Todd Bernhardt

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

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First Reading

About Pepys meet-up, September 15th

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

I wish I could go! I'd wanted to help organize and attend one in London in January '08, but finances and circumstances (and marital harmony) will not permit it, unfortunately. I will raise my glass toward Londonium (and toward you Bostonians) at the proper hour(s)...

About Monday 5 September 1664

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Phil, the link to "Mr. Pen" above should go to Junior, I think, rather than Sir William.

"But Mrs. Pepys, I just want to practice ma Francais avec vous!"

Love the dialog from Rupert. It's always great to "hear" a snatch of real dialog from that time...

About Sunday 4 September 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

And, Robert, I assume that after Jane has had her way with Sam, he'll become an ingredient in Gervais' pies (a side business of his)?

"Try the Pepys!"

About Tuesday 30 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

As Terry points out, the "Pen" mentioned above is Penn the younger, who will eventually emigrate to America.

I'd love to find out what exactly Sam means by Penn's "vanity of the French garbe and affected manner of speech and gait."

About Friday 26 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Thanks, Terry! The second one was definitely a typo, then. But do we know whom Sam actually met and went to Guardener's Lane with?

About Friday 26 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Could someone help with a few things?

1) "There I could not get into the Parke, and so was fain to stay in the gallery over the gate to look to the passage into the Parke, into which the King hath forbid of late anybody's coming, to watch his coming that had appointed me to come, which he did by and by with his lady and went to Guardener's Lane"

Okay, so I followed this well enough to figure out that he's not talking about the King, but about meeting someone else ... whom he never mentions by name! Could someone please remind me who is helping Sam look for a companion for Elizabeth?

and...

2) "I was mightily pleased with this sight indeed, and so back again to their lodgings, where I left them, but before I went this mare that carried me, whose name I know not but that they call him Sir John, a pitiful fellow, whose face I have long known"

Is this transcribed accurately? It seems as if there are words missing. Could someone with access to L&M help?

Thanks!

About Thursday 25 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

In (lukewarm) defense of Sam, I can only say that perhaps he had doubts about the child's legitimacy, in both senses of the word -- Was it really Tom's? Sam is not 100% certain (though he seems open to the idea). And then there's the stigma associated with the child being a bastard ... Puritan Sam doesn't want to be tarred with that brush, for a number of reasons.

Finally, of course, there are the different mores of his time. If it were me, now, I would do everything I could to determine the child's paternity (aided by modern technology) and, if it were my brother's, help take care of it. But our world and our morals are far different than his (as of course both of you realize).

Still, it would be nice to be able to sit down with him and get an accounting of his reasoning on all this...

About Wednesday 24 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Wonder what Craven and Gray have against Creed? Do they dislike/distrust him, or do they simply have their own plans for the place he wants?

About The Plot Against Pepys

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Interesting, too, that this is the same Scott who is causing trouble in the Colonies during the time of the Diary ... see Michael Robinson's informative annotation at:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Sounds like quite a character!

Thanks for the excellent summary, Jeannine. The authors should thank you, too, given that I just ordered my own copy on the strength of your review!

About Monday 22 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Bradford, I think it might be just another indication that he was writing the Diary for himself. He would know whom he meant with this complex sentences, so no need to clarify or simplify...

About Monday 22 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Okay, I don't know about anyone else, but I got lost in the saga of Dr. Tom Pepys and tailor Tom Pepys. Could anyone help by parsing all those pronouns?

About Wednesday 17 August 1664

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re: Lady C

Could it be that Sam's reporting gossip not of an abortion, but that Lady C -- in an effort to keep the King's favor -- has dieted quite successfully, dropping a bunch of post-partum pounds? (Which she now can carefully put back on supping with the King each night...)

About Friday 12 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Who/what is "our poor Fancy"?

Also, is there a typo/scanning error in "how we ought to let the Portugeses I have right done them"?

About Friday 5 August 1664

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Interesting that he didn't note earlier when he'd appointed to pick up Elizabeth. I thought she wouldn't be back for at least another couple of weeks...

Interesting, too, to see "discreete" used in this manner. Could someone with OED access give some background on the word's meanings?