I go along with the comments above about the bed scene indicating that Sam could be a great deal of fun.
But it does bring to mind one thing that I find strange about the diary, and that's a lack of humour. In writing a [n extremely dull] diary for more than a decade I never miss the chance to include the humorous stuff, puns, absurdities, wryness, etc, because it just seems such an essential part of life. With Sam's evident playfulness, to me it would have been natural to see him do similar but there doesn't seem to be much sign of it. (It does make me wonder though whether the diary is teeming with 17th C humour that is simply invisible to us.)
I wonder how Sam got into the pickle of having lent so much money to Sandwich in the first place?
The idea of lending such a massive sum to one's employer puts me in mind of the poor sods working for Enron who had their life's savings as company shares in 401(k)s.
I have no problem reading Sam being sympathetic about the death of Mr Barlow. I think in a year where my view of Sam is changing, the way he handled that matter was to his credit.
But I do have a suspicion that if February 1664/65 Sam were to have done the deal, Barlow would have been feeling very sore at the outcome.
"This day old Hardwicke came and redeemed a watch he had left with me in pawne for 40s. seven years ago, and I let him have it."
Does "watch" mean "timepiece"? If so was it working? I recall reading a number of times annotators asking how our Sam would know the time when getting up during the night or very betimes.
It's been a delight to have followed the diary for the past (nearly) five years. It's opened up a whole world and these days time spent in London has an extra dimension. I'll be there on Sunday walking the route of the river Fleet.
Thanks very much for bringing us this remarkable site Phil.
Following on from the comments about whether Sam is making a joke, it is striking, well, at least to me, how few jokes there are in the diary (so far).
In the long running and comparatively very dull diary I keep, I never miss the opportunity to include jokes and word-play, and that's written solely for me without an audience in mind.
Perhaps the diary is full of jokes but we can't see them.
Typically, I missed out the most striking thing about this entry. It does not seem to provide a clear indication of what Sam really thought about the offer. For example had Elizabeth said "it's not great but it could provide a child, ready cash, and good security in the future so I'm up for it" would Sam have said that he'd be willing to go along with it? Looking at previous entries leading up to this, it was surely unexpected for Sam and so he did seem to be going for the "wait and see" approach.
"Does Sam's oddly muted reaction to this revelation strike anyone else as strange? This is a person of such powerful jealousy that the thought of finding the dancing master in a corner of the church drives him to distraction."
It actually didn't strike me as that strange. Sam is both a highly pragmatic man and prone to fancies and, perhaps, when faced with a real situation rather than a nebulous threat, he felt he had something he could process properly and having grasped it come up with a measured and apt response.
"and how he thought it would be best for him and her to have one between them, and he would give her 500l. either in money or jewells beforehand, and make the child his heir"
The "beforehand" is ambiguous here. It doesn't say before the sexual act and might mean before a child was ready to be delivered. One might expect Uncle Wright, a prosperous merchant used to getting his own way and presumably no fool, to seek a deal on the latter basis. This would provide him with a rather appealing hedging of his bet: if Elizabeth is fertile he has a good chance of getting his heir and if not he gets a number of free goes and as a bonus gets to keep his 500L.
I agree with that. I've been keeping a diary* for about a decade, probably even longer than Sam, and I realised a long time ago that without spending vast amounts of time writing it up at enormous length it would at best just contain fragments of my day. Sometimes when I re-read it (a very rare event) it looks to me like a collection of the shiny things that caught my eye over the course of a day. It is difficult to write a diary reporting continually on the minor details of dull day-to-day life.
My diary is not for anyone else to read (I'm not convinced it's even for me to re-read) and yet it contains many of the characteristics that other commentators have pounced upon as proof that Sam wrote for the eyes of others. Much of this "proof" I instead put down to Sam being a thorough and curious chap who wanted to write about the interesting stuff in a lucid and coherent way.
* if anyone were to read it they'd think more Pooter than Pepys
Comments
Second Reading
About Friday 14 April 1665
mountebank • Link
It is still possible these days to hear the sound of guns at Walthamstow.
About Thursday 13 April 1665
mountebank • Link
Following on from Linda F, maybe Sam was afraid of jigging about and having farts shaken out of him in front of all and sundry.
About Wednesday 12 April 1665
mountebank • Link
I go along with the comments above about the bed scene indicating that Sam could be a great deal of fun.
But it does bring to mind one thing that I find strange about the diary, and that's a lack of humour. In writing a [n extremely dull] diary for more than a decade I never miss the chance to include the humorous stuff, puns, absurdities, wryness, etc, because it just seems such an essential part of life. With Sam's evident playfulness, to me it would have been natural to see him do similar but there doesn't seem to be much sign of it. (It does make me wonder though whether the diary is teeming with 17th C humour that is simply invisible to us.)
About Friday 24 March 1664/65
mountebank • Link
"The beggars are coming to town ... some in jags"
Since "jag" is slang for a Jaguar car (a high-end "British" motor), this reads amusingly to the modern eye.
About Wednesday 1 March 1664/65
mountebank • Link
A fine use of "boggle" in today's entry. It's still used in England in much the same sense.
About Monday 20 February 1664/65
mountebank • Link
"Where at my office my wife comes and tells me that she hath hired a chamber mayde, one of the prettiest maydes that ever she saw in her life"
Thinking of how things are going with Sam this year, my heart sank at reading these words.
I think the use of French to report the antics is a distancing technique so Sam can recall them but not face them directly.
About Friday 10 February 1664/65
mountebank • Link
I wonder how Sam got into the pickle of having lent so much money to Sandwich in the first place?
The idea of lending such a massive sum to one's employer puts me in mind of the poor sods working for Enron who had their life's savings as company shares in 401(k)s.
About Thursday 9 February 1664/65
mountebank • Link
I have no problem reading Sam being sympathetic about the death of Mr Barlow. I think in a year where my view of Sam is changing, the way he handled that matter was to his credit.
But I do have a suspicion that if February 1664/65 Sam were to have done the deal, Barlow would have been feeling very sore at the outcome.
About Friday 16 September 1664
mountebank • Link
This caught my eye:
"This day old Hardwicke came and redeemed a watch he had left with me in pawne for 40s. seven years ago, and I let him have it."
Does "watch" mean "timepiece"? If so was it working? I recall reading a number of times annotators asking how our Sam would know the time when getting up during the night or very betimes.
About Wednesday 14 September 1664
mountebank • Link
Happy diary midpoint fellow annotators!
It's been a delight to have followed the diary for the past (nearly) five years. It's opened up a whole world and these days time spent in London has an extra dimension. I'll be there on Sunday walking the route of the river Fleet.
Thanks very much for bringing us this remarkable site Phil.
About Friday 9 September 1664
mountebank • Link
My instinct is also for the boy being much younger than 19.
About Wednesday 7 September 1664
mountebank • Link
"the height of fashion for women was to part the hair in the middle, flatten the top, then frizz and curl each side of the head"
Reading that my mind eye immediately presented me with Gemma Arterton being terrific in Nell Gwynn at the theatre last year:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/enterta…
About Wednesday 31 August 1664
mountebank • Link
The discussion of "unhappy" above puts me in mind of "hapless".
About Saturday 27 August 1664
mountebank • Link
Speaking of music, in an hour or so (28 August) this will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b…
"Lucie Skeaping tells the story of post-diary Samuel Pepys through the music he commissioned, some of it played for the first time in 300 years..."
It should be available for 30 days. Or possibly longer.
About Friday 27 May 1664
mountebank • Link
Following on from the comments about whether Sam is making a joke, it is striking, well, at least to me, how few jokes there are in the diary (so far).
In the long running and comparatively very dull diary I keep, I never miss the opportunity to include jokes and word-play, and that's written solely for me without an audience in mind.
Perhaps the diary is full of jokes but we can't see them.
About Monday 16 May 1664
mountebank • Link
"He and Dr. Clerke did fail mightily in hitting the vein"
A curiously modern sounding usage.
Sam does seem to be very prone to recurring bollock pain. It sounds like there's an underlying medical condition.
A readable kaleidoscopic entry.
About Wednesday 11 May 1664
mountebank • Link
Bah! "it was surely not unexpected for Sam"
About Wednesday 11 May 1664
mountebank • Link
Typically, I missed out the most striking thing about this entry. It does not seem to provide a clear indication of what Sam really thought about the offer. For example had Elizabeth said "it's not great but it could provide a child, ready cash, and good security in the future so I'm up for it" would Sam have said that he'd be willing to go along with it? Looking at previous entries leading up to this, it was surely unexpected for Sam and so he did seem to be going for the "wait and see" approach.
About Wednesday 11 May 1664
mountebank • Link
"Does Sam's oddly muted reaction to this revelation strike anyone else as strange? This is a person of such powerful jealousy that the thought of finding the dancing master in a corner of the church drives him to distraction."
It actually didn't strike me as that strange. Sam is both a highly pragmatic man and prone to fancies and, perhaps, when faced with a real situation rather than a nebulous threat, he felt he had something he could process properly and having grasped it come up with a measured and apt response.
"and how he thought it would be best for him and her to have one between them, and he would give her 500l. either in money or jewells beforehand, and make the child his heir"
The "beforehand" is ambiguous here. It doesn't say before the sexual act and might mean before a child was ready to be delivered. One might expect Uncle Wright, a prosperous merchant used to getting his own way and presumably no fool, to seek a deal on the latter basis. This would provide him with a rather appealing hedging of his bet: if Elizabeth is fertile he has a good chance of getting his heir and if not he gets a number of free goes and as a bonus gets to keep his 500L.
About Sunday 31 January 1663/64
mountebank • Link
I agree with that. I've been keeping a diary* for about a decade, probably even longer than Sam, and I realised a long time ago that without spending vast amounts of time writing it up at enormous length it would at best just contain fragments of my day. Sometimes when I re-read it (a very rare event) it looks to me like a collection of the shiny things that caught my eye over the course of a day. It is difficult to write a diary reporting continually on the minor details of dull day-to-day life.
My diary is not for anyone else to read (I'm not convinced it's even for me to re-read) and yet it contains many of the characteristics that other commentators have pounced upon as proof that Sam wrote for the eyes of others. Much of this "proof" I instead put down to Sam being a thorough and curious chap who wanted to write about the interesting stuff in a lucid and coherent way.
* if anyone were to read it they'd think more Pooter than Pepys