Sunday 15 December 1667

(Lord’s day). Up, and to church, where I heard a German preach, in a tone hard to be understood, but yet an extraordinary good sermon, and wholly to my great content. So home, and there all alone with wife and girle to dinner, and then I busy at my chamber all the afternoon, and looking over my plate, which indeed is a very fine quantity, God knows, more than ever I expected to see of my own, and more than is fit for a man of no better quality than I am. In the evening comes Mrs. Turner to visit us, who hath been long sick, and she sat and supped with us, and after supper, her son Francke being there, now upon the point of his going to the East Indys, I did give him “Lex Mercatoria,” and my wife my old pair of tweezers, which are pretty, and my book an excellent one for him. Most of our talk was of the great discourse the world hath against my Lady Batten, for getting her husband to give her all, and disinherit his eldest son; though the truth is, the son, as they say, did play the knave with his father when time was, and the father no great matter better with him, nor with other people also. So she gone, we to bed.

14 Annotations

First Reading

Mary  •  Link

Tweezers.

Probably the 'set or case of small instruments' that appears as the head definition in OED. Not, I think, a small pair of pincers with which to keep his eyebrows tidy.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...but yet an extraordinary good sermon, and wholly to my great content..."

Hmmn? What kind of sermon would be wholly to Sam's great content?

"Blessed is der industrious mann...For his ist der Kingdom of Heaven which be like un to un beehive wherein der industrious workers are given all they require. Blessed is der mann who take care in all he does und minds his fields and tends his wealth mit firm resolve, for remember der parable of der industrious steward who did increase his master's holdings und vas rewarded by his master but der fearful steward who hid his share of his master's holdings vas cast out. Forgive der philanderer, oh Lord, for Mann ist weak und Temptation gross...Unless of course der philandering be der Woman, then punish with all just Wrath, oh Godt, for it is written that Woman doth lead der Mann into Sin und Death..."

"I like this fellow, Bess." Sam, beaming.

Geoff Hallett  •  Link

'and more than is fit for a man of no better quality than I am', a wonderful piece of introspection that makes the diary so special.

cum salis grano  •  Link

Tweezers [with an s]
1. A set or case of small instruments. Also a pair (= set) of tweezers. Obs. rare.
1654 D. Osborne Lett. to Sir W. Temple (1888) 223 Did not you say once you knew where good French tweezers were to be had? Pray send me a pair; they shall cut no love.
1662 S. Pepys Diary 20 June (1970) III. 115 Bought me a pair of tweezers, cost me 14s.
1686 tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia 122 Ribbands, Paper, Needles, Twizers, Knives and Scissars.
1688 R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times III. 121 A Present of Twezers, and a Case of Knives to Father Sweetman at Madrid.

2.
Thesaurus »

a. Small pincers or nippers (orig. as included in the contents of an etui) used for plucking out hairs from the face or for grasping minute objects. Also a pair of tweezers.
1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. vii. 110 If he had but spirit enough to have drawne, the very sight of his Tweezers would have put the Don to the Roares.
1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. xii. 156 Mr. Barber with his Razor or his Tweezers, could not be so expeditious.
a1704 T. Brown Lett. to Gentlemen & Ladies in Wks. (1708) III. ii. 124 His Eye-brows are fair, but over large,‥I mean, when the Tweezers have not play'd their Part.

Tweezer:
1. A case of small instruments; an etui, a tweezer-case. Obs.
1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. vii. 111 His signe‥is as attractive as‥his Plaister-box (if he be a Chyron too) or if not, as his Tweezer.
1745 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 34/2 They admired my tweeser, and the trinkets in it.
1746 E. Haywood Female Spectator No. 22. (1748) IV. 187 Her maid‥went privately away in the night, taking with her‥her watch, tweezer, a diamond solitaire, and several other trinkets.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the great discourse the world hath against my Lady Batten, for getting her husband to give her all, and disinherit his eldest son"

By his will (proved on 22 November) Batten had left £10 to his eldest son William, a lawyer. Mingo, his negro servant, had also been left £10 -- plus an income of £20 p.a. (Per L&M note)

A will can go in effect when it is "proved" (tested) in a public court and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"In the evening comes Mrs. Turner to visit us, who hath been long sick, and she sat and supped with us, ... Most of our talk was of the great discourse the world hath against my Lady Batten, for getting her husband to give her all, and disinherit his eldest son; ..."

Elizabeth Pepys was up for lunch and a supper visit ... she must be feeling better finally. Food poisoning???

There was no love lost between Mrs. Elizabeth Turner and the Battens.

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Monday 10 October 1664

"But Sir W. Batten do raffle still against Mr. Turner and his wife, telling me he is a false fellow, and his wife a false woman, and has rotten teeth and false, set in with wire, and as I know they are so, so I am glad he finds it so."

Maybe the metal in Mrs. Turner's mouth contributed to her long illness??? But so could many other things, of course. This is one of the earliest mentions of false teeth that I'm aware of. I wonder what type of wire they used.
I recently had a problem with a 50 year old root canal where the dentist had put in silver tips. After 50 years the silver corroded and I got an infection in my jaw. So our understanding of problems with metal in the mouth has changed since 1970. Makes me wonder what did they know then?

Harry R  •  Link

"looking over my plate, which indeed is a very fine quantity"

Surely no coincidence that Sam received some plate a few days ago from Lady Montagu / Sandwich. He was unsure at the time that this was intended to secure the £200 loan to her husband. Does he regard the plate as his now for keeps?

john  •  Link

@SDS, Picard's book "Restoration London" has a section on dentistry in chapter 6, wherein she wrote: "Instead of implantation, the tooth might be anchored to its neighbours by silver wire, or silk thread." Her reference is to Smith, "A short history of dentistry". Implants were either human teeth (with an abundance available after the plague) or other material. She also refers to Woodford, "The strange story of false teeth".

Your root-canal story surprises me. Was gutta-percha not used?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus Palaquium in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex produced from the sap of the tree, particularly from Palaquium gutta; it is a polymer of isoprene which forms a rubber-like elastomer.

Dentistry
The same bioinertness that made it suitable for marine cables also means it does not readily react within the human body. It is used in a variety of surgical devices and during root canal therapy. It is the predominant material used to obturate, or fill, the empty space inside the root of a tooth after it has undergone endodontic therapy. Its physical and chemical properties, including but not limited to its inertness and biocompatibility, melting point,[9] ductility, and malleability, make it important in endodontics,[5] e.g., as gutta-percha points. Zinc oxide is added to reduce brittleness and improve plasticity. Barium sulfate is added to provide radiopacity so that its presence and location can be verified in dental X-ray images.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Does he regard the plate as his now for keeps?" -- Pepys is safekeeping it for now, Harry R. But given his current mind set, I'd be surprised if it left his cellar before the money is refunded, or some other arrangement has been reached. All the principals are OOT ... and Sandwich is the one with the signature on the Bill of Exchange.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Thanks for the Picard info, John.

"Your root-canal story surprises me. Was gutta-percha not used?"
Good question, and my thanks to Terry for telling me about gutta-percha. I'll try to remember the question the next time I see my dentist.
My understanding from looking at the X-ray was that in the 1960's a root canal was sealed at the bottom by a drop of silver. Then the hollowed out tooth was filled ... I guess with gutta-percha or something along those lines.
After a couple of decades patients began to return with jaw infections, and the dentists discovered that there is sufficient "dampness" in the jaw to cause the silver to deteriorate, so root canals are no longer done that way. Here's to another 50 years with my recently-improved version.

It's hard to imagine tying teeth into your mouth with silk. If you had gaps between the teeth the silver wire would work, and if there wasn't much room, silk thread would be all that could work. I bet the tooth had to be replaced frequently. What a nightmare.

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