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.