Friday 10 August 1666

Up and to my chamber; there did some business and then to my office, and towards noon by water to the Exchequer about my Tangier order, and thence back again and to the Exchange, where little newes but what is in the book, and, among other things, of a man sent up for by the King and Council for saying that Sir W. Coventry did give intelligence to the Dutch of all our matters here. I met with Colvill, and he and I did agree about his lending me 1000l. upon a tally of 1000l. for Tangier. Thence to Sympson, the joyner, and I am mightily pleased with what I see of my presses for my books, which he is making for me. So homeward, and hear in Fanchurch-streete, that now the mayde also is dead at Mr. Rawlinson’s; so that there are three dead in all, the wife, a man-servant, and mayde-servant. Home to dinner, where sister Balty dined with us, and met a letter come to me from him. He is well at Harwich, going to the fleete. After dinner to the office, and anon with my wife and sister abroad, left them in Paternoster Row, while Creed, who was with me at the office, and I to Westminster; and leaving him in the Strand, I to my Lord Chancellor’s, and did very little business, and so away home by water, with more and more pleasure, I every time reading over my Lord Bacon’s “Faber Fortunae.” So home, and there did little business, and then walked an hour talking of sundry things in the garden, and find him a cunning knave, as I always observed him to be, and so home to supper, and to bed. Pleased that this day I find, if I please, I can have all my money in that I have out of my hands, but I am at a loss whether to take it in or no, and pleased also to hear of Mrs. Barbara Sheldon’s good fortune, who is like to have Mr. Wood’s son, the mast-maker, a very rich man, and to be married speedily, she being already mighty fine upon it.

23 Annotations

First Reading

Australian Susan  •  Link

"...where little newes but what is in the book, ..."

Does this mean the London Gazette? Or some sort of visitors' book in the Exchange?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Good Q., Susan: L&M think "the book" in question is the 9 August London Gazette. Sir W. Coventry has been skunked, and there three being questioned.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...then walked an hour talking of sundry things in the garden, and find him a cunning knave, as I always observed him to be," I assume he means Admiral Sir Will Penn and that the brief reconciliation has begun to sour.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Unless of course Creed rejoined him...

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"... find him a cunning knave, as I always observed him to be, ..."

or SP his own Doppelgänger ...

cgs  •  Link

Samuel begets an idea from fortune favours the brave.

"The mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands"

Faber quisque fortunae suae, saith the poet.
And the most frequent of external causes is, that the folly of one man, is the fortune of another.
For no man prospers so suddenly, as by others' errors.
Serpens nisi serpentem comederit non fit draco.

Overt and apparent virtues, bring forth praise;

but there be secret and hidden virtues, that bring forth fortune;

certain deliveries of a man's self, which have no name.

robbed from
http://quotationsbook.com/quote/3…

cgs  •  Link

cunning by bacon
"We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. And certainly there is a great difference, between a cunning man, and a wise man; not only in point of honesty, but in point of ability."
see Encyclopedia

Australian Susan  •  Link

cunning knave....with cunning plans. Shades of Blackadder.. Sorry. Flippant end of working day mood.

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

I think Sam means Bacon, whom he keeps reading in the garden.

Mary  •  Link

If Bacon is the cunning knave, then who is Sam talking with in the garden?

He clearly regards Bacon as a wise man and, if he accepts B's definition of 'cunning,' is unlikely to apply that epithet to the writer of Faber Fortunae. Nor is he likely to refer to him as a 'knave.'

The 'knave' most likely to be in the garden is, as RG suggests, Penn.

cgs  •  Link

Samuel reading Bacon on the Essay of cunning could refer to any of his co-horts or to the Lord Chancellor as he was the last mentioned character? [thoughts running together]

Lawrence  •  Link

"Thence to Sympson, the joyner, and I am mightily pleased with what I see of my presses for my books, which he is making for me"
When I visited Pepys house in Brampton, in 2003, they'd had, a press made (Bookcase) to the exact size as the one's in his Library, but had to put it in the new part of the house as it wouldn't fit under the low beams in the original part, interestingly the table in the hall (dinning room) was donated by the decendants of William Hewer!

A. Hamilton  •  Link

then walked an hour talking of sundry things in the garden, and find him a cunning knave, as I always observed him to be

Sam talking to himself, of course.

cgs  •  Link

"...So home, and there did little business, and then walked an hour talking of sundry things in the garden, and find him a cunning knave, as I always observed him to be, and so home to supper, and to bed...."
Could he be meaning being torn apart by no business???
not odds and ends?
sunder, v.

1. trans. To dissolve connexion between two or more persons or things; to separate or part one from another. Also, to set (a person) apart from a state of life; to remove (something) from a person.

b. To separate in thought, distinguish. Obs.
c. To dissolve, put an end to (a state or condition). Obs.
2. To divide into two or more parts; to split, break up, cleave.
a1225
3. To keep apart, separate by an intervening space or barrier, from something. rare. (Chiefly pass.)
1606 SHAKES. Tr. & Cr. V. x. 27 No space of Earth shall sunder our two hates.
4. intr. To become separated or severed from something; esp. of a number of persons, to part.
b. To part with. Sc. Obs.
5. To be torn, break, or split in pieces.
------------------------------------------
sunder , asunder connected to sundry

[OE. syndri{asg} separate, special, private, exceptional, corresp. to MLG. sunder(i)ch single, special, LG. sunderig, OHG. sunt(a)rîc, sund(i)rîc, -erîg special (MHG. sunderig, -ic); f. sunder SUNDER a.: see -Y1.]
1. In compounds formed after OE. compounds of sundor- = separate, peculiar, private, as sundorcræft special power, sundorspr{aeacu}c private conversation: sunderred, private advice; sunderrune, private conversation or counsel; also sunder-ble a., varicoloured, in quot. subst. Obs.

2. Separate; various, sundry. Obs.

sunder a 1. Having an existence, position, or status apart; separate, distinct. Obs. exc. dial.
c1000

2. Belonging or assigned distributively to certain individuals; distinct or different for each respectively. Obs.
a900

1592 GREENE Conny Catching Wks. (Grosart) XI. 84 Those Amarosos here in England..that..wil haue in euery shire in England a sundry wife. a
1700 DRYDEN Ovid's Art Love I.863 Experience finds That sundry Women are of sundry Minds.

Individually separate; that is one of a number of individuals of a class or group. Usually with pl. n. or sing. n. in pl. sense: Various, (many) different. Obs. (or merged in 5).
c1250 ...

1677 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 327 There are sundry sorts of Habits becomming Souldiers in particular.
1754 SHERLOCK Disc. vii. (1759) I. 215 The Prophets of old were..destroyed by sundry Kinds of Death.

b. Preceded (rarely followed) by an adj. of number or plurality (esp. many). See also 6e. Obs.
1377..
1570-6 LAMBARDE Peramb. Kent (1826) 198 The third Brooke..being crossed in the way by seven other sundry bridges.
1617 MORYSON Itin. I. 231 Nine sundry Sects of Christians haue their Monasteries within this City.
1678 R. BARCLAY Apol. Quakers v. §20. 157 This Parable, repeated in three sundry Evangelists.

4. Different, other. (Const. from.) With pl. n. or sing. n. in pl. sense: Diverse, manifold. Obs.
13..
1639 FULLER Holy War IV. vi. (1647) 176 A sundry dialect maketh not a severall language.
1668 CULPEPPER & COLE Barthol. Anat. III. xi. 152 The external parts about the mouth are sundry.

5. As an indefinite numeral: A number of, several. (The prevailing use.)
Occas. with poss. as sundry his = several of his.

b. In collocations, as sundry (and) divers, divers (and) sundry, sundry (and) several. Obs.

6. Phr. a. on, in, a sundry: alteration of on-, in-sunder (see SUNDER B), ASUNDER.
b. by sundries: individually.
c. in or on sundry wise (occas. wises), later sundry wise: in various or different ways; variously, diversely.

d. (in) sundry ways (in the same sense).
e. all and sundry, occas. all sundry: every individual, every single; now only absol. (occas.all and sundries) = everybody of all classes, one and all. (orig. and chiefly Sc. = L. omnes et singuli.)

7. That sunders or separates; dividing; discriminating. Obs. rare.
1564 HARDING Answ. to Jewel's Chalenge 133b, They must vse a discretion, and a sundry iudgement betwen the thinges they write agonistic{gwfrown}{fsigma},..and the thinges they vtter dogmatic{gwfrown}{fsigma}.

1593 A. CHUTE Beautie Dishonoured (1908) 111 Thus life, and death, in unitie agreeing Dated the tenor of their sonderie strife.
c1420

c. ellipt. and (chiefly Sc.) absol. (Cf. SEVERAL a. 4c.)
c1470 HENRY Wallace I. 199 Syndry wayntyt, bot nane wyst be quhat way.

Hence sundryfold a., manifold; {sm}sundryhead, diversity, variety; {sm}sundrywhere adv., in various places.
c1430

[OE. syndri{asg}e, = OHG. sunt(a)rîgo (MHG. sunderige, LG. sonderig, sünderig); f. prec.]

sundry, adv.

1. Separately, apart; severally, individually.
c950
1590 SPENSER F.Q. II. ix. 48 These three in these three roomes did sundry dwell.
1. Separately, apart; severally, individually.
c950

b. In detail. Obs. rare.
a1300

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to the Exchange, where little newes but what is in the book, and, among other things, of a man sent up for by the King and Council for saying that Sir W. Coventry did give intelligence to the Dutch of all our matters here. "

L&M: Three men had in fact been summoned for the aspersion on Coventry; another was accused of a similar offence against Arlington. It was this last reported in the newsbook who was here referred to. Misunderstanding was possibly caused by the brevity of the newspaper's account: London Gazette, 9 August.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"pleased also to hear of Mrs. Barbara Sheldon’s good fortune, who is like to have Mr. Wood’s son, the mast- maker, a very rich man, and to be married speedily, she being already mighty fine upon it."

L&M: She was the niece of William Sheldon, Clerk of the Cheque at Woolwich.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Elizabeth seems to be enjoying Esther's company [Mrs. Balty]. These weekly visits don't seem to be irking Pepys either. Finally, family harmony.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

John Evelyn's Diary -

10 August, 1666 -- Dined with Mr. Odart, Secretary of the Latin tongue.

http://brittlebooks.library.illin…

I recall Milton was the Latin Secretary for Cromwell for a while (responsible for translating official documents into the international language of Latin). Never heard of Mr. Odart before ... anyone else know of him? Evelyn's spelling is always a challenge, so perhaps this isn't how we know the man now.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

My theory that Evelyn has given us an odd spelling was correct.

A Nicholas Oudart is indeed Charles II's Latin Secretary, and an F.R.S.

https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

He wrote a diary, and considering when he lived and where he worked, I'd love to read it. Google is not cooperating.

Nick Hedley  •  Link

"I met with Colvill, and he and I did agree about his lending me 1000l. upon a tally of 1000l. for Tangier."
Why would Colvill lend 1000l. on a tally of 1000l.? Where is the profit in that to match the risk or even the interest? Or is it a favour because of other business put his way?
Sorry if this has already been discussed - I must have missed it or (more likely) forgotten.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Hi Nick ... there is much about Pepys' financial dealings I do not understand either. I this case it sounds like Colvill is doing Pepys an enormous favor -- in return for what we do not know. Just the other day Colvill liquidated Pepys personal account in gold when the rest of England is short of cash. Perhaps he has a son stationed in Tangier? Perhaps Pepys has promised him preferences when things get back to what passes for normal? Perhaps Creed threatened him with broken knee caps? Perhaps Elizabeth is giving him favors and Pepys doesn't know? Perhaps we'll find out a year from now.

To get a general feel for how tallys worked, type TALLY in the search bar above right.

With Phil's new system, since this is a very general search, I'd then go to GOOGLE on the lower right, and that'll bring up a listing for every TALLY in the Diary, and you can quickly scan through and select ones where the excerpt seems interesting.

If you don't want to GOOGLE it, then start with changing the search parameter to ENCYCLOPEDIA and you'll find the Wikipedia explanation plus three annotations in general. If that doesn't satisfy your curiosity, then change the search to ALL ANNOTATIONS and every one regarding TALLY will be displayed.

Mary K  •  Link

As for cunning men.....

Perhaps Pepys could also bear in mind Bacon's aphorism that "all rising to great place is by a winding stair."

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