Saturday 13 October 1666
[Continued from yesterday. P.G.] It cost me till four o’clock in the morning, and, which was pretty to think, I was above an hour, after I had made all right, in casting up of about twenty sums, being dozed with much work, and had for forty times together forgot to carry the 60 which I had in my mind, in one denomination which exceeded 60; and this did confound me for above an hour together. At last all even and done, and so to bed.
Up at seven, and so to the office, after looking over my last night’s work. We sat all the morning. At noon by coach with my Lord Bruncker and ’light at the Temple, and so alone I to dinner at a cooke’s, and thence to my Lord Bellasses, whom I find kind; but he had drawn some new proposal to deliver to the Lords Commissioners to-day, wherein one was, that the garrison would not be well paid without some goldsmith’s undertaking the paying of the bills of exchange for Tallys. He professing so much kindness to me, and saying that he would not be concerned in the garrison without me; and that if he continued in the employment, no man should have to do with the money but myself. I did ask his Lordship’s meaning of the proposition in his paper. He told me he had not much considered it, but that he meant no harm to me. I told him I thought it would render me useless; whereupon he did very frankly, after my seeming denials for a good while, cause it to be writ over again, and that clause left out, which did satisfy me abundantly. It being done, he and I together to White Hall, and there the Duke of York (who is gone over to all his pleasures again, and leaves off care of business, what with his woman, my Lady Denham, and his hunting three times a week) was just come in from hunting. So I stood and saw him dress himself, and try on his vest, which is the King’s new fashion, and will be in it for good and all on Monday next, and the whole Court: it is a fashion, the King says; he will never change. He being ready, he and my Lord Chancellor, and Duke of Albemarle, and Prince Rupert, Lord Bellasses, Sir H. Cholmly, Povy, and myself, met at a Committee for Tangier. My Lord Bellasses’s propositions were read and discoursed of, about reducing the garrison to less charge; and indeed I am mad in love with my Lord Chancellor, for he do comprehend and speak out well, and with the greatest easinesse and authority that ever I saw man in my life. I did never observe how much easier a man do speak when he knows all the company to be below him, than in him; for though he spoke, indeed, excellent welt, yet his manner and freedom of doing it, as if he played with it, and was informing only all the rest of the company, was mighty pretty. He did call again and again upon Mr. Povy for his accounts. I did think fit to make the solemn tender of my accounts that I intended. I said something that was liked, touching the want of money, and the bad credit of our tallys. My Lord Chancellor moved, that without any trouble to any of the rest of the Lords, I might alone attend the King, when he was with his private Council; and open the state of the garrison’s want of credit; and all that could be done, should. Most things moved were referred to Committees, and so we broke up. And at the end Sir W. Coventry come; so I away with him, and he discoursed with me something of the Parliament’s business. They have voted giving the [King] for next year 1,800,000l.; which, were it not for his debts, were a great sum. He says, he thinks the House may say no more to us for the present, but that we must mend our manners against the next tryall, and mend them we will. But he thinks it not a fit time to be found making of trouble among ourselves, meaning about Sir J. Minnes, who most certainly must be removed, or made a Commissioner, and somebody else Comptroller. But he tells me that the House has a great envy at Sir G. Carteret, and that had he ever thought fit in all his discourse to have touched upon the point of our want of money and badness of payment, it would have been laid hold on to Sir G. Carteret’s hurt; but he hath avoided it, though without much reason for it, most studiously, and in short did end thus, that he has never shewn so much of the pigeon in all his life as in his innocence to Sir G. Carteret at this time; which I believe, and will desire Sir G. Carteret to thank him for it. So we broke up and I by coach home, calling for a new pair of shoes, and so, little being to do at the office, did go home, and after spending a little in righting some of my books, which stood out of order, I to bed.
23 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"his vest, which is the King’s new fashion"
FASHION SPOILER. This is not the waistcoat as we thought. The day after tomorrow Pepys will describe it as "a long cassocke close to the body, of black cloth, and pinked with white silke under it, and a coat over it, and the legs ruffled with black riband like a pigeon's leg;" http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Three days later Evelyn, in describing it, will call it "after the Persian mode."
(Now to find an image of it to which a link can be posted.)
Terry Foreman • Link
Gentlemen's Long Vest/ La Sage Vest
This one isn't black, and it might be called a waistcoat later. http://www.pearsonsrenaissancesho…
This one is black and cut somewhat shorter than L&M stipulate: http://www.pearsonsrenaissancesho…
Todd Bernhardt • Link
"and in short did end thus, that he has never shewn so much of the pigeon in all his life as in his innocence to Sir G. Carteret at this time"
Does Pepys mean that Coventry is playing the part of a meek "pigeon" by not talking about want of money and getting the Parliament further riled up about Carteret?
Robert Gertz • Link
"It cost me till four o’clock in the morning, and, which was pretty to think, I was above an hour, after I had made all right, in casting up of about twenty sums, being dozed with much work, and had for forty times together forgot to carry the 60 which I had in my mind, in one denomination which exceeded 60; and this did confound me for above an hour together."
I know the feeling...
***
"...that he has never shewn so much of the pigeon in all his life as in his innocence to Sir G. Carteret at this time..."
No doubt tongue well up cheek...Coventry's sharp wit never ceases to amuse.
Terry Foreman • Link
"he spoke indeed excellent well" -- So transcribe L&M.
Bradford • Link
20, 40, 60---an interesting psycho-numerical progression. As for "it is a fashion, the King says; he will never change": wasn't "fashion" a synonym then, as now, for [italic] "change"?
Mary • Link
fashion.
Not synonymous with change at this point. The general meaning was 'manner, custom.'
JWB • Link
"I know the feeling..."
Anyone else remember the Marchand? No nightmare complete without its smell-hot wires, lube oil, coffee and sweat on keys.
Michael Robinson • Link
" ... it is a fashion, the King says; he will never change."
The Stuart equivalent of 'Freedom Fries'?
' ... By July 2006, the House had changed the name of the two foods in all of its restaurants back to "French fries" and "French toast".'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free…
Robert Gertz • Link
At least Charlie's fashion statement has a laudable goal of limiting extravagance in Court fashion.
On the other hand, I'll suggest we name the H1N1 vaccine "Freedom" vaccine as opposed to "the same exact vaccine adjuvants you get every year".
Terry Foreman • Link
"Charlie’s fashion statement has a laudable goal of limiting extravagance in Court fashion."
It's also anti-French (as MR suggests) and (spoiler) Louis will take note.
Michael Robinson • Link
It’s also anti-French ...
The French, or the advisors to Louis XIV, were the first in modern times to understand the conscious use of 'culture' in a broad sense, architectural style, the decorative arts, music, theater, fashion etc., to forge national identity and as a form of what in international relations today is called 'soft power' amongst international elites, that the French understand and have superior abilities in all aspects of the 'art of living' in the broadest sense thereby creating conscious or unconscious Francophile sympathies.(One can argue the Romans did the same with the spread of the Roman way of life amongst the elites of subject populations, or later to a lesser extent the Dukes of Urbino with the introduction of Flemish composers to Italy and the patronage of particular painters and writers).
For example, it would not be evident to the casual observer or listener today but Charles's musical establishment and the forms of composition reflected what was known at the time as the French style. Or the differences between varieties of architectural classicism; Wren worked in a Protestant Baroque direct from the 'classical sources' unmediated by the French theoretical and design treatises. [In contrast look at the wholesale introduction and strengthening of the Dutch (protestant) style in architecture, the visual and decorative arts with William and Mary.]
For an extended discussion of one aspect of the French project, and the extent to which this was conscious and deliberate, see Peter Burke 'The Fabrication of Louis XIV' Yale U.P., 1992
Terry Foreman • Link
"The French, or the advisors to Louis XIV, were the first in modern times to understand the conscious use of ‘culture’ in a broad sense, architectural style, the decorative arts, music, theater, fashion etc., to forge national identity and as a form of what in international relations today is called ‘soft power’ amongst international elites"
Not to forget the use of language and education for cultural domination:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ling…
During the century after Louis XIV (the 18th) to be educated was to know French.
Terry Foreman • Link
Broderick to Ormond
Written from: London
Date: 13 October 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 35, fol(s). 101
Document type: Holograph
The Bill prohibiting [importation of] cattle ... was carried [in the House of Commons by 57 votes]. ...
[ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/… ] His Majesty resolves, if [the measure be] not stopped in the House of Peers, to deny his assent. ... The ... "Commons are very zealous in their resolutions of supporting the war, or obtaining an honourable Peace". ...
________________
[William Ross?] to Ormond
Written from: Westminster
Date: 13 October 1666
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 35, fol(s). 99
Document type: Original
Further particulars concerning means to be used, in the House of Lords of England to prevent the passing, - at least in its present form, - of the Bill against exportation of Irish cattle.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
Second Reading
Molly T. • Link
"So I stood and saw him dress himself, and try on his vest, which is the King’s new fashion, and will be in it for good and all on Monday next, and the whole Court: it is a fashion, the King says; he will never change."
I knew Sam was always a bit strange, but I never knew he watched James get dressed...
Terry Foreman • Link
Molly T., Sam's watching the Duke of York get dressed seems strange to us, but it was a ceremony practiced by European royalty at least since Charlemagne.
The levée (from the French word lever, meaning "getting up" or "rising") has traditionally been a daily moment of intimacy and accessibility to a monarch or leader. In Einhard's Life of Charlemagne the author recounts the Emperor's practice, when he was dressing and putting on his shoes, to invite his friends to come in, and in case of a dispute brought to his attention, "he would order the disputants to be brought in there and then, hear the case as if he were sitting in tribunal and pronounce a judgement."...This practice was raised to a ceremonial custom at the court of King Louis XIV.
When the court of Charles II of England adopted the custom, first noted as an English usage in 1672 [Pepys's Diary says otherwise], it was called a levée.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev…
Terry Foreman • Link
"I did never observe how much easier a man do speak when he knows all the company to be below him, than in him; for though he spoke, indeed, excellent well, yet his manner and freedom of doing it, as if he played with it, and was informing only all the rest of the company, was mighty pretty."
L&M note Gilbert Burnet wrote: 'He spake well, his style had no flaw in it, but had a just mixture of wit and sense, only he spoke too copiously' (A supplement to Burnet's History of my own time; derived from his original memoirs, his autobiography, his letters to Admiral Herbert, and his private meditations, all hitherto unpublished; by Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715, Publ.1902, p. 53
https://archive.org/details/asupp…
john • Link
"[...] and had for forty times together forgot to carry the 60 which I had in my mind, in one denomination which exceeded 60"
In today's world of spreadsheets, calculators, and such gadgetry, we forget how accounting was carried out in those days.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"At noon by coach with my Lord Bruncker and ‘light at the Temple, and so alone I to dinner at a cooke’s, and thence to my Lord Bellasses, ..."
It makes life sound so normal, as if nothing had happened five weeks ago. No complaints about queues or shortages or price gauging. What did Charles II do? -- run off the squatters and homeless? Bring in food from Portugal, France and Holland?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"He did call again and again upon Mr. Povy for his accounts."
I'm confused. I thought Povy was fired from Tangier accounting, which is why Pepys has the job. The "noose" has tightened around his neck his year: L&M note: Povy was replaced as treasurer to the Duke of York by Sir Allen Apsley in September 1666.
"... Mr. Povy, whose vanity, prodigality, neglect of his business, and committing it to unfit hands hath undone him and outed him of all his publique employments, and the thing set on foot by an accidental revival of a business, wherein he had three or four years ago, by surprise, got the Duke of York to sign to the having a sum of money paid out of the Excise, before some that was due to him, and now the money is fallen short, and the Duke never likely to be paid. This being revived hath undone Povy." -- https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
San Diego Sarah • Link
"My Lord Chancellor moved, that without any trouble to any of the rest of the Lords, I might alone attend the King, when he was with his private Council; and open the state of the garrison’s want of credit; and all that could be done, should."
I read that as being a compliment to Pepys' reputation for being able to make a good argument, and having his facts straight. On the other hand, if he gets the politics wrong, ...
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... it would have been laid hold on to Sir G. Carteret’s hurt; but he hath avoided it, though without much reason for it, most studiously, and in short did end thus, that *he* has never shewn so much of the pigeon in all his life as in *his* innocence to Sir G. Carteret at this time; which I believe, and will desire Sir G. Carteret to thank *him* for it."
I think the he, his and him in this refer to Charles II, who loved Carteret and owed him much for his actions after the civil wars. Charles II is a pigeon?
San Diego Sarah • Link
For a picture of a Pepys' era Bill of Exchange, and information about how they are used, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/indept…