Friday 22 November 1667
Up betimes, and drinking my morning draught of strong water with Betty Michell, I had not opportunity para baiser la, I by water to White Hall, and there met Creed, and thence with him to Westminster Hall, where we talked long together of news, and there met with Cooling, my Lord Chamberlain’s Secretary, and from him learn the truth of all I heard last night; and understand further, that this stiffness of the Lords is in no manner of kindness to my Lord Chancellor, for he neither hath, nor do, nor for the future likely can oblige any of them, but rather the contrary; but that they do fear what the consequence may be to themselves, should they yield in his case, as many of them have reason. And more, he shewed me how this is rather to the wrong and prejudice of my Lord Chancellor; for that it is better for him to come to be tried before the Lords, where he can have right and make interest, than, when the Parliament is up, be committed by the King, and tried by a Court on purpose made by the King, of what Lords the King pleases, who have a mind to have his head. So that my Lord [Cornbury] himself, his son, he tells me, hath moved, that if they have Treason against my Lord of Clarendon, that they would specify it and send it up to the Lords, that he might come to his trial; so full of intrigues this business is!
Having now a mind to go on and to be rid of Creed, I could not, but was forced to carry him with me to the Excise Office, and thence to the Temple, and there walked a good while in the Temple church, observing the plainness of Selden’s tomb, and how much better one of his executors hath, who is buried by him, and there I parted with him and took coach and home, where to dinner.
13 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Letters by Lord-Lieutenant Ormond from Dublin dated 22 November 1667
Ormond to Conway
The weight attached by friends in England to the complaints about quartering of soldiers has led the Duke to examine the Articles against Lord Strafford.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thom… ]
If quartering were a crime it would be found there, as a help to make up 'Treason'. But there is no trace of it. Only abuses supposed to be committed under colour of quartering, not the practice itself, is complained of even in the present Petition of the citizens of Dublin.
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Ormond to Conway
Imparts, at great length, particulars of the ancient practice of quartering troops in Dublin, and in other cities and towns of Ireland. ... Adds that there is not, in the Articles of charge against [his late friend] the Earl of Strafford, the least mention of that practice, as an offence. ... What "redress", then, can be given to a thing not complained of; practised without murmur; necessary for the safety of the Kingdom? ... Disorders doubtless have arisen thereout. ... None have been made known to the writer, without instant remedy to the person injured, & punishment to the offender. ...
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Ormond to Ossory
Further particulars concerning Barker's appeal case [ http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… ]; concerning the quartering of soldiers; and concerning claims to army commissioners, upon certain vacancies, or expected vacancies.
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Ormond to Arlington
... If measure is to be taken of the entertainment Irish complaints will receive from the Parliament [of England], by the success of Barker's petition ... the Parliament will not want work for some months, even if they should have no other.
... As to the accusations against the writer for quartering troops in Dublin, he might just as well be accused for having the sword and maces borne before him; the one having been done, as constantly as the other, by all the Governors of Ireland, as far back as memory will reach. ...
The Earl of Meath, who enjoys certain liberties in the suburbs of this city in right of a dissolved Abbey, has thought this a fit time to raise scandal ... upon the same account. ... Notice is added of what passed, at the Council Board, upon a complaint elsewhere made by Lord Meath, of words spoken by the writer.
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Ormond to Ossory
It appears that the great affair of Clarendon's impeachment has put some delay in the consideration of Barker's Appeal to the Parliament.
http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwm…
Paul Chapin • Link
Ormond: mistakes were made, but no crimes were committed, and anyway everybody else does it. The bleat of powerful men under sudden scrutiny throughout the ages.
Terry Foreman • Link
"So that my Lord [Cornbury] himself, his son, he tells me, hath moved, that if they have Treason against my Lord of Clarendon, that they would specify it and send it up to the Lords, that he might come to his trial;"
L&M note the documentary confirmation of this in Grey's Debates, 16 October; which via the link above is: "Mr Lau. Hyde.] Moves, that rather than the Earl of Clarendon's case should set the two Houses at difference, the Earl may be brought to his tryal to answer the crimes objected against him." http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Robert Gertz • Link
"...tried by a Court on purpose made by the King, of what Lords the King pleases, who have a mind to have his head."
A little reminder of how high the stakes are here...And how easily a little fellow like Sam could get caught in the whirlpool.
I wonder how much is genuine annoyance or even anger on Charles' part and how much running with the howling dogs hoping to avoid having them turn on him.
Dpm McCahill • Link
I wonder if wanting to be rid of Creed relates to the failure to "para baiser la" with Betty earlier.
djc • Link
wanting to be rid of Creed? perhaps to hear more of what Cooling has to say in private?
Horace Dripple • Link
"So full of intrigues this business is!" So well put.
djc • Link
"neither hath, nor do, nor for the future likely can ..."
what a fine phrase
cum salis grano • Link
And take thou this!' O thoughts of men accursed!
Past and to come seems best; things present worst.
ARCHBISHOP OF YORK
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/2henry…
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
I "observing the plainness of Selden’s tomb, and how much better one of his executors hath, who is buried by him"
The tomb of John Selden (the lawyer, d. 1654) consisted of a thick floor-level slab of black marble on his grave. His executor was Rowland Jewkes the Elder of the Inner Temple, London d. 1664, age 74. Jewkes' tomb was described by a London Guidebook of 1708 as 'a handsome white marble Mon[ument] adorned with Col[oured] Entabulature, &c. of the Ionic Order, enr'ched with Cherubim, Festoons, Urn, etc.' The Latin inscription identifies Jewkes as 'one of four executor of the will of the great Shelden.' Mr. Selden's Map of China: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer By Timothy Brook, 181-2.
https://books.google.com/books?id…
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... drinking my morning draught of strong water with Betty Michell, ..."
WHAT ... no small beer for breakfast? he's hitting the hard stuff -- and it doesn't sound like this is the first time. The stress must be getting to him.
And he's possibly so hung over he can't remember what he did all afternoon and evening. A novelist's delight -- space for endless speculation.
Eric the Bish • Link
"neither hath, nor do, nor for the future likely can ..." - djc has it exactly: a fine turn of phrase. The rhythm is somewhat Cranmerian to my mind: the careful and measured pacing out of exact meaning, as in “ ... a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world”. But of course these rhythms were entirely familiar to him.
Mary K • Link
"neither hath, nor do ........"
Pepys demonstrates the the classically taught rhetorical Rule of Three, still in use today in our law courts; "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth". He was originally a grammar school boy, after all.