Title: Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 66: June/July 1668
Author: Pepys, Samuel, 1633-1703
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.


*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 66: June/July 1668" ***


                THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS M.A. F.R.S.

            CLERK OF THE ACTS AND SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY

    TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SHORTHAND MANUSCRIPT IN THE PEPYSIAN LIBRARY
 MAGDALENE COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE BY THE REV. MYNORS BRIGHT M.A. LATE FELLOW
                      AND PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE

                              (Unabridged)

                      WITH LORD BRAYBROOKE'S NOTES

                        EDITED WITH ADDITIONS BY

                        HENRY B. WHEATLEY F.S.A.

                          DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS.
                               JUNE & JULY
                                   1668

June 1st.  Up and with Sir J. Minnes to Westminster, and in the Hall there
I met with Harris and Rolt, and carried them to the Rhenish wine-house,
where I have not been in a morning--nor any tavern, I think, these seven
years and more.  Here I did get the words of a song of Harris that I
wanted.  Here also Mr. Young and Whistler by chance met us, and drank with
us.  Thence home, and to prepare business against the afternoon, and did
walk an hour in the garden with Sir W. Warren, who do tell me of the great
difficulty he is under in the business of his accounts with the
Commissioners of Parliament, and I fear some inconveniences and troubles
may be occasioned thereby to me.  So to dinner, and then with Sir J.
Minnes to White Hall, and there attended the Lords of the Treasury and
also a committee of Council with the Duke of York about the charge of this
year's fleete, and thence I to Westminster and to Mrs. Martin's, and did
hazer what je would con her, and did once toker la thigh de su landlady,
and thence all alone to Fox Hall, and walked and saw young Newport, and
two more rogues of the town, seize on two ladies, who walked with them an
hour with their masks on; perhaps civil ladies; and there I left them, and
so home, and thence to Mr. Mills's, where I never was before, and here
find, whom I indeed saw go in, and that did make me go thither, Mrs.
Hallworthy and Mrs. Andrews, and here supped, and, extraordinary merry
till one in the morning, Mr. Andrews coming to us: and mightily pleased
with this night's company and mirth I home to bed. Mrs. Turner, too, was
with us.

2nd.  Up, and to the office, where all the morning.  At noon home to
dinner, and there dined with me, besides my own people, W. Batelier and
Mercer, and we very merry.  After dinner, they gone, only Mercer and I to
sing a while, and then parted, and I out and took a coach, and called
Mercer at their back-door, and she brought with her Mrs. Knightly,  a
little pretty sober girl, and I carried them to Old Ford, a town by Bow,
where I never was before, and there walked in the fields very pleasant,
and sang: and so back again, and stopped and drank at the Gun, at Mile
End, and so to the Old Exchange door, and did buy them a pound of
cherries, cost me 2s., and so set them down again; and I to my little
mercer's Finch, that lives now in the Minories, where I have left my
cloak, and did here baiser su moher, a belle femme, and there took my
cloak which I had left there, and so by water, it being now about nine
o'clock, down to Deptford, where I have not been many a day, and there it
being dark I did by agreement aller a la house de Bagwell, and there after
a little playing and baisando we did go up in the dark a su camera .  .  .
and to my boat again, and against the tide home.  Got there by twelve
o'clock, taking into my boat, for company, a man that desired a passage--a
certain western bargeman, with whom I had good sport, talking of the old
woman of Woolwich, and telling him the whole story.

3rd.  Up, and to the office, where busy till g o'clock, and then to White
Hall, to the Council-chamber, where I did present the Duke of York with an
account of the charge of the present fleete, to his satisfaction; and this
being done, did ask his leave for my going out of town five or six days,
which he did give me, saying, that my diligence in the King's business was
such, that I ought not to be denied when my own business called me any
whither.  Thence with Sir D. Gawden to Westminster, where I did take a
turn or two, and met Roger Pepys, who is mighty earnest for me to stay
from going into the country till he goes, and to bring my people thither
for some time: but I cannot, but will find another time this summer for
it.  Thence with him home, and there to the office till noon, and then
with Lord Brouncker, Sir J. Minnes, and Sir G. Carteret, upon whose
accounts they have been this day to the Three Tuns to dinner, and thence
back again home, and after doing a little business I by coach to the
King's house, and there saw good, part of "The Scornfull Lady," and that
done, would have takn out Knepp, but she was engaged, and so to my Lord
Crew's to visit him; from whom I learn nothing but that there hath been
some controversy at the Council-table, about my Lord Sandwich's signing,
where some would not have had him, in the treaty with Portugall; but all,
I think, is over in it.  Thence by coach to Westminster to the Hall, and
thence to the Park, where much good company, and many fine ladies; and in
so handsome a hackney I was, that I believe Sir W. Coventry and others,
who looked on me, did take me to be in one of my own, which I was a little
troubled for.  So to the lodge, and drank a cup of new milk, and so home,
and there to Mrs. Turner's, and sat and talked with her, and then home to
bed, having laid my business with W. Hewer to go out of town Friday next,
with hopes of a great deal of pleasure.

4th.  Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon home to
dinner, where Mr. Clerke, the solicitor, dined with me and my clerks.
After dinner I carried and set him down at the Temple, he observing to me
how St. Sepulchre's church steeple is repaired already a good deal, and
the Fleet Bridge is contracted for by the City to begin to be built this
summer, which do please me mightily.  I to White Hall, and walked through
the Park for a little ayre; and so back to the Council-chamber, to the
Committee of the Navy, about the business of fitting the present fleete,
suitable to the money given, which, as the King orders it, and by what
appears, will be very little; and so as I perceive the Duke of York will
have nothing to command, nor can intend to go abroad.  But it is pretty to
see how careful these great men are to do every thing so as they may
answer it to the Parliament, thinking themselves safe in nothing but where
the judges, with whom they often advise, do say the matter is doubtful;
and so they take upon themselves then to be the chief persons to interpret
what is doubtful.  Thence home, and all the evening to set matters in
order against my going to Brampton to-morrow, being resolved upon my
journey, and having the Duke of York's leave again to-day; though I do
plainly see that I can very ill be spared now, there being much business,
especially about this, which I have attended the Council about, and I the
man that am alone consulted with; and, besides, my Lord Brouncker is at
this time ill, and Sir W. Pen.  So things being put in order at the
Office, I home to do the like there; and so to bed.

5th (Friday).

     [The rough notes for the journal from this time to the 17th of June
     are contained on five leaves, inserted in the book; and after them
     follow several pages left blank for the fair copy which was never
     made.]

At Barnet, for milk, 6d.  On the highway, to menders of the highway, 6d.
Dinner at Stevenage, 5s. 6d.

6th (Saturday).  Spent at Huntingdon with Bowles, and Appleyard, and
Shepley, 2s.

7th (Sunday).  My father, for money lent, and horse-hire L1 11s.

8th (Monday).  Father's servants (father having in the garden told me bad
stories of my wife's ill words), 14s.; one that helped at the horses, 2s.;
menders of the highway, 2s.  Pleasant country to Bedford, where, while
they stay, I rode through the town; and a good country-town; and there,
drinking, 1s.  We on to Newport; and there 'light, and I and W. Hewer to
the Church, and there give the boy 1s.  So to Buckingham, a good old town.
Here I to see the Church, which very good, and the leads, and a school in
it: did give the sexton's boy 1s.  A fair bridge here, with many arches:
vexed at my people's making me lose so much time; reckoning, 13s. 4d.
Mighty pleased with the pleasure of the ground all the day.  At night to
Newport Pagnell; and there a good pleasant country-town, but few people in
it.  A very fair--and like a Cathedral--Church; and I saw the leads, and a
vault that goes far under ground, and here lay with Betty Turner's
sparrow: the town, and so most of this country, well watered.  Lay here
well, and rose next day by four o'clock: few people in the town: and so
away.  Reckoning for supper, 19s. 6d.; poor, 6d. Mischance to the coach,
but no time lost.

9th (Tuesday).  When come to Oxford, a very sweet place: paid our guide,
L1 2s. 6d.; barber, 2s. 6d.; book, Stonage, 4s.

     [This must have been either Inigo Jones's "The most notable
     Antiquity of Great Britain vulgarly called Stonehenge," printed in
     1655, or "Chorea Gigantum, or the most famous Antiquity of Great
     Britain, vulgarly called Stones Heng, standing on Salisbury Plain,
     restor'd to the Danes," by Walter Charleton, M.D., and published in
     1663.]

To dinner; and then out with my wife and people, and landlord: and to him
that showed us the schools and library, 10s.; to him that showed us All
Souls' College, and Chichly's picture, 5s.  So to see Christ Church with
my wife, I seeing several others very fine alone, with W. Hewer, before
dinner, and did give the boy that went with me 1s.  Strawberries, 1s. 2d.
Dinner and servants, L1 0s. 6d.  After come home from the schools, I out
with the landlord to Brazen-nose College;--to the butteries, and in the
cellar find the hand of the Child of Hales, .  .  .  long.  Butler, 2s.
Thence with coach and people to Physic-garden, 1s.  So to Friar Bacon's
study: I up and saw it, and give the man 1s.  Bottle of sack for landlord,
2s.  Oxford mighty fine place; and well seated, and cheap entertainment.
At night come to Abingdon, where had been a fair of custard; and met many
people and scholars going home; and there did get some pretty good musick,
and sang and danced till supper: 5s.

10th (Wednesday).  Up, and walked to the Hospitall:--[Christ's
Hospital]--very large and fine; and pictures of founders, and the History'
of the Hospitall; and is said to be worth; L700 per annum; and that Mr.
Foly was here lately to see how their lands were settled; and here, in old
English, the story of the occasion of it, and a rebus at the bottom. So
did give the poor, which they would not take but in their box, 2s. 6d.  So
to the inn, and paid the reckoning and what not, 13s.  So forth towards
Hungerford, led this good way by our landlord, one Heart, an old but very
civil and well-spoken man, more than I ever heard, of his quality.  He
gone, we forward; and I vexed at my people's not minding the way.  So come
to Hungerford, where very good trouts, eels, and crayfish. Dinner: a mean
town.  At dinner there, 12s.  Thence set out with a guide, who saw us to
Newmarket-heath, and then left us, 3s. 6d.  So all over the Plain by the
sight of the steeple, the Plain high and low, to Salisbury, by night; but
before I come to the town, I saw a great fortification, and there 'light,
and to it and in it; and find it prodigious, so as to frighten me to be in
it all alone at that time of night, it being dark.  I understand, since,
it to be that, that is called Old Sarum.  Come to the George Inne, where
lay in a silk bed; and very good diet.  To supper; then to bed.

11th (Thursday).  Up, and W. Hewer and I up and down the town, and find it
a very brave place.  The river goes through every street; and a most
capacious market-place.  The city great, I think greater than Hereford.
But the Minster most admirable; as big, I think, and handsomer than
Westminster: and a most large Close about it, and houses for the Officers
thereof, and a fine palace for the Bishop.  So to my lodging back, and
took out my wife and people to shew them the town and Church; but they
being at prayers, we could not be shown the Quire.  A very good organ; and
I looked in, and saw the Bishop, my friend Dr. Ward.  Thence to the inne;
and there not being able to hire coach-horses, and not willing to use our
own, we got saddle-horses, very dear.  Boy that went to look for them, 6d.
So the three women behind W. Hewer, Murford, and our guide, and I single
to Stonage; over the Plain and some great hills, even to fright us.  Come
thither, and find them as prodigious as any tales I ever heard of them,
and worth going this journey to see.  God knows what their use was! they
are hard to tell, but yet maybe told.  Give the shepherd-woman, for
leading our horses, 4d.  So back by Wilton, my Lord Pembroke's house,
which we could not see, he being just coming to town; but the situation I
do not like, nor the house promise much, it being in a low but rich
valley.  So back home; and there being 'light, we to the Church, and there
find them at prayers again, so could not see the Quire; but I sent the
women home, and I did go in, and saw very many fine tombs, and among the
rest some very ancient, of the Montagus.

     [The Montacutes, from whom Lord Sandwich's family claimed descent:
     --B.]

So home to dinner; and, that being done, paid the reckoning, which was so
exorbitant; and particular in rate of my horses, and 7s. 6d. for bread and
beer, that I was mad, and resolve to trouble the master about it, and get
something for the poor; and come away in that humour: L2 5s. 6d. Servants,
1s. 6d.; poor, 1s.; guide to the Stones, 2s.; poor woman in the street,
1s.; ribbands, 9d.; washwoman, 1s.; sempstress for W. Hewer, 3s.; lent W.
Hewer, 3s.  Thence about six o'clock, and with a guide went over the
smooth Plain indeed till night; and then by a happy mistake, and that
looked like an adventure, we were carried out of our way to a town where
we would lye, since we could not go so far as we would.  And there with
great difficulty come about ten at night to a little inn, where we were
fain to go into a room where a pedlar was in bed, and made him rise; and
there wife and I lay, and in a truckle-bed Betty Turner and Willett.  But
good beds, and the master of the house a sober, understanding man, and I
had good discourse with him about this country's matters, as wool, and
corne, and other things.  And he also merry, and made us mighty merry at
supper, about manning the new ship, at Bristol, with none but men whose
wives do master them; and it seems it is become in reproach to some men of
estate that are such hereabouts, that this is become common talk.  By and
by to bed, glad of this mistake, because, it seems, had we gone on as we
intended, we could not have passed with our coach, and must have lain on
the Plain all night.  This day from Salisbury I wrote by the post my
excuse for not coming home, which I hope will do, for I am resolved to see
the Bath, and, it may be, Bristol.

12th (Friday).  Up, finding our beds good, but lousy; which made us merry.
We set out, the reckoning and servants coming to 9s. 6d.; my guide
thither, 2s.; coachman, advanced, 10s.  So rode a very good way, led to my
great content by our landlord to Philips-Norton, with great pleasure,
being now come into Somersetshire; where my wife and Deb. mightily joyed
thereat,--[They were natives of that county.-B.]--I commending the
country, as indeed it deserves.  And the first town we came to was
Brekington, where, we stopping for something for the horses, we called two
or three little boys to us, and pleased ourselves with their manner of
speech, and did make one of them kiss Deb., and another say the Lord's
Prayer (hallowed be thy kingdom come).  At Philips-Norton I walked to the
Church, and there saw a very ancient tomb of some Knight Templar, I think;
and here saw the tombstone whereon there were only two heads cut, which,
the story goes, and credibly, were two sisters, called the Fair Maids of
Foscott, that had two bodies upward and one belly, and there lie buried.
Here is also a very fine ring of six bells, and they mighty tuneable.
Having dined very well, 10s., we come before night to the Bath; where I
presently stepped out with my landlord, and saw the baths, with people in
them.  They are not so large as I expected, but yet pleasant; and the town
most of stone, and clean, though the streets generally narrow.  I home,
and being weary, went to bed without supper; the rest supping.

13th (Saturday).  Up at four o'clock, being by appointment called up to
the Cross Bath, where we were carried one after one another, myself, and
wife, and Betty Turner, Willet, and W. Hewer.  And by and by, though we
designed to have done before company come, much company come; very fine
ladies; and the manner pretty enough, only methinks it cannot be clean to
go so many bodies together in the same water.  Good conversation among
them that are acquainted here, and stay together.  Strange to see how hot
the water is; and in some places, though this is the most temperate bath,
the springs so hot as the feet not able to endure.  But strange to see,
when women and men herein, that live all the season in these waters, that
cannot but be parboiled, and look like the creatures of the bath! Carried
away, wrapped in a sheet, and in a chair, home; and there one after
another thus carried, I staying above two hours in the water, home to bed,
sweating for an hour; and by and by, comes musick to play to me,
extraordinary good as ever I heard at London almost, or anywhere: 5s. Up,
to go to Bristol, about eleven o'clock, and paying my landlord that was
our guide from Chiltern, 10s., and the serjeant of the bath, 10s., and the
man that carried us in chairs, 3s. 6d.  Set out towards Bristoll, and come
thither (in a coach hired to spare our own horses); the way bad, but
country good, about two o'clock, where set down at the Horse'shoe, and
there, being trimmed by a very handsome fellow, 2s., walked with my wife
and people through the city, which is in every respect another London,
that one can hardly know it, to stand in the country, no more than that.
No carts, it standing generally on vaults, only dog-carts.

     ["They draw all their heavy goods here on sleds, or sledges, which
     they call 'gee hoes,' without wheels, which kills a multitude of
     horses."  Another writer says, "They suffer no carts to be used in
     the city, lest, as some say, the shake occasioned by them on the
     pavement should affect the Bristol milk (the sherry) in the vaults,
     which is certainly had here in the greatest perfection."  An order
     of Common Council occurs in 1651 to prohibit the use of carts and
     waggons-only suffering drays.  "Camden in giving our city credit for
     its cleanliness in forming 'goutes,' says they use sledges here
     instead of carts, lest they destroy the arches beneath which are the
     goutes."--Chilcott's New Guide to Bristol, &c.,]

So to the Three ..Crowns Tavern I was directed; but, when I come in, the
master told me that he had newly given over the selling of wine; it seems,
grown rich; and so went to the Sun; and there Deb. going with W. Hewer and
Betty Turner to see her uncle [Butts], and leaving my wife with the
mistress of the house, I to see the quay, which is a most large and noble
Vlace; and to see the new ship building by Bally, neither he nor Furzer
being in town.  It will be a fine ship.  Spoke with the foreman, and did
give the boys that kept the cabin 2s.  Walked back to the Sun, where I
find Deb. come back, and with her, her uncle, a sober merchant, very good
company, and so like one of our sober, wealthy, London merchants, as
pleased me mightily.  Here we dined, and much good talk with him, 7s. 6d.:
a messenger to Sir John Knight, who was not at home, 6d.  Then walked with
him [Butts] and my wife and company round the quay, and to the ship; and
he shewed me the Custom-house, and made me understand many things of the
place, and led us through Marsh Street, where our girl was born.  But,
Lord!  the joy that was among the old poor people of the place, to see
Mrs. Willet's daughter, it seems her mother being a brave woman and
mightily beloved!  And so brought us a back way by surprize to his house,
where a substantial good house, and well furnished; and did give us good
entertainment of strawberries, a whole venison-pasty, cold, and plenty of
brave wine, and above all Bristoll milk,

     [A sort of rum punch (milk punch), which, and turtle, were products
     of the trade of Bristol with the West Indies.  So Byron says in the
     first edition of his "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers"

              "Too much in turtle Bristol's sons delight,
               Too much oer bowls of rack prolong the night."

     These lines will not be found in the modern editions; but the
     following are substituted:

              "Four turtle feeder's verse must needs he flat,
               Though Bristol bloat him with the verdant fat."

     Lord Macaulay says of the collations with which the sugar-refiners
     of   Bristol regaled their visitors: "The repast was dressed in the
     furnace, And was accompanied by a rich brewage made of the best
     Spanish wine, and celebrated over the whole kingdom as Bristol milk"
     ("Hist. of England," vol. i., p. 335)--B.]

where comes in another poor woman, who, hearing that Deb. was here, did
come running hither, and with her eyes so lull of tears, and heart so full
of joy, that she could not speak when she come in, that it made me weep
too: I protest that I was not able to speak to her, which I would have
done, to have diverted her tears.  His wife a good woman, and so sober and
substantiall as I was never more pleased anywhere.  Servant-maid, 2s.  So
thence took leave, and he with us through the city, where in walking I
find the city pay him great respect, and he the like to the meanest, which
pleased me mightily.  He shewed us the place where the merchants meet
here, and a fine Cross yet standing, like Cheapside.  And so to the
Horseshoe, where paid the reckoning, 2s. 6d.  We back, and by moonshine to
the Bath again, about ten-o'clock: bad way; and giving the coachman 1s.,
went all of us to bed.

14th (Sunday).  Up, and walked up and down the town, and saw a pretty good
market-place, and many good streets, and very fair stone-houses. And so to
the great Church, and there saw Bishop Montagu's tomb;

     [James Montagu, Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1608, and of Winchester
     in 1616--died 1618.  He was uncle to the Earl of Sandwich, whose
     mother was Pepys's aunt.  Hence Pepys's curiosity respecting the
     tomb.--B.]

and, when placed, did there see many brave people come, and, among others,
two men brought in, in litters, and set down in the chancel to hear: but I
did not know one face.  Here a good organ; but a vain, pragmatical fellow
preached a ridiculous, affected sermon, that made me angry, and some
gentlemen that sat next me, and sang well.  So home, walking round the
walls of the City, which are good, and the battlements all whole.  The
sexton of the church is.  So home to dinner, and after dinner comes Mr.
Butts again to see me, and he and I to church, where the same idle fellow
preached; and I slept most of the sermon.  Thence home, and took my wife
out and the girls, and come to this church again, to see it, and look over
the monuments, where, among others, Dr. Venner and Pelting, and a lady of
Sir W. Walter's; he lying with his face broken. So to the fields a little
and walked, and then home and had my head looked [at], and so to supper,
and then comes my landlord to me, a sober understanding man, and did give
me a good account of the antiquity of this town and Wells; and of two
Heads, on two pillars, in Wells church. But he a Catholick.  So he gone, I
to bed.

15th (Monday).  Up, and with Mr. Butts to look into the baths, and find
the King and Queen's full of a mixed sort, of good and bad, and the Cross
only almost for the gentry.  So home and did the like with my wife, and
did pay my guides, two women, 5s.; one man, 2s. 6d.; poor, 6d.; woman to
lay my foot-cloth, 1s.  So to our inne, and there eat and paid reckoning,
L1 8s. 6d.; servants, 3s.; poor, 1s.; lent the coach man, 10s.  Before I
took coach, I went to make a boy dive in the King's bath, 1s.  I paid also
for my coach and a horse to Bristol, L1 1s. 6d.  Took coach, and away,
without any of the company of the other stage-coaches, that go out of this
town to-day; and rode all day with some trouble, for fear of being out of
our way, over the Downes, where the life of the shepherds is, in fair
weather only, pretty.  In the afternoon come to Abebury, where, seeing
great stones like those of Stonage standing up, I stopped, and took a
countryman of that town, and he carried me and shewed me a place trenched
in, like Old Sarum almost, with great stones pitched in it, some bigger
than those at Stonage in figure, to my great admiration: and he told me
that most people of learning, coming by, do come and view them, and that
the King did so: and that the Mount cast hard by is called Selbury, from
one King Seall buried there, as tradition says.  I did give this man 1s.
So took coach again, seeing one place with great high stones pitched
round, which, I believe, was once some particular building, in some
measure like that of Stonage.  But, about a mile off, it was prodigious to
see how full the Downes are of great stones; and all along the vallies,
stones of considerable bigness, most of them growing certainly  out of the
ground so thick as to cover the ground, which makes me think the less of
the wonder of Stonage, for hence they might undoubtedly supply themselves
with stones, as well as those at Abebury. In my way did give to the poor
and menders of the highway 3s.  Before night, come to  Marlborough, and
lay at the Hart; a good house, and a pretty fair town for a street or two;
and what is most singular is, their houses on one side having their
pent-houses supported with pillars, which makes it a good walk.  My wife
pleased with all, this evening reading of "Mustapha" to me till supper,
and then to supper, and had musique whose innocence pleased me, and I did
give them 3s.  So to bed, and lay well all night, and long, so as all the
five coaches that come this day from Bath, as well as we, were gone out of
the town before six.

16th (Tuesday).  So paying the reckoning, 14s. 4d., and servants, 2s.,
poor 1s., set out; and overtook one coach and kept a while company with
it, till one of our horses losing a shoe, we stopped and drank and spent
1s.  So on, and passing through a good part of this county of Wiltshire,
saw a good house of Alexander Popham's, and another of my Lord Craven's, I
think in Barkeshire.  Come to Newbery, and there dined, which cost me, and
musick, which a song of the old courtier of Queen Elizabeth's, and how he
was changed upon the coming in of the King, did please me mightily, and I
did cause W. Hewer to write it out, 3s. 6d.  Then comes the reckoning,
forced to change gold, 8s. 7d.; servants and poor, 1s. 6d.  So out, and
lost our way, which made me vexed, but come into it again; and in the
evening betimes come to Reading, and there heard my wife read more of
"Mustapha," and then to supper, and then I to walk about the town, which
is a very great one, I think bigger than Salsbury: a river runs through
it, in seven branches, and unite in one, in one part of the town, and runs
into the Thames half-a-mile off one odd sign of the Broad Face.  W. Hewer
troubled with the headake we had none of his company last night, nor all
this day nor night to talk.  Then to my inn, and so to bed.

17th (Wednesday).  Rose, and paying the reckoning, 12s. 6d.; servants and
poor, 2s. 6d.; musick, the worst we have had, coming to our chamber-door,
but calling us by wrong names, we lay; so set out with one coach in
company, and through Maydenhead, which I never saw before, to Colebrooke
by noon; the way mighty good; and there dined, and fitted ourselves a
little to go through London, anon.  Somewhat out of humour all day,
reflecting on my wife's neglect of things, and impertinent humour got by
this liberty of being from me, which she is never to be trusted with; for
she is a fool.  Thence pleasant way to London, before night, and find all
very well, to great content; and there to talk with my wife, and saw Sir
W. Pen, who is well again.  I hear of the ill news by the great fire at
Barbados.  By and by home, and there with my people to supper, all in
pretty good humour, though I find my wife hath something in her gizzard,
that only waits an opportunity of being provoked to bring up; but I will
not, for my content-sake, give it.  So I to bed, glad to find all so well
here, and slept well.

          [The rough notes end here.]

18th.  Up betimes and to the office, there to set my papers in order and
books, my office having been new whited and windows made clean, and so to
sit, where all the morning, and did receive a hint or two from my Lord
Anglesey, as if he thought much of my taking the ayre as I have done; but
I care not a turd; but whatever the matter is, I think he hath some
ill-will to me, or at least an opinion that I am more the servant of the
Board than I am.  At noon home to dinner, where my wife still in a
melancholy, fusty humour, and crying, and do not tell me plainly what it
is; but I by little words find that she hath heard of my going to plays,
and carrying people abroad every day, in her absence; and that I cannot
help but the storm will break out, I think, in a little time.  After
dinner carried her by coach to St. James's, where she sat in the coach
till I to my Lady Peterborough's, who tells me, among other things, her
Lord's good words to the Duke of York lately, about my Lord Sandwich, and
that the Duke of York is kind to my Lord Sandwich, which I am glad to
hear: my business here was about her Lord's pension from Tangier.  Here
met with Povy, who tells me how hard Creed is upon him, though he did give
him, about six months since, I think he said, fifty pieces in gold; and
one thing there is in his accounts that I fear may touch me, but I shall
help it, I hope.  So my wife not speaking a word, going nor coming, nor
willing to go to a play, though a new one, I to the Office, and did much
business.  At night home, where supped Mr. Turner and his wife, and Betty
and Mercer and Pelling, as merry as the ill, melancholy humour that my
wife was in, would let us, which vexed me; but I took no notice of it,
thinking that will be the best way, and let it wear away itself.  After
supper, parted, and to bed; and my wife troubled all night, and about one
o'clock goes out of the bed to the girl's bed, which did trouble me, she
crying and sobbing, without telling the cause.  By and by she comes back
to me, and still crying; I then rose, and would have sat up all night, but
she would have me come to bed again; and being pretty well pacified, we to
sleep.

19th.  When between two and three in the morning we were waked with my
maids crying out, "Fire, fire, in Markelane!" So I rose and looked out,
and it was dreadful; and strange apprehensions in me, and us all, of being
presently burnt.  So we all rose; and my care presently was to secure my
gold, and plate, and papers, and could quickly have done it, but I went
forth to see where it was; and the whole town was presently in the
streets; and I found it in a new-built house that stood alone in
Minchin-lane, over against the Cloth-workers'-hall, which burned
furiously: the house not yet quite finished; and the benefit of brick was
well seen, for it burnt all inward, and fell down within itself; so no
fear of doing more hurt.  So homeward, and stopped at Mr. Mills's, where
he and she at the door, and Mrs. Turner, and Betty, and Mrs. Hollworthy,
and there I stayed and talked, and up to the church leads, and saw the
fire, which spent itself, till all fear over.  I home, and there we to bed
again, and slept pretty well, and about nine rose, and then my wife fell
into her blubbering again, and at length had a request to make to me,
which was, that she might go into France, and live there, out of trouble;
and then all come out, that I loved pleasure and denied her any, and a
deal of do; and I find that there have been great fallings out between my
father and her, whom, for ever hereafter, I must keep asunder, for they
cannot possibly agree.  And I said nothing, but, with very mild words and
few, suffered her humour to spend, till we begun to be very quiet, and I
think all will be over, and friends, and so I to the office, where all the
morning doing business.  Yesterday I heard how my Lord Ashly is like to
die, having some imposthume in his breast, that he hath been fain to be
cut into the body.

     ["Such an operation was performed in this year, after a consultation
     of medical men, and chiefly by Locke's advice, and the wound was
     afterwards always kept open, a silver pipe being inserted.  This
     saved Lord Ashley's life, and gave him health"--Christie's Life of
     the first Earl of Shaftesbury, vol. ii., p. 34.  'Tapski' was a name
     given to Shaftesbury in derision, and vile defamers described the
     abscess, which had originated in a carriage accident in Holland, as
     the result of extreme dissipation.  Lines by Duke, a friend and
     imitator of Dryden:

              "The working ferment of his active mind,
               In his weak body's cask with pain confined,
               Would burst the rotten vessel where 'tis pent,
               But that 'tis tapt to give the treason vent."]

At noon home to dinner, and thence by coach to White Hall, where we
attended the Duke of York in his closet, upon our usual business.  And
thence out, and did see many of the Knights of the Garter, with the King
and Duke of York, going into the Privychamber, to elect the Elector of
Saxony into that Order, who, I did hear the Duke of York say, was a good
drinker: I know not upon what score this compliment is done him.  Thence
with W. Pen, who is in great pain of the gowte, by coach round by Holborne
home, he being at every kennel full of pain. Thence home, and by and by
comes my wife and Deb. home, have been at the King's playhouse to-day,
thinking to spy me there; and saw the new play, "Evening Love," of
Dryden's, which, though the world commends, she likes not.  So to supper
and talk, and all in good humour, and then to bed, where I slept not well,
from my apprehensions of some trouble about some business of Mr. Povy's he
told me of the other day.

20th.  Up, and talked with my wife all in good humour, and so to the
office, where all the morning, and then home to dinner, and so she and I
alone to the King's house, and there I saw this new play my wife saw
yesterday, and do not like it, it being very smutty, and nothing so good
as "The Maiden Queen," or "The Indian Emperour," of his making, that I was
troubled at it; and my wife tells me wholly (which he confesses a little
in the epilogue) taken out of the "Illustre Bassa."  So she to Unthanke's
and I to Mr. Povy, and there settled some business; and here talked of
things, and he thinks there will be great revolutions, and that Creed will
be a great man, though a rogue, he being a man of the old strain, which
will now be up again.  So I took coach, and set Povy down at Charing
Cross, and took my wife up, and calling at the New Exchange at Smith's
shop, and kissed her pretty hand, and so we home, and there able to do
nothing by candlelight, my eyes being now constantly so bad that I must
take present advice or be blind.  So to supper, grieved for my eyes, and
to bed.

21st (Lord's day).  Up, and to church, and home and dined with my wife and
Deb. alone, but merry and in good humour, which is, when all is done, the
greatest felicity of all, and after dinner she to read in the "Illustre
Bassa" the plot of yesterday's play, which is most exactly the same, and
so to church I alone, and thence to see Sir W. Pen, who is ill again, and
then home, and there get my wife to read to me till supper, and then to
bed.

22nd.  Up, and with Balty to St. James's, and there presented him to Mr.
Wren about his being Muster-Master this year, which will be done.  So up
to wait on the Duke of York, and thence, with W. Coventry, walked to White
Hall good discourse about the Navy, where want of money undoes us. Thence
to the Harp and Ball I to drink, and so to the Coffee-house in Covent
Garden; but met with nobody but Sir Philip Howard, who shamed me before
the whole house there, in commendation of my speech in Parliament, and
thence I away home to dinner alone, my wife being at her tailor's, and
after dinner comes Creed, whom I hate, to speak with me, and before him
comes Mrs. Daniel about business .  .  .  .  She gone, Creed and I to the
King's playhouse, and saw an act or two of the new play ["Evening's Love"]
again, but like it not.  Calling this day at Herringman's, he tells me
Dryden do himself call it but a fifth-rate play.  Thence with him to my
Lord Brouncker's, where a Council of the Royall Society; and there heard
Mr. Harry Howard's' noble offers about ground for our College, and his
intentions of building his own house there most nobly. My business was to
meet Mr. Boyle, which I did, and discoursed about my eyes; and he did give
me the best advice he could, but refers me to one Turberville, of
Salsbury, lately come to town, which I will go to.

     [Daubigny Turberville, of Oriel College; created M.D. at
     Oxford,1660.  He was a physician of some eminence, and, dying at
     Salisbury on the 21st April, 1696, aged eighty-five, he was buried
     in the cathedral, where his monument remains.  Cassan, in his "Lives
     of the Bishops of Sarum," part iii., p. 103, has reprinted an
     interesting account of Turberville, from the "Memoir of Bishop Seth
     Ward," published in 1697, by Dr. Walter Pope.  Turberville was born
     at Wayford, co. Somerset, in 1612, and became an expert oculist; and
     probably Pepys received great benefit from his advice, as his vision
     does not appear to have failed during the many years that he lived
     after discontinuing the Diary.  The doctor died rich, and
     subsequently to his decease his sister Mary, inheriting all his
     prescriptions, and knowing how to use them, practised as an oculist
     in London with good reputation.--B.]

Thence home, where the streets full, at our end of the town, removing
their wine against the Act begins, which will be two days hence, to raise
the price.  I did get my store in of Batelier this night.  So home to
supper and to bed.

23rd.  Up, and all the morning at the office.  At noon home to dinner, and
so to the office again all the afternoon, and then to Westminster to Dr.
Turberville about my eyes, whom I met with: and he did discourse, I
thought, learnedly about them; and takes time before he did prescribe me
any thing, to think of it.  So I away with my wife and Deb., whom I left
at Unthanke's, and so to Hercules Pillars, and there we three supped on
cold powdered beef, and thence home and in the garden walked a good while
with Deane, talking well of the Navy miscarriages and faults.  So home to
bed.

24th.  Up, and Creed and Colonell Atkins come to me about sending coals to
Tangier: and upon that most of the morning.  Thence Creed and I to
Alderman Backewell's about Tangier business of money, and thence I by
water (calling and drinking, but not baisado, at Michell's) to
Westminster, but it being holyday did no business, only to Martin's .  .  .
and so home again by water, and busy till dinner, and then with wife,
Mercer, Deb., and W. Hewer to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw
"The Impertinents," a pretty good play; and so by water to Spring Garden,
and there supped, and so home, not very merry, only when we come home,
Mercer and I sat and sung in the garden a good while, and so to bed.

25th.  Up, and to the office all the morning, and after dinner at home to
the office again, and there all the afternoon very busy till night, and
then home to supper and to bed.

26th.  All the morning doing business at the office.  At noon, with my
Fellow-Officers, to the Dolphin, at Sir G. Carteret's charge, to dinner,
he having some accounts examined this morning.  All the afternoon we all
at Sir W. Pen's with him about the Victuallers' accounts, and then in the
evening to Charing Cross, and there took up my wife at her tailor's, and
so home and to walk in the garden, and then to sup and to bed.

27th.  At the office all the morning, at noon dined at home, and then my
wife, and Deb., and I to the King's playhouse, and saw "The Indian
Queene," but do not doat upon Nan Marshall's acting therein, as the world
talks of her excellence therein.  Thence with my wife to buy some linnen,
L13 worth, for sheets, &c., at the new shop over against the New Exchange;
[and the master, who is] come out of London--[To the Strand.]--since the
fire, says his and other tradesmen's retail trade is so great here, and
better than it was in London, that they believe they shall not return, nor
the city be ever so great for retail as heretofore.  So home and to my
business, and to bed.

28th (Lord's day).  Up, and to church, and then home to dinner, where
Betty Turner, Mercer, and Captain Deane, and after dinner to sing, Mr.
Pelting coming.  Then, they gone, Deane and I all the afternoon till night
to talk of navy matters and ships with great pleasure, and so at night, he
gone, I to supper, Pelling coming again and singing a while, then to bed.
Much talk of the French setting out their fleete afresh; but I hear
nothing that our King is alarmed at it, at all, but rather making his
fleete less.

29th.  Called up by my Lady Peterborough's servant about some business of
hers, and so to the office.  Thence by and by with Sir J. Minnes toward
St. James's, and I stop at Dr. Turberville's, and there did receive a
direction for some physic, and also a glass of something to drop into my
eyes: who gives me hopes that I may do well.  Thence to St. James's, and
thence to White Hall, where I find the Duke of York in the
Council-chamber; where the Officers of the Navy were called in about Navy
business, about calling in of more ships; the King of France having, as
the Duke of York says, ordered his fleete to come in, notwithstanding what
he had lately ordered for their staying abroad.  Thence to the Chapel, it
being St. Peter's day, and did hear an anthem of Silas Taylor's making; a
dull, old-fashioned thing, of six and seven parts, that nobody could
understand: and the Duke of York, when he come out, told me that he was a
better store-keeper than anthem-maker, and that was bad enough, too.  This
morning Mr. May' shewed me the King's new buildings at White Hall, very
fine; and among other things, his ceilings, and his houses of office.  So
home to dinner, and then with my wife to the King's playhouse--"The
Mulberry Garden," which she had not seen.  So by coach to Islington, and
round by Hackney home with much pleasure, and to supper and bed.

30th.  Up, and at the Office all the morning: then home to dinner, where a
stinking leg of mutton, the weather being very wet and hot to keep meat
in.  Then to the Office again, all the afternoon: we met about the
Victualler's new contract.  And so up, and to walk all the evening with my
wife and Mrs. Turner in the garden, till supper, about eleven at night;
and so, after supper, parted, and to bed, my eyes bad, but not worse, only
weary with working.  But, however, I very melancholy under the fear of my
eyes being spoiled, and not to be recovered; for I am come that I am not
able to readout a small letter, and yet my sight good for the little while
I can read, as ever they were, I think.



                THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS M.A. F.R.S.

            CLERK OF THE ACTS AND SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY

   TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SHORTHAND MANUSCRIPT IN THE PEPYSIAN LIBRARY
MAGDALENE COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE BY THE REV. MYNORS BRIGHT M.A. LATE FELLOW
                      AND PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE

                              (Unabridged)

                      WITH LORD BRAYBROOKE'S NOTES

                        EDITED WITH ADDITIONS BY

                        HENRY B. WHEATLEY F.S.A.

                          DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS.
                                  JULY
                                  1668

July 1st.  Up; and all the morning we met at the office about the
Victualler's contract.  At noon home to dinner, my Cozen Roger, come newly
to town, dined with us, and mighty importunate for our coming down to
Impington, which I think to do, this Sturbridge fair.  Thence I set him
down at the Temple, and Commissioner Middleton dining the first time with
me, he and I to White Hall, and so to St. James's, where we met; and much
business with the Duke of York.  And I find the Duke of York very hot for
regulations in the Navy; and, I believe, is put on it by W. Coventry; and
I am glad of it; and particularly, he falls heavy on Chatham-yard,, and is
vexed that Lord Anglesey did, the other day, complain at the Council-table
of disorders in the Navy, and not to him. So I to White Hall to a
Committee of Tangier; and there vexed, with the importunity and clamours
of Alderman Backewell, for my acquittance for money supplied by him to the
garrison, before I have any order for paying it: so home, calling at
several places-among others, the 'Change, and on Cooper, to know when my
wife shall come to sit for her picture, which will be next week, and so
home and to walk with my wife, and then to supper and to bed.

2nd.  Called up by a letter from W. Coventry telling me that the
Commissioners of Accounts intend to summons me about Sir W. Warren's
Hamburg contract, and so I up and to W. Coventry's (he and G. Carteret
being the party concerned in it), and after conference with him about it
to satisfaction I home again to the office.  At noon home to dinner, and
then all the afternoon busy to prepare an answer to this demand of the
Commissioners of Accounts, and did discourse with Sir W. Warren about it,
and so in the evening with my wife and Deb. by coach to take ayre to
Mile-end, and so home and I to bed, vexed to be put to this frequent
trouble in things we deserve best in.

3rd.  Betimes to the office, my head full of this business.  Then by coach
to the Commissioners of Accounts at Brooke House, the first time I was
ever there, and there Sir W. Turner in the chair; and present, Lord
Halifax, Thoms[on], Gregory, Dunster, and Osborne.  I long with them, and
see them hot set on this matter; but I did give them proper and safe
answers.  Halifax, I perceive, was industrious on my side, in behalf of
his uncle Coventry, it being the business of fir W. Warren.  Vexed only at
their denial of a copy of what I set my hand to, and swore.  Here till
almost two o'clock, and then home to dinner, and set down presently what I
had done and said this day, and so abroad by water to Eagle Court in the
Strand, and there to an alehouse: met Mr. Pierce, the Surgeon, and Dr.
Clerke, Waldron, Turberville, my physician for the eyes, and Lowre, to
dissect several eyes of sheep and oxen, with great pleasure, and to my
great information.  But strange that this Turberville should be so great a
man, and yet, to this day, had seen no eyes dissected, or but once, but
desired this Dr. Lowre to give him the opportunity to see him dissect
some.  Thence to Unthanke's, to my wife, and carried her home, and there
walked in the garden, and so to supper and to bed.

4th.  Up, and to see Sir W. Coventry, and give him account of my doings
yesterday, which he well liked of, and was told thereof by my Lord Halifax
before; but I do perceive he is much concerned for this business. Gives me
advice to write a smart letter to the Duke of York about the want of money
in the Navy, and desire him to communicate it to the Commissioners of the
Treasury; for he tells me he hath hot work sometimes to contend with the
rest for the Navy, they being all concerned for some other part of the
King's expenses, which they would prefer to this, of the Navy.  He shewed
me his closet, with his round table, for him to sit in the middle, very
convenient; and I borrowed several books of him, to collect things out of
the Navy, which I have not, and so home, and there busy sitting all the
morning, and at noon dined, and then all the afternoon busy, till night,
and then to Mile-End with my wife and girl, and there drank and eat a joie
of salmon, at the Rose and Crown, our old house; and so home to bed.

5th (Lord's day).  About four in the morning took four pills of Dr.
Turberville's prescribing, for my eyes, and they wrought pretty well most
of the morning, and I did get my wife to spend the morning reading of
Wilkins's Reall Character.  At noon comes W. Hewer and Pelling, and young
Michell and his wife, and dined with us, and most of the afternoon
talking; and then at night my wife to read again, and to supper and to
bed.

6th.  Up, and to St. James's, and there attended the Duke of York, and was
there by himself told how angry he was, and did declare to my Lord
Anglesey, about his late complaining of things of the Navy to the King in
Council, and not to him; and I perceive he is mightily concerned at it,
and resolved to reform things therein.  Thence with W. Coventry walked in
the Park together a good while, he mighty kind to me.  And hear many
pretty stories of my Lord Chancellor's being heretofore made sport of by
Peter Talbot the priest, in his story of the death of Cardinall Bleau;

     [It is probable these stories, in ridicule of Clarendon, are nowhere
     recorded.  Cardinal Jean Balue was the minister of Louis XI. of
     France.  The reader will remember him in Sir W. Scott's "Quentin
     Durward."  He was confined for eleven years in an iron cage invented
     by himself in the Chateau de Loches, and died soon after he regained
     his liberty.--B.]

by Lord Cottington, in his 'Dolor de las Tyipas';

     [Gripes.  It was a joke against Lord Cottington that whenever he was
     seriously ill he declared himself a Roman Catholic, when he was well
     again he returned to the Protestant faith.]

and Tom Killigrew, in his being bred in Ram Ally, and now bound prentice
to Lord Cottington, going to Spain with L1000, and two suits of clothes.
Thence home to dinner, and thence to Mr. Cooper's, and there met my wife
and W. Hewer and Deb.; and there my wife first sat for her picture: but he
is a most admirable workman, and good company.  Here comes Harris, and
first told us how Betterton is come again upon the stage: whereupon my
wife and company to the [Duke's] house to see "Henry the Fifth;" while I
to attend the Duke of York at the Committee of the Navy, at the Council,
where some high dispute between him and W. Coventry about settling
pensions upon all Flag-Officers, while unemployed: W. Coventry against it,
and, I think, with reason.  Thence I to the playhouse, and saw a piece of
the play, and glad to see Betterton; and so with wife and Deb. to
Spring-garden, and eat a lobster, and so home in the evening and to bed.
Great doings at Paris, I hear, with their triumphs for their late
conquests!  The Duchesse of Richmond sworn last week of the queen's
Bedchamber, and the King minding little else but what he used to do--about
his women.

7th.  Up, and to the office, where Kate Joyce come to me about some
tickets of hers, but took no notice to me of her being married, but seemed
mighty pale, and doubtful what to say or do, expecting, I believe, that I
should begin; and not finding me beginning, said nothing, but, with
trouble in her face, went away.  At the office all the morning, and after
dinner also all the afternoon, and in the evening with my wife and Deb.
and Betty Turner to Unthanke's, where we are fain to go round by Newgate,
because of Fleet Bridge being under rebuilding.  They stayed there, and I
about some business, and then presently back and brought them home and
supped and Mrs. Turner, the mother, comes to us, and there late, and so to
bed.

8th.  Betimes by water to Sir W. Coventry, and there discoursed of several
things; and I find him much concerned in the present enquiries now on foot
of the Commissioners of Accounts, though he reckons himself and the rest
very safe, but vexed to see us liable to these troubles, in things wherein
we have laboured to do best.  Thence, he being to go out of town
to-morrow, to drink Banbury waters, I to the Duke of York, to attend him
about business of the Office; and find him mighty free to me, and how he
is concerned to mend things in the Navy himself, and not leave it to other
people.  So home to dinner; and then with my wife to Cooper's, and there
saw her sit; and he do do extraordinary things indeed.  So to White Hall;
and there by and by the Duke of York comes to the Robe-chamber, and spent
with us three hours till night, in hearing the business of the
Master-Attendants of Chatham, and the Store-keeper of Woolwich; and
resolves to displace them all; so hot he is of giving proofs of his
justice at this time, that it is their great fate now, to come to be
questioned at such a time as this.  Thence I to Unthanke's, and took my
wife and Deb. home, and to supper and to bed.

9th.  Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning, and after noon to
the office again till night, mighty busy getting Mr. Fist to come and help
me, my own clerks all busy, and so in the evening to ease my eyes, and
with my wife and Deb. and Betty Turner, by coach to Unthanke's and back
again, and then to supper and to bed.

10th.  Up, and to attend the Council, but all in vain, the Council
spending all the morning upon a business about the printing of the
Critickes, a dispute between the first Printer, one Bee that is dead, and
the Abstractor, who would now print his Abstract, one Poole.  So home to
dinner, and thence to Haward's to look upon an Espinette, and I did come
near the buying one, but broke off.  I have a mind to have one. So to
Cooper's; and there find my wife and W. Hewer and Deb., sitting, and
painting; and here he do work finely, though I fear it will not be so like
as I expected: but now I understand his great skill in musick, his playing
and setting to the French lute most excellently; and speaks French, and
indeed is an excellent man.  Thence, in the evening, with my people in a
glass hackney-coach to the park, but was ashamed to be seen. So to the
lodge, and drank milk, and so home to supper and to bed.

11th.  At the office all the morning.  After dinner to the King's
playhouse, to see an old play of Shirly's, called "Hide Parker" the first
day acted; where horses are brought upon the stage but it is but a very
moderate play, only an excellent epilogue spoke by Beck Marshall. Thence
home and to my office, and then to supper and to bed, and overnight took
some pills,

12th.  Which work with me pretty betimes, being Lord's day, and so I
within all day.  Busy all the morning upon some accounts with W. Hewer,
and at noon, an excellent dinner, comes Pelling and W. Howe, and the
latter staid and talked with me all the afternoon, and in the evening
comes Mr. Mills and his wife and supped and talked with me, and so to bed.
This last night Betty Michell about midnight cries out, and my wife goes
to her, and she brings forth a girl, and this afternoon the child is
christened, and my wife godmother again to a Betty.

13th.  Up, and to my office, and thence by water to White Hall to attend
the Council, but did not, and so home to dinner, and so out with my wife,
and Deb., and W. Hewer towards Cooper's, but I 'light and walked to Ducke
Lane, and there to the bookseller's; at the Bible, whose moher je have a
mind to, but elle no erat dentro, but I did there look upon and buy some
books, and made way for coming again to the man, which pleases me. Thence
to Reeves's, and there saw some, and bespoke a little perspective, and was
mightily pleased with seeing objects in a dark room.  And so to Cooper's,
and spent the afternoon with them; and it will be an excellent picture.
Thence my people all by water to Deptford, to see Balty, while I to buy my
espinette,

     [Espinette is the French term for a small harpsichord, at that time
     called in England a spinet.  It was named from a fancied resemblance
     of its quill plectra to spines or thorns.]

which I did now agree for, and did at Haward's meet with Mr. Thacker, and
heard him play on the harpsicon, so as I never heard man before, I think.
So home, it being almost night, and there find in the garden Pelling, who
hath brought Tempest, Wallington, and Pelham, to sings and there had most
excellent musick late, in the dark, with great pleasure.  Made them drink
and eat; and so with much pleasure to bed, but above all with little
Wallington.  This morning I was let blood, and did bleed about fourteen
ounces, towards curing my eyes.

14th.  Up, and to my office, where sat all the morning.  At noon home to
dinner, and thence all the afternoon hard at the office, we meeting about
the Victualler's new contract; and so into the garden, my Lady Pen, Mrs.
Turner and her daughter, my wife and I, and there supped in the dark and
were merry, and so to bed.  This day Bossc finished his copy of my
picture, which I confess I do not admire, though my wife prefers him to
Browne; nor do I think it like.  He do it for W. Hewer, who hath my wife's
also, which I like less.  This afternoon my Lady Pickering come to see us:
I busy, saw her not.  But how natural it is for us to slight people out of
power, and for people out of power to stoop to see those that while in
power they contemned!

15th.  Up, and all the morning busy at the office to my great content,
attending to the settling of papers there that I may have the more rest in
winter for my eyes by how much I do the more in the settling of all things
in the summer by daylight.  At noon home to dinner, where is brought home
the espinette I bought the other day of Haward; costs me L5. So to St.
James's, where did our ordinary business with the Duke of York. So to
Unthanke's to my wife, and with her and Deb. to visit Mrs. Pierce, whom I
do not now so much affect, since she paints.  But stayed here a while, and
understood from her how my Lady Duchesse of Monmouth is still lame, and
likely always to be so, which is a sad chance for a young [lady] to get,
only by trying of tricks in dancing.  So home, and there Captain Deane
come and spent the evening with me, to draw some finishing lines on his
fine draught of "The Resolution," the best ship, by all report, in the
world, and so to bed.  Wonderful hot all day and night, and this the first
night that I remember in my life that ever I could lie with only a sheet
and one rug.  So much I am now stronger than ever I remember myself, at
least since before I had the stone.

16th.  Up, and to the office, where Yeabsly and Lanyon come to town and to
speak with me about a matter wherein they are accused of cheating the King
before the Lords' Commissioners of Tangier, and I doubt it true, but I
have no hand in it, but will serve them what I can.  All the morning at
the office, and at noon dined at home, and then to the office again, where
we met to finish the draft of the Victualler's contract, and so I by water
with my Lord Brouncker to Arundell House, to the Royall Society, and there
saw an experiment of a dog's being tied through the back, about the spinal
artery, and thereby made void of all motion; and the artery being loosened
again, the dog recovers.  Thence to Cooper's, and saw his advance on my
wife's picture, which will be indeed very fine.  So with her to the
'Change, to buy some things, and here I first bought of the sempstress
next my bookseller's, where the pretty young girl is, that will be a great
beauty.  So home, and to supper with my wife in the garden, it being these
two days excessively hot, and so to bed.

17th.  Up, and fitted myself to discourse before the Council about
business of tickets.  So to White Hall, where waited on the Duke of York,
and then the Council about that business; and I did discourse to their
liking, only was too high to assert that nothing could be invented to
secure the King more in the business of tickets than there is; which the
Duke of Buckingham did except against, and I could have answered, but
forbore; but all liked very well.  Thence home, and with my wife and Deb.
to the King's House to see a play revived called The------, a sorry mean
play, that vexed us to sit in so much heat of the weather to hear it.
Thence to see Betty Michell newly lain in, and after a little stay we took
water and to Spring Garden, and there walked, and supped, and staid late,
and with much pleasure, and to bed.  The weather excessive hot, so as we
were forced to lie in two beds, and I only with a sheet and rug, which is
colder than ever I remember I could bear.

18th.  At the office all the morning.  At noon dined at home and Creed
with me, who I do really begin to hate, and do use him with some
reservedness.  Here was also my old acquaintance, Will Swan, to see me,
who continues a factious fanatick still, and I do use him civilly, in
expectation that those fellows may grow great again.  Thence to the
office, and then with my wife to the 'Change and Unthanke's, after having
been at Cooper's and sat there for her picture, which will be a noble
picture, but yet I think not so like as Hales's is.  So home and to my
office, and then to walk in the garden, and home to supper and to bed.
They say the King of France is making a war again, in Flanders, with the
King of Spain; the King of Spain refusing to give him all that he says was
promised him in the treaty.  Creed told me this day how when the King was
at my Lord Cornwallis's when he went last to Newmarket, that being there
on a Sunday, the Duke of Buckingham did in the afternoon to please the
King make a bawdy sermon to him out of Canticles, and that my Lord
Cornwallis did endeavour to get the King a whore, and that must be a
pretty girl the daughter of the parson of the place, but that she did get
away, and leaped off of some place and killed herself, which if true is
very sad.

19th (Lord's day).  Up, and to my chamber, and there I up and down in the
house spent the morning getting things ready against noon, when come Mr.
Cooper, Hales, Harris, Mr. Butler, that wrote Hudibras, and Mr. Cooper's
cozen Jacke; and by and by comes Mr. Reeves and his wife, whom I never saw
before: and there we dined: a good dinner, and company that pleased me
mightily, being all eminent men in their way.  Spent all the afternoon in
talk and mirth, and in the evening parted, and then my wife and I to walk
in the garden, and so home to supper, Mrs. Turner and husband and daughter
with us, and then to bed.

20th.  Up, and to the office, where Mrs. Daniel comes.  .  .  .  All the
morning at the office.  Dined at home, then with Mr. Colvill to the new
Excise Office in Aldersgate Street, and thence back to the Old Exchange,
to see a very noble fine lady I spied as I went through, in coming; and
there took occasion to buy some gloves, and admire her, and a mighty fine
fair lady indeed she was.  Thence idling all the afternoon to Duck Lane,
and there saw my bookseller's moher, but get no ground there yet; and here
saw Mrs. Michell's daughter married newly to a bookseller, and she proves
a comely little grave woman.  So to visit my Lord Crew, who is very sick,
to great danger, by an irisipulus;--[Erysipelas.]--the first day I heard
of it, and so home, and took occasion to buy a rest for my espinette at
the ironmonger's by Holborn Conduit, where the fair pretty woman is that I
have lately observed there, and she is pretty, and je credo vain enough.
Thence home and busy till night, and so to bed.

21st.  Up, and to St. James's, but lost labour, the Duke abroad.  So home
to the office, where all the morning, and so to dinner, and then all the
afternoon at the office, only went to my plate-maker's, and there spent an
hour about contriving my little plates,

     [This passage has been frequently quoted as referring to Pepys's.
     small bookplate, with his initials S. P. and two anchors and ropes
     entwined; but if looked at carefully with the further reference on
     the 27th, it will be seen that it merely describes the preparation
     of engravings of the four dockyards.]

for my books of the King's four Yards.  At night walked in the garden, and
supped and to bed, my eyes bad.

22nd.  All the morning at the office.  Dined at home, and then to White
Hall with Symson the joyner, and after attending at the Committee of the
Navy about the old business of tickets, where the only expedient they have
found is to bind the Commanders and Officers by oaths.  The Duke of York
told me how the Duke of Buckingham, after the Council the other day, did
make mirth at my position, about the sufficiency of present rules in the
business of tickets; and here I took occasion to desire a private
discourse with the Duke of York, and he granted it to me on Friday next.
So to shew Symson the King's new lodgings for his chimnies, which I desire
to have one built in that mode, and so I home, and with little supper, to
bed.  This day a falling out between my wife and Deb., about a hood lost,
which vexed me.

23rd.  Up, and all day long, but at dinner, at the Office, at work, till I
was almost blind, which makes my heart sad.

24th.  Up, and by water to St. James's, having, by the way, shewn Symson
Sir W. Coventry's chimney-pieces, in order to the making me one; and
there, after the Duke of York was ready, he called me to his closet; and
there I did long and largely show him the weakness of our Office, and did
give him advice to call us to account for our duties, which he did take
mighty well, and desired me to draw up what I would have him write to the
Office.  I did lay open the whole failings of the Office, and how it was
his duty to find them, and to find fault with them, as Admiral, especially
at this time, which he agreed to, and seemed much to rely on what I said.
Thence to White Hall, and there waited to attend the Council, but was not
called in, and so home, and after dinner back with Sir J. Minnes by coach,
and there attended, all of us, the Duke of York, and had the hearing of
Mr. Pett's business, the Master-Shipwright at Chatham, and I believe he
will be put out.  But here Commissioner. Middleton did, among others, shew
his good-nature and easiness to the Masters-Attendants, by mitigating
their faults, so as, I believe, they will come in again.  So home, and to
supper and to bed, the Duke of York staying with us till almost night.

25th.  Up, and at the Office all the morning; and at noon, after dinner,
to Cooper's, it being a very rainy day, and there saw my wife's picture go
on, which will be very fine indeed.  And so home again to my letters, and
then to supper and to bed.

26th (Lord's day).  Up, and all the morning and after dinner, the
afternoon also, with W. Hewer in my closet, setting right my Tangier
Accounts, which I have let alone these six months and more, but find them
very right, and is my great comfort.  So in the evening to walk with my
wife, and to supper and to bed.

27th.  Busy all the morning at my office.  At noon dined, and then I out
of doors to my bookseller in Duck Lane, but su moher not at home, and it
was pretty here to see a pretty woman pass by with a little wanton look,
and je did sequi her round about the street from Duck Lane to Newgate
Market, and then elle did turn back, and je did lose her.  And so to see
my Lord Crew, whom I find up; and did wait on him; but his face sore, but
in hopes to do now very well again.  Thence to Cooper's, where my wife's
picture almost done, and mighty fine indeed.  So over the water with my
wife, and Deb., and Mercer, to Spring-Garden, and there eat and walked;
and observe how rude some of the young gallants of the town are become, to
go into people's arbours where there are not men, and almost force the
women; which troubled me, to see the confidence of the vice of the age:
and so we away by water, with much pleasure home.  This day my plate-maker
comes with my four little plates of the four Yards, cost me L5, which
troubles me, but yet do please me also.

28th.  All the morning at the office, and after dinner with my wife and
Deb.  to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw "The Slighted Maid,"
but a mean play; and thence home, there being little pleasure now in a
play, the company being but little.  Here we saw Gosnell, who is become
very homely, and sings meanly, I think, to what I thought she did.

29th.  Busy all the morning at the office.  So home to dinner, where
Mercer, and there comes Mr. Swan, my old acquaintance, and dines with me,
and tells me, for a certainty, that Creed is to marry Betty Pickering, and
that the thing is concluded, which I wonder at, and am vexed for. So he
gone I with my wife and two girls to the King's house, and saw "The Mad
Couple," a mean play altogether, and thence to Hyde Parke, where but few
coaches, and so to the New Exchange, and thence by water home, with much
pleasure, and then to sing in the garden, and so home to bed, my eyes for
these four days being my trouble, and my heart thereby mighty sad.

30th.  Up, and by water to White Hall.  There met with Mr. May, who was
giving directions about making a close way for people to go dry from the
gate up into the House, to prevent their going through the galleries;
which will be very good.  I staid and talked with him about the state of
the King's Offices in general, and how ill he is served, and do still find
him an excellent person, and so back to the office.  So close at my office
all the afternoon till evening, and then out with my wife to the New
Exchange, and so back again.

31st.  Up, and at my office all the morning.  About noon with Mr.
Ashburnham to the new Excise Office, and there discoursed about our
business, and I made him admire my drawing a thing presently in shorthand:
but, God knows!  I have paid dear for it, in my eyes. Home and to dinner,
and then my wife and Deb. and I, with Sir J. Minnes, to White Hall, she
going hence to the New Exchange, and the Duke of York not being in the
way, Sir J. Minnes and I to her and took them two to the King's house, to
see the first day of Lacy's "Monsieur Ragou," now new acted.  The King and
Court all there, and mighty merry--a farce.  Thence Sir J. Minnes giving
us, like a gentleman, his coach, hearing we had some business, we to the
Park, and so home.  Little pleasure there, there being little company, but
mightily taken with a little chariot that we saw in the street, and which
we are resolved to have ours like it. So home to walk in the garden a
little, and then to bed.  The month ends mighty sadly with me, my eyes
being now past all use almost; and I am mighty hot upon trying the late
printed experiment of paper tubes.

     [An account of these tubulous spectacles ("An easy help for decayed
     sight") is given in "The Philosophical Transactions," No. 37, pp.
     727,731 (Hutton's Abridgment, vol. i., p. 266).  See Diary, August
     12th and 23rd, post.]



     ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

     At work, till I was almost blind, which makes my heart sad
     Bristol milk (the sherry) in the vaults
     But get no ground there yet
     Cannot be clean to go so many bodies together in the same water
     City pay him great respect, and he the like to the meanest
     Cost me L5, which troubles me, but yet do please me also
     Espinette is the French term for a small harpsichord
     Forced to change gold, 8s. 7d.; servants and poor, 1s. 6d.
     Frequent trouble in things we deserve best in
     How natural it is for us to slight people out of power
     I could have answered, but forbore
     Little pleasure now in a play, the company being but little
     Made him admire my drawing a thing presently in shorthand
     My wife hath something in her gizzard, that only waits
     My wife's neglect of things, and impertinent humour
     So out, and lost our way, which made me vexed
     Suffered her humour to spend, till we begun to be very quiet
     Troubled me, to see the confidence of the vice of the age
     Up, finding our beds good, but lousy; which made us merry
     Weather being very wet and hot to keep meat in.
     When he was seriously ill he declared himself a Roman Catholic
     Where a pedlar was in bed, and made him rise





*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 66: June/July 1668" ***

Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.