Sunday 20 September 1668

(Lord’s day). Up, and to set some papers to rights in my chamber, and the like in my office, and so to church, at our own church, and heard but a dull sermon of one Dr. Hicks, who is a suitor to Mrs. Howell, the widow of our turner of the Navy; thence home to dinner, staying till past one o’clock for Harris, whom I invited, and to bring Shadwell the poet with him; but they come not, and so a good dinner lost, through my own folly. And so to dinner alone, having since church heard the boy read over Dryden’s Reply to Sir R. Howard’s Answer, about his Essay of Poesy, and a letter in answer to that; the last whereof is mighty silly, in behalf of Howard.1 Thence walked forth and got a coach and to visit Mrs. Pierce, with whom, and him, I staid a little while, and do hear how the Duchesse of Monmouth is at this time in great trouble of the shortness of her lame leg, which is likely to grow shorter and shorter, that she will never recover it. Thence to St. Margaret’s Church, thinking to have seen Betty Michell, but she was not there. So back, and walked to Gray’s Inn walks a while, but little company; and so over the fields to Clerkenwell, to see whether I could find that the fair Botelers do live there still, I seeing Frances the other day in a coach with Cary Dillon, her old servant, but know not where she lives. So walked home, and there walked in the garden an hour, it being mighty pleasant weather, and so took my Lady Pen and Mrs. Markham home with me and sent for Mrs. Turner, and by and by comes Sir W. Pen and supped with me, a good supper, part of my dinner to-day. They gone, Mrs. Turner staid an hour talking with me … [and yo did now the first time tocar her cosa with my hand and did make her do the like con su hand to my thing, whereto neither did she show any averseness really, but a merry kind of opposition, but yo did do both and yo do believe I might have hecho la cosa too mit her. – L&M] So parted, and I to bed.

16 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Pepys 'business' elided above.

"They gone, Mrs. Turner staid an hour talking with me and yo did now the first time tocar her cosa with my hand and did make her do the like con su hand to my thing, whereto neither did she show any aversion really, but a merry kind of opposition, but yo did both [*] and yo do believe I might have hecho la cosa too mit her.[*] So parted, and I to bed. "

* garbled shorthand. (L&M)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"A Letter from a Gentleman to the Honourable Ed. Howard, Esq., occasioned by a Civiliz'd Epistle of Mr. Dryden's before his Second Edition of his Indian Emperour. In the Savoy, printed by Thomas Newcomb, 1668."
http://catalog.huntington.org/sea…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...particularly to my cozen Roger, who, W. Hewer and my wife writes me, do use them with mighty plenty and noble entertainment."

"I've just heard, from my poor Sam...
Says office politics have got him slammed..."

"Well, did you ever? Say, what a swell party this is..."

(Roger, aside)
“Have you heard the story of…
Pepys, a girl , and somewhat requitted love?
Now, did you ever?
What a swell party this is!” (ah, cousin Bess…Ahem...Ummn...)


"We've had the fire, we've had the plague...Now we're likely to be governed from the Hague."

"Well, did you ever? (Hic...Will, another ale.) What a swell party this is"

“Have you heard, amoung our Naval clan
Peter Pett is called 'The forgotten man'?"

"Well, did you evah? (Hic)
What a swell party this is!”


“What frills, what frocks!
Those patches, they rock!” (Bess, pointing)
(Ma’am…Hewer, nervously…What will Mr. P. say?)

“What gaiety!
It's all to exquis!
That French champagne!
So good for the brain!
That bands, it's the end!
Kindly don't fall down, cousin.”

“Have you heard? Robert Hooke…
Read his wife and divorced his book.
Well, did you ever?
What a swell party this is!”

“Have you heard? The actress Knepp
Crossed the bridge when the bridge was dipped.” (Hewer, trying to join in, wincing at Bess’ glare.)

“Well, did you evah?
What a swell party this is!”

“It's great, it's grand!
It's wonderland!
What soup, what fish!
That beef, what a dish!
That venison pasty, so neat!
Pity Sam missed the treat!”

“Have you heard that widowed Lady Batten
Has gone to the somewhat fatten?"
(Mingo likes em plump, I hear)

“Well, did you evah?
What a swell party this is!”

“And have you heard? It's in the stars,
Next July we collide with Mars!”(Only thing left to do us in, after all)
“Well, did you evah?
What a swell party this is!”

“Yes, what a swellagent, elagent party this is!”
(Will! Pot!! Oh!!!)

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"the shortness of her lame leg,which is likely to grow shorter and shorter"
I am not aware of any pathology that will do that!

Chris Squire  •  Link

DNB has: ' . . The Monmouths had in common only financial extravagance and a particular excellence in dancing, which was unhappily ended in May 1668 when Anna sustained a dislocated hip which lamed her for life . . '.

I think the leg-shortening is no more than ill-informed gossip. She died aged 80 in 1732, by which time the 1660s must have seemed as distant as the late '40s do to us now.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Thanks for the great musical interlude, Robert -- some very inventive rhymes!!

Glyn  •  Link

"walked to Gray’s Inn walks a while, but little company"

The gardens around Gray's Inn were a place where people promenaded on Sunday in their most fashionable clothes, so Sam is going there to see if there are any pretty ladies to look at. I'm fairly sure that he and Elizabeth have occasionally gone there together on Sunday afternoons to see the latest fashions. Because there aren't any fashion magazines this was probably a popular thing to do, although not on this particular day.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

" to church, at our own church, and heard but a dull sermon of one Dr. Hicks, who is a suitor to Mrs. Howell, the widow of our turner of the Navy"

L&M: Dr Edward Hicks, Rector of St Margaret Pattens, was a widower. A license for his marriage to Sarah Howell had been issued three days before. She was the widow of Richard Howell, who had supplied turnery to the navy.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"so over the fields to Clerkenwell, to see whether I could find that the fair Botelers do live there still, I seeing Frances the other day in a coach with Cary Dillon, her old servant, but know not where she lives."

L&M: Pepys had much admired Frances Boteler and her sister in 1660-1: Frances he sometime thought the liveliest woman he knew. Dillon (later 5th Earl of Roscommon) had oce been betrothed to her: he never married her.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The volume covering correspondence from November 1667 through September 1668 is at
https://play.google.com/books/rea…

PAGES 640-641

@@@
Sept. 20. 1668
Chatham
Col. Thomas Middleton to Sam. Pepys.

I told the discharged men that they could not expect any money by being
discharged, but must have patience to have their tickets paid as money could be raised.

Thanks for what you tell me concerning the 700/. for the [Chatham] chest;
I have money to pay the chest again, and hope never to commit the like error, yet what I did was to accommodate both the King and the people belonging to, or rather discharged from, the ship.

I shall treat with Mr. Mason about his timber, and choose 300 or 400 loads;
that which may not be worth 40s. a load to build houses,
may be worth 50s. to build ships,
so that it may be a convenience to him, as well as to the King, to spare that which may be most convenient for the King's use,
and he to keep the remainder for building in the city.

The shipwright's assistant could hear of no more timber ready until the next fall;
I wonder why the King should not have a purveyor to buy it as it stands, and then he need not seek after these men, nor buy any but such as is found fit for use.

I presume if Mr. Pett continues in his place he may let you have the timber,
but if he lose it, you cannot well expect this.

The calking of ships should be put in hand before winter;

I will take Mr. Tippetts advice about the Royal Oak, as he is her father.
[21 pages. S.P. Dom., Car. II. 246, No. 95.]

@@@
Sept. 20. 1668
Portsmouth
Hugh Salesbury to Williamson.

The Dutchman who pretends to build a ship for the King, to sail 3 feet for 2 to any other of his Majesty's ships, has arrived.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 246, No. 96.]

@@@
Sept. 20. 1668
Deal
Rich. Watts to [Williamson].

Will give the packet to the first Lisbon ship that sails, and take a receipt;
if the master refuses one, which most of them do, asks whether to call a witness and give the packet, or keep it back.

The gentry, citizens, and country are much discontented, the cavalry being much concerned;
and since the harvest has come in, there has been more dissatisfaction than before.

With postscript, cancelled, that it has been reported that Lord Arlington has bought the Governor's place of Deal Castle and that of captain of the Yellow Company there, the former being worth 120/. per annum and of great honour.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 246, No. 97.]

LKvM  •  Link

In case I'm not the only one who wondered about "turner," it's someone who forms articles on a lathe, and "turnery" consists of those articles, of which there are many on a ship, such as belaying pins, and Mrs. Turner's husband's occupational surname indicates he had a turner long ago in his family tree.

Third Reading

Michaela  •  Link

How old would Mrs Turner be at this time? I know she died in 1685, but not when she was born. She already had a son who wasn’t a child near the beginning of the diary, and her teeth weren’t good. I just didn’t expect her to be Pepys type.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"How old would Mrs Turner be at this time?"

Mrs. Turner's husband was Thomas Turner, and according to our Encyclopedia he became a Purser in 1642, at which time he could presumably afford to get married. Let's say he earned this position at aged 25, meaning he was born around 1617. He would look for a wife a few years younger than him -- so she might have been born around 1620. Or not.

I tried searching for her father, Sir John Holmden. He isn't listed as an MP, or turn up in any reliable blogs. So I have drawn a blank.

But she was old enough to have lost her teeth, poor lady.

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