Hope

Annotations and comments

Hope has posted 14 annotations/comments since 18 December 2016.

The most recent first…

Comments

Second Reading

About Saturday 14 March 1667/68

Hope  •  Link

“ A pewter sesterne, Father .... “

I laughed out loud reading your take on dinner with the Brampton Pepys, Robert Gertz. Brillant!

About Wednesday 4 December 1667

Hope  •  Link

Sam’s bowels

The amount of pressure and anxiety that Sam has been under lately would be enough to loosen anyone’s bowels!

About Thursday 30 May 1667

Hope  •  Link

“... show her face and kill the gallants.” In (more or less) currant parlance, “a bombshell”, “drop-dead gorgeous”, “lady killer”, etc.

About Thursday 30 May 1667

Hope  •  Link

“... show her face and kill the gallants. In (more or less) currant parlance, “a bombshell”, “drop-dead gorgeous”, “lady killer”, etc.

About Wednesday 15 May 1667

Hope  •  Link

Re. Mrs. Smith’s fine hand. I took it as meaning that Mrs. Smith had a fine hand for embroidery, sewing, “fancy work”, etc. Looks like Sam felt that the rest of her was mighty fine too!

About Friday 29 March 1667

Hope  •  Link

I consider myself a nice person but I can think of times in my life when I’ve behaved selfishly, even ruthlessly, and attempted to justify or put a good spin on it. As Flaubert would say, Sam Pepys, c’est moi! Without the spin.

About Monday 7 January 1666/67

Hope  •  Link

I took Sam’s comment concerning MacBeth to mean that he found it entertaining in a pleasurably thrilling way, much as we might enjoy a modern literary thriller or a Hitchcock movie in spite of its tragic or appalling content. Also, there is enough action in Macbeth, even without music and a cameo appearance by Hecate, to keep an audience on the edge of its seat!

About Tuesday 30 October 1666

Hope  •  Link

Louise Hudson
« Husbandly singing lessons! I can hardly think of anything worse! »
Driving lessons? Moving a refrigerator? Well, as bad ...

About Friday 18 May 1666

Hope  •  Link

You’d find them heavy too, if you’d “carried them home.” ;-)

About Thursday 3 May 1666

Hope  •  Link

I get the feeling that a lingering fear of the plague is at the back of Sam’s mind, and that he doesn’t want the painting teacher, a stranger, carrying tales. It would also explain why Su’s mother is having Su cared for in a house nearby and not the family home.

Not that snobbery, jealousy (???) and the impulse to turn on a bystander in the midst of a family squabble might not also play a role!

About Tuesday 15 December 1663

Hope  •  Link

A (probably Victorian) version of the proverb:

Love your friends and love them well
But to your friends no secrets tell
For if a friend become a foe
Your secrets everyone will know

Love your commentaries, folks, especially yours, Robert Gertz. And, thanks so much for putting the diary online, Phil. Now I have a plan for the next 10 years of my life!