Sunday 18 March 1665/66

(Lord’s day). Up and my cold better, so to church, and then home to dinner, and so walked out to St. James’s Church, thinking to have seen faire Mrs. Butler, but could not, she not being there, nor, I believe, lives thereabouts now.

So walked to Westminster, very fine fair dry weather, but all cry out for lack of rain. To Herbert’s and drank, and thence to Mrs. Martin’s, and did what I would with her; her husband going for some wine for us. The poor man I do think would take pains if I can get him a purser’s place, which I will endeavour. She tells me as a secret that Betty Howlet of the Hall, my little sweetheart, that I used to call my second wife, is married to a younger son of Mr. Michell’s (his elder brother, who should have had her, being dead this plague), at which I am glad, and that they are to live nearer me in Thames Streete, by the Old Swan.

Thence by coach home and to my chamber about some accounts, and so to bed.

Sir Christopher Mings is come home from Hambro without anything done, saving bringing home some pipestaves for us.

25 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"St. James’s Church"

L&M transcribe "St. Jones’s Church" and say in a note it is "St. John's, Clerkenwell."

Lawrence  •  Link

"very fine fair dry weather, but all cry out for lack of rain"

We here in England, enjoy fine weather Sam, I notice the dust begins to fly up! lets hope it's not a drought this summertime?

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"To Herbert’s and drank, and thence to Mrs. Martin’s, and did what I would with her; her husband going for some wine for us."

Brazen! I wonder if the drink had anything to do with it.

cgs  •  Link

dinae stave in thy wine barrel???
lifted from OED

pipe stave n. now hist. each of the staves which are hooped together to make a cask.c1580
.
1666 London Gaz. No. 45/1, Four Vessels laden with Pipe~staves from Hamburgh, for the use of the Navy.
pipe, n.2
[< Anglo-Norman and Old French pipe a measure of liquid (a1278 in Old French), a barrel (1306), spec. use of pipe (see PIPE n.1). Compare post-classical Latin pipa (frequently 1212-1469 in British sources in this sense: see PIPE n.1). Compare also Old Occitan pipa (1376 or earlier; Occitan pipa), Catalan pipa (13th cent.), Spanish pipa (1402), Portuguese pipa (1152), all in sense ‘a barrel for storing liquid, esp. wine’, and also Italian pippa (1598 in Florio in sense ‘a measure of liquid’).]

1. A large container of definite capacity for storing solids or liquids, such as meat, fish, or oil. Now: spec. a large cask for storing wine or cider. {dag}pipe and puleyn n. Obs. rare (perh.) some kind of customary rent.
1313-14 ...
1640 Connecticut Rec. I. 448 One chese presse, old hogsheads & a pype. 1682 Art & Mystery of Vintners 78 Then have you Galliack Wines in Pipes and Hogsheads.

2. The contents of a pipe; a liquid (or solid) measure, esp. of wine, equal to the capacity of a pipe.
Typically equal to two hogsheads or 63 wine gallons (105 imperial gallons, approx. 477 litres), but varying with the substance or the kind of wine. Sometimes identified with BUTT n.2 1.
1352-3

stave n 1
I. A stick of wood (and senses thence derived).

1. a. Each of the thin, narrow, shaped pieces of wood which, when placed together side by side and hooped, collectively form the side of a cask, tub or similar vessel. (Cf. STAFF n.1 14f.)

tg  •  Link

Another interesting day for Sam and us concerning his appetite for women. First he goes out and stalks the church hoping to find Mrs. Butler; then over to Mrs. Martin for a quick grope while her hapless husband goes for wine, and ending with the happy news that his little sweetheart whom he used to call his "second wife", newly married Betty Howlet, now lives nearby. Another trophy in his gallery of mistresses.

Mary  •  Link

mistresses?

That classes them a bit high. Doxies, I should have said.(Roughly the equivalent of today's 'fancy woman').

language hat  •  Link

"Roughly the equivalent of today’s ‘fancy woman’"

I don't think I've ever heard the term; is it current in the UK?

Rod McCaslin  •  Link

Actually, a dry March was considered a good omen as it predicted a wet April and a good harvest. I believe the proverb went something like- A peck of dust in March is worth a king's ransom. Chaucer refers to this bit of folk wisdom in the Prologue of Canterbury Tales.

Ruben  •  Link

"and thence to Mrs. Martin’s, and did what I would with her; her husband going for some wine for us. The poor man I do think would take pains if I can get him a purser’s place, which I will endeavour."
May be Mr. Martin knows exactly how much time he has to take "to get some wine" and no less?
We will never know.

Mary  •  Link

"fancy woman"

(also "fancy man") Slightly old-fashioned expressions but well recognised in England. "Bit on the side" (for both sexes) would probably be a more current expression: not an established mistress/lover or what-you-will but someone who is 'entertained' on an occasional basis outside the domestic setting.

Both expressions are mildly derogatory and would be regarded as rather 'common' in point of social classification by speech.

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

OED entry on fancy, adjective and noun, has this to say:
"fancy-woman, a kept mistress"

Of course, there are different classes of mistress, cf. Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Martin, and "fancy woman" would not appear to apply to Mrs. Williams.

cgs  •  Link

As Divorce be Taboo, many a relationship was not 'churched', none the less households were kept in open secret like they have been bless by religious law. There be no rule or law, for such relationships except that the couple had their own balance, some be totally one sided, autocratic, some be totally democratic, some be despotic in other words the situation would run the whole gamut of human behaviour.

Fancy woman be common English term back in 40's for a woman that supplied extra curricular activities for an unsatisfied male that kept a churched wife.

The male and female cohabitation has a rich and varied history, some be sanctioned called marriage by the betters, hoping for stability to raise the next generation but has yielded very little success of long term pairing, long enough to raise the begotted to maturity.

Jesse  •  Link

"my second wife"

I think a 'fancy woman' who 'supplied [the] extra curricular activities for an unsatisfied male' fits well. The keeping a 'churched wife' part though perhaps redundant ;) helps in this case.

If you don't know the current version of 'fancy woman' you're probably better off.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Ralph Josselin's Diary today

"cold dry time...."

cgs  •  Link

bliss of the wedded kind: living in sin be another term for those that share the pallias for lengthy period without benefit of religious or temporal blessings .

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Spoiler...

Tomalin follows in some detail Sam's upcoming campaign against poor Betty Mitchell but at this time his allusions to the "second wife" nickname were...fairly...innocent.

***
Interesting how Sam seems to take it for granted that men like Martin and Bagwell will make little or no protest at his "activities". Of course we may not be getting the full scenes of artful dodging and panicky attempts to look normal as hubby M or B returns. All-in-all though, Bagwell seems a more calculating, rather coldly ambitious young fellow (hmmn...rather like a certain clerk we know who would never offend a lecherous uncle) compared to Martin who seems the lesser partner in his marriage to the capable Betty.

Interesting also is Betty Pierce as compared to the others...Sam never records even a real attempt at her as yet to my recollection-although she's as independent a woman as Betty Martin nee Lane and obviously she enjoys his company something about her manner clearly says "nothing doing" to him.

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

something about her manner clearly says “nothing doing” to him.

Robert, this brings to my mind the Martial poem Sam quoted after an early sexual adventure, "Nulla puella negat." Martial explains that of course there are many virtuous women, but even so, they don't say no. They have, it would appear, mastered the art of conveying "nothing doing" without having to say it.

cgs  •  Link

Nulla puella negat
Tuesday 4 September 1660
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ma…
LXXI


Quaero diu totam, Safroni Rufe, per urbem,
Si qua puella neget: nulla puella negat.
Tamquam fas non sit, tamquam sit turpe negare,
Tamquam non liceat: nulla puella negat.
5

Casta igitur nulla est? sunt castae mille: quid ergo
Casta facit? non dat, non tamen illa negat.
http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch…

M. Valerii Martialis
Epigrammaton Liber IV
e-lectorum in usum edidit
Michael Hendry 2007 http://www.curculio.org/Martial/M…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Of course it may be as simple as the fact that Sam realizes James Pierce, court physician, is not likely to take such an act as a cheap grope of his wife well...Still Betty Pierce gives a distinct air of liking Sam immensely but not tolerating anything beyond minor flirtation. And of being quite able to handle Samuel Pepys without James' assist... Perhaps it may suggest that Sam waits for a definite "go-ahead" or encouragement in most cases except where he is sure of being able to completely intimidate his victim's family as well as the victim (Ms. Tooker and family, the Bagwells for examples).

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"Perhaps it may suggest that Sam waits for a definite “go-ahead” or encouragement in most cases except where he is sure of being able to completely intimidate his victim’s family as well as the victim (Ms. Tooker and family, the Bagwells for examples)."

I think that's exactly right. Asymmetrical power has much to do with Sam's affairs d'amour...

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir Christopher Mings is come home from Hambro without anything done, saving bringing home some pipestaves for us."

L&M: Myng's squadron had arrived in the Downs on the 13th escorting six of the Hamburg fleet -- fewer than were expected. Earlier in the month, there had been reports on the Exchange that he had taken 14 Dutch ships: CSPD 1665-6.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Evidently writing out those Vowes doesn't work as well as it used to. It's not the beginning of the month so they should be in force; let's see if he puts money in the Poor Box for drinking and Mrs. Martin.

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