Thursday 11 September 1662
Up, but not so soon as I have of late practised, my little trouble of mind and the shortness of the days making me to lie a little longer than I used to do, but I must make it up by sitting up longer of nights. To my office, whither my brother Tom, whom I chide sufficiently for yesterday’s work. So we sat at the office all the morning, some of us at Deptford paying the ordinary there; at noon Sir W. Pen took me to his lodgings to dinner, and after dinner I to my office again, and now and then to see how my work goes on, and so to my office late, and so to my lodgings, and after staying up till past 12 at night, at my musique upon my lute, to bed. This night Tom came to show me a civil letter sent him from his mistress. I am pleased well enough with the business.
10 Annotations
First Reading
Glyn • Link
"paying the ordinary there"
That is, going to a tavern in Deptford and paying for a fixed-price set meal:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
A. De Araujo • Link
"and after staying up till past 12 at night,at my musique upon my lute"
Bach's Goldberg Variations are said to have been comissioned by an insomniac.
Terry F • Link
SP creates for himself the length of a diurnal day.
"the shortness of the days making me to lie a little longer than I used to do, but I must make it up by sitting up longer of nights." -- less and less to do with "making hay while the sun shines," as the saying is on a farm.
Urban work and artificial light make possible another kind of "day" -- see also SP's role in "Telling Time: Clocks, Diaries, and English Diurnal Form, 1660-1785," by Stuart Sherman (University of Chicago Press, 1997) http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
Terry F, • Link
"diurnal day" is redundant; it's the diurnal work period that seems to be at stake for our Sam'l.
brian • Link
"paying the ordinary there"
According to L&M on Sept. 8, the Navy Board was in Deptford for several days doing "the quarterly pay of the officers of the yard, their clerks, the watchmen, boatswains et al." I suspect that this is the "ordinary" (regularly scheduled) event referred to here, especially since Sam ate dinner in Sir William Penn's lodgings.
ellen • Link
Ordnance (no i) is military hardware and ammunition.
Pedro • Link
And for the farmers, Ralph Josselin notes-
"a wet morning which gives hopes of a very good seed time corn fallen much. a good wheat for 5s.6d. mislain. 4s.8d. god make us thankful."
http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earl…
Joe Phelan • Link
"my little trouble of mind and the shortness of the days"
SP assigns more than one reason for his late rising. As daylight shortens, so do many tempers. It is interesting that what he feels compelled to catch up on is not sleep, but waking time.
Second Reading
Gerald Berg • Link
Speaking of going blind, didn't SP eventually give up on his diary for weakness in the eye? Late nights reading music by candlelight would do that.
Chris Squire UK • Link
Gerald: yes but no discussion of that until we get to it in several years' time, please.
........
OED has:
‘ordinary n. . . 6. Navy.
a. A group of officers, workers, etc., in charge of warships laid up in harbour. Obs.
a1642 W. Monson Naval Tracts (1704) iii. 323/1 He is to take care to pay the Ordinary of the Navy every Quarter.
. . 1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine (rev. ed.) Ordinary... These [persons] are..composed of the warrant-officers of the said ships,..and their servants. There is besides a crew of labourers enrolled in the list of the ordinary.’