Monday 6 June 1664

Up and found my wife very ill again, which troubles me, but I was forced to go forth. So by water with Mr. Gauden and others to see a ship hired by me for the Commissioners of Tangier, and to give order therein. So back to the office, and by coach with Mr. Gauden to White Hall, and there to my Lord Sandwich, and here I met Mr. Townsend very opportunely and Captain Ferrer, and after some discourse we did accommodate the business of the Wardrobe place, that he shall have the reversion if he will take it out by giving a covenant that if Mr. Young dyes before my father my father shall have the benefit of it for his life.

So home, and thence by water to Deptford, and there found our Trinity Brethren come from their election to church, where Dr. Britton made, methought, an indifferent sermon touching the decency that we ought to observe in God’s house, the church, but yet to see how ridiculously some men will carry themselves. Sir W. Batten did at open table anon in the name of the whole Society desire him to print his sermon, as if the Doctor could think that they were fit judges of a good sermon.

Then by barge with Sir W. Batten to Trinity House. It seems they have with much ado carried it for Sir G. Carteret against Captain Harrison, poor man, who by succession ought to have been it, and most hands were for him, but only they were forced to fright the younger Brethren by requiring them to set their hands (which is an ill course) and then Sir G. Carteret carryed it.

Here was at dinner my Lord Sandwich, Mr. Coventry, my Lord Craven, and others. A great dinner, and good company. Mr. Prin also, who would not drink any health, no, not the King’s, but sat down with his hat on all the while;1 but nobody took notice of it to him at all; but in discourse with the Doctor he did declare himself that he ever was, and has expressed himself in all his books for mixt communion against the Presbyterian examination.

Thence after dinner by water, my Lord Sandwich and all us Tangier men, where at the Committee busy till night with great confusion, and then by coach home, with this content, however, that I find myself every day become more and more known, and shall one day hope to have benefit by it. I found my wife a little better. A little to my office, then home to supper and to bed.


33 Annotations

First Reading

Terry F  •  Link

"to fright the younger Brethren by requiring them to set their hands"

I.e., the second vote was not by a show of hands, but by signing their names ('setting their hands'). L&M.

cape henry  •  Link

"...and to give order therein." Interesting that this hiring of the ship should just pop up in the diary today, but there it is.This is, I suppose, the sort of thing that he generally covers under the rubric of 'business' and leaves at that.I wonder if he had some basic familiarity with the vessel in question because it's hard to imagine boarding it sight unseen to 'give order' at the beginning of such an otherwise complicated and busy day.Perhaps, too, his reputation preceded him and 'order' was well under way.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

With my HVAC dead and my study at 99F I can well appreciate poor Bess' sufferings with the flu or whatever on a warm June day in a stifling house.

***

"...if Mr. Young dyes before my father..."

Alas, Young seemed so...Well, young...And full of health before he spent that night with Sam and Creed.

***

Patricia  •  Link

What is the position Carteret & Harrison were up for?

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Carteret and Harrison were contending for the office of Master of Trinity House.

Terry, thanks for the gloss on "set their hands."

Terry F  •  Link

"What is the position Carteret & Harrison were up for?"

Good Q, Patricia. To be Master of Trinity-House. As Deputy-Master for 1662-63, "Captain Harrison...by succession ought to have been it".

R.Gertz, take care of yourself!

Terry F  •  Link

Ooops, well, Paul, it happens. Robert, hydrate.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Mr. Prynne has evidently become the crank that everybody politely ignores.

Terry F  •  Link

Absent Dirk

Hinchinbroke [Edward Mountague] to Sandwich
Written from: Saumur

Date: 6 June 1664
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 223, fol(s). 127

Describes the incidents of the writer's journey from Paris, by way of Orleans, to Saumur, and the notable things seen on the road.

French.
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Very interesting collection, Terry. Among other things I noticed a letter between Admiral Sir Will Penn and Sir George Lane on Penn's ship outfitting duties. It seems despite Sam's depiction of him as a smiling, lying rogue, Penn still bears higher responsibilities than he, commanding a good deal of respect from York and Coventry. From the Admiral's pov it must be extremely annoying to have this eager beaver landlubber cousin of Sandwich constantly trying to secure more authority and striving to be seen outdoing him, at least in administrative matters.

I get the picture that Batten pretty much ignores Pepys' slights and grabs for more control in the office, not really unhappy that someone else wants to do the boring paperwork, so long as he's left to make his cozy deals with merchants and contractors and occasionally make a few words with the Duke, Minnes pretty much the same only less able. But Penn, though often sidelined by illness, is the one other hard worker and resents Sam's encroaching on his turf, though as the older, more experienced (less desperately ambitious?) man he's willing in general to respect Pepys' abilities and let the young fellow do as he likes in administrative areas that bore him.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...they have with much ado carried it for Sir G. Carteret against Captain Harrison..."

Trinity House...

Crash of table as Sir George, sword in hand, drops onto it from the balcony above, pursuing Captain Harrison, previous fallen on a company of men, likewise armed.

"Surrender your place, Harrison, I charge you!!"

"Lads!!" Harrison calls as Carteret comes upon him... Several men racing with drawn swords to his aid, Carteret falling back, calling on his own men to rally.

Vicious swordfighting ensuing...Harrison and his outnumbered men falling back. Sam from under his table, carefully taking notes. Harrison calling on his men to take heart "...for I am the rightful master of Trinity House!!" plunges back into the fight, driving Carteret's men back from him.

Sir George, briefly abandoned, slashing his way, stumbles and falls near Pepys' corner. "Oh, Pepys?! Have I your vote?"

"Not a voting brother as yet, Sir George. But ye have my unflagging support, sir."

Carteret nods and his men coming to his aid, rises and slashes at the triumphant Harrison. Locked swordplay...Harrison in turn knocked to the ground, rescued by his dwindling supporters.

"Ah, Pepys!"

"You have my undivided, if non-voting support, Captain!"

"Yes, thanks. Actually, I was wondering about the change of hiring out my ship for the Tangier colony?"

He rises, situation clearly deteriorating as several dozen more of Carteret's retainers arrive to take part... Slashing as several of Carteret's men, taking heart, charge him.

"Pardon me, Pepys. Must attend to matters...Pray remember my proposal!!"

"Certainly, sir. Drop by the office tonight...I might be able to accomodate you, Captain!" Pepys calls.

Carteret's men close in...Sir George sensing the crowd wavering...With the helpful persuasion of his increasingly large force of retainers.

"Let us now vote, gentlemen! Who is with me?!! And who are those eager for death?!!"

A few groans as those not raising hands immediately are entreated by swords' point.

"There we are! The Brethren have democratically spoken! What say you, Harrison?!! Will you yield the Mastery, and spare the lives of your gallant men?!! Or shall we stain this ancient hall with a sea of blood?!!"

Harrison tosses sword to the ground, indictating for his remaining men to do likewise...

"I yield, Sir George. But there will be another day, a day when free men will vote honestly according to their hearts for justice, sir!"

"Not in my lifetime, Captain." Carteret grins.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"as if the Doctor could think that they were fit judges of a good sermon"
Come to think of it,Sam has not judged sermons for some time now.

jeannine  •  Link

From "All For the King" by Balleine

I won't spill the beans as to who wins the fight for the seat at Trinity House, but Balleine explains that they were fighting for the role of the "Master of the Fraternity of the Most Glorious and Undivided Trinity, the brotherhood who controlled the lighthouses, bouys and pilots around the coast."

Where this is an election, it will come down to the voters, but, my guess is that if it were a job appointed by the King that Carteret would have it already. There are so few people that Charles would CONSISTENTLY look out for and Sir George managed to gain that support through his fervent devotion and past relentless support of Charles I and II. (Oh yes, and did I forget to mention that cash that he shelled out from time to time to keep our good king happy?)

And we all know that had the job been to keep track of the girls instead of the bouys that Charlie would have kept that role for himself......

Jacqueline Gore  •  Link

I think I prefer the good Dr Gertz's "Pirates of Trinity House" version of the election. Hope Sam didn't lose that expensive periwig in the course of the swordplay, RG. :)

JonTom Kittredge  •  Link

"[Mr Prynne] did declare himself ... for mixt communion against the Presbyterian examination."
Does anyone have a clear idea on what this is about? My guess is that he's talking about communion in both kinds (i.e. both bread and wine). And the "Presbyterian examination" would be the Westminster Catechism, maybe? Did the Presbyterians not use wine at communion at this time? (Their spiritual heirs mostly use grape juice.) I know that one of the Vatican II reforms was to have both kinds distributed to the congregation (before the wine was usually given to the clergy only).

Bradford  •  Link

If you haven't, click on Prynne and read the part this man played in the history of English drama, and the thanks he received. If nowhere else, he lives on in the deep memory of many a literature major.

Terry F  •  Link

"[Mr Prynne] did declare himself ... for mixt communion against the Presbyterian examination."
Does anyone have a clear idea on what this is about?

JonTom, the Presbyterians of the time favored giving communion only to those who, among those formally examined by the ruling elders, were found to be among the righteous. Mr. Prynne evidently favored communion for the "mixt" lot of the righteous and those who would conform, confessing their sinfulness and asking for forgiveness. He 's declaring himself a Latitudinarian with his hat on.

The (Puritan) examination for fitness to receive communion was a tool of social boundary-marking and control, notoriously in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

declare himself ... for mixt communion

"Prynne had quarreled wit the Presbyterians on this issue in 1645-6 and again in the 1650.' See his 'Vindication of foure serious questions...' (1645). While he believed that excommunication was a necessary sanction, he held that it should be reserved for serious offenses, and should involve exclusion from all the services of the church, not only from communion. The normal Presbyterian examination of communicants for their fitness to receive the sacrament implied, he thought, something dangerously near the Independent principle of reserving communion to those actually in a 'state of grace.' Prynne was 'for mixt communion' i.e. administering to all members of the visible church, including sinners, if penitent. He stood for a single broadly based, national church; his opponents for a collection of purified sects."

L&M note to June 6 1664

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Apologies for the duplication -- typing while Terry was posting.

Cumsalisgrano  •  Link

Another view of "If thee not with us, thee must be expelled."
Along with the Quakers that wore a hat and a cap under, when they failed to DOFF i.e. failing to remove head covering, ended up in the Klink.

"...A great dinner, and good company. Mr. Prin also, who would not drink any health, no, not the King's, but sat down with his hat on all the while;[1] but nobody took notice of it to him at all; but in discourse with the Doctor he did declare himself that he ever was, and has expressed himself in all his books for mixt communion against the Presbyterian examination..."
There be still many that failed to toe the one party line.

jeannine  •  Link

"Apologies for the duplication -- typing while Terry was posting".

Thus proving the well known theory that great minds think alike......

Robert Gertz  •  Link

If I remember right Prynne is even referred to by Rupert Everett's Charles II in "Stage Beauty" in that the reaction to the severity of his punishment and his calm and resolute demeanor under it played a role in lighting the Puritan revolution.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

"I won't spill the beans as to who wins the fight for the seat at Trinity House"
Jeannine, I'm confused. Sam has just told us that "Sir G. Carteret carryed it." Is there more to the story to come (without spilling any beans)?

jeannine  •  Link

Sorry Paul

In my haste I missed it and in the book the date wasn't quoted exactly! Sir George wins but by vote and not by the preference of the sovereign! (Too many interruptions these days, I'm having trouble keeping up with things and catching Sam on the fly)

Paul Dyson  •  Link

"The (Puritan) examination for fitness to receive communion was a tool of social boundary-marking and control, notoriously in the Massachusetts Bay Colony."

Nearly thirty years ago, on holiday in the north of Scotland, my wife and I walked over to the nearby church, which was, I think, the Free Presbysterian Church of Scotland (sometimes nick-named the Wee Wee Frees). We soon discovered that the service was a twice-yearly Communion and as such a special occasion. As holidaymakers and lifelong Anglicans we probably stood out as obvious strangers, (or was it the fact that my wife was wearing trousers but not a hat?) and the preacher directed a number of pointed looks in our direction while asking rhetorical questions about "receiving communion worthily". Undeterred we went forward to the rail at the invitation, only to find that all the other communicants were handing over a coin-sized token to an elder before receiving the bread and wine. Despite our lack of this we were not refused participation. Enquiry afterwards revealed that all church members who wished to communicate at this service had to be visited by the minister or elders and be examined on the state of their faith. The token was proof that this had happened and that they had "passed". The minister was honest enough to say that some members never received communion because they feared the examination and that he regretted that this was a consequence of the church's practice. I don't know whether the custon persists.

pepf  •  Link

"...that this hiring of the ship should just pop up in the diary today,..."
"...the sort of thing that he generally covers under the rubric of ‘business’ and leaves at that."

More detailed business outlook three days ago:

This morning before I came out I made a bargain with Captain Taylor for a ship for the Commissioners for Tangier, wherein I hope to get 40l. or 50l..

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I met Mr. Townsend very opportunely and Captain Ferrer, and after some discourse we did accommodate the business of the Wardrobe place, that he shall have the reversion if he will take it out by giving a covenant that if Mr. Young dyes before my father my father shall have the benefit of it for his life."

Robert Ferrer succeeded to the place in October 1667 without Pepys pressing his [ then-widowed and aging ] father's claims. (L&M footnote)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"So by water with Mr. Gauden and others to see a ship hired by me for the Commissioners of Tangier, and to give order therein."

So Alderman Gauden is gathering provisions to ship to Tangier in this unscheduled dispatch. I assume this unexpected departure is justified by sending out Teviot's replacement, whoever that may be.

Gerald Berg  •  Link

Prynne. What a wonderfully cantankerous character and right up unto the end. That shows some will power! Hats off er... not. I'd wear a hat too if I didn't have ears. Curious punishment. Whatever does "losing the rest of his ears" imply?

Gerald Berg  •  Link

I suppose I should have said Mazeltov! Mr. Prynne er... not.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Hi Gerald ... Mr. Prynne had been tortured by the Star Chamber, Archbishop Laud, Chief Justice Finch (i.e. Charles I's supporters protecting Henrietta Maria and her masques). If you click on his name and look through the Wikipedia entry you'll find:

"William Noy as attorney-general instituted proceedings against Prynne in the Star-chamber. After a year's imprisonment in the Tower of London, he was sentenced (17 February 1634) to be imprisoned during life, to be fined £5,000, to be expelled from Lincoln's Inn, to be deprived of his degree by the university of Oxford, and to lose both his ears in the pillory. Prynne was pilloried on 7 May and 10 May. On 11 June he addressed to Archbishop Laud, whom he regarded as his chief persecutor, a letter charging him with illegality and injustice. Laud handed the letter to the attorney-general as material for a new prosecution, but when Prynne was required to own his handwriting, he contrived to get hold of the letter and tore it to pieces. In the Tower Prynne wrote and published anonymous tracts against episcopacy and against the Book of Sports. In one he introduced Noy's recent death as a warning. Elsewhere he attacked prelates in general (1635). An anonymous attack on Matthew Wren, bishop of Norwich brought him again before the Star-chamber. On 14 June 1637 Prynne was sentenced once more to a fine of £5,000, to imprisonment for life, and to lose the rest of his ears. At the proposal of Chief-justice John Finch he was also to be branded on the cheeks with the letters S. L., signifying 'seditious libeller'. Prynne was pilloried on 30 June in company with Henry Burton and John Bastwick, and Prynne was handled barbarously by the executioner."

It didn't end there ... read on. Charles II evidently felt some responsibility to provide for the scholar's upkeep.

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