Tuesday 9 June 1668

(Tuesday).

When come to Oxford, a very sweet place: paid our guide, 1l. 2s. 6d.
barber, 2s. 6d.
book, Stonage,1 4s.
To dinner; and then out with my wife and people, and landlord:
and to him that showed us the schools and library, 10s.
to him that showed us All Souls’ College, and Chichly’s picture, 5s.
So to see Christ Church with my wife, I seeing several others very fine alone, with W. Hewer, before dinner,
and did give the boy that went with me 1s.
Strawberries, 1s. 2d.
Dinner and servants, 1l. 0s. 6d.
After come home from the schools, I out with the landlord to Brazen-nose College; — to the butteries, and in the cellar find the hand of the Child of Hales, … long.
Butler, 2s.
Thence with coach and people to Physic-garden, 1s.
So to Friar Bacon’s study: I up and saw it, and give the man 1s.
Bottle of sack for landlord, 2s.
Oxford mighty fine place; and well seated, and cheap entertainment. At night come to Abingdon, where had been a fair of custard; and met many people and scholars going home; and there did get some pretty good musick,
and sang and danced till supper: 5s.

20 Annotations

First Reading

James in Illinois  •  Link

"Child of Hales, ... long.
Butler,
Thence"

L&M do not have the ellipsis. Instead:

"child of Hales___Butler___Thence"

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The Wheatley / Gutenberg edition reads
"to the butteries, and in the cellar find the hand of the Child of Hales, . . . long. Butler, 2s."

Methinks Phil's formatting of these odd pages has gradually improved on L&M in showing who is owed what.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Recte "who is paid what."
Phil also (incidentally) avoids violating copyright.

Bryan M  •  Link

Child of Hales - John Middleton

From the Brasenose College web site:
On the way home from London he [Sir Gilbert Ireland] and John Middleton visited the College, and there is a tradition that Middleton left an impression of his hand on a wall in the College. This is supported by an entry in Samuel Pepys' diary for 9th June 1668: 'to Brazen-nose College to the butteries, and in the cellar find the hand of the Child of Hales'. A Fellow of the College, questioned in the 1930s, recalled that until the 1880s there was an outline of a hand on a gilt background on one of the door posts of the cellar door under the south side of Hall.

Mary  •  Link

"paid our guide ... £1-2-6"

L&M suggests that this amount probably covered the cost of horse-hire as well as the fee paid to the guide.

At a time when roads were often in a rough state and sometimes poorly defined, it was common to engage a guide to lead a party by the best way from one town to another when the route was unfamiliar.

PHE  •  Link

It does seem surprising that Sam never got round to writing up his views of Oxford in more detail - a great city, and one with much potential for comparisons with his own Cambridge.

Mary  •  Link

The Child of Hales.

This fellow was alleged to have stood 9 foot 3 inches tall, just 3 inches shorter than Goliath. He was a Lancastrian wrestler who died in 1623.

Mary  •  Link

Abingdon Fair.

This fair was founded (i.e. licensed) in 1290. It was one of several fairs held at Abingdon, lasted for a week and was noted for the custards served there. By the time of Pepys' visit it was a fair aimed at pleasure and amusement rather than a fair for serious agricultural/business trading.

martinb  •  Link

A custard fair sounds like fun. But there has to be a limit to the number of tastings you would want in one afternoon?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"book, Stonage"

The most notable antiquity of Great Britain, vulgarly called Stone-Heng, on Salisbury Plain, restored, by Inigo Jones ... To which are added, the Chorea gigantum, or Stone-Heng restored to the Danes, by Doctor Charleton; and Mr. Webb’s Vindication of Stone-Heng restored, in answer to Dr. Charleton’s reflections; with observations upon the orders and rules of architecture in use among the ancient Romans. Before the whole are prefixed, certain memoirs relating to the life of Inigo Jones; with his effigies, engrav’d by Hollar; as also Dr. Charleton’s, by P. Lombart; and four new views of Stone-Heng, in its present situation: with above twenty other copper-plates, and a compleat index to the entire collection. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The illustrated Stone-Heng book linked above can be read/viewed online.

Michael L  •  Link

If this is the book on Stonehenge published in 1655 under the name of Inigo Jones, then it asserts that Stonehenge temple built by the Romans. This is not at all what modern archaeologists believe. It dates far earlier than the Romans.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, 2 miles (3 km) west of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. Stonehenge's ring of standing stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds. Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC,[2] although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sto…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"At a time when roads were often in a rough state and sometimes poorly defined, it was common to engage a guide to lead a party by the best way from one town to another when the route was unfamiliar."

L&M note that on 16 June Pepys's party , without a guide, lost its way between Newbury and Reading. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

And in London, Charles II's desires will be met:

June 9. 1668
Scotland Yard.
Thos. Rotherham to Arthur Haughton, purveyor.

You are ordered by the Officers of Works to go to Mr. Pepys, and desire him to provide a vessel for transporting the King's marble from Leghorn;
if a particular vessel is to be sent, it must be ready by the end of August.
[S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 87.]

I WONDER WHICH HOUSE THIS WAS FOR. POSSIBLY HIS NEW HOUSE AT NEWMARKET ...?

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June 9. 1668
Treasury Chambers, Whitehall.
Sir George Downing to the Navy Commissioners.

The Treasury Commissioners have long expected your return of what alterations should be made in the present contract with the victualler, his Majesty intending to alter it, and some overtures having been made by some well able to make good their propositions.

They request that upon the first Monday in July, you will bring a draft of such alterations as you think fit.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 241, No. 86.]

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June 9. 1668
Newcastle.
Rice. Forster to Williamson.

Some 80 ships have arrived,
and 50 have put in at Sunderland.
[S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 81.]

THIS MUST HAVE BEEN QUITE A SIGHT.

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June 9. 1668
Plymouth.
Sir John Skelton to Williamson.

Solicits the place of postmaster for Mr. Jackson, who will give a gratuity for it, in case Mr. Clarke, who is now declining, dies.
[S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 82.]

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June 9. 1668
The Monmouth, Downs.
[Sir Thos. Allin] to Williamson.

Particulars of ships spoken with.
Has received a copy of a letter from Algiers, from Capt. [Thos.] Darcy of the Mary Rose, and sends it, lest the original may not have come to hand.
[S.P. Dom., Car II. 241, No. 84.]

I GUESS IT WAS INTERESTING ... WILL WE SEE IT?

David G  •  Link

Many years ago, I lived in the residence hall overlooking the Botanical Garden (aka the Physic Garden). I suspect that the garden that Sam saw would have had at least some features in common with the garden that I looked out on. Plus it’s nice to think that strawberries in June were an Oxford treat in 1668 just as they were 300+ years later.

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