Dick Wilson, above: "Will Hewer's aunt's kinswoman died in the morning and was buried that night?! Very quick, that."
Not really. The next day was pretty standard, but an early morning death could result in an evening burial. You did not want to keep a corpse in the house any longer than you had to.
"No mention of Lady Batten, Lady Penn or Elizabeth being in church today. Were they all home cooking dinner like good little wives?"
Sam is a pretty regular churchgoer, but doesn't mention the Mrs. coming along very often. Sometimes to the afternoon service. There is often a good Sundat lunch at home, so maybe she did spend the morning cooking. Or maybe she generally worships elsewhere, someplace more in keeping with her Huguenot background.
(Also, today she had to get dressed in that petticoat!)
"in the way talking how good he did hope my place would be to me, and in general speaking that it was not the salary of any place that did make a man rich, but the opportunity of getting money while he is in the place"
So, at last Sam has brought up the still-pending matter of Mr. Man's offer of 1000L for Sam's Navy post — probably not directly, though. Maybe he asked an innocuous question like: What do you think the value of my office might be, if someone were to buy it, not that I'm considering that. Is Sam convinced by Montagu's words, or will he still need to think more about it?
"What of Pepys's Clerk of the Acts position's monetary value to him? Has he reported talking to Sandwich about it? Apparently all is settled?!"
Regarding the still-unresolved question of Mr. Man's 1000L offer for Sam's Navy job — It doesn't seem likely that Sam brought up the offer today, or Montagu would not have so readily entrusted Sam with considerable responsibility concerning "the business of his sea commission" while he (Montagu) went out of town for a spell.
Today is Monday; Sam last mentioned his quandary on Friday, but that passage may have been written a day or two later because Friday was his day of great pain. He has a brief meeting with Montagu on Saturday and goes to church with him on Sunday. My sense is that the question has not yet been discussed between them.
But Sam now also has 100L in his purse "which is the first that ever I was master of [so much] at once." He is starting to figure out that eventually, his current assortment of jobs will make him far richer than Mr. Man can make him.
Since kidney stones are mentioned in the description above of the autopsy of Pepys, the medically-minded may also enjoy this precise description of the operation performed on Pepys two years ago in 1658 to remove his kidney stones, here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/…
It states that of the various forms of kidney stone operations available at the time, Pepys underwent "Marian lithotomy," which "remained in vogue until nearly the end of the I7th century. Many of the self-taught itinerant lithotomists used it." (One wonders how a self-taught lithotomist might learn the trade. In any event, Sam used a trained and experienced surgeon.)
For the non-squeamish, here's the description, from that paper, of Sam's operation:
"Preparation a few days earlier was by purging, bleeding, and fomentation to the perineum. He was placed on the table with his buttocks raised, his legs flexed, and the hands bound to the knees. Immobilization of the limbs was further ensured by four strong men. . . A curved probe or bougie with a slit on its left side was thrust through the urethra and into the bladder. The scrotum was lifted by an assistant to leave the left side of the perineum exposed. A cut was made on to the slit in the probe, no larger than the thumb, avoiding the seam of the perineum and the anal orifice. The gorget was inserted into the opened urethra and the channel kept open with the pair of conductors or guiders. The staff was withdrawn. The voracious and vociferous crows-beak or duckbill forceps were passed into the bladder to search for the stone. If the opening was too small Pare's dilator was inserted and opened until the forceps with the stone could be withdrawn. It was examined for cracks or facets; any blood clot or fragments were removed and no pieces left behind. Other forceps were available — for example, Pare's and Aston Keys'. A very large stone could be crushed by heavy forceps (Brodie type) and removed piecemeal. Pepys's operation was a success. The stone, as big as a tennis ball, was complete and intact."
"For this month or two it is not imaginable how busy my head has been . . . my waiting at the Privy Seal makes me much more unable to think of anything. . . . Never since I was a man in the world was I ever so great a stranger to public affairs as now I am, having not read a new book or anything like it, or enquiring after any news, or what the Parliament do, or in any wise how things go." Plus, he is worrying about the disposition of his Axe Yard house and the need to acquire furnishings for his new place.
With all that going on, Sam's blood pressure is up, his anxiety level is up, he's stressed, he's feeling overwrought — or "troubled" in his parlance. (And now maybe he's got kidney stones again, which can be caused by stress, or at least a stiff back, also stress-related.) He does not often elaborate this much about his stress level. All this explains why he remains tempted by Mr. Man's offer of 1000L for his Navy job.
Perhaps it was just a matter of convenience, but it was nice of Sam to include his wife with the distinguished company of Dean Fuller and lawyer Moore. Most of the time he has all the merriment while she's stuck at home with the help.
Also: it seems that Sam expected to be included in the visit to Mrs. Blackburn, but "she being within," he could not be admitted to her company and went off to keep himself busy at the Privy Seal. I suspect "being within" means that she was still in the enclosed space of her poster bed and its curtains. Here's a great essay on the public and private spaces of 17th-century homes, including "being within" one's bed even during the daytime: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lumin… Recall also William Shakespeare's "second best bed" and "the Great Bed of Ware."
Note that the original conversation with Mr. Man (July 30) was fueled by Rhenish wine; this one by the good wines at Mr. Rawlinson's establishment, both over several-hour spans. Again, let's see what happens when Sam sobers up. I think that if Sam even brings it up with Montagu, my Lord will wisely point out that 1000L is less than three years salary for the Navy board clerk's post, so it is Man who will be earning a 35% return on his investment, courtesy of Sam, and Sam will have a hard time earning a single-digit return.
There was some titillation above over the possible hanky-panky behind "&c" with Betty Hall, but note that earlier he bespoke some linens from her for the new house. Presumably this is a good sign that he intends to stay there, by keeping his navy board position and not selling it, as he was contemplating a few days ago. But we don't know conclusively, yet.
As noted above, it does seem odd that Pepys would even contemplate selling the job he has just obtained and begun. Remember that a nice house comes with the position! Plus, if he sold the job that Montagu pulled strings for him to get, he would also be jeopardizing his continuing position as Montagu's clerk. So he'd be throwing away two jobs and a house in exchange for 1400 pounds. That Rhenish wine seems to make you kind of stupid. My bet is that tomorrow he comes to his senses and tells Mr. Man to forget it.
From Terry Foreman on 3 Jul 2013 above: "The said Patent bears Date the 12th Day of July Instant, in the Twelfth Year of King Charles the Second..."
So for official purposes at least, Charles II's reign is considered to have begun immediately upon the death of Charles I, who was executed on 30 January 1649, despite the Interregnum during which Charles II was in exile.
Evidently, King James "kept a collection of animals in the park. They included camels, crocodiles and an elephant. There were also aviaries of exotic birds along what is now Birdcage Walk." Presumably the "enclosure" was for the collection of animals.
In 1660, King Charles II initiated a redesign of the park. But at this point in the year, work had not yet started, so the enclosure was still there. From the park history linked above:
"The new park was probably created by the French landscaper, Andre Mollet. The centrepiece was a straight canal, 2,560ft long and 125ft wide, lined on each side with avenues of trees. The new park was opened to the public for the first time. King Charles II entertained guests here and also courted his favourite mistress, Nell Gwyn. The diarist, John Evelyn, a contemporary of Samuel Pepys, wrote on March 4th 1671:
" 'I had a faire opportunity of talking to his Majestie... & thence walked with him thro St. James's Parke to the Garden, where I both saw and heard a very familiar discourse between... [the King] & Mrs. Nellie'
"King Charles introduced the game, Pelle Melle, from France. This was played on a long fenced court and players used a mallet to hit a ball through a hoop. The courts in St James's Park gave their names to the present day Pall Mall and The Mall. A tradition also began at this time that continues today. In 1664, a Russian ambassador presented a pair of pelicans to the king. Pelicans are still offered to the park by foreign ambassadors and remain one of the most popular sights in the park."
"We sat at the office this morning" "After we rose at the office..."
Sam will use these terms frequently going forward. I believe what this signifies is that they sat in meetings, and then "rose" when they were concluded. Occasionally the business of the meeting may be mentioned, and sometimes he says "met" instead of "sat." It does not mean that they each sat at their desks individually doing their work.
I'm imagining Sam hiking through London with the half-buck slung over his shoulder...but more likely he engaged a carriage, as he has been doing more often lately.
"My wife and I mightily pleased with our new house that we hope to have." As mentioned above, this introduces a teeny-tiny note of doubt into Sam's previous certainty regarding the house, which included, the other day, obtaining permission to cut a hole in the roof. So, perhaps there are still some contingencies not settled among the new claimants of the various houses.
So he didn't advise his wife what to do, it was a mutual consultation, which is nice (even though he tells us the other day that he showed her "my house").
Ivan/2015: "It seems noteworthy that Sam can ask for a new door to be fitted and that his wish is granted."
Note that he received permission, but needs to pay for the work himself. ("I got leave to have a door made me into the leads.") This is the first many improvements Sam makes to the house at his own expense. He doesn't mind paying, because the house comes for free with the job he has for life.
Comments
Third Reading
About Tuesday 21 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
Dick Wilson, above: "Will Hewer's aunt's kinswoman died in the morning and was buried that night?! Very quick, that."
Not really. The next day was pretty standard, but an early morning death could result in an evening burial. You did not want to keep a corpse in the house any longer than you had to.
About Sunday 19 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
"No mention of Lady Batten, Lady Penn or Elizabeth being in church today. Were they all home cooking dinner like good little wives?"
Sam is a pretty regular churchgoer, but doesn't mention the Mrs. coming along very often. Sometimes to the afternoon service. There is often a good Sundat lunch at home, so maybe she did spend the morning cooking. Or maybe she generally worships elsewhere, someplace more in keeping with her Huguenot background.
(Also, today she had to get dressed in that petticoat!)
About Thursday 16 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
"in the way talking how good he did hope my place would be to me, and in general speaking that it was not the salary of any place that did make a man rich, but the opportunity of getting money while he is in the place"
So, at last Sam has brought up the still-pending matter of Mr. Man's offer of 1000L for Sam's Navy post — probably not directly, though. Maybe he asked an innocuous question like: What do you think the value of my office might be, if someone were to buy it, not that I'm considering that. Is Sam convinced by Montagu's words, or will he still need to think more about it?
About Monday 13 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
"What of Pepys's Clerk of the Acts position's monetary value to him? Has he reported talking to Sandwich about it? Apparently all is settled?!"
Regarding the still-unresolved question of Mr. Man's 1000L offer for Sam's Navy job — It doesn't seem likely that Sam brought up the offer today, or Montagu would not have so readily entrusted Sam with considerable responsibility concerning "the business of his sea commission" while he (Montagu) went out of town for a spell.
Today is Monday; Sam last mentioned his quandary on Friday, but that passage may have been written a day or two later because Friday was his day of great pain. He has a brief meeting with Montagu on Saturday and goes to church with him on Sunday. My sense is that the question has not yet been discussed between them.
But Sam now also has 100L in his purse "which is the first that ever I was master of [so much] at once." He is starting to figure out that eventually, his current assortment of jobs will make him far richer than Mr. Man can make him.
About Saturday 11 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
Since kidney stones are mentioned in the description above of the autopsy of Pepys, the medically-minded may also enjoy this precise description of the operation performed on Pepys two years ago in 1658 to remove his kidney stones, here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/…
It states that of the various forms of kidney stone operations available at the time, Pepys underwent "Marian lithotomy," which "remained in vogue until nearly the end of the I7th century. Many of the self-taught itinerant lithotomists used it." (One wonders how a self-taught lithotomist might learn the trade. In any event, Sam used a trained and experienced surgeon.)
For the non-squeamish, here's the description, from that paper, of Sam's operation:
"Preparation a few days earlier was by purging, bleeding, and fomentation to the perineum. He was placed on the table with his buttocks raised, his legs flexed, and the hands bound to the
knees. Immobilization of the limbs was further ensured by four strong men. . . A curved probe or bougie with a slit on its left side was thrust through the urethra and into the bladder. The
scrotum was lifted by an assistant to leave the left side of the perineum exposed. A cut was
made on to the slit in the probe, no larger than the thumb, avoiding the seam of the perineum and the anal orifice. The gorget was inserted into the opened urethra and the channel kept open with the pair of conductors or guiders. The staff was withdrawn. The voracious and vociferous crows-beak or duckbill forceps were passed into the bladder to search for the stone. If the opening was too small Pare's dilator was inserted and opened until the forceps with the stone could be withdrawn. It was examined for cracks or facets; any blood clot or fragments were removed and no pieces left behind. Other forceps were available — for example, Pare's and Aston Keys'. A very large stone could be crushed by heavy forceps (Brodie type) and removed
piecemeal. Pepys's operation was a success. The stone, as big as a tennis ball, was complete and
intact."
About Friday 10 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
"For this month or two it is not imaginable how busy my head has been . . . my waiting at the Privy Seal makes me much more unable to think of anything. . . . Never since I was a man in the world was I ever so great a stranger to public affairs as now I am, having not read a new book or anything like it, or enquiring after any news, or what the Parliament do, or in any wise how things go." Plus, he is worrying about the disposition of his Axe Yard house and the need to acquire furnishings for his new place.
With all that going on, Sam's blood pressure is up, his anxiety level is up, he's stressed, he's feeling overwrought — or "troubled" in his parlance. (And now maybe he's got kidney stones again, which can be caused by stress, or at least a stiff back, also stress-related.) He does not often elaborate this much about his stress level. All this explains why he remains tempted by Mr. Man's offer of 1000L for his Navy job.
About Thursday 9 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
Perhaps it was just a matter of convenience, but it was nice of Sam to include his wife with the distinguished company of Dean Fuller and lawyer Moore. Most of the time he has all the merriment while she's stuck at home with the help.
Also: it seems that Sam expected to be included in the visit to Mrs. Blackburn, but "she being within," he could not be admitted to her company and went off to keep himself busy at the Privy Seal. I suspect "being within" means that she was still in the enclosed space of her poster bed and its curtains. Here's a great essay on the public and private spaces of 17th-century homes, including "being within" one's bed even during the daytime: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lumin… Recall also William Shakespeare's "second best bed" and "the Great Bed of Ware."
About Wednesday 8 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
Can someone remind me who D. W. is (that inserted the comment in today's text about Wheatley's censorship)?
About Monday 6 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
Note that the original conversation with Mr. Man (July 30) was fueled by Rhenish wine; this one by the good wines at Mr. Rawlinson's establishment, both over several-hour spans. Again, let's see what happens when Sam sobers up. I think that if Sam even brings it up with Montagu, my Lord will wisely point out that 1000L is less than three years salary for the Navy board clerk's post, so it is Man who will be earning a 35% return on his investment, courtesy of Sam, and Sam will have a hard time earning a single-digit return.
About Saturday 4 August 1660
MartinVT • Link
There was some titillation above over the possible hanky-panky behind "&c" with Betty Hall, but note that earlier he bespoke some linens from her for the new house. Presumably this is a good sign that he intends to stay there, by keeping his navy board position and not selling it, as he was contemplating a few days ago. But we don't know conclusively, yet.
About Monday 30 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
As noted above, it does seem odd that Pepys would even contemplate selling the job he has just obtained and begun. Remember that a nice house comes with the position! Plus, if he sold the job that Montagu pulled strings for him to get, he would also be jeopardizing his continuing position as Montagu's clerk. So he'd be throwing away two jobs and a house in exchange for 1400 pounds. That Rhenish wine seems to make you kind of stupid. My bet is that tomorrow he comes to his senses and tells Mr. Man to forget it.
About Thursday 26 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
From Terry Foreman on 3 Jul 2013 above:
"The said Patent bears Date the 12th Day of July Instant, in the Twelfth Year of King Charles the Second..."
So for official purposes at least, Charles II's reign is considered to have begun immediately upon the death of Charles I, who was executed on 30 January 1649, despite the Interregnum during which Charles II was in exile.
About Monday 23 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
"our little boy proving a droll"
Droll as a noun (now archaic) meant a jester or entertainer. Sam's pre-supper tippling probably contributed to the drollery.
About Sunday 22 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
There is a good history of St. James's Park here:
https://www.royalparks.org.uk/par…
Evidently, King James "kept a collection of animals in the park. They included camels, crocodiles and an elephant. There were also aviaries of exotic birds along what is now Birdcage Walk." Presumably the "enclosure" was for the collection of animals.
In 1660, King Charles II initiated a redesign of the park. But at this point in the year, work had not yet started, so the enclosure was still there. From the park history linked above:
"The new park was probably created by the French landscaper, Andre Mollet. The centrepiece was a straight canal, 2,560ft long and 125ft wide, lined on each side with avenues of trees. The new park was opened to the public for the first time. King Charles II entertained guests here and also courted his favourite mistress, Nell Gwyn. The diarist, John Evelyn, a contemporary of Samuel Pepys, wrote on March 4th 1671:
" 'I had a faire opportunity of talking to his Majestie... & thence walked with him thro St. James's Parke to the Garden, where I both saw and heard a very familiar discourse between... [the King] & Mrs. Nellie'
"King Charles introduced the game, Pelle Melle, from France. This was played on a long fenced court and players used a mallet to hit a ball through a hoop. The courts in St James's Park gave their names to the present day Pall Mall and The Mall. A tradition also began at this time that continues today. In 1664, a Russian ambassador presented a pair of pelicans to the king. Pelicans are still offered to the park by foreign ambassadors and remain one of the most popular sights in the park."
About Friday 20 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
"We sat at the office this morning"
"After we rose at the office..."
Sam will use these terms frequently going forward. I believe what this signifies is that they sat in meetings, and then "rose" when they were concluded. Occasionally the business of the meeting may be mentioned, and sometimes he says "met" instead of "sat." It does not mean that they each sat at their desks individually doing their work.
About Wednesday 18 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
"I did carry it [the half buck] to my mother"
I'm imagining Sam hiking through London with the half-buck slung over his shoulder...but more likely he engaged a carriage, as he has been doing more often lately.
About Sunday 15 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
"According to one story, during the time of Henry VIII, paper was printed in 17″ x 22” sheets..."
And that is why, today, standard copy paper is 8.5x11, exactly one-fourth the size of those sheets.
About Sunday 15 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
"My wife and I mightily pleased with our new house that we hope to have." As mentioned above, this introduces a teeny-tiny note of doubt into Sam's previous certainty regarding the house, which included, the other day, obtaining permission to cut a hole in the roof. So, perhaps there are still some contingencies not settled among the new claimants of the various houses.
About Saturday 14 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
"Up early and advised with my wife"
So he didn't advise his wife what to do, it was a mutual consultation, which is nice (even though he tells us the other day that he showed her "my house").
About Friday 13 July 1660
MartinVT • Link
Ivan/2015: "It seems noteworthy that Sam can ask for a new door to be fitted and that his wish is granted."
Note that he received permission, but needs to pay for the work himself. ("I got leave to have a door made me into the leads.") This is the first many improvements Sam makes to the house at his own expense. He doesn't mind paying, because the house comes for free with the job he has for life.