[This is a somewhat late use of an expression which was once
universal. It was formerly the custom for both sexes to sleep in
bed without any nightlinen.
“Who sees his true love in her naked bed,
Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white.”
Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis.
Nares (“Glossary”) notes the expression so late as in the very odd
novel by T. Amory, called “John Bunde,” where a young lady declares,
after an alarm, “that she would never go into naked bed on board
ship again.” Octavo edition, vol. i. p. 90.]
and slept till 9 o’clock, and then John Goods waked me, [by] and by the
captain’s boy brought me four barrels of Mallows oysters, which Captain
Tatnell had sent me from Murlace.--[Apparently Mallows stands for St.
Malo and Murlace for Morlaise.]--The weather foul all this day also.
After dinner, about writing one thing or other all day, and setting my
papers in order, having been so long absent. At night Mr. Pierce, Purser
(the other Pierce and I having not spoken to one another since we fell
out about Mr. Edward), and Mr. Cook sat with me in my cabin and supped
with me, and then I went to bed. By letters that came hither in my
absence, I understand that the Parliament had ordered all persons to be
secured, in order to a trial, that did sit as judges in the late King’s
death, and all the officers too attending the Court. Sir John Lenthall
moving in the House, that all that had borne arms against the King
should be exempted from pardon, he was called to the bar of the House,
and after a severe reproof he was degraded his knighthood. At Court I
find that all things grow high. The old clergy talk as being sure of
their lands again, and laugh at the Presbytery; and it is believed that
the sales of the King’s and Bishops’ lands will never be confirmed by
Parliament, there being nothing now in any man’s, power to hinder them
and the King from doing what they have a mind, but every body willing
to submit to any thing. We expect every day to have the King and Duke
on board as soon as it is fair. My Lord do nothing now, but offers all
things to the pleasure of the Duke as Lord High Admiral. So that I am at
a loss what to do.
22nd. Up very early, and now beginning to be settled in my wits again,
I went about setting down my last four days’ observations this morning.
After that, was trimmed by a barber that has not trimmed me yet, my
Spaniard being on shore. News brought that the two Dukes are coming on
board, which, by and by, they did, in a Dutch boats the Duke of York in
yellow trimmings, the Duke of Gloucester
[Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest child of Charles L, born
July 6th, 16--, who, with his sister Elizabeth, was allowed a
meeting with his father on the night before the King’s execution.
Burnet says: “He was active, and loved business; was apt to have
particular friendships, and had an insinuating temper which was
generally very acceptable. The King loved him much better than the
Duke of York.” He died of smallpox at Whitehall, September 13th,
1660, and was buried in Henry VII’s Chapel.]
in grey and red. My Lord went in a boat to meet them, the Captain,
myself, and others, standing at the entering port. So soon as they were
entered we shot the guns off round the fleet. After that they went to
view the ship all over, and were most exceedingly pleased with it.
They seem to be both very fine gentlemen. After that done, upon the
quarter-deck table, under the awning, the Duke of York and my Lord, Mr.
Coventry,
[William Coventry, to whom Pepys became so warmly attached
afterwards, was the fourth son of Thomas, first Lord Coventry, the
Lord Keeper. He was born in 1628, and entered at Queen’s College,
Oxford, in 1642; after the Restoration he became private secretary
to the Duke of York, his commission as Secretary to the Lord High
Admiral not being conferred until 1664; elected M.P. for Great
Yarmouth in 1661. In 1662 he was appointed an extra Commissioner of
the Navy, an office he held until 1667; in 1665, knighted and sworn
a Privy Councillor, and, in 1667, constituted a Commissioner of the
Treasury; but, having been forbid the court on account of his
challenging the Duke of Buckingham, he retired into the country, nor
could he subsequently be prevailed upon to accept of any official
employment. Burnet calls Sir William Coventry the best speaker in
the House of Commons, and “a man of the finest and best temper that
belonged to the court,” and Pepys never omits an opportunity of
paying a tribute to his public and private worth. He died, 1686, of
gout in the stomach.]
and I, spent an hour at allotting to every ship their service, in their
return to England; which having done, they went to dinner, where the
table was very full: the two Dukes at the upper end, my Lord Opdam next
on one side, and my Lord on the other. Two guns given to every man while
he was drinking the King’s health, and so likewise to the Duke’s health.
I took down Monsieur d’Esquier to the great cabin below, and dined with
him in state alone with only one or two friends of his. All dinner the
harper belonging to Captain Sparling played to the Dukes. After dinner,
the Dukes and my Lord to see the Vice and Rear-Admirals; and I in a boat
after them. After that done, they made to the shore in the Dutch boat
that brought them, and I got into the boat with them; but the shore was
so full of people to expect their coming, as that it was as black (which
otherwise is white sand), as every one could stand by another. When we
came near the shore, my Lord left them and came into his own boat, and
General Pen and I with him; my Lord being very well pleased with this
day’s work. By the time we came on board again, news is sent us that the
King is on shore; so my Lord fired all his guns round twice, and all the
fleet after him, which in the end fell into disorder, which seemed very
handsome. The gun over against my cabin I fired myself to the King,
which was the first time that he had been saluted by his own ships since
this change; but holding my head too much over the gun, I had almost
spoiled my right eye. Nothing in the world but going of guns almost all
this day. In the evening we began to remove cabins; I to the carpenter’s
cabin, and Dr. Clerke with me, who came on board this afternoon, having
been twice ducked in the sea to-day coming from shore, and Mr. North
and John Pickering the like. Many of the King’s servants came on board
to-night; and so many Dutch of all sorts came to see the ship till it
was quite dark, that we could not pass by one another, which was a
great trouble to us all. This afternoon Mr. Downing (who was knighted
yesterday by the King’) was here on board, and had a ship for his
passage into England, with his lady and servants.
[“About midnight arrived there Mr. Downing, who did the affairs of
England to the Lords the Estates, in quality of Resident under
Oliver Cromwell, and afterward under the pretended Parliament, which
having changed the form of the government, after having cast forth
the last Protector, had continued him in his imploiment, under the
quality of Extraordinary Envoy. He began to have respect for the
King’s person, when he knew that all England declared for a free
parliament, and departed from Holland without order, as soon as he
understood that there was nothing that could longer oppose the re-
establishment of monarchal government, with a design to crave
letters of recommendation to General Monk. This lord considered
him, as well because of the birth of his wife, which is illustrious,
as because Downing had expressed some respect for him in a time when
that eminent person could not yet discover his intentions. He had
his letters when he arrived at midnight at the house of the Spanish
Embassador, as we have said. He presented them forthwith to the
King, who arose from table a while after, read the letters, receiv’d
the submissions of Downing, and granted him the pardon and grace
which he asked for him to whom he could deny nothing. Some daies
after the King knighted him, and would it should be believed, that
the strong aversions which this minister of the Protector had made
appear against him on all occasions, and with all sorts of persons
indifferently, even a few daies before the publick and general
declaration of all England, proceeded not from any evil intention,
but only from a deep dissimulation, wherewith he was constrained to
cover his true sentiments, for fear to prejudice the affairs of his
Majesty.”--Sir William Lowers Relation... of the Voiage and
Residence which... Charles the II. hath made in Holland,
Hague, 1660, folio, pp. 72-73.]
By the same token he called me to him when I was going to write the
order, to tell me that I must write him Sir G. Downing. My Lord lay in
the roundhouse to-night. This evening I was late writing a French letter
myself by my Lord’s order to Monsieur Kragh, Embassador de Denmarke a la
Haye, which my Lord signed in bed. After that I to bed, and the Doctor,
and sleep well.
23rd. The Doctor and I waked very merry, only my eye was very red and
ill in the morning from yesterday’s hurt. In the morning came infinity
of people on board from the King to go along with him. My Lord, Mr.
Crew, and others, go on shore to meet the King as he comes off from
shore, where Sir R. Stayner bringing His Majesty into the boat, I hear
that His Majesty did with a great deal of affection kiss my Lord upon
his first meeting. The King, with the two Dukes and Queen of Bohemia,
Princess Royal, and Prince of Orange, came on board, where I in their
coming in kissed the King’s, Queen’s, and Princess’s hands, having
done the other before. Infinite shooting off of the guns, and that in a
disorder on purpose, which was better than if it had been otherwise.
All day nothing but Lords and persons of honour on board, that we were
exceeding full. Dined in a great deal of state, the Royall company by
themselves in the coach, which was a blessed sight to see. I dined with
Dr. Clerke, Dr. Quarterman, and Mr. Darcy in my cabin. This morning
Mr. Lucy came on board, to whom and his company of the King’s Guard in
another ship my Lord did give three dozen of bottles of wine. He made
friends between Mr. Pierce and me. After dinner the King and Duke
altered the name of some of the ships, viz. the Nazeby into Charles; the
Richard, James; the Speakers Mary; the Dunbar (which was not in company
with us), the Henry; Winsly, Happy Return; Wakefield, Richmond; Lambert;
the Henrietta; Cheriton, the Speedwell; Bradford, the Success. That
done, the Queen, Princess Royal, and Prince of Orange, took leave of
the King, and the Duke of York went on board the London, and the Duke
of Gloucester, the Swiftsure. Which done, we weighed anchor, and with
a fresh gale and most happy weather we set sail for England. All the
afternoon the King walked here and there, up and down (quite contrary
to what I thought him to have been), very active and stirring. Upon the
quarterdeck he fell into discourse of his escape from Worcester,
[For the King’s own account of his escape dictated to Pepys, see
“Boscobel” (Bohn’s “Standard Library”).]
where it made me ready to weep to hear the stories that he told of his
difficulties that he had passed through, as his travelling four days and
three nights on foot, every step up to his knees in dirt, with nothing
but a green coat and a pair of country breeches on, and a pair of
country shoes that made him so sore all over his feet, that he could
scarce stir. Yet he was forced to run away from a miller and other
company, that took them for rogues. His sitting at table at one place,
where the master of the house, that had not seen him in eight years, did
know him, but kept it private; when at the same table there was one that
had been of his own regiment at Worcester, could not know him, but made
him drink the King’s health, and said that the King was at least four
fingers higher than he. At another place he was by some servants of the
house made to drink, that they might know him not to be a Roundhead,
which they swore he was. In another place at his inn, the master of the
house,
[This was at Brighton. The inn was the “George,” and the innkeeper
was named Smith. Charles related this circumstance again to Pepys
in October, 1680. He then said, “And here also I ran into another
very great danger, as being confident I was known by the master of
the inn; for, as I was standing after supper by the fireside,
leaning my hand upon a chair, and all the rest of the company being
gone into another room, the master of the inn came in and fell a-
talking with me, and just as he was looking about, and saw there was
nobody in the room, he upon a sudden kissed my hand that was upon
the back of the chair, and said to me, ‘God bless you wheresoever
you go! I do not doubt before I die, but to be a lord, and my wife
a lady.’ So I laughed, and went away into the next room.”]
as the King was standing with his hands upon the back of a chair by the
fire-side, kneeled down and kissed his hand, privately, saying, that
he would not ask him who he was, but bid God bless him whither he was
going. Then the difficulty of getting a boat to get into France, where
he was fain to plot with the master thereof to keep his design from the
four men and a boy (which was all his ship’s company), and so got to
Fecamp in France.
[On Saturday, October 11th, 1651, Colonel Gunter made an agreement
at Chichester with Nicholas Tettersell, through Francis Mansell (a
French merchant), to have Tettersell’s vessel ready at an hour’s
warning. Charles II., in his narrative dictated to Pepys in 1680,
said, “We went to a place, four miles off Shoreham, called
Brighthelmstone, where we were to meet with the master of the ship,
as thinking it more convenient to meet there than just at Shoreham,
where the ship was. So when we came to the inn at Brighthelmstone
we met with one, the merchant Francis Mansell] who had hired the
vessel, in company with her master [Tettersell], the merchant only
knowing me, as having hired her only to carry over a person of
quality that was escaped from the battle of Worcester without naming
anybody.”
The boat was supposed to be bound for Poole, but Charles says in his
narrative: “As we were sailing the master came to me, and desired me
that I would persuade his men to use their best endeavours with him
to get him to set us on shore in France, the better to cover him
from any suspicion thereof, upon which I went to the men, which were
four and a boy.”
After the Restoration Mansell was granted a pension of L200 a year,
and Tettersell one of L100 a year. (See “Captain Nicholas
Tettersell and the Escape of Charles II.,” by F. E. Sawyer, F.S.A.,
“Sussex Archaeological Collections,” vol. xxxii. pp. 81-104).)
At Rouen he looked so poorly, that the people went into the rooms before
he went away to see whether he had not stole something or other. In the
evening I went up to my Lord to write letters for England, which we sent
away with word of our coming, by Mr. Edw. Pickering. The King supped
alone in the coach; after that I got a dish, and we four supped in my
cabin, as at noon. About bed-time my Lord Bartlett
[A mistake for Lord Berkeley of Berkeley, who had been deputed, with
Lord Middlesex and four other Peers, by the House of Lords to
present an address of congratulation to the King.--B.]
(who I had offered my service to before) sent for me to get him a bed,
who with much ado I did get to bed to my Lord Middlesex in the great
cabin below, but I was cruelly troubled before I could dispose of him,
and quit myself of him. So to my cabin again, where the company still
was, and were talking more of the King’s difficulties; as how he was
fain to eat a piece of bread and cheese out of a poor boy’s pocket; how,
at a Catholique house, he was fain to lie in the priest’s hole a good
while in the house for his privacy. After that our company broke up, and
the Doctor and I to bed. We have all the Lords Commissioners on board
us, and many others. Under sail all night, and most glorious weather.
24th. Up, and made myself as fine as I could, with the Tinning stockings
on and wide canons--[“Cannions, boot hose tops; an old-fashioned
ornament for the legs.” That is to say, a particular addition to
breeches.]--that I bought the other day at Hague. Extraordinary press
of noble company, and great mirth all the day. There dined with me in my
cabin (that is, the carpenter’s) Dr. Earle
[John Earle, born about 1601; appointed in 1643 one of the
Westminster Assembly of Divines, but his principles did not allow
him to act. He accompanied Charles II. when he was obliged to fly
from England. Dean of Westminster at the Restoration, Bishop of
Worcester, November 30th, 1662, and translated to Salisbury,
September 28th, 1663. He was tender to the Nonconformists, and
Baxter wrote of him, “O that they were all such!” Author of
“Microcosmography.” Died November 17th, 1665, and was buried in the
chapel of Merton College, of which he had been a Fellow. Charles
II. had the highest esteem for him.]
and Mr. Hollis,
[Denzil Holles, second son of John, first Earl of Clare, born at
Houghton, Notts, in 1597. He was one of the five members charged
with high treason by Charles I. in 1641. He was a Presbyterian, and
one of the Commissioners sent by Parliament to wait on Charles II.
at the Hague. Sir William Lower, in his “Relation,” 1660, writes:
“All agreed that never person spake with more affection nor
expressed himself in better terms than Mr. Denzil Hollis, who was
orator for the Deputies of the Lower House, to whom those of London
were joined.” He was created Baron Holles on April 20th, 1661, on
the occasion of the coronation of Charles II.]
the King’s Chaplins, Dr. Scarborough,
[Charles Scarburgh, M.D., an eminent physician who suffered for the
royal cause during the Civil Wars. He was born in London, and
educated at St. Paul’s School and Caius College, Cambridge. He was
ejected from his fellowship at Caius, and withdrew to Oxford. He
entered himself at Merton College, then presided over by Harvey,
with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. He was knighted by
Charles II. in 1669, and attended the King in his last illness. He
was also physician to James II. and to William III., and died
February 26th, 1693-4.]