Tuesday 29 October 1661

This day I put on my half cloth black stockings and my new coat of the fashion, which pleases me well, and with my beaver I was (after office was done) ready to go to my Lord Mayor’s feast, as we are all invited; but the Sir Williams were both loth to go, because of the crowd, and so none of us went, and I staid and dined with them, and so home, and in evening, by consent, we met at the Dolphin, where other company came to us, and should have been merry, but their wine was so naught, and all other things out of order, that we were not so, but staid long at night, and so home and to bed. My mind not pleased with the spending of this day, because I had proposed a great deal of pleasure to myself this day at Guildhall.

This Lord Mayor, it seems, brings up again the Custom of Lord Mayors going the day of their installment to Paul’s, and walking round about the Cross, and offering something at the altar.

30 Annotations

First Reading

daniel  •  Link

...and with my beaver....

I presume this is a beaver pelt something he is refering to. all decked out and ready to go!

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"my beaver"
from America?

moon_custafer  •  Link

I believe he means his hat - the best felt for hats was made from processed beaver furs . I think they got them second-hand from the natives once the guard hairs had worn off the pelts, or something. (I'm Canadian, and this came up in history class a lot when I was a kid, but it's been a long time.) I do recall that the later stage of the felting process, once the fur was brought to England, involved mercury, hence the saying "mad as a hatter" - they generally did get brain damage after a while.

Poor hatters - they went nuts to make Sam's new hat, and he didn't even get to party in it.

Glyn  •  Link

If you enter "beaver" into the search engine at the top of the page, you find that he bought a beaver hat in June which cost him 85 shillings (!), so presumably it was that one.

RexLeo  •  Link

"...My mind not pleased with the spending of this day, because I had proposed a great deal of pleasure to myself this day at Guildhall."

Poor Sam; energetic youngster done in by two old party poopers.

Stolzi  •  Link

Sam's gear

I'm wondering what "half cloth stockings" were. Perhaps only part of them was knitted and the rest sewed from cloth?

vicente  •  Link

Lord Mayor is [1661] Sir John Frederick. He replaces Browne, father in Law to J. Evelyn

vicente  •  Link

"... walking round about the Cross, and offering something at the altar...." A tinge of Roma raising it's head.

vicente  •  Link

Not all of the Crowd [Turba] [Mob or vulgar {vulgatus} lot ]may have not liked all that ostentation of wealth and old memories of the good old days, comeing to light and the Old Boys have a twinge of guilt of the parts they played. [not every one forgets the troubles. "...because of the crowd..."

vicente  •  Link

so nicely put "...should have been merry, but their wine was so naught, and all other things out of order, that we were not so, but staid long at night..."

vicente  •  Link

"they got them second-hand from the natives once the guard hairs had worn off the pelts" No, No, they are preloved and no longer required for warmer season, no place to hang them,let the strangers have our leftovers, then get new ones for coming out season , so more civilised just like the smart set.

Bullus Hutton  •  Link

"should have been merry, but their wine was so naught, and all other things out of order, that we were not so"
Old Sam can be so completely dashed by the failure of a fun evening: here he was decked out in his best stockings and beaver hat, with his invitation to the Mayor's Feast, and then his two William buddies say Hey forget it, it's going to be absolutely packed out, so they tank the idea and he goes home for dinner, later tries to salvage his expectations by meeting up with the gang down at the Dolphin, only to find that "their wine was so naught" (umm, his buddies didn't order any rounds, or was the quality just so bad?) and so he goes home with his "mind not pleased with the spending of this day" particularly since he had "proposed a great deal of pleasure" to himself today.

Glyn  •  Link

Poor Sam. He's always desperate to see new things, this was something very special and yet he wasn't allowed to go. I'm sure he did not reveal his feelings to the others but he must have been fuming inside.

By "the Lord Mayor's feast" I take it that he means the Lord Mayor's Show, which is now held every year on the second Saturday in November, i.e. 13 November in 2004.

In it, the newly elected Lord Mayor (and the result of the election is never in doubt), parades around the City to show himself to the people and pledge the allegiance of the City to the monarch - which is why the custom lapsed during the Commonwealth. There are always hundreds of thousands of spectators and it ends with a big fireworks display, so should always be visited if you ever come to London in any November.

Here are a couple of links:

http://www.lordmayorsshow.org/ind…

http://www.lordmayorsshow.org/pro…

Bob T  •  Link

Beaver
It's obvious that there aren't any traders or trappers in this group :-)
Sam's hat was almost certainly made from a Canadian beaver, because by 1600 most of the European beaver had been wiped out. It you want to learn more, just google "Hudson Bay Company".

I'm not surprised that his hat was so expensive; a beaver pelt commanded top dollar, pound, whatever. To own one would have been a real status symbol, and one that everyone could see.

dirk  •  Link

Evelyn was there too!

His diary entry for today:
"I saw the Lord Major passe in his Water Triumph to Westminster being the first solemnity of this nature after 20 yeares:"

Pedro.  •  Link

"but their wine was so naught, and all other things out of order". I had proposed a great deal of pleasure to myself this day at Guildhall.”

Poor old Sam, for him it is a classic case of… “After the Lord Mayor’s Show comes the dustcart.”

vicente  •  Link

dust cart or a case of supplying the gardeners with life giving food.
that olde saw: where there be dust, there be muck, then thee can make some brass.
"Money is like muck, not good except it be spread." A sir Francis Bacon quote :
or should it be :"Money is like manure, of very little use except it be spread"

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes…

Glyn  •  Link

Beaver hat

There is an entry for "beaver" in the Glossary:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/backgro…

but not much information. Perhaps some of these entries should be added there before we forget about them.

Patricia  •  Link

The fur trade has by now shifted into high gear in Canada, from the French settlements along the St. Lawrence River (Stadacona [Quebec] and Hochelaga [Montreal]) This is why the beaver is Canada's National Animal: the country was explored by French fur-traders seeking to fill the enormous demand for beaver fur to make felt hats for Europeans, which demand went on for a long, long time.

Tony  •  Link

It seems that the link information shown, when placing the cursor over the words 'Lord Mayor's feast' is incorrect. The Mayor at the 1661 feast was Sir John Frederick [who happens to be my 9th Great-Grandfather] and not Sir Richard Browne who was Lord Mayor Of London in 1660. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

cgs  •  Link

if you go to the link you will find the list of the yearly changes in the Lord Mayor and see that you be rite.

Second Reading

Phil Gyford  •  Link

I've belatedly fixed the "Lord Mayor" link to point to Sir John Frederick.

Bill  •  Link

"and with my beaver"

Doubtless the same mentioned June 27, 1661. It was a "chapeau de poil" a mark of some distinction in those days, and which gave name to Rubens's famous picture now in Sir Robert Peel's collection, of a lady in a beaver hat or "chapeau de poil." This having been corrupted into "chapeau de paille," has led to much ignorant conjecture.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Le Chapeau de Paille by Peter Paul Rubens: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki…

Louise Hudson  •  Link

". . .we met at the Dolphin, where other company came to us, and should have been merry, but their wine was so naught, and all other things out of order, that we were not so, but staid long at night . . .

"Wine so naught" doesn't seem to have been naught enough for Sam to make an early night of it. Naught wine being better than none, apparently.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

OED has:

‘naught . . C.adj. . . 1.c. Of food or drink: unwholesome, bad; unfit for consumption. Cf. naughty adj. 4b. Obs.
. . 1610 Bible (Douay) II. Jer. xxiv. 3 The good figges, exceeding good, and the naughtie figges exceeding naught: which can not be eaten because they are naught.
1661 S. Pepys Diary 29 Oct. (1970) II. 203 We..would have been merry; but their wine was so naught..that we were not so . . ‘

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Lord Mayor's Day, in England, is the day marked by a pageant known as the Lord Mayor's Show for the Lord Mayor of the City of London. It is actually styled "The Presentation of the Lord Mayor at The Royal Courts of Justice". When King John allowed the City to choose its Mayor it was with the caveat that the king should be informed as to who this was. The new office holder being ' presented ' to the Lord Chief Justice and the other senior judges (originally the Barons of the Exchequer, now represented by the Queen's Remembrancer). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lor…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

At St Paul's

1661: "This Lord Mayor, it seems, brings up again the Custom of Lord Mayors going the day of their installment to Paul’s, and walking round about the Cross, and offering something at the altar."

2017: Along the route, the Lord Mayor stops at St Paul's Cathedral in order to receive a blessing from the Dean on the Cathedral steps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lor…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the Custom of Lord Mayors going the day of their installment to Paul’s, and walking round about the Cross, and offering something at the altar."\

Read a detailed recounting of the custom in Liber albus = The white book of the City of London, ed. Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas), 1816-1878, p. 26.
https://archive.org/stream/libera…

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.