Tuesday 13 November 1666
At the office all the morning, at noon home to dinner, and out to Bishopsgate Street, and there bought some drinking-glasses, a case of knives, and other things, against tomorrow, in expectation of my Lord Hinchingbroke’s coming to dine with me. So home, and having set some things in the way of doing, also against to-morrow, I to my office, there to dispatch business, and do here receive notice from my Lord Hinchingbroke that he is not well, and so not in condition to come to dine with me to-morrow, which I am not in much trouble for, because of the disorder my house is in, by the bricklayers coming to mend the chimney in my dining-room for smoking, which they were upon almost till midnight, and have now made it very pretty, and do carry smoke exceeding well.
This evening come all the Houblons to me, to invite me to sup with them to-morrow night.
I did take them home, and there we sat and talked a good while, and a glass of wine, and then parted till to-morrow night.
So at night, well satisfied in the alteration of my chimney, to bed.
14 Annotations
First Reading
Robert Gertz • Link
That must have been quite charming...The Houblons seem like a gracious set of fellows who know how to live well.
And yet even as he moves into new circles, Sam doesn't forget to pay respects to the family who gave him his start...Even if young Hinchingbroke can't come.
Bradford • Link
Apparently the oaths contra wine-drinking dropped by the wayside somewhere?
cape henry • Link
"...and have now made it very pretty, and do carry smoke exceeding well." Unlike modern bricklayers who would knock off at 3.15, miss two days for outlandish reasons, and take four more to finish the job they estimated at one day.
Jack • Link
As always, great post Samuel. Glad to hear you like your new chimney. I hope you've the chance to catch up with Lord Hinchingbroke soon.
CGS • Link
House of Commons has spoken " find the king some money, no other business till King gets more monies".
Publick Business.
RESOLVED, &c. That no new Business be entertained, until the publick Business of his Majesty's Supply be dispatched.
Terry Foreman • Link
Conway to Ormond
Written from: London
Date: 13 November 1666
Continues his account of proceedings in Parliament, - chiefly upon Irish affairs. ... Adds that the King will never give his assent to the Cattle Bill; ... that the writer is "a little scandalized" at Lord Arlington's course; ... and that Lord Ashley is trying, in a Committee of Privileges, "to have all the Irish nobility degraded from having any place in England, & is likewise designing to alter our 'Book of Rates' & to compel us to receive all foreign commodities out of England" ... If such proceedings go further, they will force Ireland "into the hands of the French or of the Dutch". ..
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s…
Mary • Link
the new drinking glasses.
Interesting in view of Sam's comments about the Wights' substandard tableware.
Perhaps the old glasses were chipped? Or closer to Wooworths' standard than Stuart Crystal? Sam has had stocks of wine at home for a long time and I can't imagine that he has been drinking it out of pewter vessels all the while, so the household glassware must have been insufficient in quantity or not up to snuff in some other way.
Michael Robinson • Link
" ... and there bought some drinking-glasses, a case of knives, and other things, against tomorrow, in expectation of my Lord Hinchingbroke’s coming to dine with me. "
Perhaps forgotten or not mentioned:
" ... my new bottles made, with my crest upon them, ..."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Michael Robinson • Link
" ... the bricklayers coming to mend the chimney in my dining-room for smoking, which they were upon almost till midnight, and have now made it very pretty, and do carry smoke exceeding well. ..."
Rumford's progenitors?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumf…
Robin Peters • Link
Did Rumford just document what the ordinary bricklayers had been doing for generations?
Second Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Apparently the oaths contra wine-drinking dropped by the wayside somewhere?"
As I recall Pepys started writing vows and stopped drinking when he realized he needed to pay more attention to work. Right now they have no funds, therefore there is little work he can do, plus everyone is still traumatized from the fire, and drinking is a [bad] form of self-medicating.
He's probably eating comfort food too ... just like many of us did after 9/11. For several years.
David G • Link
I wonder whether Lord Hitchingbroke was really under the weather or just making up an excuse to avoid dining with the Pepys household. Given Sam’s reaction, probably the latter and neither was looking forward to the meal.
San Diego Sarah • Link
'If such proceedings go further, they will force Ireland "into the hands of the French or of the Dutch"'
It wasn't just the Irish feeling the sharp heel of Church of England oppression. Three years of anti-Conventical enforcement in Scotland had provoked an army of insurgents to march from Galloway to Edinburgh. At its height 3,000 men marched ... but by now they had dwindled to about 1,000.
Realizing the folly of their protest, the Convenanters turned away from the capital towards the Pentland Hills. But it was too late: Gen. Tam Dalziel / Dalyell, the governor of Edinburgh, at the head of a hastily-mustered body of 3,000 regulars, had been sent out to intercept the Covenanters, and came upon them at Rullion Green on the evening of 13 November, 1666. A sharp engagement followed.
Twice success seemed to favor the insurgents, but in the end the military training and the superior weapons of the government prevailed, and the Covenanters were scattered in headlong flight.
Of the soldiers, only 5 fell. On the other side there were about 40 killed and a 130 taken.
The Pentland Rising prisoners were marched into Edinburgh the next day. They might have saved their lives if they had renounced the Covenant; their refusal to do so was severely punished.
Gleaned from
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.c…
and VISCOUNT DUNDEE -- Author: Louis A. Barbé
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/49…
FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES
PUBLISHED BY OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER,
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
PS Panda • Link
There's something a little Pooteresque about today's entry.