •  Link

Wanton turns

Not necessarily "on the pull." Could be interpreted as "as the fancy took me." Wanton can have light-hearted, playful, frolicsome connotations. e.g. wanton tresses.

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