Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
At the office upon business extraordinary all the morning, then to my Lady Sandwich’s to dinner, whither my wife, who had been at the painter’s, came to me, and there dined, and there I left her, and to the Temple my brother and I to see Mrs. Turner, who begins to be better, and so back to my Lady’s, where much made of, and so home to my study till bed-time, and so to bed.
Thursday 19 December 1661Tuesday 17 December 1661
6°C / 43°F
(monthly average for December 1661) About
“business extraordinary”: extraordinarily important? or complex? or just another way of saying “a hell out of a lot to do at the office”?
May be more to it: he writes enough so that it will be remembered, where the details are sered into his head and thereby remain a secret from all those that could pry, he cannot be impugned if it be not written.There are many entries , that he is cagy about. It could be that he says enough just to tickle his mind when he sees the entree.
Payntor, he doth do one ‘ead at a time, so as not upset the other, now whether they be on the same canvas or separate is still not clear.
L&M reading differs a little.
“… and to the Temple, my brother’s, and to see Mrs. Turner…”
Punctuation is editorial, but “brother’s” rather than “brother” is presumably supported by the text.
extraordinary.
At this date, the word is most likely to indicate something quite out of the normal line. Thus this business is exceptional, unusual in some way, not part of the normal office routine.
Just one sentence
He was in a hurry, but got it all down anyway.
I surmise from comments that these paintings are not in existence?
Nice to know they were “much made of” at my Lady’s; I suspect that Elizabeth was rather a pet of my Lady’s.
The lost paintings.
See annotations to entry for 23rd November.
“my brother and I to see Mrs Turner” and “much made of”
I took that to mean Sam went to the Temple, there met his brother and they then both went to see Mrs Turner and then Sam went back to The Wardrobe. I also took the “much made of” just to refer to Sam himself - he likes to record people showing him he is valued. Usually if Elizabeth is being complimented, he comments on that specifically. Presumably he was still working on sea law in his solitary study activities. A long and busy day.
Too bad that these paintings are missing. As Claire Tomalin points out, every known portrait of Pepys shows him wearing a wig. This early portrait would date to a time when wigs were not commonly being worn by men, I believe. We would see a much more natural rendering of our man.
It looks like he had to change his plans from last Thursday: “and invited them and all my old Exchequer acquaintance to come and dine with me there on Wednesday next”.
John Evelyn’s diary entry for today:
“At our Assembly, were divers new inventions & models for often shooting in Canon at once charging:”