Wednesday 5 June 1667
Up, and with Mr. Kenaston by coach to White Hall to the Commissioners of the Treasury about getting money for Tangier, and did come to, after long waiting, speak with them, and there I find them all sat; and, among the rest, Duncomb lolling, with his heels upon another chair, by that, that he sat upon, and had an answer good enough, and then away home, and (it being a most windy day, and hath been so all night, South West, and we have great hopes that it may have done the Dutch or French fleets some hurt) having got some papers in order, I back to St. James’s, where we all met at Sir W. Coventry’s chamber, and dined and talked of our business, he being a most excellent man, and indeed, with all his business, hath more of his employed upon the good of the service of the Navy, than all of us, that makes me ashamed of it. This noon Captain Perriman brings us word how the Happy Returne’s [crew] below in the Hope, ordered to carry the Portugal Ambassador to Holland (and the Embassador, I think, on board), refuse to go till paid; and by their example two or three more ships are in a mutiny: which is a sad consideration, while so many of the enemy’s ships are at this day triumphing in the sea. Here a very good and neat dinner, after the French manner, and good discourse, and then up after dinner to the Duke of York and did our usual business, and are put in hopes by Sir W. Coventry that we shall have money, and so away, Sir G. Carteret and I to my Lord Crew to advise about Sir G. Carteret’s carrying his accounts to-morrow to the Commissioners appointed to examine them and all other accounts since the war, who at last by the King’s calling them to him yesterday and chiding them will sit, but Littleton and Garraway much against their wills. The truth of it is, it is a ridiculous thing, for it will come to nothing, nor do the King nor kingdom good in any manner, I think. Here they talked of my Lord Hinchingbroke’s match with Lord Burlington’s daughter, which is now gone a pretty way forward, and to great content, which I am infinitely glad of. So from hence to White Hall, and in the streete Sir G. Carteret showed me a gentleman coming by in his coach, who hath been sent for up out of Lincolneshire, I think he says he is a justice of peace there, that the Council have laid by the heels here, and here lies in a messenger’s hands, for saying that a man and his wife are but one person, and so ought to pay but 12d. for both to the Poll Bill; by which others were led to do the like: and so here he lies prisoner. To White Hall, and there I attended to speak with Sir W. Coventry about Lanyon’s business, to get him some money out of the Prize Office from my Lord Ashly, and so home, and there to the office a little, and thence to my chamber to read, and supper, and to bed. My father, blessed be God! finds great ease by his new steel trusse, which he put on yesterday. So to bed. The Duke of Cambridge past hopes of living still.
22 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"a man and his wife are but one person,"
Sir William Blackstone (1765) will go on to say "By marriage, the hufband and wife are one perfon in law l : that is, the very being or legal exiftence of the woman is fufpended during the marriage, or at leaft is incorporated and confolidated into that of the hufband : under whofe wing, protection, and cover, fhe performs every thing ; and is therefore called in our law-french a feme-covert ; is faid to be covert-baron, or under the protection and influence of her hufband, her baron, or lord ; and her condition during her marriage is called her coverture. Upon this principle, of an union of perfon in hufband and wife, depend almoft all the legal rights, duties, and difabilities, that either of them acquire by the marriage."
1 Co. Litt. 112.*
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_c…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comm…
*Coke, Edward, Sir, 1552-1634.The first part of the Institutes of the laws of England, or, A commentary upon Littleton not the name of the author only, but of the law itself. Often called "Coke on Littleton" or abbreviated "Co. Litt."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwa…
Jesse • Link
"...and so ought to pay but 12d. for both to the Poll Bill"
Married Filing Jointly? Made my day. Thanks for the extra backgound.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
Subchapter headings:
A lolling Duncombe
Blow winds and crack your cheeks, or Charles II (with Pepys as chorus) as Lear vis-a-vis the Dutch and French fleets
Mutiny spreads
A bounteous dinner in the French manner
A ridiculous commission
A just justice laid by the heels
And so to bed
arby • Link
Relying on the Divine Wind for national defense, eh?
Terry Foreman • Link
"Relying on the Divine Wind for national defense, eh? "
It's happened before.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Span…
cum salis grano • Link
wind is either for you or against you but occasionally it will lull so that thee can then make an indecision.
JWB • Link
"...laid by the heels..."
The exception proves the rule:
"In England the different poll-taxes never produced the sum which had been expected from them, or which, it was supposed, they might have produced, had they been exactly levied. In France the capitation always produces the sum expected from it. The mild government of England, when it assessed the different ranks of people to the poll-tax, contented itself with what that assessment happened to produce; and required no compensation for the loss which the state might sustain either by those who could not pay, or by those who would not pay (for there were many such), and who, by the indulgent execution of the law, were not forced to pay. The more severe government of France assesses upon each generality a certain sum, which the intendant must find as he can." p128,Bk 5,II Of the Sources of the Gen'l or Public Revenue, "The Wealth of Nations", Adam Smith
http://www1.bartleby.com/10/502.h…
Robert Gertz • Link
"...the Happy Returne’s’ [crew] below in the Hope, ordered to carry the Portugal Embassador to Holland (and the Embassador, I think, on board), refuse to go till paid..."
"And say that until we are paid, the French ambassador will be going nowhere..."
"You mean the Portugese..."
"What? This ain't the French ambassador? You, there...You ain't the French one?"
"Portugese, sir."
"Bloody hell...Who'll give a damn for the Portugese ambassador to the damned Dutchmen."
"Queen's Portugese, Harry. She might persuade ole Charlie to cough up."
"All right...Half our pay and the Portugese ambassador goes on his merry way." Grumbling, turn to shipmates... "Damned bloody lot of fools...Who's the idiot who said this one was the Frenchie?"
"'e sounded French, Harry."
Don McCahill • Link
> hufband
I hate it when people use the f to represent the long s. They are different characters, and if you switch to a different character, why not use the short s, instead of an entirely different letter, that just happens to look similar.
Paul Chapin • Link
Don, I expect that passage and others like it were copied from the original with an optical scanner, and no one took the time and trouble to go through and correct all the false "f"s.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"This noon Captain Perriman brings us word how the Happy Returne’s’ [crew] below in the Hope, ordered to carry the Portugal Embassador to Holland (and the Embassador, I think, on board), refuse to go till paid;"
The ship was a man-of-war detailed for the purpose. An order for pay was issued on the 6th and she sailed shortly thereafter.
Terry Foreman • Link
"a very good and neat dinner, after the French manner"
This, of course, is a meal in which the courses are served consecutively.
When my sons were 7 and 5 years old their mother was away one summer evening. I struggled to get dinner served, but failed to get it all heated at once. My older son remarked "Dad, this is very fancy." How did he know that?!
Terry Foreman • Link
"and, among the rest, Duncomb lolling, with his heels upon another chair, by that, that he sat upon, and had an answer good enough"
L&M: 'Mr. Pepys called in about Tangier moneys. Warrant ordered for charging the 30,000l. ln the Privy Seal for the 200,000l. for the king on the Eleven Months' Tax': CTB, ii. 8.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Sir G. Carteret and I to my Lord Crew to advise about Sir G. Carteret’s carrying his accounts to- morrow to the Commissioners appointed to examine them and all other accounts since the war, who at last by the King’s calling them to him yesterday and chiding them will sit, but Littleton and Garraway much against their wills. The truth of it is, it is a ridiculous thing, for it will come to nothing, nor do the King nor kingdom good in any manner, I think."
L&M: The Medway disaster of the following week seems to have ended the work of this commission: CTN. vol. ii, p. xlix. For its revival (as a parliamentary commission) see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Terry Foreman • Link
"Sir G. Carteret showed me a gentleman coming by in his coach, who hath been sent for up out of Lincolneshire, I think he says he is a justice of peace there, that the Council have laid by the heels here, and here lies in a messenger’s hands, for saying that a man and his wife are but one person, and so ought to pay but 12d. for both to the Poll Bill; by which others were led to do the like: and so here he lies prisoner. "
L&M: Two Lincolnshire justices acting as commissioners for poll-tax (William Wolley and George Sanderson) had been summoned to the Council for this offense in mid-May, and were released by an order of 7 June: PRO, PC 2/59, &c. They had also claimed exemption for children under 16.
Terry Foreman • Link
"To White Hall, and there I attended to speak with Sir W. Coventry about Lanyon’s business"
L&M: Lanyon was one of the Tangier victuallers.
JayW • Link
‘law french’ as referred to in Terry’s first comment above was still being used in 1969 when I started working for the Inland Revenue. A married woman’s income had to be included on her husband’s tax return unless they were separated, when she could send in her own return and was referred to as a ‘feme sole’ in our internal instruction books.
Mary K • Link
And of course our laws are still passed in Parliament with the statement "La Reine le veult."
Terry Foreman • Link
La Reyne le veult ("The Queen wills it") or Le Roy le veult ("The King wills it") is a Norman French phrase used in the Parliament of the United Kingdom to signify that a public bill (including a private member's bill) has received royal assent from the monarch of the United Kingdom. It is a legacy of the time prior to 1488 when parliamentary and judicial business was conducted in French, the language of the educated classes dating to the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is one of a small number of Norman French phrases that continue to be used in the course of parliamentary procedure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_…
San Diego Sarah • Link
"My father, blessed be God! finds great ease by his new steel truss, which he put on yesterday."
So now we know where Pops was those first few days of his visit, and what he was doing. A steel truss sounds really comfortable!!!!
Third Reading
Trevor M Randall • Link
After the French manner.
This intrigues me, if the French manner reflects the current western protocol of serving consecutive courses/dishes does this mean that the restoration norm was having the prawn cocktail, steak and Black Forest gateaux all served at once?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... does this mean that the restoration norm was having the prawn cocktail, steak and Black Forest gateaux all served at once?"
Apparently, yes. An excerpt from GEORGE VILLIERS, SECOND DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM 1628-1687 : A STUDY IN THE HISTORY OF THE RESTORATION
By WINIFRED, LADY BURGHCLERE
https://archive.org/stream/cu3192…
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. LONDON
1903
Page 250 BUCKINGHAM'S VAGARIES [chap. x.
'The usual profusion which marked the entertainments of that period was not lacking on this occasion; and with his French chef, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham had evidently imported the Parisian fashion of serving his table. All the dishes of "costly meats both hot and cold, the sweetmeats also, and the fruit," were placed simultaneously on high stands erected to receive them down the board — an arrangement we can see depicted in the sketches of French banquets still preserved at the Musee Carnavalet.'