Saturday 29 May 1669
The King’s birth-day. To White Hall, where all very gay; and particularly the Prince of Tuscany very fine, and is the first day of his appearing out of mourning, since he come. I heard the Bishop of Peterborough preach but dully; but a good anthem of Pelham’s. Home to dinner, and then with my wife to Hyde Park, where all the evening; great store of company, and great preparations by the Prince of Tuscany to celebrate the night with fire-works, for the King’s birth-day. And so home.
45 Annotations
First Reading
Donald • Link
At this penultimate post, may I unlurk and thank Phil and all the commentators for this nine year adventure; I shall miss my daily dose of Sam, Elizabeth and the wacky gang at Seething Lane and Whitehall.
Robert Gertz • Link
Fireworks?...Very thoughtful of Cosimo III and unknowingly quite appropriate.
Kent Kelly • Link
It's been a glorious ride. My thanks to all and, to steal a closing line, Goodnight Mr Pepys, wherever you are.
Allen Appel • Link
I can't think yet what I'm going to do. Pepys was wonderful, of course, but it is the annotations that have made the ride what it is. I can only echo the others. Thanks, thanks to all.
Don O'Shea • Link
I, also, will miss the daily adventures and misadventures of Sam and Elizabeth and the cast of characters from commoner to king. The comments were a great addition to the daily entries.
I regret I didn't pose more questions. Like… How much do these people eat and how does one anticipate drop-in diners? Approximately how far did Sam walk/travel each day?
Wouldn't it have been great to have a Sam's movements through London plotted on a map.
Finally, thank you Phil, it was a helluva ride!
Don
Glyn • Link
Even Sam seems a little bit sad
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glyn…
I've enjoyed the diary enormously, and meeting you all through this website. Goodbye everyone.
Dorothy Willis • Link
I am very sorry I didn't find this group until so late in the read-through. I have a set of the L&M edition and would have enjoyed having such a congenial group to read it with! I will do the next best thing and start reading the Archives, which I understand will still be available, but it is not as good as real live people!
Peter Taylor • Link
Many thanks to all involved in presenting this. Reading the daily entry was one of the first things I did after booting up the computer in the morning.
How about starting it from scratch again?
Adam • Link
Many thanks too - time to reset the blog back to the beginning, perhaps with new comments but leave the notes alone!
John Mesure • Link
Thanks to all who brought Sam and his life to my morning coffee. I'll miss it. I hope it starts anew January 1, 2013.
John Goldin • Link
I will miss this as the start of my day. I am an avid blog reader, and I was delighted when I discovered that Pepys had a blog. I joined in around 1665. Phil, will you re-start the diary from the beginning or will I need to go back to the early entries on my own?
Shirley Stallard • Link
What a great idea this was.
Thank you Phil for making it all happen and also to all the annotators for their contributions.
I would never have read the whole diary without you and I have learned so much. I have been with you all from the beginning and will miss your company each day.
Don McCahill • Link
> How about starting it from scratch again?
Phil has done a massive amount of work keeping this thing going, and has said he needs a rest.I think we all have to agree that it is well deserved.
But maybe in a year or two? we can beg again.
andy • Link
Good to meet you all, thanks for all the comments and debates, and thank you Phil for the inspiration: I'd never have read the whole diaries without you.
Highlights for me include Jane falling into the boat, Mrs Bagwell, and the great varnish experiment!
languagehat • Link
http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/a…
What definitely won’t happen
The front page of the site won’t immediately “start again” by beginning to show diary entries in sequence from the first year of the diary (1660).
The RSS feed won’t immediately start again with 1660’s diary entries (it won’t be updating at all).
The daily emails won’t immediately start again with diary entries from 1660.
@samuelpepys on Twitter won’t immediately start tweeting 1660’s events.
After running this site for nearly a decade I’m looking forward to a break from having to pay it attention (even if only a small amount at times!) so often.
Also, it seems more appropriate that we should accept that Pepys has stopped writing. It was a big event for him, and it should be a big event for us — re-starting things immediately diminishes the effect I think.
What might happen
I might turn off the ability to add new annotations at some point after the diary ends — I expect there won’t be many new ones added after a while. But the site still has to filter an awful lot of spam annotations and, eventually, it may be simpler to accept no new annotations at all.
When 2013 starts, I might start showing the diary again, in order, on the front page, in the RSS feed, and by email, from 1st January 1660. If so, it might be a “read-only” experience, with annotations turned off. As I’ll already have all the diary entries in the system, with all their links, this shouldn’t require much of my time once it’s set up.
At the start of 2013 I might also start @samuelpepys on Twitter again, from 1660. I’d like to see this happen, because I enjoy his tweets, but it would be more work — I only have the final few years of the diary already prepared in tweet form from this time around.
Nate • Link
I too have been having morning coffee and Pepys since not long after this blog started and I'll miss it.
Thanks, Phil
Buck Calabro • Link
Thank you Phil for the labour of love.
Thank you, you wonderful annotators for your amazing talent to debate, discuss and enlighten.
This just might be the best thing the Internet has ever done.
steven sutton • Link
Phil,
I too owe you and the annotators a debt of gratitude.
I've been lurking since the beginning and have enjoyed it immensely.
Steve Sutton
Andrew Hamilton • Link
Phil,
Please let me add my profound thanks for your gift of years of daily stimulation and for attracting a great group of faithful annotators.
Andrew
James in Illinois • Link
I too have mainly been a lurker. Like others, this has been the first thing I check on my computer every day. Thanks for the excellent and informative posts.
Phil: You have done a serious service that many people will remember fondly for years to come.
James
Dick from California • Link
I echo all of the sentiments and thank you's to Phil. Great job and my mornings will be incomplete.
laura k • Link
Readers who have come out of lurking might want to answer the Roll Call, here:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/a…
Hopefully we can all deeply appreciate the amount of work Phil has put into this project without asking him to repeat the entire endeavor. Now The Diary and the annotations are online for all to read, whenever and however often we like.
arby • Link
So long, my thanks to you all, it's been a fun ride. rb
bill • Link
SP Has touched our lives from many years in the past , aided by PG in the present. My thanks to both for the journey
Ralph Berry • Link
In addition to all the sentiments and thanks already expressed to Phil I would like to add my appreciation to Terry Foreman for his contributions, instantly coming in each day with added information, particularly those little bits missed out in the ellipses.
Bye all, from Central North Island, New Zealand
ticea • Link
Many, many thanks to everyone who made this site possible, educational and entertaining! Phil Gyford, Terry Foreman, Robert Gertz, and ALL of you out there who clarified, contributed and otherwise enlightened us. I will definitely miss Sam & Bess. Thank you!
Georgiana Wickham • Link
I'll miss this. Thanks so much, Phil - I raise a mug of ale in your general direction. Thanks, too, to all annotators - you all added to my pleasure. Ah, well, nothing more to read or say, except "and so to bed".
Maurie Beck • Link
Bittersweet and so much richer.
Thanks Phil.
Jim (in California) • Link
Thank you Phil !
It has been a delightful journey.
languagehat • Link
Thanks, laura k -- I'd somehow missed the Roll Call, and I've added my thoughts there.
Mel Smith • Link
Hi:
I just happened on this site for the first time just as it is closing down. :((
For years I've been reading the daily summaries of Samuel Pepys's diary in Canada's National Post newspaper.
They too have said they have run out of entries and will now re-cycle starting shortly.
I wish I had happened on this site and group years ago.
Good Luck to you all !
--Mel Smith
Second Reading
Autumnbreeze Movies • Link
I've been reading the diary (sometimes several entries at a time) and the comments with great delight. I found this site late and was trailing at least three years behind the interactive group of annotators but I occasionally wrote a comment, though doubtful if it would ever be read. However, such is the power and lure of this site that I believe new readers will continue to discover it, read the diary and benefit from the added information. Thank you, Phil, Terry, Mary, Australian Susan and all the other contributors. Teresa from Australia
Terry Foreman • Link
"Fireworks?...Very thoughtful of Cosimo III and unknowingly quite appropriate."
The display (by 'a machine with...fanciful artificial fireworks and squibs') was given in front of the house of the Earl of St Albans where the Prince lodged. Casks of Italian wine and beer were distributed, 'which caused increased applause'. Megalotti, p. 371. (L&M note)
Terry Foreman • Link
"To White Hall, where all very gay; and particularly the Prince of Tuscany very fine, and is the first day of his appearing out of mourning, since he come. "
L&M: See https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
San Diego Sarah • Link
THANK YOU PHIL, for not turning off the annotations for the last 9 years. What would I have done for fun for the last 6 years?
I now must read the first 3 years, so my separation anxiety isn't as great as these previous annotators.
If Phil decides not to hosting this again for 2023-2032, I hope it can be archived as it really is a national treasure. But asking someone for another 9 year commitment is a lot, much as we love it and him.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"To White Hall, where all very gay; and particularly the Prince of Tuscany very fine, and is the first day of his appearing out of mourning, since he come. I heard the Bishop of Peterborough preach but dully; but a good anthem of Pelham’s. Home to dinner, and then with my wife to Hyde Park, where all the evening; great store of company, and great preparations by the Prince of Tuscany to celebrate the night with fire-works, for the King’s birth-day."
So we know Cosmo, the future Duke of Turin, was in London today.
I've standardized the spelling of names I know, corrected scanning errors I could figure out, and increased the number of paragraphs. Sometimes I got confused making the N.S./O.S. date conversions, so I apologize if they are wrong:
In order to observe the 29 May/8 June, 1669 with becoming distinction, being the anniversary of his Majesty's birthday and of his restoration to the kingdom, his highness laid aside his mourning, that he might omit no delicate mark of respect, and put on a very rich and splendid gala dress, adapted to the English fashion, and went early to court to tender to his Majesty the usual compliment on his completing another year (it being the 39th year of his age, and the 9th of his return to England) and to offer his wishes for his continued prosperity.
To this very polite attention his majesty replied with kindness, testifying his acknowledgments with expressions of the utmost cordiality.
This day is no otherwise solemnized in London than by keeping the shops shut, and by the king’s going to chapel with his court, and dining in public, with the princes of the blood, in the banqueting room [HOUSE] at Whitehall, which is hung with tapestry in the more elevated part of it, under the canopy, and is traversed by a balustrade, to prevent the people who resort thither from flocking round the royal table.
365
The dinner is enlivened with various pieces of music, performed by the musicians of the king's household.
NEXT COSMO DESCRIBES THE KING’S CHAPEL, WHITEHALL https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
IS THIS WHERE JOSEPH HENSHAW (1608–1679) BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH PREACHED TODAY?
The number of noblemen and gentlemen employed about the court, and other persons of consideration that happened to be in London about their private concerns, who, on this day of rejoicing, assembled to pay their devoirs to his majesty and family at Whitehall, was very great.
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
367
The palace of Whitehall, the residence of the king, is more remarkable for its situation, which is on the Thames, and for its connection with the beautiful Park of St. James’s, than for the nobleness of its structure; being nothing more than an assemblage of several houses, badly built, at different times and for different purposes; it has nothing in its exterior from which you could suppose it to be the habitation of the king.
COSMO GOES ON TO DESCRIBE THE PALACE OF WHITEHALL AND BANQUETING HOUSE:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
From Whitehall, his highness went to visit the queen's chapel at St. James's, and then returned home, where there dined with him, my Lord Philip Howard, the Earl of Somerset, Mr. Neville, and his own gentlemen.
He spent the afternoon in making farewell visits, and, towards evening, went to the Mall in Hyde Park, where there was a vast number of carriages, filled with ladies and gentlemen, who, out of respect to the day, repaired to this fashionable place of recreation.
It was also honored by his majesty himself with his royal presence, who, meeting his highness in the Ring, replied to his respectful salutations in the most courteous and affectionate manner.
Soon after his majesty had left the Mall to return to the palace, his highness went thither also to pay his customary compliments, going up to the queen's apartments. where he again saw his majesty and the duke, of whom he took leave and returned home.
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 3
In order to celebrate the king's birthday with some especial tokens of joy, his highness caused to be constructed, in the open place before the Earl of St. Alban's house, in which his highness lodged, a machine with different fanciful artificial fireworks and squibs, which, as far as the shortness of the time and the skill of the artist permitted, were well contrived, and, during a great part of the night, served to amuse the populace, who flocked thither in great numbers to see them, and to participate in the liberality of the prince, who, for their greater gratification, distributed among them several casks of Italian wine and beer, which called forth increased applause, seconded by discharges of harquebuses and carabines, which were let off by the individuals of his highness's court.
As the day fixed for his departure from London now drew near, my Lord Newport, who had frequently been a guest at the house of his highness, being desirous of receiving him in return at his own, caused this wish to be intimated to him.
The prince did not refuse to satisfy him, accepting his invitation to dinner for [tomorrow morning].
@@@
The afternoon visits were often to the wives of noblemen and ambassadors who had already met on Cosmo socially. They seem to have kept open houses regularly for this purpose.
The visit to Hyde Park was a regular thing for the late afternoon in the springtime but Charles II was not always there, see https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
According to Cosmo's travelogue, Happy Hour seems to have been a regular Court event at Whitehall and St. James’s for the nobility in 1669 (Pepys was never invited that I have seen).
From:
TRAVELS OF COSMO THE THIRD, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY,
THROUGH ENGLAND,
DURING THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND (1669)
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT
https://archive.org/stream/travel…
His highness, Cosmo, must be considered only as a traveler. Under his direction, the narrator of the records was Count Lorenzo Magalotti, afterwards Secretary to the Academy del Cimento, and one of the most learned and eminent characters of the court of Ferdinand II.
Timo • Link
Yeah I thought you wen’t around the start of this cycle SDS… Your annotations have gone a long way to enhancing my enjoyment of this amazing experience and these latest Cosmo additions have added even more colour to the 17th Century backdrop. So thanks again for your efforts too. I might pop in to join you from time to time on the next phase if you’re going around again. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Only 3 years to go…
Neil Wallace • Link
I hadn't twigged that Phil = languagehat before today.
Another great (though partial, I am afraid) read.
Big Thanks and a Big Please to keep your diary and annotations alive and ticking. Understandably a lot of work as you get on with your life, but would - a university, a research Foundation - host your site (I don't know what is involved!), and take over the mechanics of .. eg filtering out the spam annotators selling Hopi ear candles and worse?
Jmacg • Link
From jmacg in New Zealand - thanks Phil and all the commenters, for many years of daily enjoyment. I came into this website halfway through it's first incarnation and have been with it all the way through the second time around. Now I'll have to find something else to do with my life...
Warwickshire Lass • Link
Like Jmacg I've been here since about half way through the first incarnation, and was honoured to join you on the get together in 2012. Can't believe it's been 10 years, where did that go? Thank you Phil for all your hard work over so many years (I suppose it's unfair to ask if you'll carry on?).
It's been a delight to share in Sam's adventures and misadventures.
Gerald Berg • Link
Many thanks Phil! Great to have all the annotators around for clarification. I needed you all desperately!
I too, will have to go round till I meet my younger self along the way.
Jean Wynn • Link
From Portland OR: the blog has been great, and I look forward to starting the next year with it. Awhile back I stumbled on a single-volume version of SP and during this last winter found it impossible to put down. So *great* to have all the resources here. Mostly Scots-Irish-American, I skim The Guardian too! Thanks much, Phil!
Scube • Link
Phil,
Joining with a most sincere thank you for all your hard work on this. Really has made a wonderful difference to my morning routine. The linked notes were so valuable and of course the posts. I'll miss Sam, all the links and the posts.
All the best,