Tuesday 15 January 1666/67
Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning. Here my Lord Bruncker would have made me promise to go with him to a play this afternoon, where Knipp acts Mrs. Weaver's great part in "The Indian Emperour," and he says is coming on to be a great actor. But I am so fell to my business, that I, though against my inclination, will not go. At noon, dined with my wife and were pleasant, and then to the office, where I got Mrs. Burroughs 'sola cum ego, and did toucher ses mamailles' … She gone, I to my business and did much, and among other things to-night we were all mightily troubled how to prevent the sale of a great deal of hemp, and timber-deals, and other good goods to-morrow at the candle by the Prize Office, where it will be sold for little, and we shall be found to want the same goods and buy at extraordinary prices, and perhaps the very same goods now sold, which is a most horrid evil and a shame. At night home to supper and to bed with my mind mighty light to see the fruits of my diligence in having my business go off my hand so merrily.
Mon 14 Jan 1666/67
Wed 16 Jan 1666/67
Terry Foreman on 15 Jan 2010 • Link
"… coming on to be a great actor. But I am so fell to my business, that I, though against my inclination, will not go. At noon dined with my wife ­ and were pleasant; and then to the office, where I got Mrs. Burroughs sola cum ego ­ and did tocar su mamelles so as to hazer me hazer. She gone, I to my business and did much;...."
http://www.pepys.info/bits5.html
Anglesey to Ormond
Written from: London
Yesterday unexpectedly proved a fatal day to Ireland by the passing of the Bill against importation of their Cattle, when we were generally resolved to have cast it out, & had certainly done so, if we had been left free to our own judgment ... The Duke of York had that very morning expressed great resolution against it; and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had two proxies, came purposely to ... oppose it; having been absent near three weeks by the freezing of the Thames ... But his Majesty met the Duke at my Lord Chancellor's, and ... as I understand, against my Lord Chancellor's mind, it was resolved the Lords must yield to the Commons ... A copy of the Bill as it passed, and of the Protest which the writer and many of the Lords entered, is sent herewith .
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/c…
A News-Letter, addressed to Sir George Lane [ http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/2840/ ]
Written from: [Whitehall]
Returns have been ordered of all seamen resident in the several counties of England, with their names, ages, and respective places of abode.
H.M.S. 'The Adventure' [ http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/2650/ ], commanded by Captain Foxley, recently engaged four French men of war, and three Flushing privateers. Captain Foxley has been highly complimented at Court.
A. De Araujo on 16 Jan 2010 • Link
"I got Mrs Burroughs sola cum ego and did tocar su mamelles so as to hazer me hazer"
Tentatively-I got Mrs Burroughs alone with me and did touch her nipples so as to make me come-.
CGS on 16 Jan 2010 • Link
"...She gone..." Samuel "ego sum prodige vincerim"
Samuell is not worried about the price of coal and French wine but the man in the street truly is , war has brought inflation and not monies for for the Navy.
Where have I heard that before.
House of Commons today
"That they conceive, the most effectual Means to bring down the excessive Prices of Coals to moderate Proportion, is for this House to make an humble Address unto his Majesty, That a convenient Convoy may be speedily provided to guard the Coal Ships to and from Newcastle; and to grant a Protection to Four able Seamen in each Ship of One hundred Ton, and to Six in a Ship of Two hundred, and to Eight in a Ship of Three hundred Ton, from being pressed in his Majesty's Service."
Robert Gertz on 16 Jan 2010 • Link
"At night home to supper and to bed with my mind mighty light to see the fruits of my diligence in having my business go off my hand so merrily."
Heaven...
"OW!!!...Bess?!"
"Even now you're still smiling at that one."
Seamen for the coal convoys
Hence the census in the News-Letter to Sir George Lane.
Tony Eldridge on 16 Jan 2010 • Link
"and other good goods to-morrow at the candle by the Prize Office"
Candle auctions still crop up occasionally - here in Somerset UK there is a candle auction annually for the use of several pieces of pasture on the Mendip hills. Great excitement one year when a faulty wick on one candle went out immediately after the first bid!
Mr. Gunning on 16 Jan 2010 • Link
I don't understand the logic of candle auctions. Why would anyone want to do that? Why not have a traditional auction? Surely that would get a better price?
Interesting play...Sympathetic to the Aztecs yet making Cortez a hero, (By bizarrely bringing Pizarro in as villain). Apparently it didn't immediately change many minds as to treatment of colonial natives...Though certainly English policy was becoming much less brutal, at least in spirit, over the next century, than that of Spain. And of course was certainly better toward native Americans in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries than the new US...Perhaps Dryden had an effect over time.
I see Wikipedia lists Knipp as Mary Knipp, or Knep, Knip, rather than Elizabeth in its discussion of her role as Alibech.
"bizarrely bringing Pizarro in as villain"
RG, it's not the Pizarro you are thinking of and I did until I read this:
"Hernán [Cortes] was the second cousin once removed of Francisco Pizarro, who later conquered the Inca Empire of modern-day Peru (not to be confused with another Francisco Pizarro who joined Cortés to conquer the Aztecs) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernán_Cortés
auction by candle [auction by Ebay]
"Why would anyone want to do that" many methods tried to get people to "coff up", this was but one.
Auction, gets the juices to run and then over pay as Ego flays Ego.
Willy on 16 Jan 2010 • Link
Mr. G.
A paper here ( http://www.ww.uni-magdeburg.de/fwwdeka/femm/a2009… ) contends that a candle auction provides the seller with a better price than a hard close auction ( where bidding ends at a specified time, as in an eBay auction).
As the author explains: "In Candle auctions, where the bidders face the threat that the next bid is the last bid, the bidders submit serious bids earlier in he auction process than in Hard Close auctions, where bidding is allowed until a known deadline. Early bids in Candle auctions allow the bidders to gather further information and submit higher bids. Hence, prices in Candle auctions are at least as high as in Hard Close auctions."
"we were all mightily troubled how to prevent the sale of a great deal of hemp, and timber-deals, and other good goods to-morrow at the candle by the Prize Office, where it will be sold for little"
Per L&M note: Despite the efforts of Pepys and Batten to prevent the sale of naval stores, on order of the King himself the goods were sold, and this at a time when the Navy Office itself had neither money nor credit to buy them.
Terry Foreman on 25 Apr 2019 • Link
Candle auction
A candle auction is a variation in which the end of the auction is signaled by the expiration of a candle flame. This was intended to ensure that no one could know exactly when the auction would end and make a last-second bid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_auction#Can…
Mary K on 25 Apr 2019 • Link
Candle auctions
And let's not forget the candle-and-pin auction which is still held once a month in Horncastle, Lincolnshire at the Black Swan on South Street. In this ancient variant, a pin is pushed through a candle and the candle lit. At the point where the melting wax causes the pin to fall, the last person to bid wins the auction.
San Diego Sarah on 16 Jan 2020 • Link
"Bruncker would have made me promise to go with him to a play this afternoon, where Knipp acts Mrs. Weaver's great part in 'The Indian Emperour,' and he says is coming on to be a great actor. But I am so fell to my business, that I, though against my inclination, will not go."
I wonder if Pepys thought this some sort of test by Brouncker, and so stayed at work rather than accompany his Lordship to see the fair Mrs. Knepp?
With Coventry's resignation, and Brouncker's recent friendly lunches and agreement on who's going to take the fall for the Navy Board at the upcoming hearings, I'm surprised Pepys didn't go along to help cement their relationship.
On the other hand, we don't know when Charles II's letter arrived with instructions to secure the hemp and timber tomorrow. Someone had to scurry around all the goldsmiths seeking funds, and be an emissary to The Prize Office asking them to cancel the sale. Apparently that wasn't Pepys, but Batten and Pepys must have spent time on strategy and organization. It was an opportunity to shine, even if they didn't pull it off.
Being at the theater while the office failed to stop the sale would not have looked good.
"But his Majesty met the Duke at my Lord Chancellor's, and ... as I understand, against my Lord Chancellor's mind, it was resolved the Lords must yield to the Commons ..."
So this was Charles II's way to ease the Supply Bill through, or stop the Audit by the Commons, by giving the Commons a "win"? It's just politics? Ormonde must have gone ballistic. I admit I'm lost on where they stand fund-raising through Parliament. Has anything really passed?
Somehow Pepys must have had some money in order to be doing so much happy and fulfilling work. Or is he just writing letters telling people to do things, if when and should money arrive?
Carlingford to Ormonde
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 35, fol(s). 250-251
Document type: Holograph
After sixteen months' absence is now returned; having engaged the Emperor in the King's concerns, more than he had commission for ...
Adds, at great length, particulars of his negotiations; and of his views, generally, concerning the political situation on the Continent; and their proceeds:
"I find the Duke of York is the obstructor of my settlement [in Ireland]; I shall endeavour to satisfy him, being resolved for all sorts of submission."
"If your Grace will allow the transport of French Wines into Ireland, a favourable opportunity may be found."
England bans the Irish beef and the French wine ... so Ireland imports the French wine and sells it into England. Win-win-win. Sweet are the uses of adversity.
All diary entries from January 1667