Friday 28 August 1668

Busy at the office till toward 10 o’clock, and then by water to White Hall, where attending the Council’s call all the morning with Lord Brouncker, W. Pen, and the rest, about the business of supernumeraries in the fleete, but were not called in. But here the Duke of York did call me aside, and told me that he must speak with me in the afternoon, with Mr. Wren, for that now he hath got the paper from my Lord Keeper about the exceptions taken against the management of the Navy; and so we are to debate upon answering them. At noon I home with W. Coventry to his house; and there dined with him, and talked freely with him; and did acquaint him with what I have done, which he is well pleased with, and glad of: and do tell me that there are endeavours on foot to bring the Navy into new, but, he fears, worse hands. After much talk with great content with him, I walked to the Temple, and staid at Starky’s, my bookseller’s (looking over Dr. Heylin’s new book of the Life of Bishop Laud, a strange book of the Church History of his time), till Mr. Wren comes, and by appointment we to the Atturney General’s chamber, and there read and heard the witnesses in the business of Ackeworth, most troublesome and perplexed by the counter swearing of the witnesses one against the other, and so with Mr. Wren away thence to St. [James’s] for his papers, and so to White Hall, and after the Committee was done at the Council chamber about the business of Supernumeraries, wherein W. Pen was to do all and did, but like an ignorant illiterate coxcomb, the Duke of York fell to work with us, the Committee being gone, in the Council-chamber; and there, with his own hand, did give us his long letter, telling us that he had received several from us, and now did give us one from him, taking notice of our several duties and failures, and desired answer to it, as he therein desired; this pleased me well; and so fell to other business, and then parted. And the Duke of York, and Wren, and I, it being now candle-light, into the Duke of York’s closet in White Hall; and there read over this paper of my Lord Keeper’s, wherein are laid down the faults of the Navy, so silly, and the remedies so ridiculous, or else the same that are now already provided, that we thought it not to need any answer, the Duke of York being able himself to do it: that so it makes us admire the confidence of these men to offer things so silly, in a business of such moment. But it is a most perfect instance of the complexion of the times! and so the Duke of York said himself, who, I perceive, is mightily concerned in it, and do, again and again, recommend it to Mr. Wren and me together, to consider upon remedies fit to provide for him to propound to the King, before the rest of the world, and particularly the Commissioners of Accounts, who are men of understanding and order, to find our faults, and offer remedies of their own, which I am glad of, and will endeavour to do something in it. So parted, and with much difficulty, by candle-light, walked over the Matted Gallery, as it is now with the mats and boards all taken up, so that we walked over the rafters. But strange to see what hard matter the plaister of Paris is, that is there taken up, as hard as stone! And pity to see Holben’s work in the ceiling blotted on, and only whited over! Thence; with much ado, by several coaches home, to supper and to bed. My wife having been this day with Hales, to sit for her hand to be mended, in her picture.

20 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the business of Supernumeraries, wherein W. Pen was to do all and did, but like an ignorant illiterate coxcomb"

L&M note this had to do with the payment of the summer fleet.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...for that now he hath got the paper from my Lord Keeper about the exceptions taken against the management of the Navy; and so we are to debate upon answering them."

Interesting what seems to be Jamie's honest desire to meet Parliament's concerns...No hint in private as yet to any desire to wave them off or dismiss their concerns. I realize if he knows of Charles' efforts to come to an arrangement with Louis regarding money he would not likely confide in Pepys or Wren but his effort seems so genuine one wonders if he knows, and knowing (or suspecting), approves.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I take it Sam means he had to step rafter to rafter with much of the roof of the "Matted Gallery" below removed, leaving gaping holes for him to plunge through in the weak candlelight? Or does he mean the floor in similar condition?

Phoenix  •  Link

Perhaps this has been referenced before: http://books.google.ca/books?id=x…

It appears the rafters Pepys mentions were actually floor joists but since this gallery was above another gallery for which they would act as ceiling joists Sam would be in danger of falling.

Mary  •  Link

I think Sam means that the matting and floorboards having been taken up, he had to pick his way across the joists with care.

JWB  •  Link

Reading Peter Ackroyd's latest 'metro-bio' "Venice" over the weekend in which he quotes Dante:
'As in the Arsenal of the Venitians
Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch
One hammers at the prow; one at the stern
This one makes oars and that one cordage twists
Another mends the main sail and the missen'

Then he goes on to write:"It may not be a coincidence that Dante places the vision in the eighth circle of hell, where corrupt officials are punished eternally."

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Interesting what seems to be Jamie’s honest desire to meet Parliament’s concerns...."

You betcha: the formidable parliamentary opposition he faces are Buckingham, the King's Master of the Horse, and his allies, which are the CABAL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caba…

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the business of Supernumeraries, wherein W. Pen was to do all and did, but like an ignorant illiterate coxcomb"

This year's summer fleet was unlike others, but evidently Penn didn't get the memo or ignored it: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"this paper of my Lord Keeper’s, wherein are laid down the faults of the Navy, so silly, and the remedies so ridiculous, or else the same that are now already provided, that we thought it not to need any answer, the Duke of York being able himself to do it"

L&M: It listed nine items of alleged mismanagement. Pepys endorsed it as the work of the Duke of Buckingham 'and other the present reformers'. He drafted replies in detail to all nine charges, which the Duke accepted, altering only one phrase.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"And pity to see Holben’s work in the ceiling blotted on, and only whited over! "

Traditionally known as “King Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons”, The Holbein is an oil on 11/12 oak panels, in a late 17th Century gadrooned giltwood frame, which shows the King celebrating the Act of Union between the Company of Barbers and the Guild or Fellowship of Surgeons in 1540.

The painting was damaged on the left side in the Great Fire of 1666 and was only saved by being moved to the Anatomy Theatre nearby which survived the fire, the Hall being totally destroyed. http://barberscompany.org/the-hol…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons by Hans Holbein the Younger
with additions and reworkings by other hands.

This large-scale work was commissioned to commemorate the grant of a royal charter to the Company of Barbers and the Guild of Surgeons on their merger in 1540. Presumably at the request of his clients, Holbein based the design on that of the miniatures painted on Tudor charters of privileges. Henry did not sit for this last of Holbein's portraits of him. Working from an existing sketch, Holbein painted him not so much as a living person but as an icon. The members of the company, however, were painted as individuals.

According to the diarist Samuel Pepys, the painting was badly damaged in the Great Fire of London of 1666. It is not clear how much of the original panel was completed by Holbein himself, who died in the year the painting was begun, and how much by others; neither is it known whether those who first added to the work did so under Holbein's supervision. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wik…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"walked over the Matted Gallery, as it is now with the mats and boards all taken up, so that we walked over the rafters. But strange to see what hard matter the plaister of Paris is, that is there taken up, as hard as stone! And pity to see Holben’s work in the ceiling"

L&M: Tere is no documentary evidence for work by Holbein in the Matted Gallery:. E. Croft-Murray, Decorative painting in Engl., 1537-1837, i. 161.

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/…

@@@
Aug. 28. 1668 -- 9 p.m.,
Framingwoods.
Sir J. Robinson to Williamson, Billing.

I got home by daylight and found that my wife had secured a buck for you, which you may have;
I would not advise you to go out of the country without seeing Farmingwoods.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 78.]
---
Sir John Robinson has a home named Farmingwoods, Northants.
Williamson is staying at the Earl of Thurmond’s manor house at Billing, Northants.

@@@
Aug. 28. 1668
Queen's College, Oxford.
John Beeby to Williamson, Billing.

If the Countess of Thomond is not provided with a steward, I and Dr. Lamplugh desire to recommend Edw. Drope, who is now at liberty by the death of Sir Greville Verney.

My service to Lord Brian.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 79.]
---
The “Countess” is presumable Lady Katherine O'Brien, daughter-in-law of the Earl of Thomond, who marries Williamson as her second husband in December 1678. — ED.

@@@
Aug. 28. 1668
Yarmouth.
Rich. Bower to Williamson.

The 8 Commissioners, 2 each for Norfolk, Norwich, Suffolk, and Yarmouth,
appointed by Parliament, met at Yarmouth,
and after taking a survey of the piers, inquired into the charge of repair, and how far the town was capable of undergoing the expense.

There are 100 sail waiting far a wind to go north ward, amongst which are 3 great fly-boats bound to Scotland for masts;
8 west-country vessels have come in for the herring fishing.
The Speedwell and French Victory are still in the Roads.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 80.]

@@@
Aug. 28. 1668
Deal.
Rich. Watts to [Williamson].

A French vessel took in a Dover pilot, who failing to tell the master to strike
to his Majesty's flag,
Sir Jer. Smith shot at the ship;
the master excusing himself as a stranger, he sent for the pilot and put him
in irons.

His Royal Highness is expected at Dover Castle next Monday,
to take the oath as Lord Warden, and a tent has been built with very rich
hangings, a little above the Devil's Drop, (fn. 3) where the ceremony is always performed.
The whole country on the road is to be in arms, and great preparations are
being made at Dover Castle.

The city Canterbury intends to show all its glory;

the citizen soldiers are putting themselves in yellow coats and black trimmings, and the officers in buff.

The shopkeepers are also preparing to show the riches of that poor city.
[1-¼ pages. S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 84.]
---
3. Bredenstone Nile, vulgarly called "Devil's drop of mortar." -- Halsted's Kent, p. 80.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Aug. 28. 1668
The Friezland, Chatham.
Edw. Moorcock and John Moore to the Navy Commissioners.

Have begun weighing the Marmaduke, and have removed her nearer shore.
Asks whether, if they make her swim, they shall transport her to the dock or otherwise, the place where she is being unsuitable.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 245, No. 77.]

@@@
Aug. 28. 1668
Whitehall.
Reference
to Prince Rupert, the Lord Privy Seal, Duke of Buckingham, Lord General,
and Earl of Craven,
to examine into the representation of Capt. John Ganill, of frauds and abuses
among the goldsmiths, wiredrawers, refiners of gold and silver, and also in the Mint itself, to the prejudice both of King and Kingdom.
[S.P. Dom., Entry book 18, p. 327.]

LKvM  •  Link

James Duke of York strikes me as a very conscientious and serious person, in contrast to his lax and lazy older brother, King Charles II, who is a slacker.
The pair remind me a bit of Prince of Wales Charles, the next king, who talks to plants, and his redoubtable and tireless younger sister the Princess Royal Anne, who is staunch like Prince Philip and has been described as the only child of Queen Elizabeth II who has "the right stuff" to be the next monarch.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... wherein W. Pen was to do all and did, but like an ignorant illiterate coxcomb, ..."

Pepys is such a snob.
He spent his youth studying Latin declensions and arguing the events of the day safely at Cambridge, while Penn was sailing the seven seas, risking his life against Rupert, pirates, the French, the Dutch and the Spanish.
If Penn was the wrong man for the job, that was the fault of the LHA James, your wonderful, insightful administrator.
Batten, Carteret and Penn were known to be the wrong men for their jobs five years ago. I get that Pepys was frustrated with them and their gout and aches and pains, not to mention their illiteracy, but I have yet to hear who he or Coventry or James or Wren or Brouncker thought should have their jobs.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Thence, with much ado, by several coaches home, ..."

Pepys, this is so tantalizing ... who made the ado ... why several coaches ... what happened?
Lady Castlemaine threw herself in front of one of the coaches?
Thieves attacked you?
A coachman hijacked nd robbed you, and was beaten off so you needed another coach?
Were other people in the coaches with you?
A horse died pulling your coach up a hill?
The novelist in me finds this so FRUSTRATING.
I guess the eyes got the better of the story again.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

'"And pity to see Holben’s work in the ceiling blotted on, and only whited over! "

'Traditionally known as “King Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons”, ... '

Terry's annotation may puzzle you. How often does Pepys mention Holbein? In this case, it's two days in a row, and I'm guessing Terry has combined tomorrow's annotation with today's mention.

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