Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
Up to my Lord and from him to the Treasurer of the Navy for 500l.. After that to a tavern with Washington the Purser, very gallant, and ate and drank. To Mr. Crew’s and laid my money. To my Lady Pickering with the plate that she did give my Lord the other day. Then to Will’s and met William Symons and Doling and Luellin, and with them to the Bull- head, and then to a new alehouse in Brewer’s Yard, where Winter that had the fray with Stoakes, and from them to my father’s.
Temperature: 14°C / 57°F (Jun 1660 avg.)
Pepy’s silence on the subject of his wife is getting louder. I would wonder if their reunion went badly. Sam is excited about his sudden rise in station, his hobnobbing with royalty, and his wife starts out scolding him for leaving her alone for so long, complaining about her accomodations, and wondering when their house will be ready again. Sam may be realising that he will always be just the ordinary Sam Pepys she married to his wife, and that she will never be able to appreciate the world he is now moving in.
Yes Mister Bunce, I too noted how little SP has mentioned EP. Is it possible that Sam feels beyond her? It is always difficult for the traveller to relate the journey to those left behind. But Sam’s world is now much larger than it was not 3 months ago. This had to affect the marriage.
Let’s not read too much into Sam’s failure
to mention his wife at the end of each day. He’s busy networking and these entries are just succint notes of who he’s met and what he’s arranged each day. If the reunion had gone badly, I’m sure we should have heard about it. Once he’s settled his new work-pattern I’m sure he’ll find time to make domestic notes again.
Bit of stereotyping going on - casting Mrs P as a nagging shrew on total absence of evidence. Au contraire - bringing in my own generalisation here - men do not comment when things are satisfactory/normal. Only the exceptional requires record: would he really note a spot of ink on the tablecloth and NOT ‘my wife uncommon peevish’?