Todd Bernhardt

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Todd Bernhardt has posted 946 annotations/comments since 8 January 2003.

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First Reading

About Friday 8 December 1665

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

"though methinks I am touched, that it should be said that he was my master heretofore, as doubtless he will"

What does "touched" mean in this context? Is Sam peeved?

"that it is the greatest courtesy his enemies could do him"

Sam has said this several times now -- is this a plum assignment for Sandwich? Or is Sam saying this is the best he could expect given a bad situation?

About Wednesday 6 December 1665

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"Mrs. Worshipp and her singing daughter"! A vaudeville act if ever I saw one...

Love this entry. Presuming that wine was also involved, no wonder Sam "spent the night in extasy almost."

Anyone else think that Evelyn's getting a little snippy with Sam in that letter?

About Wednesday 22 November 1665

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"and great hopes of a further decrease, because of this day’s being a very exceeding hard frost, and continues freezing"

I once had a vet tell me that it takes three consecutive days and nights of below-freezing temperatures to kill flea eggs.

"Among other things it pleased me to have it demonstrated, that a Purser without professed cheating is a professed loser, twice as much as he gets."

Is this as cynical a statement as I think it is? Or is Sam saying something more subtle here?

About Wednesday 15 November 1665

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Interesting that, after the bosom-holding behavior the other evening, Sam and Mrs. Penington simply "civilly sat and houre by the fireside" and nothing more ... maybe it's because she's only "indifferent handsome"? Or is it because Sam doesn't feel like he has the upper hand (since many of his affairs are as much about power and control as they are about sex)? Or...

About Monday 13 November 1665

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>I don’t clearly recall whether Pepys notes mild inebriation or just comments when it’s all out intoxication.<

Pretty sure it's just the latter, Jesse. I only recall Pepys calling out about those who are "foxed" or "drunk as a dogg" ... otherwise, given the prevalence of alcohol in most drinks (for safety's sake, and usually at low levels, after all), people were expected to hold their liquor...

About Friday 27 October 1665

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"do make me joyful beyond myself that I cannot express it, to see that as I do take pains, so God blesses me, and hath sent me masters that do observe that I take pains."

And so we see one of the reasons why Sam stuck with James (almost) 'til the bitter end.

About Wednesday 18 October 1665

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Thanks, all. This leads me to believe, then, that Sam has been trying to singly account for cash payments (short reckonings) and tally/IOU-style payments (long reckonings, preferred by the King for the obvious reasons)...

About Wednesday 18 October 1665

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"finding the difference between short and long reckonings where I have had occasion to mix my moneys"

I'm not so sure this involves public vs. private books, as Tony says; rather, it might be the problem involved in mixing what are essentially IOUs (i.e., tallies) and cash. Does L&M have anything to say about this "short and long reckonings" terminology?

About Monday 16 October 1665

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Wow ... I don't think I've ever seen an entry with so many exclamations and entreaties to God. Dire times.

Why is Povy suddenly (to our eyes, anyway) mortified? Perhaps he's guilty about his own excesses, given what he sees going on in the court? Or perhaps facing his own financial crisis?

Robert, given the size and spending habits of the court, I think fixing things and focusing on business rather than idle pleasure could indeed make quite a financial difference. Think about how Evelyn could help thousands of men with £10,000 -- I'm pretty sure Charles & Co. could save that much easily in a month (or less) by rei(g)ning in spending, kicking out the courtiers and hangers-on, etc. He could still play, but only after he got some work done. I've always found that makes play all the more enjoyable, anyway!

Amazing that Sam found the time and has the motivation to write such detailed entries after eight days off. Such fantastic dedication to this pursuit of self-examination -- to our benefit. Thank you, Samuel.

About New maps of places in the diary

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It's been tremendously helpful to me as an outsider -- though your walks, Glyn, helped me (and my feet) get an idea of the scale of Sam's London, I still occasionally had the help of the Tube, and didn't get to many of the places outside the city that he's been frequenting during the plague times, so for me the new map features provide a quick and easy reference.

About Wednesday 11 October 1665

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And, Jeannine, no tender "celebration" of a decade of marriage!

At least he does use the occasion to give a synopsis of the "story so far" regarding the scandal...

About Friday 6 October 1665

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AH, I think there's always a period after the £ designation, so when it falls at the end of a sentence, you end up with two -- one denoting the monetary-unit abbreviation, and one ending the sentence.

About Tuesday 3 October 1665

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La Belle Pierce must be tres belle indeed today! Several mentions by our Sam ... though I wonder if a bit of beauty-vs-beauty jealousy is behind the report of Mrs. Middleton's "sour base smell"?

Also, I wonder what made Woolley so potentially valuable?

About Monday 2 October 1665

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"I did ‘baiser sur mouches et toucher leur mains’ and necks to my great pleasure”

You're taking a real chance, Sam, given that "the sicknesse [is] very much in the towne still"...

About Thursday 28 September 1665

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"Some factories also had bells to summon people to work."

Or hooters (sirens) to summon the workers ... I do biweekly interviews with songwriter Andy Partridge (of BritPop legends XTC) about his songs, and his song "The Everyday Story of Smalltown" is a paean to this and other aspects of life in a working-class small town. If you're interested, the lyrics are here:
http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/…