About Saturday 4 February 1664/65

Michael Powell on 29 Jan 2018  •  Link

My feeling is that Elizabeth is partly using this episode to show that at least she can wield *some* power within the household, even given the limitations of the time. Sam bows to this even though he is not necessarily in agreement. No doubt he will assert his authority in more important matters. Very interesting though, this kind of background, and shows that even though 17thC society was very patriarchal, women did work around this in some ways. A pity she didn't leave a diary for us!

About Saturday 4 February 1664/65

Michael Powell on 26 Jan 2018  •  Link

(New to this site, but what a great resource!)

"the indiscretion of a wife that brings me nothing almost (besides a comely person) but only trouble and discontent."

I can sympathise with Samuel on this one, it really struck a chord. We have a live-in nanny for our two boys (aged 4 and 5). Well actually we have had a string of live-in nannies, I think we are now on number 8 or 9, but I have lost count. Every one follows the same pattern, a honeymoon period where she and my wife get on amazingly, always in sync. Then a 'normal' period where things settle down. Next a disgruntled period where the nanny does not do the right things, breaks something, makes mistakes or shows disrespect to her in some way. The end phase is neither the nanny or my wife speaking, with me acting as intermediary until the nanny is fired or quits. Like Sam, the regular disruption and bad atmosphere annoys me but not a lot I can do about it. And I even usually have to pay the back wages that my wife refused to pay them! BTW my wife is from Singapore where there is a big divide between the family and the staff, and she can't get used to the more equal status we (now) have in this country.