Saturday 9 September 1665
Up and walked to Greenwich, and there we sat and dispatched a good deal of business I had a mind to. At noon, by invitation, to my Lord Bruncker’s, all of us, to dinner, where a good venison pasty, and mighty merry. Here was Sir W. Doyly, lately come from Ipswich about the sicke and wounded, and Mr. Evelyn and Captain Cocke. My wife also was sent for by my Lord Bruncker, by Cocke, and was here. After dinner, my Lord and his mistress would see her home again, it being a most cursed rainy afternoon, having had none a great while before.
And I, forced to go to the office on foot through all the rain, was almost wet to my skin, and spoiled my silke breeches almost.
Rained all the afternoon and evening, so as my letters being done, I was forced to get a bed at Captain Cocke’s, where I find Sir W. Doyly, and he, and Evelyn at supper; and I with them full of discourse of the neglect of our masters, the great officers of State, about all business, and especially that of money: having now some thousands prisoners, kept to no purpose at a great charge, and no money provided almost for the doing of it. We fell to talk largely of the want of some persons understanding to look after businesses, but all goes to rack. “For,” says Captain Cocke, “my Lord Treasurer, he minds his ease, and lets things go how they will: if he can have his 8000l. per annum, and a game at l’ombre, —[Spanish card game]— he is well. My Lord Chancellor he minds getting of money and nothing else; and my Lord Ashly will rob the Devil and the Alter, but he will get money if it be to be got.” But that that put us into this great melancholy, was newes brought to-day, which Captain Cocke reports as a certain truth, that all the Dutch fleete, men-of-war and merchant East India ships, are got every one in from Bergen the 3d of this month, Sunday last; which will make us all ridiculous. The fleete come home with shame to require a great deale of money, which is not to be had, to discharge many men that must get the plague then or continue at greater charge on shipboard, nothing done by them to encourage the Parliament to give money, nor the Kingdom able to spare any money, if they would, at this time of the plague, so that, as things look at present, the whole state must come to ruine. Full of these melancholy thoughts, to bed; where, though I lay the softest I ever did in my life, with a downe bed, after the Danish manner, upon me, yet I slept very ill, chiefly through the thoughts of my Lord Sandwich’s concernment in all this ill successe at sea.
26 Annotations
First Reading
Australian Susan • Link
"...where a good venison pasty, and mighty merry...."
Sam always seems to be "mighty merry" after a v.p. Wonder if someone adds strange herbs to them? Hash pasty, anyone?
So Sam's current worst nightmare comes true: scores of seamen coming home and nothing to pay them off with - and the threat that, if they are allowed ashore, many will die of plague and thus decimate the numbers of experienced seamen available.
And he has now learned first hand from Evelyn of the problems of the sick and wounded and all the prisoners too. No wonder he slept "very ill", but is still able to record the sort of snippets we all find so appealing: his silk breeches spoiled and the novelty of sleeping under a duvet. Now I hope someone posts Evelyn's entry for today, so we get his take on the meeting, but I bet that has no mention of venison pasties, merriment or new modes of bedding.
Terry Foreman • Link
"with a downe bed, after the Danish manner, upon me,"
Pauline's annotation on "Captain" Cocke tells us that his "(first) wife was Anna Maria Solomons of Danzig (where he live in 1656 as an agent of the Eastland Company)." http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
cape henry • Link
A. Susan's summary reflects my thoughts perfectly. Imagine being a seaman - much less a prisoner - at this particular moment.
Margaret • Link
"...a downe bed, after the Danish manner"
I remember the first time I slept under a duvet--it was in Austria, in 1970. I had never even seen one before, either in Britain or Canada. It seemed very luxurious to me, as it was to Pepys. Now, of course, you can find them everywhere, even at Ikea.
JWB • Link
Ist das nicht ein Federbett?
Ya, das ist ein Federbett.
CGS • Link
Duvet was known to us poor as an eiderdown stuffed with goose or duck down cured after turning the pond life into Christmas dinners.
[Downe bed]
CGS • Link
OED: down, n.2
1. a. The first feathering of young birds. b. The fine soft covering of fowls, forming the under plumage, used for stuffing beds, pillows, etc.
c1369 CHAUCER ...
1600 HAKLUYT Voy. III. 267 (R.) Soft beds of downe or feathers.
other obscure meaning
down a
1. The burden of a song. (Cf. DOWN adv. 26.)
1611 COTGR.,
Robert Gertz • Link
Nice of Lord B and Abby to see Bess home...
Hmmn...Of course it would have been a perfect chance to pass on new orders from Holland or France via "Cozen Franke".
Just sayin'...
***
Well, Sam, you can at least blame all on the plague this year. Even Parliament has to concede that little problem adding to the difficulties.
Now do you see the advantage of having an Opposition you blame things on, Sam? If the Duke or Clarendon could just rant in Parliament or the press on the damned opposition of the "other side" fouling up the King's brilliant war strategy and dragging their feet on war credits, while casting aspersions on "their" patriotism things would look so much brighter.
Still you could always try blaming it all on Quakers and us foul Papists. That usually gets some mileage.
andy • Link
it being a most cursed rainy afternoon, having had none a great while before, and I, forced to go to the office on foot through all the rain, was almost wet to my skin, and spoiled my silke breeches almost. Rained all the afternoon and evening
Yeah I got soaked yesterday too, had to walk to a conference across town in an unseasonable cloudburst, it ruined the cut of my suit trousers (not silk breeches.
(I love the timelessness of Sam's observations!)
Carl in Boston • Link
Come to the Pepys Party at The Wayside Inn, this Saturday 2PM local time, at 72 Wayside Inn Rd, Sudbury MA 01776, telephone 978 443-1776. The "1776" refers to the year of the American Revolution, 1776 AD. There should be four of us, maybe more, but it's the right four. I will be in a red shirt, my cell phone is 781 521-4272
Long Live the Memory of Samuel Pepys
Carl Wickstrom
CGS • Link
duvet
[F. duvet down, earlier dumet, dim. of OF. dum down.]
1. A quilt stuffed with eider-down or swan's-down.
1758 JOHNSON Idler
There are now to be sold..some duvets for bed-coverings
Adam • Link
I did very similar yesterday, had a beef pasty and got soaked 'almost to the skin.' I will also agree that on a day like that, you do feel merrier with some warm meat inside you.
Hugh Duncan • Link
"...where I find Sir W. Doyly, and he, and Evelyn at supper...."
would this be Sir John Evelyn (who also wrote a diary), does anyone think?
Terry Foreman • Link
"would this be Sir John Evelyn"
Indeed!
Terry Foreman • Link
John Evelyn and today's discourse
Evelyn and Doyly were Commissioners for the Sick and Wounded, including POWs.
Phil Gyford • Link
Carl, just a nudge... I like to keep the annotations on diary entries relevant to the diary entry. If you'd like me to post something in the Site News section about meet ups I'm more than happy to. There is also the discussion group. Thanks.
Pedro • Link
"and my Lord Ashly will rob the Devil and the Alter,"
Great phrase, anyone kow the origin?
dirk • Link
From the Carte Papers, Bodleian Library
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
Sir W. Coventry to Duke of Ormond (Dublin)
Written from: York
Date: 9 September 1665
Yesterday brought a little good news, from my Lord Sandwich, of the taking of some Dutch ships... Has seen letters which complain that the coast of Lancashire is much infested with Capers. If his Grace could spare a frigate to scour that coast, it might conduce to the safety of Ireland.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"Captain Cocke reports as a certain truth, that all the Dutch fleete, men-of-war and merchant East India ships, are got every one in from Bergen the 3d of this month, Sunday last; which will make us all ridiculous."
L&M: They got into the Texel on 7/17 September.
Terry Foreman • Link
"“For,” says Captain Cocke, “my Lord Treasurer, he minds his ease, and lets things go how they will"
L&M: Southampton's administration of the office was slow and in many ways inefficient: see S.B. Baxter, Devel. Treasury, 1550-1702, pp. 9-11. He had in 1660 accepted a salary of £8000 p.a. in commutation of the traditional payment mainly by fees: H. Roseveare, The Treasury, p. 50 & note.
Terry Foreman • Link
"to bed; where...I lay the softest I ever did in my life, with a downe bed, after the Danish manner"
Pepys had been to Denmark briefly in the course of the naval expedition of 1659. Cocke's wife, his hostess, came from Danzig. (L&M note)
San Diego Sarah • Link
I am surprised Pepys lets Elizabeth socialize with Abigail. Maybe the times makes for strange bedfellows (so to speak). Pepys is enjoying Brouncker's company, so if he gets one, he gets them both.
I have been trying to find out what happened to John Cromwell/Williams. If he was still alive, that would explain why they could not marry, as they obviously were a devoted couple. So far nothing reportable.
Robert Harneis • Link
"and my Lord Ashly will rob the Devil and the Alter,"
A long time ago when I was studying history A level I used the best anti Shaftesbury quote from Charles II ever 'Come doomsday, my lord Shaftesbury, we shall see whose arse is blackest.' My history teacher an Oxbridge graduate, had, shamefully, never heard it and I was threatened with dire punishment for making it up, having no internet to prove my point and having typically forgotten where I found it. It is interesting that Shaftesbury was then still a hero of democracy and poor old Charles was treated like the court jester. I took the view that Shaftesbury was an unhung rogue and Charles a pretty smart dude for surviving to the end of his reign unlike his father and brother. It was not then a fashionable view and not one at this stage in his life that Pepys shared, although he would change his mind as he climbed up the administrative hierarchy. I hope, Phyl, that I have made this entry suitably relevant to the day's entry!
San Diego Sarah • Link
That's a wonderful quote. Love it.
I too have been puzzling over the Devil and the Altar jibe. It's not a quote that brings anything up in Google.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper's Parliamentary Bio says:
"For the next six years Chancellor of the Exchequer, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley was primarily concerned with routine financial administration, although as a West Country landowner he could not avoid supporting the Irish cattle bill in the Lords in 1666."
His job required him finding creative ways of extracting taxes, which covers the Devil.
So I wondered if the Altar referred to exploitive marriages.
His wives were:
Margaret Coventry (1639–1649, her death) – sister of our Sir William Coventry.
Frances Cecil (1650–1654, her death) – daughter of David Cecil, 3rd Earl of Exeter. She was 19 when she died, and left him with two healthy children.
Margaret Spencer (1655–1683, his death) – the Earl of Southampton was her uncle.
So he married well, and he was well-connected (his step-grandmother was a Villiars), but there are no comments about any of them being wealthy heiresses, or their doweries benefitting him, or Charles II arranging the match as a favor.
In addition, every bio specifically says he was probably an athiest, if anything a deist. So he was moderate in his religious policy; not chasing Catholics or Quakers or promoting religion in any way.
So it may be a Pepys pun which is lost on us, or a phrase which made everyone laugh at the time. He hasn't told us how much he was drinking at all these very merry lunches and dinners with the boys and Brouncker's mistress. No mention of vow reading and writing, or money in the poor box, for quite a while.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... to bed; where, though I lay the softest I ever did in my life, with a down bed, after the Danish manner, upon me, ..."
Everyone responded as if this is just about duvets. "I lay" makes me think Pepys was writing about a feather mattress, and "with a down bed" could indicate he had both. This description of bedding a century later may describe Pepys experience:
By 1776, beds in the United States were a complex affair. Wealthy people passed them down from generation to generation.
Jefferson, Franklin and Adams would retired to 4-poster beds enclosed by heavy, warm drapes on all four sides.
A bed on display in York, Maine, has curtains and valances which are elaborately embroidered on the inside and outside of the curtain panels. The embroidery on the inside is stitched with saucy pictures from the Bible.
The precursor to today’s bed frame was the bedstead. These sturdy 4-poster frames had a “sacking” of rope or leather crisscrossed between the sides of the bedstead to provide a platform for the mattress.
A prosperous 18th century American slept on a bed made up of several layers. The bottom was a firm “mattress” cushion pad filled with corn husks or horsehair. Next came a featherbed for comfort, plus feather-filled bolsters and pillows. (Featherbeds sag and are hard to lie flat on, so people slept propped up on pillows.) City-folk bought professionally-made feather mattresses from someone like Betsy Ross.
Servants and slaves often slept on straw or hay pallets on the floor. In New England, servants slept in the hallways or unfinished cavities of the house or attic.
People made their bed with cotton or linen sheets, a counterpane (aka blanket or bedspread), and then a woven coverlet or embroidered quilt. In the winter New Englanders topped these off with a bed rugg, a heavy spread made from looped wool, like a carpet.
Every morning two maids stripped the beds to air them, and flipped the mattresses daily, a process that took two people and lots of time.” (You can see the process in an episode of the BBC series If Walls Could Talk.) The beds were remade every evening.
see https://www.saatvamattress.com/bl…
However, "Duvets, known as federbetten or featherbeds in German, are loosely quilted. Broad channels stop the feathers ending up in one corner of the tick, while allowing them to expand and hold warm air." An English traveller, Paul Rycaut, tried to introduce the duvet to his friends around 1700, by sending them 6 lb. bags of down, saying "the coverlet must be quilted high and in large panes, or otherwise it will not be warme". 60 years later Samuel Johnson described an advertisement for: "some Duvets for bed-coverings, of down ... warmer than four or five blankets, and lighter than one." Still, they didn't catch on in England until the late 1800's when the "eider down quilt" started to become known.
from http://www.oldandinteresting.com/…
San Diego Sarah • Link
“Has seen letters which complain that the coast of Lancashire is much infested with Capers.”
Noun -- caper (plural capers)
1. A vessel formerly used by the Dutch; privateer.
From https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ca… -- but sadly nothing more to illuminate the discussion.