Sunday 3 March 1660/61

(Lord’s day): Mr. Woodcocke preached at our church a very good sermon upon the imaginacions of the thoughts of man’s heart being only evil. So home, where being told that my Lord had sent for me I went, and got there to dine with my Lord, who is to go into the country tomorrow. I did give up the mortgage made to me by Sir R. Parkhurst for 2,000l.

In the Abby all the afternoon. Then at Mr. Pierces the surgeon, where Shepley and I supped. So to my Lord’s, who comes in late and tells us how news is come to-day of Mazarin’s being dead, which is very great news and of great consequence.1

I lay tonight with Mr. Shepley here, because of my Lord’s going to- morrow.


34 Annotations

First Reading

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"imaginacions of the tthoughts of man's heart being only evil" sounds Calvinist to me...

vincent  •  Link

this day in Essex Rev Josselyn did record :
"... a great flood this day. god good in the word, my heart panting to be good. yes blessed be god who helps me to say. I am not wicked...."
3.3.1661 (Sunday 3 March 1661)
document 70012955
http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earl…

Pauline  •  Link

"I did give up the mortgage made to me by Sir R. Parkhurst for 2,000l"
Anyone clear on this? Not giving it up as not pursuable but as handing it over?? Paperwork finally in order and given into Montagu/Sandwich's hand?

Louis Anthony Scarsdale  •  Link

Perhaps Pepys appreciates sermons more for their rhetorical and dramatic impact, as opposed to acceding to their doctrinal import?

vincent  •  Link

"...Mr. Woodcocke preached at our church a very good sermon..."
may be it was this that set off our SP.
Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 we read,
5 And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagining of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Here is our enemy. The word translated as heart here indicates the center of a thing and is sometimes translated as midst. So, what we see here in the 6th chapter of Genesis is that the imaginations of the thoughts that come from the center of man are evil. Now this is talking about the inner man not the artificial outward show that we put on for others, but the real self, the innermost seat of intellect and emotion.
one version

http://www.marknehemiah.com/gorre…

How to deal with evil thoughts.
(Gen 6:5 KJV) "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Notice here that we are dealing with the wickedness of man, our own thoughts, our flesh. We are not dealing with the demonic, we are dealing with our fallen nature. It is popular to blame every problem on the Devil and take the focus off the real issue, our sinful nature. It's popular because it appeals to our pride and that is the taproot of the fallen man. We must crucify the flesh here, not wage "spiritual warfare".
http://www.imagination-institute.…

kilroy  •  Link

OT - 2 days old - Tom Ha[y]ter's title

I'm not certain if "title" is the best word. But in the background info I see that TH is, with SP's assitance, eventualy made:

Petty Purveyor of Petty Missions

I'm certain it sounded impressive at the time...

The Bishop  •  Link

Date of Mazarin's death
Look up Mazarin on a French site, and it will tell you he died on "9 mars". That would mean he died on March 9 by the *Gregorian* calendar.

Pepys, in England, is dating his entries according to the *Julian* calendar - so for him Mazarin died February 27th. I'm surprised the editors would make such a basic slip.

Peter  •  Link

Very interesting point from The Bishop.
"Gregorian slips"... people (historians) must be in constant danger of making them when looking at events across borders.

Rich Merne  •  Link

Four days for the news to travel from Vincennes to London and important news too, so it would have been as it were, 'special delivery'. Probably two days in France, one in England and one for the channel, interesting.

Lawrence  •  Link

The two Calendars in operation at this time are easy to forget, leading to most people at one time or another forgetting them, per L&M. "Cardinal Mazarin died on the 28 February/9 March.
The news did not appear in the news-books until 11th of March; Kingd. Intell., 11march,p.149"

David A. Smith  •  Link

"Mazarin's being dead, which is very great news”
To help us calibrate the state of fiscal governance, consider that Mazarin will be succeeded by his deputy Colbert
(http://www.fact-index.com/j/je/je… ), who “‘made sure of the King’s favour’ by revealing the location of some of Mazarin’s hidden wealth.”

Glyn  •  Link

So presumably Pepys decided to attend the service at Westminster Abbey rather than go home because he knew he would be staying at the Montague's town house, in order to be there to see Montague off on his journey early the next morning. Probably Shepley is returning to Hinchingbroke as well, since he is responsible for running the place. I suppose that Pierce must live very near to Westminster and/or the Palace at Whitehall.

Has anyone remarked on the fact that since last Sunday's sermon which so impressed Pepys, he hasn't been drunk at all?

Incidentally, A. De Araujo could be right about the preacher’s Presbyterian tendencies (see his biography).

upper_left_hand_corner  •  Link

Vincent -- not sure which translation of Genesis you're using, but usually the tetragrammaton YHWH is translated as LORD (Jews read it aloud as "Adonai"), and Elohim is translated as God. The two terms carry an immense amount of biblical scholarship as baggage, indicating probably background of the authors (kingdom of Judea vs. kingdom of Israel) as well as time of original transcription from oral tradition. It is also interesting that the method of referring to the Supreme Being can change from chapter to chapter.

My scholarship here is quite rusty except for having some recollection that Deuteronomy (Book 5!) was probably the first book to be written down, pre-Lost 10 tribes and pre-first-exile, and the other 4 were "discovered" during or just after the first exile.

To bring this comment back into relevance, I should point out that the Protestant movement in Pepys' time (and still today) is wrestling with all kinds of conflicting interpretations of the Hebrew Scriptures that had been the province of the clergy only, pre-Reformation.

Hic Retarius  •  Link

Savants:

Opiniones hodiernas ut hesternas, professores ut philolgos, mea maxima gratia! Hic retearius eruditus est.

indoctus  •  Link

As our Gladiator friend did say, opinions are a dime a dozen, thanks to all the teachers et. al. from sine erudito.
hic http://www.gladiatorschool.tv/ret…
P.S. there are so many variations of translations , 'tis why the levellers did not win.

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

Mazarin

On following Vincent's link regarding Mazarin I was fascinated to learn that the Cardinal had not one but seven nieces, including (at least) two royal mistresses (Maria Mancini, mistress of Louis XIV and Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin, mistress of Charles II of England) and one probable royal mistress (Olympe Mancini, Countess of Soissons, mother of Louis XIV's reputed bastard Princ Eugene, Marlborough's collaborator at Blenheim and Malplaquet). He also had a grand niece, Mary of Modena, who maried James II of England. Some connections! Quite aside from his role as regent of France, no wonder Sam found news of his death "very great news and of great consequence."

alex  •  Link

Mazarin's death is a turning point. He was the effective ruler of France, and now Louis XIV, 23, will take control.

As a textbook I have notes:

"Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, was the most powerful and opulent monarch Europe had seen since the Roman Empire."

Mike Barnas  •  Link

The two Calendars in operation at this time are easy to forget,

In fact, calendar co-ordination was a major headache for merchants and diplomats for three and a half centuries. Although France, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1582, the year it was promulgated, European Turkey was not on the Gregorian calendar until 1927. Two countries even phased the change in over decades: Switzerland (1583-1812) and Sweden (1753-1844). Given the change (or reversion) to January 1 as New Year's Day, beginning in 1622, it was not a fair test of sanity, during this protracted transition, to ask a foreigner "What is today's date?"

dirk  •  Link

Calendar convertor

I just posted a link to an easy to operate (and accurate) conversion engine to the background info, at:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Use it well and prosper!!!

David A. Smith  •  Link

"and of great consequence"
Following on Alex's point, Mazarin's importance was not for his social but his *political* life:

France was the most powerful country in Europe (and probably the world).
France was Catholic, with a strong and absolute Monarchy.
As cardinal, Mazarin was Prime Minister, Home Secretary, and Foreign Secretary all rolled into one.
Mazarin was heir in both title and skill to the great Richelieu, who had almost singlehandedly overhauled the Louis XIII French state into what would become the Louis XIV colossus.

With his departure, not only is there a void in French foreign policy, there is the likelihood of turmoil as France shakes itself out. Indeed, 'of very great consequence'!

Kevin Sheerstone  •  Link

Hic Retarius[previously Retearius(?)]

I agree entirely. I, for one, have gained from this site immeasurably more than I have contributed.

vincent  •  Link

"Hear Hear" Kevin: a sine erudito

an Englishman  •  Link

Gentlemen, after her illicit association with the Sun King, Senorina Maria Mancini married Lorenzo Onofrio I, 8th Principe di Paliano. If I may please inquire, did she have any children with her husband? Was Don Filippo II, 9th Principe di Paliano, their son, or was he someone else's? I am quite curious as to whether he was or was not, gentlemen.

an Englishman  •  Link

R.S.V.P.

an Englishman  •  Link

Gentlemen, I was referring to Cardinal Mazarin's niece, of course.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Filippo II Colonna, 9th Duke and Prince of Paliano, an Italian nobleman of the prominent Colonna family was the son of Don Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna, hereditary Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples, and Maria Mancini, a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil…

Edith Lank  •  Link

What Sam Pepys could have done with a cell phone!

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

February 28/March 9, 1660/61, upon the death of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV assembled his ministers and said to them: "I have summoned you to tell you that it has pleased me hitherto to permit my affairs to be governed by the late cardinal; I shall in future be my own prime minister. I direct that no decree be sealed except by my orders, and I order the secretaries of State and the superintendent of the finances to sign nothing without my command."

The personal rule thus assumed by Louis XIV was maintained for over half a century.

I think this was an implied challenge to his older cousin, Charles II, to maintain the Divine Right of Kings on the English side of the Channel as well. With Louis' financial help, Charles did it better than his father. But when James II tried, he was more heavy-handed ... and as you know, he got run out of town.

Third Reading

徽柔  •  Link

Richelieu,Mazarin,Colbert,France always had the best ministers...
On the other hand, poor England had Buckingham, Edward Hyde ,and then the cabal...

RLB  •  Link

Sam's lack of drunkenness may be partly explained by that sermon a week ago, but it's probably more to do with it being Lent. Even if he finds it hard to abstain from indulgence altogether, he does seem to make an effort for the season.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

I think Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon was a good man, 徽柔 , and he had kept Charles II reasonably out of trouble, alive, and taught him how to be a king through more than a dozen years on the run.

As an elderly, tired, and gouty, man in 1660-1667 he was confronted by some impossible situations -- a daughter who got caught behaving badly -- young courtiers wanting power and money -- a wealthy neighbor willing to corrupt everyone -- a king who wanted to reward him more than was politically acceptable -- and a politically/religiously divided bankrupt country that needed scapegoats to blame for its ills.

Louis XIV must have kept a lid on many similar underlying influences better. Since he had taken power from his ministers, 徽柔 , I'm not convinced we can "credit" Mazarin and Colbert. In fact, the more I read about Louis' mistresses, scandals, arrogance, family challenges and ill-conceived wars, the more I am puzzled that France was so highly regarded -- beyond the fact that it produced more in tax money than it spent on its people, so Louis could lavish money abroad (buying people being cheaper than wars -- and he did both).

If you can join Stephane in explaining the French side of things, I for one would be very grateful.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

You're absolutely right about the CABAL, 徽柔. Louis XIV would never have put up with them.
We can't post about them yet -- we've got year's of annotating to go first.

徽柔  •  Link

Mazarin helped to promoted the peace of Westphalia and saw the Fronde suppressed, paid for the College of the Four Nations as a patron of education. Colbert was a successful comptroller general of finance who leaded the program of economic reconstruction in France. But still,I agree with San Diego Sarah on Louis' wars and scandals.Both of Mazarin and Colbert helped to Consolidate the power of the monarchy but maybe not so on the people's welfare.

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