Wednesday 29 August 1666

Up betimes, and there to fit some Tangier accounts, and then, by appointment, to my Lord Bellasses, but about Paul’s thought of the chant paper I should carry with me, and so fain to come back again, and did, and then met with Sir W. Pen, and with him to my Lord Bellasses, he sitting in the coach the while, while I up to my Lord and there offered him my account of the bills of exchange I had received and paid for him, wherein we agree all but one 200l. bill of Vernatty’s drawing, wherein I doubt he hath endeavoured to cheate my Lord; but that will soon appear. Thence took leave, and found Sir W. Pen talking to Orange Moll, of the King’s house, who, to our great comfort, told us that they begun to act on the 18th of this month. So on to St. James’s, in the way Sir W. Pen telling me that Mr. Norton, that married Sir J. Lawson’s daughter, is dead. She left 800l. a year jointure, a son to inherit the whole estate. She freed from her father-in-law’s tyranny, and is in condition to helpe her mother, who needs it; of which I am glad, the young lady being very pretty.

To St. James’s, and there Sir W. Coventry took Sir W. Pen and me apart, and read to us his answer to the Generalls’ letter to the King that he read last night; wherein he is very plain, and states the matter in full defence of himself and of me with him, which he could not avoid; which is a good comfort to me, that I happen to be involved with him in the same cause. And then, speaking of the supplies which have been made to this fleete, more than ever in all kinds to any, even that wherein the Duke of Yorke himself was, “Well,” says he, “if this will not do, I will say, as Sir J. Falstaffe did to the Prince, ‘Tell your father, that if he do not like this let him kill the next Piercy himself,’” —[“King Henry IV.,” Part I, act v., sc. 4.]— and so we broke up, and to the Duke, and there did our usual business.

So I to the Parke and there met Creed, and he and I walked to Westminster to the Exchequer, and thence to White Hall talking of Tangier matters and Vernatty’s knavery, and so parted, and then I homeward and met Mr. Povy in Cheapside, and stopped and talked a good while upon the profits of the place which my Lord Bellasses hath made this last year, and what share we are to have of it, but of this all imperfect, and so parted, and I home, and there find Mrs. Mary Batelier, and she dined with us; and thence I took them to Islington, and there eat a custard; and so back to Moorfields, and shewed Batelier, with my wife, “Polichinello,” which I like the more I see it; and so home with great content, she being a mighty good-natured, pretty woman, and thence I to the Victualling office, and there with Mr. Lewes and Willson upon our Victualling matters till ten at night, and so I home and there late writing a letter to Sir W. Coventry, and so home to supper and to bed.

No newes where the Dutch are. We begin to think they will steale through the Channel to meet Beaufort. We think our fleete sayled yesterday, but we have no newes of it.

21 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The Royal Society today at Gresham College — from the Hooke Folio Online

[ page ] 55
Aug. 29. 1666 (mr. mercator produced a watch of his inuention representing the aequations of time, the company hauing viewd it and approued thereof, orderd thanks. and desired demonstrations of it vizt that his tables of aequations are true & that the motion of the watch agrees therewith).
mr. Hooke also produced a new peice of watch work of his contriuance seruing to measure time exactly both by sea & Land of which he was orderd to bring in the Description.

The same [Mr. Hooke ] mentiond againe a prospectiue he did prepare for obseruing the positions and Distances of fixed starrs from the moon by reflection he was desired to haue it made wth speed and to bring in his description of its structure & vses

(Kings paper of Ants) Dan cox white gold powder) -(De vaux paper of Crawfishes)
[ http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/herita… ]

Robinson paper about ashes raind in the archipellago. 1631. vpon the eruption of Vesuvius.)

Robinsons microscopes of Galileus) gallileus letter of Anno 1646.)

http://webapps.qmul.ac.uk/cell/Ho…

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ... but about Paul’s thought of the chant (sic) paper I should carry with me, ..."

L&M read 'chief' for 'chant.'

Eric Walla  •  Link

Oh OK, I was wondering about the "chant paper"--I had imagined a special prayer he was to recite to himself each day. Kind of like his vows, only put to a tune he could hum ...

cgs  •  Link

"...but about Paul’s thought of the chant paper I should carry with me,..."
Chant "music of birds and Rome"
also OED:
5. fig. To talk or repeat a statement monotonously; to harp upon (obs.). a. intr.
1572 R. H. tr. Lauaterus' Ghostes (1596) 36 Those things which they chaunted upon with open mouth.
1641 MILTON Ch. Govt. II. ii. (1851) 153 Let them chaunt while they will of prerogatives.

6. slang. (trans.) To sell (a horse) fraudulently [app. ‘to cry up’].
1816

Ralph Berry  •  Link

Thanks & congratulations to PG for adding the portrait pictures to the background information of the highlighted names. It really adds something to know what the people Sam is talking about actually looked like.

Jesse  •  Link

“if this will not do, I will say, as Sir J. Falstaffe did"

It seems the DoY is aware that Pepys, (relatively) honest and sincere in his duty, is also acquiring a unique skill set that's worth supporting. In many technical fields today managers, not having the technical expertise themselves, are occasionally willing to stand behind staff with the same DoY attitude when a project, e.g, falls behind schedule and potshots are aimed in their direction.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"... “Well,” says he, “if this will not do, I will say, as Sir J. Falstaffe did to the Prince, ‘Tell your father, that if he do not like this let him kill the next Piercy himself,’” —and so we broke up, ..."

Might not this be Coventry's bone dry and subversive sense of humor and irony in action, which we have seen before; he is alluding to one of the most famous pieces of theatrical dissembling, commenting perhaps on the content of SP's letter of explanation -- and perhaps also the nature of bureaucracy and a senior bureaucrat /courtier's life -- the scene continues:-

PRINCE HENRY

Why, Percy I killed myself and saw thee dead.

FALSTAFF

Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to
lying! I grant you I was down and out of breath;
and so was he: but we rose both at an instant and
fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be
believed, so; if not, let them that should reward
valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take
it upon my death, I gave him this wound in the
thigh: if the man were alive and would deny it,
'zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword.

LANCASTER

This is the strangest tale that ever I heard.

PRINCE HENRY

This is the strangest fellow, brother John.
Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back:
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.

http://www.shakespeare-literature…

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Jesse, it's a convoluted sentence, but I believe it's Coventry speaking, not the Duke of York ... that said, I believe your point is correct.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to my Lord and there offered him my account of the bills of exchange I had received and paid for him, wherein we agree all but one 200l. bill of Vernatty’s drawing, wherein I doubt [suspect] he hath endeavoured to cheate my Lord"

L&M: Philibert Vernatti was Muster-Master and Treasurer of the Tangier garrison. In Tangier he had lived 'like a prince', allegedly from profits in the slave trade (John Luke to Nathaniel Luke, 16 May 1664: BM, Sloane, 3500, f. 561). though according to the not disinterested Charles Harbord (1662) he was 'a very careful honest Gent': Carte, 75, f. 28r. His accounts remained mysterious and he took flight in October 1666.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"found Sir W. Pen talking to Orange Moll, of the King’s house, who, to our great comfort, told us that they begun to act on the 18th of this month."

L&M : 'Orange Moll' was Mary Meggs, who had a monopoly of the sale of oranges in the pit, boxes and middle gallery Theatre Royal in Bridges St, Drury Lane. She was an assiduous gossip and scandalmonger. Though the London theatres did not resume regular activities after the plague until the latter part of November 1666, some performances were attempted a few weeks earlier and were suppressed. Moll was probably referring to one of these.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“Well,” says he, “if this will not do, I will say, as Sir J. Falstaffe did to the Prince, ‘Tell your father, that if he do not like this let him kill the next Piercy himself,’” —[“King Henry IV.,” Part I, act v., sc. 4.]

L&M: '...if your Father will do me any honor, so: if not, let him kill the next Percie himselfe': King Henry IV.,” Pt I, V, 4.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Sir W. Pen telling me that Mr. Norton, that married Sir J. Lawson’s daughter, is dead. She left 800l. a year jointure, a son to inherit the whole estate. She freed from her father-in-law’s tyranny, and is in condition to helpe her mother, who needs it; of which I am glad, the young lady being very pretty."

Sir John Lawson must have loved his oldest daughter, Isabella. She was a baby when the Lawsons fled from their home during the first Civil War in the middle of the night and they had to leave her at an Inn, hoping to reclaim her later ... which they did. Anyways, Lawson astounded people by turning half his estate into her dowry so she could marry Daniel Norton ... here's Pepys' take on it:

"... among other discourse, the rashness of Sir John Lawson, for breeding up his daughter so high and proud, refusing a man of great interest, Sir W. Barkeley, to match her with a melancholy fellow, Colonell Norton’s son, of no interest nor good nature nor generosity at all, giving her 6000l., when the other would have taken her with two; when he himself knew that he was not worth the money himself in all the world, he did give her that portion, and is since dead, and left his wife and two daughters beggars, and the other gone away with 6000l., and no content in it, through the ill qualities of her father-in-law and husband, who, it seems, though a pretty woman, contracted for her as if he had been buying a horse; and, worst of all, is now of no use to serve the mother and two little sisters in any stead at Court, whereas the other might have done what he would for her: so here is an end of this family’s pride, which, with good care, might have been what they would, and done well.
"Thence, weary of this discourse, as the act of the greatest rashness that ever I heard of in all my little conversation, we parted"

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

Daniel's death seems to have liberated Isabella Lawson Norton to find a kinder match (which she does, SPOILER).

john  •  Link

Liberation, indeed, SDS: "She freed from her father-in-law’s tyranny, and is in condition to helpe her mother, who needs it" We just imagine what tyranny if Pepys describes it as such.

Peach  •  Link

It IS hard to imagine. Pepys was a man who hit his wife during (some) intense arguments, cheated regularly while jealously guarding against any perceived male competitors, and spent money liberally while vigorously denying Bess even small purchases without prior approval*. By todays standards he is, at minimum, obnoxiously overbearing. His sympathy for Lady Nelson, while not detailed, gives us a vaguely uncomfortable outline of the types of abuse even gentlewomen could and did endure. I'm glad to hear her second go at marriage was much happier.

*I don't mention his flaws to disparage him. It isn't fair to judge the past by our own standards, but I think we can agree that his behavior can be pretty outrageous from our point of view.

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