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 7 February 1661/62

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: "the natural aptness..."

I don't know if anger-management is what's needed so much, Bradford, as a way to boost his self-esteem. I don't think he's angry, but instead nervous about the harm that Turner's slander may do him (nervous in his heart, not his head, which tells him that he need not "fear him at all"...)

Wonder how long the exotic animals lived on English food and in the London air?

About Wednesday 5 February 1661/62

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re: "Rule a Wife and Have a Wife"

By (who else?) John Fletcher (of "Beaumont and ..." fame), who wrote it in 1624. Here's what the Cambridge History of English and American Literature ( http://www.bartleby.com/216/0514.… ) has to say about it:

"Of all Fletcher's comedies, Rule a Wife And have a Wife is that which was most popular and kept the stage longest, and it is certainly a very good specimen of its kind. Its two plots are reasonably well connected, the characterisation is firm and good and several of the scenes, especially that in which Leon asserts himself, are, dramatically, very effective. The underplot is amusing, but less so than the novel of Cervantes from which it is taken.”

Project Gutenberg, which attributes it to Beaumont and Fletcher, has the work here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14…

About Monday 3 February 1661/62

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Nice work, Wim!

Given the occasion, and that the shape caused "much mirth," fighting over spoonfuls, etc., your visualization makes as much sense to me as any other I've been able to think of!

About Sunday 2 February 1661/62

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Lots of annotations for a short entry!

One more reason I like this blog. Great stuff here, esp. Ruben's explanation. One thing I can add, in reply to David Keith's story about the Eye of the Needle, is that your lawyer got it half-right [insert your own lawyer joke here] ... yes, there was a gate in Jerusalem with the above name that a camel could fit through, *but only if it took off everything it was carrying.* Suddenly the saying makes more sense, eh?

Language Hat, care to weigh in on the meaning of "impertinent" in today's entry?

And Australian Susan, I must say I don't see the justification in the entry for your belief that Elizabeth accompanied Sam to the morning service. Looks to me as if "church in the morning" and dining at home with Liz are separate events. Could you explain more?

About Monday 13 January 1661/62

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re: "I am resolved to begin to learn of him to compose"

One of Sam's most charming attributes to me is his eagerness to take on new challenges, and to seek out instruction about them. Many people his age, and of his experience (he's already a capable musician, after all), wouldn't show such an enthusiasm for learning.

Is Sam the Iggy Pop of the 1660s? He's got a lust for life, yeah, a lust for life...

About Sunday 12 January 1661/62

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re: how all these meetings are arranged

While Sam no doubt had help from various servants and messengers, we should remember that he easily could have set up the "appointment" for Sunday dinner during earlier meetings with Penn and Teller, oops, I mean Fuller. ("Why not come by my house next Sunday after church for a nice chine of beef?")

About Tuesday 31 December 1661

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Thanks, Naomi.

The fact that this entry, which nicely sums up 1661 for Sam, is included in "The Illustrated Pepys" doesn't surprise me much ... it's very rich in information. I'd wager that, if Sam's pattern of summing up the year's events continues, each year-end entry is included in its entirety.

About Wednesday 1 January 1661/62

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re: "One new years resolution down the drain"

I wonder if you folks need to read cagey Sam's writing a little more closely? Yesterday, he vowed that he is "resolved to keep [these promises] *according to the letter of the oath* which I keep by me" ... if you look at the emphasis I added, I think it's obvious that Sam has allowed himself enough wiggle room to attend plays (and, presumably, imbibe) *under certain conditions.* There would be benefits to this, of course -- in Restoration society he doesn't want to be viewed as a prudish puritan playbasher, yet if he at least restrains himself, then perhaps he'll save a bit of change (and stay more sober). A bit of cake left over, even after he's had a couple of bites.

As for the sword, surely it's the Sr. Sir Penn whom the sword belongs to?

Belated New Year wishes to all, and many thanks to Phil, as we start Year 3 of the Diary.

About Sunday 22 December 1661

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re: A grumpy day

My thoughts exactly! Sam got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning ... or maybe it was the "boyish young sermon" that got his panties in a bunch...? In any case, I bet he regretted his falling out with his wife over the black meat once Captain Holmes was there in his gold-laced suit!

Buck up, Sam. Tomorrow's another day.

About Saturday 21 December 1661

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re: Quorum

Sorry to be a PITA about this, but I'm still not clear on the situation. Yes, I can understand them being miffed if Sam wasn't there to help them make a quorum, but he says that when he got to the office, he "was vexed to see Sir Williams both seem to *think so much that I should be a little out of the way*" [emphasis mine] ... why are they trying to get rid of him (this is how I'm reading this) if they desire to have a quorum and need him there for that?

Sam's desire to keep himself "at a little distance with them and not crouch" shows that he thinks he needs to back off a little to make them need him more (the eternal push-me/pull-you of every relationship), so maybe he thinks *he's* been too eager here? Maybe in this instance the Sir Williams didn't *want* to be a Committee?

And where *has* the "excellent David Quidnunc" disappeared to?

About Saturday 21 December 1661

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re: "they were not a Committee"

Thanks, Pedro … I was thinking along the same lines, but I guess the word I don’t understand there is “Register.” What is this role, and who in the Navy Office plays it? Is it another name for Sam’s role? Thanks…

About Saturday 21 December 1661

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re: "saying that without their Register they were not a Committee"

Anyone care to enlighten me on this? I understand Sam's dudgeon, but am having trouble grokking the exact reason for it. Thanks.

About Thursday 19 December 1661

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re: "and so home."

To a chilly reception, no doubt! But, as Diana says, at least he admits his mistake to himself, showing he knows he acted the fool ... it's not just contrition for appearance's sake.

About Pell Mell

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re: Peslemesle/Pelemele

Sam made an appearance in this week's (11 Dec. 04) issue of Michael Quinion's excellent newsletter, World Wide Words. Here's the entry:

4. Weird Words: Pall-mall
-------------------------------------------------------------------
An old outdoor game.

Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary for 2 April 1661: "So I into St.
James's Park, where I saw the Duke of York playing at Pelemele, the
first time that ever I saw the sport." Its name was more usually
spelled "pall-mall", but he wrote it as he heard it in upper-class
speech. Pepys saw it played where London's Pall Mall now runs (the
game was the direct origin of the street name) but the course was
shifted later that same year, it is said because dust from royal
carriages disrupted games. The new course was about 800 yards (740
metres) long, laid out where The Mall now lies.

Pall-mall seems to have been a cross between croquet and golf,
using a mallet and a boxwood ball a foot (30 cms) in diameter. The
players drove the ball along the course by taking immense swings at
it with the mallet. To end the game they then had to shoot the ball
through a suspended hoop at one end. The person who required the
fewest shots won. The name literally means "ball and mallet" and
comes via the obsolete French "pallemaille" from Italian
"pallamaglio" ("palla", a ball + "maglio", a mallet).

Some writers have sought a connection between "pall-mall" and
"pell-mell", the latter meaning something that happens in a rushed,
confused, or disorderly manner, in part because of Pepys's spelling
and in part because of the supposed nature of the game. But this
has a quite different source: French "p

About Sunday 1 December 1661

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re: Sam and the Execution of the King

Actually, Sam was "quite the Roundhead." Tomalin says that, after the event, "Pepys may even have gone back to school [he was at St. Paul's at the time], because he remembers telling his friends there that if he had to preach a sermon on the king, his text would be, 'The memory of the wicked shall rot.' "

Though I truly believe that Sam wrote the diary only for himself, and not for others, I think he did have the possibility in mind that it might one day be found by people whom he *didn't* want reading it ... hence, the shorthand he used, and the further obfuscation of the mix of languages he uses to describe his amours. Tomalin, in referring to Sam's nervousness about meeting with his friend from St. Paul's in 1660 (which Rex refers to above) also notes that "elsewhere in his Diary he remained studiously non-committal in what he had to say of the execution." Sometimes discretion *is* the better part of valor...

About Saturday 23 November 1661

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re: Spelling

Thanks for the background, all ... I guess what I'm most surprised by was not the fact that there was little standardization of spelling in those daze, but that one person would spell the same word -- a proper name, even! -- in different ways. Seems a bit counter-intuitive to me.

Off to get ready for a feast of thanks ... best wishes to Phil and the other Pepys Peeps, wherever you may be. This site, and the annotations, are among the things that make me thankful.

About Saturday 23 November 1661

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Spelling

Yesterday it was "Captain Cocke" and today it's "Captain Cock." Reluctantly passing by my inner 11-year-old's desire to riff on this wonderful name, I'll instead ask the group: Why the spelling variation? Is this a result of sloppy editing or misinterpretation of the shorthand? Or was Sam really that variable in his spelling? I've noticed this in his treatment of other names, but IIRC it happens mostly with people who are acquaintances rather than friends, and he seems to know the good captain rather well.

"Vincenti"? Vincent, have you gone all Mediterranean on us? ;-)