Wednesday 4 March 1662/63

Lay long talking with my wife about ordering things in our family, and then rose and to my office, there collecting an alphabet for my Navy Manuscript, which, after a short dinner, I returned to and by night perfected to my great content. So to other business till 9 at night, and so home to supper and to bed.


7 Annotations

First Reading

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"...about ordering things in our family..." I take it Sam means the household, including servants. A mild complaint about yesterday's dinner? Or concern about setting things up for Ashwell's coming?

***

"...to other business till 9 at night, and so home to supper and to bed."

Heaven tavern...

"Jack Cade, lad. Grand to see ye." Hand proffered. Quick look round. Takes seat.

"And wha'll ye be havin' Will?" Jack waves in barmaid.

"Tankard of buttered rum and quick about it, girl. Jack? Where's our little Pepys these days? Haven't seen
Sandwich's boy here in ages. That pretty Frenchie wife threatening to run out on the litte bastard again?" Guffaw...

"Oh, Will. Our Sam's far beyond discussin' the day's affairs with his mates nowadays. No, he's the Duke's man now...the great Pepys, Clerk of the Acts and Ruler of the King's Navy. Vows off wine, stays close to office, keeps only the finest company now, does our Sam."

"Pepys? Vows off wine? Ye are speaking of...Many thanks, girl..." Takes tankard. "...Samuel Pepys?"

"Aye. Solemn vows and no late nights with mere clerks and the like for him, he must be hard at it all hours. Or be seen to be..." Rather bleary glare.

"Soas I've heard tell. So it's true he's in well with Duke and King?"

"Oh aye...You know the little fellow's way. Runs about, finger in everything, gets to know all the ins-and-outs. Always there in front to let the great ones see his puss."

"Was always a forward lad, our Sam. Can't believe he'd abandon his mates like that, though." Snap of fingers.

Bang of mug on table. "Well, the man has! Far too busy to see ole friends is little Pepys. Forgot us all, has he. Damn his eyes, how manys the time I loaned him money and put him in the right way for food and such. And now, the great man can't come and put a shilling down to sit and tell his old mates the news of the Court and what might do a friend good to know."

"Tis the way of the world, Jack. And our lad was always the ambitious one."

"Aye. May he go and hang for it. Clapped up in the Tower by his friends the Duke and the Earl when things go wrong and they need one to blame. He'll remember ole friends soon enought then, Will."

"The way of the world, Jack." A sigh...
"He always did tell the days' news well, did our Pepys."

TerryF  •  Link

"an alphabet for my Navy Manuscript"

We discussed whether this was an Index or a TOC; against our first inclinations, it seems to be the former, an Index, as L&M's Large Glossary says, as has already been pointed out.

Robert Gertz, another winner (clink takards, all)!

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

"... ordering things in our family, ..." Laying down the pecking order, and when he says jump, just jump don't ask how 'igh.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Dinner that day...Following Sam's little talk with Bess...

"He is here!" Sam calls from the front door.

Three hasty snaps of finger (think James Cagney in "One, Two, Three")...

A nervous Mary runs out. "All ready, sir!"

"Faster..." Sam insists, strolling to table. Bess racing in from the kitchen, trying to straighten dress and fix hair. Mary tense at the kitchen door.

Sam eyes the table, Will Hewer by his side. Bess looking nervous. Hmmn. Cloth laid well. Check. Plate and settings. Check Duke of York's special sauce. Check.

"Wine glasses, Mary!" Bess hastily calls, before Sam can catch the miss.

"Here, ma'am!" Mary races to table.

"Wiil, the wine!" Bess turns to him, Hewer hastening off.

Sam nodding sagely.

"Lets remember family...My career and our success hinges on how we impress our guests." he notes. "So...Pick it up!" Three more snaps of finger...

"First course, Mary!" Bess calls. Taking seat by Sam, breathing hard.

Will runs up from the "wine cellar" just in time to collide with Mary rushing out with the first course...

"Perhaps...We should keep this a short dinner." Sam notes. Helping a distraught Bess to remove the first course from her lap.

JohnT  •  Link

One of the most attractive features of our Sam , which I think inspired the journal itself, is his delight in "order". In proper administration. In efficient organisation. All of these linked things have an outcome in the real world. They make a difference. But Sam gets a buzz from the process. When that is powered by rampant intellectual curiosity , slightly mitigated by scepticism , then the boy has a future. However often we raise an eyebrow because of the stark honesty of his self-analysis, there is so much to admire.

celtcahill  •  Link

" However often we raise an eyebrow because of the stark honesty of his self-analysis, there is so much to admire. "

True words

Second Reading

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

OED has:

‘alphabet, n. < . . Hellenistic Greek ἀλϕάβητος < ancient Greek ἄλϕα alpha n. + βῆτα beta n., the first two Greek letters taken as a name for the whole
. . 3. An index or list in alphabetical order.
. . 1666 S. Pepys Diary 25 Dec. (1972) VII. 421 Reducing the names of all my books to an Alphabet . . ‘

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