Love this guy

Friday 30 October 1663 Lay long in bed with my wife, and then up and a while at my office, and so to the Change, and so [home] again, and there I found my wife in a great passion with her mayds. I upstairs to set some things in order in our chamber and wardrobe, and so to dinner upon a good dish of stewed beef, then up again about my business. Then by coach with my wife to the New Exchange,* and there bought and paid for several things, and then back, calling at my periwigg-makers, and there showed my wife the periwigg made for me, and she likes it very well, and so to my brother’s, and to buy a pair of boddice for her, and so home, and to my office late, and then home to my wife, purposing to go on to a new lesson in arithmetique with her. So to supper and to bed. The Queen mends apace, but her head still light. *The afternoon is spent by coach with Elizabeth at the New Exchange (a fashionable shopping centre on the Strand with galleries of luxury shops, a favorite destination for Sam and his wife). Queen mends She’s well enough now for Sam to pick up his new cloake on the 29th: “This morning was brought home my new velvet cloake, that is, lined with velvet, a good cloth the outside, the first that ever I had in my life, and I pray God it may not be too soon now that I begin to wear it.” Periwigs (or perukes/periwigs) were a major new fashion for men in Restoration England in the early 1660s, brought from the French court. Charles II, who had spent years in exile there, popularized them as his own hair began turning grey around 1663 (he was then about 33). His brother James, Duke of York, followed soon after. Sam closely tracked this and adopted the style himself that autumn. Sam wearing a periwig (1666): John Hayls

View of Delft Johannes Vermeer, 1660-1661

View of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds Jacob van Ruisdael, ca. 1665

"I had rather die in the adventure of noble achievements, than live in obscure and sluggish security" ~ Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623–1673), painted in 1665 by the Dutch-born English court painter Sir Peter Lely #Stuarts

Wednesday 28 October 1663 Up and at my office all the morning, and at noon Mr. Creed came to me and dined with me, and after dinner Murford* came to me and he and I discoursed wholly upon his breach of contract with us. After that Mr. Creed and I abroad, I doing several errands, and with him at last to the great coffee-house, and there after some common discourse we parted and I home, paying what I owed at the Mitre in my way, and at home Sympson the joyner coming he set up my press for my cloaks and other small things, and so to my office a little, and to supper, and to bed. This morning Mr. Blackburne came to me, and telling me what complaints Will made of the usage he had from my wife and other discouragements, and, I seeing him, instead of advising, rather favouring his kinsman, I told him freely my mind, but friendlily, and so we have concluded to have him have a lodging elsewhere, and that I will spare him 15l. of his salary, and if I do not need to keep another 20l..** *Murford was a timber merchant of Cannon Street and an entrepreneur; this entry points to ongoing issues with suppliers and contractors, a recurring theme in Sams efforts to improve Navy administration and curb waste or poor performance. **Will Hewer was disrupting the household by “corrupting the mayds by his idle talke and carriage.” By mid-1600s through the mid-1700s, men drank their coffee in London’s coffeehouses while they transacted business, discussed politics and shared literary works in progress. By 1700, there were probably over 2000 coffeehouses in London or one for every 300 inhabitants. They catered to a range of gentlemanly arts and acted as alternative centers of academic learning, with lessons in French, Italian or Latin, dancing, fencing, poetry, mathematics and astronomy. Hogarth's depiction of a fight breaking out in Moll King's Coffee House, at the far right of the engraving of his 1736 painting.

This looks fascinating. I think I'll watch

Charles, Prince of Wales, c1640 in court costume, one of two paintings by Van Dyck #Stuarts #History

The City Wall of Haarlem in the Winter Nicolaes Berchem, 1647

Yesterday's Gospel at church. A good one

An oldie but a goodie. In 1968 a bunch of entitled hippy bastards sent a letter detailing their specious demands to the Warden and Fellows of Wadham College, Oxford. This was their letter of reply, which speaks to how far the academy has since fallen.

Today's research is about Cardinal Jules Mazarin, an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who effectively ruled France when he served as the chief minister to Queen Regent Anne, and the Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV from 1642 unil his death in 1661.

"In death the medieval aristocracy were always depicted as a physical elite and many were in life. A modern autopsy on the skeleton of Sir Bartholomew de Burghersh, who died in 1369 in his sixties after a lifetime of campaigning, revealed a sturdy man of nearly six foot with strong, muscular limbs. His physique was the result of regular exercise and a diet rich in protein, although his teeth were eroded by the grainy bread he had eaten. By contrast, analyses of the bones of the mass of the population reflect stunted growth and infirmities caused by inadequate diet and back-breaking labour. "Knights were not just taller and stronger than their inferiors. Popular chivalric romances constantly drew attention to the fine features and fair complexions of noble heroes and heroines. Fiction often reflected reality." -Aristocrats by Lawrence James

Sunday 25th October 1663 (Lord’s day). Up, and my wife and I to church, where it is strange to see how by use and seeing Pembleton come with his wife thither to church, I begin now to make no great matter of it, which before was so terrible to me. Dined at home, my wife and I alone, a good dinner, and so in the afternoon to church again, where the Scot preached, and I slept most of the afternoon. So home, and my wife and I together all the evening discoursing, and then after reading my vowes to myself, and my wife with her mayds (who are mighty busy to get it dispatched because of their mistress’s promise, that when it is done they shall have leave all to go see their friends at Westminster, whither my wife will carry them) preparing for their washing to-morrow, we hastened to supper and to bed. *In May 1663 Elizabeth Pepys took dancing lessons from Mr Pembleton. Sam quickly developed a consuming jealousy, repeatedly interrupting lessons, and checking whether they were alone. By the 25th, the habit of seeing them in church (“by use”) has reduced the reaction. He is explicitly observing the change in himself, which is a characteristic Pepysian moment of self-awareness about his jealousy. “I slept most of the afternoon” The Sleeping Congregation William Hogarth: 1736

Adolf and Catharina Croeser Jan Steen, 1655

View of Alkmaar  Jacob van Ruisdael, 1675

Saturday 24 October 1663 Up and to my office, where busy all the morning about Mr. Gauden’saccount, and at noon to dinner with him at the Dolphin, where mighty merry by pleasant stories of Mr. Coventry’s and Sir J. Minnes’s, which I have put down some of in my book of tales….* Thence by coach with Mr. Coventry to the Temple, and thence I to the Six Clerks’ office, and discoursed with my Attorney and Solicitor … Thence, it being night, homewards, and called at Wotton’s and tried some shoes, but he had none to fit me. He tells me that by the Duke of York’s persuasion Harris is come again to Sir W. Davenant upon his terms that he demanded, which will make him very high and proud. Thence to another shop, and there bought me a pair of shoes, and so walked home and to my office, and dispatch letters by the post, and so home to supper and to bed, where to my trouble I find my wife begin to talk of her being alone all day, which is nothing but her lack of something to do, for while she was busy she never, or seldom, complained.… Thence to another shop, and there bought me a pair of shoes, and so walked home and to my office … The Queen is in a good way of recovery; and Sir Francis Pridgeon hath got great honour by it, it being all imputed to his cordiall, which in her dispaire did give her rest and brought her to some hopes of recovery. *This shows he kept a separate personal volume specifically for recording humorous or characteristic tales he heard. It was almost certainly a small personal notebook from the diary years that either did not survive. Harris was a leading actor (second to Betterton) who had briefly left or threatened to leave over pay/demands; the Duke of York’s involvement underscores the court’s close ties to the licensed theaters after the Restoration. After Davenant’s 1668 death, Harris and Betterton managed the Duke’s Company. In 1671 they moved it to Dorset Garden Theatre, where Harris lived in an apartment. In 1673 he accidentally injured actor Philip Cademan in a stage swordfight. Harris lived fast, mixed in high society, and ran up heavy debts. Harris as Cardinal Wolsey by John Greenhill, 1664.

'There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all' Ephesians 4: 4-6

River landscape with travellers, a horse and cart next to a barn and windmills in the distance Aelbert Cuyp, 17th century

Thursday 22 October 1663 Up to the office, where we sat till noon and then I home to dinner, and after dinner with my wife to her study and there read some more arithmetique, which she takes with great ease and pleasure. This morning, hearing that the Queen grows worse again, I sent to stop the making of my velvet cloake, till I see whether she lives or dies.* So a little abroad about several businesses, and then home and to my office till night, and then home to supper, teach my wife, and so to bed. *Cloaks of this era were frequently worn casually over the shoulder even indoors, and a velvet lining would have flashed richly against the cloth outer face. This was the kind of modest but noticeable upgrade Sam was making as his income rose. Gentleman in a black velvet cloak (Rembrandt, 1634; the style of cloak remained current into the 1660s)