|
|
|
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--[?? D.W.]--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.
July 1668
|

|
|