Tuesday 10 March 1667/68

Up, and to the office betimes, where all the morning. At noon home to dinner with my clerks, and after dinner comes Kate Joyce, who tells me she is putting off her house, which I am glad of, but it was pleasant that she come on purpose to me about getting a ticket paid, and in her way hither lost her ticket, so that she is at a great loss what to do. — There comes in then Mrs. Mercer, the mother, the first time she has been here since her daughter lived with us, to see my wife, and after a little talk I left them and to the office, and thence with Sir D. Gawden to Westminster Hall, thinking to have attended the Committee about the Victualling business, but they did not meet, but here we met Sir R. Brookes, who do mightily cry up my speech the other day, saying my fellow-officers are obliged to me, as indeed they are. Thence with Sir D. Gawden homewards, calling at Lincolne’s Inn Fields: but my Lady Jemimah was not within: and so to Newgate, where he stopped to give directions to the jaylor about a Knight, one Sir Thomas Halford brought in yesterday for killing one Colonel Temple, falling out at a taverne. So thence as far as Leadenhall, and there I ’light, and back by coach to Lincoln’s Inn Fields; but my Lady was not come in, and so I am at a great loss whether she and her brother Hinchingbroke and sister will dine with me to-morrow or no, which vexes me. So home; and there comes Mr. Moore to me, who tells me that he fears my Lord Sandwich will meet with very great difficulties to go through about the prizes, it being found that he did give orders for more than the King’s letter do justify; and then for the Act of Resumption, which he fears will go on, and is designed only to do him hurt, which troubles me much. He tells me he believes the Parliament will not be brought to do anything in matters of religion, but will adhere to the Bishops. So he gone, I up to supper, where I find W. Joyce and Harman come to see us, and there was also Mrs. Mercer and her two daughters, and here we were as merry as that fellow Joyce could make us with his mad talking, after the old wont, which tired me. But I was mightily pleased with his singing; for the rogue hath a very good eare, and a good voice. Here he stayed till he was almost drunk, and then away at about ten at night, and then all broke up, and I to bed.

25 Annotations

First Reading

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"but it was pleasant that she come on purpose to me about getting a ticket paid, and in her way hither lost her ticket, so that she is at a great loss what to do"

Hmmm ... I thought Sam *liked* Kate Joyce.

Mary  •  Link

Kate Joyce "putting off her house"

This presumably refers to the inn that her husband was keeping in Clerkenwell immediately before his death in January 1668. Pepys went to considerable trouble to assist Kate in the aftermath of that event and is now called upon for help again. I'm not sure how far he actually 'liked' Kate, but he evidently felt that ties of blood placed him under obligation to help when possible. He seems to have had a fairly poor opinion of both brothers, Anthony and William Joyce, though is prepared to concede that the latter sings well - and that usually counts for something with our musical friend.

Christopher Squire  •  Link

OED has:

‘ . . put away . . 2.d. To dispose of, sell, or exchange (property, goods, etc.); to part with. Now rare.’

and

‘ . . put off . . 9.b. To dispose of (a commodity) by sale; to sell . . Obs.'

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Thanks, Mary -- I understood about the house and the history, but I guess I was just surprised at Sam taking "pleasure" at her "great loss" about what to do about her lost ticket. For all his faults, he usually doesn't take pleasure at others' misfortunes, and unless she was being purposely comical in wondering what happened to the ticket (and the language doesn't support that, IMO), there seems to be a bit of uncharacteristic schadenfreude going on here...

language hat  •  Link

I had the same reaction as Todd -- unless he's using "pleasant" in a very odd way, he's being uncharacteristically nasty.

Georgiana Wickham  •  Link

I read the sentence as meaning, "I was pleased she came to see me about this (because I like to be of assistance to her) and (i.e. "and another thing")she lost her ticket on the way." From what I have read of the diaries over the last few months, he uses only a few conjunctions ("and" and "but" mainly) and makes them work very hard.

Phoenix  •  Link

I agree Georgiana. Samuel Pepys - Godfather?

Uncharacteristically nasty? A while back a horse flailing in the mud to the frustration and anger of others seemed pleasant enough to him.

Mary  •  Link

Yes, I had also taken it as Georgiana and Phoenix do. I caught no hint of schadenfreude at all.

nix  •  Link

"Sir Thomas Halford brought in yesterday for killing one Colonel Temple, falling out at a taverne" --

Records of Middlesex County reflect a coroner's jury verdict that, on January 14, Halford "threw a glass bottle worth two pence at the said Edmund Temple, so that the same bottle struck him on the left side of his head near the crown, and gave him on that part of his head a mortal wound of which he languished . . . until he died of the same wound . . . on 23rd February . . . . with notes on the bill that Sir Thomas Halford put himself on trial, was acquitted of the murder but found 'Guilty' of the manslaughter, that in respect to the conviction Sir Thomas Halford pleaded his clergy, and further that the branding was respited at the King's special order. . . . Also in the file of the Gaol Delivery, held on 17 June next following, the King's Writ addressed to the Keepers of the Peace and Justices &c. for Middlesex, certifying that Sir Thomas Halford bart.has received by Letters Patent the King's Pardon of the said manslaughter, and ordering that he shall be no further molested in respect to the said felony."

http://books.google.com/books?id=…

The preface to that volume states:

"In their heinous offences, crimes, and minor malfeasances, the criminous and disorderly gentlemen of Charles the Second's Middlesex resembled the gentlemen who, in earlier times of the seventeenth century, or in the spacious times of Elizabeth, came within the grip of the criminal law. Committing murder and manslaughter, they went upon the road in order to replenish their pockets with the money of luckless wayfarers. Sometimes a gentle thief condescended to pick a loiterer's pocket in a suburban street, or carried off articles of plate from a friend's supper-table. Most of the manslaughters, for which these disorderly gentlemen pleaded their clergy, and some of the murders for which they were arraigned at the Old Bailey, were done in the way of duelling or in the heat of festive broils, and as mere incidents of honourable warfare did not lower them in the world's regard. For example, no modish person thought the worse of Sir Thomas Halford, bart. (vide pp. 7, 8), because he had been tried for the murder and convicted of the manslaughter of Edmund Temple, esq., whom he killed by striking him on the head with a glass bottle in a sudden fit of anger."

language hat  •  Link

"I read the sentence as meaning, 'I was pleased she came to see me about this (because I like to be of assistance to her) and (i.e. “and another thing”)she lost her ticket on the way.'"

OK, that works for me. Thanks for relieving my mind!

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Mr. Moore...tells me that he fears my Lord Sandwich will meet with very great difficulties to go through about the prizes, it being found that he did give orders for more than the King’s letter do justify; and then for the Act of Resumption, which he fears will go on, and is designed only to do him hurt"

"In 1486, Henry persuaded Parliament to pass the Act of Resumption, which recovered for the Crown all the property granted away since 1455. " http://www.historylearningsite.co…

So "resumption" here means "recovery." Subsequent renewals of this Act were passed.

SPOILER - L&M note a "Commmons' committee of enquity into the diposal of crown lands had been appointed on 27 February 1668" -- I presume in connection with the effort to recover assets of Clarendon and his allies -- but without result by 9 May when this session of Parliament ended.

Australian Susan  •  Link

I love the way the Court Records quoted above include the value of the bottle used as a weapon ("two pence"). Can that possibly have been relevant? I used to read these reports for the century before when doing research on poverty in the 16th century - everything was recorded in minute detail - a careful description of a stolen apron for example - maybe it is just the Middx style! (incidentally, the poor, female person who stole the apron was hanged)

Mary  •  Link

Bottles, of course, had their value at this date; they weren't the ubiquitous articles that we treat lightly today.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

I think it would also be a signifier of the type/weight of the bottle -- i.e., that a two-pence bottle was heavy enough to be used as a deadly weapon.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

@ Halford “threw a glass bottle worth two pence...

IN the words of Matthew Hale, Chief Baron 1660, Chief Justice 1671 http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Of Homicide as to the form of the Indictment

An indictment of murder or manslaughter hath these certainties and requisites to be added to it more than other indictments, for it must not be only felonice, and ascertain the time of the act done, but must also,

1. Declare how, and with what it was done, namely 'cum quodam gladio, etc.' Yet if the party were killed with another weapon, it maintains the indictment; but if it were with another kind of death, as poisoning, or strangling, it doth not maintain the indictment upon evidence. 2 Co. Inst. 319. Co. P. C. p. 43.
And if A. and B. are indicted for murder, and it is laid, that A. gave the stroke, and B. was present, aiding and abetting, yet if it falls out upon evidence, that B. gave the stroke, and A. was present, aiding and abetting, it maintains the indictment. 9 Co. Rep. Sanchar's cafe (q).
So if A. be indicted for poisoning of B. it must allege the kind of poison, but if he poisoned B. with another kind of poisoning, yet it maintains the indictment, for the kind of death is the fame.

2. He must shew in what hand he held his sword.
If an indictment runs thus, that 'cum quodam gladio, quern in dextra sua tenuit, percusst,' without saying 'in dextra manu,' for this cause an indictment was quashed. P. 44 Eliz. B. R. Cuppledick's case.

3. Regularly it ought to set down the price of the sword or other weapon, or else say 'nullius valoris,' for the weapon is a deodand forfeited to the king, and the township shall be charged for the value if delivered to them. But this seems not to be essential to the indictment.

Continued...
Sir Matthew Hale 'Pleas of the Crown' (1800) vol. 2 p 185
http://books.google.co.uk/books?i…

Kevin Peter  •  Link

It seems to me that Sam is usually well-pleased (as he is in the case of Kate Joyce) when someone comes to him for a favor or to get something done. It probably makes him feel important and well-respected.

He often records being proud and happy when someone refers to him as being diligent and able to get things done, so he clearly values being admired and respected.

pepfie  •  Link

"unless he’s using “pleasant” in a very odd way"

Once in a while, there is a touch of self-deprecating irony in SP's diction, e.g. "I was prettily served" in an instance of knowingly being cheated ( http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… ). I took the "pleasant" in a similarly ironic way as an expression of his embarrassment: the cousin he likes wants him to pay a lost ticket while he is doing his utmost to ward off charges of miscarriage concerning Navy Board tickets.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

" Kate Joyce, who tells me she is putting off her house, which I am glad of, but it was pleasant that she come on purpose to me about getting a ticket paid"

L&M observe innkeepers often acted as ticket-brokers for seamen.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"so to Newgate, where he stopped to give directions to the jaylor about a Knight, one Sir Thomas Halford brought in yesterday for killing one Colonel Temple, falling out at a taverne."

L&M: Halford, a baronet (not a knight) of Wistow, Leics., and once sheriff of his county, was shortly afterwards convicted of the manslaughter of Edmund Temple, but pardoned by the King: CSPD 1667-8, pp. 273 etc. Gauden was Sheriff of London, 1667-8.

David G  •  Link

By saying that William Joyce left around 10 pm, is Sam suggesting that this was a late night or an early one? It's unusual for him to mention the time in a context like this.

Nick Hedley  •  Link

In Nix's interesting extracts from the Records of Middlesex County 10 years ago, there is a phrase "in respect to the conviction Sir Thomas Halford pleaded his clergy, and further that the branding was respited at the King's special order. .".
"Pleading of Clergy" was a legal mechanism afforded originally to the clergy but later to anyone who could read, whereby the penalty of a first offence was reduced. The culprit was often branded to show that he had received the benefit of a first offender already, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

1667 was a peak year for Sir Denis Gauden. He became Sheriff of London, was knighted, became Master of the Clothworkers Company and on 18 June was elected Alderman of the Ward of Dowgate, serving in that capacity until 1676.

So it was as Sheriff that he was concerned about Sir Thomas Halford's treatment in Newgate Prison.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"and back by coach to Lincoln’s Inn Fields; but my Lady was not come in, and so I am at a great loss whether she and her brother Hinchingbrooke and sister will dine with me tomorrow or no, which vexes me."

Inconsiderate young privileged spoiled kids with short memories. Mind your Uncle Samuel.

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