Sunday 28 October 1660
(Lord’s day). There came some pills and plaister this morning from Dr. Williams for my wife.
I to Westminster Abbey, where with much difficulty, going round by the cloysters, I got in; this day being a great day for the consecrating of five Bishopps, which was done after sermon; but I could not get into Henry the Seventh’s chappell. So I went to my Lord’s, where I dined with my Lady, and my young Lord, and Mr. Sidney, who was sent for from Twickenham to see my Lord Mayor’s show to-morrow. Mr. Child did also dine with us.
After dinner to White Hall chappell; my Lady and my Lady Jemimah and I up to the King’s closet (who is now gone to meet the Queen). So meeting with one Mr. Hill, that did know my Lady, he did take us into the King’s closet, and there we did stay all service-time, which I did think a great honour.
We went home to my Lord’s lodgings afterwards, and there I parted with my Lady and went home, where I did find my wife pretty well after her physic. So to bed.
14 Annotations
First Reading
Glyn • Link
Edward Montagu junior had been educated in the village of Twickenham since mid-January:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1660/01/17/
Paul Brewster • Link
great day for the Consacrating of five Bishopps
L&M: "The first consecration of bishops since 1644. The service was conduct by Brian Duppa, Bishop of Winchester; the preacher of John Sudbury, Prebendary of Westminster. The new bishops were those of London (Sheldon), Salisbury (Henchman), Worcester (Morley), Lincoln (Sanderson) and St Asaph (Griffith). After further consecrations in the following December and January only two sees remained to be filled."
Paul Brewster • Link
there we did stay all service-time -- which I thought a great honour
L&M: "Admission to the King's Closet (where the royal entourage assembled before proceeding into chapel) was in theory limited to peers, privy councillors, and gentlemen of the bed-chamber."
"(where the royal entourage assembled before proceeding into chapel)"
I'm not sure this was the sense of our previous discussions: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1660/10/14/
It's also a little surprising in light of the statement "there we did stay all service-time" in the diary.
Pauline • Link
"I'm not sure this was the sense of our previous discussions:”
It’s the sense I had. Maybe a setup that allows first a private and then moving out to a public presence in chapel. (If you were having a bad-hair day you could remain concealed and not move out into view.) A setup that allowed the royal party to assemble and then “be on stage” when they were ready to be seen.
Thinking this, I assumed that my lady and Sam and young Jem were allowed into the private part (hearing the sermon through the curtain, and well-placed), but perhaps moving out into the public part of the royal pew would be going too far. I also assumed that they got where they got because the king is not there and someone was willing to give our lady this little treat.
vincent • Link
"...There came some pills and plaister this morning from Dr. Williams for my wife...."
The cure: Go off and let the little lady rest: putting the plaister on: don't ask who ?
"...where I did find my wife pretty well after her physic. So to bed...."
vincent • Link
It always pays to know who has the key: The Key holder always likes to show his power behind the Throne. "...So meeting with one Mr. Hill, that did know my Lady, he did take us into the King's closet, and there we did stay all service-time, which I did think a great honour….”
David Quidnunc • Link
Child, Hill and Jemima Mountagu
Jemima must love her music -- she is on very good terms with Child (a professional organist) and Hill (a singer and composer).
Mary • Link
A closet
OED sense 1: A room for privacy or retirement; a private room; an inner chamber.
OED sense 2: The private apartment of a monarch or potentate; the private council-chamber; a room in a palace used by the sovereign for private or household devotions.
OED sense 3: a private repository for personal valuables or curiosities.
Jenny Doughty • Link
An interesting link is http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/0302…, an etext version of part of a book called 'The Country House-wife's companion', published in 1750. It makes several references to different kinds of 'plaister' that the doctor might have prescribed for Elizabeth. The term apparently could be used for anything that was sticky and spreadable, and the connection with sticking plaster seems to have come from the practice of spreading the sticky substance onto a piece of linen or other cloth, in order to apply it to an area of the body, rather than (as could be done) spreading it directly on there. So it carries connotations, to me, not just of sticking plaster but also of ointment. We still use the phrase 'plastering' in the sense of 'spreading thickly' of course.
Jenny Doughty • Link
The link above seems not to work, so try this one and click on 'Diseases and Health'. If this doesn't work, go to the home page and click on the 'Alternative Living' library and follow through to this link.
http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/0302…
David A. Smith • Link
"with much difficulty, going round by the cloysters, I got in"
What we continue to like about Sam, his utter transparency both of action (here is the embarrassing thing I did) and emotion (here is the perhaps ignoble thing I thought about it). One can all but hear him cursing, tricked up in his finest velvet, hose, and buckled shoes, trying to find his way in ....
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
""with much difficulty, going round by the cloysters" may have referred to the Great Cloister of Westminster Abbey which is far from Henry VII's Lady Chapel. The general floor plan: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/highlig…
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has:
‘plaster, n. Etym: In Old English, probably < post-classical Latin plastrum . .
1. a. Originally: a solid medicinal or emollient substance spread on a bandage or dressing and applied to the skin, often becoming adhesive at body temperature (now rare or hist.) . .
. . 1597 W. Langham Garden of Health 90 A plaster of sowre bread boyled in wine, draweth sores passing well.
1638 Mass. Bay Rec. I. 224 Shee is not to meddle in surgery, or phisick, drinks, plaisters, or oyles.
1679 F. Beaumont Knight of Burning Pestle iii. i. 59 This furious fiend..Did cut the gristle of my Nose away, And in the place this velvet plaster stands . . ‘
San Diego Sarah • Link
"After dinner to White Hall chappell; my Lady and my Lady Jemimah and I up to the King’s closet (who is now gone to meet the Queen). So meeting with one Mr. Hill, that did know my Lady, he did take us into the King’s closet, and there we did stay all service-time, which I did think a great honour."
Charles II's closet ... probably akin to a man cave today ... overlooked the Chappel. This was common in noble houses; rich people often started their days with Matins, and if they didn't want to attend, or couldn't because of illness, they could open a large window overlooking the alter and hear the service unobserved. I agree with Pepys; being with a known lady was a boon today.
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John Evelyn agrees:
28 October, 1660.
His Majesty went to meet the Queen-Mother.
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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Charles II has left for Dover to welcome Queen Mother Henrietta Maria, being brought over from France by Lady Jemima Crew Montagu's husband, the Earl of Sandwich.