The Diary · Chapter
July 1668 explained
Pepys navigates naval administration disputes, social engagements, and domestic life amid intense summer heat.
What happens
Pepys navigates naval administration disputes, social engagements, and domestic life amid intense summer heat. He attends Council meetings on ticket security, dines with eminent men including the author of Hudibras, and commissions his wife's portrait from Mr. Cooper. The chapter also records gossip about the King's amusements, the Duke of York's resolve to reform the Navy, and Pepys's continued pursuit of pleasure and advancement.
Themes in this chapter
Naval Administration and Corruption
Pepys attends Council on ticket security, the Duke of York resolves to reform the Navy, and the Commissioners of Accounts investigate.
Social Ambition and Class
Pepys dines with eminent men (Cooper, Hales, Harris, Butler), commissions a portrait, and seeks to improve his standing.
Daily Life and Domesticity
Pepys records the excessive heat, his wife's lying-in visits, walks in the garden, and music in the dark.
Political Intrigue and Restoration
Gossip about the Duke of Buckingham's bawdy sermon to the King and the King's pursuit of women reflects court intrigue.
Characters to notice
- Samuel Pepys
Narrator and central figure; attends Council, commissions wife's portrait, and manages office business.
- Elizabeth Pepys
Pepys's wife; sits for her portrait by Mr. Cooper, accompanies Pepys to plays and Spring Garden.
- Mr. Creed
Dines with Pepys; Pepys begins to hate him and treats him with reserve.
- Sir William Coventry
Walks with Pepys in the Park, shares stories, and disputes pensions for Flag-Officers.
- Edward Montagu, Earl of Sandwich
Mentioned in gossip about the King's visit to Newmarket.
- Mr. Hewer
Assists Pepys with accounts and accompanies the family to Cooper's and other outings.
- Mrs. Turner
Sups with Pepys and family on the 19th and visits on the 7th.
- Mr. Povy
Shows Pepys his closet with a round table and lends him books on the Navy.
Key passages
“I did discourse to their liking, only was too high to assert that nothing could be invented to secure the King more in the business of tickets than there is; which the Duke of Buckingham did except against, and I could have answered, but forbore; but all liked very well.”
Pepys spoke confidently before the Council about ticket security, but the Duke of Buckingham objected to his claim that no better system could be devised; Pepys chose not to reply, yet the Council was pleased overall.
Pepys's assertiveness in naval administration draws criticism from Buckingham.
“Creed told me this day how when the King was at my Lord Cornwallis's, when he went last to Newmarket, that being there on a Sunday, the Duke of Buckingham did in the afternoon to please the King make a bawdy sermon to him out of Canticles, and that my Lord Cornwallis did endeavour to get the King a whore, and that must be a pretty girl the daughter of the parson of the place, but that she did get away, and leaped off of some place and killed herself, which if true is very sad.”
Creed recounted that during the King's visit to Lord Cornwallis, the Duke of Buckingham delivered a lewd sermon from the Song of Solomon to amuse the King, and Lord Cornwallis tried to procure a local parson's daughter as a prostitute, but she escaped and committed suicide.
A scandalous anecdote revealing the moral laxity at court.
“I find him much concerned in the present enquiries now on foot of the Commissioners of Accounts, though he reckons himself and the rest very safe, but vexed to see us liable to these troubles, in things wherein we have laboured to do best.”
Pepys observes that Sir William Coventry is worried about the ongoing investigations by the Commissioners of Accounts, even though he believes they are secure; he is annoyed that their honest efforts are still subject to scrutiny.
Reflects the tension between naval administrators and external auditors.
