Tuesday 20 April 1669

Up; and to the Office, and my wife abroad with Mary Batelier, with our own coach, but borrowed Sir J Minnes’s coachman, that so our own might stay at home, to attend at dinner; our family being mightily disordered by our little boy’s falling sick the last night; and we fear it will prove the small-pox. At noon comes my guest, Mr. Hugh May, and with him Sir Henry Capell, my old Lord Capel’s son, and Mr. Parker; and I had a pretty dinner for them; and both before and after dinner had excellent discourse; and shewed them my closet and my Office, and the method of it to their great content; and more extraordinary, manly discourse and opportunity of shewing myself, and learning from others, I have not, in ordinary discourse, had in my life, they being all persons of worth, but especially Sir H. Capell, whose being a Parliament-man, and hearing my discourse in the Parliament-house, hath, as May tells me, given him along desire to know and discourse with me. In the afternoon we walked to the Old Artillery-Ground near the Spitalfields, where I never was before, but now, by Captain Deane’s invitation, did go to see his new gun tryed, this being the place where the Officers of the Ordnance do try all their great guns; and when we come, did find that the trial had been made; and they going away with extraordinary report of the proof of his gun, which, from the shortness and bigness, they do call Punchinello. But I desired Colonel Legg to stay and give us a sight of her performance, which he did, and there, in short, against a gun more than as long and as heavy again, and charged with as much powder again, she carried the same bullet as strong to the mark, and nearer and above the mark at a point blank than theirs, and is more easily managed, and recoyles no more than that, which is a thing so extraordinary as to be admired for the happiness of his invention, and to the great regret of the old Gunners and Officers of the Ordnance that were there, only Colonel Legg did do her much right in his report of her. And so, having seen this great and first experiment, we all parted, I seeing my guests into a hackney coach, and myself, with Captain Deane, taking a hackney coach, did go out towards Bow, and went as far as Stratford, and all the way talking of this invention, and he offering me a third of the profit of the invention; which, for aught I know, or do at present think, may prove matter considerable to us: for either the King will give him a reward for it, if he keeps it to himself, or he will give us a patent to make our profit of it: and no doubt but it will be of profit to merchantmen and others, to have guns of the same force at half the charge. This was our talk: and then to talk of other things, of the Navy in general: and, among other things, he did tell me that he do hear how the Duke of Buckingham hath a spite at me, which I knew before, but value it not: and he tells me that Sir T. Allen is not my friend; but for all this I am not much troubled, for I know myself so usefull that, as I believe, they will not part with me; so I thank God my condition is such that I can retire, and be able to live with comfort, though not with abundance. Thus we spent the evening with extraordinary good discourse, to my great content, and so home to the Office, and there did some business, and then home, where my wife do come home, and I vexed at her staying out so late, but she tells me that she hath been at home with M. Batelier a good while, so I made nothing of it, but to supper and to bed.

16 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir H. Capell...hath...a long desire to know and discourse with me. " (L&M)

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...more extraordinary, manly discourse..." Ah, manly discourse...In a man's study...In the company of men.

"He's...So longed to discourse with you...After seeing you in Rarliament. Rivetted, no doubt by your divine form..."

"Shut up, Bess."

"Manly yes...But I liked it too." Bess.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"At noon comes my guest, Mr. Hugh May, and with him Sir Henry Capell, my old Lord Capel’s son, and Mr. Parker;"

L&M note this was the dinner party arranged on 17 January and postponed on 2 February.

The King's Works seem to connect most of today's gathering.

ONeville  •  Link

Captain Deane, only 21 years. Does anyone know of his subsequent career? He sounds to be the sort of man England needs.

AnnieC  •  Link

The link for Captain Deane gives his birth year as circa 1638, not 1648.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...all the way talking of this invention, and he offering me a third of the profit of the invention..." Deane appears well aware of the way things work in Sam Pepys' Navy.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir H. Capell, whose being a Parliament-man, and hearing my discourse in the Parliament-house, hath, as May tells me, given him along desire to know and discourse with me."

Perhaps better excerpted.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"by Captain Deane’s invitation, did go to see his new gun tryed, this being the place where the Officers of the Ordnance do try all their great guns; and when we come, did find that the trial had been made; and they going away with extraordinary report of the proof of his gun, which, from the shortness and bigness, they do call Punchinello."

Nothing more appears to be known about this gun. It was presumably a naval piece. Anthony Deane was a shipwright; for his interest in explosives see http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
For naval guns at this time and the efforts made to improve them, see John P.W. Ehrman, The Navy in the war of William III, Cambridge, 1958, pp.23+. 'Punchinello' or 'punch' was now a fashionable word: see http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... our family being mightily disordered by our little boy’s falling sick the last night; and we fear it will prove the small-pox."

Oh dear. And then Pepys had all these VIPs to lunch, and it doesn't sound like he warned them there was smallpox in the house.

I wonder if they sent the kid somewhere, or was he hidden/isolated in the attic or the basement?

Eric the Bish  •  Link

“… no doubt but it will be of profit to merchantmen and others, to have guns of the same force at half the charge.”
Good military leaders pay attention to logistics: with this gun you can carry less powder, or keep fighting longer. Either way is “profitable”.
“Point blank”: in popular usage, point-blank range has come to mean extremely close range; here it may mean the range where the gun will hit a target without the need to adjust the standard elevation.

David  •  Link

"give us a sight of her performance"
"she carried the same bullet as strong to the mark"

I have never heard of a gun to be referred to as female, if it was to be assigned a sex I would have thought male might be more appropriate but come to think of it I have never heard that either.

Mary K  •  Link

I can't think of many instances, either historic or current, of pieces of ordinance being regarded as female - but there is the notable example of "Big Bertha" a super-large piece of artillery employed by the Germans in WW1 and so nicknamed by British soldiers.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Ships are traditionally referred to as being female.
If someone was referring to The Royal Charles, did they call it he, she or it?

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