Thursday 25 October 1666
Up betimes and by water to White Hall, and there with Sir G. Carteret to Sir W. Coventry, who is come to his winter lodgings at White Hall, and there agreed upon a method of paying of tickets; and so I back again home and to the office, where we sat all the morning, but to little purpose but to receive clamours for money. At noon home to dinner, where the two Mrs. Daniels come to see us, and dined with us. After dinner I out with my wife to Mrs. Pierces, where she hath not been a great while, from some little unkindness of my wife’s to her when she was last here, but she received us with mighty respect and discretion, and was making herself mighty fine to go to a great ball to-night at Court, being the Queene’s birthday; so the ladies for this one day do wear laces, but to put them off again to-morrow. Thence I to my Lord Bruncker’s, and with him to Mrs. Williams’s where we met Knipp. I was glad to see the jade. Made her sing; and she told us they begin at both houses to act on Monday next. But I fear, after all this sorrow, their gains will be but little. Mrs. Williams says, the Duke’s house will now be much the better of the two, because of their women; which I am glad to hear.
Thence with Lord Bruncker to White Hall and there spoke with Sir W. Coventry about some office business, and then I away to Mrs. Pierces, and there saw her new closet, which is mighty rich and fine. Her daughter Betty grows mighty pretty.
Thence with my wife home and to do business at the office. Then to Sir W. Batten’s, who tells me that the House of Parliament makes mighty little haste in settling the money, and that he knows not when it will be done; but they fall into faction, and libells have been found in the House. Among others, one yesterday, wherein they reckon up divers great sums to be given away by the King, among others, 10,000l. to Sir W. Coventry, for weare and teare (the point he stood upon to advance that sum by, for them to give the King); Sir G. Carteret 50,000l. for something else, I think supernumerarys; and so to Matt. Wren 5000l. for passing the Canary Company’s patent; and so a great many other sums to other persons.
So home to supper and to bed.
22 Annotations
First Reading
A. De Araujo • Link
"with might respect....making herself mighty fine.........which is mighty rich and fine....Betty grows mighty pretty.....Parliament makes mighty little haste......"
Sam is mighty repetitive today!
CGS • Link
scrip anyone, no coins :[sounds so modern]
"...there agreed upon a method of paying of tickets;..."
Margaret • Link
"...so the ladies for this one day do wear laces, but to put them off again to-morrow."
Can anyone explain this?
CGS • Link
may be if stayed laced up, they be strangled?
Girls liked looking like a timer, easier for the man to heft.
lace:
3. spec. a. A string or cord serving to draw together opposite edges (chiefly of articles of clothing, as bodices, stays, boots and shoes) by being passed in and out through eyelet-holes (or over hooks, studs, etc.) and pulled tight. Cf. boot-, shoe-, stay-lace.
lady's laces, n.
1625 K. LONG tr. Barclay's Argenis I. x. 28 Sprinkling water in her face, and cutting her laces, they made her fit abate.
1676 GREW Anat. Flowers i. §3 As Teeming Women, gradually slaken their Laces.
1. A net, noose, snare. Chiefly fig. Obs.
13.. K. Alis. 7698 Woman the haveth bycought: Woman the haveth in hire las!
2. a. A cord, line, string, thread, or tie. Obs. exc. spec. as in 3a.
a1300
4. ? transf. from 3a. In building: A tie beam; a brace. Also, a panelled ceiling (= L. laquear).
a1300
5. a. Ornamental braid used for trimming men's coats, etc.; a trimming of this. Now only in gold lace, silver lace, a braid formerly made of gold or silver
wire, now of silk or thread with a thin wrapping of gold or silver.
6. A slender open-work fabric of linen, cotton, silk, woollen, or metal threads, usually ornamented with inwrought or applied patterns. Often called after the place where it is manufactured, e.g. Brussels lace. For bobbin-, chain-, pillow-, point-, etc. lace, see the first member. Also BONE-LACE, BRIDE-LACE.
1555
lady's laces
a1548
Now hist. and rare.
Any of various variegated grasses; esp. a striped variety of reed canary grass, Phalaris arundinacea, grown as an ornamental. Occas. also in sing.
1597
Bryan M • Link
“…so the ladies for this one day do wear laces, but to put them off again to-morrow.”
I think the comment relates to the king's new (plainer) fashion first mentioned on 8 October. Lace collars are out (except for the queen's birthday).
See: 17th Century- The Golden Age of Lace. (link below) There are a couple of images at the bottom of the page that show a woman and man wearing lace collars.
http://www.suite101.com/article.c…
Mary • Link
"the ladies ... do wear laces"
As CGS indicates, this almost certainly refers to laced 'bodies' (what we should later call corsets).
In the 17th century the corset was not primarily intended to restrict the waist, but more to push up and exaggerate the swell of the breasts. There was then achieved an attractive contrast between the flat, almost rigid, front aspect of the bodice and the soft curve of the breasts.
Lawrence • Link
“…so the ladies for this one day do wear laces, but to put them off again to-morrow.”
The court is still in mourning for the Queen’s mother, so all back into black tomorrow!
Michael Robinson • Link
" ... and libells have been found ... and so a great many other sums to other persons. So home to supper and to bed."
So the heat is off the Navy board and the accounting shortfalls.
Robert Gertz • Link
"Her daughter Betty grows mighty pretty."
"Sam...Dear Sam Pepys..." Betty holds out hand. "And dear Bess Pepys..." hand to Bess. "Sam, a word?"
Takes aside... "Pretty girl, my Betty...I saw you noticing her."
"Indeed, Mrs. Pierce. Sure to be a beaut...Mrs. Pierce?"
"Yes, Sam...That is one of James' scapels I'm holding in back of your thigh right now...Just above the femoral artery, I believe. If I, by accidental mischance...Say, a startle, caused by my daughter informing me of some ridiculously innocent flirtation on your part, should press just a bit too hard...You'd bleed to death in ten minutes."
Ummn...
"I would be very distressed but being a simple woman and James not being about, I'd be so flustered by this tragic accident I'd not have the slightest memory of how to apply a tourniquet and stop the bleeding...Do we understand each other, Sam?"
"Uh...Ha, ha...Uh...Oh, yes."
"It's such a joy to have you about, Samuel."
***
So poor Knipp's been demoted to "jade"?
Robert Gertz • Link
"Then to Sir W. Batten’s, who tells me that the House of Parliament makes mighty little haste in settling the money, and that he knows not when it will be done; but they fall into faction, and libells have been found in the House."
(From "1776")
Lewis Morris: Mr. President, have you ever been present at a meeting of the New York legislature?
[John Hancock shakes his head "No"]
Lewis Morris: They speak very fast and very loud, and nobody listens to anybody else, with the result that nothing ever gets done.
[turns to the Congress as he returns to his seat]
Lewis Morris: I beg the Congress's pardon.
John Hancock: [grimly] My sympathies, Mr. Morris.
Our sympathies in dealing with the Mother of Parliaments, Mr. Pepys.
CGS • Link
were monies be, the erosion be.
Humans have always found ways to get their uncounted percentage, in some arenas it be called shrinkage.
"So the heat is off the Navy board and the accounting shortfalls."
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"[Mrs Williams] told us they begin at both houses to act on Monday next."
L&M: The public theatres in Lincoln's Inn Fields and Bridges St, Drury Lane, did not, in fact, reopen for regular performances after the Fire until very late in November 1666, possibly on the 29th. See London Stage, 1600-1800, pt 1, 1600-1700 (ed. W. van Lennep), p. 98.
Terry Foreman • Link
"they reckon up divers great sums to be given away by the King, among others, 10,000l. to Sir W. Coventry, for weare and teare (the point he stood upon to advance that sum by, for them to give the King); Sir G. Carteret 50,000l. for something else, I think supernumerarys; and so to Matt. Wren 5000l. for passing the Canary Company’s patent; and so a great many other sums to other persons."
L&M: In the recent debates on naval expenses , Coventry and Carteret had urged the Commons to provide more money for the wear and tear of the ships etc., and for the extra cost of victualing ships which carried men additional to their complements. Wren, Clarendon's secretary, had been accused of corruption by the enemies of the Canary Company.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Mrs. Williams says, the Duke’s house will now be much the better of the two, because of their women; which I am glad to hear. "
L&M: Mrs Williams (who may have been the actress of that name in the Duke's company) was probably right in claiming at this time that the actresses there were superior to those in the King's Company. Their principal, Mrs Betterton, the finest actress of her day, was now at the height of her powers, and the leading actress of the King's Company, Anne Marshall, appears to have gone into temporary retirement between June 1665 and February 1667. See J. H. Wilson, All the King's ladies, pp. 169, 191.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... Sir W. Coventry, who is come to his winter lodgings at White Hall, ..."
During the summer the Duke and Duchess of York's household lived at St. James Palace. Coventry, as James' secretary, moved with the Duke.
WHY?
Maybe the weather? -- living closer in winter kept people and documents warm(er) and dry(er) as they go between offices.
Maybe having some empty rooms in the summer meant the repair men, painters and decorators could work and clean, and people had other places in which to sleep temporarily?
Maybe St. James's was just too cold and drafty in the winter?
Can't think of any other reasons for such a regular major disruption. Anyone else know why if not the above?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I out with my wife to Mrs. Pierces, where she hath not been a great while, from some little unkindness of my wife’s to her when she was last here, ..."
Since this upset has caused Pepys displeasure for a couple of months, I posted its origins on Elisabeth Pearse's encyclopedia page.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Catherine of Braganza (Catarina Henriqueta) was born on November 25, 1638 at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa in Vila Viçosa, Portugal.
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/…
In 1663 Catherine's birthday was celebrated on November 15. I wonder why they are celebrating three weeks early this year, especially if she was in mourning for her mother.
Perhaps they needed a party to cheer themselves up? Seems a bit insensitive to the homeless and the unpaid.
Perhaps Charles II wanted to empty the wine cellars before the Butterballs arrived?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"At noon home to dinner, where the two Mrs. Daniels come to see us, and dined with us."
Phil identifies one of the two Mrs. Daniels as being the daughter of Mrs. Clerke, Pepys’ landlady during his stay in plague-time at her home in Greenwich http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
My guess is the other is Sarah Daniel, sister of Mrs. Daniel -– but Phil tells me that L&M cautions the other Mrs. Daniel might be her mother-in-law. Because they’re not certain, Phil hasn’t made a link.
Tonyel • Link
Can't think of any other reasons for such a regular major disruption. Anyone else know why if not the above?
Sarah, maybe because they just felt like a change? After all, the European Parliament (750 MEP's plus staff) move from Brussels to Strasbourg every month for just four days at an estimated cost of £150 million per year! Just one of the reasons the UK is trying (and so far failing) to leave the EU.
As always, people who spend other peoples' money..............
JB • Link
Was wondering if the phrase "wear and tear" originated during this time period.
From https://www.etymonline.com/word/w… :
"wear (n.)
"action of wearing" (clothes), mid-15c., from wear (v.). Meaning "what one wears" is 1560s. To be the worse for wear is attested from 1782; noun phrase wear and tear is first recorded 1660s, implying the sense "process of being degraded by use.""
San Diego Sarah • Link
Tonyel ... maybe. For "a change" I think James would go to Hampton Court where the hunting was better. The more I think about it, the more I'm in favor of hygiene. There were no bathrooms so people were doing their business in stair wells and behind doors, etc. Everything had to be scrubbed every six weeks or so. That requires moving people into temporary quarters quite regularly.
What we might politely describe as "wear and tear" -- good catch JB.
Another reason I thought of was that people were less likely to travel in winter. Therefore the Court required more guest rooms for visitors in the summer.
San Diego Sarah • Link
To re-emphasize the point Terry Forman makes above:
"Then to Sir W. Batten’s, who tells me that the House of Parliament makes mighty little haste in settling the money, and that he knows not when it will be done; but they fall into faction, and libells have been found in the House. Among others, one yesterday, wherein they reckon up divers great sums to be given away by the King, among others, 10,000l. to Sir W. Coventry, for weare and teare (the point he stood upon to advance that sum by, for them to give the King); Sir G. Carteret 50,000l. for something else, I think supernumerarys; and so to Matt. Wren 5000l. for passing the Canary Company’s patent; and so a great many other sums to other persons."
These details figure large in the next few months. This was more than a storm in a teacup. What we might now recognize as a "Country Party" was angry at the way the "Court Party" was excusing Charles II's largesse which had frittered away (to Country minds) the generous amount of war money voted to him at Oxford.
In local By-Elections country gentlemen were running against candidates recommended by the Palace, with the cry "no more Courtiers!" being heard throughout the land. This was an anti-Taxation revolt.