Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, the production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy Vie Wilson and I'm Polly Frying.
Speaker 1: Samuel Peeps has been something of a recurring character on
Speaker 1: our show. We have either name dropped him or read
Speaker 1: bits of his diaries, and our episodes on and Lister
Speaker 1: and the Pirate Henry every and the Straw Hat Riots
Speaker 1: and Britain's Theft of Tea from China and the body
Speaker 1: House Riots of sixteen sixty eight, uh, and the belief
Speaker 1: that the Royal Touch could cure your scraffula. I have
Speaker 1: to imagine previous hosts have at some point said something
Speaker 1: about Samuel Peeps too, but that's a lot harder for
Speaker 1: us to track at this point. I think all historians
Speaker 1: eventually talk about Namuel Peeps at all. Eventually comes back
Speaker 1: to Peeps. Something that came up in one of these
Speaker 1: discussions between Holly and me, which is was that we
Speaker 1: had both read selects from Peep's diary in school, and
Speaker 1: yet we did not know until working on this podcast
Speaker 1: how funny it could be. It was like our experience
Speaker 1: was the opposite of The Princess Bride, where somebody had
Speaker 1: gone through the diary and only left in the boring parts.
Speaker 1: When I started working on this episode, I was also
Speaker 1: surprised to learn that the funny parts were not the
Speaker 1: only thing left out of my Samuel Peep's experience in school.
Speaker 1: Our episode on Anne Lister's diaries talked about how much
Speaker 1: of them were dedicated to detailing her sexual relationships, and
Speaker 1: the same thing. It's true for Samuel Peeps, and parts
Speaker 1: of his diary are similarly explicit. Like one passage that
Speaker 1: I was reading as I was researching this caused me
Speaker 1: to go whoa out loud at my desk. We aren't
Speaker 1: gonna be reading that packet passage, but just like fair warning. See,
Speaker 1: I knew there was dirty stuff in the diaries, and
Speaker 1: I wonder if, and I don't remember exactly what copy
Speaker 1: I read at various points in my education, I wonder
Speaker 1: if maybe in my case, some of the funny stuff
Speaker 1: was there, but I didn't at the comedy. I think
Speaker 1: probably every every Samuel Peeps thing that I had read
Speaker 1: had been in an anthology, like, not a standalone copy
Speaker 1: of anything, And I like I went back and looked
Speaker 1: as I was working on this to be like am
Speaker 1: I am I like fudging my own memory here, and no,
Speaker 1: like my Norton Anthology of English Literature from back in
Speaker 1: my college days, like only has a couple of passages.
Speaker 1: They're only about the fire. They're not funny or racy
Speaker 1: in any way, and I think that like was the case,
Speaker 1: like anything that I was reading was was excerpted in
Speaker 1: another work and not like a standalone, more lengthy thing. Regardless, though,
Speaker 1: we're coming up on the anniversary of Peep's last diary entry,
Speaker 1: which was written on May thirty one of sixteen sixty nine,
Speaker 1: so it seemed like a good time to take a
Speaker 1: closer look, not just at the diary, but also at
Speaker 1: who Peeps was beyond his famous chronicle of life in
Speaker 1: seventeenth century London. Samuel Peeps was born in London on
Speaker 1: February sixteen thirty three. His father was a tailor and
Speaker 1: his mother was a butcher's daughter, so they were not
Speaker 1: a particularly prominent or affluent family. Samuel had ten siblings,
Speaker 1: but only two of them lived to adulthood, and of
Speaker 1: those three, Samuel was the oldest. With the help of
Speaker 1: other family, Samuel was able to go to school He
Speaker 1: went to Huntington Grammar School and then moved on to
Speaker 1: Saint Paul's School. From there he went to Cambridge, where
Speaker 1: he started a lifelong friendship with John Dryden, who would
Speaker 1: go on to be England's first poet Laureate. Peep's graduated
Speaker 1: with a b a in sixteen fifty three. The Peep's
Speaker 1: family had one connection that served Samuel extremely well. That
Speaker 1: was Edward Montague, who was Samuel's father's cousin and would
Speaker 1: eventually become the first Earl of Sandwich. He took an
Speaker 1: interest in Samuel and hired him as a secretary. Had
Speaker 1: that not happened, Samuel probably would have pursued a career
Speaker 1: in law. In sixteen fifty five, Samuel married Elizabeth sa Michelle.
Speaker 1: She was the daughter of a French Huguenot who had
Speaker 1: come to England as a refugee. They had a religious
Speaker 1: ceremony on October ten, sixteen fifty five, when Elizabeth was
Speaker 1: fourteen and Samuel was twenty two, and then they had
Speaker 1: a civil ceremony on December one, by which point she
Speaker 1: had turned fifteen. This was definitely a match made for
Speaker 1: love and not for money. The Sa Michelle's had been
Speaker 1: well off and prominent, but they had fallen on hard times,
Speaker 1: in part because of her father's religious conversion. Samuel wound
Speaker 1: up supporting several of them financially, but at the start
Speaker 1: of his marriage to Elizabeth he wasn't in a position
Speaker 1: to do that at all. He couldn't even afford lodgings
Speaker 1: for the two of them, so they had to live
Speaker 1: in his room in Montague's quarters at Whitehall Palace. In
Speaker 1: spine of their feelings for one another, which I mean,
Speaker 1: they do, seem to have genuinely been very fond of
Speaker 1: each other, and their ages today are highly questionable, but
Speaker 1: at the time, like that was, those are pretty normal
Speaker 1: ages to get married. Their marriage got off to a
Speaker 1: really rocky start. Elizabeth had some sort of recurring, persistent
Speaker 1: gynecological problem, and Samuel was in a lot of pain
Speaker 1: due to stones and his bladder and urinary tracts, so
Speaker 1: from the very beginning their physical relationship was difficult and
Speaker 1: probably painful for both of them. Elizabeth's feelings on this
Speaker 1: aren't really recorded anywhere, but it was hugely frustrating for Samuel. Also,
Speaker 1: while Samuel was besotted with his wife, he was deeply
Speaker 1: jealous and possessive. She was lovely, lively, and charming, intended
Speaker 1: to attract the attention of other men. As far as
Speaker 1: we know, Elizabeth was always faithful to Samuel, but she
Speaker 1: also clearly enjoyed flattery and attention. If Samuel thought a
Speaker 1: man was paying too much attention to her, or that
Speaker 1: she was being too flirtatious, he would get angry about it,
Speaker 1: and assigned from that he could be very critical of her.
Speaker 1: All of this together made their relationship really tense. Elizabeth
Speaker 1: went back home to her family for a few months
Speaker 1: in sixteen fifty seven, returning to Samuel at Whitehall in December.
Speaker 1: They finally moved into a place of their own the
Speaker 1: following August. Although their relationship continued to have just serious
Speaker 1: ups and downs. They both had volatile tempers. Peeps had
Speaker 1: a lot of affairs, and they were known to fight
Speaker 1: and even threaten each other when things got really heated.
Speaker 1: At least in Peep's diary, though, which is virtually the
Speaker 1: only source of information that we have about Elizabeth. They
Speaker 1: also seemed really genuinely fond of each other when things
Speaker 1: were good. On March sixty eight, Peeps had a lethotomy,
Speaker 1: which is a surgical procedure to remove a bladder stone.
Speaker 1: A surgeon named Thomas Hollier removed a stone that measured
Speaker 1: about two inches in diameter, which Samuel kept in a
Speaker 1: specially made case to show to people afterward. He recovered
Speaker 1: with no complications, which is incredible considering that there was
Speaker 1: no anesthesia and the instruments weren't in any way sterile.
Speaker 1: These surgeries weren't uncommon at the time, but deaths and
Speaker 1: complications were pretty commonplace. Peeps developed other stones later on,
Speaker 1: but for a time after this procedure, he was almost
Speaker 1: symptom free. I said in this outline that he recovered
Speaker 1: with no complications. He and Elizabeth never had any children,
Speaker 1: and one of the things that people site as maybe
Speaker 1: a reason for that is that this procedure might have
Speaker 1: been successful at removing the stone, but also might have
Speaker 1: inadvertently made him unable to have children. That's all very speculative, though,
Speaker 1: like we don't know exactly why they didn't have any children.
Speaker 1: Peeps wrote his first diary entry on January first, sixteen sixty,
Speaker 1: and he referred to this ailment in the very first sentence, quote,
Speaker 1: Blessed be God. At the end of the last year.
Speaker 1: I was in very good health, without any sense of
Speaker 1: my old pain, but upon taking of cold. We'll talk
Speaker 1: more about the diary later, especially through this next section
Speaker 1: of the episode, but this is when he started keeping it.
Speaker 1: Sixteen sixty was a big year for Samuel Peeps. He
Speaker 1: finished his master's degree and he was part of the
Speaker 1: fleet that brought King Charles the Second back to England.
Speaker 1: Super quick recap Charles the Second Father Charles the First
Speaker 1: was king during the English Civil War, which were a
Speaker 1: series of conflicts primarily between Royalists and parliamentarians. Charles the
Speaker 1: First was executed in sixteen forty nine and Charles the
Speaker 1: Second was forced into exile in sixteen fifty one. Oliver Cromwell,
Speaker 1: who had been a general on the parliamentarian side, became
Speaker 1: Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Not long after
Speaker 1: Cromwell's death in sixteen fifty eight, royalists started working out
Speaker 1: a deal to restore Charles two to the throne. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it was a lot more complicated than those quick highlights,
Speaker 1: and also complicated were their loyalties of Peep's patron Edward Montague.
Speaker 1: Montague had fought on the parliamentarian side and he had
Speaker 1: been closely connected to both Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard,
Speaker 1: who tried unsuccessfully to follow in his late father's footsteps.
Speaker 1: Montague had actually advocated for Oliver Cromwell to be crowned
Speaker 1: as king. But by the spring of sixteen fifty nine,
Speaker 1: royalists and parliamentarians alike, we're wondering if Montague's allegiance was
Speaker 1: shift ding Charles the Seconds. Representatives made overtures to him,
Speaker 1: while Parliament stripped him of his Admiralty commission, and for
Speaker 1: good reason, he was negotiating in secret for the return
Speaker 1: of the king. But after a very politically chaotic end
Speaker 1: of sixteen fifty nine and beginning of sixteen sixty, Montague
Speaker 1: was reappointed to the Admiralty Commission and made General of
Speaker 1: the Sea, along with George Monk, who was actively working
Speaker 1: to restore Charles the Second to the throne. Once a
Speaker 1: deal was negotiated for Charles's return, Montague secured the fleet
Speaker 1: that traveled to the Netherlands to bring him back to England,
Speaker 1: and thanks to Montague's influence, Samuel Peeps was on board
Speaker 1: with that fleet. The fleet landed back at Dover with
Speaker 1: the King on sixteen sixty, and almost immediately Charles the
Speaker 1: Second made Montague and Earl. That was the beginning of
Speaker 1: a tremendously eventful decade for Peeps personally and for Britain
Speaker 1: in general. And then we're going to talk more about
Speaker 1: all of that after a sponsor break. After Edward Montague
Speaker 1: became the Earl of Sandwich, he told Samuel Peeps quote,
Speaker 1: we must have a little patience and we will rise together.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, I will do you all the good
Speaker 1: jobs I can. This worked out really well for Peeps
Speaker 1: through the Earl's influence. In the summer of sixteen sixty,
Speaker 1: he was named Clerk of the Acts at the Navy Board.
Speaker 1: That's the administrative board responsible for running the Royal Navy
Speaker 1: and keeping it maintained and supplied. This position came along
Speaker 1: with a salary and a house, and it also meant
Speaker 1: that Peeps became a Justice of the peace in the
Speaker 1: counties where the dockyards were located. This was the beginning
Speaker 1: of a lifelong career as a naval administrator. Peeps was
Speaker 1: a very hard worker, but he didn't actually know anything
Speaker 1: about the navy like at all. Nearly his entire experience
Speaker 1: was going on that voyage to bring Charles the Second
Speaker 1: back to England. So at first he mostly just deferred
Speaker 1: to the rest of the words, some of whom had
Speaker 1: decades of navy experience. But over the next couple of years,
Speaker 1: Peeps realized that having a long career in the Navy
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily make a person an upstanding naval administrator or
Speaker 1: any good at it. He started to see a lot
Speaker 1: of laziness and waste and corruption, and he became especially
Speaker 1: distrustful of the men whose commands had been passed down
Speaker 1: to them through their families rather than rising through the
Speaker 1: ranks based on their merit. But none of these opinions
Speaker 1: erased the fact that these men had knowledge and experience
Speaker 1: that Peeps just didn't, so he got to work trying
Speaker 1: to close that gap as much as he could. His
Speaker 1: own education had been really weak in maths, so he
Speaker 1: got a tutor and started learning multiplication tables. He immersed
Speaker 1: himself in the terminology and procedures and measurements that were
Speaker 1: needed to build, maintain, and supply ships. Soon he stopped
Speaker 1: following the lead of the more senior board members and
Speaker 1: started trying to make things more efficient and orderly, which
Speaker 1: really drew the ire of some of his colleagues. Peeps
Speaker 1: was taking on an additional roles as well. He became
Speaker 1: secretary of the committee that ran the English colony at Tangier,
Speaker 1: which had been part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry when
Speaker 1: she married Charles the Second. He was elected as Fellow
Speaker 1: of the Royal Society in sixteen sixty five. The Second
Speaker 1: Anglo Dutch War started later that year, and many of
Speaker 1: the rest of the board were aging or at sea,
Speaker 1: so Peeps found himself overseeing a large part of the
Speaker 1: Navy's wartime administration, including setting up a centralized provisioning system.
Speaker 1: In the mid sixteen sixties, Peeps witnessed two catastrophes in
Speaker 1: very quick succession, the Great Plague of London and the
Speaker 1: Great Fire of London. The plague struck London in sixteen
Speaker 1: sixty five, although Peep's diary also includes news of the
Speaker 1: diseases spread elsewhere in the years before that, On April thirtieth,
Speaker 1: sixteen sixty five, he wrote, quote, great fears of the
Speaker 1: sickness here in the city, it being said that two
Speaker 1: or three houses are already shut up. God preserve us.
Speaker 1: All his entries through sixteen sixty five and into sixteen
Speaker 1: sixty six, detail fear of the plague and death tolls,
Speaker 1: some of which were enormous. On August thirty one, he wrote,
Speaker 1: quote in the city died this week seven thousand, four
Speaker 1: hundred ninety six and all of them six thousand, one
Speaker 1: hundred two of the plague. But it is feared that
Speaker 1: the true number of the dead this week is near
Speaker 1: ten thousand, partly from the poor that cannot be taken
Speaker 1: notice of through the greatness of the number, and partly
Speaker 1: from the Quakers and others that will not have any
Speaker 1: bell ring for them. For the first few months of
Speaker 1: sixteen sixty six, he records numbers that decrease, and an increase,
Speaker 1: and the decrease again, then finally noting a day of
Speaker 1: thanksgiving for the plagues end on November twenty, although he
Speaker 1: acknowledges that people were still dying, the plague was in
Speaker 1: its last months when the fire began on September two,
Speaker 1: sixteen sixty six. Peep's chronicled the fire much like he
Speaker 1: did the plague, detailing people's fears along with what was
Speaker 1: burning and the progression of the fire itself, and how
Speaker 1: this that he tried to stop it. The fire affected
Speaker 1: Peeps for months after it was over. The following February
Speaker 1: he wrote, quote, the weather for three or four days
Speaker 1: being come to be exceedingly cold again as any time
Speaker 1: this year. I did within these six days see smoke
Speaker 1: still remaining of the late fire in the city. And
Speaker 1: it is strange to think how to this day I
Speaker 1: cannot sleep at night without great terrors of fire. And
Speaker 1: this very night I could not sleep till almost two
Speaker 1: in the morning through thoughts of fire. The Second Anglo
Speaker 1: Dutch War was going on through all of this, and
Speaker 1: peace negotiations started in August of sixteen sixty six and
Speaker 1: lasted into the following year. As the negotiations progressed, the
Speaker 1: British government decided to recall the fleet and scale down
Speaker 1: the navy while still trying to protect England from a
Speaker 1: Dutch attack. On March twenty three, Peeps wrote, quote, at
Speaker 1: the office where Sir w Pen come, being returned from
Speaker 1: Chatham from considering the means of fortifying the River Medway
Speaker 1: by a chain at the dakes, and ships laid there
Speaker 1: with guns to keep the enemy from coming up to
Speaker 1: burn our ships. All our care being now to fortify
Speaker 1: ourselves against their invading US. So basically they didn't have
Speaker 1: enough money to keep maintaining the navy like at the
Speaker 1: strength that it had been while they were more actively
Speaker 1: at war. But the peace treaty had not been signed yet,
Speaker 1: so they needed to still have some kind of defense,
Speaker 1: and they were attempting to do this with a chain
Speaker 1: stretched across the mouth of the river. But a Dutch
Speaker 1: force did indeed attack the river midway. That happened on
Speaker 1: June nine, sixty seven. They broke through that chain, destroyed
Speaker 1: some of the ships, and captured others, including capturing the
Speaker 1: fleet's flagship, the Royal Charles. This was disastrous for the navy.
Speaker 1: It was terrifying for the British people since it put
Speaker 1: the Dutch in striking distance of London. Of course, then
Speaker 1: people questioned the judgment of the king over the whole thing,
Speaker 1: but the war did end with the Treaty of Bretta
Speaker 1: a month later. Peeps, being the administrator who had arranged
Speaker 1: so much of the withdrawal, was investigated repeatedly in the end,
Speaker 1: though the officers who made the decisions took more of
Speaker 1: the blame than the Navy board, who had figured out
Speaker 1: just how to carry out those decisions soon, though Peep's
Speaker 1: had other problems to worry about. On October eight his
Speaker 1: wife caught him with one of their maids, Deborah Willett.
Speaker 1: Deb was eighteen and she had been hired primarily as
Speaker 1: Elizabeth's companion, and Elizabeth was of course outraged. They were
Speaker 1: not caught talking. Peeps was explicit in his diary about
Speaker 1: exactly what was going on. On October thirty one, he wrote, quote,
Speaker 1: so ends this month with some quiet in my mind,
Speaker 1: though not perfect, after the greatest falling out with my
Speaker 1: poor wife, and through my folly with the girl that
Speaker 1: I ever had, and I have reason to be sorry
Speaker 1: and ashamed of it, and more to be troubled for
Speaker 1: the poor girl's sake, whom I fear I shall, by
Speaker 1: this means prove the ruin of though I shall think
Speaker 1: myself concerned both to love and be a friend to her.
Speaker 1: In November, Elizabeth forced Samuel to dismiss deb from their
Speaker 1: staff and agree to never see her again, but he
Speaker 1: did not keep that promise. He figured out where deb
Speaker 1: had gone and went to visit and give her some money.
Speaker 1: It is not clear whether he continued their affair after
Speaker 1: she was out of the household, though, and also this
Speaker 1: was not the only affair that Peeps detailed in his diary.
Speaker 1: He wrote about dalliances with his friends wives and his
Speaker 1: wife's friends and maids in their household, and on and
Speaker 1: on and on, and his attentions and these episodes were
Speaker 1: not always welcome. On August eighteenth of sixteen sixty seven,
Speaker 1: he wrote about going to church, where he quote stood
Speaker 1: by a pretty modest maid, whom I did labor to
Speaker 1: take by the hand and the body, but she would not,
Speaker 1: but got further and further from me, and at last
Speaker 1: I could perceive her to take pins out of her
Speaker 1: pocket to prick me if I should touch her again,
Speaker 1: which seeing I did forbear, and was glad I did
Speaker 1: spy her design. And then I fell to gaze upon
Speaker 1: another pretty maid and a few close to me, and
Speaker 1: she on me, and I did go about to take
Speaker 1: her by the hand, which she suffered a little, and
Speaker 1: then withdrew. So the sermon ended, and the church broke up,
Speaker 1: and my wars ended too, And so took coach and home,
Speaker 1: and there took up my wife and to Islington with her.
Speaker 1: Oh Peeps, as he was writing about the fallout of
Speaker 1: his wife's discovery of his affair. Peeps was also writing
Speaker 1: about problems with his eyes. His diary entries record pain,
Speaker 1: sensitivity to light, and trouble seeing. He found that drinking
Speaker 1: made it worse, but he didn't want to give up drink.
Speaker 1: He loved going to the theater, but the light bothered
Speaker 1: him there and he was forced to stop going. He
Speaker 1: tried all kinds of compresses and potions and pills to
Speaker 1: no effect, and he was granted several months of leave
Speaker 1: to try to recover. On May thirty one, sixteen sixty nine,
Speaker 1: he wrote his last diary entry, saying, in part quote,
Speaker 1: and thus ends all that I doubt I shall ever
Speaker 1: be able to do with my own eyes in the
Speaker 1: keeping of my journal, I being not able to do
Speaker 1: it any longer, having done now so long as to
Speaker 1: undo my eyes almost every time that I take a
Speaker 1: pen in my hand, And therefore, whenever comes of it,
Speaker 1: I must forbear, and therefore resolve from this time forward,
Speaker 1: to have it kept by my people in Longhand, and
Speaker 1: must therefore be contented to set down no more than
Speaker 1: is fit for them and all the world to know,
Speaker 1: or if there be anything which cannot be much, how
Speaker 1: my amours to deb are past, and my eyes hindering
Speaker 1: me in almost all other pleasures, I must endeavor to
Speaker 1: keep a margin in my book open, to add here
Speaker 1: and there a note in shorthand with my own hand.
Speaker 1: And so I would take myself to that course, which
Speaker 1: is almost as much as to see myself go into
Speaker 1: my grave. For which and all the discomforts that will
Speaker 1: accompany my being blind, the Good God prepare me. Not
Speaker 1: long after, Samuel and Elizabeth went to the Low Countries
Speaker 1: in France, where she contracted some sort of fever. She
Speaker 1: died on November ten, sixty nine, at the age of
Speaker 1: twenty nine. Samuel never remarried, but he did start an
Speaker 1: ongoing relationship with a woman named Mary Skinner not long after.
Speaker 1: She eventually moved into his home and seems to have
Speaker 1: acted as his wife in everything but name. But in
Speaker 1: spite of this real certainty in the last diary entry
Speaker 1: that he was going blind, Peeps did not lose his
Speaker 1: sight as he feared that he would, and his career
Speaker 1: continued on for almost two decades after his wife's death.
Speaker 1: We'll have more on that after another quick sponsor break.
Speaker 1: As Samuel Peeps was struggling with his eyesight and traveling
Speaker 1: with his wife. He was also up for election to
Speaker 1: the House of Commons, and that was an election that
Speaker 1: he lost. He also started facing rumors that he was
Speaker 1: a crypto papist or a secret Catholic. Catholics were highly
Speaker 1: suspect in England at this point, and Peeps had Catholic friends,
Speaker 1: some Catholic family members. There were some Catholic books in
Speaker 1: his library. All of this raised a lot of eyebrows.
Speaker 1: The Third Anglo Dutch War started in March of sixteen
Speaker 1: seventy two, and Peep's old benefactor, the Earl of Sandwich,
Speaker 1: was killed in action. The two men hadn't been close
Speaker 1: for a while. The Earl had been caught up in
Speaker 1: a scandal about the distribution of wartime prizes, and Peeves
Speaker 1: had made enough of a name for himself that he
Speaker 1: didn't really need the Earl's patronage anymore. Even so, Peeps
Speaker 1: was a banner bearer at the funeral. In sixteen seventy three,
Speaker 1: Parliament passed a test Act which banned Catholics and nonconforming
Speaker 1: Protestants from holding public office. King Charles the Second's brother,
Speaker 1: the Duke of York, refused to take the required oaths
Speaker 1: that were uh mandatory for Catholics, which he was, so
Speaker 1: he was forced to resign as Lord High Admiral. Afterward,
Speaker 1: the King established an Admiralty Commission and Peeps became its secretary.
Speaker 1: This was a promotion. It came with more income, more prestige,
Speaker 1: and a lot more influence. On November four, sixteen seventies,
Speaker 1: Peeps was elected to the House of Commons, but once
Speaker 1: again rumors surface that he was secretly Catholic, which led
Speaker 1: to another investigation. In the end, he kept his seat,
Speaker 1: although his work as an MP mostly stuck to matters
Speaker 1: of the navy, and he kept picking up new roles
Speaker 1: outside the government and his job with the Admiralty, including
Speaker 1: becoming a governor of Christ's Hospital, the Master of the
Speaker 1: Cloth Workers Company, and the Master of Trinity House. He
Speaker 1: also worked to reform and revitalize the Navy, especially when
Speaker 1: it came to setting standards and establishing regulations for how
Speaker 1: things should be done. He successfully lobbied for funding to
Speaker 1: build new ships, convincing the House of Commons to allocate
Speaker 1: six hundred thousand pounds for it in sixteen seventy seven.
Speaker 1: Largely due to Peep's influence, and planning. The strength of
Speaker 1: the Royal Navy nearly doubled while he was with the Admiralty.
Speaker 1: He did all this in the face of ongoing accusations
Speaker 1: that he was a crypto papist. His opponents even went
Speaker 1: so far as to accute his clerk of murder. In
Speaker 1: May of sixteen seventy nine, Peeps and Sir Anthony Dean
Speaker 1: were accused of leaking British secrets to France, and Peeps
Speaker 1: was again accused of secretly being Catholic. He resigned his
Speaker 1: position with the Admiralty and he and Dean were both
Speaker 1: sent to the tower. As this was going on, it
Speaker 1: was widely believed that Catholics were planning to assassinate the
Speaker 1: king and put his brother, the Duke of York, on
Speaker 1: the throne. This so called Popish plot did not exist,
Speaker 1: but people were certain that it did. Peeps started trying
Speaker 1: to put together his defense, but it turned out that
Speaker 1: the prosecution really did not have much of a case.
Speaker 1: One of the key witnesses against him was a butler
Speaker 1: that he had previously fired, and the charges were eventually dropped.
Speaker 1: Peep spent the next few years mostly out of the
Speaker 1: public eye, traveling, collecting books for his library, and acting
Speaker 1: as a secretary to Lord Dartmouth during an expedition to
Speaker 1: evacuate the British colony of Tangier after Britain decided to
Speaker 1: abandon it. Peep's returned to the Admiralty in four in
Speaker 1: a position that was created for him. That same year,
Speaker 1: he was elected President of the Royal Society. His biggest
Speaker 1: claim to fame in this role is that he arranged
Speaker 1: for the publication of Isaac Newton's prince Shipia Mathematica, with
Speaker 1: peeps imprimature featured very prominently on the frontispiece. This was, however,
Speaker 1: funded by Edmund Halley, not by Peeps or the Royal Society.
Speaker 1: This was because Peeps had already spent the Society's budget
Speaker 1: and some of his own money on the elaborately illustrated
Speaker 1: History of Fish by Francis Willoughby, which then had been
Speaker 1: a total commercial flop, like we talked about in our
Speaker 1: Christmas Time episode, or we talked about Charles Dickens and
Speaker 1: uh Christmas Carol and how he just really wanted all
Speaker 1: of these engravings and illustrations. All those things were very,
Speaker 1: very expensive, and Peeps that run through the whole entire budget.
Speaker 1: But if you look, there's i mean plenty of scans
Speaker 1: of the the frontispiece of of Newton's Princeship of Mathematica,
Speaker 1: and it's Samuel Peeps's name is one of the bigger
Speaker 1: things on that document. In sixteen eighty five, King Charles
Speaker 1: the Second died, and his brother, the Duke of York
Speaker 1: finally did become king, becoming James the Second and seventh.
Speaker 1: Peeps continued on with the admiralty under the new monarch,
Speaker 1: resuming his plans to strengthen the Royal Navy, while also
Speaker 1: just endlessly criticizing the people that had been in charge
Speaker 1: while he was gone. But none of this preparation did
Speaker 1: the king a lot of good. In sixteen eighty eight, William,
Speaker 1: the third Prince of Orange overthrew James and the Glorious Revolution.
Speaker 1: William became co regent with his wife Mary, who was
Speaker 1: also James's daughter. The new administration purged Charles's supporters from office.
Speaker 1: Peeps resigned, was briefly detained under suspicion for treason, and
Speaker 1: was ultimately released on medical grounds. Peeps spent most of
Speaker 1: his remaining life reading and studying, and amassing a huge
Speaker 1: library which he just continually reorganized and curated. He also
Speaker 1: published a book, Memoirs of the Royal Navy in sixteen ninety.
Speaker 1: Samuel Peeps died on May seventeen o three, at the
Speaker 1: age of seventy. He was buried next to his late
Speaker 1: wife Elizabeth, at St Olive Church. He left his three
Speaker 1: thousand volume library to Magdalen College at the University of Cambridge,
Speaker 1: with the stipulation that they be kept separate from the
Speaker 1: rest of the college's collection. Today, those are housed as
Speaker 1: Peep's Library, which is open to the public and to
Speaker 1: scholars alike. Peep's diaries were part of this collection. During
Speaker 1: the nine years that he was keeping the diary, Peeps
Speaker 1: would note each day's activities, often ending with and so
Speaker 1: to bed, and then every few days he would edit
Speaker 1: them a little bit. He didn't seem to meaningfully change
Speaker 1: the content, but he can't clean u up a little
Speaker 1: bit and copy them into a master journal. In addition
Speaker 1: to writing these in shorthand, he also used a hodgepodge
Speaker 1: of codes and other languages for the most salacious parts
Speaker 1: of it. The result was a set of six large
Speaker 1: volumes containing more than wanted a quarter million words for
Speaker 1: more than one hundred years after Peepe's death, no one
Speaker 1: knew what was in these diaries. It was only after
Speaker 1: John Evelyn's diaries were published in eighteen eighteen that scholars
Speaker 1: started trying to transcribe Peeps as well. Evelyn and Peeps
Speaker 1: lived at the same time. They were also friends. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're sort of the two companion diarists of this time
Speaker 1: in London. At the time, the people working with the
Speaker 1: diary thought that it was written in code, and a
Speaker 1: Cambridge undergraduate named John Smith took on the task of
Speaker 1: decoding it. King Charles the Second had dictated an account
Speaker 1: of his sixteen fifty one escaped from England to Samuel Peeps.
Speaker 1: Peeps had taken the dictation in Shorthand and then later
Speaker 1: transcribed it into longhand, intending to publish it. Smith compared
Speaker 1: these two versions to work out how to transcribe the diaries.
Speaker 1: This work wasn't actually necessary though. Peeps was really writing
Speaker 1: in Thomas Shelton's system of Shorthand, and the handbook for it,
Speaker 1: title Tutor to Techiography, was there in Peep's library as well.
Speaker 1: Somebody apparently told John Smith like some years later, by
Speaker 1: the way, the manual to this. It was like, it
Speaker 1: was right there. You didn't really I don't know what
Speaker 1: his reaction was. I envisioned some hair pulling and some screaming,
Speaker 1: but maybe that would just be me. It's it's either
Speaker 1: hair pulling and screaming. Were like. That was a fun challenge,
Speaker 1: though I don't mind that I did a bunch of
Speaker 1: totally unnecessary, tedious work. Portions of the transcribed diary were
Speaker 1: published starting in eight five, with longer editions coming out
Speaker 1: in the years that followed. A mostly complete addition, edited
Speaker 1: by HB. Wheatley, came out in ten volumes across through
Speaker 1: eight and all these nineteenth century versions, profanity and the
Speaker 1: most explicit parts are all edited out. There are phrases, sentences,
Speaker 1: or sometimes whole days removed. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about
Speaker 1: the Diaries in eighteen eighty six. He expressed some chagrin
Speaker 1: at the idea that some parts of them were quote
Speaker 1: unfit for publication, saying, quote we may think, without being sorted,
Speaker 1: that when we purchased six huge and distressingly expensive volumes,
Speaker 1: we are entitled to be treated rather more like scholars
Speaker 1: and rather less like children. The first edition that didn't
Speaker 1: edit out the sex and profanity came out almost another
Speaker 1: century later. It was another series of volumes published between
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy and nine eight three. So if you have
Speaker 1: only read the parts of the diary that are in
Speaker 1: the public domain and are probably also about either the
Speaker 1: plague or the fire, like we talked about at the
Speaker 1: top of the episode, you might have a very different
Speaker 1: impression of this diary than if you read other parts
Speaker 1: of an unexpurgated version. Just as examples. On October thirteen,
Speaker 1: sixteen sixty, he went out to see a public hanging,
Speaker 1: something that he seems to have really enjoyed doing this.
Speaker 1: One was Major General Thomas Harrison, who had been convicted
Speaker 1: of regicide in the execution of King Charles the First.
Speaker 1: Peep's wrote quote, I went out to Charing Cross to
Speaker 1: see Major General Harrison hanged, drawn and quartered, which was
Speaker 1: done there. He looking as cheerful as any man could
Speaker 1: in that condition. While on the boat with Charles the
Speaker 1: Second during his return to England, Peeps wrote about a
Speaker 1: dog defecating on the deck, saying quote, I went with
Speaker 1: Mr Mansell and one of the King's footmen with a
Speaker 1: dog that the King loved, which expletive deleted the boat,
Speaker 1: which made us laugh, which made me think that a
Speaker 1: king and all that belonged to him are but just
Speaker 1: as others are. He also didn't temper his opinions. On
Speaker 1: September sixty two, he wrote, quote, we saw Midsummer Night's Dream,
Speaker 1: which I had never seen before, nor shall ever again,
Speaker 1: for it is the most insipid, ridiculous play that I
Speaker 1: ever saw in my life. I saw I confess, some
Speaker 1: good dancing and some handsome women, which was all my pleasure.
Speaker 1: So yes, Peep's diaries include a pretty straight forward eyewitness
Speaker 1: account of several major historical events in the sixteen sixties.
Speaker 1: But Peep's clearly also thought everything around him was interesting
Speaker 1: and worth noticing. So these diaries are also a fascinating
Speaker 1: account of daily life in London, including what people ate
Speaker 1: and what they saw at the theater and what music
Speaker 1: was popular, and then little details like discovering that the
Speaker 1: wig you bought was full of knits, or what to
Speaker 1: do when you had tummy trouble while you were staying
Speaker 1: at somebody else's house and the maid forgot to leave
Speaker 1: you a chamber pot. It's full of all kinds of
Speaker 1: random things that he saw and was just delighted or
Speaker 1: surprised by, and of course all of those many, many affairs,
Speaker 1: and it's all online for free, except those most explicit parts. Uh.
Speaker 1: If you go to Peep's diary dot com, it's been
Speaker 1: putting up an entry a day at a time since
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen, along with lots of annotations and letters
Speaker 1: and other information. And there are additions at Project Guttenberg
Speaker 1: and archive dot org as well, so you have plenty
Speaker 1: to dig through. If you want to learn more, you
Speaker 1: can just click on some random stuff. You might have
Speaker 1: a day where he was in the office and everything
Speaker 1: was sort of just political administrative stuff. Or you might
Speaker 1: get one about a dog pooping on the deck of
Speaker 1: a boat. Do you have a little bit of listener mail?
Speaker 1: I do have listener mail. This from Maureen, Uh jumps
Speaker 1: back to a little bit older episode, but I still
Speaker 1: thought it was super interesting, so Marine says Hi, Tracy
Speaker 1: and Holly. I've been jumping around in the archive, so
Speaker 1: I know you've already received many emails on Sir Walter Raleigh. However,
Speaker 1: I thought you may enjoy this family story. My grandfather
Speaker 1: was a member of the Merchant Marines during World War Two,
Speaker 1: he always claimed that he had been on a boat
Speaker 1: that was sunk off the coast of Africa, not one,
Speaker 1: but two times during the war. Both times they were
Speaker 1: close enough to the shore that he was able to
Speaker 1: swim to safety. One of these times the locals came
Speaker 1: out in boats to rescue them. However, before being allowed
Speaker 1: to board the boat, each man had to pay for
Speaker 1: his passage with cigarettes. My grandfather apparently had the wrong brand.
Speaker 1: Either it was as Sir Walter Raleigh brand and they
Speaker 1: wanted something else, or vice versa. Regardless, only those crewmen
Speaker 1: with the appropriate brand were allowed to ride in the boats,
Speaker 1: while the rest had to swim the remaining distance. While
Speaker 1: he was stationed in Africa, we have a picture of
Speaker 1: him and uniform in front of the pyramids. My dad
Speaker 1: was always skeptical of this story, as my grandfather was
Speaker 1: known to be fond of a good story. However, recently,
Speaker 1: when doing some genealogy research, I came across an admittance
Speaker 1: document for him to the Port of New York in
Speaker 1: ninety four. There was a space to explain why he
Speaker 1: didn't have the appropriate paperwork, and it said went down
Speaker 1: with the ship, so we do at least have verification
Speaker 1: that he survived one shipwreck. On a separate note, I
Speaker 1: recently listened to your trans Atlantic cruising episode, Holly. If
Speaker 1: you ever do choose to go on at Disney Cruise,
Speaker 1: I recommend you choose either The Magic or the Wonder.
Speaker 1: Those two ships have adults only areas that are truly
Speaker 1: removed from kids on the ship. The Dream and Fantasy
Speaker 1: have awkwardly placed central adult suddenly areas where kids or
Speaker 1: adults with small kids accidentally have to walk through to
Speaker 1: get one side of the ship to the other. Bless
Speaker 1: you for this knowledge you have bestowed. Uh. That reminds
Speaker 1: me of the Some of the the cruise ships that
Speaker 1: I have been on have the casino awkwardly placed so
Speaker 1: that you have to walk through it to get from
Speaker 1: one part of the ship to the other end. The
Speaker 1: casino has traditionally been one of the places on the
Speaker 1: ship where smoking is allowed, so there has been sort
Speaker 1: of like if you would really rather not be around
Speaker 1: the smoke, some uh, some funagling to figure out how
Speaker 1: to get from one place on the ship to the
Speaker 1: other without walking through there anyway. She ends with an
Speaker 1: episode suggestion and thanks us for the detailed research and
Speaker 1: keeping her company on her commune. Thank you so much, Maureen,
Speaker 1: thank you for this note. I love it when people
Speaker 1: have family stories that connected the podcast in some way.
Speaker 1: That always delights me so much. And I also really
Speaker 1: like it when people have their stories to share about
Speaker 1: their family members in the service, because I had have family,
Speaker 1: my family members who have been in the of US,
Speaker 1: and I feel a little kinship when I hear people's
Speaker 1: other wartime military service stories. So thank you, Maureen. Thank
Speaker 1: you everyone to send who sends us emails if you
Speaker 1: would like to write to us about this or any
Speaker 1: other podcast, or just to say hello. We love emails,
Speaker 1: just say hello and emails with people's pets, pictures, and them.
Speaker 1: We're a history podcast at how stuff Works dot com,
Speaker 1: and then we're also all over social media at missed
Speaker 1: in History. That is where you'll find our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram,
Speaker 1: and Twitter. You can come to our website, which is
Speaker 1: missed in History dot com, where you will find the
Speaker 1: show notes for all the episodes that Holly and I
Speaker 1: have done together, and you will find a searchable archive
Speaker 1: of every episode ever. And you can subscribe to the
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