Saturday 28 December 1661

At home all the morning; and in the afternoon all of us at the office, upon a letter from the Duke for the making up of a speedy estimate of all the debts of the Navy, which is put into good forwardness. I home and Sir W. Pen to my house, who with his children staid playing cards late, and so to bed.


12 Annotations

First Reading

vicenzo  •  Link

Penn be 40 and 3 kidds [Wm Jr, Margaret and young Richard].

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Wonder if Will Jr. was there, dropping the occassional Quaker plug while dealing...

Sounds like a pleasant holiday week evening...Sir WP as always a pleasant companion.

Lawrence  •  Link

"Upon a letter from the Duke for the making up of a speedy estimate of all the debts of the Navy" per L&M "Dated 27 December, asking for estimates covering the period up to 31 January following."

andy  •  Link

in the afternoon all of us at the office, upon a letter from the Duke...

my sympathy Sam, and I'm hoping for a quiet afternoon in the office too...!

dirk  •  Link

"Upon a letter from the Duke for the making up of a speedy estimate of all the debts of the Navy..."

Maybe a reaction to Sam's (and others') insistance on the poor credit situation of the Office?

Cfr. the following earlier diary entries:

"the credit of the office is brought so low, that none will sell us any thing without our personal security given for the same" (11 June 1661)

"This morning Sir W. Batten and Sir W. Pen and I, waited upon the Duke of York in his chamber, to give him an account of the condition of the Navy for lack of money, and how our own very bills are offered upon the Exchange, to be sold at 20 in the 100 loss. He is much troubled at it, and will speak to the King and Council of it this morning." (14 August 1661)

Second Reading

john  •  Link

This entry also shows just how well the accounts are now. To draw up the entire debts in one day -- even a "speedy estimate" -- is impressive.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"in the afternoon all of us at the office, upon a letter from the Duke for the making up of a speedy estimate of all the debts of the Navy"

Dated 27 December, asking for estimates covering the period up to 31 January following: original and copy in the National Archives. For more on this see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Pepys' friend from the Rota Club, James Harrington the author of Oceana, had a bad day today:

'On December 28, 1661, James Harrington, then 50 years old, was arrested and carried to the Tower as a traitor. His "Aphorisms" were on his desk, and as they also were to be carried off, he asked only that they might first be stitched together in their proper order. Why he was arrested, he was not told.

'One of James Harrington’s sisters pleaded in vain to Charles II. He was falsely accused of complicity in an imaginary plot, of which nothing could be made by its investigators. No heed was paid to the denials of a man of the sincerest nature, who never had concealed his thoughts or actions.

'“Why,” he was asked, at his first examination by John Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale, who was one of his kinsmen, “why did he, as a private man, meddle with politics? What had a private man to do with government?” His answer was: “My lord, there is not any public person, nor any magistrate, that has written on politics, worth a button. All they that have been excellent in this way have been private men, as private men, my lord, as myself. There is Plato, there is Aristotle, there is Livy, there is Machiavel. My lord, I can sum up Aristotle’s ‘Politics’ in a very few words: he says, there is the Barbarous Monarchy -- such a one where the people have no votes in making the laws; he says, there is the Heroic Monarchy -- such a one where the people have their votes in making the laws; and then, he says, there is Democracy, and affirms that a man cannot be said to have liberty but in a democracy only.”

'Lauderdale here showing impatience, Harrington added: “I say Aristotle says so. I have not said so much. And under what prince was it? Was it not under Alexander, the greatest prince then in the world? I beseech you, my lord, did Alexander hang up Aristotle? Did he molest him? Livy, for a commonwealth, is one of the fullest authors; did not he write under Augustus Caesar? Did Caesar hang up Livy? Did he molest him? Machiavel, what a commonwealthsman was he! but he wrote under the Medici when they were princes in Florence: did they hang up Machiavel, or did they molest him? I have done no otherwise than as the greatest politicians: the King will do no otherwise than as the greatest princes.”

'That was too much to hope of the low-minded Charles II. Harrington could not obtain even the show of justice in a public trial.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 2

'He was kept 5 months an untried prisoner in the Tower, only sheltered from daily brutalities by bribe to the lieutenant. When his habeas corpus had been moved for, it was at first flatly refused; and when it had been granted, Harrington was smuggled away from the Tower between 1 and 2 a.m., and carried on board a ship that took him to closer imprisonment on St. Nicholas Island, opposite Plymouth.

'There his health suffered seriously, and his family obtained his removal to imprisonment in Plymouth by giving a bond of £5,000 as sureties against his escape. In Plymouth, James Harrington suffered from scurvy, and at last he became insane.'

James Harrington never really recovered and died in 1677, so these notes cover the Diary years.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

“Wonder if Will Jr. was there, dropping the occasional Quaker plug while dealing.”

William Penn Jr. probably was home for Christmas, but he was no Quaker in 1661:

In 1660, William Penn Jr. arrived at Oxford University and enrolled as a gentleman scholar with an assigned servant. The student body was a volatile mix of swash-buckling Cavaliers (aristocratic Anglicans), sober Puritans, and nonconforming Quakers.

The new government's discouragement of religious dissent gave the Cavaliers the license to harass the minority groups. Because of Adm. Penn's high position and social status, William Jr. was firmly a Cavalier, but his sympathies lay with the persecuted Quakers. To avoid conflict, he withdrew from the fray and became a reclusive scholar.[17] 17 a b Hans Fantel, William Penn: Apostle of Dissent, William Morrow & Co., New York, 1974, ISBN 0-688-00310-9, p. 29

At this time, William Penn Jr. was developing his individuality and philosophy of life. He found that he was not in sympathy with either his father's martial view of the world or his mother's society-oriented sensibilities, "I had no relations that inclined to so solitary and spiritual way; I was a child alone. A child given to musing, occasionally feeling the divine presence."[18] 18 Bonamy Dobrée, William Penn: Quaker and Pioneer, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1932, New York, p. 9

William Jr. returned home for the splendor of Charles II's coronation and was a guest of honor alongside his father, who received a highly unusual royal salute for his services to the Crown.[17] 17 a b Hans Fantel, William Penn: Apostle of Dissent, p. 29

Although undetermined at the time, Adm. Penn had great hopes for his son's career under the favor of Charles II.

Back at Oxford, William Jr. considered a medical career and took some dissecting classes. Rational thought began to spread into science, politics and economics, which he did not like.

When theologian John Owen was fired from his deanery in March 1660, William Jr. and other open-minded students rallied to his side and attended seminars at the dean's house, where intellectual discussions covered the gamut of new thought.[19] 19 Hans Fantel, William Penn: Apostle of Dissent, p. 35

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 2

William Jr. learned the valuable skills of forming ideas into theory, discussing theory through reasoned debate, and testing the theories in the real world.

At this time Jr. also faced his first moral dilemma: After Dean John Owen was censured again after being fired, students were threatened with punishment for associating with him. Younger Penn stood by the dean, thereby earning a fine and reprimand from the university.[20] 20 Hans Fantel, William Penn: Apostle of Dissent, p. 37

In despair Adm. Penn temporarily took William Jr. away from Oxford, hoping to distract him from the heretical influences of the university.[21] 21 Hans Fantel, William Penn: Apostle of Dissent, p. 38

The attempt had no effect, and father and son struggled to understand each other. Back at Oxford, the administration imposed stricter religious requirements including daily chapel attendance and required dress. William Penn Jr. rebelled against enforced worship and was expelled.

His father, in a rage, attacked William Jr. with a cane and forced him from their home.[22] 22 Hans Fantel, William Penn: Apostle of Dissent, p. 43 [WHERE WERE YOU, PEPYS?]

Lady Penn made peace in the family, which allowed William Jr. to return home but she quickly concluded that both her social standing and her husband's career were being threatened by their son's behavior.

At age 18 [Oct. 1662], William Penn Jr. was sent to Paris to get him out of view, improve his manners, and expose him to another culture.[23] 23 Hans Fantel, William Penn: Apostle of Dissent, p. 45

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