Friday 13 November 1663
Up and to my office, busy all the morning with Commissioner Pett; at noon I to the Exchange, and meeting Shales, he and I to the Coffee-house and there talked of our victualling matters, which I fear will come to little. However I will go on and carry it as far as I can.
So home to dinner where I expected Commissioner Pett, and had a good dinner, but he came not. After dinner came my perriwigg-maker, and brings me a second periwigg, made of my own haire, which comes to 21s. 6d. more than the worth of my own haire, so that they both come to 4l. 1s. 6d., which he sayth will serve me two years, but I fear it.
He being gone, I to my office, and put on my new shagg purple gowne, with gold buttons and loop lace, I being a little fearful of taking cold and of pain coming upon me. Here I staid making an end of a troublesome letter, but to my advantage, against Sir W. Batten, giving Sir G. Carteret an account of our late great contract with Sir W. Warren for masts, wherein I am sure I did the King 600l. service.
That done home to my wife to take a clyster, which I did, and it wrought very well and brought a great deal of wind, which I perceive is all that do trouble me. After that, about 9 or 10 o’clock, to supper in my wife’s chamber, and then about 12 to bed.
15 Annotations
First Reading
Bradford • Link
"I to my office, and put on my new shagg purple gowne, with gold buttons and loop lace".
No, I won't even try to make a joke of it, and I challenge others to emulate my restraint. But Austin Powers would envy him.
My previous supposition, that Pepys's hair would go to shelter someone else's pate, appears in error: at least one wig is his own hair, once removed. There's a proto-Surrealist touch to this, like going to a costume ball wearing a mask which reproduces your own features.
aqua • Link
oH! Sam "were ere ye be, let the aire go free." attributated to R Burns. Then when safe:"...After that, about 9 or 10 o'clock, to supper in my wife's chamber,..."
Mary • Link
"...but I fear it."
Interesting transposition of terms. When Sam says, "I doubt it will something-or-other" he usually means that he fears that something-or-other will happen. Here he says, "I fear it" when he appears to mean, "I doubt it."
Kilroy • Link
Surrealist or is Sam just being a realist in the face of fashion?
Was going to say more but there's this http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… to which I can only add that I've told barbers to 'shave it all off' just because of the heat.
Christy Darby • Link
"Up and to my office" no "betimes" or early as heretofore. Is our Sam becoming lax, lying abed when he should be about affairs? Also no notice of the unlucky date, Friday 13th.is this a recent superstition?
language hat • Link
Mary is right.
OED:
9. To regard with distrust; to doubt. Obs.
1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 16 The governour feared the wisedome and courage of his kinsman. 1607 TOPSELL Serpents (1653) 681 If a bird it tast.. It dies assured death, none need it fear. 1730-6 BAILEY (folio), Fear.. to doubt or question.
Don McCahill • Link
which he sayth will serve me two years, but I fear it
So a wig lasts two years, and you need two. Where is the hair going to come from for the replacement ones, especially now that the fad is starting to become popular?
Ruben • Link
Where is the hair going to come from
That's easy, from the poor!
Read O.Henry for more on that
aqua • Link
Where is the "........" going to come from?
That's easy, from the poor!
Natures source, share thy excess with others. as there be always excess available for those that be taken short.
e.g. The Apple tree has excess pips, thereby will help insects survive, providing sustenance with juicy pulp, and a few 'umans too can also enjoy.
Rex Gordon • Link
About "unlucky" Friday the 13th ...
"Friday was the day of the Goddess Freya, called unlucky by Christian monks because everything associated with female divinity was so called. Friday the 13th was said to be especially unlucky because it combined the Goddess's sacred day with her sacred number, drawn from the 13 months of the pagan lunar year. Romans named the day dies Veneris after Venus, their own version of the same Goddess. In modern French, Friday is still vendredi, and in Italian, venerdi ... Pagans, Hindus and rural Scots insisted that Friday was the most propitious day for a marriage because it was the day that favored fertility. Fish were eaten on Friday as fertility charms, in honor of Venus, whose totems they were. Fish are still considered 'aphrodisiac' food because they were sacred to Aphrodite. Thus, the Catholic habit of eating fish on Friday was wholly pagan in origin. But the church never acknowledged the debt. In the middle ages, when pagan votaries of the Goddess continued to celebrate her rites on Friday, churchmen designated her day as the day of 'devil worship.'"
From Barbara G. Walker, The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"our late great contract with Sir W. Warren for masts"
For the contract see http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… and this annote http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
A copy of today's letter and its covering note were found in NMM.... "It is a long , closely-argued statement and a good example of Pepys's best business style."
(Per L&M footnote)
San Diego Sarah • Link
"A copy of today's letter and its covering note were found in NMM: "
Terry, what is NMM?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... put on my new shagg purple gowne, with gold buttons and loop lace, I being a little fearful of taking cold and of pain coming upon me."
I was wondering what he needed this for. Now I understand, and since he started to get a cold a couple of days ago, it's a good precaution. It's an over-robe to be worn on cold days to keep a warm envelope of air around him while he works. Life without central heating and insulation must have been awful, especially if your clothes are damp from running through the rain from your house door to the office door, etc. I remember my clothes in London were never really dry all winter long. Used to put my overcoat on top of the bed when I went to sleep, partly to give me warmth, and partly so it would dry.
Terry Foreman • Link
"Terry, what is NMM?"
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. It has an archive.
Gerald Berg • Link
"fear it"
I have another interpretation:
He just laid out 4l. 1s. 6d. for two of those nasty looking buggers. Itemized to the penny! To boot, he seemed surprised (by way of noting it) that his own hair reincarnated was worth more than the dying thereof. So now, every 2 years he is going to spend...?
Nope. He really fears it.