Friday 14 September 1666

Up, and to work, having carpenters come to helpe in setting up bedsteads and hangings; and at that trade my people and I all the morning, till pressed by publique business to leave them against my will in the afternoon: and yet I was troubled in being at home, to see all my goods lie up and down the house in a bad condition, and strange workmen going to and fro might take what they would almost. All the afternoon busy; and Sir W. Coventry come to me, and found me, as God would have it, in my office, and people about me setting my papers to rights; and there discoursed about getting an account ready against the Parliament, and thereby did create me infinite of business, and to be done on a sudden; which troubled me: but, however, he being gone, I about it late, and to good purpose. And so home, having this day also got my wine out of the ground again, and set in my cellar; but with great pain to keep the porters that carried it in from observing the money-chests there. So to bed as last night, only my wife and I upon a bedstead with curtains in that which was Mercer’s chamber, and Balty and his wife (who are here and do us good service), where we lay last night. This day, poor Tom Pepys, the turner, was with me, and Kate Joyce, to bespeake places; one for himself, the other for her husband. She tells me he hath lost 140l. per annum, but have seven houses left.


13 Annotations

First Reading

CGS  •  Link

Rental of houses etc
"...She tells me he hath lost 140l. per annum, but have seven houses left...."
10 families??

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...and yet I was troubled in being at home, to see all my goods lie up and down the house in a bad condition, and strange workmen going to and fro might take what they would almost."

Sam Pepys in Hell...

"Mo, No!! Put that back!! Bess, you idiot, don't give that to him!!! Stop, thief!! No, no, no!!! Not my Parmesian!!!" Sam, chained to desk as leering workmen carry off goods.

"I'll be takin' this in lieu of me husband's long overdue promotion, Mr. P." Bagwell, passing with grin...

"What?! Not my new gilded books?!! Curse you!!"

"Sam'l...I'm afraid one of the workmen must have taken all 2350Ls of..."

"My gold!!! My God!!!"

"...And me as well..." Bess grins...Then sad look... "Not that that's any huge loss to you..." voice fading with sigh....

"My gold!!!...My wife!!...My gold!!!!"

***

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"All the afternoon busy; and Sir W. Coventry come to me, and found me, as God would have it, in my office, and people about me setting my papers to rights; and there discoursed about getting an account ready against the Parliament, and thereby did create me infinite of business, and to be done on a sudden; which troubled me: but, however, he being gone, I about it late, and to good purpose."

Just the downside of being appreciated, Sam...Look at it this way, would you want Coventry finding no one at the office to give this to but Minnes?

"Accounts?...Er...Parliament, you say? Er...Oh, I think Pepys has some of those account things here somewhere...Yes...Ah..."

"Sir John, Mr. P says those are never to be shown to anyone..."

"Now, now boy... Important business here....There we are...Right, Sir Will...Just hand all these whatever they are over to your gentlemen from Parliament and that should satisfy them..."

"Looks like some of it's in shorthand..." Coventry frowns at stack of papers including Diary.

"Shorthand?...Er...Boy? Can you read this 'shorthand'."

"Aye, sir..."

"Sir John? I don't think Mr. Pepys would..." Hewer tries.

"What's this about 300Ls to the Clerk of the Acts for passing Tangier accounts?" Coventry, staring at account sheet from "never show to anyone" pile...

***

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"This day, poor Tom Pepys, the turner, was with me, and Kate Joyce, to bespeake places; one for himself, the other for her husband."

Are things so grim that the turner and the chandler want to join Mr. Bagwell?

JWB  •  Link

We can suppose that the bros. Joyce's fat (tallow chandlers) added to the fire.

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

Isn't it peculiar that Sam apparently buried his wine to keep it. (I have not been around every day, so it may have been commented on before.)

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"got my wine out of the ground again"
Now, did he bury it looking for a cooler place or because of the thieves?

David Goldfarb  •  Link

He buried it in the hopes that the length of earth would give it some protection from burning. As it turned out, the fire didn't come to that area.

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

David, that must be the answer, though he did not mention it before.

FJA  •  Link

But he did mention it, on 4 September:

"And in the evening Sir W. Pen and I did dig another, and put our wine in it; and I my Parmazan cheese, as well as my wine and some other things."

Kevin Peter  •  Link

Yes, when the fire was approaching, Sam was worried about the wine. The wine was apparently too heavy to carry off, so he and Sir William Penn buried their wine in a hole in the garden as far away from any flammable structures as possible, hoping that would be sufficient protection from the fire.

cum salis grano  •  Link

burying expendables. Earthen clamps have been an old method of preserving roots and other items that could be preserved. Caves have been popular for wines and cheeses for millenniums. London has such soil that 60 feet down, the temperature was at one time, 11 deg =/- .01 all year.

Romans and others used this knowledge of heat conservation for keeping warm and cool, now that we are cleverer and now use energy to conserve.
Look at the Sod house of North America.

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

https://books.google.com/books?pg…

Calendar of State Papers, Domestic. September 14, 1666

Sept. 14. 120. [Aphra Behn to Mr. Halsall].

Her letters from Holland say the French fleet cannot be got ready to join the Holland fleet, and a speedy battle may prevent the joining.

There are disorders in the States, and another is displaced from the Council for visiting Buat in prison. It is said that if our fleet win, the Prince [of Orange], who is at Cleves, will return with an army, and the army in Holland is generally for him.

Also, that Benjamin Turley is the quaker in whom the fanatics so confide, but his name is not to be mentioned. [Partly in cypher, decyphered, 2 pages.}

%%%

On August 18, 1666 Charles II made another peace offer to Grand Pensionary De Witt, using Capt. Henri Buat as an intermediary (he had performed this task before).

Among the letters given to De Witt was one included by mistake which contained the secret English instructions to their contacts in the Orange party, outlining plans for an overthrow of the States regime.

Capt. Buat was arrested. As a result, his accomplices fled to England, among them Johan Kievit, who was condemned to death in absentia. Van Tromp's family was fined, and he was forbidden to serve in the fleet.

De Witt now had proof of the collaborationist nature of the Orange movement; and the major city regents distanced themselves from the Orangist's cause.

The mood in the Republic has now became very belligerent.

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