Sunday 1 April 1666

(Lord’s day). Up and abroad, and by coach to Charing Cross, to wait on Sir Philip Howard; whom I found in bed: and he do receive me very civilly. My request was about suffering my wife’s brother to go to sea, and to save his pay in the Duke’s guards; which after a little difficulty he did with great respect agree to. I find him a very fine-spoken gentleman, and one of great parts, and very courteous. Much pleased with this visit I to White Hall, where I met Sir G. Downing, and to discourse with him an houre about the Exchequer payments upon the late Act, and informed myself of him thoroughly in my safety in lending 2000l. to Sir W. Warren, upon an order of his upon the Exchequer for 2602l. and I do purpose to do it.

Thence meeting Dr. Allen, the physician, he and I and another walked in the Parke, a most pleasant warm day, and to the Queene’s chappell; where I do not so dislike the musique. Here I saw on a post an invitation to all good Catholiques to pray for the soul of such a one departed this life.

The Queene, I hear, do not yet hear of the death of her mother, she being in a course of physique, that they dare not tell it her.

At noon by coach home, and there by invitation met my uncle and aunt Wight and their cozen Mary, and dined with me and very merry. After dinner my uncle and I abroad by coach to White Hall, up and down the house, and I did some business and thence with him and a gentleman he met with to my Lord Chancellor’s new house, and there viewed it again and again and up to the top and I like it as well as ever and think it a most noble house. So all up and down my Lord St. Albans his new building and market-house, and the taverne under the market-house, looking to and again into every place of building, and so away and took coach and home, where to my accounts, and was at them till I could not hold open my eyes, and so to bed.

I this afternoon made a visit to my Lady Carteret, whom I understood newly come to towne; and she took it mighty kindly, but I see her face and heart are dejected from the condition her husband’s matters stand in. But I hope they will do all well enough. And I do comfort her as much as I can, for she is a noble lady.

27 Annotations

First Reading

Lawrence  •  Link

"The Queene, I hear, do not yet hear of the death of her mother, she being in a course of physique, that they dare not tell it her"
Well the queen is 28, I suppose this treatment will help her fall pregnant, but odd that it's marked up on posts, for prays, yet she hasn't been told, what a way to treat her?

cape henry  •  Link

"I find him a very fine-spoken gentleman, and one of great parts, and very courteous." Then, of course, he did what Pepys requested. I take the phrase "to save his pay" to indicate that Balty will be double dipping while at sea. Very nice, if true.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

John Evelyn's Diary

ist April, 1666. To London, to consult about ordering the natural rarities belonging to the repository of the Royal Society; was referred to a Committee.

Firenze  •  Link

Right, I count three meetings in the morning, interspersed with walking and sight-seeing; a social lunch, more traipsing round grand houses, visit to Lady C, home and a long evening doing hard sums.

Given the average 21st C urban working day is a commute, 7 or 8 hours in and around the same desk, maybe a hurried excursion round a few streets, commute again home - it's an extraordinarily active and diverse existence with no apparent compartmentalisation.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"After dinner my uncle and I abroad by coach to White Hall, up and down the house..."

"So, Nephew...No chance your wife might have reconsidered my humorous little proposal earlier? Uh, strictly as a whimsical measure, you understand?"

JWB  •  Link

"So all up and down my (Lord) St. Albans..."

Do you suppose the phrase "perfidious Albion"(1st noted 13th C.) arose from St. Alban(3rd C.) perfidiously donning the cleric's robes? Or that it caught on, resonated, because of the similiar sound and sense- Perfidious Alban, Perfidious Albion?

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"Perfidious Albion"
Methinks it has to do with the white cliffs of Dover.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"... to wait on Sir Philip Howard; whom I found in bed: and he do receive me very civilly."

Must an interesting way to wake up, finding Sam Pepys at your bedside importuning you about his brother-in-law.

"Ah, Pepys. Lovely to see you."

"Uh...Sir Philip...And...Pray excuse me..."

"Nonsense, Pepys. Join us."

"Please do..."

A. Hamilton  •  Link

JWB
Interesting speculation, esp. given the Gaelic root of Albion which is Alban in the genitive. But the OED says "la perfide Albion" is from the Napoleonic era and relates to British continental policy. If memory serves, Charles Montague Doughty in an epic poem about an aerial invasion of Britain by Germans in Zeppelins -- either The Clouds (1909) or The Cliffs (1912) -- has the lieutenant of the watch in the lead airship point to the approaching Cliffs of Dover and declaim, "Behold, my Commandant, Perfidious Albion."
Here is the OED for "Albion":

Albion

... [OE. Albion, f. L. Albion, ... :—Celtic *Albio, gen. *Albionis, whence Ir.-Gael. Alba, gen. Alban Scotland (cf. med.L. Albania: see Albanian a.1); usu. referred to *albho- (L. albus) white, the allusion being to the white cliffs of Britain.]

Great Britain. Phr. perfidious Albion, rendering F. la perfide Albion, a rhetorical expression for ‘England’, with reference to her alleged treacherous policy towards foreigners.
The phr. ‘la perfide Albion’ is said to have been first used by the Marquis de Ximenès (1726–1817) (N. & Q. (1932) CLXII. 107/2).

"c900 tr. Bæda's Hist. (1890) I. i. 24 Breoton is garsecges ealond, ðæt wæs iu geara Albion haten." "c1205 Layamon's Brut (1847) 1243 Albion hatte þat lond." "1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 5 Firste þis ilond hi¼te Albion, as it were þe white lond." "c1399 Chaucer Purse l. 22 in Wks. (1894) I. 406 O conquerour of Brutes Albioun." "a1592 Greene Fr. Bacon (1594) sig. E2v, As if that Edward gaue me Englands right, And richt me with the Albion diadem." "1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI i. iii. 48 Is this the Gouernment of Britaines Ile? And this the Royaltie of Albions King?" "1605 I Lear iii. ii. 91 Then shal the Realme of Albion, come to great confusion." "[1653 J. Bossuet Œuvres (1816) XI. 469 L'Angleterre, ah! la perfide Angleterre, que le rempart de ses mers rendoit inaccessible aux Romains.] " "1713 Pope Windsor-For. 5 When Albion sends her eager Sons to War." "1757 Gray Progr. Poesy ii. st. iii in Odes 9 When Latium had her lofty spirit lost, They sought, oh Albion! next thy sea-encircled coast." "1841 W. M. Thackeray in Fraser's Mag. June 711/2 Ferocious yells of hatred against perfidious Albion were uttered by the liberal French press." "[1846 R. Ford Gatherings fr. Spain iv. 37 If there be a thing which ‘La perfide Albion’, ‘a nation of shopkeepers’, dislikes,+it is a bankrupt.] " "1850 Wordsw. Prel. (1926) x. 239 Since I had seen the surge Beat against Albion's shore." "1903 A. McNeill Egregious English 11 The French dislike of perfidious Albion may be reckoned to a great extent an intermittent matter." "1941 H. G. Wells You can't be too Careful iii. viii. 146 There I was—a lovely crossing—saying Adieu to the white cliffs of Albion." "1958 Observer 18 May 9/4 He [sc. General de Gaulle] felt it to be essential+that he should maintain a proud and haughty demeanour towards ‘perfidious Albion’."

Albatross  •  Link

"informed myself of him thoroughly in my safety in lending 2000l. to Sir W. Warren, upon an order of his upon the Exchequer for 2602l."

Am I mistaken, or has Sam just arranged a 30% return on a short term investment? Could someone let me know how I could invest in Seventeenth-Century nautical futures?

Nix  •  Link

Albatross -- There were plenty of risks of the investment to justify a 30% discount:

The Exchequer was tapped out. They were at war, struggling to raise money. Population and economic activity were sapped by the plague. The burghers weren't necessarily eager to raise taxes. Since they were on the gold standard, they couldn't print their way out of debt. The Exchequer may have had some offsetting claims against Warren (follow the link on Warren's name to see some of the complications).

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Ah, 'twas impolitic, not to say ambiguous, to suggest that Albion's been perfidious that long. Shoulda writ "Perfidious Albion" goes back to the 13th c.

djc  •  Link

“informed myself of him thoroughly in my safety in lending 2000l. to Sir W. Warren, upon an order of his upon the Exchequer for 2602l.”

I take this to mean that Pepys is advancing 2000 cash to Warren and has as security the IOU Warren has from the Exchequer (the Exchequer owing Warren 2602),

cgs  •  Link

profit is always a nice enticement to risk thy stash of coin.

“informed myself of him thoroughly in my safety in lending 2000l. to Sir W. Warren, upon an order of his upon the Exchequer for 2602l.”

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Much pleased with this visit I to White Hall, where I met Sir G. Downing, and to discourse with him an houre about the Exchequer payments upon the late Act, and informed myself of him thoroughly in my safety in lending 2000l. to Sir W. Warren, upon an order of his upon the Exchequer for 2602l. and I do purpose to do it."

"You Did What?!!!" Bess, screaming...

Sam quickly dropping attempted pose as intrepid financial genius/pioneer.

GrahamT  •  Link

Terry,
"Perfidious England" (la perfide Angleterre) goes back to the 13th C., but it only became "Perfidous Albion" (la perfide Albion) in the 18th C. Wikipedia agrees with the OED in this. Even if it didn't agree, I would still trust the OED over Wikipedia, useful as it sometimes is.

cgs  •  Link

another version recorded by Edward Latham - 1906 - Quotations - 318 pages
L'Angleterre, ah ! la perfide Angleterre. (England, ah ! perfidious England.) JACQUES BOSSUET (1627,1704) — in his first sermon on the Circumcision ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

GrahamT, point taken.

In a related vein, why always "perfide" (perfidious)?! The attribution of some traits endures. Has the tradition of mistrust ever fully disappeared?

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"Has the tradition of mistrust ever fully disappeared?"

Nor from the English side either, as revealed by the infamous saying "Wogs start at Calais." Or maybe that's disdain rather than mistrust.

Stacia  •  Link

What specifically would a "course of physique" consist of? I presume it's something to increase her health and constitution, but beyond that I can't find anything to indicate what it would entail.

Bradford  •  Link

Stacia: Under professional surveillance, the Queen is taking a particular medicine for a set length of time---much as nowadays we are prescribed an antibiotic and told to take it till all the pills are gone.

When Pepys uses this phrase about himself, he's usually going to take a round of laxatives.

Mary  •  Link

the Queen and physic.

There were rumours in the early months of 1666 that Catherine had suffered a miscarriage. Clarendon recorded such a rumour, though he also reported that Charles considered that this had been a false, rather than a true, pregnancy.

However, it is possible that the aftermath of this 'miscarriage' was the reason for the Queen taking a course of physic at this time.

Laura  •  Link

I agree with Mary. Queen Catherine had suffered from previous miscarriages, and as we know was never able produce a male heir (causing her much grief). At this point in time, it was believed that the Queen was pregnant and thus the news was witheld from her on the belief that it would cause her to miscarry. Some historians believe that Catherine did indeed suffer a miscarriage after hearing news of her monther's death.

Pedro  •  Link

Queen Catarina.

I think that there are four biographies of Catherine that can be considered reasonable. (Jeannine may put me right if I am wrong)

The first is Agnes Strickland and then, probably the best, by Cambell-Davidson. There are two Portuguese biographies by Virginia Rau and Casimiro but they draw heavily on Davidson, adding some extra interpretation. As the period of interest is in England then factual interpretation is taken from Davidson.

While in Oxford, Catherine had told Charles that he might hope for a child. He left in January and wanted Catherine to stay 2 or 3 weeks so that London would be less affected by the plague. Catherine wanted to follow him and made preparations, but suffered a miscarriage that kept her there until February 16th.

The doctors in attendance said that the sex of the expectant infant could have been judged, but some of the women swore to the King that it was all a mistake and that she could not have been pregnant.

“It is impossible to doubt that this was a part of a plot by Castlemaine herself, or her partisans.” (Davidson)

(Castlemaine, at the same time had bore a son that Charles acknowledged.)

When the news arrived of her mother’s death on March 28th her doctors thought that it was not advisable to tell her at once and kept it from her for several days.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I met Sir G. Downing, and to discourse with him an houre about the Exchequer payments upon the late Act, and informed myself of him thoroughly in my safety in lending 2000l. to Sir W. Warren, upon an order of his upon the Exchequer for 2602l."

The Act for an Additional Aid of £1 1/4 m. (17 Car. II c.i passed on 31 October) would be “a new venture in English public finance” (L&M) in which bills would be paid by the Exchequer on credit. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"So all up and down my Lord St. Albans his new building and market-house, and the taverne under the market-house, looking to and again into every place of building."

L&M: St Albans had been engaged since 1662 in developing the area north of Pall Mall and west of the modern Lower Regent Street. It included several streets, a 'Piazza' (the modern St James's Square) and, after 1665, a large house for St Albans himself in the south-east corner. There was by 1664 a covered market to the east of the square. This development was one of the principal building projects of the time, similar to that carried out by the Earl of Southampton to Bloomsbury. St Albans was one of the main creators of the modern West End. See http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
See C.L. Kingsford, Early hist. Piccadilly, pp. 94+; Survey of London, vols xxix and xxx. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

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