Sunday 3 May 1668

(Lord’s day). Up, and to church, where I saw Sir A. Rickard, though he be under the Black Rod, by order of the Lords’ House, upon the quarrel between the East India Company and Skinner, which is like to come to a very great heat between the two Houses. At noon comes Mr. Mills and his wife, and Mr. Turner and his wife, by invitation to dinner, and we were mighty merry, and a very pretty dinner, of my Bridget and Nell’s dressing, very handsome. After dinner to church again … [where I did please myself con mes ojos shut in futar in conceit the hook-nosed young lady, a merchant’s daughter, in the upper pew in the church under the pulpit. – L&M] So home and with Sir W. Pen took a hackney, and he and I to Old Street, to a brew-house there, to see Sir Thomas Teddiman, who is very ill in bed of a fever, got, I believe, by the fright the Parliament have put him into, of late. But he is a good man, a good seaman, and stout. Thence Pen and I to Islington, and there, at the old house, eat, and drank, and merry, and there by chance giving two pretty fat boys each of them a cake, they proved to be Captain Holland’s children, whom therefore I pity. So round by Hackney home, having good discourse, he [Pen] being very open to me in his talk, how the King ought to dissolve this Parliament, when the Bill of Money is passed, they being never likely to give him more; how he [the King] hath great opportunity of making himself popular by stopping this Act against Conventicles; and how my Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, if the Parliament continue, will undoubtedly fall, he having managed that place with so much self-seeking, and disorder, and pleasure, and some great men are designing to overthrow [him], as, among the rest, my Lord Orrery; and that this will try the King mightily, he being a firm friend to my Lord Lieutenant. So home; and to supper a little, and then to bed, having stepped, after I come home, to Alderman Backewell’s about business, and there talked a while with him and his wife, a fine woman of the country, and how they had bought an estate at Buckeworth, within four mile of Brampton.


26 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

The above ellipsis shields the reader from a reverently quiet sex-act in church ....

"After dinner to church again where I did please myself con mes ojos shut in futar in conceit the hook-nosed young lady, a merchant's daughter, in the upper pew in the church under the pulpit."

L&M text.

Christopher Squire  •  Link

‘dress v. . . 13. a. To prepare for use as food, by making ready to cook, or by cooking (also intr. = passive); also, to season (food, esp. a salad).
a1400    Coer de L. 3510   Or ye come the flesch was dressyd.
. . 1645    Milton L'Allegro in Poems 34   Their savory dinner‥Of Hearbs, and other Country Messes, Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses.
. . 1942    C. Spry Come into Garden, Cook ix. 115   In the happy days when‥one might have little melons to serve as a first course, I have filled them with cubes of their own flesh mixed with diced cucumber and dressed them with a thin cream dressing.’ [OED]

Hence ‘dressing’ in this sense, not recorded by OED.

Jesse  •  Link

"where I did please myself"

Literally? (Okay, I'm too lazy to look it up in my COED.) I was thinking this was a Matthew 5:28 sort of trespass and the reason for the ellipsis was a knee jerk to the funny words.

Mary  •  Link

Literally?

Could be taken either way. But Pepys has expressed delight in the past at his ability to achieve orgasm simply by imagining ("in conceit")a little casual dalliance.

language hat  •  Link

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he wasn't just taking innocent pleasure in her appearance. Sam, Sam, Sam... in church?? Better make another vow, quick.

JKM  •  Link

Sam seems to have mellowed in his attitude to Sir W. Pen. He's mentioned him in several entries now without the usual comments on his roguery (in the office) and cheapness (at home). The tension between them seems to have eased.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

JKM, keen observation. I'd thought perhaps SP was being sympathetic with a fellow-officer under attack and impeached by the parliament, something he (SP) has feared he too was vulnerable to -- as indicated by his many reassurances to himself in his Journal that he was NOT impeachable.

JWB  •  Link

"...they proved to be Captain Holland’s children, whom therefore I pity."

Blood will out-both in respect to an officer names Holland in a war vs. Holland and to Pepys's pitying a turncoat's children.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Penn and Pepys also seem to be recognizing they must work together to some extent to save themselves...For surely if Penn goes the pressure to go after Sam will increase in Parliament. Pleasant as the afternoon/evening outing was, it was likely a cautious strategy session in some ways.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"how my Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, if the Parliament continue, will undoubtedly fall...and some great men are designing to overthrow [him], as, among the rest, my Lord Orrery; and that this will try the King mightily, he being a firm friend to my Lord Lieutenant."

L&M: Ormond, the Lord-Lieutenant, was ultimately dismissed in March 1669, not because of any malfeasance in office, but because his inflence threatened that of Buckingham and the anti-Clarendon faction at court. He now came to England on 6 May to defend himself against a possible impeachment. Orrery, Lord President of Munster, once his friend, was now his principal enemy in Ireland, and came to England in /june to mount his attack. T. Carte, Ormonde (1736), ii. 363-7; A. Browning, Danby, i. 63-4.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to Alderman Backewell’s about business, and there talked a while with him and his wife, a fine woman of the country, and how they had bought an estate at Buckeworth, within four mile of Brampton."

Ald. Edward Backewell's elder brother John in 1666 had acquired a share in the ownership of the manor of Buckworth, Hunts, which was later (1681) transferred to Edward Backewell himself: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

psw  •  Link

these latter notes TF are very helpful figuring out the dynamics of the events mentioned by Pepys.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

May 3. 1668
Yarmouth.
Rich. Bower to Williamson.

The Success is still in the road, and her men are daily in the town to press men, but have got very few; the rudeness of the men and women beats them off;
30 or 40 walked up and down the town with clubs in their hands, swearing they would die before they would enter the service, to serve for nothing, and let their families starve at home;
had not the bailiffs appeared, they might have gathered to a great head.

Laden colliers pass daily to the south.

A vessel from Rotterdam reports the Dutch fleet to be called in.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 239, No. 114.]

Let's hope Rotterdam is right; Yarmouth is clearly ready to revolt.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

May 3. 1668
Dover.
John Carlile to Williamson.
Several ships were cast away on the French coast by the late storms, and many men drowned.

Fears that Friday’s packet-boat is also cast away, as she was in the storm and has not since been heard of.

The Deputy Governor of Calais is ordered to have the horse under his command in readiness, but the reason is not known.

A person of quality, going from Dunkirk for France with a retinue of 30 persons, was set upon by some Flemish forces, who killed a great part of the French and English gentlemen in their company, and took the rest of the French prisoners.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 239, No. 115.]

@@@
May 3. 1668
Portsmouth.
—— to Williamson.

The Montague and 3 others named are riding at Spithead, and their commanders are at Portsmouth, ready to sail for the rendezvous with the first fair wind.

There was so violent a storm on May Day that 2 hoys, with wine and brandy, the spoils of a Dutchman, were cast away coming from the Isle of Wight.

The Eagle frigate has arrived, and set sail again, and reports that 4 French men-of-war were forced back to Portsmouth with the loss of their masts.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 239, No. 116.]

@@@
May 3. 1668
Downs.
Sir Thos. Allin to Williamson.

The Nightingale, arrived from Cadiz,
reports that several merchantmen have come thence with a store of money.
She met the Africa from Gallipoli.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 239, No. 120.]

Batch  •  Link

I notice several uses of "cast away" where in reference to a ship we would definitely use the term "founder" today, since "cast away" now means only "[for a person] to be stranded after a shipwreck."

Eric the Bish  •  Link

I believe “cast away” means to be wrecked on the shore (in this case, the French coast or, perhaps, the Isle of Wight) as opposed to sunk, burned or taken by an enemy. With a limited ability to sail upwind, being cast away is a risk, hence the second half of the Navy’s Friday toast: “a willing foe, and sea-room”. The Naval hymn neatly summarises the risks to the mariner: “… in danger’s hour, from rock and tempest, fire and foe …“.
With best wishes to everyone.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... Sir A. Rickard, though he be under the Black Rod, by order of the Lords’ House, upon the quarrel between the East India Company and Skinner, which is like to come to a very great heat between the two Houses."

"under the Black Rod" means Sir Andrew is under house arrest, supervised by I know not who as Wikipedia doesn't list anyone holding that post from the Restoration until 1671:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bla…

As one of the major partners, if not the Chairman, of the East India Company Sir Andrew was critical in the Skinner case. Wikipedia doesn't specify who were the Chairmen before 1714.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis…

SPOILER: Sir Andrew is ordered released on May 9, but this leads me to believe the four men's confinements weren't too arduous.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

My fractured French doesn't stretch to "futar" ... guesses anyone?

Mary K  •  Link

If it is French that is fractured here, I would suggest the verb foutre, one of the meanings of which can today be translated as to screw. Or f**k if you prefer.
In modern French the verb has a very wide variety of meanings, some much more pungent than others.

If it's actually fractured Spanish, I can't be of much help beyond speculating (from context) that there is/was a similar verb and/or usage in Iberia.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Good observations, Mary K ... but your verbs require the participation of the lady with the hooked nose in the upper pew under the pulpit, which clearly didn't happen. So I am left presuming something more manly, performed mentally, and requiring very accommodating clothing. How did he leave the church with no one noticing? "I spilled my coffee" would not be an available excuse. (I'm glad we're all adults here.)

Batch  •  Link

Re "cast away," see also San Diego Sarah entry for May 16.

Alev Öncül  •  Link

Isn't a brew house a strange place to visit someone sick in bed? Unless the upper floor serves as some kind of lodging maybe?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... So home and with Sir W. Pen took a hackney, and he and I to Old Street, to a brew-house there, to see Sir Thomas Teddiman, who is very ill in bed of a fever, ..."

"Isn't a brew house a strange place to visit someone sick in bed?"

Alev Oncul, years ago I delved into the Freemasons' 17th century history, and found a quote that they sponsored housing where sick members could go to be cared for by the local Innkeeper's wife. The link is now dead, and I for whatever reason I didn't capture the article's citation. But this idea makes sense to me, especially if a single person belonged to a socially-conscious group.

None of Teddiman's biographies that I've read mention him being married. There were no hospitals. Where else could he go?

Third Reading

Guy de la Bedoyere  •  Link

Another example of L&M misunderstanding an unfamiliar word. For their 'in futar in conceit', read 'futer in conceit' (I have checked the shorthand). This is Pepys's version of 'in futuere in conceit', where P has used the infinitive form as a participle, thus 'in fucking in conceit', i.e. in his imagination. For scholars of L&M's generation it is interesting and surprising how much they seemed to struggle with Latin and Greek in Pepys's text. See also 31 March 1668 for another instance.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Thank you Guy! L&M were not infallible, but I was surprised to see your comment about their generation's struggles with Greek and Latin. That was counter-intuitive for me, because they were both highly educated.

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.