Friday 8 May 1668

Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning. Towards noon I to Westminster and there understand that the Lords’ House did sit till eleven o’clock last night, about the business in difference between them and the Commons, in the matter of the East India Company. Here took a turn or two, and up to my Lord Crew’s, and there dined; where Mr. Case, the minister, a dull fellow in his talk, and all in the Presbyterian manner; a great deal of noise and a kind of religious tone, but very dull. After dinner my Lord and I together. He tells me he hears that there are great disputes like to be at Court, between the factions of the two women, my Lady Castlemayne and Mrs. Stewart, who is now well again, and the King hath made several public visits to her, and like to come to Court: the other is to go to Barkeshire-house, which is taken for her, and they say a Privy-Seal is passed for 5000l. for it. He believes all will come to ruin. Thence I to White Hall, where the Duke of York gone to the Lords’ House, where there is to be a conference on the Lords’ side to the Commons this afternoon, giving in their Reasons, which I would have been at, but could not; for, going by direction to the Prince’s chamber, there Brouncker, W. Pen, and Mr. Wren, and I, met, and did our business with the Duke of York. But, Lord! to see how this play of Sir Positive At-all, —[“The Impertinents.”]— in abuse of Sir Robert Howard, do take, all the Duke’s and every body’s talk being of that, and telling more stories of him, of the like nature, that it is now the town and country talk, and, they say, is most exactly true. The Duke of York himself said that of his playing at trap-ball is true, and told several other stories of him. This being done, Brouncker, Pen, and I to Brouncker’s house, and there sat and talked, I asking many questions in mathematics to my Lord, which he do me the pleasure to satisfy me in, and here we drank and so spent an hour, and so W. Pen and I home, and after being with W. Pen at his house an hour, I home and to bed.

18 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"The Duke of York himself said that of his playing at trap-ball is true,"

L&M note that Howard was represented in Act III of "The Impertinents" as so 'eminent' at trap-ball as to offer to play it for s £500 wager. The Duke of York was his political enemy.

Geoff Hallett  •  Link

I have just caught the second half of Composer of the Week on BBC Radio 3, 12 noon. It is Henry Purcell this week. Today, Before the 'Glorious' Revolution. It gave a great 'feel' to the music of the time and the kind of thing Sam would have been listening to. Do we know of any references to Purcell in the Diaries?. He died so young when Sam was about 63. Looking forward to the next four. Tomorrow, music he composed while William was on the throne.

jeannine  •  Link

"King Charles and his Ladies" a new dice game!

"there are great disputes like to be at Court, between the factions of the two women, my Lady Castlemayne and Mrs. Stewart...and all will come to ruin!"

Thoroughout his reign one could easily 'plug and play' any 2 of Charles' mistresses into this sentence and it would pretty much work.

So, the new dice games comes with 2 dice, each with 6 names ~~Barbara, Francis, Nell, Moll, Louise & Hortense!

Roll away, fill in the blanks and you'll have just another day in the life of King Charles II!

Geoff Hallett  •  Link

Thanks JWB, very interesting,followed your links. It is obvious Sam met Henry's father Thomas, unless Henry was in a pushchair, as he was born in that year.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Roll away, fill in the blanks and you’ll have just another day in the life of King Charles II!"

jeannine, are the dice loaded? If so, roll away, fill in the blankets and you’ll have just another night and day in the life of King Charles II!

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the minister, a dull fellow in his talk, and all in the Presbyterian manner; a great deal of noise and a kind of religious tone, but very dull. "

Pepys's early stereotype of "the Presbyterian manner" outlasted the Act of Uniformity prescribed that any minister who refused to conform to the Book of Common Prayer [mostly Presbyterians] by St. Bartholomew's Day (24 August) 1662 should be ejected from the Church of England. This date became known as Black Bartholomew's Day, among dissenters, a reference to the fact that it occurred on the same day as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gre…

The final sermons by the most celebrated Presbyterian preachers surprised Pepys. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Pepys transcribes parts of the final sermons by the great Richard Baxter and was moved by their simple eloquence.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"The Duke of York himself said that of his playing at trap-ball is true, and told several other stories of him. "

TRAP-BALL, or Knur and Spell (M. Eng. knurre, knot; Dan. spil, spindle), an old English game, which can be traced back to the beginning of the 14th century, and was commonly played in northern England as late as 1825, but has since been practically confined to children (bat, trap and ball). https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/19…

Knurr and spell (also called northern spell, nipsy or trap ball) is an old English game, once popular as a pub game. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knu…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

" Mrs. Stewart, who is now well again,"

L&M: From her attack of smallpox

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Lady Castlemayne...and the King hath made several public visits to her, and like to come to Court: the other is to go to Barkeshire-house, which is taken for her, and they say a Privy-Seal is passed for 5000l."

L&M: Recte £4,000, lent by Backwell, the goldsmith, who received a warrant for that amount on thee customs for thhe following January: CTB, ii. 246, 310, 316, 375. The house had been occupied by Clarendon for a short time until the spring of 1667.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Thence I to White Hall, where the Duke of York gone to the Lords’ House, where there is to be a conference on the Lords’ side to the Commons this afternoon, giving in their Reasons,"

L&M: This was a conference concerning Skinner's case: see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
There is a newsletter report in BM, Add. 36916, f. 97.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

May 8. 1668
The Monmouth,
Downs.
Sir Thos. Allin to the Navy Commissioners.

Desires orders as to victualling certain ships;

asks whether he may spare any of the King's stores, on security of repayment, where he sees a palpable necessity, for some poor men who cannot get them at Deal or Dover.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 239, No. 165.]

People are starving ... the Admiral wonders if the Commissioners are aware of the fact ...???????????????????

@@@
May 8. 1668
Warrant to Arthur, Earl of Anglesey, Navy treasurer,
to pay 930/. to Thos. King for houses bought long since for the King's service.
[S.P. Dom., Entry Book 26, f. 30.]

@@@
May S. 1668
Privy Seal for 3,000/. to Lord Arlington
for secret service.
Minute. [S.P. Dom., Entry Book 30, f. 31.]

@@@
May 8. 1668
Warrant to pay to Baptist May, Keeper of the Privy Purse,
22,500/. for the said purse.
[Docquet, Vol. 23, No. 214.]

'Charles II: May 1668', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1667-8, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1893), pp. 369-418. British History Online
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…

john  •  Link

Anyone know what sort of maths questions were answered by Brounker?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil…
His mathematical work concerned in particular the calculations of the lengths of the parabola and cycloid, and the quadrature of the hyperbola,[2] which requires approximation of the natural logarithm function by infinite series.[3] He was the first European to solve what is now known as Pell's equation. He was the first in England to take interest in generalized continued fractions and, following the work of John Wallis, he provided development in the generalized continued fraction of pi.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

John's an old hand at annotating, so I'm sure he saw
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
but if you're new to the site, information like this from Terry about William Brouncker best collects in our Encyclopedia so it's there for every mention of his Lordship.

Timo  •  Link

Terry and Sarah your curation of this site is exceptional. Thank you.

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