"That he do think that the Duke of Buckingham hath a mind rather to overthrow all the kingdom, and bring in a Commonwealth, wherein he may think to be General of their Army, or to make himself King, which, he believes, he may be led to, by some advice he hath had with conjurors, which he do affect." Shades of "Macbeth." Sam has seen it and liked it, so maybe Buckingham has too.
IMHO, Elizabeth is caught up in misdirected anger. The person she is really mad at is herself, because she could have had flings with Lord Sandwich, or the dashing Captain Ferrers, or maybe young Lord Hinchinbroke, and probably countless others, because of her beauty, but didn't. Over the years her consequent resentment has so eaten away at her that now, with it brought to a head by the Deb incident, she shall "never sleep more" and raves like Lady Macbeth.
"Does anyone have any insight as to why our hero never became Sir Sam?" Kelvin: It was suggested somewhere (I can't recall where) that he probably wouldn't have wanted that honor because of the expense (or "charge," in his era's usage). I think he should be awarded a knighthood posthumously.
"Was Samuel a typical man of his time and status or was he a rake?" I believe he was typical precisely BECAUSE he was a rake. But not all men were. For example, his contemporary Isaac Newton died a virgin.
In case I'm not the only one who wondered about "turner," it's someone who forms articles on a lathe, and "turnery" consists of those articles, of which there are many on a ship, such as belaying pins, and Mrs. Turner's husband's occupational surname indicates he had a turner long ago in his family tree.
"Work took more than 200 years . . . ." I'm surprised it didn't take longer than that. The book "Sarum" is a good read about how long it took to build a cathedral, and "Secrets of the Castle" on Amazon Prime Videos shows what went into construction in early times. Sad to hear about poor Fancy.
JWB on 14 Sep 2011: "Less than honorable behavior by Duke of York." Mary on 14 Sep 2011: "Politics and honour don't necessarily go together." Me: They hardly ever do.
James the DoY obviously trusts and relies on Sam completely. In view of the fact that Sam sees this handover of material mainly as a way to protect himself, James is an innocent.
Samuel Pepys, ghost writer to the Duke of York, is required to reply to the duke's "great letter" which he (Sam) has written. It sounds like a plot line in a novel.
James Duke of York strikes me as a very conscientious and serious person, in contrast to his lax and lazy older brother, King Charles II, who is a slacker. The pair remind me a bit of Prince of Wales Charles, the next king, who talks to plants, and his redoubtable and tireless younger sister the Princess Royal Anne, who is staunch like Prince Philip and has been described as the only child of Queen Elizabeth II who has "the right stuff" to be the next monarch.
Last night I watched a movie on Amazon that might interest Pepysians as a sort of prequel to the diary: "Cromwell" (1970, 2 hrs 19 mins). Richard Harris is riveting as Oliver Cromwell, and Alec Guinness makes a wonderfully weak and mild-mannered King Charles I, with a very brief glimpse also of the young Charles II. I had always heard of the "English civil war"; I never realized that there were actually THREE of them: the First Civil War, the Second Civil War, and the third Civil War, all crammed into about a decade. The initial preparations for warfare against the king call to mind that the teenaged Edward Montagu, later the first Earl of Sandwich and "my lord" to Sam, rode through the countryside to round up local farmers and such to become soldiers. Interesting scenes in Parliament make clear the reasons for the people's charge of treason against the king, who had attempted to ally foreign powers (Ireland and France) to fight against his subjects, the English. The depiction of the execution of Charles I also calls up images of Sam's schoolboy attendance at the event. (One almost looks for him in the crowd.) Some of the characters in the movie are the regicides who are hunted down in the early days of the diary and hanged, drawn, and quartered. It was also a surprise to me that after the war was over, Cromwell, who had been offered the crown but refused it, waited six years before cirruption and anarchy led him to become the Lord Protector, and he was Lord Protector for only five years before his death. It is all a very substantial preparation for the diary, and well worth watching.
Greetings to all from retirement in the NOLA French Quarter. LKvM here, as Linda Kay van Marjenhoff, which is the older version of my name, Linda Kay Hoff. I have also commented occasionally as Batch, in memory of my husband, Jimmy Batchelor. I have a Ph.D. in German literature (Northwestern Univ., 1980), but in my study of German I noted a certain 19th-century German obsession with Hamlet's indecision that blended with my abiding interest in all things Shakespearean and caused me to write a new historicism treatment of *Hamlet* called *Hamlet's Choice*. It may have been a note referring to Sam's opinion of *Hamlet* that led me to discover this blog in about 2008. I followed it daily from then until October 2011, when I stopped because my husband committed suicide. I didn't take the diary up again until its second iteration began, when I finally read the diary's exciting beginning, then re-read all through the middle, and now, in August 2021, am approaching the end for the first time. It has been a delight. I second the motions to have Sam posthumously knighted and to have Phil knighted as well. Thank you, Phil and all the annotators, for a wonderful trip! Linda: lindakayhoff@gmail.com
Re women walking alone, Elizabeth was angry at Sam and walked away alone at the beginning of the diary, when they were still living in Axe Yard. The assumed guilt of a woman caught alone with a man is clear in "Vanity Fair" when Becky Sharp is surprised by the piano alone with a man: "I am innocent!" she says instantly. Also, even today, it "trouble[s] me, to see the confidence of the vice of the age." You're right on, Sam.
"So to Cooper’s; and there find my wife and W. Hewer and Deb., sitting, and painting; and here he do work finely, though I fear it will not be so like as I expected: but now I understand his great skill in musick, his playing and setting to the French lute most excellently; and speaks French, and indeed is an excellent man." In spite of the fact that Sam fears his wife's likeness "will not be so like as I expected," he is so distracted by Cooper's skill in music, the French lute, and the French language that he uncharacteristically overlooks the primary fact that he engaged Cooper for a portrait for which Cooper may be incapable of meeting his expectations.
Impromptu tours of a residence can have unpleasant results. It's lucky for Sam and everyone in Sam's household that the place was shipshape and looking good that day!
" . . . whereas we take pains in expectation of future comfort and ease, I have taught myself to reflect upon myself at present as happy, and enjoy myself in that consideration . . . . " Me too. BTW, of all the beautiful places I have been to and have seen, St. George's Chapel at Windsor is by far the most impressive.
Comments
Second Reading
About Monday 23 November 1668
LKvM • Link
"That he do think that the Duke of Buckingham hath a mind rather to overthrow all the kingdom, and bring in a Commonwealth, wherein he may think to be General of their Army, or to make himself King, which, he believes, he may be led to, by some advice he hath had with conjurors, which he do affect."
Shades of "Macbeth." Sam has seen it and liked it, so maybe Buckingham has too.
About Sunday 15 November 1668
LKvM • Link
"Dumpish." Great word.
About Tuesday 10 November 1668
LKvM • Link
IMHO, Elizabeth is caught up in misdirected anger. The person she is really mad at is herself, because she could have had flings with Lord Sandwich, or the dashing Captain Ferrers, or maybe young Lord Hinchinbroke, and probably countless others, because of her beauty, but didn't.
Over the years her consequent resentment has so eaten away at her that now, with it brought to a head by the Deb incident, she shall "never sleep more" and raves like Lady Macbeth.
About Saturday 7 November 1668
LKvM • Link
"Does anyone have any insight as to why our hero never became Sir Sam?"
Kelvin:
It was suggested somewhere (I can't recall where) that he probably wouldn't have wanted that honor because of the expense (or "charge," in his era's usage).
I think he should be awarded a knighthood posthumously.
About Saturday 31 October 1668
LKvM • Link
Spot-on poetry quotation, Alexander Hamilton.
About Tuesday 27 October 1668
LKvM • Link
"Was Samuel a typical man of his time and status or was he a rake?"
I believe he was typical precisely BECAUSE he was a rake.
But not all men were. For example, his contemporary Isaac Newton died a virgin.
About Sunday 20 September 1668
LKvM • Link
In case I'm not the only one who wondered about "turner," it's someone who forms articles on a lathe, and "turnery" consists of those articles, of which there are many on a ship, such as belaying pins, and Mrs. Turner's husband's occupational surname indicates he had a turner long ago in his family tree.
About Wednesday 16 September 1668
LKvM • Link
"Work took more than 200 years . . . ."
I'm surprised it didn't take longer than that. The book "Sarum" is a good read about how long it took to build a cathedral, and "Secrets of the Castle" on Amazon Prime Videos shows what went into construction in early times.
Sad to hear about poor Fancy.
About Sunday 13 September 1668
LKvM • Link
JWB on 14 Sep 2011:
"Less than honorable behavior by Duke of York."
Mary on 14 Sep 2011:
"Politics and honour don't necessarily go together."
Me: They hardly ever do.
James the DoY obviously trusts and relies on Sam completely. In view of the fact that Sam sees this handover of material mainly as a way to protect himself, James is an innocent.
About Friday 11 September 1668
LKvM • Link
Samuel Pepys, ghost writer to the Duke of York, is required to reply to the duke's "great letter" which he (Sam) has written. It sounds like a plot line in a novel.
About Friday 28 August 1668
LKvM • Link
James Duke of York strikes me as a very conscientious and serious person, in contrast to his lax and lazy older brother, King Charles II, who is a slacker.
The pair remind me a bit of Prince of Wales Charles, the next king, who talks to plants, and his redoubtable and tireless younger sister the Princess Royal Anne, who is staunch like Prince Philip and has been described as the only child of Queen Elizabeth II who has "the right stuff" to be the next monarch.
About Friday 21 August 1668
LKvM • Link
Last night I watched a movie on Amazon that might interest Pepysians as a sort of prequel to the diary: "Cromwell" (1970, 2 hrs 19 mins).
Richard Harris is riveting as Oliver Cromwell, and Alec Guinness makes a wonderfully weak and mild-mannered King Charles I, with a very brief glimpse also of the young Charles II.
I had always heard of the "English civil war"; I never realized that there were actually THREE of them: the First Civil War, the Second Civil War, and the third Civil War, all crammed into about a decade.
The initial preparations for warfare against the king call to mind that the teenaged Edward Montagu, later the first Earl of Sandwich and "my lord" to Sam, rode through the countryside to round up local farmers and such to become soldiers.
Interesting scenes in Parliament make clear the reasons for the people's charge of treason against the king, who had attempted to ally foreign powers (Ireland and France) to fight against his subjects, the English.
The depiction of the execution of Charles I also calls up images of Sam's schoolboy attendance at the event. (One almost looks for him in the crowd.)
Some of the characters in the movie are the regicides who are hunted down in the early days of the diary and hanged, drawn, and quartered.
It was also a surprise to me that after the war was over, Cromwell, who had been offered the crown but refused it, waited six years before cirruption and anarchy led him to become the Lord Protector, and he was Lord Protector for only five years before his death.
It is all a very substantial preparation for the diary, and well worth watching.
About Roll Call. Say hello!
LKvM • Link
Greetings to all from retirement in the NOLA French Quarter. LKvM here, as Linda Kay van Marjenhoff, which is the older version of my name, Linda Kay Hoff. I have also commented occasionally as Batch, in memory of my husband, Jimmy Batchelor.
I have a Ph.D. in German literature (Northwestern Univ., 1980), but in my study of German I noted a certain 19th-century German obsession with Hamlet's indecision that blended with my abiding interest in all things Shakespearean and caused me to write a new historicism treatment of *Hamlet* called *Hamlet's Choice*.
It may have been a note referring to Sam's opinion of *Hamlet* that led me to discover this blog in about 2008. I followed it daily from then until October 2011, when I stopped because my husband committed suicide.
I didn't take the diary up again until its second iteration began, when I finally read the diary's exciting beginning, then re-read all through the middle, and now, in August 2021, am approaching the end for the first time.
It has been a delight. I second the motions to have Sam posthumously knighted and to have Phil knighted as well. Thank you, Phil and all the annotators, for a wonderful trip!
Linda: lindakayhoff@gmail.com
About Tuesday 28 July 1668
LKvM • Link
"The company being but little" -- the king, the DoY, Lady Castelmaine and her ilk were not there.
Sam goes to the theater not to be seen, but to see.
About Monday 27 July 1668
LKvM • Link
Re women walking alone, Elizabeth was angry at Sam and walked away alone at the beginning of the diary, when they were still living in Axe Yard.
The assumed guilt of a woman caught alone with a man is clear in "Vanity Fair" when Becky Sharp is surprised by the piano alone with a man: "I am innocent!" she says instantly.
Also, even today, it "trouble[s] me, to see the confidence of the vice of the age." You're right on, Sam.
About Monday 20 July 1668
LKvM • Link
The widowed Queen Victoria's Scottish ghillie and favorite, John Brown, died of erysipelas two days after he contracted it.
About Friday 10 July 1668
LKvM • Link
"So to Cooper’s; and there find my wife and W. Hewer and Deb., sitting, and painting; and here he do work finely, though I fear it will not be so like as I expected: but now I understand his great skill in musick, his playing and setting to the French lute most excellently; and speaks French, and indeed is an excellent man."
In spite of the fact that Sam fears his wife's likeness "will not be so like as I expected," he is so distracted by Cooper's skill in music, the French lute, and the French language that he uncharacteristically overlooks the primary fact that he engaged Cooper for a portrait for which Cooper may be incapable of meeting his expectations.
About Monday 5 March 1665/66
LKvM • Link
Impromptu tours of a residence can have unpleasant results. It's lucky for Sam and everyone in Sam's household that the place was shipshape and looking good that day!
About Monday 26 February 1665/66
LKvM • Link
" . . . whereas we take pains in expectation of future comfort and ease, I have taught myself to reflect upon myself at present as happy, and enjoy myself in that consideration . . . . "
Me too. BTW, of all the beautiful places I have been to and have seen, St. George's Chapel at Windsor is by far the most impressive.
About Tuesday 7 November 1665
LKvM • Link
keys = quais