Saturday 3 August 1661
[Continued from yesterday. P.G.] …got up early the next morning and got to Barkway, where I staid and drank, and there met with a letter-carrier of Cambridge, with whom I rode all the way to Cambridge, my horse being tired, and myself very wet with rain.
I went to the Castle Hill, where the judges were at the Assizes; and I staid till Roger Pepys rose and went with him, and dined with his brother, the Doctor, and Claxton at Trinity Hall. Then parted, and I went to the Rose, and there with Mr. Pechell, Sanchy, and others, sat and drank till night and were very merry, only they tell me how high the old doctors are in the University over those they found there, though a great deal better scholars than themselves; for which I am very sorry, and, above all, Dr. Gunning. At night I took horse, and rode with Roger Pepys and his two brothers to Impington, and there with great respect was led up by them to the best chamber in the house, and there slept.
22 Annotations
First Reading
Pedro. • Link
"a great deal better scholars than themselves"
If I am right Sam's brother John went to the University last year 1660, but on the 5th June 1661 Sir Isaac Newton started to study there. There cannot be many better Scholars than Sir Isaac!
Paul • Link
"I went to the Castle Hill, where the judges were at the Assizes"
>>Castle Hill is still (or at least was when I was there) the seat of some local government offices (Shire Hall I think). It's not a particularly big hill but by the Fenland's lowly standards was significant enough to be the site of a Roman tower/castle overlooking the road North.
vicente • Link
Castle Hill is reputed to be the highest point in Cambs., and great visual of Ely Cathedral to the North, at one time one could scale a church steeple in the Town of Camb., before it was delegated a City, it not having a Cathedral and the Ely Masters would never let that happen. One could see the North sea Near Wisbech. I hope some one can post some of the gory details of the fair trials of the assizes besides Bloody J. Jeffries. It was Pens son that change the system of Juries siding with the Worthies, or else they were serving the sentence that was due the man/woman in the dock
vicente • Link
AH! those Granta water's do a have a kick."...and I went to the Rose, and there with Mr. Pechell, Sanchy, and others, sat and drank till night and were very merry..."
Pauline • Link
"...how high the old doctors are in the University over those they found there..."
What?
That the old professors are insufferably set in their ways and arrogant, while the young Fellows are "a great deal better scholars"?
Ideas on just what Sam is saying here?
vicente • Link
The Young never change. The Old of course were under cromwellian thinking. Died in the wool fenmen?
L Crichton • Link
Does he mean 'high' in terms of the way they worship? ie they are 'high church' which is in conflict with the more puritan leanings of the students?
I see from the notes that Dr Gunning was rebuked often by Cromwell for reading the Liturgy.
roystontemple • Link
You can't see the North Sea from Castle Mound; on a clear day you might make out Ely Cathedral but great visual is probably overstating it. The mound is what remains of a motte-and-bailey castle (I believe the castle itself was pulled down to provide stone for building colleges) and is on Castle Hill - the hill itself is a scarcely noticeable gradient.
Mary • Link
"how high the old doctors are"
I took this to mean that the old doctors now felt that they could lord it over the Commonwealth-sanctioned dons who had occupied their seats during the interregnum. Pepys refers to them as high in the University, rather than high in their clerical leanings.
Todd Bernhardt • Link
re: "how high the old doctors are"
I agree w/Mary on this, and agree w/Pauline's reading, too. The tables have turned, and political affiliation has become more important than merit.
Nice to see that the cousins are treating our boy well...
JWB • Link
Peter Gunning
In '44 Gunning retreated to the Royalist camp at Oxford & returned to Cambridge with restoration. '61 prof. of divinity and head of St. John's. A bibliophile like Sam, they both left their books to respective colleges. Recall Sam's earlier visit to Cambridge chapel and his comments on surplices and organ.
JWB • Link
"At night I took horse..."
Wonder if he took Son of Hobson's choice?
vicente • Link
A Hobson he married a pepys I do beleive. Orig: Tobias Hobson (c. 1544-1631)
sorry[Dimentia] , the view of Wisbech was from Ely Catherdal, back in the (19)40's.
The Catherine Pepys Charity was formed by monies left by her husband Thomas Hobson, who was the grandson of the famous and very wealthy carrier Thomas Hobson, of "Hobson's Choice", of Cambridge and whom we were told owned manor and land in Cottenham.
http://www.cottenhamvillagesociet…
vicente • Link
Are not all those big 'ills of the fens still called pimples ? Even the Ouse was made to flow above surrounding lands.
pat stewart cavalier • Link
"how high the old doctors are" :
I would take "high" to mean strongly critical against
Second Reading
Sasha Clarkson • Link
"how high the old doctors are in the University over those they found there, ... and, above all, Dr. Gunning."
The political divines who lost their places under the Commonwealth and Protectorate are, like Peter Gunning, now back AND in charge. They are showing their disdain for those who merely led a scholarly life during those times, and are reminding them: "We are the Masters now!"
Sasha Clarkson • Link
It's very interesting to use Google Maps to look at the situation of the various places connected with the Pepys family around Cambridge: Cottenham, Impington, Brampton and Hinchinbrooke.
Clark Kent • Link
As to Sam Pepys, and the company he keeps, one thinks of Ernest Hemingway's comment, "I only drink to make other people interesting."
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘high . . 14. a. Showing pride, self-exaltation, resentment, or the like; haughty, pretentious, arrogant, overbearing; wrathful, angry. Of words, actions, feelings, etc.: hence (now only dial.) of persons . .
c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 753 Heȝe word he spekeð. þat alle heo wullet quellen quic þat heo findeð.
. . 1661 S. Pepys Diary 20 Mar. (1970) II. 57 Endeed, the bishops are so high, that very few do love them . .
high-carriaged adj.
1664 S. Pepys Diary 28 Feb. (1971) V. 67 His Lady a very high-carriaged but comely big woman.’
Terry Foreman • Link
"the old doctors are in the University over those they found there, though a great deal better scholars than themselves"
L&M weigh in: John Peachell and Clement Sankey had been elected to their fellowships at Magdalene during the Protectorate. They probably feared the power of the dispossessed heads of houses and fellows who were now restored to the places from which they had been extruded during the revolution.
Terry Foreman • Link
" hey tell me how high the old doctors are in the University over those they found there, though a great deal better scholars than themselves; for which I am very sorry, and, above all, Dr. Gunning."
Peter Gunning, elecyted Haster of St John's in June 1664, was quick to 'rour out the old leaven', accorting to Thomas Baker (d. 1740). But he is said to have allowed 'a vert considerable annuity' to Anthony Tuckmey, whom he replaced both in the mastership and as professor: Wood, Ath. Oxon. (ed Bliss), iv . 143. (L&M note)
Terry Foreman • Link
"I went to the Castle Hill, where the judges were at the Assizes;"
L&M: The assizes were held in Shire House, Castle Hill, until 1747: VCH, Cambs., iii. 118. Roger Pepys attended as Recorder of the borough.
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Assizes
The courts of assize, or assizes (/əˈsaɪzɪz/), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes exercised both civil and criminal jurisdiction, though most of their work was on the criminal side.[1] The assizes heard the most serious cases, which were committed to it by the quarter sessions (local county courts held four times per year), while the more minor offences were dealt with summarily by justices of the peace in petty sessions (also known as magistrates' courts).
The word assize refers to the sittings or sessions (Old French assises) of the judges, known as "justices of assize", who were judges who travelled across the seven circuits of England and Wales on commissions of "oyer and terminer", setting up court and summoning juries at the various assize towns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ass…