Wednesday 12 May 1669
Up, and to Westminster Hall, where the term is, and this the first day of my being there, and here by chance met Roger Pepys, come to town the last night: I was glad to see him. After some talk with him and others, and among others Sir Charles Harbord and Sidney Montagu, the latter of whom is to set out to-morrow towards Flanders and Italy, I invited them to dine with me to-morrow, and so to Mrs. Martin’s lodging, who come to town last night, and there je did hazer her, she having been a month, I think, at Portsmouth with her husband, newly come home from the Streights. But, Lord! how silly the woman talks of her great entertainment there, and how all the gentry come to visit her, and that she believes her husband is worth 6 or 700l., which nevertheless I am glad of, but I doubt they will spend it a fast. Thence home, and after dinner my wife and I to the Duke of York’s playhouse, and there, in the side balcony, over against the musick, did hear, but not see, a new play, the first day acted, “The Roman Virgin,” an old play, and but ordinary, I thought; but the trouble of my eyes with the light of the candles did almost kill me.
Thence to my Lord Sandwich’s, and there had a promise from Sidney to come and dine with me to-morrow; and so my wife and I home in our coach, and there find my brother John, as I looked for, come to town from Ellington, where, among other things, he tell me the first news that my [sister Jackson] is with child, and far gone, which I know not whether it did more trouble or please me, having no great care for my friends to have children; though I love other people’s. So, glad to see him, we to supper, and so to bed.
17 Annotations
First Reading
chris • Link
"I doubt they will spend it a fast". An example of meaning shift across more than 300 years? does Sam mean, "I suspect they will squander their little fortune?"
PeterT • Link
I think you are right and fast in this instgance means to go without as in fast for lent etc.
Mary • Link
L&M read "but I doubt they will spend it as fast."
i.e. "I fear they will spend it as fast." [as they came by it]
Mary • Link
Pepys sister is "far" gone with child according to L&M.
As for "having no great care for my friends to have children,though I love other people's" presumably Sam shrinks a little at the implicit pointer to his own childlessness when those close to him increase the family.
william wright • Link
As for “having no great care for my friends to have children,though I love other people’s” presumably Sam shrinks a little at the implicit pointer to his own childlessness when those close to him increase the family
I think it is because the death from childbirth rate
was so great he did not want anything to happen to his
loved ones.
Robert Gertz • Link
San abd Betty Nartin certainly seem to share a remarkable ability to compartmentalize their feelings.
I wonder what Betty's opinions of Sam's likely references to his success at the Navy and with the Duke and King are...She's probably had her moments of annoyance with his hints of grandeur and power, Sam being only human if he sometimes carried on with her grandly about such things. Particularly after a glass of wine or two, with Betty or Doll on lap...And of course he has used his position to advance Martin at various times. Doubtless he has reminded her of that from time to time...
***
Pall's expectancy...
Spoilers ahoy...Proceed with caution...
Little does Sam suspect this will be the child he invests all his future hopes in...John Jackson.
nix • Link
Every time Samuel refers to his eye problems I feel a little stab of woe, knowing that our nine year journey together is near its end. Samuel, Elizabeth, and all of you have been delightful companions from theirst week. I won't be making it to London but will be there in spirit. Thanks to all
Terry Foreman • Link
"to Westminster Hall, where the term is, and this the first day of my being there, and here by chance met Roger Pepys, come to town the last night"
The Easter Term of the legal year -- when courts are in session -- has been underway since 18 April (the 15th Sunday after after the feast day of St Hilary
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hila… ] in 1669 [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comm… ] and so Roger Pepys, the lawyer, is on hand.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
This day my last child did graduate college.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
I mean May 12.
Second Reading
Ivan • Link
Robert, L & M say in a footnote that the son was named Samuel in honour of the diarist and was eventually cut off with an annuity of £40 because he made a match that Pepys disapproved of. John Jackson, Pall's second son, was born later in 1673.
Terry Foreman • Link
" my wife and I to the Duke of York’s playhouse, and there, in the side balcony, over against the musick"
The orchestra of the Restoration public theatre usually played in a small room situated above the middle of the proscenium arch. Hence Pepys on this occasion was evidently seated in one of the stage boxes on the same level as the upper gallery. (L&M)
Terry Foreman • Link
"a new play, the first day acted, “The Roman Virgin,” an old play"
Pepys's apparently contradictory use of the terms 'new' and ;old' is due to the fact that The Roman Virgin was John Webster's tragedy, Appius and Virginia (published in 1654, but written twenty-five years earlier), as revised by Betterton: see Downes, p. 30; G. Langbaine, Momus Triumphans, (1688). Betterton's revision is non-existent. This is the first record of its being performed. According to Downes (p. 30), Betterton played Virginius; Harris, Appius; and Mrs. Betterton, Virginia. https://archive.org/details/rosci…
Terry Foreman • Link
"but the trouble of my eyes with the light of the candles did almost kill me."
Chandeliers were hung over the apron stage, where most of the acting took place. (L&M)
Terry Foreman • Link
Mrs Martin "believes her husband is worth 6 or 700l., "
L&M: He was a purser.
Terry Foreman • Link
"the first news that my [sister Jackson] is with child, and fat gone, "
L&M: She had a son soon afterwards, who was christened Samuel in honor of the diarist. He lived to become the principal benefactor under Pepys's will of 1701., but in that of 1703 was cut off with an annuity of £40 because he had made a match Pepys disapproved of.
Stephane Chenard • Link
It seems that while at Whitehall Sam also attended the Treasury commissioners, whose minutes for this morning session (at https://www.british-history.ac.uk…) mention that "Mr. Pepys prays that his warrant for the last half-year for Tangier may be signed. Warrant by way of loan on his months. Warrant for the money to be borrowed. Pepys to give an account next Wednesday [the 19th - we'll be there] of all payments charged on his office that my Lords may see which payments they will take up on money [borrowed] at interest. Auditors Aldworth and Chislet to state Pepy's interest account for moneys borrowed for Tangier."
If the minutes are chronological it would have been in the late morning, so the good time with Mrs. Martin perhaps overwrote Sam his memory. After the dinner break the Treasurers' cramped room must have been a sight, being packed with a lot of periwigs and lace as the King dropped by to deal with Irish farm revenue.