Sunday 3 February 1660/61

(Lord’s day). This day I first begun to go forth in my coat and sword, as the manner now among gentlemen is. To Whitehall. In my way heard Mr. Thomas Fuller preach at the Savoy upon our forgiving of other men’s trespasses, shewing among other things that we are to go to law never to revenge, but only to repayre, which I think a good distinction. So to White Hall; where I staid to hear the trumpets and kettle-drums, and then the other drums, which are much cried up, though I think it dull, vulgar musique. So to Mr. Fox’s, unbid; where I had a good dinner and special company. Among other discourse, I observed one story, how my Lord of Northwich, at a public audience before the King of France, made the Duke of Anjou cry, by making ugly faces as he was stepping to the King, but undiscovered.1 And how Sir Phillip Warwick’s lady did wonder to have Mr. Darcy send for several dozen bottles of Rhenish wine to her house, not knowing that the wine was his.

Thence to my Lord’s; where I am told how Sir Thomas Crew’s Pedro, with two of his countrymen more, did last night kill one soldier of four that quarrelled with them in the street, about 10 o’clock. The other two are taken; but he is now hid at my Lord’s till night, that he do intend to make his escape away.

So up to my Lady, and sat and talked with her long, and so to Westminster Stairs, and there took boat to the bridge, and so home, where I met with letters to call us all up to-morrow morning to Whitehall about office business.

38 Annotations

First Reading

daniel  •  Link

...though i think it dull, vulgar musique.

would anyone out there with a knowledge of seventeenth century ceremonial practice care to enlighten the rest of us about this vulgar form of music of which SP comments on?

language hat  •  Link

Music:
Anyone interested in this topic should seek out the Latham Companion volume:
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/page…
It has a long and very interesting section on the music of the time and Pepys's reaction to it. A bit that may bear on this question:
"One of the King's first acts was to reform his Musick in accordance with the most significant of these [new European] fashions. Roger North, rather contemptuously, noted that Charles liked music to which he could beat time, 'a mode among the Monseurs'; this habit is attested to by Pepys. In exile Charles had spent much of his very considerable leisure dancing, and constantly sought out the latest dance music."

Imagine Elizabeth II living in exile (while Michael Foot ran a brutal roundhead administration), then returning after a sojourn in America with an addiction to disco and/or rap, and you'll get the idea.

dirk  •  Link

"made the Duke of Anjou cry, by making ugly faces"

It's almost as if we're seeing schoolboys at work here - and not mature men, members of the aristocracy...

vincent  •  Link

Daniel: I do think he means the music of the red coats they only hear bang bang ... military music so low brow.
Always foreign items have a mystique that creates a barrier from the hoi polloi [ sprecken latin n'est pas]

vincent  •  Link

Dirk: Go the House of Commons, to publick gallery, for an education on well mannered and sheeke behaviour. It is an Eye opener, to observe our illustrious leaders in full form[ on the days there no TV cameras available].

Firenze  •  Link

'as the manner now..' I see him more like this: http://www.costumes.org/history/1…
which shows 1660, rather than 1640. Though to be fair, it is meant as a satire and Pepys is unlikely to have had quite that amount of ribbons. Also, as a modest, albeit rising, civil servant, he would hardly have been at the court gallant level of ostentation. I also think we are a few centuries short of the idea the conformist, business style of dress which still obtains. But I'm open to correction on this.

Kevin Sheerstone  •  Link

...but he [Pedro] is now hid at my Lord's till night...

Sam is already at 'my Lord's' - does this mean that Pedro is too? If so, wouldn't that make Montagu an accessory after the fact (or something)? I think I must have misinterpreted this passage.

Bullus Hutton  •  Link

"go forth in my coat and sword, as the manner now among gentlemen is"
Dirk, Firenze.. Super pics!
Good lord ! Is that what they really looked like.. so kind of dressed up and stuff?
I mean, thanks for showing us.
It brings home what an enormous gulf that old Atlantic is.
They look kind of.. very different..
But then, as we have been taught to say: “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”

Kevin Sheerstone  •  Link

...in my coat and sword, as the manner among gentlemen now is.

I have looked at dirk's and Firenze's links and I wonder if this 'manner' is a reversion to fashion as it was before the inter-regnum, along with the reopening of the theatres, etc. I am not aware of any official 'dress code' that may have been in force during the protectorate, but I can't help feeling that sensible people would have adopted a well-advised, self-imposed limit on 'frivolity'.

Perhaps those a little older than Sam regarded this 'manner' as simply a return to the 'good old days'?

George  •  Link

So Sam is now carrying his sword. I wonder if he managed to obtain some powder for his pistol whilst guarding the navy yards.

American Idol  •  Link

Trumpets and drums sounds like 17th century French music. If you know the theme to 'Masterpiece Theatre', that's fairly close to the style that was popular in France in the 1660's (though that piece was written in the early 18th century).

bruce  •  Link

Sam's sword - for ornament only, or for defence? Given that we've heard recently about uprisings in London, and today's report of a murder, and given that there wasn't a police force as we would recognise it today,to what extent would someone in Sam's position be in danger if he went about at night unarmed?

Stewart  •  Link

His sword is certainly functional, and perhaps most important, is a tangible sign of his status as a gentleman, and in a sense his being literally armigerous.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: ...but he [Pedro] is now hid at my Lord's till night…

Kevin, it certainly looks to me that *someone* in Montagu’s household is an accessory … it’s a bit unclear from the text how much the master and mistress of the house know, but it seems as if Pedro (who “belongs” to the brother of Lady M) intends to hide out there and escape under cover of darkness. I think it’s unlikely that Lady M would not know what’s going on, given that Sam goes to see her right after hearing about the murder.

Emilio  •  Link

"the manner among gentlemen now"

I also love the images linked to above. During the 1660s, as in the Middle Ages, one of the marks of fashion was simply how much material went into your clothes, sending the clear message that you could afford to pay for far more than was functionally necessary.
I especially love the boots in all of the pictures - how did they manage to walk? I suppose the other implication was that you could afford a carriage to take you everywhere.

Erik  •  Link

Playing strip poker back then must have taken days.

Nate Lockwood  •  Link

Strip poker? You would probably be strip whist. Whist, the precurser to bridge, was played in England in the 17th century game but poker dates from the 19th century. (I think.)

Bradford  •  Link

Sam's Sword came up in the early days of these annotations. To condense what the L&M Companion says (under "Dress and Personal Appearance"), a sword was part of a gentleman's equipe, usually for decoration not use, although it could come in handy "in an awkward corner even to middle-class men not in the habit of drawing their blades to defend their honour. But in the only fracas in which Pepys was involved, according to the diary---on 11 May 1663 when he was attacked and almost 'worried' by a great dog---he was in such a 'maze' that he quite forgot to unsheath his sword." (p. 98)

daniel  •  Link

to vincent and language hat and american idol:

i myself am aware of seventeenth century musical practices-i play a lot of it actually. What is interesting here is Sam's mentioning trumpets and drums, expected given the context, "then the other drums" which he seems to find vulgar. i wonder if this other drumming was foreign and cacophonious or rustic and annoying...just another curious facet of the seventeenth century.

Emilio  •  Link

Stories galore today

This entry is particularly good at conveying a flavor of Sam's daily rounds: always on the move, surrounded by people, talking, laughing, swapping stories, being startled when the news turns suddenly dramatic. He was probably making a point of being seen in as many places as possible today, to show off his new fashionable attire.

It's all different than my own office-bound life, and that's one reason I keep following Sam's doings day by day.

Kevin Peter  •  Link

Regarding the story about Lord Northwich and the Duke of Anjou. I thought it was very strange that the Duke of Anjou would be crying, but reading the footnote, I saw that he was only four years old at the time of the story. That sure would explain it.

I find it strange why Northwich felt it necessary to make faces at the young boys. Was he trying to intimidate them for some reason by making ugly faces on purpose or was he simply wearing an nasty expression that frightened Philippe? I wonder if anyone knows.

Peter  •  Link

Kevin Peter, I think he was doing the same thing that many people do to this day ... making faces at the little boy to try and make him laugh.

vincent  •  Link

Firenze, Just saw your 17C. version of the Teddy boys,Dandies et al.. Great! The Male species just loves trot out and impress the lasses in the pit. Oh! wot! a piece of cloth does imply.[ Facade/perception/con/pufferery etc..] Oh! for that chemical [im]balance? to subside.

Emilio  •  Link

Pulling faces

Or maybe Norwich got exactly the effect he was aiming for. Here he was, a senior English civil servant, negotiating with the 5-year-old king of his country's traditional rival, while a 3-year-old brother looked on. Norwich saw an opportunity to play a joke on the French royals and went for it. With proper handling, people would be telling the story for years to come . . .

Kevin Sheerstone  •  Link

Kevin Peter and Peter:

Or perhaps Norwich just didn't like the French. Plus ca change... !

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

Though, technically, the Rondeau is 18th century music...

Bill  •  Link

"At least it is now quite in order to propose that on 3 February 1661 Samuel Pepys heard a French-style trumpet ensemble consisting of two high-sounding trumpets, one bass-functioning trumpet playing a bourdon on the pitches c, g, and c#, and a timpanist more or less doubling the third trumpet part at the lower octave."
---Peter Downey, "What Samuel Pepys Heard on 3 February 1661: English Trumpet Style under the Later Stuart Monarchs,"
Early Music, 18(3), 417-428, 1990.

This not what Pepys heard but is a little closer: Concerto di Trombe a tre Trombette by Nicola Matteis
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk…

Third Reading

MartinVT  •  Link

"So to Mr. Fox’s, unbid; where I had a good dinner and special company."

Invited or not, when a fellow wearing a sword shows up at your door, you make room for him at the dinner table.

Note: what with all that merriment, the Pedro affair, and a nice chat with my Lady, no afternoon church today.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... and so home, where I met with letters to call us all up to-morrow morning to Whitehall about office business."

17th century version of a blast email.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... one of the marks of fashion was simply how much material went into your clothes, sending the clear message that you could afford to pay for far more than was functionally necessary."

This may have been the style of clothing Pepys wore, but last year when he first got his appointment, he had 2 outfits made -- one in silk and one in a woolen cloth -- and after some research I found they were both in clerical black. So Pepys was no where near flamboyant in dress, but, yes, it was nevertheless tied together with ribbons (which is why he needs help getting dressed).

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"In my way heard Mr. Thomas Fuller preach at the Savoy upon our forgiving of other men’s trespasses, shewing among other things that we are to go to law never to revenge, but only to repayre, which I think a good distinction."

Is the good Dr. Fuller -- a tried and true Royalist his whole life -- criticizing Charles II and/or Parliament for the trials and executions/imprisonment of the Regicides? Also the detention of thousands of Quakers and non conformists following Venner's Rising?
If not, it's curious timing for an "in a perfect world" sermon; only 3 days ago they were memorializing the execution of King Charles -- the CofE's only saint.
If he is, this could be a contraversial opinion to have, and Pepys has shared with us an of-necessity private opinion.

徽柔  •  Link

The trumpets and drums sounds very Jean-Baptiste Lully to me.

Tonyel  •  Link

I wonder at wearing a sword in church, both bad manners and inconvenient - imagine fitting yourself into a narrow pew with a clattering sword. Or would there be some sort of container near the door where one could deposit swords, sticks, etc?

Eric the Bish  •  Link

Weapons in church: I suspect Pepys brought his sword in with him. Today it’s a no-no: I took the wedding of a Royal Marines officer and the groom’s sword - and those of his fellow officers who made a sword arch outside the church - were left (guarded) in the porch during the service. Equally, at military funerals the rifles used to fire a salute at the graveside are not brought into the church.

But in Pepys’ time; well we do know of (somewhat elaborate) sword rests inside some City churches; the oldest of which predates the great fire - it is in the vibrant parish church of Saint Helens Bishopsgate (come early to get a seat!). So it was clearly not seen as completely inappropriate. And in any case, casually calling into a few churches as Pepys on occasion does, there would be considerable inconvenience in having to remove a sword, and have it looked after securely… so I suspect Pepys simply took his sword in with him.

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