Friday 16 March 1659/60

No sooner out of bed but troubled with abundance of clients, seamen. My landlord Vanly’s man came to me by my direction yesterday, for I was there at his house as I was going to London by water, and I paid him rent for my house for this quarter ending at Lady day, and took an acquittance that he wrote me from his master. Then to Mr. Sheply, to the Rhenish Tavern House, where Mr. Pim, the tailor, was, and gave us a morning draft and a neat’s tongue. Home and with my wife to London, we dined at my father’s, where Joyce Norton and Mr. Armiger dined also. After dinner my wife took leave of them in order to her going to-morrow to Huntsmore. In my way home I went to the Chapel in Chancery Lane to bespeak papers of all sorts and other things belonging to writing against my voyage. So home, where I spent an hour or two about my business in my study. Thence to the Admiralty, and staid a while, so home again, where Will Bowyer came to tell us that he would bear my wife company in the coach to-morrow. Then to Westminster Hall, where I heard how the Parliament had this day dissolved themselves, and did pass very cheerfully through the Hall, and the Speaker without his mace. The whole Hall was joyful thereat, as well as themselves, and now they begin to talk loud of the King. To-night I am told, that yesterday, about five o’clock in the afternoon, one came with a ladder to the Great Exchange, and wiped with a brush the inscription that was upon King Charles, and that there was a great bonfire made in the Exchange, and people called out “God bless. King Charles the Second!”1 From the Hall I went home to bed, very sad in mind to part with my wife, but God’s will be done.

38 Annotations

First Reading

language hat  •  Link

acquittance (OED):
A writing in evidence of a discharge; a release in writing; a receipt in full, which bars a further demand.

1531 Dial. on Laws of Eng. ii. xlii. 138 (1638) The creditour had taken an acquittance of him without paying him his mony. 1588 Shaks. L.L.L. ii. i. 161 Boyet, you can produce acquittances For such a summe. 1684 London Gaz. mdccccxciv. 4 Lost..a File with Writings and Acquittances, supposed to be dropt not far off the Exchange, London. 1727 Arbuthnot Hist. J. Bull 61 The same man bought and sold to himself, paid the money, and gave the acquittance.

Grahamt  •  Link

Neat's Tongue:
Neat: A bovine animal; an ox, a bullock, a cow, a heifer

Grahamt  •  Link

The Speaker without his mace:
...that which lies on the table in the House of Commons when the Speaker is in the chair, viewed as a symbol of the authority of the House (SOED).
So, the speaker, without the mace, lacked his symbol of office and Parliament its symbol of authority.

Grahamt  •  Link

Exit tyrannus...
I'm not a Latin scholar, but I read:
"Exit tyrannus, Regum ultimus, anno libertatis Angliae, anno Domini 1648, Januarie xxx" as:
"The tyrant has gone, the last of the kings, in the year of the liberation of England, 30th January 1648 A.D."
Perhaps someone can give a better translation.

Hhomeboy  •  Link

a tidier definition for neat....

Bullock and heifer are both appropriate; I remember being served "neat's tongue" and being told a neat was larger than a calf but not yet a cow (or full-grown bull/steer)...

Btw, if one were sending a one year -old or so "mature" or "grass-fed" calf off to be slaughtered for "veal"--as opposed to 3-6 month-old milk-fed veal--then the tongue (still quite tender) would once have been described as "neat's tongue."

mw  •  Link

Well done Sam! for the dry week. It is left to us to praise him. Another draft with nare a comment. Not too selfconcious, our Sam and with little pre-meditation. A well rounded, intelligent fellow with a fine understanding of himself, the world and his place in it. I suspect that his parents played a large role in his development.
I am assuming that the alcohol ban included his daily draft as Sam's record probably allows me to conclude.

Jenny Doughty  •  Link

I think Sam has stayed off the spirits, but not his normal beer/wine intake, judging by the number of references to drinking at various drinking establishments this week. Because water was not generally a safe drink in those days, even children drank weak ale, so I think Sam's concern was with 'strong drink', not alcohol as such.

Emilio  •  Link

Neat's tongue
The phrase brings to mind my favourite string of insults from Shakespeare, in 1 Henry IV, Act 2, Scene iv. Fat Falstaff has had a few, which leads to the following friendly exchange with slim Prince Hal:
PRINCE HENRY I'll be no longer guilty of this sin; this sanguine coward, this bed-presser, this horseback-breaker, this huge hill of flesh,--
FALSTAFF 'Sblood, you starveling, you elf-skin, you dried neat's tongue, you bull's pizzle, you stock-fish! O for breath to utter what is like thee! you tailor's-yard, you sheath, you bowcase; you vile standing-tuck,--
Btw, my own copy of the play reads 'you eel-skin', which makes much more sense to me. For any who want a look at the entire scene, it can be found at
http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespea… .
I wonder, did our Sam watch this very scene performed at some point, whether during the diary period or later? I'm sure he enjoyed it if he did.

language hat  •  Link

"I’m sure he enjoyed it"

Don't be so sure. Our Sam, though a theater fan, had distressingly bad taste (from our point of view), and doesn't seem to have thought much of the few Shakespeare plays he saw.

Glyn  •  Link

Unfair and untrue, Language Hat; he liked some and disliked others (just like the rest of us).

I really do like ox tongue. (A) Would that qualify as "neat"? and (B) Is it only in Britain and Europe that you can get it?

Dana Haviland  •  Link

To Glyn: Yes, as it happens, one can obtain beef tongue in the US, usually only referred to as "tongue" (assumed to be bovine). It isn't a popular dish, or not as popular as it was in the 1950s, when it was frequently served sliced thin on sandwiches. My first father-in-law was quite a fan: I can't see the appeal, myself.

Emilio  •  Link

Ox/neat
For what it's worth, I've never seen "neat's tongue" in my quotation above glossed as anything but "ox's tongue." Merriam Webster online's definition of "neat" is even broader:
neat: the common domestic bovine (Bos taurus)
When it came down to it I'm not sure the cow had to actually be male (hence, an ox), but it doesn't seem like neat was a separate breed.

mw  •  Link

Jenny Doughty, to my reading this is the first time in a week that Sam has written " gave us our daily draft" his familiar expression. Sure, there is drinking but no mention of his involvement, something he has been both articulate and "regular" about. I'm aware of the water contamination issue hence watched this issue with interest.

Jim  •  Link

Neat's tongue...
This probably won't make sense to people who grew up playing cricket, but over on the American side of the Atlantic -- at least back in the days of my childhood -- we spent many hours rubbing Neat's Foot Oil into our baseball gloves... partly to keep them flexible, etc. and probably partly just because it was part of the ritual and mystery of the game...

It would appear that no part of the cow (or ox or calf or whatever) goes to waste.

language hat  •  Link

I stand corrected.
Being at work, without my faithful Companion, I relied on my memory of an outdated biography; now that I (at home again) examine the Plays essay, I see that he said of The Tempest "as often as I have seen it, I do like very well." My apologies to Glyn, Sam, and the Bard.

kvk  •  Link

Pepys only saw Dryden and Davenant's reworking of the Tempest, which departs substantially from Shakespeare's text. You can read that version here (the prologue is particularly worth reading):

http://newark.rutgers.edu/~jlynch…

It's hard to estimate Pepys' taste because we don't know whether the performances he saw were any good. The fact that Dryden, who considered Shakespeare the greatest English playwright, would rewrite Shakespeare's plays indicates how far the Theatre had grown away from Shakespeare's sensibility. It is possible that the Retoration players did not know how to put his plays across, just as many modern stage actors have trouble doing classic theatre.

On the other hand, Pepys dismissed Othello after reading it. He disliked Henry IV pt. 1 the first time he saw it, but he had bought the text of the play earlier that day and he thought his expectations may have been too high - which, it might be added, suggests a problem with the performance.

Tina  •  Link

Neats tongue, foot....
As well as neats' foot oil, neats foot jelly was used as a restorative food for invalids in regencey times, presumably because it was easily digestible (and nourishing?)

Roger Miller  •  Link

This poem on the erasing of the motto EXIT TYRANNUS at the Exchange is part of an online anthology at the University of Virginia of poems commemorating the restoration:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etc…

Daniel Baker  •  Link

Why does Sam need to see the chancery records for his voyage?

CGS  •  Link

this Day parliament gave Monk moni4es and real estate.
Grant to Gen. Monck.

A Bill for Conferring of Twenty thousand Pounds on Captain-General George Monck, for his signal Services, was this Day read the First and Second time.

Resolved, That this Bill be read the Third time.

Resolved, That the Word "signal" be omitted; and that the Word "eminent" be inserted, instead thereof.

The said Bill was read the Third time, and, so amended, was, upon the Question, passed.

see H of C

CGS  •  Link

Chancery records
Needs a man from the Chancery to give a needed insight.

A guess, to register officially his elevated status and his last will and testament in case the seas are not with him, so that wife gets all that is due.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Today's House of Commons', aka Parliament's Grant to Gen. Monck. [per CGS, above] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Also Hampton-Court.

Ordered, That his Excellency the Lord General Monck be, and is hereby, constituted Steward of the Honour and Manor of Hampton-Court, and Keeper of the House and Parks there: And that he hold and enjoy the same, with all the Rights and Privileges to the said Stewardship belonging, in as large, ample, and beneficial Manner, to all Intents and Purposes, as any Steward of the Honour and Manor of Hampton-Court, and Keeper of the House and Parks, have at any time heretofore had, or enjoyed the same. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Dissolving Parliament.

A Bill ingrossed, for Dissolving the Parliament begun and holden at Westminster, the 3d of November 1640; and for the Calling and Holding of a Parliament at Westminster, on the 25th Day of April 1660; was this Day read the Third time.

A Proviso was tendered to this Bill, in these Words; viz. "Provided always, and be it Declared, That the single Actings of this House, enforced by the pressing Necessities of the present Times, are not intended, in the least, to infringe, much less take away, that ancient native Right, which the House of Peers, consisting of those Lords who did engage in the Cause of the Parliament, against the Forces raised in the Name of the late King, and so continued until 1648, had, and have, to be a Part of the Parliament of England."

Which was read the First time.
Resolved, That this Proviso be read the Second time.
The said Proviso was read the Second time, accordingly; and, upon the Question, agreed to be Part of the Bill.
Resolved, That the Day for the Dissolution of the Parliament be, from the 16th Day of March 1659.
And the said Bill, so amended, being put to the Question, passed.
Ordered, That this Act be printed and published. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Finally: General Fast.

Resolved, That Friday, the 6th Day of April 1660, be set apart for a Day of publick Fasting and Humiliation, to be solemnized throughout the Nation, under the Sense of the great and manifold Sins and Provocations thereof; and to seek the Lord for his Blessing upon the Parliament, now shortly to be assembled, that the Lord will make them Healers of our Breaches, and Instruments to restore and settle Peace and Government in the Nations, upon Foundations of Truth and Righteousness. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Note the change from today's 1659 to the 1660 of the upcoming Friday, the 6th Day of April.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The loyal subjects teares, for the sufferings and absence of their sovereign, Charles II. King of England, Scotland & Ireland. With an observation upon the expunging of exit tyrannas regum ultimus, by order of General Monk. And some advice to the Independents, Anabaptists, Phanatiques, &c.
London: printed for Charles King, 1660.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the writing in golden letters, that was engraven under the statue of Charles I, in the Royal Exchange...was washed out by a painter, who in the day time raised a ladder, and with a pot and brush washed the writing quite out, threw down his pot and brush and said it should never do him any more service, in regard that it had the honour to put out rebels’ hand-writing. He then came down, took away his ladder, not a misword said to him, and by whose order it was done was not then known."

L&M note this was done during the afernoon Exhange. The gilded letters had been painted over the niche which had contained the statue of Charles I. The statue itself had been pulled down in 1650. The man who obliterated the words was later identified as Michael Darby, 'now painter to the Company of Mercers': Mercurius Politicus https://www.cambridge.org/core/jo… 23 August 1660, p. 534.

Third Reading

LKvM  •  Link

He liked Hamlet and (especially) Macbeth.

William Crosby  •  Link

If I recall correctly, much of Sam's negative remarks on Shakespeare's plays were based on performances that he liked or disliked not the literary quality of the plays themselves. During the years of the second reading--I read a great deal of history of Shakespeare, the plays, performance styles, Elizabethan and Jamesian theatre, etc. So I am looking forward to re-encountering his comments on these topics. As I recollect there are his experiences as a groundling and many more as someone in the elite seats.

Sam Ursu  •  Link

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

"I'm not a Latin scholar, but I read:
"Exit tyrannus, Regum ultimus, anno libertatis Angliae, anno Domini 1648, Januarie xxx" as..."

Not quite. Here's a more fluid translation:

"The tyrant, who shall be the last of all the kings [we shall ever have], leaves us this year, 1648, the year that England gained its freedom, January xxx"

More literally:

"The tyrant leaves, the last of the kings, the year of England's freedom, the year of our Lord 1648, January xxx"

Sam Ursu  •  Link

My apologies for the double post. I just realized that this is a better translation to modern English:

"The tyrant, the last of all the kings [we shall ever have], left us this year, 1648, when England gained its freedom on January xx."

Croakers Apprentice  •  Link

In order to draw together the two main strands of these annotations I can’t resist suggesting -

“Exit Tyrannus, pursued by a bear” ?

But on a sober note, it is interesting to reflect that the expunged slogan wasn’t really wrong. Charles I did prove to be the “regum ultimus” of England/GB. Those that sat the throne from 1660 onwards were pantomime kings and Parliament’s victory has lasted to this day.

And for the record, I would rather have a panto king than a puritan dictator!

GrahamT  •  Link

I'm just glad that, 20 years after I posted the original, someone has come up with a better translation.

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

Was the "one [who] came with a ladder" to whitewash "Exit Tyrannus" just acting on his own private initiative? Perhaps in this case the Mercurius, who calls him "a kind of a painter", was not fully informed, for we find in the State Papers a letter from "Wm. Doneman alias Mr Mills" to Charles' secretary Nicholas, informing him that "Yesterday, the very characters 'Exit tyrannus' (...) were *by order* [emphasis added] publicly obliterated *at noon* [emphasis also added - not around 5 pm as Sam heard], and 'Vive le Roy' put up instead" - nice touch. "There were bonfires in and about the Change".

"By order" of whom, would be nice to know. We likely won't.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

'"By order" of whom, would be nice to know. We likely won't.'

Stephane, I bet this was on the list of "Quick and Easy PR Things TO DO Whenever" for Hyde, Nicholas and Charles II. And I suspect Mr. Doneman alias Mr. Mills' name tells us who dun it.

Great find -- thanks for sharing.

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

The Incident of the Whitewash did fascinate so many, it was reported as far away as Paris, where we have now seen its report, dated April 3, in the Gazette de France dated April 10 (at gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6450281p/f403.item). It depicts the "painter" as "a man dressed up as a mason" [vn homme traveſti en Maſſon], "accompanied by a Boy" [accompagné d'vn Garçon], "climbed up to the Statue of Queen Elizabeth, under pretence of cleaning it" [monta à la Statüe de la Reyne Elizabeth, ſous prétexte de la nettoyer].

So, bonfires, high-level protection and toasts to the King or not, the Whitewash still isn't something you undertake (especially at the top of a ladder) without a disguise, a lookout and a pretext to give you time to check how the public's taking it. Poor Liz was pretext but at least she got a cleanup, whilst the previous kings were suffer'd to stay under their grime.

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