The First Book of Samuel, SAREJESS [ebook voice reader TXT] 📗

the inn was settled James Smallman got up and went off to refill the tankards of ale for the thirsty gentlemen with whom he had spent the best part of the previous hour, stopping to speak to a fellow with a fiddle who had come into the inn. The fellow began to play a lively tune to which a number of guests begun to tap. The sound of laughter and talk grew louder.

It was in little inns like this that over the next two hundred years lively minds would meet and discuses life and reason. The age of reason had begun. In fact one of the guests at that very table was one day to become a member of the Royal Society who would donate a whole lot of very interesting books to the university to which he went, in his will but that lay far into the future, right now he felt content with the world and with his new friend, his name sake Samuel as they sat talking and drinking Samuel found Pepys an interesting person. Pepys had a lively mind, always inquiring, laughing uproariously at whatever jokes Samuel had just made.

The coffee shop 1667
“Just like you” said Mr. Pepys “I did that wall in the Roman style the bits of broken tile to make the picture I think it looks wonderful, portrays the life of Rome as it was” said Samuel to Pepys. “Yes indeed it looks like a picture of the Roman life” agreed Pepys. “Although you might want to add to it by placing an ancient jar of some type in the corner to off set the painting” he continued.
“A wonderful idea” said Samuel “Mayhap a little Grecian urn will do the trick” said Samuel. They were in a room on the ground floor of the inn which had formally been an old storage space which Samuel had converted into a coffee shop. It was now decorated with benches tables and chairs in little alcoves. The sound of a busy industrious inn traveled through the open door it was an early evening in the year of our Lord 1667. Much of the city of London which had been destroyed by the late fire was now once more in the busy hands of the builders as they struggled to keep abreast of the new building codes which parliament had enacted under instruction from the King.

Samuel Pepys now a well-known guest at the inn and had been giving Samuel advice on how to expand his business, which seemed to be growing since Samuel had bought the inn from James Smallman. He had done very well for himself; the improvements which he had done had drawn even more guests than anything which he could previously have imagined. Samuel wondered that the stocky little man had time to advise him, seeing that he already had much to contend with at the Navy office, yet Mr. Pepys could be found of an evening at the Brass Bell advising his new friend and namesake in the decoration and the improvement of the inn of which he was so fond.

Indeed Mr. Pepys viewed the inn almost as a second home, to which he would on occasion bring his friends and acquaintances for a tankard of good English ale. Here Mr. Pepys and his fellows from the navy office could be found toasting the King ‘God bless Him’ and the Duke of York, from whom their good fortune flowed. On occasion, Mr. Pepys would be accompanied by his patron the Earl of Sandwich, who took a great interest in any improvement to the inn. Samuel would show Mr. Pepys and his noble guest to the best table in the house where they would sit for hours drinking and eating. Many a night Samuel would burn the midnight oil as he waited for their table to depart after an evening of well spent fun.

The guests that Mr. Pepys brought into the inn did not always please Samuel. On the rare occasion that Mr. Pepys brought his fellow naval man Sir William Penn, Samuel's face would grow dark with apprehension. Sir William was a glutton and always had a complaint about some thing. “Really, Samuel I don't know why you bring us to this pig sty” said Sir William to Mr. Pepys on one occasion. To which Mr. Pepys, it must be admitted did take some exception. “Sty? Sir William I see no sty here.” replied Pepys. If rumor was to be believed, when the two gentlemen’s wives got together, things grew much hotter. Samuel for one was glad he had not yet made the acquaintance of the two ladies.

It was said that Mr. Pepys was a rising star in the navy and many more senior men now sought him out for answers to the difficult questions, which faced them as they tried to work out various projects. Others sought him out to try and obtain a commission or a place on the navy lists; all of these things brought him a pretty penny. It was said that Mr. Pepys owned a great number of fine things, gifts from far off places brought by grateful sea captains, to the more mundane things. Mr. Pepys kept a fine eye on his household and its economy.

It was a stormy night when Mr. Pepys brought his wife Elizabeth to the Brass Bell inn for the first time. The small bell over the door rung as the door was pushed open by Mr. Pepys. “Come Elizabeth, step inside quickly or you will be quite frozen” he said as he held the door open for his lady. Stepping through the door the petite Elizabeth Pepys surveyed for the first time where her husband had spent many a happy hour.

Rubbing his hands together to warm them Samuel Pepys smiled across the room as Samuel Ferreira came closer “I give you good evening” said Samuel to his guests. “Greetings friend Samuel” said Pepys as he helped Elizabeth out of her wet cloak. “Come sit a while by the fire” said Samuel showing them to two comfortable chairs near the large fireplace. Should I bring you brandy?” he asked of Pepys. “Indeed that would be most welcome said Pepys.”

Samuel hurried off to pour the brandy while the lady Elizabeth looked around in surprise at how clean the inn was. She was not used to an inn which was so clean. The reason for this was through his long history Samuel had seen many an inn go to ruin due to slovenly treatment and he had no intention of helping the grim reaper take any more victims through his negligence. “Why Sam this is quite a nice inn” she said in her heavily accented English. She was of French extraction. “Indeed my dear this is one of the reasons why I frequent the place, besides the innkeeper is a very unusual man. Did you know he has been to Istanbul?” said Pepys. “He has seen the Grand Turk. Why he is positively the most traveled man I have ever yet met” said Mr. Pepys.

“Sam I would like you to meet my wife. This is Elizabeth of whom you have heard me speak” said Mr. Pepys. “The pleasure is mine” said Samuel bowing from the waist. “Oh a gentleman” said Elizabeth with laughter in her voice. Her smile was infectious. Samuel found himself smiling back at the young woman. It had been some time since he had felt so happy. “May I say Mr. Pepys that you have a wonderful wife. I am sure that you must keep her under lock and key lest a villain come to steal her away.” as he said this Samuel realized from the expression on Mr. Pepys face that he had committed some grievous social mistake. Pepys face had indeed hardened and he was no longer smiling. “Not that a villain would find it easy to capture the lady” said Samuel, trying to repair the damage. Pepys smile returned “Ah yes my wife would surely see that the villain would not surmount the fortress of her heart’ said Pepys as he kissed his wife’s hand.

It had belatedly come to Samuel's remembrance that he had once heard Sir William say that Mr. Pepys should not be so jealous of his young wife. If he continued he would have an attack of Apoplectics. Now Samuel understood what Sir William had meant when he had said those words. “And to think” Samuel thought “I could have lost a good customer because of some stupid remark. Well I will just have to be more careful with our Mr. Pepys.” The Pepys’ ordered dinner. Samuel took their order, a pheasant for Mr. Pepys and a half a duck for his lady with some claret. While Samuel instructed the kitchen as to the meal his mind turned to the wine, maybe claret to start with. To be followed by a Madera port. Yes he knew his customer well. Mr. Pepys would have forgotten by the end of the evening of his little lapse, in the mellowness of a good meal and a few good glasses of wine and port why Mr. Pepys was already positively beaming when he saw the tray on which his Pheasant was roasted coming towards him. Samuel decanted the bottle of claret.

It had been some days since Mr. Pepys had been to the Brass Bell. London was full of rumors that the Dutch had taken the fort at Sheerness; the whole city was in a panic. Many packed up their possessions and fled the city. In the streets one occasionally heard that those devils the Dutchmen would rape every woman in the city. There were reports of the Dutch landing. Later the Dutch fleet was in the river at Chatham. Ships had been burned, others taken with out a shot being fired. London had watched as one of the mighty men of war the H.M.S. Royal Charles had been taken. The Dutch had once more set out to sea with their prize in tow.

Tonight Samuel Pepys was in a dismal mood having watched the destruction of so many fine ships which he had helped to build. He sat in an alcove bitter and angry. “And where had watermen been?” he said to the group who gathered round him to hear the latest. “Why gone of to save their own property after I ordered them to tow the ships further up river.”

“Damn your eyes De Ruyter! Damn you to hell!” he shouted as he nursed the ever-present tankard of ale. “Samuel bring me something to eat. I am quite finished.” he said to the innkeeper. Samuel had known many men in his life. He had never felt sorrier for any one then the little man before him now.

“There have been reports that the Dutch have landed. I had some of my navies stand guard at the Navy board office these three nights” he said. Samuel the innkeeper returned to the table with a dish of stew which Mr. Pepys began to devour hungrily. “A moment if you please Samuel” said Pepys breaking of a piece of bread from a loaf. “Can you provide a meal for about ten men with a barrel of your ale for my poor navies? It is a cold night to be a broad and even worse for those poor men who now stand guard at the navy office.”

“Indeed Mr. Pepys it would be a pleasure to do it for you” said Samuel, as he hurried off to make the necessary arrangements. In the meanwhile Pepys continued talking to the small group who had gathered round him. “I saw his Grace the Duke of York at court today, the poor man was in tears when