Sunday 14 January 1665/66

(Lord’s day). Long in bed, till raised by my new taylor, Mr. Penny, [who comes and brings me my new velvet coat, very handsome, but plain, and a day hence will bring me my camelott cloak.] He gone I close to my papers and to set all in order and to perform my vow to finish my journall and other things before I kiss any woman more or drink any wine, which I must be forced to do to-morrow if I go to Greenwich as I am invited by Mr. Boreman to hear Mrs. Knipp sing, and I would be glad to go, so as we may be merry. At noon eat the second of the two cygnets Mr. Shepley sent us for a new-year’s gift, and presently to my chamber again and so to work hard all day about my Tangier accounts, which I am going again to make up, as also upon writing a letter to my father about Pall, whom it is time now I find to think of disposing of while God Almighty hath given me something to give with her, and in my letter to my father I do offer to give her 450l. to make her own 50l. given her by my uncle up 500l.. I do also therein propose Mr. Harman the upholster for a husband for her, to whom I have a great love and did heretofore love his former wife, and a civil man he is and careful in his way, beside, I like his trade and place he lives in, being Cornhill. Thus late at work, and so to supper and to bed. This afternoon, after sermon, comes my dear fair beauty of the Exchange, Mrs. Batelier, brought by her sister, an acquaintance of Mercer’s, to see my wife. I saluted her with as much pleasure as I had done any a great while. We sat and talked together an houre, with infinite pleasure to me, and so the fair creature went away, and proves one of the modestest women, and pretty, that ever I saw in my life, and my [wife] judges her so too.

29 Annotations

First Reading

deepfatfriar  •  Link

Mmmmmmmmmm. Baby swan. Yum......

Robert Gertz  •  Link

DFF is that the cygnet, Mary Batelier, Pall, or Bess?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Heaven...And sadly, Samuel has been watching television programs.

"Ummn...Bess?"

"Hmmn?"

"Why was it you always were so willing to discuss the attributes of all those pretty ladies I brought by the house?"

"Hmmn...What?"

"Well...I was watching this television program the other night where a young wife was quite interested in discussing the beautiful ladies in a restaurant with her husband...And..."

"Companionship." Bess hastily notes. "My seventeenth century way of attempting to share an interest."

"Ah, yes. I knew it. Quite so..."

"And of course you hardly have any right to complain in any case."

"No, unlike that poor Ross fellow I don't suppose I do."

"Remember your Purgatory probation bracelet and don't leave the house while I'm out tonight."

"Hmmn...Yes..." feels angelic collar.

"Just two more centuries left...I'm so proud of you, Sam'l."

"Right. Have a nice evening, dear."

"Oh, yeah..."

cgs  •  Link

"...At noon eat the second of the two cygnets..."

neither be a cob nor a pen.

cape henry  •  Link

"I do offer to give her 450l. to make her own 50l. given her by my uncle up 500l.." Pepys is offering to make his sister a well off and comfortable woman. He does this, quite obviously, to make her more attractive to Mr. Harmon and with the hopes he will take her off the family's hands. Do we suspect that Sam figures in the long run that this will save him a few pounds? --He doesn't say. Still, a generous gesture.

Martin  •  Link

"whom it is time now I find to think of disposing of while God Almighty hath given me something to give with her"

"Dispose of" brings to mind, these days, what we do with the garbage: "get rid of". When did this sense come about? Sam intends the (presumbably) original meaning: "to arrange, settle, transfer or part with," as in marriage.

A.Hamilton  •  Link

Sam is absolutely brimming with generous feeling and enjoying it.

Larry Bunce  •  Link

Another example of how little things have changed-- Samuel gets his clothes at Penny's. (Does that chain exist outside of the US?)

Ruben  •  Link

"before I kiss any woman more or drink any wine"
I like this association. I am against abstinence.

AussieRene  •  Link

Larry
Penny's in Australia became Coles/Penny's years ago and now it's just Coles...unfortunately

Bryan M  •  Link

"and my [wife] judges her so too."

Mmm, how intriguing. Was Sam so excited about his dear fair beauty that he omitted the word "wife" or did he use an alternative that wasn't to Wheatley's taste?

Do L & M translate this passage differently?

Mary  •  Link

Pepys punctuates similarly.

L&M simply adds single angle-brackets around the whole passage from "This afternoon, after sermon..." to the end, indicating that this passage was inserted in the body of the manuscript by Pepys himself at some point after he had written the main entry.

Mary  •  Link

"to perform my vow ..... not to kiss,,,"

Short-termism.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"I do also therein propose Mr. Harman the upholster for a husband for her, to whom I have a great love and did heretofore love his former wife, and a civil man he is and careful in his way, beside, I like his trade and place he lives in, being Cornhill."

"You marry him, then!"

"Paulina..."

Still, he would bring me more to the marriage than Bess did...

Mack Hitch  •  Link

The first J. C. Penney's store opened in Kemmerer, Wyoming USA in 1902. It became the Wal-Mart of its day.

cgs  •  Link

"I am against abstinence". It dothe make the heart grow fonder,doth abstinence.

RE: sweetening the pot 50 Quid , up the ante 450 smackers, the way to a man's 'eart be thru 'is purse.
At 8 percent interest would bring in the cheese and a pint of ale a day for ever, along with extra pe[r]cks and allow Papa to wet his whistle every day at the olde oake head. Any man with a cash flow problem would like to be guaranteed a pint a day for ever better than getting IOU's from the State.

Many a Tradesman be burnt by IOU's[tickets they be then] [not enough paper to start a fire] Cash be king long live gold.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"to whom I have great love"
Reminds me of the way african-americans use the word Love.

language hat  •  Link

"Reminds me of the way african-americans use the word Love."

Huh? In what way does that differ from the way everybody else uses "love"?

A. De Araujo  •  Link

If you have to ask!

language hat  •  Link

Yes, I do. Don't hand me some mystical "I know things you'll never understand" nonsense. I know African-Americans, I've read tons of African-American literature and listened to tons of African-American music, and I'm pretty sure African-Americans use "love" in the normal English-language sense. And may I point out that Pepys was not African-American, so it's obviously not some incommunicable specialty of the house.

cgs  •  Link

Colchester, Small in comparison with City of Londonm population wise, the plague dothe flea on.

"at Colchester died. 54. pl: 46." Earles Colne dothe report.

Luv 'as many aspects, if put on a computer scale, would have at least 1026 variations, from nutin' to besotted. 'tis in the eyes of the 'riter and his saturation of brain cells.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Gotta say, I'm with LH ... as a long-time resident of Washington, DC ("Chocolate City"), and the only white member of a number of bands, I still have no idea of this mysterious use of "love" by African-Americans ... could you please explain?

laura k  •  Link

I'm very late on this, but I was wondering if any answer was forthcoming about the way African Americans supposedly use the word love. As a member of many multi-cultural communities, and the former teacher of African American teenagers, I haven't the slightest idea what this is supposed to mean.

Second Reading

jimmigee  •  Link

I'd still like to learn more about racial differences in the use of the word "love."

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Some things are better lost in translation, Jimmigee. I recall A. De Araujo is Spanish or Dutch or Portuguese. I really admire our overseas contributors annotating 17th century English in a foreign language -- I find it hard enough in a mix of British/American English dialects.
We seem to have lost Stephane, which I am sad about. I was hoping he would become our regular French contributor/interpreter.

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

The news of my being lost was very exaggerated. Truly I was on a secret Embassy to New Spain, occasioned by the Peace now ratified between the two Crowns and in parts whence sadly the Post hardly reaches. As you read this I should have taken passage back across the ocean Sea. Providence send that we should be spared by tempests and pyrates, and may God give me the strength to catch up with this huge bag of Gazettes and Papers.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Good to hear from you, Stephane. New Spain's loss is our gain.

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