| (Friday). Called up by Balty’s coming, who gives me a good account of his voyage, and pleases me well, and I hope hath got something. This morning paid the Royall Society, |
1l. 6s. |
| and so to the office all the morning. At noon home to dinner with my people, and there much pretty discourse of Balty’s. So by coach to White Hall: the coachman on Ludgate Hill ‘lighted, and beat a fellow with a sword, |
2s. 6d. |
| Did little business with the Duke of York. Hear that the House is upon the business of Harman, who, they say, takes all on himself. Thence, with Brouncker, to the King’s house, and saw “The Surprizall,” where base singing, only Knepp, who come, after her song in the clouds, to me in the pit, and there, oranges, |
2s. |
| After the play, she, and I, and Rolt, by coach, |
6s. 6d. |
| to Kensington, and there to the Grotto, and had admirable pleasure with their singing, and fine ladies listening to us: with infinite pleasure, I enjoyed myself: so to the tavern there, and did spend |
16s. 6d. |
| and the gardener |
2s. |
| Mighty merry, and sang all the way to the town, a most pleasant evening, moonshine, and set them at her house in Covent Garden, and I home and to bed. |
|
20 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
The 1l. 6s. went to the Royal Society, whose fellows, L&M note, paid 1s. weekly "towards the defraying of occasional charges." (Birch's History of the RS, i.237).
Terry Foreman • Link
"Hear the the House is upon the business of Harman, who, they say, takes all on himself"
[ Commons examined Sir John Harman, Capt. Cox, Mr. Brouncker, et al., in relation to the miscarriage in slacking sail, and not pursuing the Dutch Fleet after the Battle of Lowescroft in 1665 ]
See Commons Journal - Friday, April 17.
Miscarriages of the War.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
and Grey's Debates
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Christopher Squire • Link
’ . . and there much pretty discourse of Balty’s . . ’
‘pretty, adj., n., and int. Etym: < prat n.1 + -y suffix1. Compare Dutch prettig...
A. adj.
1. . . b. Cleverly or elegantly made or done; ingenious, artful, well-conceived.
. . 1671 tr. J. de Palafox Conq. China vi. 119 The King‥at last thought of a very pretty way to suppress him, and this was by a stratagem.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) I. 84 They have in Kent a pretty way of saving of Labour in the digging of Chalk.
. . 3. Used as a general term of admiration or appreciation.
. . b. Of a thing or action: fine, pleasing, commendable, etc.; proper, appropriate, or polite.
. . 1667 S. Pepys Diary 1 Sept. (1974) VIII. 412 It is pretty to see how strange everybody looks.’ [OED]
Jesse • Link
"the coachman on Ludgate Hill ‘lighted, and beat a fellow with a sword"
17th century road rage? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road… )
language hat • Link
Yes, one would like to know more about that incident. Did the fellow bellow an unforgivable insult, was he caught in flagrante delicto, or did the coachman simply not like his face?
Alan Kerr • Link
“the coachman on Ludgate Hill ‘lighted, and beat a fellow with a sword”
In fact, one of the joys of English is that it seems to make equal sense for the coachman or the "fellow" to have had the sword.
Terry Foreman • Link
A review of entries noting Pepys's passages over Ludgate Hill by coach show traffic often "jammed" there, so incidents can and have happened.
Mary • Link
Ludgate Hill has proved (and still proves) a steep and difficult stretch of road for horses to manage. In very recent times the prospect of negotiating this hill with (State) carriage and horses has caused problems and head-scratching.
Terry Foreman • Link
Mary, illustrating your point is "Ludgate Hill - A block in the Street" -- from London, A Pilgrimage, 1872. Gustave Doré (1832-1883), French illustrator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File…
Terry Foreman • Link
Another image of the same engraving.
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/st…
Terry Foreman • Link
Finally, *Ludgate Hill: past and present : a narrative concerning the people, places ...* By Sir William Purdie Treloar (bart.) 2nd ed. 1881
[book w/ plates devoted to getting the streets widened] http://goo.gl/4iSJd
Second Reading
Ivan • Link
Mr Pepys, Captain Rolt, and Knepp certainly enjoyed themselves in the tavern and our hero appears to have spent sixteen shillings and sixpence on drink. A considerable sum. I hope the others bought their rounds!
Terry Foreman • Link
"I enjoyed myself: so to the tavern there"
L&M: ?The Talbot, at the Gravel Pits: B. Lillywhite, London Signs, no. 14411.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Thence, with Brouncker, to the King’s house, and saw “The Surprizall,” where base singing, only Knepp,"
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
San Diego Sarah • Link
Meanwhile, Charles II rewarded a Royalist for incredible bravery and services rendered ... fortunately it didn't cost him anything:
April 1668
Petition of James Wood, chaplain-in-ordinary to his Majesty, and formerly to the late Marquis of Montrose, to the King,
for the benefice of Newark-on-Trent.
I was imprisoned and condemned to death for loyalty to the late King;
I aided the escape to Norway of the Marquis of Montrose, who went disguised as my servant;
I was trusted with his correspondence for your Majesty’s interest, and have his commission to raise money and troops for your service, by which I got into debt, fled to Languedoc and Orange, and thence to Scotland;
being persecuted for the debts, I came to England, and lived incognito on a small vicarage of 40l. a year.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 238, No. 132A.]
April 17. 1668
Presentation of James Wood, chaplain-in-ordinary,
to the vicarage of Newark-on-Trent.
Minute. [S.P. Dom., Entry Book 19, p. 78.]
April 17. 1668
Caveat that nothing pass of the vicarage of Newark-upon-Trent, the same being granted to Dr. James Wood.
[S.P. Dom., Entry Book 32, p. 2.]
'Charles II: April 1668', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1667-8, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1893), pp. 320-369. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
San Diego Sarah • Link
The concern about French intentions continues ...
March 17. 1668
Falmouth.
Thos. Holden to Hickes.
The James of Dover has arrived with wine and brandy from Nantes.
She came out with 60 more Dutch and English ships, and reports that they are likely to have a war there with Holland, but nothing is said concerning England;
also that Louis XIV will have 120 sail of frigates ready the next spring.
There is a great press there for seamen, who are very unwilling to join the service, and frequently run away after being pressed, although Charles II has passed a severe law against it;
50 French seamen would have come away in that ship, if the master would have carried them.
The Papists in France are very severe against the Protestants taking away their children, and putting them into convents to bring them up in their religion.
Sir Thos. Allin is cruising between Falmouth and the Lizard, and it is supposed he will convoy Don John of Austria and his fleet, who are expected from Bilbao.
Four other vessels have come in.
[1¼ pages. S.P. Dom., Car. II. 236, No. 175.]
San Diego Sarah • Link
SORRY ... ignore the entry; wrong month!
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Hewer ... I'm on vacation." Door slams ...
April 17. 1668
Thos. Goose, purser of the Sweepstakes, to [the Navy Commissioners.]
Is ready to take in the sea victuals, and desires their commands, that he may communicate them to his captain at Deptford.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 238, No. 135.]
San Diego Sarah • Link
Charles II was thinking of James Butler, Duke of Ormonde in Dublin:
The King to Ormond
Written from: Whitehall
Date: 17 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 43, fol(s). 653
Document type: Original [with record of enrolment]
Peter St. John, esquire, to have a grant, in reversion, for life, of the offices of Transcriptor & Foreign-Opposer in the Court of Exchequer, and of Usher of the Council-Chamber, of Ireland, after the next avoidance of the offices aforesaid, and every of them respectively.
https://wayback.archive-it.org/or…
San Diego Sarah • Link
'Thence, with Brouncker, to the King’s house, and saw “The Surprizall,”'
Well, I for one am surprised that Sir WILLIAM Brouncker and Pepys were not at least MILDLY interested in what was happening at the House of Commons this afternoon: Sir John Harman and Capt. Cox versus Sir HENRY Brouncker MP.
I haven't seen what personal feelings Pepys had towards Harman, but presumably the outcome of this hearing might affect Balty's payout from this last trip. Harman has pulled off the impossible, hoping to affect the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. See
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
and
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
He should have been treated like the returning hero he was. And no one seems to have liked Henry Brouncker.