Thursday 27 December 1660

Annotations

• N dirk on Sun 28 Dec 2003, 01:01am

  “the maid, who pleased my wife and I in her running up and down so innocently in her smock”

  Sam still has an eye for beauty (his wife too apparently) - in spite of his hangover. As we know, Jane was a very attractive young woman…
  

• N Bradford on Sun 28 Dec 2003, 01:57am

  The “Shorter Pepys” fills in the last sentence’s lacuna:

  “and in the morning was pretty well—-only got cold and so have pain in pissing, as I used to have.”

  After such a night, most of us in the morning would have felt like Hell, unless we too are 27 going on 28. Eheu fugaces labuntur anni!

• N vincent on Sun 28 Dec 2003, 02:39am

  the saying brings up 263 versions in “G”
  eheu! fugaces labuntur anni.:
  Eheu ! fugaces, Postume, Postume, labuntur anni !
  Alas! our fleeting years pass away
  from

  EHEV fugaces, Postume, Postume
  labuntur anni nec pietas moram
  rugis et instanti senectae
  adferet indomitaeque morti;
  http://www.bartleby.com/245/134.html

  Eheu fugaces Horace (65 B.C.

• N Mary on Sun 28 Dec 2003, 09:33am

  ”.. and in the morning was pretty well..”

  Here is another of those plain indications that Pepys often wrote up his diary in retrospect rather than last thing at night on the day in question.

• N Todd Bernhardt on Sun 28 Dec 2003, 02:11pm

  “there came in a strange lord”…

  Anyone have any ideas about this? Strange indeed…

• N helena murphy on Sun 28 Dec 2003, 05:11pm

  The appearance of the “strange lord” whom nobody seems to know does add an interesting gothic touch to the journal’s entry worthy of Sheridan Le Fanu.It is a pity that the writing of fiction does not come into its own until well into the next century,as Sam’s humour,curiosity, observation and evident love of writing are also the hallmarks of a good storyteller.

• N dirk on Sun 28 Dec 2003, 08:13pm

  the “strange lord”

  I checked the remaining part of Pepys’ diary (as thoroughly as I could!) and there is no more mention of this “strange lord”.

  This is probably just one of these situations we’ve all been in, where an unwelcome intruder imposes himself on a company of friends. In real life we wouldn’t bother to ask his name either. I don’t think there’s any more to this.
  

• N dirk on Sun 28 Dec 2003, 08:22pm

  the “strange lord” revisited

  It strikes me, as an afterthought, that a situation like this might easily have led to a duel, had it been handled with less care (in this case they just made him drunk). Duels were pretty cheap in Sam’s days if someone felt insulted.

  If my info is correct, duelling wasn’t officially banned in England until 1828.
  

• N Kevin Sheerstone on Mon 29 Dec 2003, 09:03am

  “the strange lord”
  SP describes the unknown and unwelcome visitor as a ‘lord’. Assuming that Sam was using the word literally, how did he know that the visitor was a lord. By his dress? Throughout the middle ages there were countless statutes governing who could wear what;(a 14th. century villein would have been ill-advised to wear ermine); but in 1660? I think this calls for specialist help.

• N George on Mon 29 Dec 2003, 01:59pm

• N Jenny Doughty on Mon 29 Dec 2003, 02:22pm

  ‘only got cold and so have pain in pissing, as I used to have’

  Sam’s autopsy showed a large collection of stones in one of his kidneys, so perhaps his tendency to form and pass stones had more to do with his pain in pissing than anything else.

• N Todd Bernhardt on Mon 29 Dec 2003, 07:11pm

  re: The strange lord

  Yes, George, that’s exactly as I read it — that this person (presumably a lord) was a stranger, not that he was strange (though this also may have been the case!)

• N Nix on Mon 29 Dec 2003, 11:00pm

  The “strange lord” —

  Here’s another possible usage, from OED:

  “11. Of persons: a. Unfriendly; having the feelings alienated. b. Distant or cold in demeanour; reserved; not affable, familiar, or encouraging; uncomplying, unwilling to accede to a request or desire. Obs.
  
  “1338 R. BRUNNE Chron. (1810) 50 Olaf in Norweie..bare him ouer strange to e kyng Knoute. ?a1366 CHAUCER Rom. Rose 1065 These losengers thorough flaterye Haue maad folk ful straunge be There hem ought be pryue. 1423 JAS. I Kingis Q. cii, And though I was vnto our lawis strange, By ignorance, and noght by felonye. 1509 HAWES Past. Pleas. XXXIV. (Percy Soc.) 173 Be straunge unto hym, as ye knowe nothyng The perfite cause of his true commyng. 1538 ELYOT Dict. Addit., Auersus, straunge, vnacquaynted. a1568 A. SCOTT Poems (S.T.S.) xxi. 18, I fand hir of ane staffage kynd, Bath staitly, strange, and he. 1592 SHAKES. Rom. & Jul. II. ii. 102, I should haue beene more strange, I must confesse. a1593 MARLOWE Edw. II, II. iv. 1162 If he be straunge and not regarde my wordes. 1633 ROWLEY Match at Midn. III. i. F4b, I was strange, in the nice timerous temper of a Maid. 1700 CONGREVE Way of World IV. v, Mil… Let us never Visit together, nor go to a Play together, But let us be very strange and well bred. 1763 CHURCHILL Night 87 The strange reserve, the proud affected state Of upstart knaves grown rich, and fools grown great.”

• N vincent on Tue 30 Dec 2003, 02:01am

  “strange bird ” I still use that phrase to mean odd, different from anyone else that I do know:

• N David A. Smith on Tue 30 Dec 2003, 07:47pm

  “and so had pain in pissing as I used to have”
  Not a good evening for our boy: overindulgence, a rather spectacular evacuation, and the next morning, painful kidney stones (I think the doctors will confirm this amateur diary-gnosis) amidst a hangover.
  You too would wait a day before writing up an entry such as this one …

• N Pauline on Wed 31 Dec 2003, 12:29am

  “I THINK with eating and drinking too much.”

  Isn’t this just how we maintain some innocence (self respect) today! “MAYBE it was because I had too much to drink last night.”

• N Emilio on Wed 31 Dec 2003, 04:40pm

  “and so had pain in pissing as I used to have”

  I think David is exactly right in making this connection. The dehydration from a night of hard drinking would create ideal conditions both for a hangover and for new stones to form. The situation brings up truly painful associations for me as well; I know right where you’re coming from, Sam …