Saturday 25 August 1660

This morning Mr. Turner and I by coach from our office to Whitehall (in our way I calling on Dr. Walker for the papers I did give him the other day, which he had perused and found that the Duke’s counsel had abated something of the former draught which Dr. Walker drew for my Lord) to Sir G. Carteret, where we there made up an estimate of the debts of the Navy for the Council.

At noon I took Mr. Turner and Mr. Moore to the Leg in King Street, and did give them a dinner, and afterward to the Sun Tavern, and did give Mr. Turner a glass of wine, there coming to us Mr. Fowler the apothecary (the judge’s son) with a book of lute lessons which his father had left there for me, such as he formerly did use to play when a young man, and had the use of his hand.

To the Privy Seal, and found some business now again to do there.

To Westminster Hall for a new half-shirt of Mrs. Lane, and so home by water. Wrote letters by the post to my Lord and to sea. This night W. Hewer brought me home from Mr. Pim’s my velvet coat and cap, the first that ever I had. So to bed.

24 Annotations

First Reading

Judith Boles  •  Link

Is this another velvet coat, or the same one that he locked up at the Privy Seal Office on the 21st? A velvet mantle, a velvet hat, too...just wish the colors were known.

Jenny Doughty  •  Link

(in our way I calling on Dr. Walker for the papers I did give him the other day, which he had perused and found that the Duke's counsel had abated something of the former draught which Dr. Walker drew for my Lord)

So the Duke’s counsel desexed-up the dossier? How different, how very different…

Paul Brewster  •  Link

the first that ever I made.
L&M substitute the word "made" for "had".

chip  •  Link

On the front cover of the L&M is the Hayls portrait of Pepys that has him in a chestnut brown what looks like velvet coat. He holds in his hand his tune that he wrote. Someone surely knows the url for that portrait. Pepys as usual gives just enough information about an odd person in the diary to imagine their lives. The judge pounded the gavel too much and lost use of his hand, his son became a druggist to help the father. Pepys is the winner as he gets the lute music. Good one Jenny, and especially Paul, what an eye@

Roger Arbor  •  Link

A half-shirt from Betty Lane... she made it, and likely she'll help him take it off!

Mary  •  Link

'..the former draught .'
Interesting that both Wheatley and L&M both vary the spelling of draft/draught, whether it refers to a document or a drink. If this variation reflects a similar variation in the shorthand, it would seem to indicate that Pepys was sometimes using the southern English 'F' pronunciation of the 'gh' palatal group, but at others was using the northern English pronunciation; i.e. the sort of 'ch' sound that is found in Dutch and (more or less) as the final sound in 'loch'.

The L&M Introduction to Vol I tells is that in other contexts, the 'gh' group had been fully assimilated, as would have been expected in southern speech (wright/ rite/ right all being represented by the same shorthand symbol). The draught/draft variation therefore represents a puzzle when written by an educated man, born and brought up in the south of England, where one would have expected to find the 'draft' pronunciation reflected in the shorthand in all contexts.

Barbara  •  Link

I always thought the brown velvet coat Pepys wore in the Hayls portrait was not his normal clothing, but a sort of special fancy dress to be painted in.

Jenny Doughty  •  Link

The commentary on the portrait Maureen linked to says: 'This portrait of Pepys records his likeness at the age of 29 in an 'Indian gown' he hired for the occasion. He had already commissioned a portrait of his wife Elizabeth from the same artist and the painting took five separate sittings from the life. Pepys paid Hayls £14 for the picture and 25s for the frame on 16th May, commenting that he was ‘well satisfied’ with it. The music he holds is his own setting of a lyric by Sir William Davenant, ‘Beauty, retire’. ‘This day I begun to sit [to Halys], and he will make me, I think, a very fine picture. He promises it shall be as good as my wife’s, and I sit to have it full of shadows and so almost break my neck looking over my shoulders to make the posture for him to work by.’ 17th March 1666.’

Paul Brewster  •  Link

Had vs Made
The surmise that this is the same coat is probably a good one. SP uses the same phrase, "the first that ever I made", in both instances and L&M makes the same choice of "made" for "had" in both instances.

The two words don't seem to be the same in the short hand. I'm tempted to believe that Wheatley substituted the more conventional word, 'had', because he felt uncomfortable with this odd indirect usage of the word. SP is after all not a tailor. I'm having problems even finding the correct sense in the OED. It would seem to lie somewhere between the more conventional "make money" and the sense in 29.b below.

Make, v
...
29. a. To gain, acquire, or earn (money, reputation, etc.) by labour, business, or the like. ... Phr. to make (one's) advantage ..., increment of; to make a (or one's) fortune ...; to make capital out of ...; to make a living ...; to make a name (for oneself).

... 1588 Parke tr Mendoza's Hist. China ... Then may the husband afterwardes sell his wife for a slave, and make money of her for the dowrie he gaue her. 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. iii [make all the money thou canst ... therefore make money ... go, make money] 1632 Lithgow Trav. ... This little Ile maketh yearely onely of Currants 160000 Chickins [= sequins].
...
b. slang and dial. To steal. Also, in milder sense, to "acquire", manage to get. …
a1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Made, Stolen. I Made this Knife at a beat, I stole it cleaverly. 1740 Dyche & Pardon Dict., Make also to steal or convey privately away. …

Paul Brewster  •  Link

Same Coat
Just to clarify, I meant the same coat on both the 21st and 25th of August and was not drawing conclusions on other contexts.

Paul Brewster  •  Link

Had vs made
In thinking it over I thought of another possible sense that seems to make more sense. In our vernacular it would probably be "the first that ever I [have had] made." in the sense of custom-made clothes. That leads me to wonder if its the first velvet coat he had made for himself (with the stress on velvet) or the first coat of any type he had made for himself.

Ruben Lenger  •  Link

I am fascinated with SP's diary and this site. I became addicted.
I took a long look to John Hayls portrait of a young SP. It is difficult to decide which hand is holding the music. If the thumb looks like a rigth hand thumb, the rest of the hand looks like a left side hand. This ambiguity looks to me appropriated for a SP portrait!

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Sam's age in the Hayls portrait
Thanks to Maureen for the NPG link to the series of SP portraits, it was great to see them in immediate sequence. But the commentary on the first portrait confuses me. Sam was born 1633, and the portrait was painted 1666, all sources agree. Sam was thus 33 when the portrait was painted, not 29 as the commentary states. But this is so obvious I feel like I must have missed something - why would the commentary make such a patent mistake?

Glyn  •  Link

Regarding Ruben's comment: I think someone once said that Pepys was unhappy about the depiction of the hand, and made Hayls redo it.

Ruben Lenger  •  Link

Glyn:
The way to enlarge our knowledge about this matter is to take an X ray of the portrait and see what was left of the original drawing and colour layers below the actual surface. We may be surprised!

Michael Robinson  •  Link

where we there made up an estimate of the debts of the Navy for the Council.

House of Commons Journal Volume 8: 29 December 1660 | British History Online
"September 3d, 1660.

At the Committee for Publick Debts, &c.

Resolved, That Colonel Birch do, with all convenient Speed, report to the House the Estimate of the Debt of his Majesty's Navy, now received from Sir George Cartrett, as well for Stores of all Sorts, as for Wages due; being a Debt, they humbly conceive, fit to be taken care for by the Parliament.

The general State of the Debts upon the Account of his Majesty's Navy, until Twenty-fourth June last past, required from us, the principal Officers and Commissioners of his Majesty's Navy, together with the Increase of the growing Charge of Wages and Victuals, to the Fleet unpaid, until this present Fifth of December 1660.

For the Wages of the Officers and Mariners, serving on board the Seventeen Ships, which yet remain unpaid, of the Twenty-five heretofore directed by the Parliament to be paid out of the Poll Bill, with the Increase of their Charge, to the Fifth of December £. s. d.
128,030 - -
For the Wages of the Officers and Mariners in Eighty-four Ships more, which are yet also in Pay, with the Increase of their Charge, unto the Fifth of December, abating the Thirty-six Ships for the Winter Guard, from the Twenty-fourth of June 1660, which is to be borne by his Majesty 258,459 - -
For the Wages unto the Officers and Workmen of his Majesty's Yards at Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, Portsmouth, and Harwich; as also unto Ship-keepers of the Ships riding in those Harbours, to the Twenty-fourth of June 1660, per Estimate 42,463 10 -
£. 428,952 10 -
For Bills, regularly passed in this Office, for Provisions delivered, and Service done, from the Year 1657, to the Twenty-fourth June 1660, the Particulars whereof are contained in a Book herewith presented; besides other Bills of the like Nature, which, by reason of the short Warning given, could not be brought in from remote Parts to be therein inserted, which may amount unto, per Estimate, 20,000 l. the Sum of 128,078 13 10
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compi…

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

This day in Commons two major topics are

- Disbanding the Army. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?comp…

- Dunkirke. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?comp…

Sir Thomas Clergis reports from the Committee, to whom the Consideration of an Establishment for the Garison of Dunkirke is referred, the Opinion of the said Committee, that the Forces in the Garison of Dunkirke consist of Three thousand Six hundred Foot; to be put into Two Regiments; each Regiment to consist of Eighteen hundred Men, to be divided into Twelve Companies; and each Company to consist of One hundred and Fifty:

That there be also One Regiment of Horse, to consist of Four hundred Thirty-two; to be divided into Six Troops; each Troop consisting of Seventy-two, besides Officers; and that the Lord General be appointed to model the said Forces, to the said Numbers, accordingly: [pay and supplies]
-----
The Army is to stand down in England and reenforced across the Channel.

Bill  •  Link

draft/draught

DRAFT [corrupted for draught]
---A Dictionary Of The English Language. Samuel Johnson, 1756.

Dick Wilson  •  Link

According to Miriam Webster, a half-shirt was a man's shirtfront or a woman's chemisette worn in the late 17th century.

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

OED offers:

‘half-shirt, n. Obs. A kind of shirt front for men . . worn in 17th c.
1661 S. Pepys Diary 13 Oct. (1970) II. 195 This day left off half-shirts and put on a wastecoate.
1664 S. Pepys Diary 28 June (1971) V. 191 This day put on a half-shirt first this summer, it being very hot . . ‘

Worn to look smart and to cut down on laundry bills; later called a ‘dicky’:

‘dicky Etym: The senses here included may belong to two or more words of distinct origin . . another group is probably closely related to dick n.2* . .
. . III. As a name of articles of clothing
. . 6. A detached shirt-front.
1811 Lexicon Balatronicum, Dickey, a sham shirt.
. . 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xx. 75 Wretched Beaux..who sport a lace dickey.
. . 1889 J. M. Barrie Window in Thrums iii. 23 Come awa doon..an' put on a clean dickey

* dial. A leather apron.
1847–78 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words, Dick, a leather apron and bib, worn by poor children in the North . .’

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…

@@@

25 August, 1660.
Colonel Spencer, colonel of a regiment of horse in our county of Kent, sent to me, and intreated that I would take a commission for a troop of horse, and that I would nominate my lieutenant and ensigns; I thanked him for the honor intended me; but would by no means undertake the trouble.

@@@

I wonder what the incentive was for undertaking the commission of a troop of horse. It sounds like an expensive undertaking, even if Evelyn could delegate the running of it to a lieutenant and ensigns of his choosing. It doesn't sound as if there was a penalty for refusing (there was if you refused to be an alderman or mayor).

As I understand it, the 17th century concept of civic duty was taking positions of public service and being responsible for running your community, more than by voting. Can't find my citation for this, so I'll have to come back with it when it turns up.

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.