Sunday 29 May 1664

(Whitsunday. King’s Birth and Restauration day). Up, and having received a letter last night desiring it from Mr. Coventry, I walked to St. James’s, and there he and I did long discourse together of the business of the office, and the warr with the Dutch; and he seemed to argue mightily with the little reason that there is for all this. For first, as to the wrong we pretend they have done us: that of the East Indys, for their not delivering of Poleron, it is not yet known whether they have failed or no; that of their hindering the Leopard cannot amount to above 3,000l. if true; that of the Guinny Company, all they had done us did not amount to above 200l. or 300l. he told me truly; and that now, from what Holmes, without any commission, hath done in taking an island and two forts, hath set us much in debt to them; and he believes that Holmes will have been so puffed up with this, that he by this time hath been enforced with more strength than he had then, hath, I say, done a great deale more wrong to them.

He do, as to the effect of the warr, tell me clearly that it is not any skill of the Dutch that can hinder our trade if we will, we having so many advantages over them, of winds, good ports, and men; but it is our pride, and the laziness of the merchant.

He seems to think that there may be some negotiation which may hinder a warr this year, but that he speaks doubtfully as unwilling I perceive to be thought to discourse any such thing.

The main thing he desired to speake with me about was, to know whether I do understand my Lord Sandwich’s intentions as to going to sea with this fleete; saying, that the Duke, if he desires it, is most willing to it; but thinking that twelve ships is not a fleete fit for my Lord to be troubled to go out with, he is not willing to offer it to him till he hath some intimations of his mind to go, or not. He spoke this with very great respect as to my Lord, though methinks it is strange they should not understand one another better at this time than to need another’s mediation.

Thence walked over the Parke to White Hall, Mr. Povy with me, and was taken in a very great showre in the middle of the Parke that we were very wet. So up into, the house and with him to the King’s closett, whither by and by the King came, my Lord Sandwich carrying the sword. A Bishopp preached, but he speaking too low for me to hear behind the King’s closett, I went forth and walked and discoursed with Colonell Reames, who seems a very willing man to be informed in his business of canvas, which he is undertaking to strike in with us to serve the Navy.

By and by my Lord Sandwich came forth, and called me to him: and we fell into discourse a great while about his business, wherein he seems to be very open with me, and to receive my opinion as he used to do; and I hope I shall become necessary to him again. He desired me to think of the fitness, or not, for him to offer himself to go to sea; and to give him my thoughts in a day or two.

Thence after sermon among the ladies on the Queene’s side; where I saw Mrs. Stewart, very fine and pretty, but far beneath my Lady Castlemayne.

Thence with Mr. Povy home to dinner; where extraordinary cheer. And after dinner up and down to see his house. And in a word, methinks, for his perspective upon his wall in his garden, and the springs rising up with the perspective in the little closett; his room floored above with woods of several colours, like but above the best cabinet-work I ever saw; his grotto and vault, with his bottles of wine, and a well therein to keep them cool; his furniture of all sorts; his bath at the top of his house, good pictures, and his manner of eating and drinking; do surpass all that ever I did see of one man in all my life.

Thence walked home and found my uncle Wight and Mr. Rawlinson, who supped with me. They being gone, I to bed, being in some pain from my being so much abroad to-day, which is a most strange thing that in such warm weather the least ayre should get cold and wind in me. I confess it makes me mighty sad and out of all content in the world.

60 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro  •  Link

PULO RUN

"First as to the wrong we pretend they have done to us: that of the East Indies, for their not delivering Poleron, it is not yet known whether they have failed or no."

Pulo Run should have been handed back after the Peace Treaty of the First Dutch War in 1654.

Poleron is usually referred to as Pulo Run. One of the two small islands to the west of the main island in the Banda Islands, along with Pulo Ay. They later may be known as Rhun and Ai, or Run an Ay.

See ancient map...

http://www.nationaalarchief.nl/am…

The fascinating story of Pulo Run is included in the site below, with the equally fascinating story of The First Russian Students in England by Cathi Szulinski.

"The Oran Kayas of Ay and Run had voluntarily granted sovereignty over their land to King James I of England. These pocket- handkerchief islands were some of the first far-flung corners of the globe to call themselves 'English soil', and it had been done to prevent, rather than as a result of, bloodshed.

Pulo Run is a small, rocky island some two miles long and three quarters of a mile across at its widest point. Midway between its two precipitous extremities lies a small natural harbour, but apart from this, its steep cliffs and dangerous reefs make it an easy place to defend. Its great demerit, however, was that there was no fresh water and no food grown on the island - apart, that is, from seven hundred acres of nutmeg. Without supplies, no defence would be possible. The island, with its sole safe landing-spot, was extremely ill- equipped to withstand a blockade.

http://www.krotov.info/engl/libra…

Further information from various sources...

In the Peace Treaty of April 5th 1654 for the First Dutch War the verdict of the arbitrators had adjudged Pulo Run to England. The new treaty promised that the long-delayed transfer should be affected; but when one of the ships of the English East India Company arrived with authority to take possession the Dutch Governor refused to give it up. Besides this breach of faith, there were fresh complaints of the capture of English ships in the East Indies and the forcible obstruction of English traders in West Africa. The Dutch were deliberately retaining their monopoly by destroying the nutmeg trees on the Island.

In October I660 the East India Company petitioned the King to examine the question of Pulo Run, which had never been surrendered.

Charles in January 1661 authorized the Company to occupy the island, and an expedition sailed in the Spring. The Dutch refused to hand over and were determined to make Pulo Run their lever to extort other concessions against the "pretentions" of the British in any further treaty.

The Treaty of September 1662 left two outstanding questions, one still being the restoration of Pulo Run.

Pedro  •  Link

THE LEOPARD

"That their hindering of the Leopard cannot amount to £3000 if true."

October 1662 Dutch ships were besieging Cochin one of the best pepper ports on the Malabar coast. Forty miles south at Porakad, the English had lately set up a factory by invitation of the local Rajah, who the English contended was vassal not to Cochin but to Zamorin of Calicut. The Presidency Governor at Surat in the same month dispatched the Company's ship Hopewell to discharge gold and opium at Porakad and to embark the pepper collected by the factors; but she was stopped by the Dutch and turned back, under the grounds that the whole coast was under blockade. HMS Leopard was held up at Cochin, the captain being told that, since Cochin had surrendered (taken from Portuguese) all its dependants including Porakad were under Dutch dominion, and that Cochin had contracted to deliver the whole pepper crop to them.

(Summary from British Foreign Policy 1660-1672 by Feiling)

Terry F  •  Link

"methinks it is strange they should not understand one another better at this time than to need another's mediation."

Dirk's "Pepys Sociogram" has a negative relation between York and Sandwich.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth…
Pepys, earnest to be positive toward them both (however vexed his relation with Sandwich), surely not aware of the nuances in how these two relate -- sc. awkwardly, proud men who now need one another.

(Pedro, great posts! Thanks.)

Miss Ann fr Home  •  Link

Pedro - magnificent - thanks for the extra information, it really brings it all home, especially mention of the Banda islands.

cape henry  •  Link

A most fascinating entry indeed, illuminated by Pedro as to some of the history. Wouldn't it be terrific to be able to tour the Povy abode? It sounds like a remarkable place and obviously Pepys is impressed.

Terry F  •  Link

The day's dynamics, from an annotation to the Sociogram

dirk http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth…

Re - A. Hamilton

The following is the information I have (from Jeannine), in a summarized form.

Coventry-Montague:

"Coventry was no friend of Sandwich�s. [Coventry] had fought for the King in the Civil War, and he was detested by Clarendon, the great minister with whom Sandwich had close political relations - and worst of all, he was a steady advocate of the personal and professional merits of Sir William Penn." "Both Penn and Coventry represented a grave threat to Sandwich�s naval influence. Sandwich�s claim to power and office and all that went with it was that he was a Cromwellian General-at-Sea who had seen the light in 1659. But Penn was an infinitely more distinguished naval commander, also an ex-General-at-Sea, who, it was generally believed had seen the light a lot earlier. Penn was therefore a potential rival to Sandwich." "[Penn] was a direct competitor; a competitor for power, for patronage, for perquisites. And a dangerously well equipped competitor, for the good opinion of William Coventry."

York-Montague:

"York was very jealous of Montague and that never really subsided. He was polite to him, but always wanted what Montague had been given by Charles --Charles knew James to be James (hot head, temperamental) and continued to reward Sandwich over him and this caused the jealousy to be an underlying factor in all ways."

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"methinks it is strange they should not understand one another better at this time than to need another's mediation"
Contra Terry, I took the party of the first part to be Coventry rather than York, but no matter; in either case, this is a shrewd and insightful comment on Sam's part, showing that he is not so puffed up with his own importance as to think that he should be an essential link between two grandees.

Nate  •  Link

... his bath at the top of his house ...
Is this the first time a bath has been mentioned in the diary?

Roy Feldman  •  Link

Any idea where Mr. Povy's swell digs are?

And haven't Pepys and Povy been at loggerheads recently? Maybe they're trying to patch things up?

Terry F  •  Link

Who is the party of the first part?

Paul, from Jeannine's research, it could apparently be either Coventry or York: both have animus toward and a history of bad relations with Mountague-Sandwich, and need his help. Your observation about SP's sense of who ought to be the actors here is right on.

Cumsalisgrano  •  Link

"And haven't Pepys and Povy been at loggerheads"

Samuell has kept his opinion to himself and only revealing his version of the duet, to his diary, like a wise guy, never tape his damaging comments to an email or tape recorder, as when 2 know the problem then it be going the rounds of the rush strewn hallways.
This be why this diary be priceless, we get to peek at the real world of intrigue from the walls of power.

Pedro  •  Link

"that the Duke, if he desires it, is most willing to it; but thinking that twelve ships is not a fleete fit for my Lord to be troubled to go out with, "

By early May, without humiliating concessions by one side or the other, war was now inevitable and perhaps only a matter of days. William Coventry was deputed to sound out Pepys as to how his master would react.

...A start had been made by giving Thomas Allin the command in the Downs in the summer of I663; a rare bird amongst the Royalists being a professional seaman. But if Allin had claims, what about Rupert? If he were to be invited to serve it could hardly be under anyone less than the Lord High Admiral himself. And where would that leave Sandwich? At best a Rear-Admiral of a fleet he had so recently commanded.

Monck had the finest record against the Dutch of any surviving General at sea yet the King had insisted that he was too essential to the safety of the State to be put at risk. Could not the same compliment excuse, be offered to so greater man than his co-architect of the Restoration?

...In June of York's great objective, the command of the fleet in a major war was almost in his grasp. The Cavaliers were resentful of the continuous employment of the old Commonwealth men like Lawson and the Cromwellians like Sandwich in the most important flag appointments.

(Summary from Cromwell's Earl by Ollard)

Pedro  •  Link

"and he believes that Holmes will have been so puffed up with this, that he by this time hath been enforced with more strength than he had then, hath, I say, done a great deale more wrong to them. "

I think that Coventry is implying here that Holmes will take strength from his success so far and go on to do more, as no extra naval vessels have been sent.

Holmes had written to Coventry...

"If we had in all our ships that are here but 200 men more, we may take El Mina and the rest of the factories from them. As for my own part I have not men to sail my ships. I must be forced to make use of Dutchmen."

Some seamen were no doubt ready enough to accept service in English ships, the general practice in the 17C. No disgrace attached to it, if only because no government made any provisions for paying and maintaining soldiers and sailors who fell into enemy hands.

(Man of War by Ollard)

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"...do surpass all that ever I did see of one man in all my life. "

Povey's domestic premises have been lauded at length after a prior visit, including the wonderful and heartfelt simile:-

" ... his wine-cellar, where upon several shelves there stood bottles of all sorts of wine, new and old, with labells pasted upon each bottle, and in the order and plenty as I never saw books in a bookseller's shop; "
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Terry F drew on the late, and much lamented, Oliver Millar's note in L&M to provide a link to the Hoogstraten 'perspective' (tromp l'oeil) -- very probably ex. Povey - probably one of the ones Pepys alluded to again today:
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/…

Pedro  •  Link

Has anyone else forgot that it is the King's birthday?

The Rev. Josselyn...

May. 29. This day. as a caution to forelook our ways, and to do things advisedly, I fell into a great error. bidding tomorrow for restoration day of the king which was this day. season very dry and cold. god good go me in my family their boils breaking with greater hopes of doing well, god good to me in his word pressing obedience with lively sense on my people.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...he seemed to argue mightily with the little reason that there is for all this."

I seem to remember Coventry seeming initially favoring the war, though he did quickly back away. It seems the more he sees of the Navy's condition, the more desperately he wants to avoid war. Perhaps unable to dissuade York and increasingly concerned about the possibility of disaster, he's using Sam as sounding board and relief valve.

I remember Albert Speer's description of the nervous Nazi hierarchy at the start of World War II...Hitler glaring at Ribbentrop as he'd received the French ultimatium, "What now?" And Goering's somber... "If we lose this war may God have mercy on our souls."

Guess even the mad have their brief lucid moments...Odd that Charles, a fairly sensible man not much disposed to strenuous effort should jump so blithely into war.

***

"...discoursed with Colonell Reames, who seems a very willing man to be informed in his business of canvas, which he is undertaking to strike in with us to serve the Navy."

Sounds like our boy plans to go into the canvas business...Interesting considering his debate with Batten the other day. While he probably can't see a better way to ensure quality sail, I expect he sees a tidy profit coming his way.

***
Hard to say if Povy is a man of culture with little head for business or simply overextended with the Tangier job. I understand most of his money comes from his wife?

Though what I really want to know is...Which one of us went back in time with modern (adapted) conveniences to set himself up as Povy? You should have brought extra batteries for that calculator...

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I doubt Coventry trusts either Montagu or Penn but Admiral Sir Will doesn't seem to have retained the popularity that Montagu has, possibly because Montagu held out so much longer. Penn seems more dependent on the King's favor with no independent support and therefore far less serious a potential threat. Moreover he gives an impression, perhaps false, at least based on Sam's accounts, of being prematurely old and weighed down by frequent illness.

Clearly York could entrust more ships to Sandwich if he wanted. It seems he no longer wishes to learn the sea trade from him...

The noose is tightening, my lord...

Xjy  •  Link

Interesting that Coventry thinks like a bourgeois ledger-louse. Damn the headlines, what's the cash value! Or like a Germanic chieftain in the days of wergeld, when gold could end a feud, and every man had his price. Or like the kings and generals themselves at the carve-up "peace" negotiations after every war. Who gets what for how much. At what discount. So many counties for so much silver.

Like the sales really.

Sanctity of Life and Word? Ptui. That's what the priests and scribblers are for, to pretty the whole abattoir up again with a lick of paint and some incense.

(I chuckled at the collision of Reames and canvas...)

Mary  •  Link

Sources of Povey's money.

Looks to me (see background information) as if he has had plenty of opportunity to make his own fortune. A barrister, an entrepreneurial merchant and a man who has held potentially profitable government posts under both Cromwell and Charles. No mention of marrying a wealthy wife, though he did inherit his country house (at Hounslow) from his father, Justinian Povey.

Pedro  •  Link

Meanwhile on the West Coast of Africa...

At Anashan Holmes celebrates the King's birthday with a dinner party on board the Jersey for the Danish Commanding Officer and the Dye of Foutou "with diverse others whom I caressed and very well presented to secure their friendship to the English."

(Man of War by Ollard)

language hat  •  Link

So who is this "Dye of Foutou"? Is there any ID in the book you're quoting from? Could "Dye" be Dey (as in Dey of Algiers), and could "Foutou" be Fouta (as in Fouta Djallon)? Inquiring minds want to know.

JonTom Kittredge  •  Link

"Odd that Charles, a fairly sensible man not much disposed to strenuous effort should jump so blithely into war."
As you say, he's not one for exertion, and, at this point, to oppose the war party in Parliament would probably require some effort. I'm not sure he's pursuing war so much as going with the flow.

Cumsalisgrano  •  Link

Remember Carlos II has sent his monitors home to play while he do as will want, [he hopes] so he now has his approvers to egg him on, he hoping that his buddies will bring home some bacon from the Indies and Guiney to keep his coffers full, [wishfull thinking, does not want to remember what happened to Papa when he tried to rule with out parliament].

Bradford  •  Link

Everybody, go back and look again at the Hoogstraten "View of a Corridor" Michael R. has kindly provided the link for---you'll remember it---and click on the enlarged version. It's the steep perspective of the parquet floors, which extend halfway up the canvas, that lend the extraordinary sense of depth to the view.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Interesting that Coventry thinks like a bourgeois ledger-louse."

I dunno...I rather wish they had more who'd spoken up against this ridiculous war. Of course it's York he should be speaking to. Commenting to Sam suggests he's anxious to have a witness to his disapproval but not willing to stick his neck out in opposition.

I wonder if Castlemaine might be pushing the war party's line to Charles behind the scenes. Jeannine's Navy Book info suggests she had a very large finger in the pie. (which it still surprises me that Sam has not been more resentful of in the Diary.) Wars bring large military contracts and tidy profit shares to royal mistresses acting as gatekeepers for merchants and contractors seeking the King's ear.

Seems a lousy way to repay the folks whose hospitality helped the Stuart boys keep their heads on their shoulders, especially given Coventry's brief dismissal of the "wrongs".

Cumsalisgrano  •  Link

?"Seems a lousy way to repay the folks whose hospitality helped the Stuart boys keep their heads on their shoulders"
At first opportunity always dump those thee that thee owe a favour to.

Syrus , Maxims
"Optime positum est beneficium ubi meminit qui accipit"

It is best to do favours for those with good memories [and are ethical too].

Pedro  •  Link

The Dye of Foutou.

Ollard here is quoting from the Journal of Holmes, and therefore reproducing the name that Holmes had written.

This is around the time that Holmes is at Cape Coast Castle, and he seems to have been given this name by a John Cabissa the remarkable leader of the tribe at Kormantin. (He would later loose his life defending Kormantin in 1665 against De Ruyter).

On the 1st of May Cabissa had told Holmes that the Dye of Foutou "being the Chief man in these parts amongst the blacks was very earnest to storm the castle".

The name of Cabissa is quoted in The History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti by W. W. Claridge according to Ollard.

Australian Susan  •  Link

I agree with Bradford - the Hoogstraten is a delight! Do have a look. The extraordinary way the stonefloor is painted and all the little details which draw you in - the cat,(who is reacting in a very characteristic way to having spotted the dog) the paper on the stairs and the glimpses of people in the further room, right down to the half seen fireplace right in the back. And then you are drawn upwards to the Roman busts and finally the lively parrot. I have seen this at Dyrham Park: it is well worth the visit for those of you in the area or for those of you lucky enough to be visitng the UK this (Northern Hemisphere) summer. It's a huge painting which adds to the trompe l'oeil effect.

jeannine  •  Link

"I wonder if Castlemaine might be pushing the war party's line to Charles behind the scenes. Jeannine's Navy Book info suggests she had a very large finger in the pie."

Robert, I have been thinking that perhaps there should be a spot somewhere on the site (article, annotation spot?) where people could comment on the politics of the Dutch War-like the sociagram? -who was for, against, what may have influenced them, etc. The following post will be a section (long) from a bio on Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, which explains some of the internal factions and where they stood regarding the war.

jeannine  •  Link

Arlington and the Dutch War (politics)

Violet Barbour in "Henry Bennett" [Arilngton] says of the English war with the Dutch -with pages noted in ( )

"This quarrel was the result of the commercial rivalry which had long marked the relations of the two great sea-powers. The boggled treaty signed the month before Bennet became Secretary had done nothing to relieve the situation, and popular prejudice in England had done much to embitter it. Bennet's natural preference was always for the security of peace, but he was ambitious to establish England's commercial supremacy, and believed, in common with most Englishmen, that the Dutch resistance -if they resisted at all- would be short and spiritless. What influenced him most, perhaps, was the fact that the party which he had allied himself in the House of Commons was enthusiastic for the war. " (p 77)..... How to humor the House of Commons was a problem over which Bennet seemed to spent a lifetime of study" (78)

Against Clarendon's advice, Bennet undertook to form a party in the House which should serve the King -men who as Clarendon said "spake confidently and often", and were 'busy and pragmatical'. In this Bennet was abetted by his old friend William Coventry, one of the leaders of the House, and, as secretary to the Lord High Admiral, the duke of York, virtual administrator of the navy. Though he served the Duke, he was one of the most inveterate antiClaredonians in the Commons. (78) Bennet's particular confidant was not Coventry but the member for Totnes, Thomas Clifford, little known when Parliament assembled in 1661, but soon attracting a considerable following by the strength of his convictions and eloquence with which he pressed them at his first coming to London, Clifford sought the patronage of Clarendon, but was repulsed, and then struck in with the Chancellor's opponents. However that may be, certainly no love was lost between the first minister and the hot-tempered gentleman from Devon." (78)

It was the party led by Coventry and Clifford that embraced the Dutch War most ardently. They were for the most part young inexperienced men, eager for great doings and jealous of the maritime power of the Dutch. Clarendon considered the matter more seriously. He and Southampton along realized the heavy expense of war, even if successful, would entail on the already necessitous Crown, and they had reason to believe that if the war were undertaken and failed, the blame would be visited upon them as the most responsible members of the government. They were of a very small minority. In the house of Lords Ashley made stirring speeches in favor of the war. At Lady Castlemaine's suppers, where politics as well as pleasure found place in the evening's diversions, the war spirit reigned unchallenged. Ashley and Bennet were always fraternally present; so were the Duke of Buckingham and Charles Berkeley, now Lord Fitzharding, both of whom aspired to military renown; so was another advocate of the war, the Earl of Lauderdale, a man who in appearance was stupid and uncouth, but under his repulsive exterior concealed great ability and greater cunning. He was Secretary of State for Scotland, and had recently obtained the dismissal of the royal Commissioner, the Earl of Middleton, in favor of a creature of his own. Quite openly he boasted that he had ruined one of the mainstays of the Chancellor. The fastidious Sir Henry Bennet, who had looked somewhat coldly on the coarse Scotsman at the outset of their acquaintance, had been dazzled by Lauderdale's brilliant assertation of the royal authority of Scotland, and hastened to make friends with him.(80)

The King had at first no great liking for the war, but the enthusiasm of the Court, particularly of that pasrt of itwhose society he most affected, gradually prevailed with him in spite of opposition from Clarendon and Southampton. But the decision lay not with the King, nor with the Chancellor, but with Parliament. (80).

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Wonderful bit, Jeannine. Yet Coventry seems to be showing a very different face to Sam. I wonder if he merely accepted that York and the crew around the King were not to be dissuaded and kept his real views smothered in order to retain some influence. Not at all an unusual position for a wise and skilled public servant who must balance his inner beliefs against the need to hold his place and have some restraining influence on events. An indication of great trust in our boy?

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Spoiler -- Coventry -- "The Character of a Trimmer"

Not for nothing was Coventry attributed the authorship of the essay when published in 1688 (though written by his nephew George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax); it is often compared with Montaigne for its promotion of the politics of extreme skepticism:-

" desiring, he said, to keep the boat steady, while others attempted to weigh it down perilously on one side or the other; and he concluded his tract with these assertions: that our climate is a Trimmer between that part of the world where men are roasted and the other where they are frozen; that our Church is a Trimmer between the frenzy of fanatic visions and the lethargic ignorance of Popish dreams; that our laws are Trimmers between the excesses of unbounded power and the extravagance of liberty not enough restrained; that true virtue hath ever been thought a Trimmer, and to have its dwelling in the middle between two extremes; that even God Almighty Himself is divided between His two great attributes, His Mercy and His Justice. In such company, our Trimmer is not ashamed of his name. . . ."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geor…

jeannine  •  Link

"An indication of great trust in our boy?"

Sorry to say I have seen nothing -I think he's still too low in the totem pole to have his opinions carry any weight to influence issues such as war....he'll have to stick to things like deciding sails, masts, etc. for now....

Robert Gertz  •  Link

I mean on the personal level, not war policy, Jeannine. Coventry is telling Sam what he really thinks about the war, thus suggesting the man who lectured Sam on trusting no one trusts him to some extent. Of course as I said earlier, Sam is likely the relatively safe sounding board and relief valve for a Coventry who can't risk defying York's enthusiasm for war too openly. Still it's an indication of faith in Sam.

Now if Sam were say, the Francis Urquhart type, he might even now be planning to make future "good use" of poor Coventry's slip.

"...nothing lasts forever. Even the longest, the most glittering reign must come to an end some day."

***

Nice to know good ole Uncle is welcome back in the...er...bosom of the family Pepys. Bess must truly be enjoying this pleasant evening.

Pedro  •  Link

Coventry's talk to Sam.

Coventry is definetly pro-war even if he seems to be cooling as the reality dawns that he might be blamed if it goes pear shaped. In this case he could be buttering up Sam, and even having a little amusement, before delivering the important point of sounding out Sandwich.

Why would he argue mightily with little reason for all this, after drafting the plans for the Holmes trip to Guinea. They were presented to the Duke and passed without amendment, and designed to give Holmes as much scope as possible to antagonize the Dutch. He must know the situation with Pulo Run.

(On April 1st the Guinea Company had presented a claim of £1,200,000 from the Dutch to Parliament.)

Robert Gertz  •  Link

This is the key question, Pedro. Was Coventry following orders he in his heart felt would lead to disaster and telling Sam what he really thought? Or hedging his bets by having a reliable witness to his claims of opposing the war. I doubt he's playing with Sam and it's not unusual for a public man to display full confidence in a policy dear to the hearts of the boss men while in secret harboring opposition. A fascinating topic for discussion thanks to Sam...Did any of those historial accounts insisting Coventry was utterly for war ever read the Diary? And highly relevant today, given that our bookstores are filling with the memoirs of those who now insist they always opposed our current adventure in Iraq whatever proadministration statements they made previously.

Why would he argue mightily with little reason all this, indeed...

Pedro  •  Link

The Dye of Foutou. (2)

It looks like this may be the King of Fetu...

"Along the Gold Coast alone, more than twenty independent kingdom-states existed. Elmina lay between two different Fante kingdoms, Fetu and Eguafo. While there was a relative degree of interstate rivalry, tribes generally intermingled freely. Trade between chiefdoms was important for the economy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmi…

Pedro  •  Link

The Dye of Foutou. (3)

Die Fetu could be Dutch version as it appears on a Dutch site?

language hat  •  Link

I think I've solved this minor mystery. I posted about it:
http://www.languagehat.com/archiv…
And commenter MMcM found a listing in an Akan dictionary (Akan being the local language) dehye 'royal person, royalty,' which fits perfectly.

Pedro  •  Link

Thanks LH!

As an aside Ollard had mentioned the name of John Cabissa. He seems to be better known as Cabessa, or even better as Kabes. From the information below it is interesting to see the Dutch and English later colaborated against the Negro.

"During the centuries of the Atlantic era, African women and men became
great traders in the Atlantic economy. Many were known as "merchant
princes."...In the early eighteenth century, for instance, John
Konny of the Gold Coast (Ghana)...Merchants such as
Konny and his West African contemporary John Kabes used their wealth,
rather than a traditionally inherited right, to claim political authority. Such
independent African political economies resulted in their opposition by
European alliances, such as in the Anglo-Dutch attempt "to repel the
insolences of the Negro [Konny]" in the Konny War of 1711."

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=ca…

"Although powerful traditional chiefs, such as the rulers of Asante, Fante, and Ahanta, were known to have engaged in the slave trade, individual African merchants such as John Kabes, John Konny, Thomas Ewusi, and a broker known only as Noi commanded large bands of armed men, many of them slaves, and engaged in various forms of commercial activities with the Europeans on the coast."

(Ghana tourist site)

tonyt  •  Link

'Odd that Charles ... should jump so blithely into war'. We have a brief first hand statement of Charles' position regarding a Dutch War in his letter to his sister of 2nd June 1664. I have added it to the annotations for that date.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

tonyt's helpful post of King Charles II's own view on 2nd June 1664

On this day, Charles II wrote a short letter to his sister, Princess Henriette Maria ('Minette') who was married to Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, younger brother of Louis XIV. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"he [the Duke of York] is not willing to offer it [command of the fleet] to him [Sandwich] till he [the Duke] hath some intimations of his [Sandwich's] mind to go, or not."

Sandwich accepted the command and there were 18 ships under him at first: Sandwich, p. 144. They cruised the Downs and the Channel between July 1664 and February 1665. (L&M footnote)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Mr. Coventry...and I did long discourse together of the business of the office, and the warr with the Dutch; and he seemed to argue mightily with the little reason that there is for all this."

Cf. his later (and different) arguments against the war set out in a long memorandum to Falmouth (c. March 1665: MB, Add. 32094, ff. 50+). 'This I confesse had bin more seasonably said before the King was engaged and should have bin, if comanded' : iv., f. 52v. He claimed to have advised Clarendon and Arlington against war on 1 April 1665: HMC, Rep., 5/315.
(L&M footnote)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"twelve ships is not a fleete fit for my Lord to be troubled to go out with, he is not willing to offer it to him till he hath some intimations of his mind to go, or not."

Sandwich accepted the command, and there were 18 ships under him at first: Sandwich, p. 144. The cruised in the Downs and the Channel between July 1664 and February 1665. (L&M note)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Colonell Reames...seems a very willing man to be informed in his business of canvas, which he is undertaking to strike in with us to serve the Navy. "

L&M: A contract was drawn up with Reymes on 2 June: CSPD 1663-4, p. 132.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"And after dinner up and down to see [Povey's] house"

One of the smaller houses on the w. side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, being assessed on 14 hearths, as against the 36 of the largest, the Earl of Warwick's. (L&M)

See 1st July, 1664. Went to see Mr. Povey's elegant house in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, where the perspective in his court, painted by Streeter, is indeed excellent, with the vases in imitation of porphyry, and fountains; the inlaying of his closet; above all, his pretty cellar and ranging of his wine bottles. Evelyn's Diary http://toplightnovels.com/chapter…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"his bath at the top of his house"

Bathrooms were great rarities. (L&M note)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Has anyone else forgot that it is the King's birthday? The Rev. Josselyn:
May. 29. This day. as a caution to forelook our ways, and to do things advisedly, I fell into a great error. bidding tomorrow for restoration day of the king which was this day. "

I'm with Rev. Josselyn. May 30th is Charles II's birthday, and the anniversary of the 1660 Restoration Day. Did they move the celebration up to Sunday so more people could participate, or something?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"So up into, the house and with him to the King’s closett, whither by and by the King came, my Lord Sandwich carrying the sword. A Bishopp preached, but he speaking too low for me to hear behind the King’s closett, ..."

This sounds as if Charles II was involved in some sort of ceremony, with Sandwich carrying an official sword of state.
A Bishop preached a sermon in Charles' private office. Pepys wanted to watch, but there was no room, so he unsuccessfully tried to hear from the hallway.

Some time later "Thence after sermon among the ladies on the Queene’s side; where I saw Mrs. Stewart, very fine and pretty, but far beneath my Lady Castlemayne."

I believe Francis Stuart and Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine were still both officially Ladies-in-Waiting to Queen Catherine. So presumably Pepys joins the throng after another church service to see and be seen.

I wonder what's happening tomorrow that they decided to officially celebrate Restoration Day and Charles II's birthday a day early?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

'"Pepys and Povy been at loggerheads" Samuel has kept his opinion to himself and only revealing his version to his diary.'

I don't agree with Cumsalisgrano on this one. Pepys has been quite open with his opinion that Povy is incompetent:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Saturday 21 May 1664
Up, called by Mr. Cholmely, and ... to another Committee of Tangier, as we did meet as we did use to do, to see more of Povy’s folly, and so broke up, ...

There are lots more recent examples.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"I'm with Rev. Josselyn. May 30th is Charles II's birthday, and the anniversary of the 1660 Restoration Day."

I was wrong ... 29th is correct. I had mis-numbered my files many years ago and believed my bad number. Sorry to have misled you.

Bridget Carrie Davis  •  Link

Does he mean a bath on the top floor? But why when the water must be carried up? Is this customary for the era?

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

Coventry " seems to think that there may be some negotiation which may hinder a warr this year, but that he speaks doubtfully as unwilling I perceive to be thought to discourse any such thing."

Then as now, it was considered weak and unpatriotic to be a peacemonger. How many millions have been killed or maimed for the sake of a "leader"'s image?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Does he mean a bath on the top floor? But why when the water must be carried up? Is this customary for the era?"

Since bathrooms were rare innovations, "customary" hadn't been established. I think they were fitted in where the owners wanted them ("oh, such a nice view from the spare bedroom on the 5th floor!").

The only one I remember seeing was built by Elizabeth Murray Tollemache Maitland, Countess of Dysart and Lauderdale at Ham House, Richmond, Surrey. Story goes she and Lauderdale had complimentary bedrooms at either end of the wing of the house overlooking the Thames. When she decided she wanted a bathroom, she persuaded her husband to swap bedrooms, so she could have a private staircase built to the room below, which was adjacent to the kitchens (for the hot water delivery). Not only was there a very big tub, and also a slab table, so I guess she liked massage???? One day I'll have to read her diary to find out.

Most people preferred to be smelly.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

In 1664 Charles II's birthday, 29 May, was designated Oak Apple Day, by Act of Parliament, and a special service was inserted in the book of Common Prayer. For over 200 years the King's birthday was celebrated by the wearing of a sprig of oak leaves in remembrance of the event.

This tradition is no longer observed, although hundreds of inns and public houses throughout the country are still called 'The Royal Oak' after the famous escape.

FOR MORE SEE: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsw…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

" now, from what Holmes, without any commission, hath done in taking an island and two forts, hath set us much in debt to them"

Holmes took the island of Goree and seven forts, all of which (except Cape Coast Castle, which became the English headquarters) were soon re-occupied by the Dutch. His orders had been to avoid hostilities. (L&M note)

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