Monday 18 March 1660/61

Annotations

• N Glyn on Thu 18 Mar 2004, 11:38pm

  Good hopes given me to-day that Mrs. Davis is going away from us,

  It’s pathetic to see how scared Pepys seems to be of the old lady - did she have that effect on everyone, or was it just him?

• N Josh on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 12:00am

  “I do find myself to become more and more thoughtful about getting of money than ever heretofore.”

  In case you thought he had been holding back. But will he describe his diligence as “painful”? (See annotations to yesterday’s entry.) One doubts it, somehow.

• N Pauline on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 02:15am

  “Good hopes given me to-day that Mrs. Davis is going away from us…”
  This is the “lady” (his neighbor) who locked Pepys’s access to the leads against him. I too am glad she is likely to leave.

• N Pauline on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 02:37am

  “But will he describe his diligence as

• N Susan on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 03:15am

  It seems Elizabeth’s knees made an overnight recovery!

• N Susan on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 03:17am

  Was SP so interested this week in finding out if Barlow was still alive because it was about to be Lady Day (March 25th) and thus pay day?? Maybe he hoped he would not have to pay up. One hundred pounds sterling a year was a considerable sum.

• N Ruben on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 05:02am

  I found in the newes-booke that Roger Pepys is chosen at Cambridge for the town, the first place that we hear of to have made their choice yet…
  News-booke is News-paper?
  Chosen at Cambridge for the town ?
  For what? for Parliament?

• N Mary on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 07:13am

  Elizabeth’s knees

  We seem to have leapt to the conclusion that she damaged the joints themselves. Perhaps she simply grazed them badly; painful and a nuisance at the time, but hardly serious.

• N Ruben on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 08:31am

  Elizabeth

• N Kevin Sheerstone on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 08:58am

  Ruben - Chosen at Cambridge…

  Yes, as a Member Of Parliament for the town. The University elected its own MP’s (two of them!), having been granted that right in 1615.

• N Kevin Sheerstone on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 09:31am

  Newes-booke. Yes Ruben, newspaper was my interpretation, although I have always been under the impression that newspapers (“broadsheets”) made their appearance in the 18th.c. The only other interpretation I can think of is that the newes-booke was perhaps a more comprehensive version of the Court Circular, chronicling the goings-on not only at the Court, but in the law, politics and the corridors of power.

• N Matthew on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 10:00am

  Getting of money:
  I wonder if the subject of covetousness is ever mentioned in the sermons he attends?

• N The Bishop on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 10:41am

  Go here to see the term newsbook explained-
  http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1660/05/04/index.php#c4495

  And see the first two entries here-
  http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1660/01/09/index.php

  This is the first page of newsbook from 1659, but it’s been blown up to two or three times its normal size. Remember, they’re pamphlets, no broadsheets.
  http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/images/mercpol.jpg

• N Pedro. on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 11:40am

  Shame I cry!
  Someone must stand up for poor old Mrs.Davis against the “Sam can do no wrong lobby.”
  No doubt I will be corrected if I am wrong, but Mrs.Davis was there before our Sam.
  Then along comes the young upstart and knocks the place about without so much as a by your leave. Brings the monkeys and the dogs that mess all over the house. Brings all his mates round for merr’ymaking till late, and practices the odd instrument now and again.
  It’s that bad she is moving across the Irish Sea!

• N Ruben on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 01:54pm

  Pedro:
  in this cruel world there is only one way to survive in the memory of others. This way is known in the Academy as: “Publish or Perish”.
  Now tell me: what have you red lately from Mrs. Davis?

• N David A. Smith on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 02:54pm

  “business, which do a little put me out of order”
  Ever lie awake at night, having just bought an expensive new house, wondering how you’ll make those enormous mortgage payments and what’ll happen if you don’t?
  Sam is levered (geared) to the gills and spending money at a prodigious rate on everything from fripperies to status symbols (in this day and time, an essential business expense). He wouldn’t confess his anxieties unless they worried him on many counts.

• N JWB on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 03:19pm

  Batten
  Traitor to Parliament’s fleet to become an MP. It’s as if Am. Revolution failed and Bennedict Arnold chosen to represent Conn. in London.

• N Pedro. on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 04:18pm

  Publish and be Damned.
  “and I do find myself to become more and more thoughtful about getting of money than ever heretofore.”
  Is Sam slowly forgetting his roots in Axe Yard where he thanked God for the money he had then?
  Remember 18 March 1660 “From thence homewards, and called at Mr. Blagrave

• N cindy b on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 04:38pm

  …more and more thoughtful about getting of money…
  Is it possible that Sam is concerned about money problems at work rather than in his personal life?

• N David A. Smith on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 06:49pm

  “more and more thoughtful about getting of money”
  For ‘thoughtful about,’ read ‘preoccupied with’.
  I think Sam, far from forgetting his roots, is aware of how his life is changing and how *he* is changing. His diary is a confessional, not a court of judgment.

• N A. De Araujo on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 08:06pm

  “about getting of money than ever heretofore”seems to me that the times were achanging,you didn’t have to be born in the nobility to have power; you had to have money though; a little like, mutatis mutandis, the rapper 50 cent: Get rich or die trying…

• N vincent on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 10:00pm

  “…I do find myself to become more and more thoughtful about getting of money than ever heretofore….” spent [money] must not exceed income [a theory that is frown’d upon], it matters not the quantity: 1d,1s, 1L,1Ml, 1bl, thee can always spend more. ‘Tis spending that is fun. There I do believe are 6 residences for those that Enjoy the art [of spending that is ]. There are those that need help in the Colonies { an indentured Servant, I do believe it is named} to help thee out when thee have exhausted all resources [over ones head and trying to stay ahead of sheriff ].
  

• N Susan on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 10:15pm

  The Mercury (newsbook referenced in The Bishop’s annotation above), was a Government propaganda vehicle - used by Parliament during it’s regime in the 1650’s to broadcast the party line: not an independent publication. Other publications sprang up critical of the Government (i.e. pro-Royalist) so that by 1657, all were banned except for the Mercury and The Publick Intelligencer. Does anyone know if these pamphlet publucations had become independent in the 1660’s or were still being used just to desseminate the approved Government information? Was the 1657 ban still in place? Also, JWB - who is Bennedict Adam?

• N Kevin Peter on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 10:32pm

  Susan, Benedict Arnold was a very successful and talented General during the American Revolution, and led American armies to a number of victories against the British. He took exception to the alliance between the United States and France, and in return plotted with the British turn a fort over to them.

  He is regarded by the residents of the U.S. as a disgusting traitor, but is naturally much better regarded by the British.

  Like Batten, Benedict Arnold helped out one side greatly, but then “turned coats” and helped out the other side.

  Here’s an article about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold

• N Glyn on Fri 19 Mar 2004, 11:28pm

  For Batten and for Arnold:

  “Traitors never prosper, what’s the reason?

  If they prosper none dare call it treason”

  I wonder who first said that?

• N The Bishop on Sat 20 Mar 2004, 01:28am

  There was no ‘Mercurius Newsbook’. There were between a dozen and two dozen different newsbooks that used Mercurius as part of their title: Mercurius Civicus, Mercurius Aulicus, Mercerius Britanicus, Mercurius Pragmaticus, Elenchticus, Rusticus, Politicus and many others.

  The pro-royalist newsbooks were around during the Civil War. Once it was over they pretty much disappeared. They weren’t part of the 1650s.

  During the civil war there had been several newsbooks that supported Parliament. Afterwards, they were all suppressed (because the Parliamentary cause had split into faction, and the newsbooks were taking sides among the factions), and one writer/editor was allowed to produce newsbooks. He had a Thursday paper - the Mercurius Politicus - and a Monday paper - the Public Intelligencer. There was also a newsbook produced in French, and that’s all there was in the ’50s.

  In 1559 Parliament’s newswriter lost his monopoly, and several other men got into the journalism game. Then in July of 1660 Charles II’s council ordered that one Muddiman would be the only one allowed to publish newsbooks from this point on.

• N dirk on Sat 20 Mar 2004, 02:55am

  Newsbooks

  Basic history of the newspaper - both UK & the rest of Europe (read paragraphs 3 & 4)
  http://www.lian.com/TANAKA/comhosei/NPinEB.htm
  

• N Pedro. on Sat 20 Mar 2004, 02:16pm

  His diary is a confessional, not a court of judgment.
  Do we not place ourselves before the merciful judgement of God when at the confessional?
  

• N J A Gioia on Sat 20 Mar 2004, 02:49pm

  skidding off topic…

  the fort general arnold attempted to turn over was west point, at a very strategic bend of the hudson river between albany and new york city. it would become in short order the u.s.’s chief army college.

• N Pauline on Sat 20 Mar 2004, 03:18pm

  “…did she have that effect on everyone, or was it just him?”
  from October 31 last:
  Much troubled all this morning in my mind about the business of my walk on the leads. I spoke of it to the Comptroller and the rest of the principal officers, who are all unwilling to meddle in anything that may anger my Lady Davis. And so I am fain to give over for the time that she do continue therein.

• N Pauline on Sat 20 Mar 2004, 03:37pm

  “…mess all over the house…”
  see http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1660/11/29/index.php for the foul water and diplomatic standing up to Mr. Davis.

• N Laura K on Sat 20 Mar 2004, 05:54pm

  benedict arnold

  In the US, “Benedict Arnold” is used as a generic term for a traitor or turncoat. I’d guess that only a small percentage of Americans could tell you who Arnold was or what he actually did. The phrase is also used as an adjective, as in a “Benedict Arnold senator,” an elected official who doesn’t side with her/his party or constituents.

• N Pedro. on Sat 20 Mar 2004, 10:22pm

  The Wife of the Clerk to Lord Berkley of Stratton (Mrs.Davis)

  Appologies I’m glad she is going as well! (see below)
  Lord Berkeley of Stratton

  In 1647 Berkeley assisted the King in his flight from Hampton Court to the Isle of Wight.
  On his return to England at the Restoration he was placed on the staff of the Admiralty, appointed Lord President of Connaught for life, a Privy Councillor, a Master of the Ordnance, a member of the Committee of Tangier and, in 1670, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1675 he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary at the Congress of Nimeguen but his health was now failing.
  For a number of years from 1652 he also acted as the manager of the Duke of York’s household during which time, according to Samuel Pepys (27 Sep, 1668), he obtained some irregular benefit from the letting of the Duke’s wine licences.
  Shrewd move by Sam!
  

• N Susan on Sun 21 Mar 2004, 03:04am

  Thanks to The Bishop for an admirable summary of a complex situation. My precis was far too brief. Thanks to Dirk too for an admirable history link about newspapers and their beginnings.
  Thanks to all contributors from the US about Bennedict Arnold, but all the information has led me to conclude that to compare Arnold with Batten is unfair. Batten remained true to his country and to the Navy. Keeping Britain an inviolate nation depended on a good Navy (until the Zeppelin raids over London in WWI) and by and large the Parliamentarian Naval commanders seem to have considered that protecting British shores was of paramount importance, no matter who was ruling the country.Do other people think Batten was a traitor??

• N vincent on Sun 21 Mar 2004, 03:35am

  I fail to see the connection. As a MP[Batten] he would be in a better position to help the Navy. The London MP’s were in my estimation pro Money[from the merchant class] [not for King or Country] [sure wrap their conscience up in few pieces of gold ] using the navy to bring Legitimate[and robbed] goods from those places like Barbados, Jamaica,Virginia, Indias and other profitable locations.They only tolerated the crown as long they could trade.For us lesser mortals were aspire to higher Ideals [but]. One should read Williams Owens Poem :
  My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
  To children ardent for some desperate glory,
  The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
  Pro patria mori.
  8 October 1917 - March, 1918
  Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country

  http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html

• N Andrew Hamilton on Sun 21 Mar 2004, 01:34pm

  I don’t see the Arnold connection to Batten either,
  but apropos the Arnold thread, his name is a term of opproprium in American politics to this very time, cf. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry denouncing “Benedict Arnold CEOs” who outsource jobs to foreign lands. (Traitors to the American workforce, in his view.)

• N Laura K on Sun 21 Mar 2004, 03:37pm

  arnold / batten

  I don’t see the connection either, based on what I’ve read here. I was just trying to fill in who Benedict Arnold was.

  Andrew H: Of course, I thought of the Kerry line, too. I’m glad you mentioned it, as I was purposely trying not to!

• N tc on Sun 21 Mar 2004, 05:29pm

  Dulce et Decorum Est…

  Thanks to vincent for reminding us of Wilfred Owens’ great poem about the horrors of a WWI gas attack; it should be required reading for all politicians prone to bellicosity… always apropos, but never more so now…

• N Terry F on Mon 9 Jan 2006, 12:50am

  Image of Mercurius Aulicus. Communicating the Intelligence and Affaires of the Court
  7[6]-13[12] April [1645]
  The British Library E.279.(8.)
  Copyright ©2000, The British Library Board
  http://www.bl.uk/popups/aulicus.html

  A somewhat self-serving view in part: “Perhaps the greatest tragedy in all English history began in 1642 when, for five years, families and friends were divided by violent struggle. Respect for the monarchy was as great then as it is today; but it was squandered by Charles I and Civil War ensued. Out of Cromwell’s eventual victory came a period of absolute rule just as arbitrary. In communicating the affaires of Court, Mercurius Aulicus can claim to be Englands first regular newspaper, printed at Oxford and reprinted in London almost throughout the entire war.” http://www.clubtype.co.uk/MercsSpec.html