Saturday 19 December 1668

Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon, eating very little dinner, my wife and I by hackney to the King’s playhouse, and there, the pit being full, sat in a box above, and saw “Catiline’s Conspiracy,” yesterday being the first day: a play of much good sense and words to read, but that do appear the worst upon the stage, I mean, the least diverting, that ever I saw any, though most fine in clothes; and a fine scene of the Senate, and of a fight, that ever I saw in my life. But the play is only to be read, and therefore home, with no pleasure at all, but only in sitting next to Betty Hall, that did belong to this house, and was Sir Philip Howard’s mistress; a mighty pretty wench, though my wife will not think so; and I dare neither commend, nor be seen to look upon her, or any other now, for fear of offending her. So, our own coach coming for us, home, and to end letters, and so home, my wife to read to me out of “The Siege of Rhodes,” and so to supper, and to bed.

13 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Cataline, His Conspracy" hasn't the "variety" -- the songs and the dancing -- Pepys loves so well in a play. E.g. "'The Tempest,' which we have often seen, but yet I was pleased again, and shall be again to see it, it is so full of variety, and particularly this day I took pleasure to learn the tune of the seaman’s dance, which I have much desired to be perfect in, and have made myself so." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… Spectacle! Methinks SP would have loved musical theatre with a plot. "South Pacific"? Discuss.

martinb  •  Link

"a mighty pretty wench, though my wife will [i.e. would?] not think so"

It's hard not to laugh out loud on reading this. Here is the new Samuel Pepys, deprived of the freedom even to comment on the prettiness of the women around him.

Mark S  •  Link

Just a note on the title "Catiline His Conspiracy".

"His" in this case is the genitive form corresponding to 's
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_…

In Ben Jonson's time it would have sounded more formal and learned than "Catiline's Conspiracy".

Robert Gertz  •  Link

When the new media epic proves a disappointment, one eagerly returns to the reliable old blockbuster.

"When will they do 'Siege III-Vienna'?" Sam sighs.

"I'm sure it won't come up to RhodesI and II." Bess notes. "The quality always starts to fall off after the first sequel."

JWB  •  Link

TF, how's this for spectacle!

From this AM's paper read that next year's London Olympics will debut women boxing, that sweet science. Pepys should be living at this hour. He is fellow of Royal Soc. after all.

languagehat  •  Link

"“His” in this case is the genitive form corresponding to ‘s ... In Ben Jonson’s time it would have sounded more formal and learned than “Catiline’s Conspiracy”."

Just to be clear, it is not an actual genitive (i.e., English has never at any point made a genitive with a suffixed pronoun), it was a briefly popular way of rendering the actual genitive ("Catiline’s") in print. When I was young and ran across this usage I thought it was the source of the genitive -s, an easy mistake to make.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"...but that do appear the worst upon the stage, I mean, the least diverting, that ever I saw any, though most fine in clothes"

L&M note the robes (provided by the King) were a style of costume 'à la Romaine', including the conventional cuirass and helmet. The toga was not used as early as this.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"my wife to read to me out of “The Siege of Rhodes,”"

I.e. from Davenant's text of the opera. (L&M)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Betty Hall, that did belong to this house, and was Sir Philip Howard’s mistress; ..."

Sir Philip Howard MP's parliamentary biography says he married in April 1668, Elizabeth Newton Baker, the daughter and heir of Sir Robert Newton, 1st Bt., of London, when she was also the widow of Sir John Baker, 3rd Bt., of Sissinghurst. They had one son.

From time to time annotators have asked how "normal" Pepys' behavior was. Pepys knows Sir Philip well enough to ask him to hire Balty as a Muster Master and be received in his bedroom.
So maybe the question we should be asking ourselves is how normal Pepys thought his amorous behavior was. This open acknowledgement of Howard's mistress so soon after his marriage is an indication Pepys could reasonably think he was behaving in a normal, maybe even restrained, way.

By 1672 Lady Elizabeth Newton Baker Howard turned out to be a wealthy woman, capable of stealing her dowery from under Sir Philip's nose; but that's beyond our story now.
https://www.historyofparliamenton…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Here is the new Samuel Pepys, deprived of the freedom even to comment on the prettiness of the women around him."

I think this sarcasm is an indication of Pepys' deep resentment at being told what to do by a female, much as he has persuaded himself that he loves Elizabeth ... when the time is right, he will reestablish himself as the controlling partner; probably passive agressive actions will follow soon. The old Pepys has just taken a short enforced holiday. Leopards don't change their spots; they may lose their lustre in old age, but spots be spots be spots.

Third Reading

Michaela  •  Link

I don’t think that Sam feels resentful towards Elizabeth, he really loves her and his amorous intentions with other women and even Deb ran parallel to that. He had been able to compartmentalise them so well that he hadn’t even realised what the effect of finding out would have on her. It was mostly just a form of entertainment to him.
It was a great shock to him to witness how she suffered - he didn’t blame her for making his life difficult or complain about feeling controlled - he felt terrible for causing her pain.
He seems to be enjoying spending time with Elizabeth now, talking for ages about common interests, sleeping together, going out. I think he is also enjoying the sensation of blameless enjoyment - knowing there’s nothing to be caught out about.
Obviously a leopard doesn’t change its spots, and he won’t stop being titillated by sitting g near a pretty woman - but now he thinks more about not hurting Elizabeth’s feelings than allowing his mind to run on it.
I don’t doubt though, if it could be completely guaranteed that he could enjoy another woman without Bess finding out, he would be sorely tempted, but the shame afterwards would be bitter.

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