Sunday 24 January 1668/69

(Lord’s day). An order brought me in bed, for the Principal Officers to attend the King at my Lord Keeper’s this afternoon, it being resolved late the last night; and, by the warrant, I find my Lord Keeper did not then know the cause of it, the messenger being ordered to call upon him, to tell it him by the way, as he come to us. So I up, and to my Office to set down my Journall for yesterday, and so home, and with my wife to Church, and then home, and to dinner, and after dinner out with my wife by coach, to cozen Turner’s, where she and The. gone to church, but I left my wife with Mrs. Dyke and Joyce Norton, whom I have not seen till now since their coming to town: she is become an old woman, and with as cunning a look as ever, and thence I to White Hall, and there walked up and down till the King and Duke of York were ready to go forth; and here I met Will. Batelier, newly come post from France, his boots all dirty. He brought letters to the King, and I glad to see him, it having been reported that he was drowned, for some days past, and then, he being gone, I to talk with Tom Killigrew, who told me and others, talking about the playhouse, that he is fain to keep a woman on purpose at 20s. a week to satisfy 8 or 10 of the young men of his house, whom till he did so he could never keep to their business, and now he do. By and by the King comes out, and so I took coach, and followed his coaches to my Lord Keeper’s, at Essex House, where I never was before, since I saw my old Lord Essex lie in state when he was dead; a large, but ugly house. Here all the Officers of the Navy attended, and by and by were called in to the King and Cabinet, where my Lord, who was ill, did lie upon the bed, as my old Lord Treasurer, or Chancellor, heretofore used to; and the business was to know in what time all the King’s ships might be repaired, fit for service. The Surveyor answered, in two years, and not sooner. I did give them hopes that, with supplies of money suitable, we might have them all fit for sea some part of the summer after this. Then they demanded in what time we could set out forty ships. It was answered, as they might be chosen of the newest and most ready, we could, with money, get forty ready against May. The King seemed mighty full that we should have money to do all that we desired, and satisfied that, without it, nothing could be done: and so, without determining any thing, we were dismissed; and I doubt all will end in some little fleete this year, and those of hired merchant-men, which would indeed be cheaper to the King, and have many conveniences attending it, more than to fit out the King’s own; and this, I perceive, is designed, springing from Sir W. Coventry’s counsel; and the King and most of the Lords, I perceive, full of it, to get the King’s fleete all at once in condition for service. Thence I with Mr. Wren in his coach to my cozen Turner’s for discourse sake, and in our way he told me how the business of the Parliament is wholly laid aside, it being overruled now, that they shall not meet, but must be prorogued, upon this argument chiefly, that all the differences between the two Houses, and things on foot, that were matters of difference and discontent, may be laid aside, and must begin again, if ever the House shall have a mind to pursue them. They must begin all anew. Here he set me down, and I to my cozen Turner, and stayed and talked a little; and so took my wife, and home, and there to make her read, and then to supper, and to bed. At supper come W. Batelier and supped with us, and told us many pretty things of France, and the greatness of the present King.


28 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Tom Killigrew...told me and others, talking about the playhouse, that he is fain to keep a woman on purpose at 20s. a week to satisfy 8 or 10 of the young men of his house "

L&M remind "his house" was the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, of which Killigrew was manager.

***
"to my Lord Keeper's, at Essex House, where I never was before, since I saw my old Lord Essex lie in state when he was dead; a large, but ugly house "

Essex House, Strand, from Hollar's View of London, 1647.
http://www.lookandlearn.com/histo…

Australian Susan  •  Link

"hired merchant-men"

So merchant shipping could be adapted for warfare? Or was this just a question of having some ships sailing about under the Royal flag to intimidate a bit? Or was this for troop transport for a land war?

Chris Squire  •  Link

' ' . . on purpose . . to satisfy . . the young men of his house' . . P6 . . b. In order to do something; with the particular design or aim that. Also: expressly for or †to (something).
. . 1600    Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. iii. 38   How stil the euening is, As husht on purpose to grace harmonie.
. . a1713    T. Ellwood Hist. Life (1714) 166   [He] had thrust himself among our Friends,‥on purpose to be sent to Prison with them . . ' [OED]

'cunning . . 4. Possessing keen intelligence, wit, or insight; knowing, clever.
. . 1671    J. Webster Metallographia vi. 106   Wiser heads, and cunninger wits.
1710    A. Philips Pastorals ii. 55   Against ill Luck all cunning Foresight fails . . ' [OED]

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...met Will. Batelier,.." I imagine Will was glad to know he wasn't drowned...

"Sorry about that, Will."

"That's ok, every one thought you were losing your head after Chatham."

***
Truly, life upon Tom Killigrew's wicked stage ain't no place for a girl...Though the same might be said for Samuel Pepys' office given the fate of many there.

George Mosley  •  Link

"a woman on purpose at 20 s. a week":

Drury Lane had a reputation, to say the least. In particular, it had a reputation as the wit's house, and the women who worked there in menial positions were constantly charged by the reformist press with prostitution and quasi-prostitution. It is difficult at any historical remove to separate the pseudo-scandal of women on the stage and on display from the genuine sex trade that might or might not have taken place, but there is plenty of primary evidence that the actresses did not, but the other women working at the house might.

The orange seller girls were notorious in that respect. For a contemporary lashing, see Robert Gould, "The Play House: A Satyr." The revised edition of the poem (1709) is in *The London Stage,* but the contemporary edition (1692) is quite, quite explicit.

Carl in Boston  •  Link

a woman on purpose at 20 s. a week .... difficult subject, deftly handled by George. Let George do it. I was mightily interested, but held my breath until George explained it so clearly. If a shilling was a day's wages, this woman was doing all right, so she must have been doing something.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"my Lord Keeper.., who was ill, did lie upon the bed, as my old Lord Treasurer, or Chancellor, heretofore used to"

L&M note all three had suffered serious and prolonged attacks of gout.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Thanks for the excellent links, Allen!

Phil Stokes  •  Link

Australian Susan- Merchant ships were often hired to make up any shortfalls. They were often armed already, but were usually given additional guns. Their advantage was that they were manned by experienced sailors, but the disadvantage was that their captains would often avoid battle in order to safeguard their ship. In the Dutch Navy hired merchantmen were often larger and carried more guns than the regular warships!

Australian Susan  •  Link

The Merchant Marine

In the Napoleonic wars, ships belonging to some of my forebears were requisitioned for the King's service. All were lost. Then the same thing happened in WWII (same family business). These were all used in support, not as ships of the line.

languagehat  •  Link

Did the government compensate your family?

Australian Susan  •  Link

LH - I don't know. Probably only in long term government bonds or some such. My Uncle drowned sailing the Atlantic convoys in 1940 - he was 19.

languagehat  •  Link

Damn. War is hell. Thanks for the response!

Phil Stokes  •  Link

In Pepys day Merchantmen were put in the line of battle. Unlike Napoleonic era fleets, during the 17th century, all ships were in the line. As an example in the battle of Lowestoft (June 3rd 1665), the English fleet consisted of 100 warships, ranging in size from 14 to 86 guns, of which 24 were merchantmen of 32 to 46 guns. Thus merchantmen were not the largest ships, but the equivalent of 4th rates. The Dutch fleet consisted of 107 ships of 14 to 78 guns, of whom 12 were East India Merchantmen of 18 to 78 guns, and thus some were as big as 1st rate warships. When merchantmen were lost the owners would, in theory, be compensated, but they would never get back the full value of their vessels. However it was in the merchants interests to help the navy, since it would be their vessels that would be attacked and seized by the enemy in time of war.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"my Lord, who was ill, did lie upon the bed, as my old Lord Treasurer, or Chancellor, heretofore used to"

Bridgeman had, like Southampton and Clarendon, suffered serious and prolonged attacks of gout. (L&M)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"the business of the Parliament is wholly laid aside, it being overruled now, that they shall not meet, but must be prorogued, upon this argument chiefly, that all the differences between the two Houses, and things on foot, that were matters of difference and discontent, may be laid aside, and must begin again, if ever the House shall have a mind to pursue them. They must begin all anew."

L&M remind us the Houses had been adjourned in May 1668 after hot disputes between Lords and Commons over the case of Skinner v. E, India Company
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… Skinner's Case
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski…'s_Case and did not meet again until 19 October 1669.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

George Mosley: "a woman on purpose at 20 s. a week":

Drury Lane had a reputation, to say the least.
For a contemporary lashing, see Robert Gould, "The Play House: A Satyr." The revised edition of the poem (1709) is in *The London Stage,* but the contemporary edition (1692) is quite, quite explicit.

THE PLAY-HOUSE. A SATYR.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/….

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"to my Lord Keeper's, at Essex House, where I never was before, since I saw my old Lord Essex lie in state when he was dead; a large, but ugly house."

L&M: The house lay to the south of the Strand. The 3rd Earl of Essex (the parliamantary general) had died on 15 September 1646. Since the Restoration the larger part of the house had been used as a private residence, and was now occupied by the Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgman. For some time after the Fire it also housed Doctors' Commons and the Court of Arches.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Pepys must be singing under his breathe, "Here we go again." Job security.

The meeting was probably called yesterday evening, with the notifications held until early this morning. So the letter from France wasn't the cause.

What was so urgent that it was handled like this? Was England finally going to defend Candia?
(A new army, under Köprülü’s direct command, arrived on Crete in late 1666, but even at this the siege took over two more years to conclude, at the cost of tens of thousands more lives — mostly among the Ottomans, who lost far more men overall during the siege of Candia than did the Venetians.
In the end the Ottomans simply refused to lift the siege, and Candia finally lost its ability to hold out. The defeat of a French relief force in mid-summer 1669 was the last straw for the defenders, who had fewer than 5,000 men in fighting condition left at their disposal, and so they surrendered in exchange for safe passage off the island and continued Venetian possession of several smaller islands near Crete and in the Aegean, where Venetian trading ships could stop on their way east.
... research in the Venetian archives has uncovered evidence of a plan, never implemented, for the defenders of Candia to employ biological warfare against the Ottomans. The plan called for a liquid to be made from the spleens and buboes (sorry!) of dead plague victims that would then be used against Ottoman camps all over the island. It’s unlikely that this plan would’ve succeeded — the plague bacteria probably wouldn’t have survived long enough — but the Venetians had no reason to know that, and it’s not clear why they wound up nixing the plan.
https://fx.substack.com/p/today-i… )

Too big of a fleet for use by Allin in the Med. against those damned Barbary pirates.

Ohhh ... cousin Louis and his new big Navy. Would he threaten the Triple Alliance at sea? In which case England had better be able to defend herself or lose the respect of the Dutch and Swedes.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"The King seemed mighty full that we should have money to do all that we desired ... and I doubt all will end in some little fleete this year, and those of hired merchant-men, which would indeed be cheaper to the King, and have many conveniences attending it, more than to fit out the King’s own; and this, I perceive, is designed, springing from Sir W. Coventry’s counsel; and the King and most of the Lords, I perceive, full of it, to get the King’s fleete all at once in condition for service. Thence I with Mr. Wren in his coach ... he told me how the business of the Parliament is wholly laid aside, ..."

Okay, it's cheaper to fight with other people's ships (and possibly not pay for the 'loans'). Is that how Charles II proposes to pay for next summer's fleet? Really ...??? What gall. But it does get around another lengthy and humiliating (for Charles) Supply debate. Playing Absolute Monarch is less work.

On the other hand, these merchants are the very people who got England into these new wars with the Dutch. When will they learn that war is very expensive and never over by Christmas? (Answer: not yet.)
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

"

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... and here I met Will. Batelier, newly come post from France, his boots all dirty."

The dirty boots indicate to me that this was a Special Delivery letter for someone important, or Batelier would have cleaned up before he presented at Whitehall.

But why was he in France? A wine buying trip? So import taxes haven't entirely killed his business. Or is someone taking advantage of his language skills and business contacts to send him on an intelligence trip?

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

The king has naval matters on his plate on a constant basis, so what got under his bonnet to prompt those dead-of-night urgent summons?

40 ships, to put them in context, is not an extravagant objective. The merchant fleet is easily 10-15 times larger, and indeed nobody takes the sea without a few cannon. In recent times we've seen the Navy's strength reported as "not above 50 sail of ships fit for sea" (https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…), "55 ships" deployed against the Dutch (in the great letter, at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…), also a total victualling budget suggesting enough seamen for 90 ships (https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…), and grand instructions to have 110 ships ready to sail this spring (https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…).

The latter was second-hand but, if accurate, the feedback apparently wasn't great. It's not that the hulls don't exist: The records imply 55 ships built over 1667-68 (https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…), and just now we've seen in the State Papers a letter from Thomas Fletcher to Sam (undated, in the end-of-January pile) asking for paperwork to "despatch the carved works of so many frigates as are now setting forth at Chatham". But there's the staffing, and all these little maintenance things, and the fleet got walloped by those winter storms.

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

Then there's the steady flow of intelligence on the French fleet. The reports put it at a nicely rounded 100 ships (for instance at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…), and it's growing but not extravagantly so either. Louis right now is busy inland, and England only has to worry about the routine problems in the colonies, and what with the insolent toll-taking of the king of Denmark, and supplying Tangiers, &c., but the reports have this way of getting at you. Such as: "I hear by a vessel from Bayonne that 8 frigates of 40 and 50 guns each have been launched, that 4 more are ready, and that they are building in all parts of France" (30 January, John Pocock to Hickes, State Papers). And how about this one, for teeth-grinding:

"The great ship St. Louis Royal is almost finished at Toulon, and seems to grace that port as well as the Louvre does Paris. She is 147 feet in length by 13 in breadth, and has 3 whole decks, all so high that the most proper man may stand upright under them, and yet not reach the top by a span. She carries 110 brass guns (...) and is to have 1,000 men. Her cabins are so glorious and shining that they seem rather made for diversion (...) Her stern is adorned with such gilt and carved work, and the King set there (...) with slaves in chains at his feet". Wow. Of course, "the faults which persons of judgment find are that she is much too high for her length (...) and that she will never sail well" (W. Allestree to Williamson, 23 January, State Papers).

It was one of several, too. Indeed they didn't sail well or last long, but they were meant to impress the little kings Charles of the world (check out that baby at https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy…). Apparently, it worked. Earlier in the month we had a glimpse of his Majestie, hunched over the latest imagery intelligence of those French missile bases: Capt. Anthony Deane, reporting to Williamson on the trouble he's had "to copy the drawing" of the fort of Brest, "which, I believe, is the best we have, as it [the water depths on its approaches, we surmise] was all sounded. I hope Lord Arlington will excuse its not being done like painting (...) I know his Majesty likes this way" (5 January, State Papers).

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

In a further indication of how badly the King wanted today's meeting to happen, we find in an aside in the weekly dispatch sent home by the Venetian ambassador, the excellently informed Piero Mocenigo, that "the exceptionally cold weather has so aggrevated the usual catarrh of the Lord Keeper (...) that since he has passed from chronic convalescence to a painful illness, the king has only once been able to go and hold a consultation at his house [since] last week". Now that must be some catarrh. From other minutiae in Piero's letter - dated February 8 in his calendar, so January 30 old style - that exceptional meeting, with all its bother, protocol and my Lord Keeper surely having to dress up, would seem to be the one which Sam attended today. Poor Lord Keeper.

It seems Piero had no wind of what the meeting was about, but his letter (found at www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-sta…) also passes on rumors, indeed also found with increasing insistence and detail in other papers, of French plans to tear up the Triple Alliance and return to Flanders both by land and by sea. England could perhaps stay neutral, but at the very least it would mess up the neighborhood and make a solid naval deployment a good idea for this Summer.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

And what was going on in Cartagina that had the Spanish so upset, you may ask:

"In October, 1668, Henry Morgan set out on yet another raid of the Spanish Main as he joined forces with buccaneers from Tortuga for a dual attack on Cartagena de Indias. Sailing with 900 men and 11 ships, Morgan wanted to attack Cartagena due to the massive wealth of riches within the city. Cartagena was one of Spain's most important cities as it held all the gold in transit from Viceroyalty of Peru going back to Europe. Gov. Modyford lent Morgan's fleet a massive English Man-o-War named the HMS Oxford to assist in the attack, which became his flagship.

"The night that the raid was going to commence, there was a huge celebration aboard the ships. A few drunk soldiers during this accidentally destroyed the HMS Oxford due to lighting a fuse which caused a gunpowder explosion that killed nearly 200 men, a third of his total force. Some deserted as well, fearing the explosion was a bad omen for the buccaneers. This greatly reduced his chances of taking the impregnable Cartagena, however Morgan had other plans in mind. ..."

But what exactly the plans were happens in March 1669, so read on here for spoilers
https://goldenageofpiracy.org/his…

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

"Gov. Modyford lent Morgan's fleet a massive English Man-o-War named the HMS Oxford (...) The night that the raid was going to commence, there was a huge celebration aboard the ships. A few drunk soldiers during this accidentally destroyed the HMS Oxford". That's what we call a successful pyrate's party. Phant'sy they drank the captain's wine and stole his clothes, too.

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

John Bullstrode reports in his Diary for February 13 (at https://archive.org/details/bulst…) that the Spanish Ambassador, doing his job, has, with optimism or grim resignation we do not know, complain'd about all the piracy. "They say a meeting has been had with that ambassador by certain Lords thereto appointed, in order to give him all satisfaction on that point, which they say is like to end in making a more plaine and evident declaration of the peace in the West Indyes, &c." &c indeed. The story doesn't say if the meeting was held at the Spanish Embassy and was a chance to pocket some silverware.

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