Poison Pen

Up by 4 in the morning to write letters to sea and a commission for him that Murford solicited for.
Called on by Captain Sparling, who did give me my Dutch money again, and so much as he had changed into English money, by which my mind was eased of a great deal of trouble. Some other sea captains. I did give them a good morning draught, and so to my Lord (who lay long in bed this day, because he came home late from supper with the King). With my Lord to the Parliament House, and, after that, with him to General Monk’s, where he dined at the Cock-pit. I home and dined with my wife, now making all things ready there again.
Thence to my Lady Pickering, who did give me the best intelligence about the Wardrobe. Afterwards to the Cockpit to my Lord with Mr. Townsend, one formerly and now again to be employed as Deputy of the Wardrobe.
Thence to the Admiralty, and despatched away Mr. Cooke to sea; whose business was a letter from my Lord about Mr. G. Montagu to be chosen as a Parliament-man in my Lord’s room at Dover; and another to the Vice- Admiral to give my Lord a constant account of all things in the fleet, merely that he may thereby keep up his power there; another letter to Captn. Cuttance to send the barge that brought the King on shore, to Hinchingbroke by Lynne.
To my own house, meeting G. Vines, and drank with him at Charing Cross, now the King’s Head Tavern.
With my wife to my father’s, where met with Swan, an old hypocrite, and with him, his friend and my father, and my cozen Scott to the Bear Tavern. To my father’s and to bed.

I write letters to some other sea,
who lay long in bed—
one formerly and now again
to be employed as the sea—
about the admiral, an old hypocrite.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 20 June 1660.

One Reply to “Poison Pen”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.