Saturday 25 January 1661/62

At home and the office all the morning. Walking in the garden to give the gardener directions what to do this year (for I intend to have the garden handsome), Sir W. Pen came to me, and did break a business to me about removing his son from Oxford to Cambridge to some private college. I proposed Magdalene, but cannot name a tutor at present; but I shall think and write about it.

Thence with him to the Trinity-house to dinner; where Sir Richard Brown (one of the clerks of the Council, and who is much concerned against Sir N. Crisp’s project of making a great sasse1 in the King’s lands about Deptford, to be a wett-dock to hold 200 sail of ships. But the ground, it seems, was long since given by the King to Sir Richard) was, and after the Trinity-house men had done their business, the master, Sir William Rider, came to bid us welcome; and so to dinner, where good cheer and discourse, but I eat a little too much beef, which made me sick, and so after dinner we went to the office, and there in a garden I went in the dark and vomited, whereby I did much ease my stomach. Thence to supper with my wife to Sir W. Pen’s, his daughter being come home to-day, not being very well, and so while we were at supper comes Mr. Moore with letters from my Lord Sandwich, speaking of his lying still at Tangier, looking for the fleet; which, we hope, is now in a good way thither.

So home to write letters by the post to-night, and then again to Sir W. Pen’s to cards, where very merry, and so home and to bed.


35 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro.  •  Link

"Mr. Moore with letters from my Lord Sandwich, speaking of his lying still at Tangier"

These letters from Sandwich must be quite recent, as we are close to the handover of Tangier, but I am sure that some of the other letters have clearly been received out of sequence. For example the "Juego de Toro," mentioned on the 11th November last year, almost certainly comes after his reception in Lisbon.
With Sam's attention to detail I find this interesting. Is Sam really only interested in his Lord's safe return?
I have drawn together the sequence of letters and put them under the background to Montagu.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Glyn  •  Link

Want to know what mad revelries Phil Gyford has been surrendering himself to?

http://www.gyford.com/

Pedro found an entry in John Evelyn's diary for the proposed creation of a sasse, last week on January 16:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

This sasse would have been an impressive achievement: a dock that could hold 200 sailing ships at the same time would have been a huge thing to build.

I thought that the young William Penn had been expelled from university, perhaps they relented and allowed him back.

JWB  •  Link

Expulsion
"Entering Oxford at fifteen the boy soon fell under the influence of Thomas Loe, a preacher of Quaker doctrine and became imbued with his teachings. This clashed at once with his surroundings and the College requirements. He refused to attend chapel or to wear the customary gown, deeming it a sort of surplice. A little group of students who had accepted Loe's principles joined him in this obduracy, going so far as to strip the gowns from the persons of willing wearers. This led to his expulsion." Don C Sietz, Foreward to "The Tryal of William Penn and William Mead" http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/ete…

vicenzo  •  Link

That old fashioned Outhouse[Privy none the less or DTL for the old Tommy Atkins] of yesteryear: "...so after dinner we went to the office, and there in a garden I went in the dark and vomited,..."

Clement  •  Link

Sir Richard Browne and John Evelyn
I remember reading somewhere that Browne's only daughter and heir married John Evelyn, and thus Evelyn later inherited Sayes Court.
Can't find my source though. Tomalin mentions the in-law relationship, but not much more.

David A. Smith  •  Link

"there in a garden I went in the dark and vomited"
Although this reminds me of a (doubtless slanderous) Australian joke I know, I now realize (with something of a start) that this is yet another benefit of indoor plumbing -- you can evacuate in private, and flush away the remains.
Forgive me also for imagining Sam, in full velet coat, high hat, and possibly peruke, stepping briefly out and returning, as much refreshed ...

vicenzo  •  Link

No perruque yet [ peri-wig,{perry winkle}[peri excess a meaning].
Interesting connection to the Diary.RE: Sir Richard Browne and John Evelyn some connections, Google be great:
John Evelyn (1629-1706)
http://greenwichpast.com/vip/writ…
Sir Richard Browne :http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/1348/
Painting of Mary Evelyn [nee Browne]: http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search…
bio of JE:
Born in 1620 into a substantial Surrey landowning family whose fortunes were founded in gunpowder manufacture, John Evelyn came of age just as the Civil War began `in a conjunction of the greatest and most prodigious hazards that ever the youth of England saw'. To escape the disturbances, he embarked on a prolonged and formative period of travel in Italy and France, finally coming to rest in Paris in 1647 where he married the daughter of the English Resident, Sir Richard Browne, whose house was a centre for the exiled royalist community.

http://greenwichpast.com/vip/writ…

interesting connections ; http://www.e-paranoids.com/j/jo/j…

http://www.bartleby.com/218/1004.…
Brown was a general and then the Citi [business, lord mayor etc.], and Evelyn's money was from muck, sorry gunpowder. And as sir Fran: Bacon dothe say, where there be muck, there be money, combining the Yorkshire Phrase and that of Bacons. Nowt has changed.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"for I intend to have the garden handsome"
Was this a flower garden? herb garden?
orchard? any comments?

Australian Susan  •  Link

Come on, David, you can't leave that hanging? *what* Australian "joke" !
Re the Garden. Fascinating and frustrating entry. How much garden did Sam have? What did town gardens consist of at those times? Need someone with a history of gardening in their heads! Is this all part of Sam's urban arriviste conspicuous display? Or to please his wife ("Lady Sandwich has such a pretty garden, Samuel"...)Was this a planted garden? Or things in tubs and pots in a gravelled area? Smooth lawns very difficult to acheive. Do hope we hear more about this.

Australian Susan  •  Link

PS Many thanks to Pedro for the tidy work about the letters.

upper_left_hand_corner  •  Link

Two garden notes:

1) I thought Pepys' quarters were on the top floor, so that he could walk out on the leads. Do his apartments span ground to top floor?

2) Sam plans to beautify his own garden but pays no thought to sullying another's. I hope he at least kicked a little dirt over his mess to keep away the flies.

Pauline  •  Link

"(for I intend to have the garden handsome)"
The Navy Office and some of the officers were housed in "the northern section of a large house on the e. side of Seething Lane, a few doors south of its junction with Crutched Friars, with a couryard opening onto the Lane and a garden stretching from the Lane to the n.-w. corner of Tower Hill." (L&M Companion)

Makes it sound like the garden is on the Lane (west) side and a courtyard on the east side. Anyone remember where the old map is that shows Seething Lane and the buildings? The Navy occupies only the north of the building, the garden extends south to Tower Hill--so I wonder if Sam et al had any control over the garden beyond their part of the building. I would guess that Sam's gardening hopes are for the areas at his doorsteps, not the whole thing.

vicenzo  •  Link

More of the expansive homes were built around a court yard; This building was divided into to town type houses, from basement to roof: remember the music practice he did in the garden, and his neigbour was a little put out, then there be inside toilet of his buddy Will: B. that over flowed into his little old basement area.
So I imagine the flower beds be shared by dog and his friends too.

Pauline  •  Link

Rocque map, 1746 - Seething lane
http://www.motco.com/map/81002/de… lower-left-hand corner
Yes, this is like what I remember seeing, but this map is dated 1746 and the building of the diary period burned down in 1673; new building erected on the site in 1683, designed by Christopher Wren and now opening on to Crutched Friars.

DrCari  •  Link

Regarding the prevalence and manner of home gardens one might have found in Sam's era: some interesting descriptions of garden design and popularity ornamental horticulture can be found in "London: the Biography" by Peter Ackroyd.
Recommended read for those who haven't heard of it.

Pauline  •  Link

Crutched Friars
I can vividly see these crutched friars whose beaten path becomes a London street.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Crutched Friars
Think this refers to a method of building using crutches - i.e. whole timbers (often from ships) to make A frames at each end of the house - rest being filled in with wattle and daub and some cross timbers. (to form a horizontal roof line and to form the bottom of the roof - which would be thatch) Cheap form of building houses in medieval times. Probably all the impoverished Friars could afford. Could also have been built by the Friars as a form of home for the homeless or sick.

Pauline  •  Link

Crutched Friars
I liked what you were saying, Australian Susan, and googled for more information on this kind of crutching, but came up with this:

Crutched Friars (Or Crossed Friars). An order of mendicant friars who went to England in the thirteenth century from Italy, where they existed for some time, and where they were called "Fratres Cruciferi" ...Each friar carried in his hand a wooden staff surmounted by a cross and also had a cross of red cloth upon his habit, from which circumstances originated the name by which they became commonly known. Their rule was that of St. Augustine and their habit originally brown or black, was later on changed to blue by Pope Pius II.... They settled in London in 1249, where they gave their name to the locality, near Tower Hill, still called "Crutched Friars".

upper_left_hand_corner  •  Link

Crutched Friars = Fratres Cruciferi

Thanks, Pauline! Cruciferi = cross-bearing. Londoners would have perhaps heard the Italian as crootchy-ferry (rhyming with sooty) and dropped the last part.

Australian Susan  •  Link

Thanks, Pauline too! I should google more. And take the English habit of contracting words into account - like the Oxford dialect word for a roadside verge - grinsard, which is a contraction of greensward. Here in Queensland it is prosacially called a Nature Strip.
Thanks to vincent for his link to the garden designed by Evelyn - rather more ambitious than Sam's patch! I wonder if his father has been doing things with the gardens at Brampton and inspired his son?

GrahamT  •  Link

Link to map centred on Seething Lane and Crutched Friars. Note the nearby street name.
St Olaves Church is about where the arrow point is. I have some photographs of this area for the Pepys discussion list, when I get a chance to post them.
http://streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf…

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

An old word in Dutch for sluice (D.: sluis) is "sas".; to be come across in placenames like 'Sas van Gent'.

vicenzo  •  Link

This week the H: of Lauds have been busy:
Repealing Acts of the Long Parliament.
The House resumed the Debate of Yesterday, concerning the rescinding of the Acts made in the Parliament begun the Third Day of November, 1640.
And the Titles of the particular Acts were read.
The First was, the Act for the Triennial Parliaments: And thereupon ORDERED, That this Act shall be repealed; and a new Act prepared, for calling of a Parliament Once in Three Years, to run according to the Expressions in the Act of E. III.
And, after a long Debate further of the Business, these Lords following were appointed to be a Committee, to prepare a Bill, for the Repealing of all Acts of Parliament made in the Parliament begun the Third Day of November, 1640; and, in the same Bill, to prepare Clauses of re-enacting such several Bills as shall be thought fit by the said Committee, or directed by the House, whereby the Subjects may find themselves in Possession of as great Benefit and Security as they enjoyed by virtue of those Acts of Parliament, with such Clauses of Pardon, Indemnity, and Security, as are necessary, with Reference to the said Acts as shall stand repealed:

From: British History Online
Source: House of Lords Journal Volume 11: 24 January 1662. Journal of the House of Lords: volume 11, ().
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Date: 29/01/2005

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to the Trinity-house to dinner; where Sir Richard Brown (one of the clerks of the Council, and who is much concerned against Sir N. Crisp’s project of making a great sasse in the King’s lands about Deptford, to be a wett-dock to hold 200 sail of ships. But the ground, it seems, was long since given by the King to Sir Richard)

L&M note Pepys later had a hand in securing the rejection of the proposal when he served [ as a newly-inducted Trinity House "younger brother" ] on a committee appointed by Trinity House and the Navy Board.

15 Feb the committee is composed after debate; a report is drawn up http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
19 Feb the report is submitted and defended. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Thence to supper with my wife to Sir W. Pen’s, his daughter being come home to-day, not being very well...."

L&M note Margaret Penn [ who may be about 14 ] was at school at Clerkenwell.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Today in Lords Message from the King, concerning the Common Prayer Book.

"CHARLES R.

"His Majesty having, according to His Declaration of the 25th of October, 1660, granted His Commission under the Great Seal, to several Bishops and other Divines, to review the Book of Common Prayer, and to prepare such Alterations and Additions as they thought sit to offer: Afterwards the Convocations of the Clergy of both the Provinces of Canterbury and Yorke were by His Majesty called and assembled, and are now sitting. And His Majesty hath been pleased to authorize and require the Presidents of the said Convocations, and other the Bishops and Clergy of the same, to review the said Book of Common Prayer, and the Book of the Form and Manner of making and consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons; and that, after mature Consideration, they should make such Additions or Alterations in the said Books respectively as to them should seem meet and convenient; and should exhibit and present the same to His Majesty in Writing, for His Majesty's further Consideration, Allowance, or Confirmation. Since which Time, upon full and mature Deliberation, they, the said Presidents, Bishops, and Clergy of both Provinces, have accordingly reviewed the said Books, and have made, exhibited, and presented to His Majesty in Writing, some Alterations, which they think sit to be inserted in the same, and some additional Prayers to the said Book of Common Prayer, to be used upon proper and emergent Occasions.

"All which His Majesty having duly considered, doth, with the Advice of His Council, fully approve and allow the same; and doth recommend it to the House of Peers, that the said Books of Common Prayer, and of the Form of Ordination and Consecration of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with those Alterations and Additions, be the Book which, in and by the intended Act of Uniformity, shall be appointed to be used, by all that officiate in all Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Chapels, and in all Chapels of Colleges and Halls in both the Universities, and the Colleges of Eaton and Winchester, and in all Parish Churches and Chapels within the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwicke upon Tweed, and by all that make or consecrate Bishops, Priests, or Deacons, in any of the said Places, under such Sanctions and Penalties as the Parliament shall think fit.

"Given at Our Court at Whitehall, the 24th Day of February, 1661."

The Book mentioned in His Majesty's Message was brought into this House; which is ordered to be referred to the Committee for the Act of Uniformity.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Bill  •  Link

"Walking in the garden to give the gardener directions"

" I remember your honour very well, when you newly came out of France, and wore pantaloon breeches; at which time your late honoured father [Sir W. Penn] dwelt in the Navy Office, in that apartment the Lord Viscount Brouncker dwelt in afterwards, which was on the north part of the Navy Office garden."— P. Gibson of Penn ye Quaker, Life of Penn, ii., 616.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.

Bill  •  Link

"Sir W. Pen came to me, and did break a business to me about removing his son from Oxford to Cambridge to some private college."

Having left college, at his return home to the vice-admiral his father, instead of kneeling to ask his blessing, as is the custom with the English, he went up to him with his hat on, and accosted him thus; "Friend, I am glad to see thee in good health." The vice-admiral thought his son crazy; but soon discovered he was turned Quaker.
---The Works of M. de Voltaire. T.G. Smollett, 1762.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir W. Pen...did break a business to me about removing his son...to some private college."

Sc. to a small college. (L&M)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir W. Pen...did break a business to me about removing his son...to some private college."

Sc. to a small college. (L&M)

Presumably, Admiral Penn's idea is that his son William, who had been "sent down" (expelled) from Christ Church, Oxford, for nonconformity in the previous October, would seek an academic venue of relative obscurity.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir Richard Brown (one of the clerks of the Council, and who is much concerned against Sir N. Crisp’s project of making a great sasse1 in the King’s lands about Deptford, to be a wett-dock to hold 200 sail of ships. But the ground, it seems, was long since given by the King to Sir Richard) "

L&M note the Duke of York and Ormond had viewed the site on 16 January: Evelyn. Pepys later had a hand in securing the rejection of the proposal at the instance of a committee appointed by Trinity House and the Navy Board: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… For Browne's interest in the land see Evelyn [his son-in-law] ii. 537 n.; iii. 59 n. Crisp had propounded the scheme to Evelyn in 1655: Evelyn, 31 October.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Walking in the garden to give the gardener directions what to do this year (for I intend to have the garden handsome),"

L&M: Henty Wise, gardener, later submitted a bill (8 May 1662) for £3 15s. for work on the Navy Office garden: PRO, Adm. 20/2, p. 28. Possibly he is the gardener here referred to. The famous Henry Wise, gardener to William III and Anne, may have been his son.

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.