Monday 29 June 1668

Called up by my Lady Peterborough’s servant about some business of hers, and so to the office. Thence by and by with Sir J. Minnes toward St. James’s, and I stop at Dr. Turberville’s, and there did receive a direction for some physic, and also a glass of something to drop into my eyes: who gives me hopes that I may do well. Thence to St. James’s, and thence to White Hall, where I find the Duke of York in the Council-chamber; where the Officers of the Navy were called in about Navy business, about calling in of more ships; the King of France having, as the Duke of York says, ordered his fleete to come in, notwithstanding what he had lately ordered for their staying abroad. Thence to the Chapel, it being St. Peter’s day, and did hear an anthem of Silas Taylor’s making; a dull, old-fashioned thing, of six and seven parts, that nobody could understand: and the Duke of York, when he come out, told me that he was a better store-keeper than anthem-maker, and that was bad enough, too. This morning Mr. May shewed me the King’s new buildings at White Hall, very fine; and among other things, his ceilings, and his houses of office. So home to dinner, and then with my wife to the King’s playhouse“The Mulberry Garden,” which she had not seen. So by coach to Islington, and round by Hackney home with much pleasure, and to supper and bed.


10 Annotations

First Reading

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"What's this? 'Social change as theme in "The Mulberry Garden"' by Elisabeth St. Michel Pepys?"

"It's my commentary on the play...For the London Gazette...See I take the auction and destruction of the mulberry garden as a metaphor for the changes in our society...Not only the Civil War and Restoration, but the ending of feudal serfdom and..."

"'...Can be seen in the rise of certain prominent officials from the status of near servant to figures of authority...One such example being the current Clerk of the...' Bess?!"

"It's only true, Sam'l...You are a prime example of what I'm talking about here. You started as a servant to the Montagus, practically a serf despite your relation to the family, and now..."

"...'With the sound of the ax signifying the destruction not only of the mulberry garden but the Old Order...Emphasized by the implied death of the abandoned servant within the house...' we are giving an image of a changing England, for good or bad the author leaving it to us to..."

"I thought I wrapped it up rather well..." Bess beams.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I stop at Dr. Turberville’s, and there did receive a direction for some physic, and also a glass of something to drop into my eyes:"

Physic (a laxative) for better vision! There's a joke about cutting the nerve between the eyes and...Na, foggetit, it's unrepeatable here.

Jenny  •  Link

"So, Mr May, sir, this is the King's "throne room", ha ha"

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...and the Duke of York, when he come out, told me that he was a better store-keeper than anthem-maker, and that was bad enough, too." Wow, yet another joke by Jamie...The Duke is on a roll. If only Parliament had known what a card he really was on certain occasions...

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the King of France having, as the Duke of York says, ordered his fleete to come in, notwithstanding what he had lately ordered for their staying abroad."

L&M: On 1/11 July Beaufort's force had returned to harbor: London Gazette, 16 July.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This morning Mr. May shewed me the King’s new buildings at White Hall,"

L&M: Some were by the river. They included a bedchamber, a laboratory and a library.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Thence to the Chapel, it being St. Peter’s day, and did hear an anthem of Silas Taylor’s making; a dull, old-fashioned thing, of six and seven parts, that nobody could understand: and the Duke of York, when he come out, told me that he was a better store-keeper than anthem-maker, and that was bad enough, too."

L&M: Taylor [Navy Storekeeper at Harwich) probably got his composition performed through his friendship with professionals. None were published. The King told Aubrey that he liked his anthems: Brief Lives (ed. Clark), ii. 254.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

'Charles II: June 1668', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1667-8, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1893), pp. 418-468. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

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June 29. 1668
Weymouth.
John Pocock to Hickes.

The Greenwich frigate arrived with Sir Rob. Southwell,
but sailed again next morning.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 242, No. 69.]

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June 29. 1668
Licence to Thos. Arundel,
son of Richard, Lord Arundel of Trerise,
to travel with 3 servants for education and experience.
Minute. [S.P. Dom., Entry Book 25, f. 63b.]

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June 29. 1668
Whitehall.
Licence to Rob. Gargrave

to embark 4 horses, sent by the King
as a present to his sister, the Duchess of Orleans.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II 242, No. 71.]

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June [29.] 1668
Petition of 103 ropemakers and labourers of the ropeyard at Woolwich to the Navy Commissioners,
to imprest to Mr. Bodham 29/. 12s. 7d. of the money due to Capt. Taylor remaining in his Majesty's hands,
to pay them for being fetched away by [Thos.] Clements, master attendant, in June 1666, by Sir Wm. Batten's order, to launch the Loyal London and carry up the hulk,
for which Capt. Taylor was to pay them.

With 31 signatures, chiefly by marks, and note by Bodham that their statements are true.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 242, No. 72.]

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June 29. 1668
Woolwich Ropeyard.
Wm. Bodham to the Navy Commissioners.

Mr. Clements, the master attendant, fetched away the men three times,
by verbal order from Sir Wm. Batten, and Sir William owned to it by promising before the company that he would see so much stopped from Capt. Taylor as would pay them, and approved my pricking them out of wages, whilst on that service.

I scrupled at letting them go without an order in writing,
but Clements affirmed that the ship was in danger, and that the King stayed to see her out, and inveighed against Capt. Taylor's covetousness in not providing suitable materials for such work, but rotten gear, saying that the said builder was so penurious as not to allow a little small beer to poor men that laboured in his assistance.

I believe there was a strict prick cheque kept of the men.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 242, No. 73.]

Gerald Berg  •  Link

I am still worried for Wm. Miller and his run in with that very clever thief. Whistle blower syndrome or what? You will update us Sarah?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Stay tuned, Gerald. If the Domestic Correspondence gives us an answer, I'll post it.

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