Cynara

Annotations and comments

Cynara has posted 14 annotations/comments since 4 December 2023.

The most recent first…

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Third Reading

About Sunday 8 December 1661

Cynara  •  Link

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pepys’ facilities were in the yard out back; it might have been complicated to use a chamber pot for the energetic purging of “physic”.

About Monday 26 August 1661

Cynara  •  Link

A thought about Pepys Senior’s manservant - I believe men were costlier to employ, certainly in later periods (recall Lady Catherine De Burgh’s shady “your uncle keeps a manservant!”). Does this speak to poor management on father Pepys’ part, a diminished income, or hopes that never materialized? Do Sam and Elizabeth have a mature man in their employ? I know there are boys/youths, but I always had the impression they were young & therefore affordable.

About Wednesday 21 August 1661

Cynara  •  Link

Possibly a lucky miss for the girl, as Tom does not seem to have been much of a catch, except for his solid and rising family.

I’d never really connected the dots between the bequests (except for the amounts specified for mourning rings) and the costs of the public show of black clothes, etc. It’s an interesting point! It sounds like it was an understood aspect of bequests - if someone’s a near enough relation that they’re supposed to mourn, they’d expect the cost to be offset by the deceased.

Sparing a thought for Lady Sandwich: her husband a world away, her eldest son lately extremely ill, and her days away from giving birth! I hope she had family around her.

About Monday 19 August 1661

Cynara  •  Link

Sam’s proximity to the mighty is showing him that even for the king, clothes maketh the man. His own attention to his wardrobe is well-spent.

About Friday 26 July 1661

Cynara  •  Link

Some decades later, I believe that same Pope’s Head Alley in the City is the birthplace of Alexander Pope!

About Wednesday 5 June 1661

Cynara  •  Link

I assumed they were playing in a (relatively flat) alley between buildings, but perhaps amenities like purpose-built gaming alleys were available?

About Sunday 26 May 1661

Cynara  •  Link

“There are limits to Stuart invitations to stop by for free food any time.”

I think you’ve put your finger on it, SD Sarah. And thank you for clarifying the expectations of godparenthood here & the possible calculations behind accepting it.

About Friday 1 March 1660/61

Cynara  •  Link

My understanding is that “dinner” has usually meant the main, often hot, meal of the day. Farmers and the countrified ate it in the midday, to fuel hard work. Jane Austen, that country-dweller, dined at midday and ate a light supper in the evening.

In later centuries, the citified and elegant went out of their way to eat their main meal later in the day, the interval being supplied by lunch, tea, etc. to allow them to dine elegantly late.

About Wednesday 16 January 1660/61

Cynara  •  Link

Thank you to Michaela for her post of a couple years ago! I was wondering how much googling I was going to do to find that same info, which I remembered but could not attribute. :)

And others have pointed out that our smells (car exhaust, commercial cleansers, etc) might be equally appalling to them, not to mention our constant noise pollution.

About Friday 11 January 1660/61

Cynara  •  Link

I find some things about Pepys difficult to swallow - mostly things in the future, e.g. his behaviour with women, whose words we never hear.

I find him stingy with his wife, probably about averagely violent for the period, and not a paragon of virtue, generally. Yes, much of this is commonplace in his era, but I don’t think that means I’m required to love it. I’m not a professional historian here but a private reader, and I am allowed all my own judgements, reasonable and unreasonable!

For me, all this is balanced by the immediacy and the candidness of the diary. If I don’t love him, I respect him for being honest with himself in its pages, and I’m very grateful for the peek into his life. As a person with my own flaws, I own him as a cousin, if not a brother!

About Monday 3 December 1660

Cynara  •  Link

My memory of undergrad English tells me that there were two traditions of English drama at this point - an academic tradition, often written in Latin for performance in elite and educated circles and a popular English tradition (nourished by cycle drama and country performances of Robin Hood and acrobats and whatnot). Shakespeare belonged in the latter - entertainment for the masses, who could enjoy it without an Oxbridge degree. Of course, the elite enjoyed it too!