"This day in the Duke’s chamber there being a Roman story in the hangings, and upon the standards written these four letters — S.P.Q.R., Sir G. Carteret came to me to know what the meaning of those four letters were; which ignorance is not to be borne in a Privy Counsellor, methinks, that a schoolboy should be whipt for not knowing."
L&M: Was his command of his own language any better? Cf. Marvell: 'Carteret the rich did the accomptants guide,/ And an ill English all the world defy'd.': Last Instructions, ll.203-4. He had received very little formal education, and had spent much of his boyhood at sea.
"Here I learnt that the English foot are highly esteemed all over the world, but the horse not so much, which yet we count among ourselves the best; but they abroad have had no great knowledge of our horse, it seems."
L&M: At the Battle of Ameixial the English cavalry had not played any decisive part. English military repute at this time rested chiefly on the victory won by Cromwell's infantry over the Spaniards at the battle of the Dunes in June 1658.
L&M: Under discussion today was the Battle of Ameixial, was fought on 8 June 1663, near the village of Santa Vitória do Ameixial, some 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north-west of Estremoz, between Spanish and Portuguese as part of the Portuguese Restoration War. In Spain, the battle is better known as the Battle of Estremoz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat…
Sir Allen Apsley was the father of Col. James Apsley, who commanded the English troops. The Lisbon Gazette's account was printed as Relacion de la famosa y memorable vittoria ... (Lisbon, 1663; BM 9195. c. 25, no. 3). The Portuguese usually printed news of importance in both Portuguese and Spanish. The English infantry acquitted themselves remarkably well by a disciplined charge uphill against the enemy's right wing. The Portuguese commanders, according to James Appsley's account (HMC, Heathcoat, pp. 101+), were so surprised to see the redcoats march in unbroken formation up the hill, without firing a shot, until they came within push of pike, that they believed their allies to be about to surrender to the Spaniards. 'But when they saw their thick firing and good success...they called us comrades and good Christians .' The English ambassador to Portugal made much of the fact that the action was fought on Charles II's birthday (op. cit., pp. 100-1). See also Kingd. Intell., 6 July, p. 433.
"Thence with Mr. Creed, whom I called at his chamber, over the water to Lambeth; but could not, it being morning, get to see the Archbishop’s hearse:"
L&M: Juxon had died on 4 June, his boldy had been embalmed and after lying in state was taken to Oxford for burial in St John's College chapel on 9 July.
" so to Westminster Hall, and there meeting with Mr. Moore he tells me great news that my Lady Castlemaine is fallen from Court, and this morning retired."
L&M: Her fall was attributed in the French despatches (25 June) to the rise of Frances Stuart: Ruvigny to Louis xiv, 15/25 June: PRO, PRO 31/3/112, f. 31r. But it was only temporary: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
"This day I hear at dinner that Don John of Austria, since his flight out of Portugall, is dead of his wounds: —[not true]— so there is a great man gone, and a great dispute like to be ended for the crown of Spayne, if the King should have died before him.'
L&M: The story was untrue; Don Juan lived until 1679. Pepys information probably came from a letter he received from John Pitts (Lisbon , 7. June, o.s.): CSPD 1663-4, p. 165. Don Juan had not in fact been wounded at Ameixial (q.v. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… ), though he had been forced to dismount and he had lost most of his bodyguard. For some years (1646-61) he had been the only male heir of Philip IV, and the birth of the Infante Charles in 1661 had failed to extinguish his ambition to succeed (though illegitimate to his father's throne, for his half-brother was sickly and not expected to live long. The Infante, however, succeeded his father in 1665 as Charles II, and Don Juan, after some resistance to the Council of Regency, made his submission in 1669.
"Publique matters are in an ill condition; Parliament sitting and raising four subsidys for the King, which is but a little, considering his wants; and yet that parted withal with great hardness. They being offended to see so much money go, and no debts of the publique’s paid, but all swallowed by a luxurious Court: which the King it is believed and hoped will retrench in a little time, when he comes to see the utmost of the revenue which shall be settled on him: he expecting to have his 1,200,000l. made good to him, which is not yet done by above 150,000l., as he himself reports to the House."
L&M: £1,200,000 was the over-optimistic estimate of he yield of the revenues granted to the King in 1660, and the defeit of over £150,000 had been reported to the Comm ons on 4 June 1663: CJ, viii. 498. As a result, four subsidies had been granted and measures taken to improve the vollection of other sources of revenue. Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
' Then to his yard and house, where I staid two hours or more discoursing of the expense of the navy and the corruption of Sir W. Batten and his man Wood that he brings or would bring to sell all that is to be sold by the Navy."
L&M: In the matter of Timber supplies, Pepys and Warren were later to be accused in the parliamentary enquiry of 1669 of the offence here attributed to Batten and William Wood: PL 2554, n.p.
"This very house was built by the Blind Beggar of Bednall Green, so much talked of and sang in ballads;"
L&N: Cf. T. Percy, Reliques (1765), ii. 155+. The beggar (whose memory was still kept alive in Bethnal Green) was supposedly Henry, son of Simonb de Mon tfort, rescued after the battle of Evesham (1265) by a baron's daughter. ------------------- The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (sometimes known as Reliques of Ancient Poetry or simply Percy's Reliques) is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Bishop Thomas Percy and published in 1765. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rel…
" the esteem he has among them is nothing but for a jester or a ballad maker"
L&M: Mennes had published, as part author, two books of poems. His verses were witty and coarse, and proved popular
Wits recreations. Selected from the finest fancies of moderne muses Herbert, George, 1592-1637., Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver. Early English Books Online https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo…
Musarum deliciæ: or, The Muses recreation. Conteining severall select pieces of sportive vvit. Mennes, John, Sir, 1599-1671., Smith, James, 1605-1667., Herringman, Henry, d. 1704,, H. H. Early English Books Online https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo…
' by water to the Temple, to my cozen Roger; who, I perceive, is a deadly high man in the Parliament business, and against the Court, showing me how they have computed that the King hath spent, at least hath received, about four millions of money since he came in."
L&M: The grant of timber made to Winter in July 1662 was bitterly rescinded by the commoners of the Forest of Dean: see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… On 22 May 1663 a sub-c ommittee of the Commons had criticised the terms of the grants made to him: CJ, viii. 489-90. See Mileard, p. 187, for renewed criticisms in February 1668, when a bill to preserve the timber and protect commoners' rights was passed. Winter was a Catholic and unpopular with critics if the court such as Roger Pepys.
"Up betimes, and fell to reading my Latin grammar"
L&M: Probably one- of William Lily's, possibly his A short introduction of grammar...of the Latine tongue (1662, PL 886): an edition wgich Pepys's catalogue ('Appendix Classica', p. 76) attributes to his old schoolmaster, John Langley. ------------------------- A short introduction of grammar generally to be used compiled and set forth for the bringing up of all those that intend to attain to the knowledge of the Latine tongue. Early English Books Online https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo…
"But the nature of the assay is thus: the piece of gold that goes into the furnace twelve ounces, if it comes out again eleven ounces, and the piece of silver which goes in twelve and comes out again eleven and two pennyweight, are just of the alloy of the standard of England."
L&M: Sterling silver had to be 11 oz a dwt in the pound weight (or 925 parts of pure silver to 75 parts alloy). This was the normal English standard for coins from Norman times until 1920. See A. E. Feavearyear, Pound Sterling, p. 9. ------------------ Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ste…
"The most observables in the making of money which I observed to-day, is the steps of their doing it."
L&M: This detailed account of the manufacture of English coins has a special interest. In theory the methods used were secret, and nothing was published on the subject. But some knowledge leaked out, since the secrets were shared among so many individuals. Moreover, the methods were essentially the same as those used by other countries (such as France) which had no inhibitions about publication. Sandwich, in his MS journal, has a similar but less detailed account of the mint in Madrid: Mappertin, Sandwich MSS Journal, ii. 241+.
"Sir Thomas showed me his picture and Sir Anthony Vandike’s, in crayon in little, done exceedingly well."
L&M: Crew's portrait in chalk does not survive; the portrait of van Dyck was presumably a small copy of one of the painter's self-portraits. The taste for portrait-drawing in pastel was developing rapidly at this period: J. Woodward, Tudor and Stuart drawings, pp. 27+; Whinney and Millar, pp. 99-102.
L&M: The extent of the boundaries was also a matter of dispute, since the English claimed the two neighbouring islands as well as Bombay itself. Charles II made a strong protest against the refusal of the Portuguese Governor, D. Antonio de Mello de Castro to recognize England;s claims. The whole territory was ceded in 1665. See Shafaat Ahmed Khan in Journ. Indian Hist., 1/419=.
"Strange were the effects of the late thunder and lightning about a week since at Northampton, coming with great rain, which caused extraordinary floods in a few hours, bearing away bridges, drowning horses, men, and cattle. Two men passing over a bridge on horseback, the arches before and behind them were borne away, and that left which they were upon: but, however, one of the horses fell over, and was drowned. Stacks of faggots carried as high as a steeple, and other dreadful things; which Sir Thomas Crew showed me letters to him about from Mr. Freemantle and others, that it is very true."
L&M: The storm occurred on 6 May: both the west bridge and the south bridge were badly damaged. . . . The Crews' country house was near Brackley, Northanta. . . .
Comments
Second Reading
About Sunday 5 July 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"So set out, Sir J. Minnes and I in his coach together, talking all the way of chymistry, wherein he do know something,"
L&M: For Mennes's interest in science, see e.g. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Saturday 4 July 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"This day in the Duke’s chamber there being a Roman story in the hangings, and upon the standards written these four letters — S.P.Q.R., Sir G. Carteret came to me to know what the meaning of those four letters were; which ignorance is not to be borne in a Privy Counsellor, methinks, that a schoolboy should be whipt for not knowing."
L&M: Was his command of his own language any better? Cf. Marvell: 'Carteret the rich did the accomptants guide,/ And an ill English all the world defy'd.': Last Instructions, ll.203-4. He had received very little formal education, and had spent much of his boyhood at sea.
About Saturday 4 July 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"Here I learnt that the English foot are highly esteemed all over the world, but the horse not so much, which yet we count among ourselves the best; but they abroad have had no great knowledge of our horse, it seems."
L&M: At the Battle of Ameixial the English cavalry had not played any decisive part. English military repute at this time rested chiefly on the victory won by Cromwell's infantry over the Spaniards at the battle of the Dunes in June 1658.
About Saturday 4 July 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
L&M: Under discussion today was the Battle of Ameixial, was fought on 8 June 1663, near the village of Santa Vitória do Ameixial, some 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north-west of Estremoz, between Spanish and Portuguese as part of the Portuguese Restoration War. In Spain, the battle is better known as the Battle of Estremoz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat…
Sir Allen Apsley was the father of Col. James Apsley, who commanded the English troops. The Lisbon Gazette's account was printed as Relacion de la famosa y memorable vittoria ... (Lisbon, 1663; BM 9195. c. 25, no. 3). The Portuguese usually printed news of importance in both Portuguese and Spanish. The English infantry acquitted themselves remarkably well by a disciplined charge uphill against the enemy's right wing. The Portuguese commanders, according to James Appsley's account (HMC, Heathcoat, pp. 101+), were so surprised to see the redcoats march in unbroken formation up the hill, without firing a shot, until they came within push of pike, that they believed their allies to be about to surrender to the Spaniards. 'But when they saw their thick firing and good success...they called us comrades and good Christians .' The English ambassador to Portugal made much of the fact that the action was fought on Charles II's birthday (op. cit., pp. 100-1). See also Kingd. Intell., 6 July, p. 433.
About Friday 3 July 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"Thence with Mr. Creed, whom I called at his chamber, over the water to Lambeth; but could not, it being morning, get to see the Archbishop’s hearse:"
L&M: Juxon had died on 4 June, his boldy had been embalmed and after lying in state was taken to Oxford for burial in St John's College chapel on 9 July.
About Friday 3 July 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
" so to Westminster Hall, and there meeting with Mr. Moore he tells me great news that my Lady Castlemaine is fallen from Court, and this morning retired."
L&M: Her fall was attributed in the French despatches (25 June) to the rise of Frances Stuart: Ruvigny to Louis xiv, 15/25 June: PRO, PRO 31/3/112, f. 31r. But it was only temporary: https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Wednesday 1 July 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"This day I hear at dinner that Don John of Austria, since his flight out of Portugall, is dead of his wounds: —[not true]— so there is a great man gone, and a great dispute like to be ended for the crown of Spayne, if the King should have died before him.'
L&M: The story was untrue; Don Juan lived until 1679. Pepys information probably came from a letter he received from John Pitts (Lisbon , 7. June, o.s.): CSPD 1663-4, p. 165. Don Juan had not in fact been wounded at Ameixial (q.v. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… ), though he had been forced to dismount and he had lost most of his bodyguard. For some years (1646-61) he had been the only male heir of Philip IV, and the birth of the Infante Charles in 1661 had failed to extinguish his ambition to succeed (though illegitimate to his father's throne, for his half-brother was sickly and not expected to live long. The Infante, however, succeeded his father in 1665 as Charles II, and Don Juan, after some resistance to the Council of Regency, made his submission in 1669.
About Monday 29 June 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"Publique matters are in an ill condition; Parliament sitting and raising four subsidys for the King, which is but a little, considering his wants; and yet that parted withal with great hardness. They being offended to see so much money go, and no debts of the publique’s paid, but all swallowed by a luxurious Court: which the King it is believed and hoped will retrench in a little time, when he comes to see the utmost of the revenue which shall be settled on him: he expecting to have his 1,200,000l. made good to him, which is not yet done by above 150,000l., as he himself reports to the House."
L&M: £1,200,000 was the over-optimistic estimate of he yield of the revenues granted to the King in 1660, and the defeit of over £150,000 had been reported to the Comm ons on 4 June 1663: CJ, viii. 498. As a result, four subsidies had been granted and measures taken to improve the vollection of other sources of revenue. Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Saturday 27 June 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
' Then to his yard and house, where I staid two hours or more discoursing of the expense of the navy and the corruption of Sir W. Batten and his man Wood that he brings or would bring to sell all that is to be sold by the Navy."
L&M: In the matter of Timber supplies, Pepys and Warren were later to be accused in the parliamentary enquiry of 1669 of the offence here attributed to Batten and William Wood: PL 2554, n.p.
About Friday 26 June 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"This very house was built by the Blind Beggar of Bednall Green, so much talked of and sang in ballads;"
L&N: Cf. T. Percy, Reliques (1765), ii. 155+. The beggar (whose memory was still kept alive in Bethnal Green) was supposedly Henry, son of Simonb de Mon tfort, rescued after the battle of Evesham (1265) by a baron's daughter.
-------------------
The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (sometimes known as Reliques of Ancient Poetry or simply Percy's Reliques) is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Bishop Thomas Percy and published in 1765. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rel…
About Wednesday 24 June 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
" the esteem he has among them is nothing but for a jester or a ballad maker"
L&M: Mennes had published, as part author, two books of poems. His verses were witty and coarse, and proved popular
Wits recreations. Selected from the finest fancies of moderne muses
Herbert, George, 1592-1637., Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver.
Early English Books Online
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo…
Musarum deliciæ: or, The Muses recreation. Conteining severall select pieces of sportive vvit.
Mennes, John, Sir, 1599-1671., Smith, James, 1605-1667., Herringman, Henry, d. 1704,, H. H.
Early English Books Online
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo…
About Tuesday 23 June 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
' by water to the Temple, to my cozen Roger; who, I perceive, is a deadly high man in the Parliament business, and against the Court, showing me how they have computed that the King hath spent, at least hath received, about four millions of money since he came in."
L&M: The grant of timber made to Winter in July 1662 was bitterly rescinded by the commoners of the Forest of Dean: see https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
On 22 May 1663 a sub-c ommittee of the Commons had criticised the terms of the grants made to him: CJ, viii. 489-90. See Mileard, p. 187, for renewed criticisms in February 1668, when a bill to preserve the timber and protect commoners' rights was passed. Winter was a Catholic and unpopular with critics if the court such as Roger Pepys.
About Sunday 21 June 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"Up betimes, and fell to reading my Latin grammar"
L&M: Probably one- of William Lily's, possibly his A short introduction of grammar...of the Latine tongue (1662, PL 886): an edition wgich Pepys's catalogue ('Appendix Classica', p. 76) attributes to his old schoolmaster, John Langley.
-------------------------
A short introduction of grammar generally to be used compiled and set forth for the bringing up of all those that intend to attain to the knowledge of the Latine tongue.
Early English Books Online
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo…
About Harp and cross money
Terry Foreman • Link
Harp and Cross money (Commonwealth coins)
https://www.tulliehouse.co.uk/the…
About Tuesday 19 May 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"But the nature of the assay is thus: the piece of gold that goes into the furnace twelve ounces, if it comes out again eleven ounces, and the piece of silver which goes in twelve and comes out again eleven and two pennyweight, are just of the alloy of the standard of England."
L&M: Sterling silver had to be 11 oz a dwt in the pound weight (or 925 parts of pure silver to 75 parts alloy). This was the normal English standard for coins from Norman times until 1920. See A. E. Feavearyear, Pound Sterling, p. 9.
------------------
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ste…
About Tuesday 19 May 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"The most observables in the making of money which I observed to-day, is the steps of their doing it."
L&M: This detailed account of the manufacture of English coins has a special interest. In theory the methods used were secret, and nothing was published on the subject. But some knowledge leaked out, since the secrets were shared among so many individuals. Moreover, the methods were essentially the same as those used by other countries (such as France) which had no inhibitions about publication. Sandwich, in his MS journal, has a similar but less detailed account of the mint in Madrid: Mappertin, Sandwich MSS Journal, ii. 241+.
About Saturday 16 May 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"Then Captain Cocke coming to me to speak about my seeming discourtesy to him in the business of his hemp,"
L&M: Possibly the accounts mentioned previously at, e.g. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 15 May 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"Sir Thomas showed me his picture and Sir Anthony Vandike’s, in crayon in little, done exceedingly well."
L&M: Crew's portrait in chalk does not survive; the portrait of van Dyck was presumably a small copy of one of the painter's self-portraits. The taste for portrait-drawing in pastel was developing rapidly at this period: J. Woodward, Tudor and Stuart drawings, pp. 27+; Whinney and Millar, pp. 99-102.
About Friday 15 May 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
Bombay (further)
L&M: The extent of the boundaries was also a matter of dispute, since the English claimed the two neighbouring islands as well as Bombay itself. Charles II made a strong protest against the refusal of the Portuguese Governor, D. Antonio de Mello de Castro to recognize England;s claims. The whole territory was ceded in 1665. See Shafaat Ahmed Khan in Journ. Indian Hist., 1/419=.
About Friday 15 May 1663
Terry Foreman • Link
"Strange were the effects of the late thunder and lightning about a week since at Northampton, coming with great rain, which caused extraordinary floods in a few hours, bearing away bridges, drowning horses, men, and cattle. Two men passing over a bridge on horseback, the arches before and behind them were borne away, and that left which they were upon: but, however, one of the horses fell over, and was drowned. Stacks of faggots carried as high as a steeple, and other dreadful things; which Sir Thomas Crew showed me letters to him about from Mr. Freemantle and others, that it is very true."
L&M: The storm occurred on 6 May: both the west bridge and the south bridge were badly damaged. . . . The Crews' country house was near Brackley, Northanta. . . .