Monday 19 August 1667

Up, and at the office all the morning very busy. Towards noon I to Westminster about some tallies at the Exchequer, and then straight home again and dined, and then to sing with my wife with great content, and then I to the office again, where busy, and then out and took coach and to the Duke of York’s house, all alone, and there saw “Sir Martin Marr-all” again, though I saw him but two days since, and do find it the most comical play that ever I saw in my life. Soon as the play done I home, and there busy till night, and then comes Mr. Moore to me only to discourse with me about some general things touching the badness of the times, how ill they look, and he do agree with most people that I meet with, that we shall fall into a commonwealth in a few years, whether we will or no; for the charge of a monarchy is such as the kingdom cannot be brought to bear willingly, nor are things managed so well nowadays under it, as heretofore. He says every body do think that there is something extraordinary that keeps us so long from the news of the peace being ratified, which the King and the Duke of York have expected these six days. He gone, my wife and I and Mrs. Turner walked in the garden a good while till 9 at night, and then parted, and I home to supper and to read a little (which I cannot refrain, though I have all the reason in the world to favour my eyes, which every day grow worse and worse by over-using them), and then to bed.

11 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"my eyes, which every day grow worse and worse by over- using them"

The L&M Companion says "It is generally agreed that the nature of Pepys's eye trouble was a combination of long sight [ far-sightedness ] with astigmatism." http://bit.ly/9CkxFa
Note 12 = Sir D'Arcy Power in *Occ. Papers*, i. 64
***

Having had the same problems since age 7, I cannot imagine how one could get by without modern opticans,

Mary  •  Link

"dined, and then to sing with my wife with great content"

I'm glad that the family music-making is going so well, but shouldn't have thought that the time immediately after the main meal of the day was the best time for singing. It's not easy to sing well on a really full stomach.

Ruben  •  Link

If today's entry is not enough for you, read the article published in Der Spiegel (in English) about copyright laws and comparative book publishing in England and Germany till the XIX century.
Very interesting.
see: http://www.spiegel.de/internation…

cum salis grano  •  Link

"...that we shall fall into a commonwealth in a few years,..."
A whole Pandora's box of political thinking.
well being, wealth and whom should have it.
Locke's
Second Treatise on Civil Government
John Locke
Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan (book) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

OED:
3. a. A state in which the supreme power is vested in the people; a republic or democratic state.

a1618 RALEIGH Maxims St. (1651) 8 A Common-wealth is the swerving or depravation of a Free, or popular State, or the Government of the whole Multitude of the base and poorer Sort, without respect of the other Orders.

1667 PEPYS Diary (1879) IV. 461 Better things were done, and better managed..under a Commonwealth than under a King

A popular way of thinking. Only Mass. still uses the word, not the meaning?
OED:
b. A state of the United States of America, esp. in the official titles of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
1779 P
.....
other refs:
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th…
..........
}1. Public welfare; general good or advantage. Obs. in ordinary use: see COMMON-WEAL.
c1470...
2. The whole body of people constituting a nation or state, the body politic; a state, an independent community, esp. viewed as a body in which the whole people have a voice or an interest.
1513 DOUGLAS Æneis, Pref. note bk. VII, It is vertew that euer has promoued commoun welthys.
1534

4. a. Eng. Hist. The republican government established in England between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the Restoration in 1660.

1649 Act Parlt. 19 May, Be it Declared and Enacted by this present Parliament, and by the authority of the same, That the People of England and of all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging are, and shall be, and are hereby Constituted, Made, Established, and Confirmed to be a Commonwealth and Free State; and shall henceforward be Governed as a Commonwealth and Free State by the Supreme Authority of this Nation, the Representatives of the People in Parliament, and by such as they shall appoint and constitute as Officers and Ministers for the good of the People, and that without any King or House of Lords.

a1674 CLARENDON Hist. Reb. XIII. (1843) 784/2 The parliament, as soon as they had settled their commonwealth..sent ambassadors to their sister republic, the States of the United Provinces.

5. transf. and fig. a. Applied in various ways to a body or a number of persons united by some common interest; e.g. commonwealth of learning, the whole body of learned men, the ‘republic of letters’; commonwealth of nations: see quot. 1796.
1551 TURNER Herbal I. Prol. Aijb, The hole common welth of all Christendome.
1608-11 BP. HALL Medit. II. §82 The whole heavenly commonwealth of angels.

1664 POWER Exp. Philos. II. 90 Torricellius..to whom all the Common-wealth of Learning are exceedingly oblieg'd.

6. An appellation of the Norfolk insurgents of 1549 (or their adherents). Obs.
1549 SIR A. AUCHER in Froude Hist. Eng. V. 204 note, Men called Commonwealths, and their adherents..have been sent up and come away without punishment. And that Commonwealth, called Latimer, hath gotten the pardon of others..There was never none that ever spake as vilely as these called Commonwealths does.

Carl in Boston  •  Link

the badness of the times, how ill they look, and he do agree with most people that I meet with, that we shall fall into a commonwealth in a few years, whether we will or no; for the charge of a monarchy is such as the kingdom cannot be brought to bear willingly, nor are things managed so well nowadays under it, as heretofore.
Say it like an auctioneer, as fast as you can. In one breath, if you dare. Sam says this litany over and over. He should hit F1 on his computer and paste the whole paragraph into his diary each time he covers the badness of the times, etc, etc.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Pepys's London is a chamber in which "the badness of the times, how ill they look, and he do agree with most people that I meet with, that we shall fall into a commonwealth in a few years, whether we will or no" echoes everywhere.

Carl in Boston  •  Link

"..is a chamber in which ....xxx. echoes everywhere."
I never comment on language, but this is really eloquent. The Sweet Bard of Avon could not have writ a better.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Be interesting to see what Coventry would make of this attitude of Sam's...All his efforts to bring forth a worthy young technocrat to take his place in a benevolent despotism come to naught. At heart Sam is a republican with a belief in meritocracy.

Second Reading

psw  •  Link

Ruben on 20 Aug 2010 • Link • Flag

If today's entry is not enough for you, read the article published in Der Spiegel (in English) about copyright laws and comparative book publishing in England and Germany till the XIX century.
Very interesting.
see: http://www.spiegel.de/internation…...
____________________

Interesting indeed...never came across this "reason" for the explosion of development especially in highly technical fields like chemistry. Germany just jumped up and exceeded everyone going into the the late 19th century.

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