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Friday 5 March 1668/69

Up, and by water to White Hall, where did a little business with the Duke of York at our usual attending him, and thence to my wife, who was with my coach at Unthanke’s, though not very well of those upon her, and so home to dinner, and after dinner I to the Tower, where I find Sir W. Coventry with abundance of company with him; and after sitting awhile, and hearing some merry discourse, and, among others, of Mr. Brouncker’s being this day summoned to Sir William Morton, one of the judges, to give in security for his good behaviour, upon his words the other day to Sir John Morton, a Parliament-man, at White Hall, who had heretofore spoke very highly against Brouncker in the House, I away, and to Aldgate, and walked forward towards White Chapel, till my wife overtook me with the coach, it being a mighty fine afternoon; and there we went the first time out of town with our coach and horses, and went as far as Bow, the spring beginning a little now to appear, though the way be dirty; and so, with great pleasure, with the fore-part of our coach up, we spent the afternoon. And so in the evening home, and there busy at the Office awhile, and so to bed, mightily pleased with being at peace with my poor wife, and with the pleasure we may hope to have with our coach this summer, when the weather comes to be good.

6 Mar 1669 4 Mar 1669

Temperature: 5°C / 41°F (Mar 1669 avg.)

Also on this day

John Gadbury’s London Diary

  • Misty, cloudy, clear evening

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Annotations

  • “Mr. Brouncker’s being this day summoned to Sir William Morton, one of the judges, to give in security for his good behaviour, upon his words the other day to Sir John Morton, a Parliament-man, at White Hall, who had heretofore spoke very highly against Brouncker in the House, “

    Sir John Morton wasn’t exactly praising Henry Brouncker: “highly” can also mean “heatedly.” L&M note these men had drawn swords on each other in Whitehall and Brouncker had been wounded. (the two Mortons are not related.) There had been a sharp exchange between Sir John and Brouncker on 18 April 1668, shortly before Brouncker had been expelled from the House for his share in the naval miscarriages of 1665.

  • Nothing like driving with the top down on a balmy spring day!

  • “the pleasure we may hope to have with our coach this summer, when the weather comes to be good.”

    Oh, dear ……

  • Coventry not quite an unperson I see.

  • I am still puzzled how Coventry came to be ensnared in what appears to have been a contrived trap. I hope that is cleared up in subsequent entries and commentaries.

  • Mary like you, I find this entry unbearably poignant.

  • > who was with my coach at Unthanke’s, though not very well of those upon her,

    Any translations/clarifications of this odd phrasing?

  • “those” are Elizabeth’s menses.

    She’s feeling a bit below par, as many women do at these times.

    This is the phraseology that Pepys often uses.

  • Henry Brouncker’s expulsion last April: “Brouncker put out of the House, and a writ for a new election, and an impeachment ordered to be brought in against him, he being fled.” http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1668/04/21/#fn1-1668-04-21

  • “…Harry Brouncker’s being now come back, and appears this day the first day at White Hall; but hath not been yet with the King, but is secure that he shall be well received, I hear. God bless us, when such men as he shall be restored!”
    http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1668/11/04/

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