Friday 27 March 1668

Up, and walked to the waterside, and thence to White Hall to the Duke of York’s chamber, where he being ready he went to a Committee of Tangier, where I first understand that my Lord Sandwich is, in his coming back from Spayne, to step over thither, to see in what condition the place is, which I am glad of, hoping that he will be able to do some good there, for the good of the place, which is so much out of order. Thence to walk a little in Westminster Hall, where the Parliament I find sitting, but spoke with nobody to let me know what they are doing, nor did I enquire. Thence to the Swan and drank, and did baiser Frank, and so down by water back again, and to the Exchange a turn or two, only to show myself, and then home to dinner, where my wife and I had a small squabble, but I first this day tried the effect of my silence and not provoking her when she is in an ill humour, and do find it very good, for it prevents its coming to that height on both sides which used to exceed what was fit between us. So she become calm by and by and fond, and so took coach, and she to the mercer’s to buy some lace, while I to White Hall, but did nothing, but then to Westminster Hall and took a turn, and so to Mrs. Martin’s, and there did sit a little and talk and drink, and did hazer con her, and so took coach and called my wife at Unthanke’s, and so up and down to the Nursery, where they did not act, then to the New Cockpit, and there missed, and then to Hide Parke, where many coaches, but the dust so great, that it was troublesome, and so by night home, where to my chamber and finished my pricking out of my song for Mr. Harris (“It is decreed”), and so a little supper, being very sleepy and weary since last night, and so by 10 o’clock to bed and slept well all night.

This day, at noon, comes Mr. Pelling to me, and shews me the stone cut lately out of Sir Thomas Adams’ (the old comely Alderman’s) body, which is very large indeed, bigger I think than my fist, and weighs above twenty-five ounces and, which is very miraculous, he never in all his life had any fit of it, but lived to a great age without pain, and died at last of something else, without any sense of this in all his life.

This day Creed at White Hall in discourse told me what information he hath had, from very good hands, of the cowardice and ill-government of Sir Jer. Smith and Sir Thomas Allen, and the repute they have both of them abroad in the Streights, from their deportment when they did at several times command there; and that, above all Englishmen that ever were there, there never was any man that behaved himself like poor Charles Wager, whom the very Moores do mention, with teares sometimes.

29 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This day...Mr. Pelling...shews me the stone cut lately out of Sir Thomas Adams' (the old comely Alderman's) body, which is very large indeed, bigger I think than my fist, and weighs above twenty-five ounces and, which is very miraculous, he never in all his life had any fit of it, but lived to a great age without pain, and died at last of something else, without any sense of this in all his life."

Yesterday (26 March) at the Royal Society (not in the Hooke Folio online, but in the official minutes) "Dr. Allen produced the stone lately taken out of the bladder of Sir Thomas Adams, which being weighed before the society, was found to weigh twenty-two ounces and three eighths Troy weight. Mr. Hooke was ordered to take the dimensions and draw the figure of it; and Dr. Allen was desired to procure an account in writing of all the observables, that occurred about this stone, when it lay yet in the bladder, and was taken out; as also of the accidents observed in the patient during his life-time, and particularly, whether it were true, that he did not complain of any great inconvenience from the stone till a sew days before his death." http://is.gd/QrNjzv

L&M note Adams died on the 24th February after a fall from his coach.

In a report to the Royal Society on the 27th February "Dr. Allen related, that there was taken out of the bladder of Sir Thomas Adams lately deceased a stone said to weigh twenty five ounces and three quarters, having in the midst a gutter, through which the urine had probably passed. He added, that the patient had not been heard to make any great complaint of inconvenience till his last distemper, of which he died. He promised to endeavour to procure a sight of the stone tor the society." http://is.gd/qzmoZ1

L&M note suffering from stone is caused by the small stones traveling from the kidneys to the bladder, not by those too large to move.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Orrery to Boyle
Written from: Charleville
Date: 27 March 1668

Renews his protestations of attachment to the Duke of Ormond.

The writer always "believed" that his father got a great estate, very well; but he was certain of it, after the matter had passed Lord Strafford's inquiry. The Duke would obtain a like "certainty" of the falsity of the suggestions made by the writer's enemies, could Lord Orrery pass the trial he "so passionately desires to undergo".

Notices a marriage-treaty for Lord Shannon's son. Says, of a recent petition by Adventurers, that its gist may be expressed in a line - "We are deficient. There are lands to reprise with. Let us have all of those."

http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwm…

Stan  •  Link

So Sam did baiser with Frank and hazer con Mrs Martin.

Can someone explain exactly what he did with them?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Hmmn...The silent treatment. Not entirely without merit if your standard approach to ill-humor in the spouse is to demand angrily why they're out of sorts...On the other hand...

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Keepin' up with the Adams'

Well, when you die Sam we'll bet yours will be bigger.

Heaven...

"And lets not forget the man was dead and it was cut out afterwards. Not to mention..."

Bess: "This would be one of those 'spoilers', Sam'l."

"Right. In any case...When I die, there'll be a surprise inside."

"I'm sure they're all waiting breathlessly..." Bess, archly. "And knock off that silent pouting..."

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"So Sam did baiser with Frank and hazer con Mrs Martin.

Can someone explain exactly what he did with them?"

This is Renaissance Spanish. Apparently "baiser" > besar = 'kiss'; "hazer" > hacer = 'make', 'do' (which Pepys usually associates with his orgasm).

Mary  •  Link

To answer Stan:

We don't know *exactly* what Sam did but, roughly speaking, he kissed young Frank (from French baiser= to kiss) and "did it with" Mrs. Martin (Spanish hazer/hacer) his long-term little bit on the side.

The brevity of the account of his bout with Mrs. Martin would seem to indicate that this was not one of his more memorable interludes.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Mary is right, of course, about baiser.

language hat  •  Link

(The verb "baiser" has acquired a much more sexual sense in modern French, but that change occurred long after Pepys' day.)

Dawn  •  Link

"being very sleepy and weary since last night, and so by to o’clock to bed and slept well all night."
Should this be TWO o'clock?

Michael Robinson  •  Link

“being very sleepy and weary since last night, and so by to o’clock to bed and slept well all night.”

Must be a scanning error, L&M read "... and so by 10 a-clock to bed - and slept well ..."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Since Pelling came at noon, I wonder if the "squabble" was stone-related.

"My, that's a ponderous stone, Pelling." Sam eyes large stone.

"What's that on my dining table?"

"Tis' the stone cut from the dead Sir Tom Adams, ma'am." Pelling explains.

"You've seen my stone before, Bess."

"Not right on my table...And not when we're about to eat...Particularly from a dead man..."

"Fetch my stone, Jane! We'll compare them, Pelling."

"Sam'l, for God's sake! Not while we're eating..."

John Lightbody  •  Link

'there never was any man that behaved himself like poor Charles Wager, whom the very Moores do mention, with teares sometimes'.

Sam showing his humanity. In mentioning the tears of the Moors, at that time a potent force in the Mediterranean, he reveals his own empathy.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Dawn posts: ""being very sleepy and weary since last night, and so by to o’clock to bed and slept well all night."
Should this be TWO o'clock?"

L&M have 10 a-clock.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to White Hall to the Duke of York’s chamber, where he being ready he went to a Committee of Tangier, where I first understand that my Lord Sandwich is, in his coming back from Spayne, to step over thither, to see in what condition the place is, which I am glad of, hoping that he will be able to do some good there, for the good of the place, which is so much out of order. "

L&M: In August Sandwich visited and conducted a thorough emquiry, particilarly into the disputes between the military and civil authorities" Sandwich MNN, Letters from Foreign Ministers, ff. 81-118, Harris, ii. 153-9.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This day Creed at White Hall in discourse told me what information he hath had, from very good hands, of the cowardice and ill-government of Sir Jer. Smith and Sir Thomas Allen, and the repute they have both of them abroad in the Streights, from their deportment when they did at several times command there."

L&M: Smith had commanded a squadron in the Mediterranean in 1666, Allin in 1664 had rum ashore near Gibraltar, with the loss of two ships, when chasing the Dutch Smyrna fleet: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This day Creed at White Hall in discourse told me what information he hath had, from very good hands, of the cowardice and ill-government of Sir Jer. Smith and Sir Thomas Allen, and the repute they have both of them abroad in the Streights, from their deportment when they did at several times command there."

L&M: Smith had commanded a squadron in the Mediterranean in 1666, Allin in 1664 had rum ashore near Gibraltar, with the loss of two ships, when chasing the Dutch Smyrna fleet: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"above all Englishmen that ever were there, there never was any man that behaved himself like poor Charles Wager,"

L&M: Wager (a popular commander with his men, being himself the son of a mariner) had command of the Crown in Allin's fleet. He had died on active service in February 1666.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... and then to Hide Parke, where many coaches, but the dust so great, that it was troublesome, ..."

That's what people did in the Springtime in London. They would dress up and put their finest horses into their finest coach, and drive around the park saluting each other and flirting.
From this we can tell just how disturbed the rich and powerful were by the riots, and that they were having a warm and dry Spring.
Curious Pepys isn't having his usual hissy fit about being seen in a hackney cab.

Some other descriptions of this parade:
The company drove round and round the Ring in Hyde Park. In 1697 the people of fashion take the diversion of the Ring. In a pretty high place, which lies very open, they have surrounded a circumference of 200 or 300 paces diameter with a sorry kind of balustrade, or rather with posts placed upon stakes but three feet from the ground; and the coaches drive round this. When they have turned for some time round one way they face about and turn the other: so rolls the world! — Wilson’s Memoirs, 1719, p. 126.

It is in this Park where the Grand Tour or Ring is kept for the Ladies to take the air in their coaches, and in fine weather I have seen above 300 at a time. — [Macky’s] Journey through England, 1724, vol. i., p. 75.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Terry's letter:
"Orrery to Boyle
Written from: Charleville Date: 27 March 1668
Renews his protestations of attachment to the Duke of Ormond." etc.

Recently Terry also posted a letter from Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery to Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Dublin, so I'm guessing this is the same recipient.

The marriage they are contemplating is that of Orrery's nephew, Richard, who was Francis and “Black Betty” Killigrew Boyle, Viscount and Viscountess Shannon’s only surviving son.
Richard did marry in September 1668, but it was to a Ponsonby and not one of Archbishop Boyle’s six daughters.

Charleville is Roger Boyle, Baron Broghill, 1st Earl of Orrery's Irish estate.
https://www.independent.ie/region…

As Orrery is president of Munster 1660-1672;
governor of Co. Clare 1661-1672;
and constable of Limerick Castle 1661-d. 1679
he needed to do something substantial to establish his credibility to the Irish, and power to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, James Butler, Earl of Ormonde.

Ormonde resented Orrery's virtually independent authority in Munster, and deplored his ‘vanity, ostentation and itch to popularity’, as well as his peevish, malicious jealousy; but Ormonde admitted that Orrery’s ‘industry, ability and ambition’ made him a dangerous enemy.

"Lord Strafford's inquiry" harkens back to the 1630's when Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork had a falling out with Thomas Wentworth who raised a lot of money for King Charles by basically exploiting the Irish Catholics.

The "Adventurers" ... my Irish history is lacking here, so I apologize if I mangle it ... I only know about Cromwell's Adventurers: THE CROMWELLIAN ADVENTURERS FOR LAND IN IRELAND From "Irish Pedigrees" by John O'Hart -- "Adventurers for Land in Ireland"
To finance Oliver Cromwell's campaign in Ireland Parliament devised a scheme whereby every person who contributed to the cost of this campaign was to be entitled to either estates and manors of 1,000 acres, or land in proportion to their contribution.
In Ulster the asking price was 200/., Connaught, 300/., Munster, 450/., Leinster 600/. This Act of Subscription began in 1642 and by 1653 Ireland was declared subdued and the confiscated lands were given out.
Charles II said he was going to reverse the process, but in reality only a small percentage of Cromwellians lost their ill-gotten lands.
http://www.ulsterancestry.com/fre…

So who were these "Adventurers" petitioning for more of the 'available' land?

As President of Munster and Governor of Co. Claire, Orrery, and the Lord Lt. of Ireland, James Butler, Duke of Ormonde are going to have to work together to find a solution.
[SPOILER: They fail, as has everyone who ever tried.]

john  •  Link

@Robert, I would call this "holding one's tongue" rather than "the silent treatment".

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Does Pepys ever compose another song? I have had it with It is Decreed!

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"So who were these "Adventurers" petitioning for more of the 'available' land?"

Terry posted this information on 20 April, 1668:

The "Irish Land Adventurers" are claiming lands that are legitimately theirs were redistributed to others by the regime of the Lord-Lieutenant Ormande at the behest of his patron, Lord Clarendon. (Of course, the late Lord Chancellor and therefore Ormonde, were doing the bidding of Charles II.)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The hunt for the French continues ...

March 27. 1668
The Monmouth,
Mount's Bay.
Sir Thos. Allin to Williamson.

The Constant Warwick has come to him, having chased a Sally man-of-war, but lost her during the night;
a Hollander from Bordeaux saw 20 French men-of-war off Ushant, bound for the Straits.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 237, No. 83.]

Harry R  •  Link

Does Pepys ever compose another song? I have had it with It is Decreed!

Here's an interesting link to the Pepys Library, Cambridge, where we can listen to "Beauty Retire", Sam's other masterpiece, as well as seeing examples of his "pricking out of (his) song"

https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/pepys/…

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Thanks Harry R. How could I forget Beauty Retire! Good pricking, sad unconvincing song.

Harry R  •  Link

You're clearly not impressed Gerald. Me too, it's no show stopper. I listened to it a few times and it didn't change my first impressions. I wonder why he confined himself to putting Jonson's lyrics to music. The Spotify link gives a range of the contemporary music that Sam may have listened to and from which he might have got his inspiration to write.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6i…

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