Sunday 25 November 1666

(Lord’s day). Up, and with Sir J. Minnes by coach to White Hall, and there coming late, I to rights to the chapel, where in my usual place I heard one of the King’s chaplains, one Mr. Floyd, preach. He was out two or three times in his prayer, and as many in his sermon, but yet he made a most excellent good sermon, of our duty to imitate the lives and practice of Christ and the saints departed, and did it very handsomely and excellent stile; but was a little overlarge in magnifying the graces of the nobility and prelates, that we have seen in our memorys in the world, whom God hath taken from us.

At the end of the sermon an excellent anthem; but it was a pleasant thing, an idle companion in our pew, a prating, bold counsellor that hath been heretofore at the Navy Office, and noted for a great eater and drinker, not for quantity, but of the best, his name Tom Bales, said, “I know a fitter anthem for this sermon,” speaking only of our duty of following the saints, and I know not what. “Cooke should have sung, ‘Come, follow, follow me.’”

After sermon up into the gallery, and then to Sir G. Carteret’s to dinner; where much company. Among others, Mr. Carteret and my Lady Jemimah, and here was also Mr. [John] Ashburnham [L&M suggest it was William. P.G.], the great man, who is a pleasant man, and that hath seen much of the world, and more of the Court.

After dinner Sir G. Carteret and I to another room, and he tells me more and more of our want of money and in how ill condition we are likely to be soon in, and that he believes we shall not have a fleete at sea the next year. So do I believe; but he seems to speak it as a thing expected by the King and as if their matters were laid accordingly.

Thence into the Court and there delivered copies of my report to my Lord Treasurer, to the Duke of York, Sir W. Coventry, and others, and attended there till the Council met, and then was called in, and I read my letter. My Lord Treasurer declared that the King had nothing to give till the Parliament did give him some money. So the King did of himself bid me to declare to all that would take our tallys for payment, that he should, soon as the Parliament’s money do come in, take back their tallys, and give them money: which I giving him occasion to repeat to me, it coming from him against the ‘gre’1 I perceive, of my Lord Treasurer, I was content therewith, and went out, and glad that I have got so much. Here staid till the Council rose, walking in the gallery. All the talke being of Scotland, where the highest report, I perceive, runs but upon three or four hundred in armes; but they believe that it will grow more, and do seem to apprehend it much, as if the King of France had a hand in it. My Lord Lauderdale do make nothing of it, it seems, and people do censure him for it, he from the beginning saying that there was nothing in it, whereas it do appear to be a pure rebellion; but no persons of quality being in it, all do hope that it cannot amount to much.

Here I saw Mrs. Stewart this afternoon, methought the beautifullest creature that ever I saw in my life, more than ever I thought her so, often as I have seen her; and I begin to think do exceed my Lady Castlemayne, at least now.

This being St. Catherine’s day, the Queene was at masse by seven o’clock this morning; and. Mr. Ashburnham do say that he never saw any one have so much zeale in his life as she hath: and, the question being asked by my Lady Carteret, much beyond the bigotry that ever the old Queen-mother had.

I spoke with Mr. May who tells me that the design of building the City do go on apace, and by his description it will be mighty handsome, and to the satisfaction of the people; but I pray God it come not out too late.

The Council up, after speaking with Sir W. Coventry a little, away home with Captain Cocke in his coach, discourse about the forming of his contract he made with us lately for hempe, and so home, where we parted, and I find my uncle Wight and Mrs. Wight and Woolly, who staid and supped, and mighty merry together, and then I to my chamber to even my journal, and then to bed. I will remember that Mr. Ashburnham to-day at dinner told how the rich fortune Mrs. Mallett reports of her servants; that my Lord Herbert would have had her; my Lord Hinchingbroke was indifferent to have her;2 my Lord John Butler might not have her; my Lord of Rochester would have forced her;3 and Sir ——— Popham, who nevertheless is likely to have her, would kiss her breach to have her.

21 Annotations

First Reading

CGS  •  Link

She be on a pedestal "...would kiss her breach to have her...."
not her breech..
to make a break in her ties to the others.
mostly likely 5.
breach, n.
1 physical break wall,2 nautical.
3. fig. The breaking of a command, rule, engagement, duty, or of any legal or moral bond or obligation; violation, infraction: common in such phrases as breach of contract, covenant, faith, promise, trust.

b. spec. and techn., as breach of arrestment, illegal disposal of property which has been ‘attached’, or placed under the control of a law-court; breach of close, unlawful entry upon private ground, trespass; breach of (the) peace, an infringement or violation of the public peace by an affray, riot, or other disturbance; breach of pound, the action of breaking into a pound or similar enclosure without right or warrant; breach of prison, escape of a prisoner from confinement; breach of privilege, a violation of the rights of a privileged body; breach of promise, gen. as in prec. sense; spec. = breach of promise to marry.
1590

. 1612 T. TAYLOR Comm. Titus iii. 1 Who..liue in the breach of Gods commaundement.
1636 MASSINGER Bashful Lover IV. ii, A virtue, and not to be blended With vicious breach of faith.
1659 HAMMOND On Ps. xxv. 7 The breaches innumerable, wherewith I have..offended against thee.

4. An irruption into; an infringement upon; an inroad, injurious assault. Obs.
1579

5. a. A breaking of relations (of union or continuity).
1625 BACON Unity in Relig., Ess. (Arb.) 423 Nothing, doth so much..drive Men out of the Church, as Breach of Unity.
b. absol. A break-up of friendly relations; rupture, separation, difference, disagreement, quarrel.
1573..
1580 BARET Alv. B1201 Breach of friendes.

1604 SHAKES. Oth. IV. i. 238 There's falne betweene him, & my Lord, An vnkind breach.

II. The product of breaking.

7. A physically broken or ruptured condition of anything; a broken, fractured, damaged, or injured spot, place, or part; an injury. a. of the body. Obs.
1398 ..
b. A disrupted place, gap, or fissure, caused by the separation of continuous parts; a break.
1530...
1624 CAPT. SMITH Virginia v. 174 The salt water..entred at the large breaches of their poore wooden castle.
1653 MANTON Exp. James iii. 5 Small breaches in a sea-bank let in great inundations.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

This entry seems to have aroused Lord Braybrooke like few others, evidently to defend Ms. Malet against calumny.

With all respect to CGS's OED excavations, I sense a much earthier interpretation of "kiss her breach."

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"He was out two or three times in his prayer"
What does "out" mean in this context?

CGS  •  Link

Double entendre?

CGS  •  Link

"... He was out two or three times in his prayer, and as many in his sermon..."
Missteps or misquotes, John in lieu of Luke or Geneses instead of Acts???? is my guess.

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

“Cooke should have sung, ‘Come, follow, follow me.’”

Not, I take it, the c.1688 Christmas Carol:

Come follow, follow me,
Those that good fellows be,
Into the battery
Our manhood for to try;
The master keeps a bounteous house,
And gives leave freely to carouse.

Nor yet this offering from Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38…

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

here was also Mr. [John] Ashburnham [L&M suggest it was William. P.G.], the great man, who is a pleasant man, and that hath seen much of the world, and more of the Court....

Here I saw Mrs. Stewart this afternoon, methought the beautifullest creature that ever I saw in my life...

How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics?
Yet here's a travelled man that knows
What he talks about,
And there's a politician
That has read and thought,
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war's alarms,
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms!
W.B. Yeats

language hat  •  Link

I assumed CGS was joking with his po-faced OED quotes; "kiss her breach" is not a double entendre, and its meaning has nothing to do with infractions or ruptures.

CGS  •  Link

L.H.: Every thing I write except where quoted by experts is an opinion of the uninitiated and from the unschooled, enough to show there is always an opposite as proven by Descartes: X Y Z where any one to be a true zero, nothing exists as there will always be neuron to make it never zero?..
Thus every thing in life has to be tested, never ass u me.
History is always written by the winner, it does not mean it is correct, thus most that be written is up for checking.

Kevin Sheerstone  •  Link

Re 'language hat vs. CGS'. I'm with language hat on this one. Your (lh) interpretation was the same as mine, I didn't even have to pause: - one of life's immutabilities, for a very long time before 1666, and certainly since.

CGS  •  Link

LH: is the source, I not be schooled in the fine words of the Saxons.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the design of building the City do go on apace, and by his description it will be mighty handsome, and to the satisfaction of the people; but I pray God it come not out too late."

The government and city were anxious to lose more time; committees were hard at work, and on 19 November the work of clearing the rubble had been started. Hugh May (Controller of the King's Works) had been appointed early in October to the commission set up jointly by the Privy Council and the city to prepare a survey of the ground (there was no map or street-plan in existence) and to design regulations for the new streets and buildings. It is to these plans, and not to the famous schemes of Wren and others, that Pepys refers to as 'handsome'. When he speaks of the satisfaction of 'people', he means the property-owners and tenants. His fear of the rebuilding being too late was a generally felt fear that inhabitants would migrate or establish themselves in the suburbs rather than wait for new buildings. T.F. Reddaway, Rebuilding of London, pp. 40+, esp. 60-1 https://archive.org/details/Rebui… (sic)
(Per L&M note)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"with Captain Cocke in his coach, discourse about the forming of his contract he made with us lately for hempe"

L&M explain: Under a contract of 30 October, Cocke had obtained £56 per ton, less £3 per ton for convoy charges. CSPD 1666-7, p. 390.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“Cooke should have sung, ‘Come, follow, follow me.’”

L&M: Possibly the popular catch composed by John Hilton (d. 1657): See Catch that catch can (1652), p. 22, and later editions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F…
But the first line is common to several songs and ballads.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"All the talke being of Scotland, where the highest report, I perceive, runs but upon three or four hundred in armes"

L&M: Transcribe "3 or 400" which explains how there can arise the mistake for "3 or 4000" which is what L&M transcribe here. The rebels were at first rumoured to be 4000 strong; estimates were now a little lower: CSPD 1666-7, p. 295. That given at about this time to the Scottish privy council was c. 3000: Re. P. C. Scot. 1665-9, p. 226.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"they believe that it will grow more, and do seem to apprehend it much, as if the King of France had a hand in it. "

L&M: The Scottish government feared Dutch rather than French influence: i., p. xi; CSPD 1555-7, p. 284. In fact it was a purely local rising.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"but no persons of quality being in it, all do hope that it cannot amount to much."

L&M: Only two lairds, both of them said to be 'mad fellows', joined thed rebellion, and ministers of the kirk were serving as officers:

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the rich fortune Mrs. Mallett reports of her servants; that my Lord Herbert would have had her; my Lord Hinchingbroke was indifferent to have her;2 my Lord John Butler might not have her; my Lord of Rochester would have forced her;3 and Sir ——— Popham, who nevertheless is likely to have her, would kiss her breach to have her."

L&M: Elizabeth Malet married Rochester in 1667. Popham was probably Sir Francis (of the Wiltshire family). For the proposal to marry her to Hinchingbrooke, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

Gerald Berg  •  Link

breach vs. breech

I am confused -- this (to me) is a compliment. I would be loath to kiss my boss' breach but the one I wish to marry? In a heartbeat. Esp. if that's all it took!

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