Tuesday 24 February 1662/63

Slept hard till 8 o’clock, then waked by Mr. Clerke’s being come to consult me about Field’s business, which we did by calling him up to my bedside, and he says we shall trounce him.

Then up, and to the office, and at 11 o’clock by water to Westminster, and to Sir W. Wheeler’s about my Lord’s borrowing of money that I was lately upon with him, and then to my Lord, who continues ill, but will do well I doubt not.

Among other things, he tells me that he hears the Commons will not agree to the King’s late declaration, nor will yield that the Papists have any ground given them to raise themselves up again in England, which I perceive by my Lord was expected at Court. Thence home again by water presently, and with a bad dinner, being not looked for, to the office, and there we sat, and then Captn. Cocke and I upon his hemp accounts till 9 at night, and then, I not very well, home to supper and to bed. My late distemper of heat and itching being come upon me again, so that I must think of sweating again as I did before.

30 Annotations

First Reading

TerryF  •  Link

"a bad dinner, not being looked for"

Where is a boy to send word ahead?
(lacking landline phones, much less mobiles.)

"sweating again as I did before."

More of Sir J. Mennes's Venice treacle?!
Sir J. may be regarded as an ineffective advocate, fairly or not, but he has a side career as a drug-smuggler and illicit apothecary.
See 9 February 1662/63 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

dirk  •  Link

"the Commons will not agree to the King’s late declaration"

For the King's declaration and reactions to it, see Terry's previous annotation on the subject:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

dirk  •  Link

Still cold...

The Rev. Josselin's diary today.

"a cold frost with a north wind and snow. Mr Harl. set forth for London, the god of mercy, restore him with a quiet mind and sound body to us for the lord Jesus sake. do, defer not oh lord"

TerryF  •  Link

How like the Rev. Josselin to pray for another.

And when he does pray for himself, it is for the wherewithal to do what God wills he can do for others.

Thank you, Dirk, for continuing to hold up his example, which comes with a weather report attached!

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"Slept hard till 8 o'clock"
the wine from yesterday probably has something to do with it.

jeannine  •  Link

"My late distemper of heat and itching being come upon me again"
Does anyone have any idea what is wrong with him? Interesting that lately both Sandwich and Sam have had illnesses that seem to linger and come back.

TerryF  •  Link

" Captn. Cocke and I upon his hemp accounts till 9 at night"

Back to school with the accounts of 500 tons of hemp brought from Riga, "bought by him and [his] partners upon account, wherein are many things worth my knowledge." 18 February 1662/63 http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

As I recall there was no consensus about the import of the phrase "worth my knowledge"; but he has nowise forgotten the accounts.

daniel  •  Link

“Slept hard till 8 o’clock”

surely an appropriate thing to do after one's birthday, no?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Bad dinner, followed by return of illness...Gerkins on the menu, perhaps?

Creed wasn't by any chance nearby the first time Sam's illness happened?

JWB  •  Link

What's he got?
Hives have been suggested. Perhaps scabies. But with fever today, maybe shingles.

dirk  •  Link

"at 11 o’clock by water to Westminster"

If the weather in London is anything like what the Rev. Josselin describes, this can't have been a pleasant ride...

The icy weather of the last couple of weeks may also explain to some extent "my late distemper of heat and itching" -- obviously a fever of some kind (though I'm not sure about the itching) -- maybe Sam has caught a cold?

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

yesterdays House of C.
Sam has so much to catch up on. for Lunae , 23 Februarii 15 Car. II di.
House of Commons [ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/… ]
Election Voided for the Town of Cardigan, shenanigan?
Common lands to be made fit for the goose
Must NOT steal the Goldsmiths gold
Act of uniformity to be search for inconsistancies
the Act against Quakers to be checked for knee bends.
The Act of packing Butter to be reviewed for loss of wey.
Other Acts to be checked Fishing [not enough fish for Lent ],
Press, to be checked for PC,
& Militia [no old Ccromwellians to apply for position of Colonel}
The Bishops want all Ecclesiastical Records to be perused, so that they can get their just lands etc., and incomes restored to correct level.
Then to morrow, MPS can take the day off.[That be today]

Pauline  •  Link

"...we shall trounce him..."
Again, I do love it when Sam talks/writes like we talk--even when, in this case, he is reporting what Mr. Clerke is saying. Pops my eyes when the lingo is so 'spot on' over all these many many years.

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
House of Lords be laid low [50%] with so many [80 approx]members that be infra Aetatem and excused when the Roll call be done; to days session. .
[Ds Astley , dead ; and his son- excused.]
Duke of Yorke he be attending;

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Re: hemp: For Samuell [to my devious mind] the hemp has a rather sickly smell of rotting money down the fiscal skuttle. He be asking questions, this not be just 500 tons Riga Hemp, but Samuell wants to fumigate this audit trail. When ones has the blahs then that can affect the reasoning of frisking all those extra lines of justification for payment.

Mary  •  Link

The itch.

If either scabies or shingles were the cause, wouldn't Sam have mentioned the rash that attends these infections? Furthermore, shingles is extremely painful.

matthew newton  •  Link

'which we did by calling him up to my bedside'
and where was wifie?
i think i have read about callers being received in the bedroom before
can anyone shed any light on this curious custom

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"the itch"
Mary methinks you are quite right;scabies are worse at night and is contagious,so Liz would get it;shingles are painful and if one has had the chickenpox,it will give you immunity; I was once misdiagnosed as having scabies (by a friend)when what I had was Poison Ivy.

Noel C. Bon Tempo  •  Link

Could it just be the cold dry winter air causing dry itchy shin?

Stolzi  •  Link

Itchy and scratchy

I risk off-topicness to make a correction; the chickenpox is the forerunner of shingles, the virus awakening much later in the body to give you a hard time.

I am participant in an experimental trial to see if the anti-chickenpox immunization now given to children will protect the oldies who have had chickenpox from getting shingles. So far, no rashes yet!

language hat  •  Link

trounce:
Besides the meaning 'To inflict chastisement upon; to punish; also, to get the better of, defeat' (1657 HOWELL How Rich. the first trounced her for murthuring the Jews), at this period it also had a more specific meaning 'To punish by legal action or process':

1638 FORD Fancies IV. i, The court shall trounce thee.
1678 BUTLER Hud. III. iii. 683, I would so trounce her, and her Purse, I'd make her kneel for better or worse.
1681 DRYDEN Spanish Fryar IV. i, I'll trounce you for offering to corrupt my Honesty.

The usage here presumably falls at least in part under the latter heading.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Sandwich pressing on that loan... Sam must be contrasting his thrift with cousin Ed's crazed spending, though in fairness to Montagu I think Charles has been holding out on him.

And again, I can't help thinking there's method in Charlie's 'lackadasical' approach to finances for his 'good friend' Sandwich. Sandwich is getting increasingly entangled in financial trouble, his reputation almost certainly starting to suffer. And Sandwich is one of the last strong former Cromwellians left.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

I can’t help thinking there’s method in Charlie’s ‘lackadasical’ approach to finances for his ‘good friend’

Same thought occurred to me

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Country or king cannot go bankrupt, only its lords and inhabitants.
Beside why should CII worry as long as he has monies coming to him, and his all his men still vying for his friendly smile, tis always the other 'feller' that be short., he has to only to worry when he unites his boosom buddies to be against him.

sharon  •  Link

Re: bedside callers.

Remember back at the beginning of the diary (1659/60) when Sam was working for the odious (at least it seemed so at the time) Downing? It seemed like Sam was always getting his morning marching orders from his master's bedside. A kind of nice irony that he is able to do business from his own bedside now.

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

“he says we shall trounce him”

To TROUNCE ... to sue at Law ...
---An Universal English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

"a bad dinner, being not looked for" hence no anger this time with the wife and servants.

This is another hint of what the diary does not normally record. I would infer that he normally tells them whether to expect him or not.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Sandwich loan ... remember, we have heard twice now of Sam finding Sandwich gambling when he goes to visit ... and on one occasion with a servant. Can't find the dates now, but it wasn't long ago. My lord has grown weak living in this Court.

StanB  •  Link

Indeed it can't have been a pleasent journey by water there still being a frost, We are all aware I'm sure of the Frost Fairs that we're held quite regularly on the Thames in 17th Century England in fact it's often referred to as the "Little ice age" Even at its peak, in the mid-17th century, the Thames freezing at London was less frequent than modern legend sometimes suggests, Of course it never exceeding about one year in ten except for four winters between 1649 and 1666 so Sams in the grip of that right now and as pointed out by a couple of the annotators above this could have something to do with the condition ailing Sam at the moment

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