23d. About 4 I rose and got to the Abbey, where I followed Sir J. Denham,
the Surveyor, with some company that he was leading in. And with much
ado, by the favour of Mr. Cooper, his man, did get up into a great
scaffold across the North end of the Abbey, where with a great deal of
patience I sat from past 4 till 11 before the King came in. And a great
pleasure it was to see the Abbey raised in the middle, all covered with
red, and a throne (that is a chair) and footstool on the top of it; and
all the officers of all kinds, so much as the very fidlers, in red vests.
At last comes in the Dean and Prebends of Westminster, with the Bishops
(many of them in cloth of gold copes), and after them the Nobility, all in
their Parliament robes, which was a most magnificent sight. Then the
Duke, and the King with a scepter (carried by my Lord Sandwich) and sword
and mond
[Mond or orb of gold, with a cross set with precious stones, carried
by the Duke of Buckingham.]
before him, and the crown too. The King in his robes, bare-headed, which
was very fine. And after all had placed themselves, there was a sermon
and the service; and then in the Quire at the high altar, the King passed
through all the ceremonies of the Coronacon, which to my great grief I and
most in the Abbey could not see. The crown being put upon his head, a
great shout begun, and he came forth to the throne, and there passed more
ceremonies: as taking the oath, and having things read to him by the
Bishop; and his lords (who put on their caps as soon as the King put on
his crown)
[As yet barons had no coronet. A grant of that outward mark of
dignity was made to them by Charles soon after his coronation.
Queen Elizabeth had assigned coronets to viscounts.--B.]
and bishops come, and kneeled before him. And three times the King at
Arms went to the three open places on the scaffold, and proclaimed, that
if any one could show any reason why Charles Stewart should not be King of
England, that now he should come and speak. And a Generall Pardon also
was read by the Lord Chancellor, and meddalls flung up and down by my Lord
Cornwallis, of silver, but I could not come by any. But so great a noise
that I could make but little of the musique; and indeed, it was lost to
every body. But I had so great a lust to . . . . that I went out
a little while before the King had done all his ceremonies, and went round
the Abbey to Westminster Hall, all the way within rayles, and 10,000
people, with the ground covered with blue cloth; and scaffolds all the
way. Into the Hall I got, where it was very fine with hangings and
scaffolds one upon another full of brave ladies; and my wife in one little
one, on the right hand. Here I staid walking up and down, and at last
upon one of the side stalls I stood and saw the King come in with all the
persons (but the soldiers) that were yesterday in the cavalcade; and a
most pleasant sight it was to see them in their several robes. And the
King came in with his crown on, and his sceptre in his hand, under a
canopy borne up by six silver staves, carried by Barons of the Cinque
Ports,
[Pepys was himself one of the Barons of the Cinque Ports at the
Coronation of James II.]
and little bells at every end. And after a long time, he got up to the
farther end, and all set themselves down at their several tables; and that
was also a brave sight: and the King's first course carried up by the
Knights of the Bath. And many fine ceremonies there was of the Heralds
leading up people before him, and bowing; and my Lord of Albemarle's going
to the kitchin and eat a bit of the first dish that was to go to the
King's table. But, above all, was these three Lords, Northumberland, and
Suffolk, and the Duke of Ormond, coming before the courses on horseback,
and staying so all dinner-time, and at last to bring up [Dymock] the
King's Champion, all in armour on horseback, with his spear and targett
carried before him. And a Herald proclaims "That if any dare deny Charles
Stewart to be lawful King of England, here was a Champion that would fight
with him;"
[The terms of the Champion's challenge were as follows: "If any
person of what degree soever, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our
Soveraigne Lord King Charles the Second, King of England, Scotland,
France and Ireland, defender of the faith, Sonne and next heire to
our Soveraigne Lord Charles the First, the last King deceased, to be
right heire to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme of England, or
that bee ought not to enjoy the same; here is his champion, who
sayth that he lyeth and is a false Traytor, being ready in person to
combate with him, and in this quarrell will venture his life against
him, on what day soever hee shall be appointed."]
and with these words, the Champion flings down his gauntlet, and all this
he do three times in his going up towards the King's table. At last when
he is come, the King drinks to him, and then sends him the cup which is of
gold, and he drinks it off, and then rides back again with the cup in his
hand. I went from table to table to see the Bishops and all others at
their dinner, and was infinitely pleased with it. And at the Lords'
table, I met with William Howe, and he spoke to my Lord for me, and he did
give me four rabbits and a pullet, and so I got it and Mr. Creed and I got
Mr. Michell to give us some bread, and so we at a stall eat it, as every
body else did what they could get. I took a great deal of pleasure to go
up and down, and look upon the ladies, and to hear the musique of all
sorts, but above all, the 24 violins: About six at night they had dined,
and I went up to my wife, and there met with a pretty lady (Mrs.
Frankleyn, a Doctor's wife, a friend of Mr. Bowyer's), and kissed them
both, and by and by took them down to Mr. Bowyer's. And strange it is to
think, that these two days have held up fair till now that all is done,
and the King gone out of the Hall; and then it fell a-raining and
thundering and lightening as I have not seen it do for some years: which
people did take great notice of; God's blessing of the work of these two
days, which is a foolery to take too much notice of such things. I
observed little disorder in all this, but only the King's footmen had got
hold of the canopy, and would keep it from the Barons of the Cinque Ports,
[Bishop Kennett gives a somewhat fuller account of this unseemly
broil: "No sooner had the aforesaid Barons brought up the King to
the foot of the stairs in Westminster Hall, ascending to his throne,
and turned on the left hand (towards their own table) out of the
way, but the King's footmen most insolently and violently seized
upon the canopy, which the Barons endeavouring to keep and defend,
were by their number and strength dragged clown to the lower end of
the Hall, nevertheless still keeping their hold; and had not Mr.
Owen York Herald, being accidentally near the Hall door, and seeing
the contest, caused the same to be shut, the footmen had certainly
carried it away by force. But in the interim also (speedy notice
hereof having been given the King) one of the Querries were sent
from him, with command to imprison the footmen, and dismiss them out
of his service, which put an end to the present disturbance. These
footmen were also commanded to make their submission to the Court of
Claims, which was accordingly done by them the 30th April following,
and the canopy then delivered back to the said Barons." Whilst this
disturbance happened, the upper end of the first table, which had
been appointed for the Barons of the Cinque Ports, was taken up by
the Bishops, judges, &c., probably nothing loth to take precedence
of them; and the poor Barons, naturally unwilling to lose their
dinner, were necessitated to eat it at the bottom of the second
table, below the Masters of Chancery and others of the long
robe.-B.]
which they endeavoured to force from them again, but could not do it till
my Lord Duke of Albemarle caused it to be put into Sir R. Pye's' hand till
tomorrow to be decided. At Mr. Bowyer's; a great deal of company, some I
knew, others I did not. Here we staid upon the leads and below till it
was late, expecting to see the fire-works, but they were not performed
to-night: only the City had a light like a glory round about it with
bonfires. At last I went to Kingstreet, and there sent Crockford to my
father's and my house, to tell them I could not come home tonight, because
of the dirt, and a coach could not be had. And so after drinking a pot of
ale alone at Mrs. Harper's I returned to Mr. Bowyer's, and after a little
stay more I took my wife and Mrs. Frankleyn (who I proffered the civility
of lying with my wife at Mrs. Hunt's to-night) to Axe-yard, in which at
the further end there were three great bonfires, and a great many great
gallants, men and women; and they laid hold of us, and would have us drink
the King's health upon our knees, kneeling upon a faggot, which we all
did, they drinking to us one after another. Which we thought a strange
frolique; but these gallants continued thus a great while, and I wondered
to see how the ladies did tipple. At last I sent my wife and her
bedfellow to bed, and Mr. Hunt and I went in with Mr. Thornbury (who did
give the company all their wine, he being yeoman of the wine-cellar to the
King) to his house; and there, with his wife and two of his sisters, and
some gallant sparks that were there, we drank the King's health, and
nothing else, till one of the gentlemen fell down stark drunk, and there
lay spewing; and I went to my Lord's pretty well. But no sooner a-bed with
Mr. Shepley but my head began to hum, and I to vomit, and if ever I was
foxed it was now, which I cannot say yet, because I fell asleep and slept
till morning. Only when I waked I found myself wet with my spewing. Thus
did the day end with joy every where; and blessed be God, I have not heard
of any mischance to any body through it all, but only to Serjt. Glynne,
whose horse fell upon him yesterday, and is like to kill him, which people
do please themselves to see how just God is to punish the rogue at such a
time as this; he being now one of the King's Serjeants, and rode in the
cavalcade with Maynard, to whom people wish the same fortune. There was
also this night in King-street, [a woman] had her eye put out by a boy's
flinging a firebrand into the coach. Now, after all this, I can say that,
besides the pleasure of the sight of these glorious things, I may now shut
my eyes against any other objects, nor for the future trouble myself to
see things of state and show, as being sure never to see the like again in
this world.
24th. Waked in the morning with my head in a sad taking through the last
night's drink, which I am very sorry for; so rose and went out with Mr.
Creed to drink our morning draft, which he did give me in chocolate
[Chocolate was introduced into England about the year 1652. In the
"Publick Advertiser" of Tuesday, June 16-22, 1657, we find the
following; "In Bishopsgate Street in Queen's Head Alley, at a
Frenchman's house, is an excellent West India drink called
chocolate, to be sold, where you may have it ready at any time, and
also unmade at reasonable rates."--M. B.]
to settle my stomach. And after that I to my wife, who lay with Mrs.
Frankelyn at the next door to Mrs. Hunt's, and they were ready, and so I
took them up in a coach, and carried the ladies to Paul's, and there set
her down, and so my wife and I home, and I to the office. That being done
my wife and I went to dinner to Sir W. Batten, and all our talk about the
happy conclusion of these last solemnities. After dinner home, and
advised with my wife about ordering things in my house, and then she went
away to my father's to lie, and I staid with my workmen, who do please me
very well with their work. At night, set myself to write down these three
days' diary, and while I am about it, I hear the noise of the
chambers,--[A chamber is a small piece of ordnance.]--and other things of
the fire-works, which are now playing upon the Thames before the King; and
I wish myself with them, being sorry not to see them. So to bed.
25th. All the morning with my workmen with great pleasure to see them
near coming to an end. At noon Mr. Moore and I went to an Ordinary at the
King's Head in Towre Street, and there had a dirty dinner. Afterwards home
and having done some business with him, in comes Mr. Sheply and Pierce the
surgeon, and they and I to the Mitre and there staid a while and drank,
and so home and after a little rending to bed.
26th. At the office all the morning, and at noon dined by myself at home
on a piece of meat from the cook's, and so at home all the afternoon with
my workmen, and at night to bed, having some thoughts to order my business
so as to go to Portsmouth the next week with Sir Robert Slingsby.
27th. In the morning to my Lord's, and there dined with my Lady, and
after dinner with Mr. Creed and Captain Ferrers to the Theatre to see "The
Chances," and after that to the Cock alehouse, where we had a harp and
viallin played to us, and so home by coach to Sir W. Batten's, who seems
so inquisitive when my, house will be made an end of that I am troubled to
go thither. So home with some trouble in my mind about it.
28th (Lord's day). In the morning to my father's, where I dined, and in
the afternoon to their church, where come Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Edward
Pepys, and several other ladies, and so I went out of the pew into
another. And after sermon home with them, and there staid a while and
talked with them and was sent for to my father's, where my cozen Angier
and his wife, of Cambridge, to whom I went, and was glad to see them, and
sent for wine for them, and they supped with my father. After supper my
father told me of an odd passage the other night in bed between my mother
and him, and she would not let him come to bed to her out of jealousy of
him and an ugly wench that lived there lately, the most ill-favoured slut
that ever I saw in my life, which I was ashamed to hear that my mother
should be become such a fool, and my father bid me to take notice of it to
my mother, and to make peace between him and her. All which do trouble me
very much. So to bed to my wife.
29th. Up and with my father towards my house, and by the way met with
Lieut. Lambert, and with him to the Dolphin in Tower Street and drank our
morning draught, he being much troubled about his being offered a fourth
rate ship to be Lieutenant of her now he has been two years Lieutenant in
a first rate. So to the office, where it is determined that I should go
to-morrow to Portsmouth. So I went out of the office to Whitehall
presently, and there spoke with Sir W. Pen and Sir George Carteret and had
their advice as to my going, and so back again home, where I directed Mr.
Hater what to do in order to our going to-morrow, and so back again by
coach to Whitehall and there eat something in the buttery at my Lord's
with John Goods and Ned Osgood. And so home again, and gave order to my
workmen what to do in my absence. At night to Sir W. Batten's, and by his
and Sir W. Pen's persuasion I sent for my wife from my father's, who came
to us to Mrs. Turner's, where we were all at a collacion to-night till
twelve o'clock, there being a gentlewoman there that did play well and
sang well to the Harpsicon, and very merry we were. So home and to bed,
where my wife had not lain a great while.
30th. This morning, after order given to my workmen, my wife and I and
Mr. Creed took coach, and in Fishstreet took up Mr. Hater and his wife,
who through her mask seemed at first to be an old woman, but afterwards I
found her to be a very pretty modest black woman. We got a small bait at
Leatherhead, and so to Godlyman, where we lay all night, and were very
merry, having this day no other extraordinary rencontre, but my hat
falling off my head at Newington into the water, by which it was spoiled,
and I ashamed of it. I am sorry that I am not at London, to be at
Hide-parke to-morrow, among the great gallants and ladies, which will be
very fine.