Gerald Berg
Annotations and comments
Gerald Berg has posted 361 annotations/comments since 4 March 2013.
The most recent first…
Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
Gerald Berg has posted 361 annotations/comments since 4 March 2013.
The most recent first…
Comments
About Friday 10 April 1668
Gerald Berg • Link
And who's building the new chain for the Golden Thames? The other one broke too easily as I recall.
About Thursday 9 April 1668
Gerald Berg • Link
Sounds exactly like the Ukraine this very day with Russian troops massing and lots of guns on the table.
About Wednesday 1 April 1668
Gerald Berg • Link
One thing Pepys is doing successfully is ensuring that Bess remains lonely. Deb (her companion) has dirty secrets now. Thanks for nothing Sam.
About Friday 27 March 1668
Gerald Berg • Link
Thanks Harry R. How could I forget Beauty Retire! Good pricking, sad unconvincing song.
About Friday 27 March 1668
Gerald Berg • Link
Does Pepys ever compose another song? I have had it with It is Decreed!
About Saturday 21 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
That's two in a row from the back, but who's counting...
About Sunday 22 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
I assume Sam's Italian preference was WRT church music and not secular music. Not being familiar with Anglican service and as no famous English Mass comes to my mind (pace Britten), that may be what he heard? An RC Mass really knows how to pull out the stops (by comparison) is my supposition.
About Wednesday 18 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
"but there are so many about the King that will not be able to stand, if a new Parliament come..."
By what mechanism will these flunkies of the King not be able to stand?
About Tuesday 17 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
Right.
"he doubts they will not do it"
I think this is what threw me off the sense. It still does!
About Tuesday 17 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
"they will not do it so as to be seasonable for the King:"
Seasonable? I thought I knew what it meant but maybe not.
About Sunday 15 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
Brings a couple of idle questions to mind.
Does Pepys name drop while hazer conning?
Also, is the hazer con all in shorthand or spelt out? If spelt out I could concur with L.H. about the added titillation WR to a foreign language (A Fish Called Wanda comes to mind - albeit Russian). But if the racy bits are in short hand, interpretation (for us) would be extra difficult I would think.
About Saturday 14 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
Extraordinary story Sarah!
About Friday 13 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
"not over well, her breast being broke out with heat, which troubles her, "
This doesn't sound good...
About Wednesday 11 March 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
I have not seen an 180 degree turn on an entry interpretation in the annotations until today! Happy weeding Kew.
About Friday 28 February 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
"especially the hectors and bravadoes of the House..."
It this a description or a turn of phrase?
About Saturday 22 February 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
Musurgia: Ah, for the times when the devil was in the tritone and equal temperament hadn't compromised our ear with immoral sounds!
About Friday 21 February 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
Thanks Glyn. I was envisaging pigs.
About Monday 17 February 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
Pimp/procurer/spy-- which intelligence was really valued by Chuck?-- "Lord Arlington’s, in giving him 10,000l. and a barony for it."
About Monday 10 February 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
Class. If I understand correctly -- as a Lord you are a procurer but as a plebeian you would be a pimp. Or is it that anyone working on behalf of a King is automatically a procurer? Is this us allowing language to work against us or our prejudices bolstering societal constraints?
About Sunday 9 February 1667/68
Gerald Berg • Link
Always wondered why I my books embarrass me.