" ... how I listened and laid my ear to the door, and how I was troubled when I heard them stand still and not dance."
Oh, the anguish. Sam listening to the silence in the other room. Another key scene in my half-whimsical, half-contemplative Samuel Pepys movie.
" ... talking with my wife, sometimes angry and ended pleased, and I hope to bring our matters to a better posture in a little time ... "
Not sure whether "and ended pleased" here means "and I was pleased because I got what I wanted" or "and we were pleased because we'd cleared the air." I like to think it's the latter.
Our friend Samuel is far from perfect, and his wife has to put up with a lot of things from him. But ultimately Sam and Liz are really rather good at making things work out.
And I love the poetry of saying "to bring our matters to a better posture"!
From now on, each time I deal with a matter of contention, I shall ask myself, "how can I bring this matter to a better posture?" This is very #Tao.
... although due to the missing comma it does read like a scene from a 1970s Bunuel movie. Visitor is invited in and is asked to dine (we see him at the formal dinner table in a well-appointed Parisien dining room). Inexplicably the lady of the house also sits there, not saying a word, unclothed. The guest eats silently.
"I fear I shall lose my command over her, and her mind finds other sweets besides pleasing of me."
Wow. That sentence could be straight out of Proust, La Prisonnière. What a remarkable example of unembroidered, honest self-reflection, written in the 17th century. Utterly remarkable.
"and most of the way sang, he and I, and eat some cold meat we had, and with great pleasure home."
This is poetry, Samuel. Pure poetry. The bliss of unscheming intimacy in an afternoon walk with a friend. And it happens, beautifully, amidst all the turmoil of your current jealousy about your wife's dance teacher. You are such a rich & complex person, Sam.
--
"And most of the way talked films and books, she and I, and ate the cheese sandwiches she had prepared. And elated home."
Ah, the purges commence.
At least now the concern is about losing one's job, not losing one's head.
All along Sam has been alert to the fragility of everyone's position in the newly restored monarchy. He remembers the executions.
Status is temporary. You work for it for many years, you lose it in a day.
"I calling her beggar, and she me pricklouse"
Frank exchanges are at the core of every healthy marriage, and you and your wife are doing well, Sam, very well. And "pricklouse" is excellent: your wife is even better with words than you are, Sam.
And I love how you're putting the entire episode into brackets! Without it, we merely read "So up and to my office () and there all the morning." The most subversive use of brackets imaginable.
Either way, your charming entry has made my Saturday morning blues go away. You are a good man, Sam.
"...; but the fellow do it in kindness, and is one I am beholden to."
And those are the things that matter, Sam, you are so right. The kindness, not the oddness of their action toward you.
"He would not be wooed to go to a play, nor to White Hall, or to see the lyons, though he was carried in a coach. I never could have thought there had been upon earth a man so little curious in the world as he is."
And the man W. Stankes doesn't even want to see the lions! Not even the lions! We share your disbelief and disappointment.
And more importantly, my friend, we look at you and we love you for your own unstoppable curiosity about everything around you: the lions, plays, la musique, ship building, the fabric of your new overcoat, a good meal, ..., nothing that does not interest you.
@u0421793 @samuelpepys
Apparently he came twice a day and Sam wasn't best pleased.
the roamer
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