Wednesday 10 October 1666

(Fast-day for the fire). Up with Sir W. Batten by water to White Hall, and anon had a meeting before the Duke of York, where pretty to see how Sir W. Batten, that carried the surveys of all the fleete with him, to shew their ill condition to the Duke of York, when he found the Prince there, did not speak one word, though the meeting was of his asking — for nothing else. And when I asked him, he told me he knew the Prince too well to anger him, so that he was afeard to do it. Thence with him to Westminster, to the parish church, where the Parliament-men, and Stillingfleete in the pulpit. So full, no standing there; so he and I to eat herrings at the Dog Taverne. And then to church again, and there was Mr. Frampton in the pulpit, they cry up so much, a young man, and of a mighty ready tongue. I heard a little of his sermon, and liked it; but the crowd so great, I could not stay. So to the Swan, and ‘baise la fille‘, and drank, and then home by coach, and took father, wife, brother, and W. Hewer to Islington, where I find mine host dead. Here eat and drank, and merry; and so home, and to the office a while, and then to Sir W. Batten to talk a while, and with Captain Cocke into the office to hear his newes, who is mighty conversant with Garraway and those people, who tells me what they object as to the maladministration of things as to money. But that they mean well, and will do well; but their reckonings are very good, and show great faults, as I will insert here. They say the king hath had towards this war expressly thus much

Royal Ayde 2,450,000l.
  More 1,250,000
Three months’ tax given the King by a power of raising a month’s tax of 70,000l. every year for three years 0,210,000
Customes, out of which the King did promise to pay 240,000l., which for two years comes to 0,480,000
Prizes, which they moderately reckon at 0,300,000
A debt declared by the Navy, by us 0,900,000
5,590,000
The whole charge of the Navy, as we state it for two years and a month, hath been but 3,200,000
So what is become of all this sum? 2,390,000

He and I did bemoan our public condition. He tells me the Duke of Albemarle is under a cloud, and they have a mind at Court to lay him aside. This I know not; but all things are not right with him, and I am glad of it, but sorry for the time. So home to supper, and to bed, it being my wedding night,1 but how many years I cannot tell; but my wife says ten.


18 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

John Evelyn's Diary

October 10 This day was indicted a Generall fast through the nation, to humble us, upon the late dreadfull Conflagration, added to the Plage & Warr, the most dismall judgements could be inflicted, & indeede but what we highly deserved for our prodigious ingratitude, burning Lusts, profane & abominable lives, under such dispensations of Gods continued favour, in restoring Church, Prince, & people from our late intestine calamities, of which we were altogether unmindfull even to astonishment: This made me resolve to go to our Parish Assemblie, where our Doctor preached on 19 Luke: 41 &c:

[ 41And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. ]

piously applying it to the occasion, after which followd a Collection for the poore distressed loose[r]s in the late fire, & their present reliefe.
***
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Le…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

….“…. I heard a little of his sermon, and liked it; but the crowd so great, I could not stay. So to the Swan, and 'baisai la fille' [ kissed the girl ], and drank, and then home by coach and took father, wife, brother, and W. Hewer to Islington, where I find mine Host dead.”

http://www.pepys.info/bits3.html#…

***
"mine Host"

L&M say this is Pitt, of the King's Head.

Bradford  •  Link

"[T]ook father, wife, brother, and W. Hewer to Islington, where I find mine host dead. Here eat and drank, and merry; and so home," . . . How's that again?

Mr. Gunning  •  Link

So much for Fast-day for the fire.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Actually Pepys's fasting began at midday:
"so he and I to eat herrings at the Dog Taverne."

What was fasting at that time, pray tell?

Mary  •  Link

Fast-Day.

This does not necessarily involve abstention from all food and could simply mean that the eating of meat was abjured. i.e. a 'jour maigre' rather than a total fast.

As for the great press of people who had come to hear Mr. Frampton's sermon, once a clergyman began to gather a reputation as a notable preacher, huge congregations could gather to see and hear him 'perform.' Such speakers provided both moral and intellectual stimulation with perhaps a bit of drama thrown in. Moreover the occasion itself could provide a rich field of social activity and observation.

Mary  •  Link

The date of the Pepys's wedding.

The wedding that Sam and Elizabeth regarded as their true wedding took place on 10th October 1655, and this appears to have been a private and unrecorded religious ceremony. (Religious ceremonies had been declared invalid since August 1653).

Their official marriage took place in a civil ceremony conducted on !st December 1655 at St. Margaret's, Westminster. The man officiating was Richard Sherwyn Esq. a Justice of the Peace of the City and Liberties of Westminster.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

"Thence with him to Westminster, to the parish church, where the Parliament-men, and Stillingfleete in the pulpit ..."

A sermon preached before the honourable House of Commons, at St. Margarets Westminster Octob. 10. being the fast-day appointed for the late dreadfull fire in the city of London. By Edward Stillingfleet, B.D. rector of St. Andrews Holborn, and one of his Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary. Published by order of the said House.
London : printed by Robert White, for Henry Mortlock, and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the White Hart in Westminster Hall, 1666.
[2], 36 p. ; 2mo.; Wing (CD-ROM, 1996), S5637

The text was Amos IV v.11:
'I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.'
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/…

Michael Robinson  •  Link

where the Parliament-men, and Stillingfleete in the pulpit …

Dean Sancroft, of St. Paul's, preached at the Whtehall* on an altogether more emollient text , Isaiah XXVI, v 9:

"With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."

*
Lex ignea: or The school of righteousness. A sermon preach’d before the King, Octob. 10. 1666. at the solemn fast appointed for the late fire in London. By William Sancroft, D.D. Dean of St. Pauls. Published by His Majesties special command.
London : printed for Timothy Garthwait, 1666.
55, [1] p. : 4to. Title page cut signed: W. Hollar fecit. Ao 1666. Wing (CD-ROM, 1996), S554

JWB  •  Link

"...so he and I to eat herrings at the Dog Taverne."

"Come, eat them with pure fresh butter and mustard,
Their bellies are soft, and as white as a custard." Swift

classicist  •  Link

Nice to see that London's printers and booksellers are on the go despite their losses, banging out the latest sermons by the most popular preachers. Is this the 17th C. equivalent of the instant biography?

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Like Bradford, I was startled by the casual reference to "mine Host dead," followed immediately by eating, drinking, and merriment. From Terry's L&M reference, I gather this was the owner of the tavern in Islington. I suppose if I were out at a restaurant with friends and relatives for an enjoyable meal, and learned that the owner, whom I didn't know well, had just died, we would offer our sincere condolences, but then would go on with our party. If the establishment didn't want that to happen, they would have closed.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Here eat and drank, and merry..." No matter what excuse still a bit jarring...I wonder if Sam thought it a bit philsophical to put it after the news of mine host.

***
As Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble and their fire squad back-up would say...and do (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn… )

Happy Anniversary...Happy Anniversary...

Happy Anniversary...

Haaapppy Anniversary...

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

An updated link for the text of
A sermon preached before the honourable House of Commons, at St. Margarets Westminster Octob. 10. being the fast-day appointed for the late dreadfull fire in the city of London. By Edward Stillingfleet, B.D. rector of St. Andrews Holborn, and one of his Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary. Published by order of the said House.
London : printed by Robert White, for Henry Mortlock, and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the White Hart in Westminster Hall, 1666.
Early English Books Online
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/t…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"They say the king hath had towards this war expressly thus much

L&M: The accounts covered 1 September 1664-30 September 1666.... The committee's report was accepted 'with favour' by the House on the 11th. &c.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

The last few entries make Pepys, Parliament and Court life sound as if life and business was back to normal. There were still thousands of homeless people roaming around, and through his carriage windows he could see the devastated neighborhoods.

A Fast Day for the fire doesn't seem to have slowed anyone down, apart from two optional church services. But by tradition, 10 October is the last day you should pick blackberries. Today is Old Michaelmas Day, the day when Lucifer was supposed to have been expelled from Heaven and fell into a blackberry bush. Lucifer cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath, spat and stamped on them and made them unfit for consumption.

In Cornwall, they also said that Lucifer urinated on the berries. (As with much folklore, there may be a basis for this: the weather is wetter and cooler in autumn there, so it can make the fruit go mouldy.)

I hope the homeless foraging in the hedgerows remembered this timeless bit of wisdom. Lucifer scorched them with his fiery breath a bit early this year.

Rich  •  Link

Sounds like Mr. Frampton really came alive.

Pepys' has only occasionally mentioned his anniversary in these October 10th entries from 1660 up to this point: in 1666, 1664 and 1661 (when a bruised testicle kept the 28-year-old and his 20-year-old bride from celebrating their 6th anniversary)

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