Monday 11 January 1668/69

Up, and with W. Hewer, my guard, to White Hall, where no Committee of Tangier met, so up and down the House talking with this and that man, and so home, calling at the New Exchange for a book or two to send to Mr. Shepley and thence home, and thence to the ’Change, and there did a little business, and so walked home to dinner, and then abroad with my wife to the King’s playhouse, and there saw “The Joviall Crew,” but ill acted to what it was heretofore, in Clun’s time, and when Lacy could dance. Thence to the New Exchange, to buy some things; and, among others, my wife did give me my pair of gloves, which, by contract, she is to give me in her 30l. a-year. Here Mrs. Smith tells us of the great murder thereabouts, on Saturday last, of one Captain Bumbridge, by one Symons, both of her acquaintance; and hectors that were at play, and in drink: the former is killed, and is kinsman to my Lord of Ormond, which made him speak of it with so much passion, as I overheard him this morning, but could not make anything of it till now, but would they would kill more of them. So home; and there at home all the evening; and made Tom to prick down some little conceits and notions of mine, in musique, which do mightily encourage me to spend some more thoughts about it; for I fancy, upon good reason, that I am in the right way of unfolding the mystery of this matter, better than ever yet.

24 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"in Clun's time, and when Lacy could dance. "

4 August 1664: "Clun, one of their best actors, was, the last night, going out of towne (after he had acted the Alchymist, wherein was one of his best parts that he acts) to his country-house, set upon and murdered "
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

L&M note Lacy was ill this day.

Chris Squire  •  Link

‘Hector, n. Etym: < Latin Hectōr , Greek Ἕκτωρ , son of Priam and Hecuba, husband of Andromache, ‘the prop or stay of Troy’; in origin, as adj. ἕκτωρ = holding fast, . .
2. (Now usu. with lower-case initial.) A swaggering fellow; a swash-buckler; a braggart, blusterer, bully. Frequent in the second half of the 17th c.; applied spec. to a set of disorderly young men who infested the streets of London.
1655 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 256 The Earle of Anglesie and his two Hectors upon Sunday morning last fought a duell with Collonel Dillan‥and two Irishe Captains‥His Lordships Hectors had no hurt, and ye Irishe came of untoucht.
. . 1693 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) III. 2 On Sunday night last 3 hectors came out of a tavern in Holborn, with their swords drawn, and began to break windows . . ‘ [OED]

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...my guard..." ? Sounds like Sam is getting restive under the benevolent dictatorship of Elisabeth St.Michel Pepys.

Mary  •  Link

"the pair of gloves which, by contract...."

So, there were undertakings on both sides.

john  •  Link

"and made Tom to prick down some little conceits and notions of mine, in musique"

Lovely that he seeks the guidance of his betters who are not his elders.

languagehat  •  Link

"and there saw “The Joviall Crew,” but ill acted to what it was heretofore, in Clun’s time, and when Lacy could dance."

Sam's becoming a curmudgeon!

Dorothy  •  Link

Several online sources say giving gloves was often part of sealing a bargain. I think the gloves were part of their agreement about the allowance, emphasizing it was a serious contract.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: "my guard"

Funny how Sam tends to insert phrases like this in the Diary after he's had a fight with Elizabeth (see yesterday) and is (presumably) feeling the weight of her yoke a bit more...

Michael L  •  Link

Robert: I also thought at first that "my guard" was an ironic comment on feeling imprisoned. Is it possible that it might mean that Will is a bodyguard of sorts? It may be that with all the wealth Pepys is flaunting, he feels the need for personal security in public. Is there any other reason to think this?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Gloves

They served as wedding and funeral tokens for favored friends, were a sign of gentility and status or rank.

In Tudor times gloves were substituted by "Glove Money."
"A bribe, a perquisite; so called from the ancient custom of presenting a pair of gloves to a person who undertook a cause for you. Mrs. Croaker presented Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor, with a pair of gloves lined with forty pounds in “angels,” as a “token.” Sir Thomas kept the gloves, but returned the lining." http://www.bartleby.com/81/7266.h…

Glove money
"A tip or gratuity to servants, professedly to buy gloves with.
"(Eng. Law.) A reward given to officers of courts; also, a fee given by the sheriff of a county to the clerk of assize and judge's officers, when there are no offenders to be executed." http://www.thefreedictionary.com/…

Here are some other ways that gloves -- the very hands themselves -- served as items of value, http://books.google.com/books?id=…

Mary  •  Link

gloves as gifts.

There is still a tradition (though I suspect not much observed these days) that if gloves are given as a gift, then the receiver should give a small coin to the giver in return.

A similar tradition applies to the giving of a knife or scissors.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"made Tom to prick down some little conceits and notions of mine, in musique, which do mightily encourage me to spend some more thoughts about it; for I fancy, upon good reason, that I am in the right way of unfolding the mystery of this matter, better than ever yet. "

This is a vision Pepys has pursued for over a year.

See 20 March 1667/68: "at my chamber all the evening pricking down some things, and trying some conclusions upon my viall, in order to the inventing a better theory of musique than hath yet been abroad; and I think verily I shall do it "
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… and 10 December 1667: "Here met Mr. Hinxton, the organist, walking, and I walked with him; and, asking him many questions, I do find...that it is only want of an ingenious man that is master in musique, to bring musique to a certainty, and ease in composition." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Australian Susan  •  Link

Mary - in our household, if you gave someone a handbag or purse, you always had to put a silver coin in it.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

In mid-20th century America, at least in some places such as New York City, a small bribe to an official or a policeman was referred to as "giving (someone) a hat", on the basis that the amount involved,$25, was about the cost of a hat. There are references to this in detective novels from the period. Same sort of usage as the glove money Terry cites.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"Is it possible that it might mean that Will is a bodyguard of sorts?"

Michael L, based on the past several months, I think that if Will is playing the role of bodyguard, it's only on Elizabeth's bidding, to prevent other women from touching -- or, more precisely, being touched by -- Sam's body.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the great murder thereabouts, on Saturday last, of one Captain Bumbridge, by one Symons"

L&M note the murder had been committed in the Bear on Drury Lane http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… Symonds (who served in the Queen Mother's household) fled abroad with his two accessories. The victim had served in the Spanish army and was visited on his death-bed by the Spanish ambassador.

Jim  •  Link

Captain Francis Bromwich had been in street battles prior to the one that claimed his life.

In 1662 Bromwich received a pardon from Charles II for his participation in a fatal brawl. This is the site that lists the pardon > >
http://books.google.com/books?id=…

William Hepworth Dixon recounts, in the 4th volume of his book “Her Majasty’s Tower”, another fatal fight, this one in 1665, in which Captain Bromwich was involved. The story can be found at this site > >
http://books.google.com/books?id=…

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the former is killed, and is kinsman to my Lord of Ormond, which made him speak of it with so much passion, as I overheard him this morning, but could not make anything of it till now, but would they would kill more of them."

Who are "them"?. This seems to be an all Catholic affray: Captain Francis Bromwich was a cousin-german (first cousin) of James, Duke of Ormonde, was killed by Mr. Symonds, one of Queen-Mother Henrietta Maria's servants.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"W. Hewer, my guard"

L&M: Pepys was still being kept on a short leash because of his affair with Deb.

LKvM  •  Link

". . . but would they would kill more of them."

TF commented:
"Who are 'them'? This seems to be an all Catholic affray: Captain Francis Bromwich was a cousin-german (first cousin) of James, Duke of Ormonde, [and] was killed by Mr. Symonds, one of Queen-Mother Henrietta Maria's servants."

Okay then, to me, if all those folks are Catholic, "would they would kill more of them" means "would these Catholics would kill more of these Catholics."

There certainly is a lot of lethal violence in this entry, starting with the reference to Clun (although his sensational murder, which everybody probably knew about, is not actually mentioned). It's enough to make the question of whether Sam's "guard" was actually a bodyguard a legitimate query.
I wonder if the trouble-making "hectors" were predominantly Catholic too.

James Morgan  •  Link

I think if Sam were in need of a bodyguard he would find someone more martial than Hewer, his clerk. As noted in earlier comments, Hewer is following him as part of his agreement with his wife, and "guard" is used in the sense of "jailer".

Gerald Berg  •  Link

I was thinking more generously as in Hewer guarding Sam against himself. Maybe old fancies are tempting Sam's imagination again? Habits after all.

Brings to mind James Ensor's Demons Teasing Me

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/20…

Hectoring! Poor Hector. Most unfair.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

LKvM ... how do we know the fight was an all-Catholic affair?

Yes, the Butler family was Catholic, but James Butler, then Viscount Thurmond, had been removed from that environment in about 1620 by King James I, and brought up a Protestant, to which religion he adhered for the rest of his life. No mention of the other young men in the family, so I can't speak to Capt. Francis Bromwich.
http://www.historyireland.com/ear…

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