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Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 02: January 1659-1660

Samuel Pepys · c. 1659-1660 (Jan 1659/60 OS) primary

passage 14 of 26 · book i.] (12/24)

↪ you wandered here via “Hammersmith London lodgings” — the connecting lines are tinted below

in brief
On the 16th and 17th Pepys worries about office matters and travel to Twickenham, sings and drinks with friends near Charing Cross, hears a dueling killing at Kensington, then travels toward Twickenham and Brentford market day.

this very line, and cried, "Past one of the clock, and a cold, frosty, windy morning." I then went to bed, and left my wife and the maid a-washing still.

17th. Early I went to Mr. Crew's, and having given Mr. Edward money to give the servants, I took him into the coach that waited for us and carried him to my house, where the coach waited for me while I and the child went to Westminster Hall, and bought him some pictures. In the Hall I met Mr. Woodfine, and took him to Will's and drank with him. Thence the child and I to the coach, where my wife was ready, and so we went towards Twickenham. In our way, at Kensington we understood how that my Lord Chesterfield had killed another gentleman about half an hour before, and was fled.

[Philip Stanhope, second Earl of Chesterfield, ob. 1713, act. suae 80. We learn, from the memoir prefixed to his "Printed Correspondence," that he fought three duels, disarming and wounding his first and second antagonists, and killing the third. The name of the unfortunate gentleman who fell on this occasion was Woolly. Lord Chesterfield, absconding, went to Breda, where he obtained the royal pardon from Charles II. He acted a busy part in the eventful times in which he lived, and was remarkable for his steady adherence to the Stuarts. Lord Chesterfield's letter to Charles II., and the King's answer granting the royal pardon, occur in the Correspondence published by General Sir John Murray, in 1829.

"Jan. 17th, 1659. The Earl of Chesterfield and Dr. Woolly's son of Hammersmith, had a quarrel about a mare of eighteen pounds price; the quarrel would not be reconciled, insomuch that a challenge passed between them. They fought a duel on the backside of Mr. Colby's house at Kensington, where the Earl and he had several passes. The Earl wounded him in two places, and would fain have then ended, but the stubbornness and pride of heart of Mr. Woolly would not give over, and the next pass [he] was killed on the spot. The Earl fled to Chelsea, and there took water and escaped. The jury found it chance-medley."--Rugge's "Diurnal," Addit MSS., British Museum.--B.]

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topics: courage and cowardice · faction, party, and civil strife · roads, journeys, and overland travel

Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 02: January 1659-1660 · Samuel Pepys · 1659–1660