Sunday 23 September 1666

(Lord’s day). Up, and after being trimmed, all the morning at the office with my people about me till about one o’clock, and then home, and my people with me, and Mr. Wayth and I eat a bit of victuals in my old closet, now my little dining-room, which makes a pretty room, and my house being so clean makes me mightily pleased, but only I do lacke Mercer or somebody in the house to sing with. Soon as eat a bit Mr. Wayth and I by water to White Hall, and there at Sir G. Carteret’s lodgings Sir W. Coventry met, and we did debate the whole business of our accounts to the Parliament; where it appears to us that the charge of the war from September 1st, 1664, to this Michaelmas, will have been but 3,200,000l., and we have paid in that time somewhat about 2,200,000l.; so that we owe above 900,000l.: but our method of accounting, though it cannot, I believe, be far wide from the mark, yet will not abide a strict examination if the Parliament should be troublesome. Here happened a pretty question of Sir W. Coventry, whether this account of ours will not put my Lord Treasurer to a difficulty to tell what is become of all the money the Parliament have ‘give’ in this time for the war, which hath amounted to about 4,000,000l., which nobody there could answer; but I perceive they did doubt what his answer could be. Having done, and taken from Sir W. Coventry the minutes of a letter to my Lord Treasurer, Wayth and I back again to the office, and thence back down to the water with my wife and landed him in Southwarke, and my wife and I for pleasure to Fox- hall, and there eat and drank, and so back home, and I to the office till midnight drawing the letter we are to send with our accounts to my Lord Treasurer, and that being done to my mind, I home to bed.

16 Annotations

First Reading

Michael L  •  Link

"Up, and after being trimmed,"... Presumably this is his hair, not his beard. But how often would Pepys have shaved his face? And would it have been done by a professional barber, or by himself?

JWB  •  Link

Monday, the 17th:
"Up betimes, and shaved myself after a week’s growth, but, Lord! how ugly I was yesterday and how fine to-day!"

Terry Foreman  •  Link

But cf. 29 August 1663 "I to Jervas the barber’s, and there was trimmed, and did deliver back a periwigg, which he brought by my desire the other day to show me, having some thoughts, though no great desire or resolution yet to wear one, and so I put it off for a while." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Pepys went periodically to Jervas for this and after a while went there to get his Periwigg cleansed of nits and then see "his mayd Jane [real name], that has lived with them so long, I talked with her, and sending her of an errand to Dr. Clerk’s, did meet her, and took her into a little alehouse in Brewers Yard, and there did sport with her, without any knowledge of her though" http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… after which we hear more about Pepys's chasing Jane than about Jervas's services. http://www.gyford.com/cgi-bin/mt/…

Margaret  •  Link

"...only I do lacke Mercer or somebody in the house to sing with."

Does anyone remember if he's seen Mercer since Bess fired her on September 3?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

“…only I do lacke Mercer or somebody in the house to sing with.”

Heaven...

"So what the hell was I doing with you two all those nights in the garden and on the leads?" Bess, fuming.

"There is no possible good answer to this question, is there?" Sam sighs to St. Peter.

"I would recommend feigning deafness, sir. We, too were human, sir." to Sam's blinking stare.

"Meaningless affairs are one thing." Bess, coldly. "Pressuring a woman to be your mistress is bad. Molesting poor Tooker reprehensible. And that evil campaign against Betty Mitchell, well, that was just perverse...But this one really cuts, Sam'l..."

"I was a bit preoccupied those days, dear...What can I do to make it up?"

"Well...We can start on that right now. Do,re mi..." Bess, begins...

"He did what to whom?" Peter asks, staring at checklist in lap...Did she say "molestation"? How did we miss all this?

"Oh, it's nothing..." Bess brightly. "Just speaking of a work of fiction he wrote. Am I sounding better these days, darling?"

"Oh, I am sure you will come to trill, love." Sam, gratefully.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Here happened a pretty question of Sir W. Coventry, whether this account of ours will not put my Lord Treasurer to a difficulty to tell what is become of all the money the Parliament have ‘give’ in this time for the war, which hath amounted to about 4,000,000l., which nobody there could answer; but I perceive they did doubt what his answer could be."

"We're going to the Tower aren't we?"

"Only those of us without titles, Pepys. Oh, right...Well, perhaps we could think of...Something..."

Parliament...

"So in sum...You paid out 2,200,000 pounds? And you still owe 900,000 pounds?"

"That is correct, sir."

"And we gave you 4,000,000 pounds."

["Get a rope!" "Quarter them!!" "Off with their heads!!!" "No more dissolute monarchs!!" "Hang the Naval Office!!!"]

"Yea, sir."

"So...I think you see there's a bit of a gap, Mr. Pepys. Sir William."

"If I may, sir...We had it but well...The Fire..."

"The...Fire...I see..."

["Good idea! Burn 'em!!!" "Rope!! Somebody get a rope!!!"]

Hope it's inferior hemp, Sam sighs.

"Gentlemen..." Coventry takes the floor. "What Mr. Pepys wishes to explain is that- We got trouble...Eh, Pepys?" Tosses spare straw hat and cane to Sam...

"Indeed, Sir Will...We got trouble...Right here in London..."

"Right here..." Penn, Minnes, Batten...

"With a capital P and an apist..." Coventry notes, waving cane... "And that stands for Papist..."

"That stands for Papist..." Pepys, Penn, Minnes, Batten...

"Oh, we got trouble...Right here in our City..."

"Right here..." Pepys, Penn, Minnes, Batten...

"With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P'
and that stands for 'Pope'..."

"That stands for Pope..." Pepys, Penn, Minnes, Batten...

"In times like these, we blame AntiChrist, junk the Golden Rule...

Because..."

"We got trouble..." the boys...

"Oho, yes, we got trouble, friends
We're in terrible, terrible trouble...

Cause that French king and the Bishop of Rome are the devil's tools..."

"Yes, devil's tools..." the boys...

***

arby  •  Link

403 and 404 on your link JWB.

arby  •  Link

Thanks, JWB.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"what is become of all the money the Parliament have ‘give’ in this time for the war, which hath amounted to about 4,000,000l."

L&M note this was roughly the total voted by the Royal and Additional aids of 1665 and the Poll tax of 1666. The actual revenue was less.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"our method of accounting, though it cannot, I believe, be far wide from the mark, yet will not abide a strict examination if the Parliament should be troublesome. "

L&M: These accounts were presented (with a covering letter) to the Lord Treasurer on 24 September (National Archives). Abstracts and other papers are in PL 2589 ('Collections towards the Stateing the Expence of his Majesty's Navy from the beginning of the present warr...'). Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... Mr. Wayth and I eat a bit of victuals in my old closet, now my little dining-room, which makes a pretty room, ..."

Two dining rooms? I suppose "confidential" lunches in the big dining room are too easy for miscellaneous people to include themselves in. And now Elizabeth can have her ladies and painters to lunch in style, and Pepys and his co-conspirators don't have to curb their conversation, or politely sit for hours when they need to be away on the King's business. Poor maids running up and down stairs with all these additional bowls of food.

Samuel Powrie  •  Link

What exactly do luminaries think this means?

"...and there did sport with her, without any knowledge of her though."

Is this 'knowledge' in the Biblical sense d'ye think? Sam

Scube  •  Link

Samuel, I think you are correct. Good point.

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