Wednesday 31 October 1666

Out with Sir W. Batten toward White Hall, being in pain in my cods by being squeezed the other night in a little coach when I carried Pierce and his wife and my people. But I hope I shall be soon well again. This day is a great day at the House, so little to do with the Duke of York, but soon parted. Coming out of the Court I met Colonell Atkins, who tells me the whole city rings to-day of Sir Jeremy Smith’s killing of Holmes in a duell, at which I was not much displeased, for I fear every day more and more mischief from the man, if he lives; but the thing is not true, for in my coach I did by and by meet Sir Jer. Smith going to Court.

So I by coach to my goldsmith, there to see what gold I can get, which is but little, and not under 22d. So away home to dinner, and after dinner to my closett, where I spent the whole afternoon till late at evening of all my accounts publique and private, and to my great satisfaction I do find that I do bring my accounts to a very near balance, notwithstanding all the hurries and troubles I have been put to by the late fire, that I have not been able to even my accounts since July last before; and I bless God I do find that I am worth more than ever I yet was, which is 6,200l., for which the Holy Name of God be praised! and my other accounts of Tangier in a very plain and clear condition, that I am not liable to any trouble from them; but in fear great I am, and I perceive the whole city is, of some distractions and disorders among us, which God of his goodness prevent!

Late to supper with my wife and brother, and then to bed.

And thus ends the month with an ill aspect, the business of the Navy standing wholly still. No credit, no goods sold us, nobody will trust. All we have to do at the office is to hear complaints for want of money. The Duke of York himself for now three weeks seems to rest satisfied that we can do nothing without money, and that all must stand still till the King gets money, which the Parliament have been a great while about; but are so dissatisfied with the King’s management, and his giving himself up to pleasures, and not minding the calling to account any of his officers, and they observe so much the expense of the war, and yet that after we have made it the most we can, it do not amount to what they have given the King for the warn that they are backward of giving any more. However, 1,800,000l. they have voted, but the way of gathering it has taken up more time than is fit to be now lost: The seamen grow very rude, and every thing out of order; commanders having no power over their seamen, but the seamen do what they please. Few stay on board, but all coming running up hither to towne, and nobody can with justice blame them, we owing them so much money; and their familys must starve if we do not give them money, or they procure upon their tickets from some people that will trust them. A great folly is observed by all people in the King’s giving leave to so many merchantmen to go abroad this winter, and some upon voyages where it is impossible they should be back again by the spring, and the rest will be doubtfull, but yet we let them go; what the reason of State is nobody can tell, but all condemn it. The Prince and Duke of Albemarle have got no great credit by this year’s service. Our losses both of reputation and ships having been greater than is thought have ever been suffered in all ages put together before; being beat home, and fleeing home the first fight, and then losing so many ships then and since upon the sands, and some falling into the enemy’s hands, and not one taken this yeare, but the Ruby, French prize, now at the end of the yeare, by the Frenchmen’s mistake in running upon us.

Great folly in both Houses of Parliament, several persons falling together by the eares, among others in the House of Lords, the Duke of Buckingham and my Lord Ossory. Such is our case, that every body fears an invasion the next yeare; and for my part, I do methinks foresee great unhappiness coming upon us, and do provide for it by laying by something against a rainy day, dividing what I have, and laying it in several places, but with all faithfulness to the King in all respects; my grief only being that the King do not look after his business himself, and thereby will be undone both himself and his nation, it being not yet, I believe, too late if he would apply himself to it, to save all, and conquer the Dutch; but while he and the Duke of York mind their pleasure, as they do and nothing else, we must be beaten.

So late with my mind in good condition of quiet after the settling all my accounts, and to bed.

31 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

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

Oct. 31. 1666. orderd that the transfusion expt. be made next tuesday

(good clays in England to make clinkers) Isle of Ely bricks as good as Clinkers.) mr. Hooke obserud that those earth that will vitrify make the most Lasting bricks. orderd that mr Hooke should make tryalls of seuerall earthes by burning them in a wind furnace to see which kind would yeald the best brick

(Ld Sandwich Letter) The papers of these obseruations were deliuerd to mr Hooke to pervse & make report of them to the society to wch. was added a little schem made by the president)

wallis Letter about tides about Rumney -marsh)

mr. Hooke produced an Inclining Pendulum which though short should performe the office of a long perpendicular one the seuerall degrees of Inclination answering the seuerall Dimensions of Length. was orderd to be prosecuted the next Day -

http://webapps.qmul.ac.uk/cell/Ho…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

John Evelyn's Diary

October 31 I heard pleaded the signal Cause of my L: Cleavelands pleaded by the Solicitor before the House of Lords, & was this day 46 yeares of age, wonderfully protected by the mercies of God, for which I render him immortal thanks: & return’d to my house:
***
http://www.gyford.com/archive/200…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

House of Lords

E. Clevland's Bill. E. Crawford & al. heard against it.

Upon hearing the Counsel of the Earl of Crawford and the Lady Belhaven, and also the Counsel of John Sparrow, upon their Petitions in relation to the Earl of Cleveland's Bill; and also upon hearing the Counsel of the said Earl of Cleveland; and after a small Debate thereof:

It is ORDERED, That the further Debate of this Business shall be resumed at the next Sitting of this House. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

CGS  •  Link

"...No credit, no goods sold us, nobody will trust....]
Samuell, you would understand our modern times, Banks failing, credit very tight, houses loosing money, how 'istory doth repeat itself. War drains the treasury..

Money be the life blud of the politicians.

Glyn  •  Link

Every time Holmes turns up in the diary, I think of the cartoon Tasmanian Devil causing mayhem wherever he goes. A good person to have in a fight, but someone to stay away from if at all possible. Definitely someone to lively for a man of Pepys' temperament.

Margaret  •  Link

"...being in pain in my cods by being squeezed the other night in a little coach ..."

Can one of our male readers enlighten me here? Is this a normal reaction to being squeezed in a coach, or is this part of Sam's prostrate problems?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Money/Credit would seem to be the lifeblood of business and economy even more. I would take power to be the real lifeforce for politicos...Even the better, less corruptible sort on such things as money often can't resist its allure.

***

"Well? He seemed rather 'active' during our ride home."

"I think it worked. Our little Pepys was quite the gentleman all evening. And you're right, James...He never even noticed when I pressed the nerve."

"Always works, love." James beamed.

"Glad of that...Much as I love babies, another pregnancy to keep the Pepyses of this world on their good behavior would be a bit much." Betty notes.

"You ought to show it to that Mitchell girl. Our randy little friend keeps mentioning her...And you know what that means." James, wry look.

"Oh, Lord." sigh... "I love the little bug-eyed popinjay well but God almighty really needs to send him a sign to grow up. I'm tempted to speak to that poor wife of his. James, what is wrong with your sex that that silly fellow can't see what he's ready to throw away in that loving, lovely girl."

"Grass always greener, I suppose...And he probably thinks he's got to show off for the Court. Now, a surgeon..." grin... "...Knows we're all the same under the skin and it's only the soul that counts."

"Just remember that nerve pinch should you ever find the ladies of the Court requesting their physician's services a little too earnestly..."

Mr. Gunning  •  Link

"“…being in pain in my cods by being squeezed the other night in a little coach …”

Can one of our male readers enlighten me here? Is this a normal reaction to being squeezed in a coach, or is this part of Sam’s prostrate problems?"

It can cause some discomfort,but I have never known it to last into the next day. Bizarre.

I don't think Sam had a prostate problem but he did suffer a kidney stone in his urinary tract, which was sucessfully removed a few years before he commenced his diary.

JWB  •  Link

A pain in the Cods:

On the 29th, @ "Love in a Tub": "... and being ill also, I had no manner of pleasure in the play". This illness could have been the aforementioned compression, but if Pepys had cold/flu('tis the season), a pain in the testicles would have been a common late symtom..

JWB  •  Link

Inclined pendulum:

Changing the angle of inclination would directly change the force of gravity acting on the pendulum.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"Such is our case, that every body fears an invasion the next yeare; and for my part, I do methinks foresee great unhappiness coming upon us"

Prescient...

I do think Sam's pain in his cods is caused by his underlying condition. If I recall correctly, his biographer Tomalin points out that they discovered upon his death (or possibly earlier?) that the incision from his surgery for the bladder stone never fully healed, so I imagine that any trauma to that area -- even something as apparently benign as being in a cramped position for too long, without being able to "adjust himself" in a socially acceptable way -- would cause longer-lasting effects than would be experienced by other men.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I...was this day 46 yeares of age" writes Evelyn.

Pepys is 33.

JWB  •  Link

"...for which the Holy Name of God be praised!"

Send that man a subscription to "Watch Tower". The King James version uses "Jahovah" seven times. Jahovah Witness translation uses seven thousand times or so. Pepys's phrase sounds Roman to my ear. I think we had to wait the popularization of Milton's works to make pronouciation of the Name more widely acceptable

arby  •  Link

The man does love a comma, doesn't he? It's nice that after the litany of ills and threats to the kingdom in today's entry, the thoughts of having his accounts in order, and a large stash of cash, puts his mind "in good condition of quiet". A sufficiency of money does bring a certain zen-like peace of mind. rb

JWB  •  Link

Jahovah? Sorry, should of course be Jehovah(and Jehovah's Witness), or maybe Jahoveh or Jehoveh-it's all YHWH to me. Knowing where to put your schwas perhaps would bring a certain zen-like peace...

Mary  •  Link

The man who loves a comma is the editor, not Pepys. In the original diary punctuation marks are very few as they could have caused confusion with the shorthand itself. The few marks that do exist are limited to occasional full-stops, colons, dashes and parentheses.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

@ arby "The man does love a comma, doesn’t he? ..."

For a summary of L&M's discussion of punctuation etc. in the diary manuscript:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

arby  •  Link

Thanks Mary and Michael, and thanks for the link. I hadn't remembered that, and it was the first mention of the Great Plague. It also reveals just how well he has done this past year and a half, he was worth only L 1400 in April last year, 1665. Quite an increase, 6200 now. Well done Sam.

CGS  •  Link

why?“…being in pain in my cods by being squeezed the other night in a little coach …”

Sam had just seen a very provocative play, and there he was squeezed into a tight spot with unavailable delectable provocative females, and his upper brain was trying to behave and prevent the lower brain from taking over, a very 17C cialis moment, not a subject for mixed company..

little coach is the hint

Ruben  •  Link

"Can one of our male readers enlighten me here? Is this a normal reaction to being squeezed in a coach, or is this part of Sam’s prostrate problems?"

My answer is more as a surgeon than as a male...
1) when Sam had his surgery, may be the surgeon cut some nerve fibers, and this severed nerves filaments that could develop a neuroma in the stump that could be painfull to pressure.
2) we know from Sam's autopsy that he had stones not only in his bladder but also in his kidneys. The pain arised by a kidney stone occurs when the stone migrates to the ureter producing what we still call a colic. A tipical pain may appear as pain in the groin and the testicles and is relieved when the stone migrates again.

You decide which explanation suits better in this case. As I see it, the elder Pepys becomes, the more explanation (2) is plausible.

C.J.Darby  •  Link

Long moments of private,somber reflection, spiralling down almost to despair. A lot of people can sympathise with this mood at the moment.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"being in pain in my cods"
May be Sam had an episode of"blue balls"

CGS  •  Link

re: discomfort, at best be speculative as not all the facts are not available, my comments reflect the exposure to a filtered viewpoint, 'tis like looking at a white object through red spectacles and seeing a red object..

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

"squeezed the other night in a little coach when I carried Pierce and his wife and my people. "

Pepys's peeps? (Forgive me)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

In pursuit of better bricks for rebuilding London, Robert Hooke was this day at Parliament before he came to Gresham College to continue the same subject
http://bit.ly/cYMjFJ

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"being beat home, and fleeing home the first fight, and then losing so many ships then and since upon the sands, and some falling into the enemy’s hands, and not one taken this yeare, but the Ruby,"

L&M: The Rubis, a flagship in Beaufort's fleet, sailing on 18 September near the Isle of Wight, mistook the White flag of Allin's squadron for the French and was captured.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"A great folly is observed by all people in the King’s giving leave to so many merchantmen to go abroad this winter, and some upon voyages where it is impossible they should be back again by the spring, and the rest will be doubtfull, but yet we let them go"

L&M: Passes for this purpose were issued by the Secretary of State. For the embargo see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
It was thought that possibly the ships, and certainly the men, ought to be available for the State's service.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

“When night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.” -- John Milton (1608-1674) -- Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 500.

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