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 9 January 1662/63

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Pepys and Posterity

FWIW, I agree with Mary, Language Hat, and Ruben that Sam was keeping a *private* journal, not writing for posterity. There's something about the quality of the writing -- and this entry is a fantastic example of that -- that is too *honest* to be written for public consumption. He was, to my mind, using the Diary as a way to order and record his world (and, as a byproduct, his emotions), as well as document his rise in it.

So, why and when did he decide to keep it? Tomalin, at the end of the chapter titled "The Jacobite," theorizes that Pepys -- who had failed in his effort to write a compelling history of the navy -- re-read the Diary in the summer of 1692, which he spent virtually alone in the country:

"There were six volumes, still decently veiled in shorthand, that might one day speak for him to posterity, if he had the courage to allow them to survive. Some time during the last years of his life he thought the matter over, and this mysterious solitary summer stands as a likely moment for him to have done so. The volumes of the Diary were replaced on the shelves and renumbered in the new catalogue he made in 1693."

I believe this is when he decided to preserve the Diary, and let Fate decide whether or not the world would discover -- and almost 400 years later, discuss on a worldwide real-time network -- his masterpiece.

About Saturday 3 January 1662/63

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As do I (FWIW). The other thing that struck me reading this entry is how *content* he is with the "simple life." Made me wonder how he felt when (as Tomalin conjectures) he re-read the Diary in his waning years...

About Tuesday 30 December 1662

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Thanks, all. My legs are now firmly crossed as I bend over the keyboard to type this (owie owie owowowow...)

(Bradford, pour me one, willya?)

About Tuesday 30 December 1662

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Can someone with L&M access fill in the "this would have been interesting" gap?

Sleeping in the boss's bed ... it helps to have an "in" with the servants, eh Sam?

About Monday 29 December 1662

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"how the Lord Treasurer hath now ordered all monies to be brought into the Exchequer, and hath settled the King’s revenue, and given to every general expence proper assignments; to the Navy 200,000l. and odd"

So ... does this mean that the Navy gets 200,000 pounds as its annual budget, and that this money comes directly from the king, rather than from Parliament? Can someone in the know explain more about these budgetary arrangements?

About Saturday 27 December 1662

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"not so well pleased with the company at the house to-day, which was full of citizens, there hardly being a gentleman or woman in the house"

Different times, when the word "citizen" was used as a slight...

About Friday 26 December 1662

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"He tells me my uncle has ended his purchase, which cost him 4,500l..."

I assume that, in this case, "ended" means "finished" rather than "cancelled," right?

About Friday 26 December 1662

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"But, Lord! to consider how my natural desire is to pleasure, which God be praised that he has given me the power by my late oaths to curb so well as I have done, and will do again after two or three plays more."

Just a couple more, Lord ... I mean, c'mon, it *is* the holiday season!

About Friday 26 December 1662

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"We shall endeavour to joyne the lion’s skin to the fox’s tail."

Love the saying ... anyone care to expand on what exactly it means?

About Thursday 18 December 1662

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Susan, in Sam's defense, it's quite possible that he sent "his boy" home with word that there would be a VIG (very important guest) at dinner...

About Saturday 20 December 1662

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"So by coach home and to my office, being post night..."

What is "post night"?

Also, "Monday next" -- is Sandwich celebrating Xmas on the 22nd or 29th? (Why not the 25th?)

About Thursday 18 December 1662

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So, the bro-in-law's wife is "most little," "pretty old," "not handsome, nor has anything in the world pleasing," but plays a rockin' bass ... Balty sure knows how to pick 'em, eh?

"I am resolved not to meddle with it." Smart move, Sam.

About Saturday 13 December 1662

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It's always interesting to me to see how much less regimented time was for people in Sam's day ... yes, he's in a priviledged position (good job, lives next to the office, etc.), but I envy his ability to mold his schedule to his liking -- sleeping late on days that he needs it, getting up with the birds (or before) when he's got the motivation, etc.

About Saturday 6 December 1662

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"till my wife seemed to take notice of my being at home now more than at other times"

Ha! Busted!! Poor Sam. Music calms the savage breast, after all...

Especially funny that this is followed up by his description of his henpecked uncle.

About Friday 5 December 1662

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"But I do it for discourse, and to see how things stand with him and his party"

Our Sam, the politician...

"He hath given W. Symons his wife 300l"

Anyone care to parse this for me? Is there a word missing or something?

Kind of a frustrating day for him, innit? Lots of walking around looking for people who end up not being where he expects them to, or waiting for people who never show...

About Monday 1 December 1662

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"as, first, the supplying them forthwith with victualls; then the reducing it to make way for the money, which upon their reduction is to go to the building of the Mole"

Could anyone explain this to me? The "reducing it to make way for the money" has especially got me scratching my head.

re: "knocked up my boy" -- funny construction, that, but he's just saying he woke his boy up by knocking the door, so he'd let Sam in.

Quite a day for Our Boy today ... moving with lots of movers and shakers (not to mentions skaters).

About Friday 28 November 1662

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re: hard frosts and the Maunder Minimum

I don't know, Andy, the Maunder Minimum looks like more than a theory to me. Scientists have been able to measure the amount of carbon-14 in tree rings, as well as take advantage of other data, to prove that this occured and was a result of a lack of sunspot activity on the sun.

More information here:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

and here:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines…

About Wednesday 15 October 1662

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re: riding

Aussie Susan and Jeannine, I do remember my riding instructors telling the older women in "coded" language they thought I wouldn't understand to use "those" muscles. Caused the women a bit of glee, and helped them ride better!

As for fitness and which muscles you use when riding as opposed to walking or running, I do know the difference. Once, back in the late '80s, I went to Houston on a business trip. After dinner one night, we went to Gilley's, the bar made famous by the film "Urban Cowboy."

We went to check out the bull-riding machine, and I made the mistake of leaving the group for a second (probably to buy a round). When I returned, I found I had been volunteered to ride the bull.

Because I was a bicycle commuter at the time, I was in pretty good shape. Plus, what my friends and the machine operator didn't know was that I'd ridden for years, so I had a bit of an idea of how to deal with a big, bucking animal (basically, you grip with your thighs and calves as hard as you can, leave your upper body loose, and move the opposite way that the "bull" does), so I thought I'd give it a go. The operator started off slow, and when he couldn't throw me, he turned it up ... and up ... and up. I managed to stay on the whole time, much to the amazement (and amusement) of my friends and other onlookers. I didn't buy any more rounds that night.

But when I got up the next morning ... ow ow ow ow. It wasn't my head; instead, I could barely *walk*, which made the series of business meetings the next day particularly painful. So, in other words, the muscle groups you use are very different indeed, as I learned the hard way.

In any case, no mention of the "old trouble" from our boy, so it seems he's in good riding condition.