Wednesday 26 June 1667

Up, and in dressing myself in my dressing chamber comes up Nell, and I did play with her … [and touch her belly and thing, but did not kiss her. – L&M] So being ready I to White Hall by water, and there to the Lords Treasurers’ chamber, and there wait, and here it is every body’s discourse that the Parliament is ordered to meet the 25th of July, being, as they say, St. James’s day; which every creature is glad of. But it is pretty to consider how, walking to the Old Swan from my house, I met Sir Thomas Harvy, whom, asking the newes of the Parliament’s meeting, he told me it was true, and they would certainly make a great rout among us. I answered, I did not care for my part, though I was ruined, so that the Commonwealth might escape ruin by it. He answered, that is a good one, in faith; for you know yourself to be secure, in being necessary to the office; but for my part, says he, I must look to be removed; but then, says he, I doubt not but I shall have amends made me; for all the world knows upon what terms I come in; which is a saying that a wise man would not unnecessarily have said, I think, to any body, meaning his buying his place of my Lord Barkely [of Stratton]. So we parted, and I to White Hall, as I said before, and there met with Sir Stephen Fox and Mr. Scawen, who both confirm the news of the Parliament’s meeting. Here I staid for an order for my Tangier money, 30,000l., upon the 11 months’ tax, and so away to my Lord Arlington’s office, and there spoke to him about Mr. Lanyon’s business, and received a good answer, and thence to Westminster Hall and there walked a little, and there met with Colonell Reames, who tells me of a letter come last night, or the day before, from my Lord St. Albans, out of France, wherein he says, that the King of France did lately fall out with him, giving him ill names, saying that he had belied him to our King, by saying that he had promised to assist our King, and to forward the peace; saying that indeed he had offered to forward the peace at such a time, but it was not accepted of, and so he thinks himself not obliged, and would do what was fit for him; and so made him to go out of his sight in great displeasure: and he hath given this account to the King, which, Colonell Reymes tells me, puts them into new melancholy at Court, and he believes hath forwarded the resolution of calling the Parliament. Wherewith for all this I am very well contented, and so parted and to the Exchequer, but Mr. Burgess was not in his office; so alone to the Swan, and thither come Mr. Kinaston to me, and he and I into a room and there drank and discoursed, and I am mightily pleased with him for a most diligent and methodical man in all his business. By and by to Burgess, and did as much as we could with him about our Tangier order, though we met with unexpected delays in it, but such as are not to be avoided by reason of the form of the Act and the disorders which the King’s necessities do put upon it, and therefore away by coach, and at White Hall spied Mr. Povy, who tells me, as a great secret, which none knows but himself, that Sir G. Carteret hath parted with his place of Treasurer of the Navy, by consent, to my Lord Anglesey, and is to be Treasurer of Ireland in his stead; but upon what terms it is I know not, but Mr. Povy tells it is so, and that it is in his power to bring me to as great a friendship and confidence in my Lord Anglesey as ever I was with [Sir] W. Coventry, which I am glad of, and so parted, and I to my tailor’s about turning my old silk suit and cloak into a suit and vest, and thence with Mr. Kinaston (whom I had set down in the Strand and took up again at the Temple gate) home, and there to dinner, mightily pleased with my wife’s playing on the flageolet, and so after dinner to the office. Such is the want already of coals, and the despair of having any supply, by reason of the enemy’s being abroad, and no fleete of ours to secure, that they are come, as Mr. Kinaston tells me, at this day to 5l. 10s. per chaldron. All the afternoon busy at the office. In the evening with my wife and Mercer took coach and to Islington to the Old House, and there eat and drank and sang with great pleasure, and then round by Hackney home with great pleasure, and when come home to bed, my stomach not being well pleased with the cream we had to-night.

39 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Up, and in dressing myself in my dressing chamber comes up Nell, and I did play with her and touch her belly and thing, but did not kiss her."

L&M text.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir G. Carteret hath parted with his place of Treasurer of the Navy, by consent, to my Lord Anglesey, and is to be Treasurer of Ireland in his stead"

Anglesey was Vice-Treasurer and Receiver-General, not Treasurer, of Ireland.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"so alone to the Swan, and thither come Mr. Kinaston to me"

Again the merchant, not the actor.

Ruben  •  Link

"but for my part, says he, I must look to be removed; but then, says he, I doubt not but I shall have amends made me; for all the world knows upon what terms I come in; which is a saying that a wise man would not unnecessarily have said, I think, to any body, meaning his buying his place of my Lord Barkely [of Stratton]."
What this man is saying is that he paid good money for a bad position.

JWB  •  Link

Leviathan's calf:

Typing 'commonwealth' into the diary's search engine returns 9 hits, 3 from Pepy's pen. Just 3 in 7 years. This from May 28,'61: "...got into a balcone over against the Exchange; and there saw the hangman burn, by vote of Parliament, two old acts, the one for constituting us a Commonwealth, and the others I have forgot. Which still do make me think of the greatness of this late turn, and what people will do tomorrow against what they all, through profit or fear, did promise and practise this..."

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

I answered, I did not care for my part, though I was ruined, so that the Commonwealth might escape ruin by it. He answered, that is a good one, in faith; for you know yourself to be secure, in being necessary to the office...

Pepys is careful but no fool, and certainly knows Parliament can set up a hunt for scapegoats that could turn on him and the Navy office.

His choice of Commonwealth with a capital C explicitly echoes the Cromwellian Commonwealth. SPOILER: on Aug. 7, 1667,
he records Mr. Burges (apparently a senior clerk at the Exchequer) as saying (indirect discourse) "people do well remember better things were done, and better managed, and with much less charge under a commonwealth than they have been by this King." OED cites this quotation.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"His choice of Commonwealth with a capital C "

L&M say "Pepys's capitalisation is indicated only in his longhand" -- not indicated here, so this is an editorial choice (just bein' proper).

Terry Foreman  •  Link

'Twere proper to distinguish THE Commonwealth and A commonwealth.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

“Up, and in dressing myself in my dressing chamber comes up Nell, and I did play with her and touch her belly and thing, but did not kiss her.”

Hmmm: " but did not kiss her." Is this writ with regret or pride at self-control?

"A kiss is just a kiss" wrote Louis Armstrong in "As Time Goes By" ....

Makes me wonder whether Pepys and we would define advances in the stages of physical entanglement (in the US we use a baseball figure -- "first base, second base," etc. --) in different ways.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"He answered, that is a good one, in faith; for you know yourself to be secure, in being necessary to the office; but for my part, says he, I must look to be removed;"

That is a good one... And interesting that the expression was in vogue.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Of course, to be fair, Sir Thomas ought to remember that just a couple of days ago many thought Sam might be headed for the Tower.

Fern  •  Link

Sam might be headed for the Tower...

be headed, beheaded

A little space makes a big difference.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Depending on the century, at the Tower, could be very little difference...

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Of absolutely no relevance to the 17th century, but just to keep the records straight: Herman Hupfeld wrote "As Time Goes By," and Dooley Wilson sang it in "Casablanca." The song is not listed in Louis Armstrong's discography:
http://michaelminn.net/armstrong/…

jmacg  •  Link

Terry Foreman wrote:

“Up, and in dressing myself in my dressing chamber comes up Nell, and I did play with her and touch her belly and thing, but did not kiss her. L&M text”

Why are we getting an expurgated text?

Ruben  •  Link

"Casablanca"
It is intriguing how this tergiversation of plain facts ocurred. For one, people that see a black man playing a piano and singing, should think (long, in my case) about Nat King Cole. But Cole came later. In the 40' a black had to be Armstrong, who else? in spite of his playing the vuvuzela and not the piano.
This kind of distortions is behind Mary Antoinette with the cake, Louis saying that after him the deluge, the State is me, and the like.
Vox Populi is not always Veritas, is'nt it?

language hat  •  Link

"It is intriguing how this tergiversation of plain facts ocurred."

In the first place, only Terry can say how his mental glitch occurred; your assumptions seem uncharitable. In the second place, not only did Armstrong not play the piano, he never even performed the song, so your explanation fails.

language hat  •  Link

Oh, ignore the last sentence, it doesn't address your point.

Bob G  •  Link

Apparently the Louis Armstrong / Dooley Wilson "As time goes by" confusion is very common. He did sing "We have all the time in the world" for a different movie; maybe that has something to do with it.

Ruben  •  Link

Language Hat:
As everyone reading my annotation can understand I was not commenting about Terry, whom I admire, but about the distorted interpretation of human memory. Read other annotators annotations and find the same.

I think the warped interpretation is a consequence of both man being "Negroes" or "colored".
Prejudice and discrimination? Sure.
I remember now the cartoon used in the States for some kind of test showing passengers in a suburban train. There is a Negro passenger between the others in the train. The cartoon is removed and now the examiner asks who had a knife and more times than not the answer is..., well, you know the answer.

Fern  •  Link

If anyone could get a tune out of a vuvuzela, it would be Louis Armstrong.

Ruben  •  Link

Lady Pepys was learning to play from a book called "The well tempered vuvuzela", that was lost for posterity between Brampton and London.

Second Reading

cyclops  •  Link

Reuben - "and there was much rejoicing" - Python, Monty

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"[Sir Thomas Hervey (Navy Commissioner, 1665-8)' answered...that...you know yourself to be secure, in being necessary to the office; but for my part, says he, I must look to be removed; but then, says he, I doubt not but I shall have amends made me;for all the world knows upon what terms I come in; which is a saying that a wise man would not unnecessarily have said, I think, to any body, meaning his buying his place of my Lord Barkely [of Stratton]."

L&M: He was said to have paid £3000 to Berkeley for his place in 1665: Clarendon, Life, ii. 333. He sold it for £2000 in February 1688: CSPD 1667-8, p. 227. Pep's's opinion of him was always low.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"and there spoke to him about Mr. Lanyon’s business"

L&M: The victualing of Tangier.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"a letter come last night, or the day before, from my Lord St. Albans, out of France, wherein he says, that the King of France did lately fall out with him, giving him ill names, saying that he had belied him to our King, by saying that he had promised to assist our King, and to forward the peace; saying that indeed he had offered to forward the peace at such a time, but it was not accepted of, and so he thinks himself not obliged, and would do what was fit for him:"

L&M: St Albans had been in Paris as envoy-extraordinary since February: C. H. Firth and S. C. Lomas, Notes on diplo. relations Engl. and France, 1604-88, pp. 18-19. Despite the delaying tactics of the French, a peace treaty was signed on 12/31 July. The letter here mentioned does not appear to be among either St Albans' dispatches to Arlington (PEO, SP 78/123) or his letters to Clarendon (Bodl., Clar. MSS). Bullen Reymes, M.P., was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to the King.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"By and by to Burgess, and did as much as we could with him about our Tangier order, though we met with unexpected delays in it, but such as are not to be avoided by reason of the form of the Act and the disorders which the King’s necessities do put upon it"

L&M: Delays followed from the 'form' of the act (for the Eleven Months Tax) in that funds were reserved for naval charges. 'Disorders' followed from the King's recouping himself for advances made out of his ordinary income.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"at White Hall spied Mr. Povy, who tells me, as a great secret, which none knows but himself, that Sir G. Carteret hath parted with his place of Treasurer of the Navy, by consent, to my Lord Anglesey, and is to be Treasurer of Ireland in his stead; "

L&M: Carteret and Anglesey were both under attack and hoped (in vain) to save themselves by changing places. The warrant to the Attorney-General to prepare a surrender by Carteret and a grant if the office to Anglesey was issued this day: CSPD 1667, p. 235. Anglesey's office was that of Vice-Treasurer and Receiver-General, not Treasurer, of Ireland. But knowledgeable persons (according to Sandwich) put the Irish post's profits at £5000 p.a. -- about double those of the Navy Treasurership in peacetime: Sandwich MSS 'Journals, v. 60.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Such is the want already of coals, and the despair of having any supply, by reason of the enemy’s being abroad, and no fleete of ours to secure, that they are come, as Mr. Kinaston tells me, at this day to 5l. 10s. per chaldron."

L&M: This was apparently the highest prices reached: cf.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
By nid-September it had fallen steeply:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Makes me wonder whether Pepys and we define advances in the stages of physical entanglement (in the US we use a baseball figure -- "first base, second base," etc. --) in different ways."

I think deniability to Elizabeth might be the issue here. "I have never kissed that girl" sounds so much more plausible than "I have never touched her thing" or "What breasts?"

And I don't recall the Brits having an equivalent to America's baseball analogy -- that should be repeated here, that is.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"In the evening with my wife and Mercer took coach and to Islington to the Old House, and there eat and drank and sang with great pleasure, and then round by Hackney home with great pleasure, and when come home to bed,..."

They see almost as much of Mary Mercer now as when she was employed by them. But I don't recall Elizabeth having a real companion at this time.

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Herman Hupfeld wrote 'As Time Goes By' not Louis Armstrong.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Thanks, Gerald Berg.

"As Time Goes By" is a song written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931. It became famous when it was featured in the 1942 Warner Bros. film Casablanca performed by Dooley Wilson as Sam. The song was voted No. 2 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs special, commemorating the best songs in film[1] (only surpassed by "Over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_…

Timo  •  Link

This is one of those entries where I feel Pepys is conscious of his role as a chronicler of his times. Not just reporting on touching up one of the maids...

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"I feel Pepys is conscious of his role as a chronicler of his times." Yup, but I'm glad it isn't all of this depth.

We are living in fraught times also, and I write to clarify my opinions and to help me reflect, so I edit and rethink and pick apart the words I use a lot. Pepys seems to have had the skill to get it mostly right straight off the bat. There's not much written in the margins or illegible because it was scratched out. An amazing talent.

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