Thursday 14 May 1663

Up betimes and put up some things to send to Brampton. Then abroad to the Temple, and up and down about business, and met Mr. Moore; and with him to an alehouse in Holborn; where in discourse he told me that he fears the King will be tempted to endeavour the setting the Crown upon the little Duke, which may cause troubles; which God forbid, unless it be his due! He told me my Lord do begin to settle to business again, which I am glad of, for he must not sit out, now he has done his own business by getting his estate settled, and that the King did send for him the other day to my Lady Castlemaine’s, to play at cards, where he lost 50l.; for which I am sorry, though he says my Lord was pleased at it, and said he would be glad at any time to lose 50l. for the King to send for him to play, which I do not so well like.

Thence home, and after dinner to the office, where we sat till night, and then made up my papers and letters by the post, and so home to dance with Pembleton.

This day we received a baskett from my sister Pall, made by her of paper, which hath a great deal of labour in it for country innocent work.

After supper to bed, and going to bed received a letter from Mr. Coventry desiring my coming to him to-morrow morning, which troubled me to think what the business should be, fearing it must be some bad news in Tom Hater’s business.


26 Annotations

First Reading

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Price Paid of getting THE ear :...to play at cards, where he lost 50l.; for which I am sorry, though he says my Lord was pleased at it, and said he would be glad at any time to lose 50l. for the King to send for him to play, which I do not so well like..."
Magna res est vocis et silentii temperamentum
Seneca proverbs, 74
Know when to fold

Kilroy  •  Link

50l. would be about 5K now days.

Poor Sam. Going about attempting to get the best price possible for the King. And then seeing this amount be tossed about in night of gambing.

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

To Night, to night, Nite mares, maze with gibbets in the plat and hearing the music of St Brides in the well in the background ".... which troubled me to think what the business should be, fearing it must be some bad news..."

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Sorry!!!! Neither Beth nor or her companion took thee for a years salary last night, that would have put you in deep with thy father, if thy had let Beth take your mony, his expenses for the next year. "... to play at cards, where he lost 50l.; for which I am sorry...". The Earl would be mazing, I guess, not seeing the slight of hand at pulling a card out of her puffs, or was too busy espying the garter to see if be a St George.

TerryF  •  Link

i.A.S.' dans macabre's a proper lullaby for this day.

"Mr. Moore...told me that he fears...which may cause troubles; which God forbid,...[my Lord] lost 50l.; for which I am sorry...which I do not so well like...a letter...troubled me...fearing it must be some bad news"


TerryF  •  Link

"so home to dance with Pembleton" a dans macabre....

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Well, Sandwich...No one can say my Lady Castlemaine doesn't earn her keep, eh?" a beaming Charles as Barbara awaits her winnings.

"Indeed, sire. Oh, about that 4000 pounds I'm still owed."

"Yes...Well, I must speak to Parliament some time soon about that."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Pepys."

"Mr. Coventry, sir. What did you..."

"The good news, lad, is the Duke says he doesn't mind your Hater being a Quaker so long as he does his job and doesn't start theeing and thouing in the office."

"Ah...Well, sir..."

"The bad news is...Lad, someone saw you kneeling at a Catholic mass service recently."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

So is Pemberton teaching Sam on top of giving two lessons a day to Bess or Sam encroaching on Bess' evening lesson time? That would be typical Samwellian behavior and might explain in part why she wants two lessons a day.

"I'm in the money...Hmmn-hmm, the money...I'm raking in a lot of what it takes to..." Quick look in the window glass. Ah, wavy hair perfect, smile bright, clothes brushed, handkerchief elegantly positioned, shoes...A brisk wipe.

One can never take too many pains for one's best customers...Hmmn...

Right, paper in shoe in position to cover the dear toes...

Hard to say which of the Pepys is more of a threat to the feet, lumbering about as they both do...

"Yes, I'm getting a lot of what it takes to get along." Brisk knock at the door. "Ah, good evening."

"Good evening, Mr. Pemberton, sir. Mrs. Pepys and the master are upstairs, sir."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Look at her..." Sam frowns to Ashwell as Bess clumps about, Pemberton oozing compliments.

"Can't you do anything with her?" he shakes head...

"Well...Sir..."

"Anyway, wasn't my last step perfection?" he beams.

Ummn...Ashwell eyes Hewer.

"Methinks Pemberton is right. I am a natural." Sam notes, heading in at Pemberton's summons.

"No, no, Bess. Let me show you." he calls as he takes position.

"Oh, you don't know what you're doing." Bess glares. "Mr. P says I've got the step down."

"They both stink, don't they?" Will hisses as he and Ashwell beam at the Pepys and a perspiring Pemberton.

"Reeking...But am I gonna tell them?" Ashwell shrugs.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"to my Lady Castlemaine's, to play at cards, for which he lost 50L"
methinks that the Lady was cheating and my Lord couldn't say a thing.

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

No need to cheat, Sandwich be nibbling on the wrong clues and not paying attention to the cards, or as they say, " it be in the cards"."... that the Lady was cheating ..."
Are we so Sure?? that it was not this Sandwich that did not get a piece of meat between two crusts.? and his Grandson did later coin the word.
S. to Creed "get those buffoons to bring some dear on a plat, so I can get the steak back" Creed "get that Sandwich for Sandwich".

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

The answer to "Magna res est vocis et silentii temperamentum"
The great thing is to know when to speak and when to keep quiet.

Bradford  •  Link

"he says my Lord was pleased at it, and said he would be glad at any time to lose 50l. for the King to send for him to play, which I do not so well like."

A fool and his etc.

Pedro  •  Link

“and said he would be glad at any time to lose 50l. for the King to send for him to play”

Perhaps for Sandwich, to keep in the King’s good books, a little “online poker” may not be a bad investment?

Nina Krause  •  Link

“Magna res est vocis et silentii temperamentum” better translate is : Is important to know when to speak and when to keep quiet

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Whatever the card play may do for him with the King, Sandwich's credit with cousin Sam continues to slip...

Pauline  •  Link

'Sandwich’s credit with cousin Sam"
And Sandwich's credit with me! The report of his c*** playing seems to bring on the spammers. His dissoluteness repaid in wrath upon our heads.

Pedro  •  Link

Sandwich’s credit...

Maybe it will be on the increase with Castlemaine?

A. Hamilton  •  Link

50l at cards

Not a cheap seat at the royal paramour's. But Sandwich (see Ap. 27) owes a great deal more money to the Navy and hopes to have it forgiven.

Kevin Peter  •  Link

I wonder what sort of paper basket Pall sent and what it would be used for.

cumgranosalis  •  Link

When I be a nipper getting my dailey rasher of brain stimulus, Miss Acorn would get us to make paper mache objects while she was off with another, to be exercising other athletic abilities, so we would make trays, machetes [for the boys to play pirates ]and bowles with paper mache fruit [fit for ?]. Our education would be right liberal, digging gardens , turn barley stalks into wall ornaments, crochet, as for the finer points like writing, that was a waste of time.

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

“which hath a great deal of labour in it for country innocent work”

INNOCENT, Guiltless, inoffensive, harmless; Also silly, simple.
An INNOCENT, an half-witted Person, an ideot.
---An universal etymological English dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

If Sandwich were to lose £50 per week, it would add up to £2500 per year: no wonder Sam doesn't like it!

Still, it's very clever of Charles to get his courtiers to help support his mistress: no wonder they need to solicit bribes in order to survive!

Pirate Queen  •  Link

I'd guess that Pall's basket made of paper was done in quillwork, many thin strips of paper (scrolled around the quill from a pen) to make decorative curlicues. It's ladies' busywork - Pall's basket was probably small, to hold trinkets, if it had any use other than decoration. Info on 17th-century quillwork is very scarce and few if any examples have survived, but there's an overview of the craft here. Quillwork has enjoyed a revival in recent decades, by the way.
http://quillingwonderland.com/his…

Gerald Berg  •  Link

RE: 50£
Imagine if Sandwich cleaned them out, do you think he would get invited back? Besides a ringer knows when to lose so as to win more later.

Log in to post an annotation.

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