Saturday 10 November 1660

Up early. Sir Wm. Batten and I to make up an account of the wages of the officers and mariners at sea, ready to present to the Committee of Parliament this afternoon. Afterwards came the Treasurer and Comptroller, and sat all the morning with us till the business was done.

So we broke up, leaving the thing to be wrote over fair and carried to Trinity House for Sir Wm. Batten’s hand. When staying very long I found (as appointed) the Treasurer and Comptroller at Whitehall, and so we went with a foul copy to the Parliament house, where we met with Sir Thos. Clarges and Mr. Spry, and after we had given them good satisfaction we parted.

The Comptroller and I to the coffee-house, where he shewed me the state of his case; how the King did owe him about 6000l.. But I do not see great likelihood for them to be paid, since they begin already in Parliament to dispute the paying of the just sea-debts, which were already promised to be paid, and will be the undoing of thousands if they be not paid.

So to Whitehall to look but could not find Mr. Fox, and then to Mr. Moore at Mr. Crew’s, but missed of him also. So to Paul’s Churchyard, and there bought Montelion, which this year do not prove so good as the last was; so after reading it I burnt it.

After reading of that and the comedy of the Rump, which is also very silly, I went to bed. This night going home, Will and I bought a goose.


17 Annotations

First Reading

Bullus Hutton  •  Link

A rare insight into the actual workings of Sam's day (apart from networking, gambling and drinking) he spends all this morning doing some heavy duty number-crunching with a couple of high-level bean-counters, assists with the formalities of presentation-quality accounts, but makes sure a rough copy gets over to the Parliament buildings, where there is a need to know the bottom line figure as quickly as possible.
His work done, and any explanations completed to the clients satisfaction, he can relax in a coffee-house (presumably chosen by the Comptroller, who is unwilling to muddle his accounting brain with strong ale) and indulge in phlosopical discussion as to the ramifications of the king's failure to pay the required 6,000l.
Business having been taken care of, it's off to the bookstore for some entertaining reading!

James Cridland  •  Link

Montelion appears to be entertaining reading, certainly.

It's mentioned here: http://35.1911encyclopedia.org/P/…
...I can't work out whether John Phillips is supposed to the author of this book, or whether, more likely, it is a 1660 annual equivalent of Private Eye. It seems to be "full of co(a)rse royalist wit", and the 1661 and 1662 editions are not by the same author.

language hat  •  Link

"and there bought Montelion":
From the 1911 Britannica:
JOHN PHILLIPS (1631-1706), in 1652 published a Latin reply to the anonymous attack on Milton entitled Pro Rege et populo anglicano. He appears to have acted as unofficial secretary to Milton, but, disappointed of regular political employment, and chafing against the discipline he was under, he published in 1655 a bitter attack on Puritanism entitled a Satyr against Hypocrites (1655). In 1656 he was summoned before the privy council for his share in a book of licentious poems, Sportive Wit, which was suppressed by the authorities but almost immediately replaced by a similar collection, Wit and Drollery. In Montelion (1660) he ridiculed the astrological almanacs of William Lilly. Two other skits of this name, in i661 and 1662, also full of course royalist wit, were probably by another hand.

Eric Walla  •  Link

Just a reminder about the rise of coffee, which had just percolated up into England within the previous ten years. If you haven't read them, the posts on coffee are particularly stimulating:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Even if you don't care beans about the subject I would suggest imbibing.

vincent  •  Link

Promises promises until the deed is done
"...since they begin already in Parliament to dispute the paying of the just sea-debts, which were already promised to be paid, and will be the undoing of thousands if they be not paid...." Always get the money up Front. " Remember the great cheering by the Tars.
SP is right, there could be great undoing if that bunch get loose in London town and no Ale money, forget the perculator, the bung could be go sky high, there being no Militia around to help out the night watchmen. There is nothing worse than unsatisfied old Salts that cannot get a mouth on a pint of ale and and arm around a wench.

Peter  •  Link

The Comptroller's £6,000….According to L&M, Slingsby had delivered a petition to the King in May 1660 (he certainly got in early!) “referring, among other things, to £5,800 owed him by the late King ‘for arms delivered’” He died in October 1661 according to the background note on this site. Presumably Sam’s assesment that he would never be paid was correct…..

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

"there bought Montelion, which this year do not prove so good as the last was; so after reading it I burnt it."

"Montelion, the Prophetical Almanac for the year 1660, 8vo, with a frontispiece, by John Phillips." The Montelions for 1661 and 1662 were written by Thomas Klatman. It would appear that Pepys bought the Montelion for 1661, as there had not been one for 1659.—See Watt's Bibliotheca.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Bill  •  Link

"the comedy of the Rump"

"The Rump, or the Mirror of the late Times," a comedy, by John Tatham.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Matthew Moppett  •  Link

"there bought Montelion, which this year do not prove so good as the last was; so after reading it I burnt it."

This seems to be a fairly extreme reaction. Was the (private) burning of books one took a dislike to a common practice in the 17th Century?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"After reading...the comedy of the Rump, which is also very silly, I went to bed."

L&M note this was "The Rump, or the Mirror of the late Times," a satirical comedy of the Cromwellian régime by John Tatham, acted at Dorset Court, printed in 1660 and 1661, and it is not in the Pepysian Library.

http://books.google.com/books?id=…

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

MM: I suggest that he burnt it to be rid of it because it contained subversive and rude, perhaps lewd, comments about some of those now in power which he, as a rising respectable civil servant, would be embarrassed to be found to have purchased and read if he disposed of the book some other way or kept it and it came to public notice. So burning it was not extreme - it was a quick and practical and untraceable way of disposing of something which was only intended as ephemera.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Up early. Sir Wm. Batten and I to make up an account of the wages of the officers and mariners at sea, ready to present to the Committee of Parliament this afternoon. . . . .So we broke up, leaving the thing to be wrote over fair and carried to Trinity House for Sir Wm. Batten’s hand. When staying very long I found (as appointed) the Treasurer and Comptroller at Whitehall, and so we went with a foul copy to the Parliament house, where we met with Sir Thos. Clarges and Mr. Spry...."

L&M: The two M.P.'s appointed by the Commons on the 8th to present the report on the navy's dents. They presented it on the 12th: CJ. viii. 179., 182; Parl. Hist.. iv. 143-4. See also Duke of York to Nave Board, 9 November: PRO, Adm. 2/1745, f.13r.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"This night going home, Will and I bought a goose."

Was it alive or dead?
Jane won't like you if it is alive.

John C.  •  Link

"...to be wrote over fair and carried to Trinity House for Sir Wm. Batten’s hand."

Does he mean the document should be submitted in Sir Wm. Batten's handwriting?

JayW  •  Link

I assumed it would be written out neatly by a clerk and then signed off by Sir William Batten.

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

Slingsby's petition of May 1660... ah yes, there it is in the State Papers (still in their place at https://play.google.com/store/boo…). Dated "May?" and summarized thusly:

"To refer to some of the Council the disputes between him and Sir George Carteret, relative to the Treasurership of the Navy; is almost the eldest sea-captain surviving; served the late king, who owed him 5,800£. for arms delivered, and gave him the Treasurership of the Navy; set out ships from Bristol at his own charge, frequently visited His Majesty by stealth in his restraint, and was employed by him in his most private negotiations, for which he was cast into the loathsome dungeon", &c., &c., &c. Filed away by the Papers' editors as No. 153, and followed by a No. 154, "to the same effect" - always prudent to send a duplicate.

So the good comptroller petitioned for reversion of his old job, but he forgot to just ask explicitly for the king to repay him back the money. Like hundreds of others he just mentions his deeds for the record then humbly asks for some little job in consideration of his service - and no cigar there since giving the plum to Carteret is of course exactly what the king did, having only limited patience for reversions and said Carteret being a political bird that flies way, way higher. Instead, in August he was granted that naval comptrollership, clearly not as good as it came with just "fee, 50£. a year, and travelling expenses; and 8d. a day for two clerks".

The treasurership, by comparison, will get you £2,000 p.a. (as per https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…). Worth a petition or two, but c'mon, Slingsby old chap, you'll be certifying their accounts, don't tell me it's not full of opportunities, wink-wink. Just think about those open-ended "travelling expenses".

As for the petition's timing, clearly the competition required to move fast, but in this, the first week back on the throne for a king without a working administration and still living off the pocket money given by the Dutch, the State Papers already list over 250 petitions. "And", cry in despair the clerks dealing with the paper flood, "they've all been cast in loathsome dungeons by Cromwell!" Oh, and this one is the navy's "almost eldest captain", too; why should we shower thousands on someone who could die before he gets them anyway?

Dai Aqua  •  Link

Your goose would be alive and kicking at the point of sale.

It would be wrapped-and-strapped for you to take it with you to be fattened and fed until needed at a later date. The servants would know what to do.

Alternatively, the goose-merchant would do the needful there and then.... pot-ready, as it were..

There’s a long history in England and Wales of animals intended for the table of all kinds - cattle, pigs including Geese - being driven (by ‘drovers’) long distances to be sold for further fattening or eventual market.

Geese could be walked long distances, typically from the farms in Kent or Norfolk to London. To protect their feet from lameness, they could also be shod with protective strips of leather.

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