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darwin8u's review against another edition
5.0
"take it from me never to trust too much to any man in the world, for you put yourself into his power; and the best-seeming friend and real friend as to the present may have or take occasion to fall out with you; and then out comes all."
-- Lord Sandwich, quoted to Samuel Pepys, July 15, 1664.
The fifth volume (1664, with 132,000 words) contains such an amazing blend of those very human desires, human follies, and human wisdom that it keeps pulling me back volume after volume, day after day, page after page. There are times when I read about his multiple affairs with women, his fixation on money and status, that I think Pepys, while interesting, is just a son-of-a-bitch who would do well and fit in wherever he landed. However, his genuine curiosity, his integrity (minus the occasional small graft and dalliance with the ladies) reminds me that there is an actual heart beating in that social climber. He loves books, loves his job, loves food, loves theatre, and just happens to also like the occasional strange. Oh, and the year ended with a big comet, so next year might not end as well as this one.
Some of my favorite passages from Vol 5:
A prophet is without honor only in his hometown
January 27, 1664:
He shewed finely whence it happens that good writers are not admired by the present age; because there are but few in any age that do mind anything that is abstruse and curious; and so longer before any body do put the true praise, and set it on foot in the world, the generality of mankind pleasing themselves in the easy delights of the world, as eating, drinking, dancing, hunting, fencing, which we see the meanest men do the best, those that profess it. A gentleman never dances so well as the dancing master, and an ordinary fiddler makes better musique for a shilling than a gentleman will do after spending forty, and so in all the delights of the world almost.
Helping a bitch out
March 22, 1664:
Up, and spent the whole morning and afternoon at my office, only in the evening, my wife being at my aunt Wight’s, I went thither, calling at my own house, going out found the parlour curtains drawn, and inquiring the reason of it, they told me that their mistress had got Mrs. Buggin’s fine little dog and our little bitch, which is proud at this time, and I am apt to think that she was helping him to line her, for going afterwards to my uncle Wight’s, and supping there with her, where very merry with Mr. Woolly’s drollery, and going home I found the little dog so little that of himself he could not reach our bitch, which I am sorry for, for it is the finest dog that ever I saw in my life, as if he were painted the colours are so finely mixed and shaded. God forgive me, it went against me to have my wife and servants look upon them while they endeavoured to do something …
March 23, 1664
Up, and going out saw Mrs. Buggin’s dog, which proves as I thought last night so pretty that I took him and the bitch into my closet below, and by holding down the bitch helped him to line her, which he did very stoutly, so as I hope it will take, for it is the prettiest dog that ever I saw.
A Man Made for Twitter
October 18, 1664
"that Sir Ellis Layton is, for a speech of forty words, the wittiest man that ever he knew in his life, but longer he is nothing, his judgment being nothing at all, but his wit most absolute."
Here are my other Pepys diary reviews:
Vol 1: 1660, 117,000 words
Vol 2: 1661, 84,000 words
Vol 3: 1662, 105,000 words
Vol 4: 1663, 159,000 words
Vol 6: 1665, 121,000 words
Vol 7: 1666, 151,000 words
Vol 8: 1667, 201,000 words
Vol 9: 1668, 128,000 words; 1669, 52,500 words
-- Lord Sandwich, quoted to Samuel Pepys, July 15, 1664.
The fifth volume (1664, with 132,000 words) contains such an amazing blend of those very human desires, human follies, and human wisdom that it keeps pulling me back volume after volume, day after day, page after page. There are times when I read about his multiple affairs with women, his fixation on money and status, that I think Pepys, while interesting, is just a son-of-a-bitch who would do well and fit in wherever he landed. However, his genuine curiosity, his integrity (minus the occasional small graft and dalliance with the ladies) reminds me that there is an actual heart beating in that social climber. He loves books, loves his job, loves food, loves theatre, and just happens to also like the occasional strange. Oh, and the year ended with a big comet, so next year might not end as well as this one.
Some of my favorite passages from Vol 5:
A prophet is without honor only in his hometown
January 27, 1664:
He shewed finely whence it happens that good writers are not admired by the present age; because there are but few in any age that do mind anything that is abstruse and curious; and so longer before any body do put the true praise, and set it on foot in the world, the generality of mankind pleasing themselves in the easy delights of the world, as eating, drinking, dancing, hunting, fencing, which we see the meanest men do the best, those that profess it. A gentleman never dances so well as the dancing master, and an ordinary fiddler makes better musique for a shilling than a gentleman will do after spending forty, and so in all the delights of the world almost.
Helping a bitch out
March 22, 1664:
Up, and spent the whole morning and afternoon at my office, only in the evening, my wife being at my aunt Wight’s, I went thither, calling at my own house, going out found the parlour curtains drawn, and inquiring the reason of it, they told me that their mistress had got Mrs. Buggin’s fine little dog and our little bitch, which is proud at this time, and I am apt to think that she was helping him to line her, for going afterwards to my uncle Wight’s, and supping there with her, where very merry with Mr. Woolly’s drollery, and going home I found the little dog so little that of himself he could not reach our bitch, which I am sorry for, for it is the finest dog that ever I saw in my life, as if he were painted the colours are so finely mixed and shaded. God forgive me, it went against me to have my wife and servants look upon them while they endeavoured to do something …
March 23, 1664
Up, and going out saw Mrs. Buggin’s dog, which proves as I thought last night so pretty that I took him and the bitch into my closet below, and by holding down the bitch helped him to line her, which he did very stoutly, so as I hope it will take, for it is the prettiest dog that ever I saw.
A Man Made for Twitter
October 18, 1664
"that Sir Ellis Layton is, for a speech of forty words, the wittiest man that ever he knew in his life, but longer he is nothing, his judgment being nothing at all, but his wit most absolute."
Here are my other Pepys diary reviews:
Vol 1: 1660, 117,000 words
Vol 2: 1661, 84,000 words
Vol 3: 1662, 105,000 words
Vol 4: 1663, 159,000 words
Vol 6: 1665, 121,000 words
Vol 7: 1666, 151,000 words
Vol 8: 1667, 201,000 words
Vol 9: 1668, 128,000 words; 1669, 52,500 words
lnatal's review against another edition
4.0
From BBC Radio 4:
It's 1664 and Sam starts the year with a family visit to a coffee house. As time progresses, however, his trips around London have a more salacious purpose, as his thoughts turn increasingly towards the ladies in his life. The neighbourhood, meanwhile, suffers some serious crimes: a local criminal mastermind is caught and hanged. Sam goes to the hanging, and balances on a cartwheel to get a good view - but is sorry to see it. Sam hears of a rape which is hushed up because the perpetrators are attendants to the Queen Mother. Then other news arrives - that Sam's brother Tom has been taken seriously ill.
It's 1664 and Sam starts the year with a family visit to a coffee house. As time progresses, however, his trips around London have a more salacious purpose, as his thoughts turn increasingly towards the ladies in his life. The neighbourhood, meanwhile, suffers some serious crimes: a local criminal mastermind is caught and hanged. Sam goes to the hanging, and balances on a cartwheel to get a good view - but is sorry to see it. Sam hears of a rape which is hushed up because the perpetrators are attendants to the Queen Mother. Then other news arrives - that Sam's brother Tom has been taken seriously ill.