Saturday 30 June 1660
By times to Sir R. Fanshawe to draw up the preamble to my Lord’s Patent.
So to my Lord, and with him to White Hall, where I saw a great many fine antique heads of marble, that my Lord Northumberland had given the King. Here meeting with Mr. De Cretz, he looked over many of the pieces, in the gallery with me and told me [by] whose hands they were, with great pleasure.
Dined at home and Mr. Hawly with me upon six of my pigeons, which my wife has resolved to kill here.
This day came Will, my boy, to me; the wench continuing lame, so that my wife could not be longer without somebody to help her. In the afternoon with Sir Edward Walker, at his lodgings by St. Giles Church, for my Lord’s pedigree, and carried it to Sir R. Fanshawe.
To Mr. Crew’s, and there took money and paid Mrs. Anne, Mrs. Jemima’s maid, off quite, and so she went away and another came to her. To White Hall with Mr. Moore, where I met with a letter from Mr. Turner, offering me 150l. to be joined with me in my patent, and to advise me how to improve the advantage of my place, and to keep off Barlow.
To my Lord’s till late at night, and so home.
23 Annotations
First Reading
Roger Miller • Link
A confusion of names?
The boy Will mentioned today turns out to be a young rogue and Sam sends him packing in a few weeks time. We never learn his surname but he does have a father who Sam takes to task for his son's behaviour.
Will is replaced by Wayneman Birch, the younger brother of Jane. Jane has another older brother called William who is mentioned later. He is not the Will in today's entry.
There is no such person as William Wayneman.
Alan Bedford • Link
It would appear that, like many others, the Earl of Northumberland is trying to get the King to forgive past disagreements with gifts - in this case, sculpture.
Algernon Percy, the 10th Earl of Northumberland, had been appointed Governor of the Fleet and subsequently Lord High Admiral under Charles I, but was dismissed at the beginning of the Civil War for refusing to support the Royalists. Now, he 's trying to ingratiate himself once again with the Stuarts.
Phil • Link
Good call Roger. I got very confused over those Wills. The link should make more sense now...
Paul Brewster • Link
fine Antique heads of marble that my Lord Northumberland hath given the King
According to L&M, "Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, had been a prominant member of the 'Whitehall group' of collectors and patrons before the Civil War. ... Many of the antique busts in the royal collection apprear to have been brought by Charles I from Mantua"
It seems that the King shall have his own again.
chip • Link
Does anyone know what Pepys means when he says Elizabeth has decided to kill the 6 pigeons "here"? Food was obviously very important to SP (as it is to most of us) as he happily mentions it so often. One wonders from where those antique marbles hailed. And where they went...
Paul Brewster • Link
Mr. De Cretz
per L&M: Emanuel de Critz (Serjeant-Painter to the King) had known the collection of Charles I very well and during the revolution had purchased a number of royal works of art which he returned to the Crown at the Restoration. On the eve of the Restoration a committee of the House of Lords had been formed to rehabilitate as far as possible the great collections formed by Charles I, and on 23 May 1660 John Webb had asked the committee to be allowed to hang in the King's residences in London the pictures that had been re-assembled and to have them recorded in an inventory by de Critz.
vincent • Link
"Dined at home and Mr. Hawly with me upon six of my pigeons, which my wife has resolved to kill here" this is proof, it is in the eating after all.
seeing other options at: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1660/02/08/
It seems she has over come her fear of wrung necks.
Paul Brewster • Link
Mr. De Cretz (per Wheatley)
Thomas De Critz was Serjeant Painter to Charles I., and some account of him is given in Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting." This Mr. De Cretz, who was probably his son, was a copier of pictures.
Do I detect a trace of snobbish-ness in Wheatley, the Antiquarian?
Pauline • Link
"...six of my pigeons, which my wife has resolved to kill here."
Maybe this explains why Jane is lame — there were fowl to kill.
In February Elizabeth had to take on the task. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1660/02/04/#annot…
Maybe Sam feels they can afford to send them out for slaughter, but Elizabeth decides she can do it “here.” Or maybe they know they will be moving with the new posting and she doesn’t intend to take the pigeons to the new lodgings.
Grahamt • Link
Revenge is sweet:
On 3rd Feb we read "...I went to see Mrs. Ann, who began very high about a flock bed I sent her, but I took her down.."
6Th February: "Mrs. Ann, ... she and I had a very high bout".
There are several other entries in a similar vein where Pepys and Mrs Ann "have words"
Then today: "...and there took money and paid Mrs. Anne, Mrs. Jemima's maid, off…”. I assume to pay someone off means the same as today, i.e. pay them their wages and notice pay to date, and get rid of them. His position now with Montague means he can hire and fire fairly senior servants of his boss (and settle old scores!)
A. De Araujo • Link
"Fine antiques head of marbles" and where they went...That's right,marble is very durable,they should be in some royal collection! does anybody know who were they and where they are nowadays?
vera • Link
Maybe this explains why Jane is lame — there were fowl to kill.
That's a tad unfair. From experience, I know It's a lot harder to wring a gooses neck than a pigeons. Apart from the matter of size, a goose has a proportionatly stronger neck which makes it very difficult to do a clean job.
Colin Gravois • Link
The pigeon question.
Aside from the ticklish issue that's been discussed above concerning who wrung who's neck, if they're Sam's birds, as he says they are, where does he keep them? Is there a pigeon coop attached to the new lodgings? I know in those days pigeons were a hot commodity in country estates, and rules were strictly enforced as to the number of birds one could raise in accordance with the acreage of the place, but in the city????
Nix • Link
Apparently Samuel had a pigeon coop in the yard -- see the Feb. 8 entry. They could also be roosting in the eaves.
Around my house the problem is not where to keep them but how to get rid of the little flying fecal fountains.
vincent • Link
"Miss Anne". She just plain forgot who controlled the purse. One Sass too much ?.
He does not say why but one can visualise the situation , one of three things Sass,money,or her love life.
Pigeon coop 'tis better to say Dove Cote (so much much nicer).
language hat • Link
flying fecal fountains:
That's exactly why pigeons were kept in medieval times (and probably considerably later), as fertilizer factories. They could of course be eaten but that's not why the dovecote was a standard farm feature.
vincent • Link
Thanks Language Hat: I never thought of that: I thought Pigeons were kept to keep the peas from growing, and Me Lord to have bait for practicing his Falconry.
Matthew • Link
flying fecal fountains:
they also provided a source of saltpetre for gunpowder.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Today in Commons -- not for the first time -- are discussed provisions for the garrison of the English pale of Dunkirk, which is getting costly to maintain..
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?comp…
Dick Wilson • Link
Poor Jane! If she continues lame, she'll lose her job, and then her prospects will be bleak, indeed.
meech • Link
No one has mentioned the letter from Mr. Turner. Sounds like, instead of trying to buy him off, he's trying to buy in to Sam's new position, with a further promise of help to keep Barlow off. Am I reading this correctly?
Terry Foreman • Link
"Betimes to Sir Rd. Fanshaw to draw up the preamble to my Lord’s patent."
-- so L&M transcribe this day's first sentence.
San Diego Sarah • Link
John Evelyn's Diary – he and Mary Browne Evelyn live at Saye's Court, Deptford.
http://brittlebooks.library.illinois.edu/brittleb…
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30 June, 1660.
The Sussex gentlemen presented their address, to which was my hand.
I went with it, and kissed his Majesty's hand, who was pleased to own me more particularly by calling me his old acquaintance, and speaking very graciously to me.
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“to which was my hand” – I think this means Evelyn also signed the Sussex gentlemen’s address of welcome to Charles II.
Evelyn spent part of his childhood living with his grandfather in Sussex to avoid the plague, and for a while he owned property in South Malling, near Lewes, Sussex; but he sold it in 1648. Yes, he could see Sussex – and 11 other counties – from a high hill at the family home of Wotton, Surrey.
Perhaps I’ll find out why he attached himself to the Sussex contingent of gentlemen rather than the Surrey group later. It might be as simple as they had already officially welcomed Charles, and he had missed that opportunity.