Tuesday 21 August 1660

This morning I went to White Hall with Sir W. Pen by water, who in our passage told me how he was bred up under Sir W. Batten. We went to Mr. Coventry’s chamber, and consulted of drawing my papers of debts of the Navy against the afternoon for the Committee. So to the Admiralty, where W. Hewer and I did them, and after that he went to his Aunt’s Blackburn (who has a kinswoman dead at her house to-day, and was to be buried to-night, by which means he staid very late out). I to Westminster Hall, where I met Mr. Crew and dined with him, where there dined one Mr. Hickeman, an Oxford man, who spoke very much against the height of the now old clergy, for putting out many of the religious fellows of Colleges, and inveighing against them for their being drunk, which, if true, I am sorry to hear. After that towards Westminster, where I called on Mr. Pim, and there found my velvet coat (the first that ever I had) done, and a velvet mantle, which I took to the Privy Seal Office, and there locked them up, and went to the Queen’s Court, and there, after much waiting, spoke with Colonel Birch, who read my papers, and desired some addition, which done I returned to the Privy Seal, where little to do, and with Mr. Moore towards London, and in our way meeting Monsieur Eschar (Mr. Montagu’s man), about the Savoy, he took us to the Brazennose Tavern, and there drank and so parted, and I home by coach, and there, it being post-night, I wrote to my Lord to give him notice that all things are well; that General Monk is made Lieutenant of Ireland, which my Lord Roberts (made Deputy) do not like of, to be Deputy to any man but the King himself. After that to bed.

Wednesday 22 August 1660Monday 20 August 1660

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N chip on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 01:08am. Flag this

Many notes from L&M but first some slight changes. They have no apostrophe in the word aunts and new instead of now before old-clergy, which is hyphenated. Both seem to make more sense. Note 1 says Penn may have been referring to the very earliest years of his service before the civil wars, or to the period (1642-4) in which he was under Batten’s command in the parliamentary navy. As for the navy debts, they are formidable. L678,000 was owing for wages, victuals and stores and L273,255 for the ships about to be paid off. About the dear drunk clergy they remark that a royal visitation of Oxford, designed to evict all college and university officers unlawfully intruded during the revolution, had begun on 31 July with the dismissal of several Heads of Houses. Henry Hickman (a friend of the Crews, once lecturer at Brackley church and tutor to Nathaniel Crew) had himself been ejected from his fellowship at Magdalen on 6 August. He was one of the most prominent of Oxford Puritans and was here objecting on behalf of the ‘religious’ dons to the high-handedness of the old fellows newly restored. The next note says that the velvet coat stays locked up until 22 April of the coming year, first worn by Pepys on the occasion of the King’s coronation entry. Finally, Monck (since 7 July Duke of Albermarle) had been appointed to the lord-lieutenancy in June but intended to stay in England and rule through a resident deputy. Robartes had been made Lord Deputy on 25 July, but wished to be responsible to the King (who has appointed him) and to have the full powers of his predecessors in the post. He resigned and was made Lord Privy Seal on May, 1661, while Albermarle in turn was replaced as Lieutenant by Ormond in February 1662. Robartes later served as Lord Lieutenant (with no success), in 1669-70. They mention his intolerable pride.Sorry so long!
N vincent on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 03:16am. Flag this

“…there found my velvet coat (the first that ever I had) done, and a velvet mantle,…” Oh! SP Yer gets upset with our Dear Eliza, but you don’t let on how much that little Embellishment set back your prophit for the month?
N chip on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 03:45am. Flag this

I thought the same Vincent. Maybe that is why he locks it up in the office and does not wear it for nearly nine months. What a guilty conscience can make us do!
N Mary on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 07:17am. Flag this

Guilty conscience or show of prudence?
Interesting that the velvet coat doesn’t get an outing until the date of Charles’ coronation. Perhaps Pepys is being canny: Charles is bound to announce a coronation date at some time and when he does there will be a rush on both tailors’ services and supplies of fine fabric. This is bound to drive up prices. By providing himself early with a fine coat and mantle Sam avoids both the worst of the expense and the rush of getting it made later. As for locking it up in the office, this may preserve him from any temptation to give it an airing at an earlier date; velvet was notoriously expensive and is also notoriously easy to spoil and difficult to clean successfully if spotted.
N fimm on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 08:31am. Flag this

Today’s entry has a really breathless, rushed, busy feel to it - Pepys going here and there to get things done.
N Barbara on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 10:17am. Flag this

I wonder whether Pepys, seeing how splendid his new velvet coat and mantle looked, had sudden qualms that wearing them right now might make him look “above his station” and invite condemnation or scorn.
N J A Gioia on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 12:48pm. Flag this

he took us to the Brazennose Tavern

one wonders if this is an anglification of ‘brazos’, spanish for arms.
N Mary on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 01:08pm. Flag this

Brasenose Tavern
Possibly built on land owned by Brasenose College, Oxford? Or maybe, like the college, having a curious, nose-shaped door-knocker? Any BNC historians out there?
N Phil Rodgers on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 01:12pm. Flag this

http://www.sacklunch.net/placenames/B/BrasenoseCollege.html reports that:

The term brazen-nose or brasenose is a corruption of the word brasen house, or “brewing house.”

which probably applies to this tavern as well.
N J Callan on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 02:05pm. Flag this

Sam turning over a new leaf perhaps?
We find him once again sending a news bulletin to Montagu, the first one for quite a while, I think. On the 10th of August he seemed to be taking stock of his life, and realising he hadn’t been keeping up with events: “Never since I was a man in the world was I ever so great a stranger to public affairs as now I am, having not read a new book or anything like it, or enquiring after any news, or what the Parliament do, or in any wise how things go.”
N Mike W on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 04:00pm. Flag this

Sam’s Old Man
Recently Sam and his wife have been spending decent amounts of money on clothing from various tailors. Isn’t Sam’s father a tailor? If so, why is he only making recommendations rather than taking on the business? Is the work the Pepys are demanding above his caliber or does Sam wisely prefer not to do business with family?
N vincent on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 07:52pm. Flag this

The questions above are really thought provoking. But I do think Mary has caught on, how “canny ” our SP is.
N vincent on Fri 22 Aug 2003, 08:15pm. Flag this

“Papa The Tailor or brother ” Probable not Up Scale enough and according to my reading of Clare Tomalin’s book, Papa was not too good a businessman. remember, SP was a little reluctant to get the family business involved with the the very Upscale King’s Wardrobe.
N S. Spoelstra on Sun 24 Aug 2003, 10:28am. Flag this

Is the velvet coat like club colours ?

I imagine that the “fashion” for the puritans that make up SP’s family and most of his collegues would be very austere, maybe black. Now to suddenly appear in an expensive velvet coat is showing “club colours” for the new administration ?
That would also be the reason for having it made at an “established” firm. To keep it in a cupboard until the coronation is an example of SP playing safe ?
N Paul Brewster on Tue 26 Aug 2003, 04:56pm. Flag this

my velvet coat (the first that ever I made) done, and a velvet mounteer
According to L&M, it’s not a mantle it’s a mounteer. Again the shorthand should not have been a problem but this word may have been written out longhand and the varying interpretation been a question of difficulty reading his handwriting.

For a previous discussion of this type of hat see the entry for the 20th of March 1660 where Wheatley and the L&M agree on the word:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1660/03/20/index.php#annotations
N Paul Brewster on Tue 26 Aug 2003, 05:22pm. Flag this

it being post-night, I wrote to my Lord to give him notice that all things are well
I was struck by the phrase “post-night”. Does this imply that there was a night mail drop-off/pickup on a designated day of the week? Or was this simply the day of the week that he had arranged to send letters to my lord?
N Glyn on Wed 27 Aug 2003, 04:10pm. Flag this

Paul: Go to GENERAL REFERENCE: GENERAL SOURCES on the side of this page, and find this site from Paul Miller. It refers to 1722, but wouldn’t be much changed from 1660. Here’s an extract.

“The Post Days to send Letters from London to any part of England and Scotland, are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays : And the Returns certain on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
But to Wales and Ireland, the Post goes only twice a Week; viz on Tuesdays and Saturdays; and comes from Wales every Monday and Friday : but from Ireland the Return is uncertain, because it (as all other foreign Letters do) depends upon Winds.
When the Court is in the Country, the Post goes every Day to the Place where it resides. The same is with Kent, and the usual Stations of the Royal Fleet, as the Downs, Spithead, and other Places : to which we may send every Day but Sunday; and from whence we may also hear every Day but Sunday.”

So as this is a Tuesday, it counts as a “Post Day” for letters to Cambridge, or wherever Montagu currently is
N Paul Brewster on Wed 27 Aug 2003, 07:11pm. Flag this

Glyn: Thanks for the clarification.
It all sounds so modern.
N Nigel Pond on Fri 29 Aug 2003, 03:09pm. Flag this

Brasenose College (Oxford)

The college is indeed named after the knocker on the college gate, see: http://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/history/his/page4.html

Oxford and Cambridge colleges own land all over the place as a result mainly of endowments they have received over the years, so it is possible that the college ownd the property referred to here.