Friday 11 March 1663/64
Up and by coach to my Lord Sandwich’s, who not being up I staid talking with Mr. Moore till my Lord was ready and come down, and went directly out without calling for me or seeing any body. I know not whether he knew I was there, but I am apt to think not, because if he would have given me that slighting yet he would not have done it to others that were there. So I went back again doing nothing but discoursing with Mr. Moore, who I find by discourse to be grown rich, and indeed not to use me at all with the respect he used to do, but as his equal. He made me known to their Chaplin, who is a worthy, able man. Thence home, and by and by to the Coffee-house, and thence to the ’Change, and so home to dinner, and after a little chat with my wife to the office, where all the afternoon till very late at the office busy, and so home to supper and to bed, hoping in God that my diligence, as it is really very useful for the King, so it will end in profit to myself. In the meantime I have good content in mind to see myself improve every day in knowledge and being known.
15 Annotations
First Reading
Terry F • Link
"hoping...my diligence...is...useful for the King...[and of] profit to myself."
Great candor, the apparent reverse of the spirit of Scottish Moralists like Adam Smith in the 18th century, who argued that each acting rationally to optimize his individual good thereby promotes the larger good.
(*her* good? Was the female pronoun used in economics in the 18th century?)
Xjy • Link
"...improve every day in knowledge and being known."
Revealing the way he never critically analyses who it is he needs to be known by. They're just accepted as the arbiters of his own fortune. Once was Cromwell, now Charles, and more immediately Sandwich. Powers that be. Render unto Caesar. But Sammy does it with a smile on his lips and his tail wagging (and occasionally his servile heart in his throat). Him and everyone else looking up up up. And money is the ladder (or place by birth or fortune), as Mr Moore's no longer looking up to Sam shows - he's drawn level. Homo homini lupus. Bellum omnium contra omnes. Hobbes rules. But of course, the bureaucrat in him wants the moment to stay as is ("Verweile doch du bist so schön!"), so anything Faustian in Sam is sheer oversight.
As I reckon is his lust for knowledge. He does it, but he doesn't know he does. He kids himself it's to serve the king. But his love of knowledge - he even delights in sharing it with his wife! - and his constant striving ("Wer immer strebend sich bemüht") after scientific knowledge and technical skill is subversive in the extreme as it contains the Cartesian sceptical virus and ultimately admits no boundaries beyond those given by existence/nature itself, a la Spinoza. Add a dash of Macchiavellian republicanism and Galilean "eppur si muove" and you can feel the entrails of the last priest tightening around the throat of the last king.
Robert Gertz • Link
"...indeed not to use me at all with the respect he used to do, but as his equal..."
Where would such 'respect' have come from and when? Sam had been more or less a servant of the Montagus before. Was he previously allowed some authority owing to being a relation? Or was it after he got the Clerk of the Acts spot that such homage began to flow? Sam's attitude suggests Moore has always been deferrential...Till now. Though just a short while ago he'd been noting the need to be more aloof with both Moore and Howe who were getting too familiar. We get only Sam's somewhat pompous assertions and occasional complaints as to lack of respect from those he once seemed fairly matey with but some of his mention of Moore, Howe, Creed, and even Sandwich might suggest they're finding the great Clerk a little full of himself.
Robert Gertz • Link
"Moore? How did Pepys take today's cut?"
"Wounded puppy level, my lord."
"Well, tomorrow another faint pat on the head."
"T'will send him into transports, my lord."
"Indeed." Grin. "I really must thank you and Howe for your suggestion, Moore. This jerking the pretensious little bastard around every day is a thousand times more fun than having him beaten up as I wanted to when he sent that letter."
Andrew Hamilton • Link
R Gertz
Spot on. Pepys is a constant lesson in office (and bureaucratic) politics. Terry, remember the rule of bureaucratic polity (where you stand depends on where you sit) as Sam struggles to implement Hobbes by showing that serving the sovereign is superior to the rule of all against all (which he attributes to the Williams), thereby elevating himself, as Moore obtusely fails to appreciate.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
Mr. Moore, who I find by discourse to be grown rich.... [I]hoping in God that my diligence ...will end in profit to myself.
Mooore's bragging is a reminder to Sam that he'd better make hay while he can or fail to rise on the ladder of esteem. The thought seems to enter his mind that Moore has found a richer patch of graft to mine. But Sam will get his virtuously, by acts that are "really very useful for the King."
Glyn • Link
Pauline's note on the page for Mr Moore says that "After the Restoration he virtually took over Pepys's responsibilities in the Sandwich household."
He had other task as well, as a lawyer and at the Wardrobe, but if Pepys thinks Moore is doing the same work he did four years ago, which Pepys voluntarily left to improve himself, he might consider that he himself is four years further advanced in his career.
Terry F • Link
"Great candor."
I meant by this phrase to call attention to Pepys's concession this day that he's also looking out for his own interest when(ever) he looks out for the King's. As you suggest, Andrew, when it suits, Pepys is given to rhetorically sheathing the swords of the Hobbesian world involving Moore, et al.
What an interesting fit of envy we have here! Has there been its like? Perhaps Moore read Hugh Audley's *The way to be rich* through and followed the advice of Chapter LXXXIII.
Ruben • Link
"Mr Moore took over Pepys's responsibilities in the Sandwich household."
Just a tought: could it be that Sandwich considered cousin Pepys was not good enough for his household (or a pain somewhere) and kicked him away where he would not bother him too much? Could it be that he considered Moore more efficient, "not question asked", than our Sam? After Sam's letter, Sandwich probably was happy he sent Pepys somewhere else.
I agree with Glyn about Pepys career.
In 1664, Moore was a rich lawyer with good connections at high places, while Pepys was still struggling.
We only know Pepys perspective, that can be partial.
Clement • Link
Sandwich's regard for Pepys is high
His recommendation that Sam be included in the new Fishing Commitee seems to me a sure indication that he wanted Sam to prosper by his office, and perhaps that he also admired Sam's abilities as an administrator. At least the spoiler notes in recent Fishery annotations indicate that (mild spoiler) this was a commitee structured in the "old" style, consisting of crown-favored members who were assumed to personally gain by their involvement.
Clement • Link
Moore's elevation
A thing we don't know about the relationship between Pepys and Moore is how Sam carried himself before Moore up to this point. Moore could have been reacting to Sam's perpetually upturned nose, or to a self-esteem not influenced by Sam's past treatment. But Sam expectedly doesn't report his physical demeanor toward Moore.
Clement • Link
In the service of the King
Regarding Sam's bedrock motives (first, thanks for the thick and thought-provoking dialogue above) I think his profession to serve the King's good is more than just personal delusion. There is a sense of Nationalism that can be found (starting when?) in the motives of many actors of the last few decades that I believe are rooted in something beyond self-preservation, and including Sam.
In other words, I believe the transitions in and out of the Cromwellian years would have been even more chaotic had not there been many who felt they were acting in the best interest of "the Nation" or at least in the interest of national unity (if their personally method of government were no longer viable). This view may not apply to many of the staunch royalists. This view is also probably impossible to prove.
Robert Gertz • Link
One can go so far back in history and find selfless acts done for the community or what we now call the nation that I'm inclined to think it's as endemic to Humanity as self-interest. Certainly Sam's patriotism and desire to serve the Nation is real, however short he may fall of his ideals from time to time. Equally, our age has no right to sit in judgement, given our own tendency to fall so very far short of our own.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"He made me known to their Chaplin, who is a worthy, able man."
At his death in 1672, Sandwich had two chaplains, John Turner and Gervase Fulwood. (L&M footnote)
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I have good content in mind to see myself improve every day in knowledge and being known."
I wonder if Pepys had heard Fuller preach on the subject:
"An invincible determination can accomplish almost anything and in this lies the great distinction between great men and little men." -- Rev. Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)
Clarly Pepys aspired to be a great man.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…