Wednesday 17 October 1660
Office day. At noon came Mr. Creed to me, whom I took along with me to the Feathers in Fish Street, where I was invited by Captain Cuttance to dinner, a dinner made by Mr. Dawes and his brother. We had two or three dishes of meat well done; their great design was to get me concerned in a business of theirs about a vessel of theirs that is in the service, hired by the King, in which I promise to do them all the service I can. From thence home again with Mr. Crew [“Mr. Creed” in Latham & Matthews. P.G.], where I finding Mrs. The. Turner and her aunt Duke I would not be seen but walked in the garden till they were gone, where Mr. Spong came to me and Mr. Creed, Mr. Spong and I went to our music to sing, and he being gone, my wife and I went to put up my books in order in closet, and I to give her her books. After that to bed.
16 Annotations
First Reading
Paul Brewster • Link
From thence home again with Mr. Creed
L&M replace Mr Crew with Mr Creed. It seems to make more sense in the coontext of the day.
Nix • Link
"but walked in the garden till they were gone" --
Why is Samuel ducking them? I don't recall anything in the past, or see anything here, that would suggest a reason.
Glyn • Link
And how old is Theophila Turner? The link to her biography says she's aged eight - presumably that's her daughter?
Paul Brewster • Link
her aunt Dike
L&M replace aunt Duke with Aunt Dike. A genealogy contained in the Wheatley identifies her as Elizabeth Dyke.
Paul Brewster • Link
Mrs. The Turner
from the OED
b. In the 17th and 18th c. prefixed to the name of an unmarried lady or girl; equivalent to the mod. use of miss n.2 Obs. …
c1645 Howell Lett. … An ill-favoured quarrell about Mrs. Baker, the Maid of honor. 1707 Hearne Collect. … Mrs. Molly Levins Which Mrs. Levins is a Beautifull young Brisk Lady of about 16 or 17 Years of Age. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack, etc. … Mrs. Veal was a maiden gentlewoman. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. … His only sister Mrs. Grizzle was now in the thirtieth year of her maidenhood.
Paul Brewster • Link
where Mr. Spong came to me. They being gone and Mr. Creed, Mr. Spong and I went to our Musique to sing;
L&M insert ". They being gone"
vincent • Link
The Aunt: she may have a wee small bone to pick with our SP: maybe not paying sufficient attention to T or too much???
Mary • Link
Theophila Turner
Is indeed just 8/9 yeaers old at this point. She is the daughter of Jane Turner (nee Pepys) and the niece of Jane's sister, Elizabeth Dyke. (L&M Companion). Jane and Elizabeth are related to Pepys, but only distantly, as their father, John Pepys, is Sam's 3rd cousin once removed.
During at least part of the period of the diary, the Turners lived in a house in Salisbury Court.
vincent • Link
"...my wife and I went to put up my books in order in closet, and I to give her her books. After that to bed...." The wife gets the easy job again maybe? Up the ladder and stretching........ was "her books" her books her way ? and He put up his own books in his way?
Pauline • Link
"...and I to give her her books."
It almost sounded like he was passing them up to her and she was up the ladder, except for the "her books."
Back on March 17, Sam made out a will in which all his French books would be left to Elizabeth. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1660/03/17/
I wonder if as they get moved in and shelve the books he hasn't decided to give them to her now?
Or maybe they are just unmixing their books that have been jointly packed away. There is more room in their new home, so each may have lots of options for arranging their own possessions, which may have been shoved together before.
Mary • Link
Closets (a small spoiler)
We shall find that both Sam and Elizabeth have their own closets (sometimes called cabinets). Every person of fashion came to have one; a small room or partitioned area where personal treasures (which could include books) were stored and might be displayed to a select few friends.
Pauline has it: their books have all been packed together for the house-move and now that the painters and carpenters have done there work, are being unpacked and sorted. Sam, having the greater quantity of books, gets Elizabeth to help with shelving his own library. Now that they are living in a larger house, Elizabeth can have her very own closet and so Sam gives her her books to shelve as she wishes.
vincent • Link
The Closet [w.c.] Is still called a library in some circles when off to the "Jacques" or "Lou"
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"I finding Mrs. The. Turner and her aunt Duke I would not be seen" -- perhaps this annote by Pauline helps explain:
Claire Tomalin on Theophila:
"[Jane Turner] comes out of the Diary as the strongest character among the Pepys clan after Sam himself....
"The next formidable member of the family was her daughter Theophila, known as "The" and, unlike her brothers, always kept with [Jane]. "The" makes her first appearance in the Diary on 1 January 1660, supping with Pepys's father; she was a precocious, indulged and confident child and something of a brat. At nine she was ordering her own harpsichord and refusing to give Pepys a lesson on it when he asked her (although he could play several string and wind instruments, he never mastered a keyboard). When Elizabeth sent her a gift of doves, "The" distinguished herself by writing her a rude letter, complaining that they had come in an inadequate cage; she grumbled about...[spoiler].... Mother and daughter made a remarkably strong-minded pair."
Claire Tomalin, "Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self," pp233-234
[ Typos corrected. ] http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/120/#c7963
Gerald Berg • Link
Re: The Closet
Having had the benefit of watching Amanda Vickery's excellent At Home with the Georgians the ultimate bonus of the closet ( as I recall) was that it was a place for absolute privacy. That is the servants were forbidden entry.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Gerald Berg:Re: The Closet
Having had the benefit of watching Amanda Vickery's excellent At Home with the Georgians the ultimate bonus of the closet ( as I recall) was that it was a place for absolute privacy. That is the servants were forbidden entry.
This may be already true of the WC of the Pepys's and their ilk, but is a privilege withheld from the Stuart Kings who have a Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool"). "the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and ablution." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groom_of_the_Stool
Terry Foreman • Link
"their great design was to get me concerned in a business of theirs about a vessel of theirs that is in the service, hired by the King,"
L&M: Probably the Seaflow ketch of 50 tons, hired on 24 June 1660 at £18 per month, of which Henry Dawes was part-owner. But she was not released until February 1662. PRO, Adm. 20/3, p. 76.