Sunday 24 March 1666/67

(Lord’s day). With Sir W. Batten to White Hall, and there I to Sir G. Carteret, who is mighty cheerful, which makes me think and by some discourse that there is expectation of a peace, but I did not ask [him]. Here was Sir J. Minnes also: and they did talk of my Lord Bruncker, whose father, it seems, did give Mr. Ashburnham and the present Lord Digby 1200l. to be made an Irish lord, and swore the same day that he had not 12d. left to pay for his dinner: they make great mirth at this, my Lord Bruncker having lately given great matter of offence both to them and us all, that we are at present mightily displeased with him. By and by to the Duke of York, where we all met, and there was the King also; and all our discourse was about fortifying of the Medway and Harwich, which is to be entrenched quite round, and Portsmouth: and here they advised with Sir Godfry Lloyd and Sir Bernard de Gum, the two great engineers, and had the plates drawn before them; and indeed all their care they now take is to fortify themselves, and are not ashamed of it: for when by and by my Lord Arlington come in with letters, and seeing the King and Duke of York give us and the officers of the Ordnance directions in this matter, he did move that we might do it as privately as we could, that it might not come into the Dutch Gazette presently, as the King’s and Duke of York’s going down the other day to Sheerenesse was, the week after, in the Harlem Gazette. The King and Duke of York both laughed at it, and made no matter, but said, “Let us be safe, and let them talk, for there is nothing will trouble them more, nor will prevent their coming more, than to hear that we are fortifying ourselves.” And the Duke of York said further, “What said Marshal Turenne, when some in vanity said that the enemies were afraid, for they entrenched themselves? `Well,’ says he, ‘I would they were not afraid, for then they would not entrench themselves, and so we could deal with them the better.’”

Away thence, and met with Sir H. Cholmly, who tells me that he do believe the government of Tangier is bought by my Lord Allington for a sum of money to my Lord Arlington, and something to Lord Bellasses, who (he did tell me particularly how) is as very a false villain as ever was born, having received money of him here upon promise and confidence of his return, forcing him to pay it by advance here, and promising to ask no more there, when at the same time he was treating with my Lord Allington to sell his command to him, and yet told Sir H. Cholmly nothing of it, but when Sir H. Cholmly told him what he had heard, he confessed that my Lord Allington had spoken to him of it, but that he was a vain man to look after it, for he was nothing fit for it, and then goes presently to my Lord Allington and drives on the bargain, yet tells Lord Allington what he himself had said of him, as [though] Sir H. Cholmly had said them. I am glad I am informed hereof, and shall know him for a Lord, &c. Sir H. Cholmly tells me further that he is confident there will be a peace, and that a great man did tell him that my Lord Albemarle did tell him the other day at White Hall as a secret that we should have a peace if any thing the King of France can ask and our King can give will gain it, which he is it seems mad at.

Thence back with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen home, and heard a piece of sermon, and so home to dinner, where Balty come, very fine, and dined with us, and after dinner with me by water to White Hall, and there he and I did walk round the Park, I giving him my thoughts about the difficulty of getting employment for him this year, but advised him how to employ himself, and I would do what I could. So he and I parted, and I to Martin’s, where I find her within, and ‘su hermano’ and ‘la veuve’ Burroughs. Here I did ‘demeurer toda’ the afternoon … [bezando las and drank; and among other things, did by a trick arrive at tocando el poil de la thing de the veuve abovesaid. – L&M] By and by come up the mistress of the house, Crags, a pleasant jolly woman. I staid all but a little, and away home by water through bridge, a brave evening, and so home to read, and anon to supper, W. Hewer with us, and then to read myself to sleep again, and then to bed, and mightily troubled the most of the night with fears of fire, which I cannot get out of my head to this day since the last great fire. I did this night give the waterman who uses to carry me 10s. at his request, for the painting of his new boat, on which shall be my arms.

30 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"my Lord Arlington...did move that we might do it as privately as we could, that it might not come into the Dutch Gazette presently, as the King's and Duke of York's going down the other day to Sheerenesse was, the week after, in the Harlem Gazette [ sic ]."

L&M note that the news had appeared in the Mar 9/19 Oprechte Haerlemse Saterdaegse Courant and observe that Arlington himself was "in a sense responsible for the 'leak'. His own intelligence from Holland came in part from Abraham Casteleyn, publisher of the Haarlem Courant, and was supplied to Williamson, Arlington's secretary, in exchange for similar new from England."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haar…

Ingrid Maier en René Vos, Gelezen van Londen tot Moskou: Internationale dimensies van de Oprechte Haerlemse Courant in de zeventiende eeuw -- "Read from London to Moscow: International Dimensions of the Oprechte Haerlemse Courant in the Seventeenth Century" - Haarlem Jaerboek 2005, pp. 9-32
http://www.slaviska.uu.se/ingrid/…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“ …. So he and I parted, and I to Martin’s, where I find her within, and su hermano and la veuve Burroughs. Here I did demorar toda the afternoon bezando las and drank; and among other things, did by trick arrive at tocando el poil la thing the veuve abovesaid."

http://www.pepys.info/bits5.html

cum salis grano  •  Link

The Tower awaits?
"...and indeed all their care they now take is to fortify themselves, and are not ashamed of it:..."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Martin's certainly a tolerant fellow.

***

So there's enough cash to entrench like the Dickens but not enough to get the fleet out of mothballs at least to keep it moving from place to place rather than sitting in one well-known location.

But, hey...Those cowardly Dutchmen would never dare attack the fleet in its home base. Why it's as foolish as the idea that Japan could ever strike at some future Russian, or an American fleet, should those colonies ever become independent.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"I did this night give the waterman who uses to carry me 10s. at his request, for the painting of his new boat, on which shall be my arms."

Corporate sponsorship? More evidence of SP actively 'managing the brand' well beyond the personal wine bottles and display of plate at home.

"One cannot fail to notice taxis dominating our busiest locations, reaching areas where other forms of advertising are not permitted. Taxis spend 90% of their time within major city centres dominating the key retail and business areas"
http://www.taxiadvertising.com/

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...on which shall be my arms..."

I can just see Batten and Penn chortling over that.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Not to mention the look on Sandwich's face when he returns...

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"tocando el poil la thing the veuve above said"
"the Merry Widow"

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"indeed all their care they now take is to fortify themselves"

Burnt claret?

cum salis grano  •  Link

a possible inscription:
"libidus Samuelus"?

else
"fortis fortuna adiuvat"
or
"varium et mutabile semper femina"

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Burnt claret?"

Well, what else is there?

Australian Susan  •  Link

Sam's now got the 17th c equivalent of a limo with driver! Scrambling up the ladder of social esteem - the pinnacle of which is to set your own coach up. But - I thought only those of rank (Baronet or above) could display arms on vehicles? Or perhaps that had not come in yet. maybe it's just a 19th c custom. Wonder if Batten and Penn have done similar deals with watermen and Sam is following?

Jesse  •  Link

“…on which shall be my arms…”

Some discussion about the CoA back on http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… though many of dirk's links didn't work (well).

cum salis grano  •  Link

let there be arms
a nice Pepysian entry and his nags heads.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

The family trees come and go like the tides of fortune, most 7th sons of 7 sons fail to get even a dropped stitch,
now for those whose De'yena his itching, can buy a copy then flaunt it.
wisdom dynae come with age.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I did this night give the waterman who uses to carry me 10s. at his request, for the painting of his new boat, on which shall be my arms."

L&M note "Boats in public use often bore the arms of impotant individuals."

Don McCahill  •  Link

Who you callin' impotant, Terry?

cum salis grano  •  Link

"who is important", to whom, no one, only to the Imperial me, stuck in mine ego between two lugholes and a pair of peepers, "ergot" [Claviceps purpurea] therefore I am.
Many have Ideas of grandeur, I have met very few that fail not to claim that there is skeleton in the closet and he be with a motto.
We love the fairy "tails"

cum salis grano  •  Link

Thus one must scrape up every last brass fart[h]ing to have thy motto legal.
"...they did talk of my Lord Bruncker, whose father, it seems, did give Mr. Ashburnham and the present Lord Digby 1200l. to be made an Irish lord, and swore the same day that he had not 12d. left to pay for his dinner: they make great mirth at this, my Lord Bruncker having lately given great matter of offence both to them and us all, that we are at present mightily displeased with him...."

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"So he and I parted, and I to Martin’s, where I find her within, and su hermano and la veuve Burroughs. Here I did demorar toda the afternoon bezando las and drank; and among other things, did by trick arrive at tocando el poil la thing the veuve above said."

Translation, please? Thank you.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Todd, here's a stab:

" ... where I find her within, and her sister [1] and the widow Burroughs. Here I did stay the whole afternoon kissing them and drank; and among other things, did by trick arrive at touching the hair [on] the thing [of][2] the aforementioned widow."

[1] "hermano" is the masculine form, but I don't think Sam would have been kissing her brother (or anybody else with him present).

[2] the last clause is pretty elliptical, but the inserted prepositions represent my interpretation of the meaning.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Todd, here's a stab:

" ... where I find her within, and her sister [1] and the widow Burroughs. Here I did stay the whole afternoon kissing them and drank; and among other things, did by trick arrive at touching the hair [on] the thing [of][2] the aforementioned widow."

[1] "hermano" is the masculine form, but I don't think Sam would have been kissing her brother (or anybody else with him present).

[2] the last clause is pretty elliptical, but the inserted prepositions represent my interpretation of the meaning.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Thanks, Paul. I've gotten relatively good at parsing Sam's liaison language, but this one had some words I didn't recognize.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"they did talk of my Lord Bruncker, whose father, it seems, did give Mr. Ashburnham and the present Lord Digby 1200l. to be made an Irish lord, and swore the same day that he had not 12d. left to pay for his dinner"

L&M: The title dated from September 1645. John Ashburnham was then
paymaster of the Army and Digby (Earl of Bristol) a Secretary of State.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"By and by to the Duke of York, where we all met, and there was the King also; and all our discourse was about fortifying of the Medway and Harwich, which is to be entrenched quite round, and Portsmouth: and here they advised with Sir Godfry Lloyd and Sir Bernard de Gum, the two great engineers, and had the plates drawn before them."

L&M: Lloyd nand de Gomme had been joint engineers-in-chief since 1661 of all royal castles and fortifications in England and Wales. De Gomme had accompanied the Duke to Harwich on 20-1 March. Some of his plans and charts of the Medway (possible those referred to here) are in BM, Add. 16370, ff. 35-8, and in the NMM, Greenwich.
Cf also https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... my Lord Albemarle did tell him ... that we should have a peace if any thing the King of France can ask and our King can give will gain it, which he is it seems mad at."

"he" might be Albemarle, but what is the "it seems" indicative of?
Pepys is surprised Albemarle is angry France governs Charles II?
Or is "he" Charles II, who is angry at Louis XIV for asking too much for the peace?

Hilary  •  Link

Today's Spitalfields Life blog has an excellent article about Pepys and St Olave's Church

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Lady Day is the end of the quarter, which is, of course, why he's been trying to pay his bills for the last 10 days or so. The tab keeps on ticking.

Third Reading

Trevor M Randall  •  Link

Thank you for the Spitalfields Life tip Hillary, and for the link Terry the blog features some wonderful pictures from inside St. Olave’s.

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