Thursday 22 November 1666

Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning, and my Lord Bruncker did show me Hollar’s new print of the City, with a pretty representation of that part which is burnt, very fine indeed; and tells me that he was yesterday sworn the King’s servant, and that the King hath commanded him to go on with his great map of the City, which he was upon before the City was burned, like Gombout of Paris, which I am glad of.

At noon home to dinner, where my wife and I fell out, I being displeased with her cutting away a lace handkercher sewed about the neck down to her breasts almost, out of a belief, but without reason, that it is the fashion. Here we did give one another the lie too much, but were presently friends, and then I to my office, where very late and did much business, and then home, and there find Mr. Batelier, and did sup and play at cards awhile. But he tells me the newes how the King of France hath, in defiance to the King of England, caused all his footmen to be put into vests, and that the noblemen of France will do the like; which, if true, is the greatest indignity ever done by one Prince to another, and would incite a stone to be revenged; and I hope our King will, if it be so, as he tells me it is:1 being told by one that come over from Paris with my Lady Fanshaw, who is come over with the dead body of her husband, and that saw it before he come away. This makes me mighty merry, it being an ingenious kind of affront; but yet it makes me angry, to see that the King of England is become so little as to have the affront offered him.

So I left my people at cards, and so to my chamber to read, and then to bed. Batelier did bring us some oysters to-night, and some bottles of new French wine of this year, mighty good, but I drank but little.

This noon Bagwell’s wife was with me at the office, and I did what I would, and at night comes Mrs. Burroughs, and appointed to meet upon the next holyday and go abroad together.2


31 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Hollar's new print of the City, with a pretty representation of that part which is burnt, very fine indeed; and tells me that he was yesterday sworn the King's servant, and that the King hath commanded him to go on with his great map of the City, which he was upon before the City was burned, like Gombout of Paris"

Wencesla[u]s Hollar, London after the fire, "the blanke space signifying the burnt part...."
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki…

Wencesla[u]s Hollar - Plan of London before the Fire
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki…

Jacques Gomboust map of Paris, 1652 (Pepys owned a copy of the 1665 edition)
http://www.geographicus.com/P/Ant…

Bradford  •  Link

"Sam seems to have given over making vows restricting his behaviour. D.W." So it struck me last week. Is this related to a sense of financial security, outgrowing the need to placate his conscience, or the suspicion that he'd better gather his rosebuds while the getting is good?

CGS  •  Link

House of C. says nowt about collecting monies for the King, has been working on finding ways to prevent the betters from deleting each other from life, as their wives [mistresses too]want an income, then work on another Bill to get the northern border safe from pillage and taking of girls without their consent or even their parents.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Ormond to Arlington
Written from: Kilkenny

Date: 22 November 1666

Advice is this day received from Dublin of the arrival of the proportion of powder formerly mentioned. It makes the whole stock of ammunition now in his Majesty's stores to amount to about one thousand barrels. ...

Is sorry that a necessity lies upon the King to give to the Bill against Irish Cattle the force of a law; since the same reason may make it inconvenient for him to give those just and proper securities which his servants here have presumed, in a joint dispatch, to propose to him, in case of such a necessity ..

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

Michael Robinson  •  Link

" ... This noon Bagwell’s wife was with me at the office, and I did what I would, and at night comes Mrs. Burroughs, and appointed to meet upon the next holyday and go abroad together."

Love is now become a trade,
All its joys are bought and sold,
Money is a feature made
And beauty is confin'd to gold.
Courtship is but terms of art,
Portion, settlement and dow'r
Soften the most obdurate heart,
The lawyer is the only wooer.
My stock can never reach a wife,
It may a small retailing whore;
Let men of fortune buy for life,
A night's a purchase for the poor.

Anon, pub 1685

Henry Purcell, Z393
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCo…

"As many videos as possible will show the contemporary published score. Most of the others will show a modern score, deprived of its bass realization."

CGS  •  Link

no skimming or vigarish

Bill to prevent Frauds in receiving the King's Money.

The commitee to find ways to get some monies to keep the ships afloat with men to sail them and ways to pay for biscuits, cheese and weak beers.\

Heads for a Conference about Committees of both House examining Public Accompts.
H o' L.

Mr Jones happy that he is Ld Hattons man and the serjeants can go and do an impossiblity, as Jones is under the guardianship of Lordly Privilege.
[ keeping up with the Jones]

Samuell wants his cake and eat it too,
Mistress Pepys should not incite the Lads, only Samuell should have the right to be excited.

CGS  •  Link

fashion: many sites now on line,for seeing Man's vain glory

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Thanks to CGS for that interesting Bill. Lawmakers then as now, wanting government services without the bother of paying for them, claim that eliminating "waste, fraud, and abuse" would cover the cost. And to buttress the claim they can always point out some examples of same, without noting that the amounts involved are a small percentage of the resources actually needed for the intended services.

Mary  •  Link

"my wife and I fell out...."

Sam presumably relented when it came to the question of his wife's portrait being painted; that neckline is cut very low

Mary  •  Link

"he was yesterday sworn the king's servant"

The 17th century version of acquiring the Royal Warrant?

B Timbrell  •  Link

Last week, in France, Bordeaux Nouveau had just arrived in the shops

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...caused all his footmen to be put into vests, and that the noblemen of France will do the like; which, if true, is the greatest indignity ever done by one Prince to another, and would incite a stone to be revenged..."

Yes, never in the history of Man hath there been greater cause for all out warfare. Why I can see our heroic Sam joining the glorious ranks of other would-be but for... front-line warriors.

"At least our vests are fashionable, you stupid Englishmen! See how our sun king thumbs his nose at you!!" the Paris populace jeer the last fleeing Englishmen...I mean it was sort of war before but not the sort to keep a man out of Paris. But, now...

"Pepys, the Prince tells me our army as such will not fight for the vest cause..." Charles sighs.

"My God, Sire!!! Then England is doomed..."

"What about the fleet?"

"Right now, we don't really have one, Sire. Unless of course, given the incredible tragedy facing your regime in the vest affair..."

"Really can't see my way to asking Barbara for that 2,000,000Ls back, Pepys."

"In that case, Sire...We have but one alternative. To raise a force of heroes from the ranks of the adminstration to give the Frog King a bloody how-de-do."

"Pepsy, my Pepsy..."

"Pepys, Sire...P-e..."

"Affectionate term, Samuel...You, my Pepys, my CoA shall form and lead this vengeance host. Take it to the heart of France and come back with the head of Louis or upon your bloody shield."

"After the play season, Sire? I was looking forward to it after last year..."

"I'm not an unfeeling monster, Samuel."

Phoenix  •  Link

'her cutting away a lace handkercher sewed about the neck down to her breasts ...'

Probably no connection with Mr. Gregory coming to teach her the viol.

CGS  •  Link

stones more stones,
not kidney stones,
may break me bones,
words more bad words
dothe insulte me,
ne'er hurt me,
wearing damn vwests
now that dothe get me,
all riled up,
thats it,
war it is,
war it is.

CGS  •  Link

"...Here we did give one another the lie too much..."

Exagerations galore

Here lies a whole scene worthy of RG.

Fashions, oh! how we luv getin' admiring glances that make us feel swell headed and all the time they be a thinkin' wot a bludy mess.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Bess, can't you see the danger of cutting your neckpiece so close to..."

"Sam'l?"

"Sorry...Lost my train of thought...Yes, the danger of cutting so close... If I may demonstrate with our dear visiting Mercer here...A fiend might take it as an invitation to grope...Like this."

"Oh, but isn't this the way you usually...?" Mercer begins.

"...Grab to catch one's balance? Yes, but in my wife's case...With some much exposed, there's danger an utterly innocent attempt to catch oneself's could become...This..."

Whoa...

"You see the danger, Bess?"

Uh-huh... "But I would counter, Sam'l with a move like this..."

Arrrgggghhhh...

"Oh, that would be painful, Mrs. P." Mercer notes. "Right, Mr. P.?"

"Oh....Yess..." Sam groans.

"And if that didn't work and he tried again..." Bess begins...

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"Here we did give one another the lie too much, but were presently friends"

CGS, I don't think Sam means "lie" in the sense of telling an untruth, but I also am not sure exactly what he *does* mean! Could someone please shed light on this?

CGS  •  Link

“Here we did give one another the lie too much, but were presently friends”

good point.
lie, not the untruth, has many subtle meanings in the OED
It dothe require the Masters touch.
LH:
lie v1 23 variations
bodily postures.
...
9a: I dothe think

9. Of the wind, the tongue: To be or become still, be at rest, subside. Obs.
“Here we did give one another a rest or subside [or otherwise come to blows], but were presently friends”

lie such an interesting word, so nautical,
lie at anchor etc..

Mary  •  Link

"give one another the lie too much"

In this domestic case, I should have thought that this meant that Sam and Elizabeth were simply saying,"Not so!" or something similar, with 'give the lie' being loosely used to indicate lack of factual (or perceived) truth.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...some bottles of new French wine of this year, mighty good, but I drank but little."

Our staunch patriot...

language hat  •  Link

"In this domestic case, I should have thought that this meant that Sam and Elizabeth were simply saying, 'Not so!' or something similar, with ‘give the lie’ being loosely used to indicate lack of factual (or perceived) truth."

This is my understanding as well. They weren't saying "Thou liest!" but the 17th-century equivalent of "Oh, give me a break, you know that's a lot of crap, you're just making that up."

FJA  •  Link

To "give the lie". Sounds like some sort of weak trump-card one might throw down on a game board to call another's bluff, played with a flash in the pan exclamation of momentary triumph, but apparently no real fireworks because they "were presently friends". Cannot help but wonder, though, who won this round. Sam doesn't really tell us, although he knows he is right.

Mr. Gunning  •  Link

That other Sam, Johnson, when he said a man lied, meant what he said was mistaken and not in the modern sense of a deliberate falsehood.

Nix  •  Link

Hollar's print --

This brings home just how close it was for Samuel. St. Olave's is number 82, just half a block east of the fire's eastern edge, and Seething Lane is the next street over.

language hat  •  Link

"Sounds like some sort of weak trump-card"

I'm not sure whether you're familiar with the expression, but if not: it wasn't weak at all, it was a very serious matter and the occasion for many a duel. To give someone the lie means to call them a liar, a grave offense indeed in times when honor was taken seriously.

CGS  •  Link

"...away a lace handkercher sewed about the neck down to her breasts almost, ..."
as self painted by Mary Beale [same age as Sam]

lace front fashion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File…

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Sadly there's nothing in Anne Fanshawe's memoirs about the French footmen wearing vests, although she did spend time in Paris before returning to London with her brood of children and Ambassador Richard Fanshawe's body.

According to The MEMOIRS OF LADY FANSHAWE
WIFE OF SIR RICHARD FANSHAWE, BT. AMBASSADOR FROM CHARLES II TO THE COURTS OF PORTUGAL & MADRID
WRITTEN BY HERSELF, CONTAINING EXTRACTS FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF SIR RICHARD FANSHAWE (EDITED)
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BEATRICE MARSHALL
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60…

The family embarked at Calais in a French man-of-war on 11 November, 1666 and landed at Tower Wharf at midnight the next day. The family over-nighted at her father's house on Tower Hill.

On 13 November they moved to their own house on the north side of Lincoln's Inn Fields; and the body of Ambassador Richard Fanshawe arrived.

On Saturday, 16 November, Lady Anne Harrison Fanshawe sent Sir Richard's body to be laid in the Harrison family vault in All Hallows Church, Hertford: noone accompanied the hearse but his own 7 gentlemen who had accompanied his body from Madrid to London.

On 18 November, Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington visited, proffered friendship, said he was procuring the arrears of Sir Richard's pay, which was 2,000l., and reimbursement of the 5,815l. he had laid out in his Majesty's service.

Lady Fanshawe also received many of the nobility and gentry, and all her local relations.

Finally on November 23, Lady Fanshawe waited on Charles II, and delivered her whole accounts (I think this means a vebal report, not bookkeeping). He was pleased to receive her very graciously, and promised she should be paid, and that he would take care of the Fanshawe family. Then she delivered the letters she had brought from Queen-Mother Henrietta Maria in Paris.

After that Lady Fanshawe did her duty to the Queen, who condoled her on her loss, after which she delivered the Queen-Mother's letter. After staying two hours in her Majesty's bed-chamber, Lady Fanshawe waited on James, Duke of York who, having condoled her on her loss, promised to send a ship for her goods and servants to Bilbao.

Then she waited on the Duchess of York, who received her with great grace and favour, and having been with her Highness about an hour, and delivered a letter from the Queen-Mother, Lady Fanshawe took her leave.

That wasn't enough. The widow who hadn't been paid for 2 years gave the King, Queen, Duke of York and Duke of Cambridge two dozen amber skins, and six dozen gloves. She gave Lord Arlington amber skins, gloves and chocolate, and a copy of a Titian picture valued at 100ls; and made presents to Sir William Coventry and several other people in office.

What is 2-year-old James Stuart, Duke of Cambridge going to do with gloves? Oh well, they all live on credit ... I suspect it will be years before the back pay and expenses are reimbursed.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Reading this over I realize Lady Anne didn't say they hadn't been paid in 2 years. She said she was owed 2,000l. Sorry,

Ricadus  •  Link

“..some bottles of new French wine of this year, mighty good...”

An early reference to the Beaujolais Nouveaux? Nowadays marked in France on the third Thursday of November and celebrated with fireworks and festivals in that region.

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