Wednesday 5 December 1660

This morning the Proposal which I wrote the last night I showed to the officers this morning, and was well liked of, and I wrote it fair for Sir. G. Carteret to show to the King, and so it is to go to the Parliament. I dined at home, and after dinner I went to the new Theatre and there I saw “The Merry Wives of Windsor” acted, the humours of the country gentleman and the French doctor very well done, but the rest but very poorly, and Sir J. Falstaffe t as bad as any. From thence to Mr. Will. Montagu’s chamber to have sealed some writings tonight between Sir R. Parkhurst and myself about my Lord’s 2000l., but he not coming, I went to my father’s and there found my mother still ill of the stone, and had just newly voided one, which she had let drop into the chimney, and looked and found it to shew it me. From thence home and to bed.

Thursday 6 December 1660Tuesday 4 December 1660

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Temperature: 5°C / 41°F

(Average for December 1660)

In Parliament

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Annotations

N vincent on Sat 6 Dec 2003, 04:03am. Flagged

”..I went to the new Theatre and there I saw
N vincent on Sat 6 Dec 2003, 04:45am. Flag this

I missed the “…have NOT had …”
N vincent on Sat 6 Dec 2003, 04:49am. Flag this

Good hard work appears to have paid off. I beleive it always does, when you save the “CO.” money. The reward was to see some pointers in Female logic.
N steve h on Sat 6 Dec 2003, 04:10pm. Flag this

Playgoing afternoons

Note that plays were performed in the afternoon after the mid-day dinner, not in the evening, and that Pepys willoften go back to work after. It’s sort like us sneaking out to a movie in the middle of the work day, except without guilt.
N Mary on Sat 6 Dec 2003, 05:02pm. Flag this

Matinee performances

These apparently began at 3 p.m. In summer, the whole play would have been performed during hours of daylight, but in mid-winter, with sunset before 4 p.m., it must have been very difficult for spectators at the rear of the theatre to see much of what was happening on stage, even with the beneit of wax, rather than tallow, candles.
N Mary House on Sat 6 Dec 2003, 10:48pm. Flag this

It appears that Pepys attends these plays without his wife. Was it not customary at the time for women to attend the theater? Or is it simply the case that she would have been otherwise occupied in the middle of the day.
N J A Gioia on Sun 7 Dec 2003, 02:27pm. Flag this

had just newly voided one, which she had let drop into the chimney, and looked and found it to shew it me

i think we can file this one under: Mother; too much information.
N vincent on Mon 8 Dec 2003, 03:33am. Flag this

”..into the chimney….” the fireplace and [grate] I presume.
N Charlezzzzz on Mon 8 Dec 2003, 06:59am. Flagged
N Aqua on Fri 25 Aug 2006, 06:47pm. Flag this

new info to help “into the chimney”
From Ian Evans http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2006/08/09/6669.php

The corrected portion of the text for 5 December 1660 is as follows:
…..I went to my father’s. And there found my mother still ill of the stone and hath just voided one, which she hath let drop into the Chimny; and could not find it to show it me. From thence home and to bed.