Thursday 10 January 1660/61

There comes Mr. Hawley to me and brings me my money for the quarter of a year’s salary of my place under Downing that I was at sea. So I did give him half, whereof he did in his nobleness give the odd 5s. to my Jane. So we both went forth (calling first to see how Sir W. Pen do, whom I found very ill), and at the Hoop by the bridge we drank two pints of wormwood and sack. Talking of his wooing afresh of Mrs. Lane, and of his going to serve the Bishop of London.

Thence by water to Whitehall, and found my wife at Mrs. Hunt’s. Leaving her to dine there, I went and dined with my Lady, and staid to talk a while with her.

After dinner Will comes to tell me that he had presented my piece of plate to Mr. Coventry, who takes it very kindly, and sends me a very kind letter, and the plate back again; of which my heart is very glad. So to Mrs. Hunt, where I found a Frenchman, a lodger of hers, at dinner, and just as I came in was kissing my wife, which I did not like, though there could not be any hurt in it.

Thence by coach to my Uncle Wight’s with my wife, but they being out of doors we went home, where, after I had put some papers in order and entered some letters in my book which I have a mind to keep, I went with my wife to see Sir W. Pen, who we found ill still, but he do make very much of it. Here we sat a great while, at last comes in Mr. Davis and his lady (who takes it very ill that my wife never did go to see her), and so we fell to talk. Among other things Mr. Davis told us the particular examinations of these Fanatiques that are taken: and in short it is this, of all these Fanatiques that have done all this, viz., routed all the Trainbands that they met with, put the King’s life-guards to the run, killed about twenty men, broke through the City gates twice; and all this in the day-time, when all the City was in arms; are not in all about 31. Whereas we did believe them (because they were seen up and down in every place almost in the City, and had been about Highgate two or three days, and in several other places) to be at least 500. A thing that never was heard of, that so few men should dare and do so much mischief. Their word was, “The King Jesus, and the heads upon the gates.” Few of them would receive any quarter, but such as were taken by force and kept alive; expecting Jesus to come here and reign in the world presently, and will not believe yet but their work will be carried on though they do die.

The King this day came to town.

32 Annotations

First Reading

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"that so few men should dare and do so much mischief" plus ça change plus la meme chose.

Emilio  •  Link

"not in all about 31"

L&M note: "Davis was perhaps referring to the number arrested earlier in the rising, which was about thirty. Contemporary accounts agree in placing the total number of the rebels at 40-60. But it is certain that these fanatics fought with a wild courage."

And with much experience, if as previous annotators have mentioned these were hardened veterans from Cromwell's army.

The "about" is apparently a mistake in the original manuscript - L&M correct it to "above 31".

dirk  •  Link

"where I found a Frenchman (...), and just as I came in was kissing my wife, which I did not like"

A case of fundamentally different "mores" here: French easy going vs. English reserve. No doubt many British tourists to Europe today will be able to recall similar incidents!

dirk  •  Link

"and the plate back again; of which my heart is very glad"

So this was the idea all the time, as we suspected. I can imagine Sam's sigh of relief.

vincent  •  Link

Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere. Syrus, Maxims
"..After dinner Will comes to tell me that he had presented my piece of plate to Mr. Coventry, who takes it very kindly, and sends me a very kind letter, and the plate back again; of which my heart is very glad...."
Was he glad that he could not be bribed or is SP thankfull that he still has the ever ready.
To (receive)accept a favor is to sell your liberty[freedom].
friendship and money do not equate.
Spike Milligan (Terence Alan Milligan) 1918-
Irish comedian
Money couldn’t buy friends but you got a better class of enemy.
Puckoon (1963) ch. 6

Kevin Sheerstone  •  Link

"...a Frenchman...kissing my wife..."
Poor Sam. Just over a week ago he was subjected to a Frenchman's life story (and they hadn't even been introduced!), and now here's another one kissing his wife. "They seek him here, they seek him there..."

Lawrence  •  Link

I wonder after his chat today with Mr Davies, if Sam will go and get some powder for his pistol, just a thought does anyone know how tall our Sam is?, being a shorty my self one learns to be brave after the advent,(only joking) well they say that "cowards live longer" I'm not suggesting that shorties are cowards at all.

Rex Gordon  •  Link

A Frenchman kissing his wife, eh?
I can almost hear Mrs Hunt: "Elizabeth, I have the most charming new lodger. He's French. You'll have so much to talk about. You'll ADORE him!" You can see Sam's genuine affection for his wife in his reaction to interrupting the lodger's kiss. It's love that results in the tolerance, rather than jealousy or anger, he displays here. I don't think this is the last we'll hear of Mrs Hunt and Mrs Pepys.

Ruben  •  Link

Lawrence: the English were shorter in SP's days than in subsequent centuries.
Scarce food and disease during childhood were the reasons.

Alan Bedford  •  Link

"...we drank two pints of wormwood and sack."

Although the scientific name for wormwood is Artemisia absinthium, the quantity drunk suggests to me that Sam and Hawley were not drinking like what we weould know as absinthe. More likely they were drinking a wine flavored with wormwood (think something like, but less aromatic than, vermouth, although that wasn't to be invented for another hundred years.)

JWB  •  Link

Sam's height...
Pepys Jan 4.'69:"Will Hewer went and saw the great tall woman...and I do easily stand under her arms."
Evelyn Jan 29,'69:" I went to see a tall gigantic Woman, that measured 6 foote 10 Inches hight, at 21 years
old, the rest proportionable, borne at the Busse in the Low Countries."

helena murphy  •  Link

The rising of Thomas Venner and his church indicates that the government's spies were ineffective as they had failed to gather any prior knowledge of Venner's plans and that they had also failed to penetrate republican circles.As a result the King immediately issued a proclamation which forbade all unauthorised meetings with the result that thousands of Quakers ,with members of other sectarian churches were imprisoned.With the realisation that the movement had not spread nationwide the Draconian measures were instantly relaxed, but Venner's militancy left a dread of armed rebellion and an intensified fear of all religous radicalism.
sources: Hutton,Ronald Charles II King of England,Scotland,and Ireland. OUP 1989

vincent  •  Link

"There comes Mr. Hawley to me....... Talking of his wooing afresh of Mrs. Lane, and of his going to serve the Bishop of London..." According to notes this Mrs Lane was also source of inspiration to Sam although this time he says nowt.{may be it be another lass ?}

Nix  •  Link

"just as I came in was kissing my wife" --

Lips?

Cheek?

Hand?

Does anyone know what the customs were at that time -- what would be enough to irritate the husband but leave him assured that "there could not be any hurt in it"?

tc  •  Link

Kissing my wife...

You don't suppose that pesky lodger was...French kissing her!?!

Perhaps it's just a slip of the tongue!

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

"They seek him here, they seek him there"-

Good one, Kevin! The thought of Pepys as the Pimpernel is wonderfully absurd.

Glyn  •  Link

As we know, wormwood was also added to beers:

Entries for 19 February; and 24 November.

Also see "Food and Drink/Drink/Wormwood"; and also "Taverns/Hercules Pillars"

We sure are building up a mass of abstruse information.

Jean Spencer  •  Link

The Frenchman was probably kissing her on both cheeks in greeting, as they do -- and she's French herself -- as Sam says, there can be no harm in it.

vincent  •  Link

Salve! by each culture group does shock the other.
Especially those with the Saxon gene. Maybe to(-)day with gogle box exposure, it is not risque, some of the behaviours of this latest generation. It never ceases to amaze me how a human can adjust his total mind set to survive to live another day. I do believe we see the adjustment from Cromwellian ways to the Charlies ways, before our very eyes. Like the weather the moral climate swings from one set of thoughts[pleasures] to another set. For wot are we ? just pleasure seekers, we live by the pleasure rewards that we receive..

Ian  •  Link

"...expecting Jesus to come here and reign in the world presently..." I thought this cult thing was a uniquely modern phenomenon. I guess not.

vicente  •  Link

Only the wool over our eyes has changed
"I thought this cult thing was a uniquely modern phenomenon"
and the tools used to pull it over, alas the 'uman nature 'tis the same. Unfortunately one doth not have xray or infra red equipment to see into a mans mind before the event doth take place.

Pedro  •  Link

On the 10th January 60/61 Allin reaches Psara and goes ashore on the 11th.

“Went ashore at the foot of the old castle. There we saw a miserable poor village built with pieces of slatey rocks laid one upon the other with a little dirt and canes laid upon rafts and dirt upon them for a covering. Their old piece of enclosure full of such houses, and thither also the out-dwellers flee in when the Venetians or Turks come upon them..."

mark francis  •  Link

John Thurloe had completely penetrated Venner's first rising four years previously and put it down even thiugh i seems to have been a more widespread conspiracy, with agents reporting from the meeting house at Swan Alley and arresting and interrogating members. Unfortunately Thurloe was in a period of forced retirement at the time. (see Thurloe State Papers at britishhistoryonline).

Daniel Baker  •  Link

"The examinations of these Fanatiques that are taken..."

Would these examinations have been conducted using torture? Torture was technically illegal in England, but that had not stopped Elizabeth from using it, nor saved Guy Fawkes from being broken on the rack.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Those "...expecting Jesus to come here and reign in the world presently..." were the "Fifth Monarchists or Fifth Monarchy Men,...active from 1649 to 1660 during the Interregnum, following the English Civil Wars of the 17th century.[1] They took their name from a prophecy in the Book of Daniel that four ancient monarchies (Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman) would precede the kingdom of Christ. They also referred to the year 1666 and its relationship to the biblical Number of the Beast indicating the end of earthly rule by carnal human beings...."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Monarchists

Bill  •  Link

"Few of them would receive any quarter, but such as were taken by force and kept alive; expecting Jesus to come here and reign in the world " Suicidal religious fanaticks. Plus ça change plus la meme chose indeed.

Sasha Clarkson  •  Link

The corrected JWB's link to George Fox's journal is below. It's well worth a read and generally speaks for itself. Under Cromwell, those most inimicable to Quakers had been the Presbyterians. This explains the persecutions in Massachusetts, and possibly contributed to the extent of harassment in England in the aftermath of Venner's failed putsch. There were still many Presbyterians in positions of influence throughout the land, who may have used the hysterical atmosphere of the time for their own purposes.

http://www.strecorsoc.org/gfox/ch14.html

Louise  •  Link

Kissing his wife. Probably on the hand or cheek. Ladies were unlikely to kiss passionately in public in those days--certainly not the upper classes.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"There comes Mr. Hawley to me and brings me my money for the quarter of a year’s salary of my place under Downing that I was at sea. "

Pepys's clerkship in the Exchequer. (L&M note)

John Wheater  •  Link

Two pints of wormwood...

The Wikipedia article 'Purl' suggests that this, known also as 'wormwood ale' was made by 'infusing' the bitter plant into beer. It was very popular then, particularly in the morning.

Matt Newton  •  Link

There comes Mr. Hawley to me and brings me my money for the quarter of a year’s salary of my place under Downing that I was at sea.

Why did Sam give Mr. H half back?

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