THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS

I'm just listening to the Diary of Samuel Pepys, (an official in London in the 17th century, in the Restoration period after the fall of Cromwell's Commonwealth, who left his diary which became posthumously famous). In the 3rd part Pepys has fallen in love with his servant Debs, upsets his wife when she comes in to find hims fondling Debs, has 'his man in her cunny'. (O shit!!!) (when Pepys talks about sex he always falls into a polyglot of French and Spanish, which he must have thought was some kind of secret language. But all his secrets are utterly ransparent to those around him) The way that Pepys conveys this scene is hilarious, he hilariously reveals much about himself. Of course he treats his wife and Debs (Willett) abysmally for he's an important official in London. Everyone lives in fear of sudden execution, so their world resembles that of a Totalitarian State, yet there always seems to be lots of opportunites for pleasure (for Pepys and men of his class). At one point the Dutch navy is up the Medway, bombarding English ships, parts of London are still smouldering after the Great Fire of 1666. Pepys is constantly at the office, at his work of organising and fixing things for the likes of Christopher Wren and Prince Rupert (for, as Pepys, says: 'Rupert has recently been trepanned, may God give good issue to it' meaning that absolutely no one, even the doctors, might know what would happen, trepanning being a kind of ultimately primitive brain surgery). His long-suffering wife eventually persuades him to send Debs a letter telling her that he hates her, calling her a whore. Its hard not to empathise with the wife at this point, everyone suffers, yet Pepys glides through all social situations.