Friday 21 August 1668
Up betimes, and with my people again to work, and finished all before noon: and then I by water to White Hall, and there did tell the Duke of York that I had done; and he hath to my great content desired me to come to him at Sunday next in the afternoon, to read it over, by which I have more time to consider and correct it. So back home and to the ’Change, in my way calling at Morris’, my vintner’s, where I love to see su moher, though no acquaintance accostais this day con her. Did several things at the ’Change, and so home to dinner.
After dinner I by coach to my bookseller’s in Duck Lane, and there did spend a little time and regarder su moher, and so to St. James’s, where did a little ordinary business; and by and by comes Monsieur Colbert, the French Embassador, to make his first visit to the Duke of York, and then to the Duchess: and I saw it: a silly piece of ceremony, he saying only a few formal words. A comely man, and in a black suit and cloak of silk, which is a strange fashion, now it hath been so long left off: This day I did first see the Duke of York’s room of pictures of some Maids of Honour, done by Lilly: good, but not like.1 Thence to Reeves’s, and bought a reading-glass, and so to my bookseller’s again, there to buy a Book of Martyrs,2 which I did agree for; and so, after seeing and beginning acquaintance con his femme, but very little, away home, and there busy very late at the correcting my great letter to the Duke of York, and so to bed.
14 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"This day I did first see the Duke of York’s room of pictures of some Maids of Honour, done by Lilly: good, but not like."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind…
Terry Foreman • Link
"by and by comes Monsieur Colbert, the French Embassador, to make his first visit to the Duke of York, and then to the Duchess:"
L&M note Colbert had already had audiences with the King and cite this source:
335. Piero Mocenigo, Venetian Ambassador in England, to the Doge and Senate.
Last week your Excellencies heard how the impatience of the French ambassador had gained him an audience without the usual lengthy affair with the Master of the Ceremonies. With this example I expressed the desire to have the same courtesy as had been extended to the French ambassador. But as the Court disliked the innovation, and as the Master of the Ceremonies, as the person most interested, opposes, I have enjoyed the favour by another means, and as this exceeds the customary style, as I shall show, it is less likely to be made practicable with other ministers in the future. On Tuesday after dinner I sent my esquire to the Secretary Arlinton, informing him of my arrival in London, assuring him of my esteem for his office and person and telling him that during the time that I was remaining incognito I did not wish to remain idle, and that I hoped for guidance from him in all occurrences....Arlinton replied that he would try to oblige me with an audience of the king. With regard to the queen and the duchess of York he did not advise me to follow Colbert's example, who had special letters for both of them from the queen mother. Here introducing the Master of the Ceremonies to acquit him of the past exclusion of Colbert, he said that he would have arranged the visit with the duke of York and would come to fetch me from my house for that of the king.....London, the last of August, 1668. [Italian.] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
A. De Araujo • Link
"bought a reading-glass"
about time.
Carl in Boston • Link
by which I have more time to consider and correct it.
Very wise on the part of the Duke of York, to put off the eager Pepys and give him a couple days to polish his report. York must have been a good boss.
Mary • Link
Pepys on the prowl.
Can't help wondering whether Pepys didn't decide where to bestow his patronage solely on the basis of which tradesmen had comely wives.
Don O'Shea • Link
This is a bit off topic, but voyagers to this site should enjoy a book that I have just finished. Instead of Sam's description of everyday events in the 1660's and English naval power, the events in this book occur about 100 years later and include some of the descendants of the people that Sam treats with.
The more compelling link is that it is fascinating history written with great style. It is the story of English and American botanists during the Age of Discovery. The book is "The Brother Gardeners" by Andrea Wulf (Knopf in the US, Heinemann in the UK). In addition to describing the efforts that a small, but determined group of men did to promote gardening that incorporated plants from all over the world, the book also touches on their personalities and their encounters with Franklin, Capt. James Cook, Capt. Wm. Bligh, George III and a host of other famous people of the period.
For those who garden, it is a feast and a revelation. For those who don't, the interplay of personalities much like those in Sam's diary should keep you engrossed.
Oh, yes. There is a fair number of pages on orangeries in there.
laura k • Link
"there to buy a Book of Martyrs"
This book is a landmark in the history of book publishing. Many consider it the first best seller, and the earliest mass-produced propaganda, as it whipped up anti-Catholic sentiment on very wide scale.
It was one of the first books to go through successive editions of printing, incorporating changes based on feedback from readers. It also used new technology to reproduce elaborate woodcuts. At that time, it was the most advanced publishing project ever undertaken in England.
"Bootlegged" (unauthorized) versions appeared with just the most lurid martyrdoms depicted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxe…
complete text:
http://www.ccel.org/f/foxe/martyr…
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2…
Brought to you by the department of better late than never.
languagehat • Link
Thanks for an extremely interesting and useful comment, laura!
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"A comely man, and in a black suit and cloak of silk, which is a strange fashion, now it hath been so long left off:"
L&M note cloaks had been out of fashion (except for riding) since the Restoration.
San Diego Sarah • Link
'Charles II: August 1668', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1667-8, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1893), pp. 516-565. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
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Aug. 21. 1668
Rydal.
Dan. Fleming to Williamson.
On the 7th, a quarrel having taken place at the Sun in Carlisle,
between Henry Howard, a younger son of Sir Charles Howard, and cousin to
the Earl of Carlisle,
and Pat. Curwen, the latter challenged the former,
who with Rob. Strickland, cousin to Sir Thos. Strickland MP,
met Curwen, and one Myles, a serjeant in Carlisle garrison,
the next morning, a little without the city,
when Mr. Howard was slain, and his second, Mr. Strickland, wounded.
Mr. Curwen is in custody, but is so badly wounded that he is not expected to
live.
Mr. Strickland was also secured by the soldiers, but made his escape,
and is not yet heard of.
The Earl of Carlisle came to Carlisle soon after it happened, but went out
again that night;
all the people that were privy to the quarrel and fight are bound over and
examined.
A countryman fell off his horse at Appleby, by the sounding of trumpets
accompanying the judges in the High Street, and broke his neck, and another
escaped the like danger very narrowly.
A scuffle happened at Lancaster in the open street, betwixt Lord Morley and
Mr. Crofts, when his lordship received a wound in the face, and had his arm
put out of joint.
The discharge of M[argaret] Fell from her easy imprisonment does not a
little encourage the rabble of fanatics,
and discourages all magistrates acting against them;
it is now become a general policy to comply with the non-comformists,
which much increases their number and confidence.
I wish less than all may please them.
If it do, they are not of the brood of the old Presbyterians.
[1-½ pages. S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 20.]
---
My guess is that Daniel Fleming lives at Rydal Hall, a large house on the
outskirts of the village of Rydal, Cumbria, in the Lake District. In the mid-17th
century, Sir Daniel Fleming (1633 –1701) developed the landscape as an
early Picturesque garden incorporating Rydal Beck and its natural waterfalls. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryd…
---
Margaret Fell is known as “the mother of the Quakers” who later marries
George Fox.
---
L&M: Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle (1629 – 1685) was appointed
ambassador to Russia, Sweden and Denmark, where he was for extended
periods on diplomatic missions, and in 1668 he carried the Garter to
Charles XI of Sweden.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
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The duelists must be junior members of influential families.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Aug. 21. 1668
Newcastle.
Rich. Forster to Williamson.
The Bishop of St. Andrews has passed through towards London;
several light ships have come in
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 19.]
---
Archbishop James Sharp of St. Andrews, who was involved in a shooting
outside his Edinburgh residence on 28 July, 1668
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
@@@
Aug. 21. 1668
Plymouth Fort.
——–– to Williamson.
The Leopard has arrived with the Ambassador for Constantinople,
and Sir Thos. Allin passed with his fleet to the westward.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 16.]
---
The Ambassador to Constantinople was Sir Daniel Harvey
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Aug. 21. 1668
The Speedwell, Yarmouth Roads.
Capt. Thos. Bridgeman to the Navy Commissioners.
Set sail from Iceland, with 5 out of 39 or 40 sail of fishermen, 10 Aug.;
the rest, having made their voyages, went dropping home before;
they are all well fished, and no wrong done them in the country.
Has plenty of provisions, and the ship is in a good condition for sea, and only waits for their commands.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 23.]
LKvM • Link
Last night I watched a movie on Amazon that might interest Pepysians as a sort of prequel to the diary: "Cromwell" (1970, 2 hrs 19 mins).
Richard Harris is riveting as Oliver Cromwell, and Alec Guinness makes a wonderfully weak and mild-mannered King Charles I, with a very brief glimpse also of the young Charles II.
I had always heard of the "English civil war"; I never realized that there were actually THREE of them: the First Civil War, the Second Civil War, and the third Civil War, all crammed into about a decade.
The initial preparations for warfare against the king call to mind that the teenaged Edward Montagu, later the first Earl of Sandwich and "my lord" to Sam, rode through the countryside to round up local farmers and such to become soldiers.
Interesting scenes in Parliament make clear the reasons for the people's charge of treason against the king, who had attempted to ally foreign powers (Ireland and France) to fight against his subjects, the English.
The depiction of the execution of Charles I also calls up images of Sam's schoolboy attendance at the event. (One almost looks for him in the crowd.)
Some of the characters in the movie are the regicides who are hunted down in the early days of the diary and hanged, drawn, and quartered.
It was also a surprise to me that after the war was over, Cromwell, who had been offered the crown but refused it, waited six years before cirruption and anarchy led him to become the Lord Protector, and he was Lord Protector for only five years before his death.
It is all a very substantial preparation for the diary, and well worth watching.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Good review, LKvM ... now how about reposting such a good suggestion during the first week of the Diary so people setting out on this journey/quest will find it when they need it?
Gerald Berg • Link
"good, but not like."
I take this to mean the likeness' are not 'like' as opposed to the malformed 'me not like'?
We have complained before that Lely's women tend to all look the same.