Sunday 29 November 1668

(Lord’s day). Lay long in bed with pleasure with my wife, with whom I have now a great deal of content, and my mind is in other things also mightily more at ease, and I do mind my business better than ever and am more at peace, and trust in God I shall ever be so, though I cannot yet get my mind off from thinking now and then of Deb., but I do ever since my promise a while since to my wife pray to God by myself in my chamber every night, and will endeavour to get my wife to do the like with me ere long, but am in much fear of what she lately frighted me with about her being a Catholique; and I dare not, therefore, move her to go to church, for fear she should deny me; but this morning, of her own accord, she spoke of going to church the next Sunday, which pleases me mightily. This morning my coachman’s clothes come home; and I like the livery mightily, and so I all the morning at my chamber, and dined with my wife, and got her to read to me in the afternoon, till Sir W. Warren, by appointment, comes to me, who spent two hours, or three, with me, about his accounts of Gottenburgh, which are so confounded, that I doubt they will hardly ever pass without my doing something, which he desires of me, and which, partly from fear, and partly from unwillingness to wrong the King, and partly from its being of no profit to me, I am backward to give way to, though the poor man do indeed deserve to be rid of this trouble, that he hath lain so long under, from the negligence of this Board. We afterwards fell to other talk, and he tells me, as soon as he saw my coach yesterday, he wished that the owner might not contract envy by it; but I told him it was now manifestly for my profit to keep a coach, and that, after employments like mine for eight years, it were hard if I could not be justly thought to be able to do that.1

He gone, my wife and I to supper; and so she to read, and made an end of the Life of Archbishop Laud, which is worth reading, as informing a man plainly in the posture of the Church, and how the things of it were managed with the same self-interest and design that every other thing is, and have succeeded accordingly. So to bed.

17 Annotations

First Reading

Michael L  •  Link

The description of Pepys' "Neptune" coach is hilarious. It reminds me an awful lot of the more highly illustrated custom airbrushed vans from the 1970s:
http://www.visualnews.com/2010/12…

Paul Chapin  •  Link

I wonder if all that decoration was painted on, or if it was done in elaborate woodcarvings, which would have been considerably more expensive (and more likely to attract envy and derision, I would think).

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...will endeavour to get my wife to do the like with me ere long, but am in much fear of what she lately frighted me with about her being a Catholique;..."

"Lord, make my dear husband less of an idiot than he is..."

Too late, Sam...She's one of Us now. Another recruit for the Empire.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...and which, partly from fear, and partly from unwillingness to wrong the King, and partly from its being of no profit to me, I am backward to give way to, though the poor man do indeed deserve to be rid of this trouble, that he hath lain so long under, from the negligence of this Board." And perhaps still, partly from bitterness over Warren's dumping him for titled types earlier. Fortunately for Sir William, our boy is fair-minded.

Sounds to me like Sir William's yanking at Sam's chain on that pious hope "the owner might not contract envy..." But at least Sam can hope Povy's chosen him a winner.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The pamphlet “A Hue and Cry after P. and H." will appear in 1679, 11 years from now, when Pepys, note L&M, had bought a newer (presumably fancier) coach, at the time of "The Plot Against Pepys" in which he was accused of being a spy for the French and secret Catholic and spent time in the Tower while he was under suspicion. See Jeannine's review of the Long and Long book http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth…

◎§{____}§◎

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"So..." Creed eyes a rather relieved Sam. "Really think there'll be no need for the exorcism?"

"Sorry to have put you to all that trouble, old fellow." Sam glances over the impliments...Hmmn, must ask what the tongs are for... "But Bess has agreed to do church this Lord's day. I think the crisis is over."

"One can never be too sure, Pepys." Hooke, armed with the latest in scientific paraphernalia. For should religion fail, Natural Philosophy is ready... "Perhaps best to proceed at least with my ultra-purge."

Hmmn...Would rather like to see...

"Sam'l, isn't this early even for...Oh, my!" Bess, staring at Creed in black robes, Hooke weighed down with vials, bags of various substances, and heavy tomes. "Gentlemen? Mr. Creed? Sam'l, what the devil are you all doing at 3am...In our house...And what is that horrible smell?"

"That...Mrs. Pepys, is the world's most powerful purgative. My own invention." Hooke, proudly.

"Yes, well, Bess...One might say...We are all here for you, dearest." Sam, winningly.

"Both the clerical and the power of Natural Philosophy enlisted to save you, madam." Hooke nods.

"To drive the Papist within back to its evil lair." Creed, fiercely. All regarding him.

"Sorry, caught a bit of the old hellfire..."

"Gentlemen? Sam'l? Much as I appreciate the effort and concern...Might it not be barely possible that the choice of religion should be my own, based on my own needs and considerations?"

Creed looks at Hooke, Hooke at Pepys...

Hmmn...

Hearty gales of laughter...

Jenny  •  Link

I always thought that the description of the decorations was satirical. It doesn't seem quite Sam's style to have a coach decorated so ostentatiously.

What think you?

Australian Susan  •  Link

I agree with Jenny - it is a satire - Sam and Will sailing through the world, leaving wrecks behind them.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"till Sir W. Warren, by appointment, comes to me, who spent two hours, or three, with me, about his accounts of Gottenburgh, which are so confounded, that I doubt they will hardly ever pass without my doing something, which he desires of me, and which, partly from fear, and partly from unwillingness to wrong the King, and partly from its being of no profit to me, I am backward to give way to, though the poor man do indeed deserve to be rid of this trouble, that he hath lain so long under, from the negligence of this Board."

L&M: A certificate for the payment to Warren of £1729 9s. 8d. was issued by the Board on 12 December: HMC, Lindsey, p. 116.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir W. Warren, by appointment, comes to me, who spent two hours, or three, with me, about his accounts of Gottenburgh"

L&M: They concerned a contract of July 1664 to supply 1000 masts shipped from Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden: see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Some correspondence in early December about this account is in Tanner 44, ff. 64-5. Pepys blamed Mennes for the delays: PL 2874, pp. 397-8.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"We afterwards fell to other talk, and he tells me, as soon as he saw my coach yesterday, he wished that the owner might not contract envy by it;"

L&M: In 1679 Pepys's coach (a later one) attracted the scorn of the pamphleteer who attacked him and Hewer during the Popish Plot in "“A Hue and Cry after P. and H." (p. 3): 'You had upon the Forepart of youur Chariot, Tempestuous Waves, and Wracks of Ships: On your Left-hand, Ports and great Guns, and Ships a fighting: On your Right-hand, was a fair Harbor and Town, with Sips and Galleys riding with their Flags and Penants . . . Behind it were high Curl'd Waves and Ships a sinking; and here and there , an Appearance of some Bits of Land.'

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Hue and cry - the basis of the satire

In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.

By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. I cc. 1 and 4, it was provided that anyone, either a constable or a private citizen, who witnessed a crime shall make hue and cry, and that the hue and cry must be kept up against the fleeing criminal from town to town and from county to county, until the felon is apprehended and delivered to the sheriff. All able-bodied men, upon hearing the shouts, were obliged to assist in the pursuit of the criminal, which makes it comparable to the posse comitatus. It was moreover provided that "the whole hundred … shall be answerable" for the theft or robbery committed, in effect a form of collective punishment. Those who raised a hue and cry falsely were themselves guilty of a crime.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hue…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Project Gutenberg

[Though our journalist prided himself not a little upon becoming
possessed of a carriage, the acquisition was regarded with envy and
jealousy by his enemies, as will appear by the following extract
from the scurrilous pamphlet, "A Hue and Cry after P. and H. and
Plain Truth (or a Private Discourse between P. and H.)," in which
Pepys and Hewer are severely handled: "There is one thing more you
must be mightily sorry for with all speed. Your presumption in your
coach, in which you daily ride, as if you had been son and heir to
the great Emperor Neptune, or as if you had been infallibly to have
succeeded him in his government of the Ocean, all which was
presumption in the highest degree. First, you had upon the fore
part of your chariot, tempestuous waves and wrecks of ships; on your
left hand, forts and great guns, and ships a-fighting; on your right
hand was a fair harbour and galleys riding, with their flags and
pennants spread, kindly saluting each other, just like P[epys] and
H[ewer]. Behind it were high curled waves and ships a-sinking, and
here and there an appearance of some bits of land."]
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4…

john  •  Link

"after employments like mine for eight years, it were hard if I could not be justly thought to be able to do that."

Methinks this comment has been overlooked. This was an age when one did not act the part was regarded with suspicion. (This was, perhaps, ever thus.)

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