Tuesday 30 December 1662
Up and to the office, whither Sir W. Pen came, the first time that he has come downstairs since his late great sickness of the gout. We with Mr. Coventry sat till noon, then I to the Change ward, to see what play was there, but I liked none of them, and so homeward, and calling in at Mr. Rawlinson’s, where he stopped me to dine with him and two East India officers of ships and Howell our turner. With the officers I had good discourse, particularly of the people at the Cape of Good Hope, of whom they of their own knowledge do tell me these one or two things: viz … [This would have been interesting. D.W.] [that when they come to age, the men do cut off one of the stones of each other, which they hold doth help them to get children the better and to grow fat. – L&M] that they never sleep lying, but always sitting upon the ground, that their speech is not so articulate as ours, but yet [they] understand one another well, that they paint themselves all over with the grease the Dutch sell them (who have a fort there) and soot. After dinner drinking five or six glasses of wine, which liberty I now take till I begin my oath again, I went home and took my wife into coach, and carried her to Westminster; there visited Mrs. Ferrer, and staid talking with her a good while, there being a little, proud, ugly, talking lady there, that was much crying up the Queen-Mother’s Court at Somerset House above our own Queen’s; there being before no allowance of laughing and the mirth that is at the other’s; and indeed it is observed that the greatest Court now-a-days is there. Thence to White Hall, where I carried my wife to see the Queen in her presence-chamber; and the maydes of honour and the young Duke of Monmouth playing at cards.
Some of them, and but a few, were very pretty; though all well dressed in velvet gowns. Thence to my Lord’s lodgings, where Mrs. Sarah did make us my Lord’s bed, and Mr. Creed I being sent for, sat playing at cards till it was late, and so good night, and with great pleasure to bed.
42 Annotations
First Reading
Todd Bernhardt • Link
Can someone with L&M access fill in the "this would have been interesting" gap?
Sleeping in the boss's bed ... it helps to have an "in" with the servants, eh Sam?
A. De Araujo • Link
"that their speech is not so articulate as ours"
He is probably referring to the clicking sounds of the San People.
Terry F • Link
"they...tell me these one or two things: viz., that when they come to age, the men do cut off one of the stones of each other, which they hold doth help them to get children the better and to grow fat." So L&M, who also say the effects of hemicastration among the so-called Hottentots was attested by some observers and denied by others.
Reent research of the effects of the operation on animals shows it increases testosterone levels. http://joe.endocrinology-journals…
Bradford • Link
"they of their own knowledge do tell me these one or two things, viz., that when they come to age, the men do cut off one of the stones of each other, which they hold doth help them to get children the better and to grow fat. That they never sleep lying," &c.
Thus "The Shorter Pepys," which also renders each successive "That" clause as a separate sentence. L&M also transcribe, for "Dutch" and "soot," "Duch" and "Sutt"; and, earlier, "perticularly."
Bradford • Link
Sorry, my repetitious post delayed by pouring my seventh (or was it the eighth?) glass of wine. Anyone for cards, the game of royalty and wannabes?
DonB • Link
>> Can someone with L&M access fill in the “this would have
>> been interesting” gap?
Anybody can now access those exclusions without even owning the book. Just search for what looks like a unique phrase in the day's entry. For this one, I used "who have a fort there". Be sure to include the quote marks in the search text. Site is
http://books.google.com
Todd Bernhardt • Link
Thanks, all. My legs are now firmly crossed as I bend over the keyboard to type this (owie owie owowowow...)
(Bradford, pour me one, willya?)
in Aqua Scripto • Link
"... two East India officers of ships and Howell our turner..." I dothe believe this be the English version of East India Co men, Offices located at Leaden Hall and Lyme streets, the pub in question, be in Fenchurch at Philpot lane. The Officers would slip out of the Lyme street entrance over t0 Billiter square then down to Fenchurch Street. Samuell, to go home would amble down Mark Lane, down Hart, then Seething to the House.
Terry F • Link
"I to the Change ward, to see what play was there"
Ward - Courtyard or bailey.
http://home.olemiss.edu/~tjray/me…
to check the adverts there.
The Royal Exchange consisted of "a four-sided structure surrounding a central courtyard where merchants and tradesmen could do business." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roya…)
Terry F • Link
"I carried [=took] my wife to see the Queen in her presence-chamber"
presence chamber - room in which a monarch or other great person receives guests, assemblies, etc. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/…
in Aqua Scripto • Link
"...the Change ward, to see what play was there, but I liked none of them..." a play? dothe it be put on in at a local site? not at the Exchange itself, surely? it be a nice, mid day walk, up Mark Lane, up Fenchurch, up Lombard, thru Bischin? to Corn hill, as the Crow dothe fly, it be 600 Yards. As the crow dothe hop, it be a mile approx., nice whistle wetter.
Terry F • Link
Sorry, folks, there were some words that puzzled me.
- "ward" was a new one to me.
- this is the 4th occurrence of "presence-chamber" whose meaning is somewhat straightforward, but this was the first annote of it.
(seems a bit pedantic, but that's my shtick)
in Aqua Scripto • Link
The Wise man asketh, the illiterate mumbles. So ask away.
Michael Robinson • Link
"ward"
Could have two senses here. The first indicating the direction of motion as in "homeward," (Used in a jocular way, as self consciously archic, by my Englsh family 40 years ago, i.e. gardenward, kitchenward, townward, etc.)
Or, in my opinion most unlikely, the City is divided into Wards for voting purposes. There is no 'Change Ward
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Co…
Australian Susan • Link
"Ward"
Could Sam be using this in a casual way to mean "in the locality of the Change"?
The knee-crossing-inducing reference: this is the first item about these people that Sam records - could it be that these sort of things are uppermost in his mind because he is uncertain of his own potency and is (just) entertaining the idea of drastic action to address this problem? Or do we think he is just holding the prevailing view that if there are no children of a marriage, it is always the woman's equipment which has gone wrong, never the man's. Just a thought.
Sam notes that the ladies in waiting are all in velvet gowns. Probably Elizabeth did too. Did she go home pricing lengths of velvet in her head? Actually, probably Sam would have done the pricing - he's the tailor's son and brother here. Anyone know comparative expense here between mohair, silk, velvet??
Terry F • Link
Ward - Another term for a castle courtyard (see Bailey).
http://www.britcastles.com/casglo…
seems to fill the bill: the Change (Royal Exchange) had one (see above) where Sam oft stept after the morning session on his way to dine, as though to be able to answer the burning question every newshound asks:
"Now, what news on the Rialto?"
The Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 1
Robert Gertz • Link
Original diary manuscript found in back recess of bookpress...
"...sos afta my first five...Or wuz it seven afta the boyz from Eastie says 'Haf anotha, Pepysie!'. Ok. I goes home to me beatoootiful lil' Bess who's been so sad cauz she misses me. Oh...Me poor lil...Wretch.
Uh, excuse me.
Sos den I says 'Bess, I'ma gonna...' no, I had a couple glass' Mad...Win' furst. Then I says 'Bess, put ona nice dress cuz I'ma gonna show ya the court.' and then we..."
***
"Sam'l."
"Hmmn?"
"Really think you should do this one over, sweetheart. Posterity doesn't need to hear what happened at the Court yesterday."
Hmmn...
David A. Smith • Link
"and the young Duke of Monmouth playing at cards"
O most unhappy young man, what fate lies before you!
But there appears to be a chronological problem: The site's description of Monmouth http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… states that, "He was created Duke of Monmouth, February 14th, 1663," but here it is in late 1662 and Sam is so referencing him. A title announced but not yet conferred?
David A. Smith • Link
"the men do cut off one of the stones of each other"
Terry F, let me join with Todd Bernhardt in saying "thanks for sharing -- ow ow owie owie!"
Should *my* testosterone ever drop, I shall use remedies less permanent ....
language hat • Link
"I to the Change-ward to see what play there was"
The L&M text has the hyphen and word order thus, and adds a footnote:
I.e. advertised on the Exchange.
As for -ward, it's the directional suffix, OED 6.b. with n. determined by article or otherwise.
[...] c1386 CHAUCER Miller's T. 386 Unto the gardynward. [...] 1412-20 LYDG. Chron. Troy I. 4045 Whan he cometh to-our-schippisward. [...] 1526 TINDALE Mark xiv. 8 She cam afore honde to anoynt my boddy to his buryinge warde. [...] 1609 DOWLAND Ornith. Microl. 40 A Quauer is a figure like a Crochet, having a dash to the right hand-ward. [...] 1653 H. COGAN tr. Pinto's Trav. v. 195 This Pilot desiring to avoid certain sands that were to the Prow-ward of him, put forth to sea. 1884 W. BLACK Jud. Shakespeare xxxi, Casting his eyes to the isleward.
stolzi • Link
"I carried [=took] my wife"
This usage was still prevalent in the Southern U.S. when I was growing up there. Not sure about now.
Monmouth's future is sad, indeed, but it's also tough for poor Queen Catherine to have to entertain her husband's bastard child in her court, while bearing none of her own.
As for those "five or six glasses of wine" - Yikes!
Terry F • Link
“Up and to the office...then I to the Change-ward...and so homeward”
Refleting on how Mennes had forced the long-suffering Penn and the young and able Pepys to enter/exit their homes at the rear, it occurred to me that SP would have a choice which way to turn when he left the office to circle 'round home (if I ACCURATELY picture the Navy Office in 1662). IF the Diary had said "then I Change-ward" the directional meaning would be clearer; but as L&M have it the conundrum stands (at least for me), since "I to the Change-ward" suggests a destination where adverts can be posted (as they indicate in the footnote).
Is there a parallel in the Diary, or perhaps in English poetry?
A. De Araujo • Link
Loved it Robert Gertz,but although you might be historically correct in your accent in sounds hicky to me. ;-)
in Aqua Scripto • Link
'I to the Change ward'; As most of political areas in London city be called 'blah' wards, thereby SP be going to the district of 'Blah' not remembering the official name, like most of us, who be lazy in remembering important legal details, would say goin' to Town, but which one, if thee lived in the village of Islington, it would indicate the place where there be a Tower.
in Aqua Scripto • Link
Gap i.e. "......" let thy mind run loose.
in Aqua Scripto • Link
When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.u…
slangist • Link
in re: Change ward
meseemeth terry f carrieth off the palm for linguistic acuity herein, well-bolstered by brother shakespeare. sam went to the exchange courtyard for to look at posted play advertisement placards or feuilletons.
Michael Robinson • Link
“Up and to the office…then I to the Change-ward… -- Paralell
"For there were, in the environs of Combray, two "ways" which we used to take for our walks, and they were so diametrically opposed that we would actually leave the house by a different door according to the way we had chosen: the way towards Meseglise-la-Vineuse, which we called also "Swann's way" because to get there one had to pass along the boundary of M. Swann's estate, and the Guermantes way."
Proust M., In Search of Lost Time,
Vol. I, Swann's Way
Trans Scott Moncrieff & Kilmartin rev. Enright
NY: Modern Library, 1992 p.188
Grahamt • Link
There are currently 25 Wards in the city.
see ( https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/C… )
None of them are called Change or Exchange, but the names and boundaries may have changed after the Great Fire and the Blitz
jeannine • Link
"..that was much crying up the Queen-Mother’s Court at Somerset House above our own Queen’s"...
Queen Catherine, married just over a half of a year, ends 1662 settling into the ways of her husband’s overall court and the little "sub-courts" (ie. Queen-Mother's court, Duke's court, etc.). Strickland sums up the year (p. 612), “Her court was considered at this time inferior, both on splendor and correctness, to that of her royal mother-in-law, queen Henrietta, and she received a very trifling degree of homage from the time serving courtiers, who were intent on propitiating her insolent rival [Lady Castlemaine, whose influence is rising both politically and with Charles]. The profligate associates of the king endeavored to justify him in his neglect of the queen, by depreciating her in every possible way. Her piety was termed bigotry; her moral rectitude, stiffness and precision; her simplicity of character, folly; and her person, which Charles himself had declared to be agreeable enough to please any reasonable man, was caricatured and ridiculed on all occasions. Catherine treated the attacks of these reptiles with silent contempt, and never condescended to betray her consciousness of their sting, far less seek for vengeance; but the pain she felt at the unkindness of her royal husband, though patiently endured, was too acute to be concealed, and was observed by the whole court.”
Side note- What is interesting is that historians differ radically in their view of the relationship that Queen Catherine had with the Queen Mother, Henrietta. Some view a rivalry with Henrietta well entrenched with Lady Castlemaine and the rising factions at court (in particular a Bennett alliance is often suggested, as he was a hidden papist) , which would play into the “whose court if greater” rivalry portrayed here. Other views portray an alliance between the two women, based on their common Catholic religion, and suggest that Henrietta may have had a sympathetic and understanding attitude towards the Queens diminished position at Court.
jeannine • Link
"Monmouth’s future is sad, indeed, but it’s also tough for poor Queen Catherine to have to entertain her husband’s bastard child in her court, while bearing none of her own."
Stolzi-- Monmouth's sad future and the Queen. (Spoilier). Throughout her lifetime Catherine will be more than decent to the hoard of bastards that Charles flaunts and throws in her face, in particular, she is kind to Monmouth. Literally when Monmouth is faced with his head destined for the chopping block, she will go on his behalf to beg for mercy from James (then King). She will make her request on the behalf of her dead husband. Her plea for Monmouth will not do any good and James will get his revenge via the ax man.
jeannine • Link
"Monmouth’s future is sad, indeed"... but perhaps not as sad as Bradford's immediate future when he wakes up tomorrow after drinking all that wine......
in Aqua Scripto • Link
"None of them are called Change or Exchange, but the names and boundaries may have changed after the Great Fire and the Blitz" The Official name may be the Correct name, but the Man on the street will have another, so that the [********* ] ferriegners will never know where they be.
Sam says this be the end of the Year, but literal/legal beavers will say Nae.
OfficialDOM be not reality most of the time, 'tis why thy need a pinch of salt.
Australian Susan • Link
And it would be a deprived world for us annotators without *our* "pinch of salt"!
Re The Two Queens
I haven't read a biography of Queen HM (I'm sure jeannine has!), but I would have thought she would have supported Queen Catherine as she was the legititmate wife of her son, whose behaviour she would surely have disapproved of: a great contrast with HM's husband's behaviour: whatever his faults as a ruler (many), Charles I was an exemplary husband. HM would know that the best way to ensure stability is for Charles to father an heir. Partial mother she may have been, but she must have had doubts about James as a ruler.
Re Charles and his bastards:
I think he kept them about the Court and flattered them with attention to keep an eye on them!
language hat • Link
IT IS NOT A "WARD"!
Sorry to shout, but did anybody read my earlier comment? "To the Change-ward" is perfectly normal early modern English for 'in the direction of the Exchange' (as we would now say). Please stop inventing imaginary wards and yards!
Terry F • Link
Evidence commanding assent, I concur with the directional sense of "to the Change-ward" that I first considered, then rejected as not parallel to "homeward".
For future reference, the L&M READER'S GUIDE to each Volume of *The Diary of Samuel Pepys* says "Punctuation is almost all editorial, except for certain full-stops, colons, dashes amd parentheses...."
"Single hyphens are editorial, and respreent Pepys's habit of disjoining compound words (e.g.Wh.hall/White-hall)...."
Finally, the 'ward' and 'yard' I cited (and doubly sourced) were nowise invented or imaginary.
in Aqua Scripto • Link
Yard be famous as in [New] Scotland Yard, probably made famous by Jaime I as it be so marked in 1680? along with wood yard, the Deal Yard,Tilt Yard.
Ward be a luverly word, as Sam being shown where larward,leeward,aftward,then the reward after going rearward.
Grahamt • Link
Imaginary wards?
Exchange Ward was a real ward in the City of Westminster, District of St Martins in the field, in the 17th century, and at least until the 19th.
This use of ward is also in OED - 2nd noun form. Directional -ward is usually shown either conjoined - eastward - or with a hyphen - port-ward, and would be "I to Change-ward..." rather than "I to THE Change ward..." Exchange Ward includes the Strand.
Patricia • Link
"...there being a little, proud, ugly, talking lady there..." Oh! I love this one! Had to read it aloud to my long-suffering husband, who laughed as well. I'm sure we've all met her descendants.
Second Reading
Bill • Link
I think Grahmt has the correct annotation, a ward designates a district, a "quartier," of London.
A WARD, District or Portion of the City of London committed to the special Charge of one the Aldermen; also a Prison.
---An universal etymological English dictionary. N. Bailey, 1734.
Ward, Quartier de Ville; Prison; Pupil.
---A short dictionary English and French. G. Miège, 1684.
In Change-Ward are:
Part of the Strand; Part of Church-lane, New Round-court; Part of Old Round-court; Part of York-buildings, and therein Part of Villars-street, George-street, Duke-street, Buckingham-street, and Off-alley; George-alley, Long-alley, Harvey-court; Part of Half-moon-street; Part of Little Bedford-street; Part of Durham-yard, and therein Milzan's-wharf.
---A survey of the cities of London and Westminster. John Stow, 1735. [This work is an update of the original by Stow. Following is a selection from that earlier work.]
Moreover, in the yeere 1550, the Maior, Communalty, and Citizens of London, purchasing the liberties of the Burrough of Southwarke, appointed the same to be a Ward Of London; and so became the number of thirteene wards on the East, twelve on the West, and one South the River Thames, in the said Borough of Southwarke, in the County of Surrey; which in all arise to the number of 26. Wards and 26. Alderman of London to governe them. [Change Ward is not listed.]
---The survey of London. John Stow, 1633.
Chris Squire UK • Link
DNB explains:
‘ . . On 10 November 1662 a warrant was issued granting Sir James Scott (aged 13) the titles of duke of Monmouth . . [he] was officially created on 14 February 1663 . . ’
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
“I had good discourse, particularly of the people at the Cape of Good Hope, …”
As this is the only mention of what we know of as South Africa, I’ll post this info here. If you’re interested in the Dutch settlement of that country, there's a book named “Creating the Cape Colony: The Political Economy of Settler Colonization” by Erik Green.
It’s published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.; 2022; Copyright © Erik Green, 2022
You can download the entire book, open access, at https://library.oapen.org/handle/…
I haven't read it, but if you find a confirmation of the procreation tradition which has alarmed everyone (including Pepys), please share!!! I have my doubts ...