Thursday 9 April 1668
Up, and to the office, where all the morning sitting, then at noon home to dinner with my people, and so to the office again writing of my letters, and then abroad to my bookseller’s, and up and down to the Duke of York’s playhouse, there to see, which I did, Sir W. Davenant’s corpse carried out towards Westminster, there to be buried. Here were many coaches and six horses, and many hacknies, that made it look, methought, as if it were the buriall of a poor poet. He seemed to have many children, by five or six in the first mourning-coach, all boys. And there I left them coming forth, and I to the New Exchange, there to meet Mrs. Burroughs, and did take her in a carosse and carry elle towards the Park, kissing her … [and tocando su breast, so as to make myself do; – L&M] but did not go into any house, but come back and set her down at White Hall, and did give her wrapt in paper for my Valentine’s gift for the last year before this, which I never did yet give her anything for, twelve half-crowns, and so back home and there to my office, where come a packet from the Downes from my brother Balty, who, with Harman, is arrived there, of which this day come the first news. And now the Parliament will be satisfied, I suppose, about the business they have so long desired between Brouncker and Harman about not prosecuting the first victory. Balty is very well, and I hope hath performed his work well, that I may get him into future employment. I wrote to him this night, and so home, and there to the perfecting my getting the scale of musique without book, which I have done to perfection backward and forward, and so to supper and to bed.
20 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
The ellipsis above marks the omission of Pepys's tryst with a regular
"...I to the New Exchange, there to meet Mrs. Burroughs; and did tomar her in a carosse and carry ella towards the Park, kissing her and tocanda su breast, so as to make myself do; but did not go into any house,...."
L&M text.
Terry Foreman • Link
John Evelyn's Diary
9th April, 1668. To London, about finishing my grand account of the sick and wounded, and prisoners at war, amounting to above £34,000. I heard Sir R. Howard impeach Sir William Penn, in the House of Lords, for breaking bulk, and taking away rich goods out of the East India prizes, formerly taken by Lord Sandwich.
http://is.gd/nPP3F0
Terry Foreman • Link
The Royal Society today at Arundel House — from the Hooke Folio Online
Apr: 9. 1668. The Curator produced 2 Receiuers whereof one was of Latton
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latt… ] and of a Conicall figure the - other of Glasse and Round both sharp at one end. bein applyed to the ear the former was Iudged best for the Increasing of sounds. It was orderd that the Curator should take them home and try them further by himself and particularly in the silent [of the] Night..., and to bring in an account of their effects. ...(2 boxes of Padoua seeds from Mr Howard)
Da Cunha's Letter [ http://www.portugueses-rsl.com/ho… ]) the great [petrified] Nautilus stone by mr Howard) Sr T de Vaux some petrifactions) Dr Charlton. Citta [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuth… ] and Phoenicuras
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoe… ]) Philips's paper of tides.)
The Curator being called vpon to declare what apparatus he had ready thought of for the Expt. of Diuing to be tryd by the vrinator that offers himself for it, said that there were made formerly diuing Boxes which he would put in order, and that the Expt. necessary to be made first of all for the purpose was to try which way the Diuer could continue a good while vnder water soe as to work there freely which being once contriued soe as to succeed, there would then offer it self a great number of Experiments to be made vnder water.
(Dr Clarks paper about making Alum
http://webapps.qmul.ac.uk/cell/Ho…
Terry Foreman • Link
"The Curator being called vpon to declare what apparatus he had ready thought of for the Expt. of Diuing to be tryd by the vrinator that offers himself for it, said that there were made formerly diuing Boxes which he would put in order, and that the Expt. necessary to be made first of all for the purpose was to try which way the Diuer could continue a good while vnder water soe as to work there freely which being once contriued soe as to succeed, there would then offer it self a great number of Experiments to be made vnder water. "
Hooke might have been referring to the 1535 device by Guglielmo de Lorena that can be considered a true diving bell. This apparatus rested on diver’s shoulders and had much of its weight supported by slings. This bell provided enough air for the diver to breathe.
http://library.thinkquest.org/281…
Here's an account of Hooke's own (awful) diving experiment and, below that, an image of the bell Edmund Halley developed in the 1690's.
http://books.google.com/books?id=…
Robert Gertz • Link
"And there I left them coming forth, and I to the New Exchange, there to meet Mrs. Burroughs, and did take her in a carosse and carry elle towards the Park, kissing her..."
Hmmn...I guess Leopold Bloom here would say something about wanting life after his journey among the Dead. One wonders if Joyce ever did read Sam?
Meanwhile, speaking of journeying among the Dead...How is Bess making out (ouch) in Brampton?
It was surprising how little protest she put up about going this year. Perhaps she went with a bunch of gifts for new bride Pall and was eager to play Lady Bountiful since she didn't get to do the wedding planner?
Or maybe Sam used his new and successful "silent" treatment...
"I won't go!! Sam'l!! Put me down, Will Hewer!!! I'll never be taken to that Hell in Brampton again!!! Deborah, cut these ropes!!! Help!!!! Sam'l!! Are you listening to me?!!"
"See, Hewer the other remarkable thing about the Otacousticon is that it blocks all sounds within a 15 foot radius." Sam notes happily, ear to borrowed device.
"Yes, sir." Hewer sighs, glancing to tied down Bess on cart, still screaming.
Fine for him...I've got to accompany her to Brampton...
"Sam'l!!!" Hewer can make out her frantic cries by gesture and lip movement though the Otacousticon does its work well.
"All my best to Father, John, and Pall, sweetheart." Sam calls, waving...
"She'll calm down in a few hours, Hewer, never fear. This new method of dealing is a marvel..." Sam beams.
Terry Foreman • Link
@Robert G, do you suppose the absence of Saml's late Mum helps?
language hat • Link
"kissing her and tocanda su breast, so as to make myself do"
The use of the verb "do" for "have sexual intercourse with" is of course of long standing (ca. 1650: "But hee knewe not how to woo me nor do me"), but I don't think I've seen it used intransitively in the sense of today's "come" before.
martinb • Link
I think he's used the Spanish "hacer" intransitively in previous entries.
Terry Foreman • Link
"I heard Sir R. Howard impeach Sir William Penn, in the House of Lords, for breaking bulk, and taking away rich goods out of the East India prizes, formerly taken by Lord Sandwich."
The charges will be debated in Commons 5 days from now (on the 14th in Grey): http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Robert Gertz • Link
Bess seemed to be getting on with Meg last time they were together in London not long before Meg passed on. Her big thing has been with John Sr., especially since the Coleman affair. I wonder if all her fussing over Pall's wedding made things a bit more friendly between them.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"to the Duke of York’s playhouse, there to see, which I did, Sir W. Davenant’s corpse carried out towards Westminster, there to be buried."
L&M explain: Davenant's house adjoined his theatre in Lincoln's Inn Field. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Here were many coaches and six horses, and many hacknies, that made it look, methought, as if it were the buriall of a poor poet."
He died heavily in debt:L I. L. Chester, Reg. Westminster Abbey, p. 168. n. But his coffin was walnut, and Sir John Denham is said to have remarked that it was 'the finest ...that ever he sawe'; Aubrey, i. 208. (L&M note)
Of course, the hackneys made the funeral procession look poor to the class-consciouus because they were rented -- the carriages of the players and the pit-viewers, not privately owned emblazoned with a coat of arms and liveried coachmen and footmen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liv…
Terry Foreman • Link
"He seemed to have many children, by five or six in the first mourning-coach, all boys."
L&M note he had seven surviving sons, all by his third and last marriage. The youngest was born in 1668: hence the 'five or six' attending his funeral.
Terry Foreman • Link
"to my office, where come a packet from the Downes from my brother Balty, who, with Harman, is arrived there, of which this day come the first news."
Balthy St Michel was Muster-Master and Deputy-Treasurer of the fleet of 20 ships just come from the W. Indies. (L&M)
Terry Foreman • Link
"And now the Parliament will be satisfied, I suppose, about the business they have so long desired between Brouncker and Harman about not prosecuting the first victory."
See http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
psw • Link
Intransitively or not, Do, in this instance = Pop. A mobile pop no less. Pepys has demonstrated his ability to do his do so even alone (on a boat, in a church).
A Lust for life for a our lustful business administrator.
San Diego Sarah • Link
James, Duke of York and the House of Commons didn't waste a minute:
Miscarriages of the War.
¶Mr. Wren, by Command of his Royal Highness the Duke of Yorke, imparts to this House a Letter, sent to his Highness, from Sir John Harman, of his Arrival in the Downs; and desiring his Highness' Direction how to dispose of the King's Ships that were with him:
And that the Duke had thereupon ordered him to bring the Ships to the Buoy in the Nore; and then to hasten to Town, in order to his Examination as to Miscarriages in the late War; having sent him the Order of this House to that Purpose.
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
Stephane Chenard • Link
Sam seems to have been so busy at the office today, that he didn't find time for his letters in the morning sitting. Yesterday, when he reported working on the "great hurry to be made in the fitting forth of this present little fleet", he may have been handed an extremely scary, and no doubt very sensitive, request from Mr. Wren to the Commissioners, which falls right into his area of expertise and
"Asks for an estimate of the charge of transporting 4,000 foot to Ostend, to be made two ways, one upon the King's ships, and the other upon hired vessels." (https://play.google.com/books/rea…)
Left unsaid and hanging in the air is whose men, to do what, on what conditions, and how the French would react if England went from doing its thing as a naval power, to stepping so squarely into the land war.
The other source of Intelligence at our disposall, the Gazette (and no wonder it's in such demand these days) reports (in Nos. 248 and 249) that, even as the plenipotentiaries are assembling at Aix-la-Chapelle, no one is using the truce which Louis has declared until April 10 to learn silk painting and that, instead, tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of warships are converging on the Netherlands - perhaps because there's nothing like putting a gun on the table at the start of negotiations, and no less likely to be ready in case the talks just break down. By coincidence, 4,000 men is also the size of the contingents which the Swiss have agreed to provide to Spain, and of new levies the French are raising to send north. Holland is hurriedly arming 60 men-of-war and frigates, putting its entire fleet on hair-trigger readiness, and is massing troops at Berg-op-Zoom on the border. Sweden has agreed to provide 12,000 men - perhaps some of those could have to come on English ships. Even the Russians are looking to gang up on Louis, with an incredible offer by the Grand Duke of Muscovy, who's been in Madrid, of helping Spain with 40,000 men!
So, it's raining men, and someone in Westminster wants Sam's shop to do a quick costing on putting a finger into the meat grinder.
Gerald Berg • Link
Sounds exactly like the Ukraine this very day with Russian troops massing and lots of guns on the table.
Stephane Chenard • Link
Our own view, if we are to make historicall comparisons, is that the people of the early 21st century (to whom we send our regards) are not facing anything like the geopolitical situation which is plunging Europe into chaos a day's sailing from Sam's little world. The sudden, all-around mobilizations, the complicated and unstable alliances, the central power juggernaut intent on gobbling land while professing peace, all this seems sooo July 1914. Except of course that Europe already is at war, in fact in at least three of them as two other nasty little conflicts continue in Poland and Cyprus (with totally insane trench warfare in the latter case), to say nothing of the colonies. England can really pat itself on the back for being an island.
It surfaces, by the way, that the Spanish force which the Navy is supposed to "convoy" through the Channel on its way to the Flemish front and amid French warships, is of 10,000 men. Go ahead and convoy that.