Tuesday 10 December 1667

Up, and all the morning at the office, and then home with my people to dinner, and very merry, and then to my office again, where did much business till night, that my eyes begun to be sore, and then forced to leave off, and by coach set my wife at her tailor’s and Willet, and I to Westminster Hall, and there walked a good while till 8 at night, and there hear to my great content that the King did send a message to the House to-day that he would adjourne them on the 17th instant to February; by which time, at least, I shall have more respite to prepare things on my own behalf, and the Office, against their return. Here met Mr. Hinxton, the organist, walking, and I walked with him; and, asking him many questions, I do find that he can no more give an intelligible answer to a man that is not a great master in his art, than another man. And this confirms me that it is only want of an ingenious man that is master in musique, to bring musique to a certainty, and ease in composition. Having done this, I home, taking up my wife and girle, and there to supper and to bed, having finished my letters, among which one to Commissioner Middleton, who is now coming up to town from Portsmouth, to enter upon his Surveyorship.


12 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Brodrick to Ormond
Written from: [London]
Date: 10 December 1667

A petition has been [page torn] to the House of Commons [page torn] Eight 'Adventurers' [page torn] lands in Ireland], "in [page torn] name of all the Adventurers of England", against the 'Acts of Settlement and Explanation'
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_… ]. It was laid aside, without question; being, in truth, so extravagant as to disturb the whole Settlement of the Kingdom. ...

Dr Gorges [in MS.: "Gorge"] is coming over, to say what he can against the writer's brethren [the Commissioners of the Court of Claims ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cour… )], who hope for his Grace's assistance ... in their defence.

http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwm…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

A curious letter about royal humanity

Southwell to Ormond
Written from: Lisbon
Date: 10/20 December 1667

If anybody were so much at leisure as to contemplate the affairs [of Portugal] ... at this distance ... it would be seen that the fate of the writer's negotiation, and the distemper of this People, "do, not improperly, fall under the same view". ...

He proceeds to give a Summary of the chief political and Court incidents in Portugal, from the beginning of Sir Richard Fanshawe's embassy in 1663
[ http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… ], to the present time; incidents which led to the fall from power of the Count of Castel-Melhor [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luís… ], and his colleagues in the government. ...

He notices an accident of infancy, which weakened the King[ of Spain]'s understanding & also paralysed the right side of his body; and the effects of that accident upon his marriage. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char… ] The King's enfeebled intellect was known, he says, by the Queen Consort "before she left France"; but that, he adds, "was rather a provocation, than a hindrance to her enterprise." ... But, when she found that she had "neither the enjoyments of a wife, nor the much-longed-for power of a queen ... the one, by fatality; the other, by oppression ... she secretly combined with the Infante ... to pull the Minister, and all his dependants, to the ground." ...

The writer goes on to describe, at great length, the means by which the change of government was brought about; the course of the negotiations entrusted to the writer; and other political incidents.

http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwm…

Australian Susan  •  Link

"....Up, and all the morning at the office, and then home with my people to dinner, and very merry, ..."

Sensible chaps. They all laugh at his jokes.

Carl in Boston  •  Link

Here met Mr. Hinxton, the organist
Hinxton is a performer who cannot teach or convey what he does or how he does it. It's very common among performers. Teaching is a completely separate art, and takes a lot of training and effort to do both performance and teaching. Not many can do both.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"And this confirms me that it is only want of an ingenious man that is master in musique, to bring musique to a certainty, and ease in composition."

A frustrated composer, Pepys seeks a master who can give him the formula for doing it -- as though it were a matter of calculating the volume of harvested timber. ("What's wrong with these people, who know not how they do what they do?!")

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"A curious letter about royal humanity"

To clarify: The letter from Southwell to Ormond from Lisbon in its way picks up on a theme Pepys has long sounded in complaints about his own King's profligate monarchy and the fecklessness of "gentleman captains." It has to do with hereditary or honorary power unrelated to merit and marred by disqualifying disabilities and frailties of varied kinds. Pepys seeks competency and is a meritocrat. He doesn't see the all the implications of this...yet.

Mary  •  Link

Pepys the frustrated composer.

Presumably it was, in part at least, to allay this deficiency that Pepys eventually acquired an Arca Musarhythmica.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

What Broderick writes Ormond about in Commons:

Irish Land Adventurers.

A Petition of the Body of the Adventurers for Lands in Ireland, was read.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Ireland is an uncultivated colony overseas.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to bed, having finished my letters, among which one to Commissioner Middleton, who is now coming up to town from Portsmouth, to enter upon his Surveyorship."

L&M: His patent was issued on 25 November and he was paid from 25 December.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Commissioner Middleton’s patent was issued on 25 November, 1667 and he was paid from 25 December.

25 December is a Quarter Day, and as such it was appropriate that was when Commissioner Thomas Middleton's salary would start. He's taking over Batten's position as the Surveyor for the Navy Board.

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