Sunday 11 August 1667

(Lord’s day). Up by four o’clock, and ready with Mrs. Turner to take coach before five; which we did, and set on our journey, and got to the Wells at Barnett by seven o’clock, and there found many people a-drinking; but the morning is a very cold morning, so as we were very cold all the way in the coach. Here we met Joseph Batelier, and I talked with him, and here was W. Hewer also, and his uncle Steventon: so, after drinking three glasses and the women nothing, we back by coach to Barnett, where to the Red Lyon, where we ’light, and went up into the great Room, and there drank, and eat some of the best cheese-cakes that ever I eat in my life, and so took coach again, and W. Hewer on horseback with us, and so to Hatfield, to the inn, next my Lord Salisbury’s house, and there rested ourselves, and drank, and bespoke dinner; and so to church, it being just church-time, and there we find my Lord and my Lady Sands and several fine ladies of the family, and a great many handsome faces and genteel persons more in the church, and did hear a most excellent good sermon, which pleased me mightily, and very devout; it being upon, the signs of saving grace, where it is in a man, and one sign, which held him all this day, was, that where that grace was, there is also the grace of prayer, which he did handle very finely. In this church lies the former Lord of Salisbury, Cecil, buried in a noble tomb. So the church being done, we to our inn, and there dined very well, and mighty merry; and as soon as we had dined we walked out into the Park through the fine walk of trees, and to the Vineyard, and there shewed them that, which is in good order, and indeed a place of great delight; which, together with our fine walk through the Park, was of as much pleasure as could be desired in the world for country pleasure and good ayre. Being come back, and weary with the walk, for as I made it, it was pretty long, being come back to our inne, there the women had pleasure in putting on some straw hats, which are much worn in this country, and did become them mightily, but especially my wife. So, after resting awhile, we took coach again, and back to Barnett, where W. Hewer took us into his lodging, which is very handsome, and there did treat us very highly with cheesecakes, cream, tarts, and other good things; and then walked into the garden, which was pretty, and there filled my pockets full of filberts, and so with much pleasure. Among other things, I met in this house with a printed book of the Life of O. Cromwell, to his honour as a soldier and politician, though as a rebell, the first of that kind that ever I saw, and it is well done. Took coach again, and got home with great content, just at day shutting in, and so as soon as home eat a little and then to bed, with exceeding great content at our day’s work.


27 Annotations

First Reading

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Quite a lovely day...

W. Hewer, host. Does Will live in Barnett now? Would be a long commute each day, I imagine.

Carl in Boston  •  Link

best cheese-cakes that ever I eat in my life,
This is a Pepysism, over and over, "the best (xxxx) that ever I (ate, saw, drank, yyyy) in all my life." Jolly good, what? Cheesecake I can't abide, but a pocket of filberts and and a look at Elizabeth in a fetching straw hat would set me up for the day.

language hat  •  Link

"...and did become them mightily, but especially my wife."

I trust he told her that!

A wonderful entry; no cares of state, just luxe, calme et volupté.

Mary  •  Link

"pockets full of filberts"

Lucky Sam; the accursed, non-native grey squirrels have already eaten all the immature filberts on our trees, but they had not yet been introduced to Britain from America in the seventeenth century.

Although 'filberts' is glossed 'hazelnuts' here, in this part of SE England the term refers to cobnuts (somewhat more elongated in shape) rather than hazelnuts. Kentish cobnuts are delicious - if you can just get to them before the grey squirrels scoff the lot.

Mary  •  Link

the becoming straw hats.

I was hoping that Sam might have bought one for Eizabeth. There is clearly some sort of fashion for dressing 'en paysanne' in London this 1667 summer.

highheeledhistorian  •  Link

Such amazing detail, down to how much the men and women respectively drank. I agree with Mary, the straw hats sound very becoming! :D

language hat  •  Link

highheeledhistorian: Please stop signing your posts. It's unnecessary and makes you look like a spammer.

Phoenix  •  Link

A lovely summer's day with friends - timeless. Monet and Rohmer come to mind.

" ... did hear a most excellent good sermon, which pleased me mightily, and very devout; it being upon, the signs of saving grace, where it is in a man, and one sign, which held him all this day, was, that where that grace was, there is also the grace of prayer, which he did handle very finely."

Though the lack of funds, indebtedness, commissions of inquiry, resignations and general discontent with government that Sam writes of resonate today this sermon surely is a reminder of how far we've come. It's likely that it would be incomprehensible to most youth today and irrelevant to nearly everyone else. But "the church being done" does suggest that for Sam it was not much more than a obligatory stop in day of shared pleasure. I'm smitten.

JWB  •  Link

“pockets full of filberts”

Wonder if the owner of the filberts thought any more of Pepys than Mary does of grey squirrels. At least you can eat the squirrels & recoup your investment, but a Pepys pasty...

cum salis grano  •  Link

"just at day shutting in," crawled in before the last bell at closing time, saved a bribe.

Eric Walla  •  Link

"Nuts" is right. I've been spending the last two weeks watching the squirrels strip our filbert tree bare. I don't know if there are batches they miss, or what timing they instinctively obey, but they're at it every morning. Now I can name one of them Sam!

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"In this church lies the former Lord of Salisbury, Cecil, buried in a noble tomb."

L&M note what Pepys saw in the Salisbury Chapel of St Etheldreda is Maximilian Colt's effigy of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (d. 1612) lying on a marble slab supported by four figure representing Faith, Justice, Fortitude and Prudence.

St Etheldreda's (Hatfield, Hertfordshire) and Robert Cecil's tomb
http://salviatimosaics.blogspot.c…

Another image of the tomb:
https://www.architecture.com/imag…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Among other things, I met in this house with a printed book of the Life of O. Cromwell, to his honour as a soldier and politician"

L&M: Anon's 'The perfect politician: or A full view of the life and actions military and civil of Oliver Cromwel'
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"being come back to our inne, there the women had pleasure in putting on some straw hats, which are much worn in this country;"

L&M: For the manufacture of hats, etc., from straw plaits in Hertfordshire, see VCH, Herts., iv. 251-6.

mountebank  •  Link

Another reference to people in the rising middle classes enjoying pastoral roleplay. They're nicely ahead of trend, apparently it's going to be a big thing in the following century:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham…

Harry R  •  Link

I love these days out and enjoy Sam's pleasures in all around him vicariously, though I would have had to pass on some of the courses - he has a mighty constitution. Presumably the day is pre-planned though I haven't picked up on any plans being made in earlier entries. I wonder about "The Life of O. Cromwell" and how it would be considered to own a copy in those early days after the interregnum. And Sam's reference to "my wife" as opposed to giving her a pet name in the diary. Is that typical?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"I wonder about "The Life of O. Cromwell" and how it would be considered to own a copy in those early days after the interregnum."

Controversial books, including the Bible in English, not approved by the Court/authorities/Stationers Guild were printed on the continent and smuggled into Britain for centuries. So the ownership of such a book didn't surprise me ... as we have seen, Oliver has many admirers these days ... but displaying the book in the wrong company might be unwise. Perhaps the book was discreetly kept in Hewer's closett and shared appropriately with friends.

It occurred to me that printing and distributing such a book might have been part of the Dutch war effort. Anything to undermine the monarchy and promote the desirability of republics would help them undermine English morale.

However, by clicking on Terry Forman's link in the Encyclopedia annotation we learn that:

"The tract seems to have appeared in February 1660 – Thomason has crossed out the printed date of 1660 and written February 1659 in instead, but my assumption is that this is Old Style dating. This is an interesting time in the tail-end of the Commonwealth – the Long Parliament had been restored and in February Monck had reinstalled the Members purged by Pride in December 1648. Hence perhaps the studied ambiguity the pamphlet sets out, and its focus more on matters military than political.

"What’s particularly interesting is the authorship of the tract. In the Short Title Catalogue, Wing misattributes it to Henry Fletcher – but Fletcher and William Roybould are clearly identified on the cover as the sellers of the book, rather than the authors."

Since it was printed at the end of the Commonwealth, I'm betting it was printed in London, and sold openly.

I bet you've got a couple of books you don't have on open display.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Presumably the day is pre-planned though I haven't picked up on any plans being made in earlier entries."

Maybe Elizabeth planned it. Apart from organizing the coach for the day, and making the date with Joseph Batelier, there wasn't much planning involved.

Pepys uses the technique of writing in the present. He doesn't often speculate on what might be, just as there must be lots of deals he's making which he doesn't report on to bring in the income he is generating.

All his "by appointment" meetings have involved his boy, or someone else's, running around with notes getting things agreed to ahead of time. Arranging for the coach for the day would have been just another run for the boy.

Joseph Batelier was the only person they did not see frequently. Again, send the boy with an invitation, and he brings back the reply. If Joseph is currently living out of town, Sam or Elizabeth could use the mail.

Pepys would have invited Hewer in the office, and Hewer included his uncle. Mrs. Turner and Elizabeth seem to be seeing a lot of each other these days. It was pretty spontaneous, really.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"And Sam's reference to "my wife" as opposed to giving her a pet name in the diary. Is that typical?"

John Evelyn's Diary:
25th May, 1671. I dined at a feast made for me and my wife by the Trinity Company, for our passing a fine of the land which Sir R. Browne, my wife's father, freely gave to found and build their college, or almshouses on, at Deptford, it being my wife's after her father's decease."

His wife's name was Mary ... not once did I find a place where he refer to her by name.

Pet names? Hard to say, as marriage was governed by respect not love. On the other hand, I have been struck by how many people had nicknames, so in speaking some couples must have had affectionate names for each other.

The Evelyns' daughter was also named Mary. Either the mother or the daughter must have had a pet name to avoid confusion. But it's not in the Diary.

The other Diary we are all aware of is the Rev. Josselin. I don't recall him referring to his wife by name, but I don't have a searchable database to check that.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Ralph Josselin's large Diary has no search page like Phil created for Pepys'. It too mostly has "my wife;" but when they meet Ralph has a full reveal:

[1639:] having stayed there [Cranham, Essex] 2 years at Spring 1639: at Easter coming out of Norfolk, I was taken sick with an ague and fever, which brought me low, as if it would have by a deep consumption laid me in the grave[,] my friends feared me, yet I did not, but trusted in god for recovery, who set me [on] my legs again: in a word at deane I bought me books, clothes, and saved some money: upon Michaelmas day. anno: 1639. I preached my first sermon at Wormington [in] Northamptonshire at the entreaty of Mr Elmes upon Acts. 16.31: some discontents were in my head so that Mr Gifford of [Olny] coming to me and proffering me 12li. per annum and my diet, to be his Curate: I went [over] to Olny in Buckinghamshire and left D[eane] Octob:4:1639. being Friday: my stock was: 20li.7s.9d. in money and about 1li. owing me, so that I put up in money besides all my expenses about 10li. in money and paid my debts:

[Olny:] The first quarter at Olny I was only assistant to him in his school, the first Lords day being [Octob:]6: was my eye fixed with love upon a Maid; and hers upon me: who afterwards proved my wife: Decemb: 13: my uncle Mr Joslin in Norfolk, sent me the offer of a place [by] him; but my affection to that maid that god had laid out to be my wife would not suffer me to stir, so I gave the messenger: 5s. and sent him away. in that month of December I was ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Peterburg. the charges amounted to: 1li.14s.9. in my journ[ey]. in my return I preached at Deane. December 25t. and coming home from thence, I read prayers at Olny, and that day found Jane Constable the maid before mentioned in our house. which was the beginning of our acquaintance. the next Lords day I preached at Olny; on Acts. 16.31. https://wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk/earls_…

Harry R  •  Link

"I bet you've got a couple of books you don't have on open display."

Thank you Sarah, much appreciated, and had me searching my shelves. Sam doesn't say how he came to see the book, whether Will has left it on his coffee table or slipped him a view surreptitiously. From what I read in the Encyclopedia link the book is favourable to Cromwell at first but not so after he becomes Protector.

Harry R  •  Link

"My wife"

And thank you to Terry and Sarah for your replies. I had probably wrongly detected a sense of Sam's pride in his wife and the hat. Sam does maintain a formality throughout the diary. His prefacing with "My Lord" / "My Lady" and "Sir" seems unnecessary in a personal diary written in shorthand.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"His prefacing with "My Lord" / "My Lady" and "Sir" seems unnecessary in a personal diary written in shorthand."

Agreed ... and that civility/class consciousness/respect/subservience is one thing that stops me every night from falling into the trap of unconsciously assuming Pepys thinks just like me. He didn't and he wasn't.

He knew he was the fall guy in the office. Those Sirs and MPs and Lords could land him in the Tower whenever he stopped being useful to them, or they needed a fall guy. Perhaps that was why he mentally drilled himself on respect, no matter his scorn for their behavior. I note he is increasingly missing the "Sir" before Pen's name, though.

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