Saturday 16 May 1668
Up; and to the Office, where we sat all the morning; and at noon, home with my people to dinner; and thence to the Office all the afternoon, till, my eyes weary, I did go forth by coach to the King’s playhouse, and there saw the best part of “The Sea Voyage,” where Knepp I see do her part of sorrow very well. I afterwards to her house; but she did not come presently home; and there je did kiss her ancilla, which is so mighty belle; and I to my tailor’s, and to buy me a belt for my new suit against to-morrow; and so home, and there to my Office, and afterwards late walking in the garden; and so home to supper, and to bed, after Nell’s cutting of my hair close, the weather being very hot.
15 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
John Evelyn's Diary
16th May, 1668. Sir Richard Edgecombe, of Mount Edgecombe, by Plymouth, my relation, [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich… ] came to visit me; a very virtuous and worthy gentleman.
http://is.gd/nPP3F0
Terry Foreman • Link
Ormond to Ossory
Written from: Whitehall
Date: 16 May 1668
The answer to Lord Ossory's letters of 4th and 5th instant is, in short, that the King resolves to keep to himself whatsoever shall hereafter fall to the Crown - at least till he be out of debt. ...
The retrenchment so long spoken of, & so much feared, in Ireland was, it is said, kept back for the writer to advise upon it. It would be reasonable that Ireland should bear its own charge ... whether by raising the revenue to the charge; or by sinking the charge to the revenue ... is matter for consideration. ...
Since writing thus far, Ossory's letter of the 9th came to hand. ... Without the imprest therein mentioned ... the Duke could not have made this voyage, which is as useful to the King, as it can be to private concernments. ...
_____
Petition for Thomas Deling, agent to Sir William Penn, to the Duke of Ormond
Written from: Dublin
Date: 16 May 1668
Recites the "chequing" of Sir William Penn's pay ... "since the last of March 1667", by the Muster-Master of the Army of Ireland.
Sir W. Penn is employed in his Majesty's service & by his Majesty's command in England. It is therefore prayed that the Cheque aforesaid may be taken off.
[With the Order of the Lord Deputy, Earl of Ossory, thereupon.]
http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwm…
Christopher Squire • Link
Re: ' . . and there je did kiss her ancilla, . . '
'ancilla'= maid
Gary J. Bivin • Link
Re: ’ . . and there je did kiss her ancilla, . . ‘
‘ancilla’= maid
Thanks for the translation. I had all sorts of provocative mental images!
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"saw the best part of “The Sea Voyage,” where Knepp I see do her part of sorrow very well."
L&M note she played Aminta. [The link to the play goes to a readable text.]
Terry Foreman • Link
"I to my tailor’s, and to buy me a belt for my new suit "
L&M note fashionable suits were now made up of vest and tunic: http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… The shoulder-belt carried a sword, and went out of fashion ca. 1700. The bands were here presumably fastening-cord or 'points', not neck-bands, See Cunnington, Cecil Willett, and Phillis Cunnington. (1963) Handbook of English costume in the seventeenth century. London: Faber., pp. 136, 168. (L&M)
San Diego Sarah • Link
The link to Terry's annotation above concerning correspondence with Ormonde has changed. I was also amused by the Acting Lord Lt.'s efforts to get those rambunctious Tories under control (yes, the original use of the name of today's less rambunctious political party!):
https://wayback.archive-it.org/or…
Ormonde to Ossory
Written from: Whitehall
Date: 16 May 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 48, fol(s). 257
Document type: Copy
The answer to Lord Ossory's letters of 4th and 5th instant is, in short, that the King resolves to keep to himself whatsoever shall hereafter fall to the Crown - at least till he be out of debt. ...
The retrenchment so long spoken of, & so much feared, in Ireland was, it is said, kept back for the writer to advise upon it. It would be reasonable that Ireland should bear its own charge ... whether by raising the revenue to the charge; or by sinking the charge to the revenue ... is matter for consideration. ...
Since writing thus far, Ossory's letter of the 9th came to hand. ... Without the imprest therein mentioned ... the Duke could not have made this voyage, which is as useful to the King, as it can be to private concernments. ...
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Ossory to Donegal
Written from: Dublin Castle
Date: 16 May 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120
Document type: Copy [in Letter Book]
Is informed that "loose and idle persons, commonly called Tories, do usually range up and down the country" ... [county of Antrim, & vicinity thereof] ... under the Earl's government. ... His Lordship is to give express orders to all officers under his command to use their utmost endeavours to apprehend, & bring to justice, all such offenders. ... And the Earl is to report progress of such efforts from time to time.
Ossory writes the same:
to Captain John Pigott, at Maryborough
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
to Captain Robert Sandys, at Lanesborough
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
to Captain Richard Lowther, at Longford
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
to Colonel Thomas Cooke, at Belturbet
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
Like directions, for the apprehension of "loose and idle persons, called Tories", to those contained in the letter to Captain Pigott, calendared above.
to Captain Conway Hill, at Hillsborough
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
To like effect.
to Sir John Poyntz, at Charlemont
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
To like effect.
to Captain John Chichester, at Enniskillen [in MS.: "Inniskillen"]
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
to Colonel John Gorges, Governor of Derry
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
To like effect, as in the letters, of same date, calendared immediately above.
to Colonel Vere Cromwell [afterwards, Earl of Ardglas], at Downpatrick
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
To like effect.
San Diego Sarah • Link
to Sir Charles Hamilton, at Cavan
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
To like effect.
to Sir George Rawdon, at Coleraine
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
To like effect.
to Kingston
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120v
Desires that Lord Kingston, as President of Connaught, will give like orders for apprehension of "loose and idle persons, called Tories", in that province, to those which have been already given, by the Lord Lieutenant, in Ulster, and in some other parts of the Kingdom.
Encloses:
Ossory to Pigott
Written from: Dublin Castle
Date: 16 May 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 144, fol(s). 120
A copy of the letter already calendared above.
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Ossory to Ormonde
Written from: [Dublin]
Date: 16 May 1668
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 220, fol(s). 364
Document type: Holograph
Has heard from Sir Robert Ward that the Duke desires to have a list of the Officers of Munster, with remarks on [the service of] each; which list is accordingly now transmitted.
The writer hears that a general peace is now considered to be certain, but cannot rejoice thereat so much as some others do, from his fear that there may be the inconvenience of war at home.
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That last sentence is ominous ... the Acting Lord Lt. of Ireland, Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory MP (1623-1680) in the Irish tradition, Baron Butler of Moor Park in the English, must have been very worried about those Tories.
https://wayback.archive-it.org/or…
San Diego Sarah • Link
May 16. 1668
Edwinstowe.
John Russell to the Navy Commissioners.
Is at great trouble and charge in making room to lay timber and plank at Stockwith, for want of hoys to carry it away.
Now is the time of the year for taking it down to the water, and 16 or 18 wagons come in daily; shall be forced to discharge them from bringing more, for want of vessels to fetch it away;
the wharf being so full, must hire another piece of land to lay it on.
Desires a vessel to be sent to Hull for timber which lies there in danger.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 240, No. 38.]
Ships to be built, and ships waiting for repair ... all need wood. And it is stuck at Edwinstowe (the village in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire where Maid Marion is rumored to have married Robin Hood), and on the wharf at Stockwith, which appears to be inland on the River Trent.
The Trent empties into the North Sea between Hull in Yorkshire and Immingham in Lincolnshire, so it's reasonable to send a ship there.
The puzzle lies in the last line: why bring timber INLAND from Hull where it would be even easier to pick up? Surely the shipwrights there can use it? Especially as they have run out of space for planks at Stockwith ... ???
'Charles II: May 1668', in Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1667-8, ed. Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1893), pp. 369-418. British History Online
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Wits and Pepys have been taking advantage:
May 16. 1668
Warrant
prohibiting all persons from having access to the attiring house of the Theatre Royal, under the management of Thos. Killigrew,
save only such as belong to the company of actors, and are employed by them, complaint having been made of hindrance of the acting, and interruption of the scenes thereby.
[S.P. Dom., Entry Book 30, f. 32.]
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May 16. 1668
Warrant
for preventing persons coming into the theatre before the play is finished, without paying the accustomed prices for their respective places;
offenders to be brought in custody before the Lord Chamberlain.
[S.P. Dom., Entry Book 30, f. 32.]
San Diego Sarah • Link
May 16. 1668
Rye. James Welsh to Williamson.
A vessel from Dieppe speaks very confidently of the conclusion of the peace between the two Crowns,
the more so as several English, late cannoneers there, are waiting for a passage.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 240, No. 44.]
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May 17. 1668
Portsmouth.
Chas. Collier, for Hugh Salesbury, to Williamson.
The ships are fitting out in all haste,
and the Dragon and 2 others are ready to sail.
The carpenter of the Dragon cast himself away because he could not receive things needful for the use of the ship, and wrote the cause of his doing so on his rule, before he went into the water.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 240, No. 45.]
Do I understand this to mean the carpenter wrote a suicide note on his rule? A short note indeed ... or did he just escape and swim to shore?
San Diego Sarah • Link
I hope everyone follows Terry's link about Sir Richard Edgcumbe, with whom John Evelyn had lunch today. It reveals another story about what happened after the Diary, and provides another link between Pepys' extended family and Evelyn's extended family.
Sir Richard Edgcumbe's Parliamentary biography is at
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
Batch • Link
San Diego Sarah, regarding
"The carpenter of the Dragon cast himself away because he could not receive things needful for the use of the ship, and wrote the cause of his doing so on his rule, before he went into the water,"
I believe that "cast himself away" means here is that what he did was comparable to the meaning of "cast away" in the May 3 entry as "foundered" (as one would say of a ship), and he accordingly was lost beneath the water, drowned like a foundered ship. So yes, what he wrote on his rule was a suicide note.
Batch • Link
San Diego Sarah: Sorry, I should have mentioned that I am referring to a post I made at the end of the May 3 entry.
Stephane Chenard • Link
The news of the two warrants that would prohibit access to the Theatre Royal's dressing rooms, or free entry after the first act, have got to be the worst since the Fire.
But, good luck to the bouncer who tries to enforce them. It's the entire ruling class of England from the King on down that seems to have taken quarters in the theaters these days. Even if the plays are not quite the political instruments that Louis has deliberately made them be in Versailles, it's clear the theaters are where the court is to be found for much of the day and are places of power that rank somewhere between the House and the painted gallery. Sam was seen recently, ducking in just to see who's there.
And does anyone think the beautiful gentlemen only or mainly come for the play? Can the actresses even make a living on just the box office? Literary historian Tita Chico, who wrote histories of dressing rooms that quote Sam extensively ("Designing Women: The Dressing Room in Eighteenth-century English Literature", 2005, visible at books.google.fr/books?id=cqJImjFzzKkC, and "The Dressing Room Unlock'd", in "Monstrous Dreams of Reason", 2002, books.google.fr/books?id=yaSQFx10hJIC), notes that, at the Rose theater, the elite pays extra to enter the theater through the dressing house.
Also that the Lord Chamberlain, whose warrant this is, had already issued one in 1663, with at least one more to come in 1675. Who knows if he was never to be seen wandering backstage himself, and thinking as he had to wait in line between two other earls at some actress' door that some way should be found to keep out the riffraff.