Monday 13 April 1668

(Monday).

ItemCost
Spent at Michel’s 6d.
in the Folly, 1s.
oysters, 1s.
coach to W. Coventry about Mrs. Pett 1s.
thence to Commissioners of Treasury, and so to Westminster Hall by water, 6d.
With G. Montagu and Roger Pepys, and spoke with Birch and Vaughan, all in trouble about the prize business. So to Lord Crew’s (calling for a low pipe by the way), where Creed and G. M. and G. C. come, 1s.
So with Creed to a play. Little laugh, 4s.
Thence towards the Park by coach, 2s. 6d.
Come home, met with order of Commissioners of Accounts, which put together with the rest vexed me, and so home to supper and to bed.

23 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"So with Creed to a play. Little Thief." (L&M)

The Night Walker, or The Little Thief is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and later revised by his younger contemporary James Shirley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_…

john  •  Link

Yet the last sentence is a full sentence. He must have been truly vexed.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

The Folly...Sounds like quite a place...And we get no description? Aw...

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"So with Creed to a play...4s."
L&M note 4s was the price of a seat in the boxes.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Heaven...

"What?..."

"You went...After you promised me you'd never go..."

"Oh...The Folly. Now, Bess...I made a lot of promises I only intended to keep while you were right in front of me."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"Besides...My exact words were...And I quote... 'You'll never hear of my going to the Folly.'"

"There's somewhere else you can yet still go to..."

andy  •  Link

Transcription

interesting to see the rough notes and then to imagine what the entry might be like

eg

"Betty - hazer con elle"

etc

nix  •  Link

“1659 saw the first mention of the Twickenham Ferry, although ferrymen had already been operating in the area for many generations. Sometime before 1743 a ‘pirate’ ferry appears to have been started by Twickenham inhabitants. There is speculation that it operated to serve ‘The Folly’ — a floating hostelry of some kind. Several residents wrote to the Lord Mayor of the City of London:

”’…Complaining that there is lately fixed near the Shore of Twickenham on the River Thames a Vessell made like a Barge and called the Folly wherein divers loose and disorderly persons are frequently entertained who have behaved in a very indecent Manner and do frequently afront divers persons of Fashion and Distinction who often in an Evening Walk near that place, and desired so great a Nuisance might be removed,….’”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twic…

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Oh, now I'm truly vexed...Sam...The "Folly" sound more enthralling at each mention complete with gambling sharps, murderous thugs, and licentious women. Couldn't you have given us just a taste of her?

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"With G. Montagu and Roger Pepys, and spoke with Birch and Vaughan, all in trouble about the prize business."

L&M: All nmed here were M.P's.

Is Pepys lobbying?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Meanwhile, at the Palace:

April 13. 1668
Warrant to the Lord Keeper to affix the great seal to a ratification of articles concluded at St. Germain-en-Laye, between the King, the States General, and the King of France,
in order to the conclusion of a treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle, although the original articles signed by the French King are detained by the English minister in Paris, to avoid accidents by conveyance.
[S.P. Dom., Entry Book 30, f. 24.]

April 13. 1668
Privy seal for 4,000l. to Wm. Chiffinch,
for secret service without account.
Minute. [Ibid. f. 25.]

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

And Pepys' mail today:

April 13. 1668
Treasury Chambers.
Sir George Downing to the Navy Commissioners.
The Treasury Commissioners will acquaint his Majesty in Council with yours of the 11th.,
and desire you to attend on Thursday for the answer.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 238, No. 94.]

@@@

April 13. 1668
Navy Office.
John Huntington to the Navy Commissioners.
Asks for a supply of victuals for the Adam and Eve hoy, which is keeping watch over the sunk ships at Woolwich.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 238, No. 95.]

@@@

April 13. 1668
Noon.
M. Wren to Navy Commissioners.
On a letter from an officer of the General to the Duke of York, his Royal Highness desires that hammocks may be provided for the soldiers on board ship.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 238, No. 96.] Encloses,
Chris. Cotton to Capt. Robt. Winter.
Delivered to the Clerk of the cheque his number of men, and sends the mayor his receipt.

Cannot come up, having trouble enough, what with the captain complaining on the one side and the soldiers on the other, for want of their provision.

They are all quartered on shore; the Clerk of the cheque said it was very ill-forecasted to send men down before ships were ready to receive them, which they will not be for 3 weeks, nor any entertainment for the soldiers.
— The Mermaid, Deptford, 11 April 1668.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 238, No. 96I.]

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

And the Lord Lt. of Ireland, James Butler, Duke of Ormonde's correspondence:

Lord Lieutenant & Council of Ireland to Lords of the Council in England
Written from: Council Chamber, Dublin
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 36, fol(s). 283
Document type: Copy

Have ordered the attendance upon their Lordships of Sir Oliver St. George, John Spencer, John Stepney, & Lewis Des Mynières.

@@@

Petition of John Stepney, esquire, to the Duke of Ormonde, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, [concerning petitioner's proceedings in the matter of the Genoese prize ship at Galway]
Written from: Dublin
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 36, fol(s). 285
Document type: Copy

@@@

Petition of Lewis Des Mynieres, of Dublin, merchant, to the Duke of Ormonde &c [upon the same subject]
Written from: Dublin
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 36, fol(s). 286
Document type: Copy

Petition of Oliver St. George to the Duke of Ormonde, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland [concerning the writer's proceedings in his capacity of Vice-Admiral of Connaught, in the matter of the Genoese Prize-Ship at Galway]

@@@

Written from: [Dublin]
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 36, fol(s). 289
Document type: Copy

Opinion of the Lord Chief Baron of his Majesty's Exchequer of Ireland, concerning securities to be given by the Vice-Treasurer of that Kingdom, upon entry into his said office

@@@

Written from: [Dublin]
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 36, fol(s). 291
Document type: Copy; in Sir Paul Davys' hand

Drawn up on occasion of the appointment of Sir George Carteret as successor to the Earl of Anglesey.

@@@

An Order [concerning Claims of H.R.H. the Duke of York to certain lands in Ireland] by His Majesty's Commissioners for putting into execution the Acts of Settlement, and Explanation [for Ireland]
Written from: [Dublin]
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 36, fol(s). 292-293
Document type: Copy

An Order [concerning Claims of H.R.H. the Duke of York to certain lands in Ireland] by His Majesty's Commissioners for putting into execution the Acts of Settlement, and Explanation [for Ireland]

@@@

An Abstract of the Earl of Orrery's several Entertainments and Allowances, upon the Establishment of Ireland
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 48, fol(s). 1
Document type: Original; endorsed by Ormonde

[With a list of Gifts to him by Letters from the King.]

@@@

Message of Charles II to both Houses of Parliament recommending the dispatch of business & especially of that of supply
Written from: Whitehall
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 81, fol(s). 304
Document type: Copy

@@@

Ormonde to Edward Butler
Written from: Dublin Castle
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 145, fol(s). 323
Document type: Copy [in Letter Book]

Directs the payment to Mr. Edward Jones, Schoolmaster at Kilkenny, of the sum of fifty pounds, being half a year's salary.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Ormonde to Sir Nicholas Plunket
Written from: Dublin Castle
Date: 13 April 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 145, fol(s). 323

As umpire in a cause depending between the Countess Dowager of Fingal, and the Earl of Fingal, her son, and according to an agreement made between them, Sir Nicholas Plunket is to proceed to a Valuation, as desired in the accompanying Petition.

Encloses:
Petition of the Countess Dowager of Fingal to the Duke of Ormonde
Date: 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 145, fol(s). 323

https://wayback.archive-it.org/or…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

On 13 April, 1668, John Dryden (1631–1700) was appointed England’s first official Poet Laureate.

The position of Poet Laureate was highly prestigious and reasonably well paid, with the appointee receiving a salary of £300 a year as well as a butt of Canary wine.

An existing manuscript letter from Dryden authorizes his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard Dryden (1638–1714), to receive the ‘seventy five pounds due to me as Poet Laureate for one quarter of a year’.

Despite Elizabeth’s aristocratic family connections, the couple weren’t financially well-off and relied on the Laureate’s salary which was often paid late, if at all, during Charles II’s reign (1660–1685).

https://www.bl.uk/collection-item…'s%20first%20official%20Poet%20Laureate.

Mary K  •  Link

Let's not forget an earlier unofficial "Poet Laureate" John Skelton (1460 - 1529) who earned the title after taking his degree in rhetoric at Cambridge. He was Court Poet to Henry VII and also "scolemaster" to Henry VIII in the king's youth. Sometimes dubbed Helter-Skelter Skelton his verse is written in short, lively lines (Skeltonics) that echo the rhythms of ordinary speech. Great fun.

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

With today's bizarre entry we can safely dismiss at least two theories on the causes of the present Diary Interlude. It's not "Busy Sam", since he had time for the Folly, a play and the Park. It's not "Distraught Sam", as he seems to have had a fairly ordinary and rather good day, though the "Little laugh" at the play and "the rest" which also "vexed me" along with the Commissioners' summons, suggest there was a little grey cloud in the picture.

It's probably also not "Debauched Sam"; whatever the Folly may have been, it probably wasn't at its most exciting in mid-morning, when the card sharps and the madams would have still been in bed. Even if it was already swinging, on a tab of just 1s. plus (maybe) the house oysters, Sam can't have been partaking of much that was on the menu. In that case we suspect that, as when he went to see the Temple Halls gamblers at new year's eve, he would have sat quietly with his oysters, watched it all with a knowing smile and a faintly disapproving frown, and touched nothing. It is, however, a bit odd that Sam didn't record a coach or boat fare to Twickenham, a fairly long way to go - and quickly, the morning being packed as usual. He may have been dragged there by someone, who paid his way and eventually left him with his shellfish ("sure you don't want to go see the real fun downstairs?" -- "alas my friend, I have to go deal with Chris Pett's widow, then I have all these meetings with the periwigs", sigh sigh sigh).

This leaves, absent more imaginative theories, more mundane explanations. Today's the day when he would have been expected to tidy up notes for the past 2-3 days, and the diarist demon certainly seems to be rattling its cage. Is Sam experimenting with a new Diary format, that would cleverly combine the day's accounts with a narrative, and be easier to search later on? Did he really write it up, but for some reason (misplaced the key!) not in the regular notebook, and for some reason (squared) never inserted them?

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

Westminster, 13 Apr. The Committee of Miscarriage to the Commissioners of the Navy: You are summoned to come and explain how it was that His Royal Highness the Duke of York, second biggest man in the Kingdom and commander in chief of the armed forces, had to personally take care of bedding for the soldiers aboard The Mermaid (if that's where the problem was, a 24-gun ship so large enough but not of HRH-drops-all-for-it caliber) at a time when the future of England and Europe hang in the balance.

Naah. Minor problem. In current circumstances it's still better to have soldiers with no beds than beds with no soldiers. HRH would have been only too happy to show the personal attention to common soldiers. May have had the hammocks emblazoned with his arms and "Personal Gift of York, with thanks for your service. Sweet dreams".

JB  •  Link

https://www.british-history.ac.uk… :
In one of Tom D'Urfey's songs, called "A Touch of the Times," published in 1719, occurs the following allusion to "The Folly:"—
"When Drapers' smugg'd apprentices,
With Exchange girls mostly jolly,
After shop was shut up and all,
Could sail up to 'The Folly.’"

The above is a long article. For those interested, just search for the term "Folly". It will come up in the second paragraph below the illustration of "The Chinese Junk".

More on The Folly:
https://www.layersoflondon.org/ma…

The next few links are sourced from the preceding one, with additional info:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/col…

https://www.britishmuseum.org/col…

https://victorianweb.org/art/illu…

A final look:
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo…

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

Ooh, I wanna go to the Folly, it seems so cool! Harlots! Drunk gamblers falling into the Thames! Cheap oysters! Pleeease, Sam can we go again?

But let's not get too carried away. The Folly comes across as quite a pleasure dome in descriptions from the 1740s, generally a good time to be dissolute, but that's two generations into the future. For now, the fifth link which JB has helpfully posted has a comment that the Folly was "originally a musical summerhouse attracting the elite", which sounds more like a Sam place, and only later did "it descen[d] into drunkenness and harlotry". Alamy is a photo archive and doesn't source its comment, but it also seems that in Sam's day the Folly was anchored in front of Somerset House, a much more central location than the faraway Twickenham where it may have had to decamp only later, when it became too much fun.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

So Pepys was at the Folly around 9 a.m. How much Folly can you commit at 9 a.m.? That's early, even for Pepys.

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