Annotations and comments

Mary K has posted 1,146 annotations/comments since 9 March 2007.

Comments

First Reading

About Monday 24 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

(respectable) pleasure after supper.

But this wasn't after supper, it was in the afternoon during hours of daylight that (HM might have thought) could have been more profitably used at a Navy Office desk.

Pepys has had dinner (lunch) with Lady M., a brief turn in the park, a snack in the coach at Knighstbridge and has put in some work back at the office before he gets his supper and goes to bed.

About Sunday 23 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

untruss.

The implication is that Sam needed to be able to lower his breeches altogether. It wasn't just a question of being able to take a discreet leak in a quiet corner; his need was greater than that.

About Saturday 22 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

Agreed, it's the boy who will be under notice of dismissal if he doesn't do his practice. There's no point in Sam paying for the lessons if the pupil won't follow through. Mr. Caesar is given a little more authority by being made the instrument of Sam's displeasure.

About Saturday 22 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

Indeed a special day.

April 23rd is both St. George's Day and also the anniversary of Charles II's coronation. In Restoration England, save for the wished-for birth of a male heir to the throne, days wouldn't come much more special than that.

About Friday 21 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

no more than £350.

Even so, that represents something like 25% of Sam's total capital (£1300 at the end of last month), so it's not a minor piece of speculation.

About Thursday 20 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

Sam's pot to Povey's kettle?

It's not quite as clear-cut as that. Mercer is part of the Pepys family and a member who enjoys a more privileged position than, say, the 'girl.' Sam's flush could involve a degree of indignation at Povey's making so free with such a member of the household.

About Sunday 16 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

if the anecdote is true.

Sometimes it is the strictly commonplace utterances of the Great and Good that are noted and reported, simply because they are just what any common-or-garden person might be expected to say in a similar context.

"Look, they're just like us!"

About Sunday 16 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

Edgar.

Lest anyone be misled, this Edgar has absolutely nothing to do with Gloucester's son in King Lear.

About Saturday 15 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

Sam's flexible hours.

In some ways Pepys could be regarded as a significantly self-employed person. He draws a basic salary from the Navy Office and has entered into an agreement with Povy for half the Treasurer's fee, but makes his *real* money from all the other arrangements that he makes on his own behalf. Both kinds of work can overlap and intertwine in any one day. The long days that he works in the office are what he deems necessary to getting the job done, but also serve to reinforce his position as an important figure whose knowledge and influence may well be worth private payment. The busier he is, the more opportunities of profit are likely to come his way.

I doubt whether the idea of 'hours,' whether flexible or fixed, ever occupied his thoughts. If there was work that he judged it useful or profitable to do, then he did it.

About Ald. Sir Richard Chiverton

Mary  •  Link

The very same, according to L&M Companion. Born 1606 and knighted twice: once in 1658 and the second time in 1663. He never lived in London again after the Great Fire.

About Sunday 9 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

Her new light-coloured silk gown.

Possibly the flowered, ash-coloured gown that was mentioned on March 9th.

About Mary Batelier

Mary  •  Link

Daughter of Joseph Batelier, a wine merchant and clerk in the customs service, who was a neighbour of Sam and Elizabeth Pepys, living on the north side of Crutched Friars. Joseph died in 1667.

Mary's brother, also Joseph, was the tenant in a linen-draper's shop in the Royal Exchange.

About Wednesday 5 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

Hackney.

It might be easier to make a case for a derivation from OE ac (oak) plus ey (island) Acen-ey = island of oaks.
i.e. an area of dryish land amidst the marshes upon which oak trees grew.

About Wednesday 5 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

to lie with me.

This does not have to mean that Sam and Creed would lie in the same bed. The verb 'to lie' can also mean 'to stay, to lodge.'

Viz. the famous definition of an ambassador: an honest man sent to lie abroad for his country.

Sam intended to have discussions with Creed until a really late hour, but his guest pleaded weariness. Therefore Sam gave up the attempt and they both went to bed..... possibly in the same chamber, possibly in the same bed but not necessarily so in either case.

About Monday 3 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

"at the King's house"

I had taken this as a parenthetic phrase meaning that Nell was employed at the King's house (i.e. theatre) at this time; not that she (and Pepys's company) were watching a play at the King's house that afternoon.

About Monday 3 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

Louise de Queroelle

Louise de Kerouaille, perhaps? Later Duchess of Portsmouth? Returned to France after Charles's death and seems to have lost most of her (considerable) pensions etc. during James's reign.

About Saturday 1 April 1665

Mary  •  Link

"among other tricks there did come a blind fiddler..."

The word 'tricks' recorded on 1st April makes one think of April Fools. However, this just looks like general merry-making. Wikipedia tells that, although the French had already instigated the custom of making April Fools (poissons d'avril) in the 16th century, England did not popularise the practice until the early 18th century

About Thursday 30 March 1665

Mary  •  Link

"which is a pleasant thing to think of her."

Not an un-Pepys-like touch of irony here, surely?