Monday 11 June 1666

Up, and down by water to Sir W. Warren’s (the first time I was in his new house on the other side the water since he enlarged it) to discourse about our lighters that he hath bought for me, and I hope to get 100l. by this jobb. Having done with him I took boat again (being mightily struck with a woman in a hat, a seaman’s mother, —[Mother or mauther, a wench.]— that stood on the key) and home, where at the office all the morning with Sir W. Coventry and some others of our board hiring of fireships, and Sir W. Coventry begins to see my pains again, which I do begin to take, and I am proud of it, and I hope shall continue it. He gone, at noon I home to dinner, and after dinner my father and wife out to the painter’s to sit again, and I, with my Lady Pen and her daughter, to see Harman; whom we find lame in bed. His bones of his anckle are broke, but he hopes to do well soon; and a fine person by his discourse he seems to be and my hearty [friend]; and he did plainly tell me that at the Council of War before the fight, it was against his reason to begin the fight then, and the reasons of most sober men there, the wind being such, and we to windward, that they could not use their lower tier of guns, which was a very sad thing for us to have the honour and weal of the nation ventured so foolishly.

I left them there, and walked to Deptford, reading in Walsingham’s Manual, a very good book, and there met with Sir W. Batten and my Lady at Uthwayt’s. Here I did much business and yet had some little mirthe with my Lady, and anon we all come up together to our office, where I was very late doing much business. Late comes Sir J. Bankes to see me, and tells me that coming up from Rochester he overtook three or four hundred seamen, and he believes every day they come flocking from the fleete in like numbers; which is a sad neglect there, when it will be impossible to get others, and we have little reason to think that these will return presently again.

He gone, I to end my letters to-night, and then home to supper and to bed.

26 Annotations

First Reading

Robert Gertz  •  Link

No word on Bess during these momentous times, is she still off with Pall and John, Sr.?

Spoiler...

During the Medway disaster and the danger of the Parliamentary hearings, Sam mentions her presence or absence frequently.

cgs  •  Link

mauther... not in OED
a guess.
mawther, n.
mother, 16 modhdher, 16 mothther, 16- mauther, 16- modher, 17- mawther, 18- maadhur, 18- morther, 18- motha.{beta}. 18- maur, 18- mau'r, 18- maw, 18- maw'r, 18- mo', 18- mohr, 18- mor, 18- more.

A girl or young woman.
{alpha} 1440 Promp. Parv. (Harl. 221) 341 Moder, servaunte or wenche, carisia.
...1612 B. JONSON Alchemist IV. vii. 23 Away, you talke like a foolish Mauther. 1674 J. RAY S. & E. Country Words 72 A Modher or Modder, Mothther; a girle or young wench: used all over the Eastern part of England.

Terry W  •  Link

Mawther
Meaning a girl or young woman was still in common use in the county of Suffolk (Eastern England) when my mother was a girl there in the 1920s and 30s.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

mention of Bess

"after dinner my father and wife out to the painter’s to sit again"

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Ah, missed it. Strange Bess and John aren't worried commenting, even to Sam's annoyance.

***

"...the first time I was in his new house on the other side the water since he enlarged it..."

Make that 200Ls...William.

Mary  •  Link

mawther
Yes, and I've heard it in north Norfolk, too.

Mary  •  Link

a woman in a hat.

The hat is clearly a point of note. I assume that most women would have worn a cap or bonnet in the street at this date.

OzStu  •  Link

"....at the office all the morning with Sir W. Coventry and some others of our board hiring of fireships".

How does one 'hire' a fireship - you can't exactly return it at the end of the hire period (unless, I suppose, it's unused...)?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"How does one ‘hire’ a fireship - you can’t exactly return it at the end of the hire period (unless, I suppose, it’s unused…)?"

"Five pounds." Hewer, coldly.

"Five bloody pounds?! For a vessel o' this aged beauty?! Do you know the history o' this fine vessel, lad? She sailed the seven seas. Look at her lines." Pat on side knocks hole in rotted plank, rats fall from remains of rigging...

"She wouldn't make it out of port with a man on her. Five pounds, sir."

"Does my good friend, Mr. Pepys, know the kind of highway robbery you're about, lad?"

Ric Jerrom  •  Link

"... a very sad thing for us to have the honour and the weal of the nation ventured so foolishly" - beautiful and damning phrase from Sam: what a writer!

A. Hamilton  •  Link

"in a hat ... on the key"

Key meaning wharf or quay was pronounced "kay" in 17th cent., according to OED. Not to be confused with key meaning "cay" from Sp. "cayo," a large reef or sandbar, as in "Key West" (Sp. "Cayo Hueso," or Bone Key -- more poetically, Isle of Bones, so named by Ponce de Leon.)

JWB  •  Link

"a woman in a hat"

Assuming mauther low German equivalent to high German magd which means a farm girl or milkmaid and that Vermeer leaves us with a famous mid-17th C. picture of a Dutch milkmaid, perhaps the hats were similar.

language hat  •  Link

"Assuming mauther low German equivalent to high German magd"

Almost certainly untrue; the phonetics render it, as the OED says, almost impossible. It's more likely to be a variant of "mother," but we'll never know, and "unknown origin" is the only safe etymology.

Lawrence  •  Link

"he overtook three or four hundred seamen, and he believes every day they come flocking from the fleete in like numbers"
I guess these poor men are trying to get paid? and what a terrible shame that their treated like this, I guess their going to fload into London? it's hay making time, where the men will work and get paid? once out in the fields their be hard to track down!

JWB  •  Link

"m(ae)g(ae) medu"

Got milk?

cgs  •  Link

hat,bonnet, scarf then there is the leftover rags, to cover the tresses so as not to upset or inflame the lads and raise the testosterone levels.

cgs  •  Link

Fire ships, the thought of a low cost , in human kind , weapons, have evolved into robots, land, air and sea , kamikaze , and old worn out bombers with autopilot provisions before the pilots baled out. I wonder if the skeleton crew were able to take to the long boat?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I wonder if the skeleton crew were able to take to the long boat?"

Apparently not always, cgs: among defensive "tactics [was] to fire at the ship's boats and other vessels in the vicinity, so that the crew could not escape and therefore might decide not to ignite the ship"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire…

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"(being mightily struck with a woman in a hat, a seaman’s mother, —[Mother or mauther, a wench.]— that stood on the key)"

L&M transcribe: (being mightily struck with a woman in a hat, a seaman’s muher that stood on the quay)

MOHER (Sp. mujer): woman, wife. (L&M Select Glossary)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"he did plainly tell me that at the Council of War before the fight, it was against his reason to begin the fight then, and the reasons of most sober men there"

The inevitable laying of blame after a defeat has begun. L&M note this evidence (supported by that of Penn http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… ) contradicts the statement Albemarle made in defense of his conduct in October 1667 to the Commons. He then alleged that his flag-officers had been unanimous in wanting to engage the enemy, while he had been for a prudent withdrawal into the Thames. See Commons Journal, ix, 12.

Tonyel  •  Link

Albemarle got back to London first and took advantage of it. The mark of a politician.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"I, with my Lady Pen and her daughter, to see Harman; whom we find lame in bed."

Frightened to leave Pegg Penn alone at home? Teaching her noblesse oblige? I'm sure Harman was pleased to see her, however.

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