September 1664 explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Naval Administration and Corruption

  Pepys laments the office's sluggishness in preparing for war, while simultaneously profiting from the Tangier victualling contract, saving the King money but also securing personal gain.

• Theatre and Public Entertainment

  Pepys attends The Rivalls at the Duke's house and visits Bartholomew Fair, enjoying rope dancing and shows.

• Money, Debt, and Economy

  Pepys receives £105 from the Tangier contract, considers investing money at 6% interest, and deals with family debts and payments.

• Daily Life and Domesticity

  Pepys deals with health issues (itching, sore throat), domestic arrangements (maids, wife's illness), and household management.

Characters to notice

• Samuel Pepys

  Troubled by office sluggishness, secures profit from Tangier contract, pursues Jane Welsh, attends plays and fair, deals with health and family debts.

• Elizabeth Pepys

  Not well, stays in bed part of the month, goes to Bartholomew Fair with Pepys.

• Sir John Minnes

  Falls sick at church and collapses, later reproaches the office in a childish manner about his lack of a house.

• Sir William Coventry

  Supports Pepys in opposing Colonel Legge's estimate at the Tangier Committee, helping save the King money.

• Sir George Carteret

  Meets with the office about hiring a house for himself.

• Mr. Creed

  Dines with Pepys, discusses the necessity of good clothes, offers to put out money for Pepys at 6% interest.

• Mr. Pierce

  Dines with Pepys and Creed.

• Roger Pepys

  Mentioned in context of family debts; Prior of Brampton pays Pepys £40.

Key passages

• “we sat all the morning, and I much troubled to think what the end of our great sluggishness will be, for we do nothing in this office like people able to carry on a war. We must be put out, or other people put in.”

  Pepys worries that the Navy Office's inactivity will lead to their dismissal or replacement, as they are not acting like a body capable of managing a war.

  Reflects Pepys's anxiety about naval administration and the impending war with the Dutch.

• “I received, by Will, £105, the firstfruits of my endeavours in the late contract for victualling of Tangier, for which God be praised! for I can with a safe conscience say that I have therein saved the King £5,000 per annum, and yet got myself a hope of £300 per annum without the least wrong to the King.”

  Pepys celebrates his first profit from the Tangier victualling contract, claiming he saved the King £5,000 a year while securing a personal income of £300 annually, all without dishonesty.

  Highlights the blend of public service and private gain in Pepys's career.

• “Here Sir J. Minnes took occasion, in the most childish and most unbeseeming manner, to reproach us all, but most himself, that he was not valued as Comptroller among us, nor did anything but only set his hand to paper, which is but too true; and everybody had a palace, and he no house to lie in, and wished he had but as much to build him a house with, as we have laid out in carved worke.”

  Sir John Minnes childishly complains that he is undervalued as Comptroller, does nothing but sign papers, and has no house while others have palaces, envying the money spent on carved work.

  Illustrates office tensions and Sir John Minnes's incompetence and resentment.