Monday 4 January 1668/69
Lay long, talking with my wife, and did of my own accord come to an allowance of her of 30l. a-year for all expences, clothes and everything, which she was mightily pleased with, it being more than ever she asked or expected, and so rose, with much content, and up with W. Hewer to White Hall, there to speak with Mr. Wren, which I did about several things of the office entered in my memorandum books, and so about noon, going homeward with W. Hewer, he and I went in and saw the great tall woman that is to be seen, who is but twenty-one years old, and I do easily stand under her arms. Then, going further, The. Turner called me, out of her coach where her mother, &c., was, and invited me by all means to dine with them, at my cozen Roger’s mistress’s, the widow Dickenson! So, I went to them afterwards, and dined with them, and mighty handsomely treated, and she a wonderful merry, good-humoured, fat, but plain woman, but I believe a very good woman, and mighty civil to me. Mrs. Turner, the mother, and Mrs. Dyke, and The., and Betty was the company, and a gentleman of their acquaintance. Betty I did long to see, and she is indifferent pretty, but not what the world did speak of her; but I am mighty glad to have one so pretty of our kindred. After dinner, I walked with them, to shew them the great woman, which they admire, as well they may; and so back with them, and left them; and I to White Hall, where a Committee of Tangier met, but little to do there, but I did receive an instance of the Duke of York’s kindness to me, and the whole Committee, that they would not order any thing about the Treasurer for the Corporation now in establishing, without my assent, and considering whether it would be to my wrong or no. Thence up and down the house, and to the Duke of York’s side, and there in the Duchess’s presence; and was mightily complimented by my Lady Peterborough, in my Lord Sandwich’s presence, whom she engaged to thank me for my kindness to her and her Lord. … By and by I met my Lord Brouncker; and he and I to the Duke of York alone, and discoursed over the carriage of the present Treasurers, in opposition to, or at least independency of, the Duke of York, or our Board, which the Duke of York is sensible of, and all remember, I believe; for they do carry themselves very respectlessly of him and us. We also declared our minds together to the Duke of York about Sir John Minnes’s incapacity to do any service in the Office, and that it is but to betray the King to have any business of trust committed to his weakness. So the Duke of York was very sensible of it and promised to speak to the King about it. That done, I with W. Hewer took up my wife at Unthank’s, and so home, and there with pleasure to read and talk, and so to supper, and put into writing, in merry terms, our agreement between my wife and me, about 30l. a-year, and so to bed. This was done under both our hands merrily, and put into W. Hewer’s to keep.
16 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"my cozen Roger’s mistress’s, the widow Dickenson!"
L&M note Roger Pepys and Esther Dickenson were married on 2 February.
Terry Foreman • Link
"the Duke of York’s kindness to me, and the whole Committee, that they would not order any thing about the Treasurer for the Corporation now in establishing, without my assent"
L&M note Pepys was the Treasurer for the garrison: the regulations for the civil government were issued by the Privy Council on 20 January.
***
"was mightily complimented by my Lady Peterborough, in my Lord Sandwich’s presence, whom she engaged to thank me for my kindness to her and her Lord."
Concerning his pension (L&M).
Michael L • Link
Do those ellipses after "to her and her Lord" denote a passage thought unseemly by the editor, or genuine ellipses?
Terry Foreman • Link
Michael L, good question. Those are NOT ELLIPSES.
Terry Foreman • Link
To clarify: the extra ... in this entry are not ellipses: L&M find nothing there.
Tony Eldridge • Link
To my slight shame, I rather miss the ellipses.
George Mosley • Link
The great tall woman:
She has already been identified here as Gertraut Chrisutte. She was, according to John Evelyn (who eschewed looking at the hermaphrodite, but not the big woman), 6'10".
An interesting book, Women, Medicine and Theatre,by M. A. Katritzky has this:
http://books.google.com/books?id=…
Terry Foreman • Link
"To my slight shame, I rather miss the ellipses."
Tony, stick around: there are four more, but none this month.
Terry Foreman • Link
George, thanks for drawing attention to Katritzky's book. It's an interesting guide to the traveling female "physical prodigies" of the time. Recall last month's showing of Barbara Ursler ("Ursula Dyan") http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
(Why Peg Katritzky adds to the quotation of Evelyn what she does is puzzling. http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… )
ticea • Link
"I went in and saw the great tall woman [6'10"] that is to be seen, who is but twenty-one years old, and I do easily stand under her arms."
I can imagine Sam, at 5'1", being able to stand under anyone's arms who's above 5'10". I'm 5'2" and can do the same.
Tom Carr • Link
It strikes me as odd that Sam would put into writing "in merry terms" his wife's yearly allowance. I'm not sure if this is intended to be playful between them, or does it have some legal basis?
Mary • Link
the written agreement
I imagine that it operates on both levels - playful and marito-legal. It couldn't be enforced in law, but Elizabeth could have a jolly good go at making life less than comfortable for Sam if he were to try and backslide from it. Sam is pledging his good faith with Elizabeth by handing her this document. They are both merry now, but each knows that the paper bears more domestic weight than is immediately apparent.
Husbands and wives do sometimes come to this sort of arrangement.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"We also declared our minds together to the Duke of York about Sir John Minnes’s incapacity to do any service in the Office, and that it is but to betray the King to have any business of trust committed to his weakness."
In his evidence to the Brooke House Committee and the Council, Pepys put the principal blame on Memmes for the wartime failures of the Navy Board. (L&M)
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I did receive an instance of the Duke of York’s kindness to me, and the whole Committee, that they would not order any thing about the Treasurer for the Corporation now in establishing, without my assent, and considering whether it would be to my wrong or no."
Wikipedia tells me "On 4 June 1668, Tangier was declared a free city by charter, with a mayor and corporation to govern it instead of the army. The charter made it equal to English towns."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eng…
This explains the accounts for the "Corporation now in establishing"; they must be in the process of handing over management to the new entity.
I thought Pepys was the Treasurer for the Tangier Committee: our Encyclopedia says, "Pepys took over this role from Thomas Povy in March 1665 after Povy was unable to keep his accounts in order."
So James has told the Committee they can't ask for any paperwork from Pepys without Pepys agreeing they need it, because it might be "to his wrong" for him to produce it???
I recall him being worried that they might find some dodgy Tangier bookkeeping to his benefit some months ago.
But this is outrageous if my memory and interpretation are correct.
Bryan • Link
"they would not order any thing about the Treasurer for the Corporation now in establishing"
SDS, I interpreted "would not order any thing" to mean that the Committee would not establish the duties and remuneration of the new position of treasurer for the newly established corporation without first getting approval from SP and without ensuring that SP was not disadvantaged. SP was the treasurer for the Tangier Committee, a position which is now less significant if not redundant.
In short, the Committee (and the Duke) are looking after their faithful servant, Samual Pepys, esq.
San Diego Sarah • Link
I like your explanation better, Brian. Thanks.