Lt. Col. Edward Villiers (1620–1689) was a younger son of Sir Edward Villiers, half-brother to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham and favorite of the late King Charles, and Barbara St.John Villiers. He was, therefore, an uncle to many Diary people, including George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham; Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine; George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison; and Sir Allen Apsley.
Col. Edward Villiers was one of a group of Royalists during the third Civil War who plotted for the return of Charles II. The other members of The Sealed Knot were John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse of Worlaby, Henry Hastings, Baron Loughborough, Sir William Compton, Sir Richard Willys, 1st baronet, Col. John Russell; The women who helped them as spies and delivery agents go largely unacknowledged, but two who come to mind are Elizabeth Murray Tollemache, Countess of Dysart (who, as a widow in the Diary, has designs on Secretary for Scotland, John Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale) and Anne St.John Lee Wilmot, Countess of Rochester (John's mother).
What united the six nobles was that they were all younger sons, whose capture, sequestration, or execution, would not jeopardize their families. They worked closely with Secretary of State Edward Hyde.
In the wake of the inevitable round-up of suspects following the breaking of their plots by Cromwell's Sec. of State and intelligence chief, John Thurloe, Willys and Col. Villiers were detained for a few months in 1654. Willys suspected Belasyse to be his betrayer, Hyde writing subsequently of ‘a fatal Quarrel’ (Clarendon, Hist. Rebellion, 2.25) among two principals of the Knot that compromised its authority still more.
In March 1659 Charles II switched his confidence to a The Great Trust, which tried to include the original members of the Sealed Knot except Col. Villiers, whose poor judgment and eccentric proposals — e.g. that Charles II should marry Cromwell's daughter — had alienated Hyde.
The Knot mostly stayed together until the Restoration, but they were not instrumental in bringing it about.
Mechanical clocks were used throughout Europe for at least two centuries before Galileo Galilei came along, but the Florentine astronomer (1564-1642) drew up a theoretical method in which a pendulum could regulate a clock’s ticking mechanism, making it much more accurate. The first working pendulum clock was constructed in 1656, by Dutch mathematician and astronomer Christiaan Huygens.
In 1663 he was added to the committee to consider a petition from the loyal and indigent officers, and appointed to one to prevent abuses in the sale of offices and honours. He was paid £1,200 as royal bounty, followed by £500 in 1664, when he was listed as a court dependant.
A correspondent of Joseph Williamson, he reported great discontent over taxation, and ‘a general inclination to ease the two next subsidies’.
On 13 Jan. 1665 he acted as teller for debating relief for Cornwall.
During the second Anglo-Dutch war he was given a post in the prize office, and a lease of the coinage duty on tin. He acted six times as teller for supply, inspiring Andrew Marvell to include in his description of the court party: "The troop of privilege, a rabble bare Of debtors deep, fell to Trelawny’s care."
He was named to the committee on the bill for illegitimizing Lady Roos’ children (21 Jan. 1667). On the following day he acted as teller for extending the royal favor to all merchants hurt by the prohibition of French trade.
After the fall of Clarendon, Trelawny was among those appointed to report on the charges against Lord Mordaunt and the public accounts bill, and to examine the accounts of the indigent officers fund.
When Parliament met in the New Year, he proposed raising a loan of £100,000 in the City, and tabled a particular of the bishops’ bounty, from which it appeared that they had given £413,800 to the King ‘and other pious and charitable works’. In the divisions on extending the Conventicles Act he favoured the substitution of fines for imprisonment, but opposed a proviso directed at the Roman Catholics. On 6 May he was added to the committee for the impeachment of Henry Brouncker.
During the summer of 1668 he became comptroller to the Duke of York, succeeding Lord Newport, who had been promoted to the royal household. (It was alleged he bought the post with his profits as ‘a private forsworn cheat in the prize office’.)
When it was proposed to suspend Sir George Carteret from the House in 1669, he pointed out that no precedents for this course had been reported by the committee ordered to search for them in the case of (Sir) William Penn.
TRELAWNY, Jonathan Senior, MP (c.1623-1681), of Trelawne, Pelynt, Cornwall.
A royalist, he was very active in the running of Cornwall after the Restoration, while also being a Gentleman of the privy chamber by June 1660-8; comptroller to the Duke of York 1668-74; ...
Trelawny’s ancestors held property in Cornwall since the 12th century, and first sat in Parliament in 1325. Trelawne, which became the principal residence of the family in 1600, gave them an interest at Liskeard, and more particularly in nearby East and West Looe. Trelawny’s father, ... was a royalist commissioner in the Civil War, when his estate was valued at £1,000 p.a.
Trelawny, while in his ’teens, raised a company of foot for King Charles, and finished the war in command of a regiment of cavalry.
During the Interregnum, Trelawny was one of the most active and persistent royalist conspirators in Cornwall. He was imprisoned 9 times, and sentenced to death 3 times.
In the winter of 1659-60 he spent £300 ‘in preparation of horses, arms and men for his Majesty’s service’.
Although, under the last ordinance of the Long Parliament, Trelawny was ineligible at the general election of 1660, he was involved in a double return at East Looe, and allowed to take his seat on the merits of the return.
Lord Wharton considered him a friend both in this Parliament and the next.
At the Restoration he was given a Court post, and petitioned for the lease of the import duties on hock, or alternatively for an allowance out of the profits. Clarendon reminded Charles II: "... he was always one of those that kept constant correspondence with you and performed many services for you, for which he suffered very many and long imprisonments, and I find that his estate is thereby very much impaired."
He was returned for Cornwall at the general election of 1661, when his brother John and his brother-in-law Henry Seymour were elected at East Looe.
An active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, he was appointed to at least 194 committees, made 14 recorded speeches, and acted as teller in 34 divisions.
(There are 7 Trelawneys in the Parliaments of Charles II, so the records are somewhat confused as to which one said what.)
"Presumably, the doors normally in place being not hung, the invited dinner party are exposed to passing others -- like Pepys and Smith, who are invited to join them after the meal."
Terry, if you're still monitoring us, sadly these days this link just goes to a blurb about Edith Wharton's books about the Gilded Age in general, when "hangings" could indeed have referred to doors. I've never found a reference to the Stuarts removing doors the way they did furniture and soft furnishings.
Can you remember what your inspiration/insight was?
I note there isn't one at the end of March in 1669. But I haven't read that far so I can't really speak to the subject.
HOWEVER, looking at the guest list, and realizing what lengths he and Elizabeth are going to in order to entertain Betty and Babs Pepys, maybe this is the 1669 blow out, and it's just early and so evaded Terry's survey?
"the Earl of Anglesea's official residence at Deptford"
The former Navy Treasurer, the Earl of Anglesea, has been replaced by two new men ... so the official residence is empty (room was unhung: "hangings" generally refer to tapestries or curtains, not doors, and people took their hangings when they remove to their next residence). https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Lord Anglesea is fighting the decision, but is not there (or the room would be hung, and there would be chairs), so maybe James is checking out the building today to see if it can be cut in half, or turned into condos with river views?
James might also have used the inspection as an excuse to get out of Whitehall for the day so Charles II and the rest of the Court can gossip and speculate, and he won't be caught up in the whirlwind, possibly saying something he would later regret. The ladies, knowing he is in a bad mood, are trying to entertain him, and since he has nothing better to do, he's going along with it. Pass the wine.
Coventry is just another pawn used by Buckingham to caste James in a bad light. Some historians say Buckingham wanted to be King; he definately didn't want anyone with French/Catholic leanings on the throne. Which doesn't mean that Clarendon wasn't an over-bearing, bad-tempered, old gent. by the time they winkled him out of the Chancellorship, and Coventry wasn't a contrarian and had exhausted Charles' patience. But the real purpose of these attacks were on James' right to the succession. Clarendon and Coventry -- like all courtiers -- were dispensable. Drip, drip, drip.
The role of the Duke of York is to be a foil for the Monarch. They can't be seen to win. They are always the fall guy when the Monarch is out of step with the country. It must be hard to go from the second most important boy in the world, to #10 at the back of the line when the monarch has viable children and grandchildren.
Buckingham and Shaftesbury (Coventry's half brother!) almost pull it off; but that's way beyond the Diary days.
"... and, lastly, W. Batelier’s “Blackmore and Blackmore Maid;” and then to a country-dance again, ..."
I don't understand: “Blackmore and Blackmore Maid” is in quotes which indicates to me that Project Gutenberg version of the Diary considered this a song/dance, possibly to do with the poem above. In which case, how does Batelier own it? Or perhaps he performed it?
But the Blackmore Maid clicks through to say it was Batelier's black cook, Doll, borrowed for the evening. Which begs the omission of a link for the Blackmore? -- another black servant borrowed for the evening? In which case, why the quotes?
My copy of L&M doesn't have quotes, making the servant theory most likely ... but there is no annotation there saying she was a black cook borrowed for the evening either. Not understanding how Phil knew to call her Doll caused me to look at the other mention of her: “… for a cookmaid, we have, ever since Bridget went, used a blackmoore of Mr. Batelier’s, Doll, who dresses our meat mighty well, and we mightily pleased with her.” -- https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
So did the cook and the other black servant dance with the guests? Seems so when you look at the larger quote without the song quotation marks: “… pleased with their dancing of jigs afterwards several of them, and, among others, Betty Turner, who did it mighty prettily; and, lastly, W. Batelier’s Blackmore and Blackmore Maid; and then to a country-dance again, …”
The servants danced a jig with Pepys' "strangers of quality"? I would have thought that was highly unlikely.
"Is it something to do with the death of Sandwich's daughter? Does he feel it is not an appropriate time to be enjoying himself."
Perhaps the question is how many of the guests are going to be mourning Lady Paulina besides Pepys. A table full of unhappy people for an expensive party is a waste as well as disrespectful. I look forward to seeing the guest list.
Herbert Croft was made bishop of Hereford in 1661, and was also appointed dean of the Chapel Royal (1668–1669) from which position he preached to Charles II.
So about now, Bishop Croft has becoming disillusioned with court life and is getting ready to return to his Hereford see. What took him so long? Plus Croft was very anti-Catholic ... perhaps he sensed that he didn't have Charles' full attention? Did he discuss his disillusionment with John Evelyn and Henry Bennet over lunch? I wonder why Arlington invited them over together ... no common denominators that I can see. The WHY question opens up so many situations, but not this time.
Another thought: as we know, Rochester is about to be sent "in disgrace" (but not in reality) to Paris ... now we find out he's going along with his best friend.
Oh to be in favor and sent to Paris in the springtime. Tough love for naught boys Harry and John. (If this connection escapes you, read our Henry Savile's Encyclopedia entry.)
Notes on Henry "Harry" Savile's Court connections:
"Of the three friends to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, Henry Savile became the most cherished and intimate. Although he wrote a few satires, his major literary talent was expressed in letters, including a number to Wilmot. Savile was about six years older than his friend -- he was born either 1641 or 1642 -- but they had a true marriage of minds despite the difference in ages.
"George, was heir to the title of Earl of Halifax; as a younger son, Henry had to get his own fortune." (A Profane Wit: p.79)
Henry Savile's Parliamentary Bio says:
"A cosmopolitan education, added to his native qualities of wit, ‘incredible confidence and presumption’ and sexual panache, fitted Savile for a career at the Restoration Court.
"He was indebted to his uncle (Sir) William Coventry for his first appointment, and accompanied the Duke of York to sea in the 1666 campaign. When the Earl of Chesterfield was given over by his doctors in August 1667, Savile, in anticipation of the succession of Arthur Stanhope to the peerage, prepared to contest Nottingham, but the vacancy did not occur. He then turned his attention to Rye, where he was recommended by the Duke of York, but was defeated by one vote. "For carrying Coventry’s challenge to the Duke of Buckingham in 1669, he was sent to the Tower for a few days and suspended from his place at Court. "On his release he went to France, but he had not abandoned his parliamentary ambitions. ‘Our measures now at Court are so taken’, he wrote, ‘that it is essential to a man’s succeeding there to be of the Parliament.’ "He was sent on a courtesy mission from the Duke of York to Monsieur and the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1670, but was once more disappointed of a seat when his brother refused to exert his interest at East Retford. "Savile again accompanied the Duke of York to sea in the third Dutch war, and wrote the official English account of the battle of Sole Bay. ..."
Maybe the Navy Board is more analogous to the Pentagon today? In which case he's Acting Director. Normally the Pentagon is run by a Flag Officer of some sort, and I think that was also the case with the Navy Board whenever possible.
Charles II had appointed Admirals at the Restitution, but the man who made the Navy work during the Second Anglo-Dutch War was the bookkeeper who stayed at his post because wasn't an MP (i.e. off in Oxford) or at sea -- or old and infirm.
Charles learned the wrong lesson from this: the next Navy Board is full of bureaucrats who know nothing about the pecularities of Naval warfare. It took Pepys 4 years to learn the lingo and quirks, with 4 Admirals and ship builders to coach him.
SPOILER BUT NO SURPRISE: This new group will be also found wanting in the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
James Morgan: How about Acting Assistant Assistant Secretary of Defense? James is the Secretary ... Rupert probably the Assistant Secretary, and so long as Charles II is in charge, they are both reasonably safe.
By default -- partly manipulated by himself -- Pepys finds himself running the show day-to-day, while he and the clerks train the incoming crew of MPs and noble bureaucrats. With the Finance Committee breathing heavily down his neck and insufficient funds, his options are limited and prioritized.
A confirmation hearing for Pepys has not even been discussed, never mind scheduled. His problem is surviving scrutiny by the Tangier Committee ... both James and Charles are doing their best to lead their attention elsewhere, but if financial malfeasance can be proved, its bye-bye and probably a quick trip to the Tower, or an unscheduled visit to France followed by a quiet future as a country gentleman.
Seems to me the quest for scapegoats for the loss of the last war has abated ... it's the amount of money the Navy will get going forward that is being contested. Fear the French will do something this coming summer fighting season will hopefully give Pepys opportunities to show his managerial chops while others risk their lives at sea. I bet he is rescued by future events more than his innocence. Rather like Britain's current PM: no one is calling for his recall for parties during COVID now he is "leading the European Ukraine response" (his claim, not mine). Rescued by events -- again -- and hoping people will suffer from amnesia when that crisis is over.
Ignore this thought about Blackborne's house ... it was Hewer's father who died, not his uncle who is alive and well and making a fortune over at the East India Company. DUH!
WONDERFUL pictures of the Battle of Solebay tapestry currently at Greenwich Palace, going our for restoration now. Come back in a couple of years for the comparison ... it brings to life the horrors of naval warfare in wooden ships.
Nicholas Penny was Pepys’ tailor with a shop on Fleet Street from January 1665/66 onwards. The Duke of York’s theater was in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. These places are not particularly close for ladies to walk between on a frosty day, which is probably why "my tailor" is not highlighted by Phil.
Comments
Second Reading
About Col. Edward Villiers
San Diego Sarah • Link
Lt. Col. Edward Villiers (1620–1689) was a younger son of Sir Edward Villiers, half-brother to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham and favorite of the late King Charles, and Barbara St.John Villiers.
He was, therefore, an uncle to many Diary people, including George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham; Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine; George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison; and Sir Allen Apsley.
Col. Edward Villiers was one of a group of Royalists during the third Civil War who plotted for the return of Charles II. The other members of The Sealed Knot were
John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse of Worlaby,
Henry Hastings, Baron Loughborough,
Sir William Compton,
Sir Richard Willys, 1st baronet,
Col. John Russell;
The women who helped them as spies and delivery agents go largely unacknowledged, but two who come to mind are Elizabeth Murray Tollemache, Countess of Dysart (who, as a widow in the Diary, has designs on Secretary for Scotland, John Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale) and Anne St.John Lee Wilmot, Countess of Rochester (John's mother).
What united the six nobles was that they were all younger sons, whose capture, sequestration, or execution, would not jeopardize their families. They worked closely with Secretary of State Edward Hyde.
In the wake of the inevitable round-up of suspects following the breaking of their plots by Cromwell's Sec. of State and intelligence chief, John Thurloe,
Willys and Col. Villiers were detained for a few months in 1654. Willys suspected Belasyse to be his betrayer, Hyde writing subsequently of ‘a fatal Quarrel’ (Clarendon, Hist. Rebellion, 2.25) among two principals of the Knot that compromised its authority still more.
In March 1659 Charles II switched his confidence to a The Great Trust, which tried to include the original members of the Sealed Knot except Col. Villiers, whose poor judgment and eccentric proposals — e.g. that Charles II should marry Cromwell's daughter — had alienated Hyde.
The Knot mostly stayed together until the Restoration, but they were not instrumental in bringing it about.
About Clocks and watches
San Diego Sarah • Link
Mechanical clocks were used throughout Europe for at least two centuries before Galileo Galilei came along, but the Florentine astronomer (1564-1642) drew up a theoretical method in which a pendulum could regulate a clock’s ticking mechanism, making it much more accurate.
The first working pendulum clock was constructed in 1656, by Dutch mathematician and astronomer Christiaan Huygens.
About Sir Jonathan Trelawny (Comptroller to the Duke of York, 1668-74)
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
In 1663 he was added to the committee to consider a petition from the loyal and indigent officers, and appointed to one to prevent abuses in the sale of offices and honours.
He was paid £1,200 as royal bounty, followed by £500 in 1664, when he was listed as a court dependant.
A correspondent of Joseph Williamson, he reported great discontent over taxation, and ‘a general inclination to ease the two next subsidies’.
On 13 Jan. 1665 he acted as teller for debating relief for Cornwall.
During the second Anglo-Dutch war he was given a post in the prize office, and a lease of the coinage duty on tin.
He acted six times as teller for supply, inspiring Andrew Marvell to include in his description of the court party:
"The troop of privilege, a rabble bare
Of debtors deep, fell to Trelawny’s care."
He was named to the committee on the bill for illegitimizing Lady Roos’ children (21 Jan. 1667).
On the following day he acted as teller for extending the royal favor to all merchants hurt by the prohibition of French trade.
After the fall of Clarendon, Trelawny was among those appointed to report on the charges against Lord Mordaunt and the public accounts bill, and to examine the accounts of the indigent officers fund.
When Parliament met in the New Year, he proposed raising a loan of £100,000 in the City, and tabled a particular of the bishops’ bounty, from which it appeared that they had given £413,800 to the King ‘and other pious and charitable works’.
In the divisions on extending the Conventicles Act he favoured the substitution of fines for imprisonment, but opposed a proviso directed at the Roman Catholics.
On 6 May he was added to the committee for the impeachment of Henry Brouncker.
During the summer of 1668 he became comptroller to the Duke of York, succeeding Lord Newport, who had been promoted to the royal household. (It was alleged he bought the post with his profits as ‘a private forsworn cheat in the prize office’.)
When it was proposed to suspend Sir George Carteret from the House in 1669, he pointed out that no precedents for this course had been reported by the committee ordered to search for them in the case of (Sir) William Penn.
These are highlights from his Parliamentary bio:
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Sir Jonathan Trelawny (Comptroller to the Duke of York, 1668-74)
San Diego Sarah • Link
TRELAWNY, Jonathan Senior, MP (c.1623-1681), of Trelawne, Pelynt, Cornwall.
A royalist, he was very active in the running of Cornwall after the Restoration, while also being a Gentleman of the privy chamber by June 1660-8; comptroller to the Duke of York 1668-74; ...
Trelawny’s ancestors held property in Cornwall since the 12th century, and first sat in Parliament in 1325.
Trelawne, which became the principal residence of the family in 1600, gave them an interest at Liskeard, and more particularly in nearby East and West Looe.
Trelawny’s father, ... was a royalist commissioner in the Civil War, when his estate was valued at £1,000 p.a.
Trelawny, while in his ’teens, raised a company of foot for King Charles, and finished the war in command of a regiment of cavalry.
During the Interregnum, Trelawny was one of the most active and persistent royalist conspirators in Cornwall.
He was imprisoned 9 times, and sentenced to death 3 times.
In the winter of 1659-60 he spent £300 ‘in preparation of horses, arms and men for his Majesty’s service’.
Although, under the last ordinance of the Long Parliament, Trelawny was ineligible at the general election of 1660, he was involved in a double return at East Looe, and allowed to take his seat on the merits of the return.
Lord Wharton considered him a friend both in this Parliament and the next.
At the Restoration he was given a Court post, and petitioned for the lease of the import duties on hock, or alternatively for an allowance out of the profits. Clarendon reminded Charles II:
"... he was always one of those that kept constant correspondence with you and performed many services for you, for which he suffered very many and long imprisonments, and I find that his estate is thereby very much impaired."
He was returned for Cornwall at the general election of 1661, when his brother John and his brother-in-law Henry Seymour were elected at East Looe.
An active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, he was appointed to at least 194 committees, made 14 recorded speeches, and acted as teller in 34 divisions.
(There are 7 Trelawneys in the Parliaments of Charles II, so the records are somewhat confused as to which one said what.)
About Thursday 4 March 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Presumably, the doors normally in place being not hung, the invited dinner party are exposed to passing others -- like Pepys and Smith, who are invited to join them after the meal."
Terry, if you're still monitoring us, sadly these days this link just goes to a blurb about Edith Wharton's books about the Gilded Age in general, when "hangings" could indeed have referred to doors. I've never found a reference to the Stuarts removing doors the way they did furniture and soft furnishings.
Can you remember what your inspiration/insight was?
About Wednesday 3 March 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
Have Betty and Babs Pepys left for good?
No more lines for the House of Office in the morning ... what a relief!
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Tuesday 2 March 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
Terry very kindly identified Pepys' annual Stone Feast at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
I note there isn't one at the end of March in 1669. But I haven't read that far so I can't really speak to the subject.
HOWEVER, looking at the guest list, and realizing what lengths he and Elizabeth are going to in order to entertain Betty and Babs Pepys, maybe this is the 1669 blow out, and it's just early and so evaded Terry's survey?
About Thursday 4 March 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
"the Earl of Anglesea's official residence at Deptford"
The former Navy Treasurer, the Earl of Anglesea, has been replaced by two new men ... so the official residence is empty (room was unhung: "hangings" generally refer to tapestries or curtains, not doors, and people took their hangings when they remove to their next residence).
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Lord Anglesea is fighting the decision, but is not there (or the room would be hung, and there would be chairs), so maybe James is checking out the building today to see if it can be cut in half, or turned into condos with river views?
James might also have used the inspection as an excuse to get out of Whitehall for the day so Charles II and the rest of the Court can gossip and speculate, and he won't be caught up in the whirlwind, possibly saying something he would later regret. The ladies, knowing he is in a bad mood, are trying to entertain him, and since he has nothing better to do, he's going along with it. Pass the wine.
Coventry is just another pawn used by Buckingham to caste James in a bad light. Some historians say Buckingham wanted to be King; he definately didn't want anyone with French/Catholic leanings on the throne.
Which doesn't mean that Clarendon wasn't an over-bearing, bad-tempered, old gent. by the time they winkled him out of the Chancellorship, and Coventry wasn't a contrarian and had exhausted Charles' patience.
But the real purpose of these attacks were on James' right to the succession. Clarendon and Coventry -- like all courtiers -- were dispensable. Drip, drip, drip.
The role of the Duke of York is to be a foil for the Monarch. They can't be seen to win. They are always the fall guy when the Monarch is out of step with the country. It must be hard to go from the second most important boy in the world, to #10 at the back of the line when the monarch has viable children and grandchildren.
Buckingham and Shaftesbury (Coventry's half brother!) almost pull it off; but that's way beyond the Diary days.
About Swords
San Diego Sarah • Link
Swords may have been "dress" garments for men, but they held considerable significance when held ceremoniously.
An example happens in 1669; not really a SPOILER so long as you don't read the rest of the post.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Tuesday 2 March 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... and, lastly, W. Batelier’s “Blackmore and Blackmore Maid;” and then to a country-dance again, ..."
I don't understand: “Blackmore and Blackmore Maid” is in quotes which indicates to me that Project Gutenberg version of the Diary considered this a song/dance, possibly to do with the poem above.
In which case, how does Batelier own it? Or perhaps he performed it?
But the Blackmore Maid clicks through to say it was Batelier's black cook, Doll, borrowed for the evening. Which begs the omission of a link for the Blackmore? -- another black servant borrowed for the evening? In which case, why the quotes?
My copy of L&M doesn't have quotes, making the servant theory most likely ... but there is no annotation there saying she was a black cook borrowed for the evening either. Not understanding how Phil knew to call her Doll caused me to look at the other mention of her:
“… for a cookmaid, we have, ever since Bridget went, used a blackmoore of Mr. Batelier’s, Doll, who dresses our meat mighty well, and we mightily pleased with her.” -- https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
So did the cook and the other black servant dance with the guests? Seems so when you look at the larger quote without the song quotation marks:
“… pleased with their dancing of jigs afterwards several of them, and, among others, Betty Turner, who did it mighty prettily; and, lastly, W. Batelier’s Blackmore and Blackmore Maid; and then to a country-dance again, …”
The servants danced a jig with Pepys' "strangers of quality"?
I would have thought that was highly unlikely.
Anyone get more out of this than I?
About Monday 1 March 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Is it something to do with the death of Sandwich's daughter? Does he feel it is not an appropriate time to be enjoying himself."
Perhaps the question is how many of the guests are going to be mourning Lady Paulina besides Pepys. A table full of unhappy people for an expensive party is a waste as well as disrespectful. I look forward to seeing the guest list.
About Monday 1 March 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
Herbert Croft was made bishop of Hereford in 1661, and was also appointed dean of the Chapel Royal (1668–1669) from which position he preached to Charles II.
So about now, Bishop Croft has becoming disillusioned with court life and is getting ready to return to his Hereford see. What took him so long? Plus Croft was very anti-Catholic ... perhaps he sensed that he didn't have Charles' full attention? Did he discuss his disillusionment with John Evelyn and Henry Bennet over lunch? I wonder why Arlington invited them over together ... no common denominators that I can see. The WHY question opens up so many situations, but not this time.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
About Henry Savile
San Diego Sarah • Link
‘Our measures now at Court are so taken’, he wrote, ‘that it is essential to a man’s succeeding there to be of the Parliament.’
Pepys is of the same opinion.
About Monday 1 March 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
Another thought: as we know, Rochester is about to be sent "in disgrace" (but not in reality) to Paris ... now we find out he's going along with his best friend.
Oh to be in favor and sent to Paris in the springtime. Tough love for naught boys Harry and John. (If this connection escapes you, read our Henry Savile's Encyclopedia entry.)
About Henry Savile
San Diego Sarah • Link
Notes on Henry "Harry" Savile's Court connections:
"Of the three friends to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, Henry Savile became the most cherished and intimate. Although he wrote a few satires, his major literary talent was expressed in letters, including a number to Wilmot. Savile was about six years older than his friend -- he was born either 1641 or 1642 -- but they had a true marriage of minds despite the difference in ages.
"George, was heir to the title of Earl of Halifax; as a younger son, Henry had to get his own fortune." (A Profane Wit: p.79)
Henry Savile's Parliamentary Bio says:
"A cosmopolitan education, added to his native qualities of wit, ‘incredible confidence and presumption’ and sexual panache, fitted Savile for a career at the Restoration Court.
"He was indebted to his uncle (Sir) William Coventry for his first appointment, and accompanied the Duke of York to sea in the 1666 campaign. When the Earl of Chesterfield was given over by his doctors in August 1667, Savile, in anticipation of the succession of Arthur Stanhope to the peerage, prepared to contest Nottingham, but the vacancy did not occur. He then turned his attention to Rye, where he was recommended by the Duke of York, but was defeated by one vote.
"For carrying Coventry’s challenge to the Duke of Buckingham in 1669, he was sent to the Tower for a few days and suspended from his place at Court.
"On his release he went to France, but he had not abandoned his parliamentary ambitions. ‘Our measures now at Court are so taken’, he wrote, ‘that it is essential to a man’s succeeding there to be of the Parliament.’
"He was sent on a courtesy mission from the Duke of York to Monsieur and the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1670, but was once more disappointed of a seat when his brother refused to exert his interest at East Retford.
"Savile again accompanied the Duke of York to sea in the third Dutch war, and wrote the official English account of the battle of Sole Bay. ..."
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
Rochester and Henry "Harry" Savile, two peas in a pod.
And the Coventry brothers and Anthony Ashley-Cooper were their mutual uncles ... it's all in the family once again.
About Friday 26 February 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
Maybe the Navy Board is more analogous to the Pentagon today? In which case he's Acting Director. Normally the Pentagon is run by a Flag Officer of some sort, and I think that was also the case with the Navy Board whenever possible.
Charles II had appointed Admirals at the Restitution, but the man who made the Navy work during the Second Anglo-Dutch War was the bookkeeper who stayed at his post because wasn't an MP (i.e. off in Oxford) or at sea -- or old and infirm.
Charles learned the wrong lesson from this: the next Navy Board is full of bureaucrats who know nothing about the pecularities of Naval warfare. It took Pepys 4 years to learn the lingo and quirks, with 4 Admirals and ship builders to coach him.
SPOILER BUT NO SURPRISE: This new group will be also found wanting in the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
About Friday 26 February 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
James Morgan: How about Acting Assistant Assistant Secretary of Defense? James is the Secretary ... Rupert probably the Assistant Secretary, and so long as Charles II is in charge, they are both reasonably safe.
By default -- partly manipulated by himself -- Pepys finds himself running the show day-to-day, while he and the clerks train the incoming crew of MPs and noble bureaucrats. With the Finance Committee breathing heavily down his neck and insufficient funds, his options are limited and prioritized.
A confirmation hearing for Pepys has not even been discussed, never mind scheduled.
His problem is surviving scrutiny by the Tangier Committee ... both James and Charles are doing their best to lead their attention elsewhere, but if financial malfeasance can be proved, its bye-bye and probably a quick trip to the Tower, or an unscheduled visit to France followed by a quiet future as a country gentleman.
Seems to me the quest for scapegoats for the loss of the last war has abated ... it's the amount of money the Navy will get going forward that is being contested.
Fear the French will do something this coming summer fighting season will hopefully give Pepys opportunities to show his managerial chops while others risk their lives at sea. I bet he is rescued by future events more than his innocence.
Rather like Britain's current PM: no one is calling for his recall for parties during COVID now he is "leading the European Ukraine response" (his claim, not mine). Rescued by events -- again -- and hoping people will suffer from amnesia when that crisis is over.
About Wednesday 16 December 1668
San Diego Sarah • Link
Ignore this thought about Blackborne's house ... it was Hewer's father who died, not his uncle who is alive and well and making a fortune over at the East India Company. DUH!
About Tapestry
San Diego Sarah • Link
WONDERFUL pictures of the Battle of Solebay tapestry currently at Greenwich Palace, going our for restoration now. Come back in a couple of years for the comparison ... it brings to life the horrors of naval warfare in wooden ships.
https://museumcrush.org/the-soleb…
About Tuesday 23 February 1668/69
San Diego Sarah • Link
Nicholas Penny was Pepys’ tailor with a shop on Fleet Street from January 1665/66 onwards.
The Duke of York’s theater was in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
These places are not particularly close for ladies to walk between on a frosty day, which is probably why "my tailor" is not highlighted by Phil.