Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Pepys, Unexpurgated

On August 18, 1667, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary “… being weary, turned into St Dunstan's church, where I hear an able sermon of the minister of the place. And stood by a pretty, modest maid, whom I did labour to take by the hand and the body; but she would not, but got further and further from me, and at last I could perceive her to take pins out of her pocket to prick me if I should touch her again...” Pepys was 34. This and other merry entries about the naval bureaucrat's sexual life would remain unread by readers of literature until the unexpurgated diary appeared in the 1970s.

No comments:

Post a Comment