Reviews for Leigh Hunt: Life, Poetics and Politics

The average rating for Leigh Hunt: Life, Poetics and Politics based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-02-05 00:00:00 David T Tinius Pepys takes an oath to give up theater and wine and buckle down to work. What a concept in Restoration England. He is a bit startled but very pleased that it pays off so handsomely in learning the business of the navy and gaining esteem. He starts to make a real study of Navy business, from the seemingly frivolous matter of foreign nation flag etiquette to experiments with the quality of hemp lines and the price of masts. He seems to become more independent of 'my lord'. The new queen arrives from Portugal, with her much-needed money, but the king blatantly continues his relationship with Lady Castlemain. People are becoming disillusioned with the dissolute court. What an inveterate home renovation enthusiast--incessant dust and workmen. Still a warm relationship with his wife although they bicker over how to get more companionship for her. The extended family complications are illuminating generally if legally dense to a modern American reader: wrangling over the will of an uncle who died with less than everyone expected, and family negotiations over a wife for his brother. The latter episode ends in losing a woman the brother was fond of because she wouldn't bring enough money to the brother's business that Pepys could be sure to keep his brother independent. He's already worried he'll end up supporting his father and senile mother, which would infringe on his increasingly pleasant life. Servant troubles, and insights into how dependent people of his class were on their servants. During the addition of another story to his house his servant and Pepys are sometimes sleeping outside the house in two different places, and Pepys can't even go out in the morning until his servant comes to get him ready. Servants treated dreadfully, beaten and sent out in terrible conditions with messages that conditions are too bad for Pepys himself to go out. Assigned to sleep in ever-changing and one assumes tiny, dirty places. Why does one keep listening to this 'up betimes and to the office, then to dine with Sir William Batten, where they say that the king doth...'? For the teeming detail of a time on the cusp of Shakespeare's England and early modernity--we see it in the making.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-10-10 00:00:00 Anthony Petz "God forgive me, I was sorry to hear that Sir W Pens maid Betty was gone away yesterday, for I was in hopes to have a bout with her before she had gone, she being very pretty. I have also a mind to my own wench, but I dare not, for fear she should prove honest and reuse and then tell my wife." -- Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol 3, August 1, 1662 The third volume (1662, with 105,000 words) show evidence that 1662 has been a pretty successful year for Pepys. He is rising in the esteem of both the Duke of York and Lord Sandwich. He is constantly working to better himself at his job and knowledge. He has hustle and is innovative. This year he has taken an oath to only dream two cups of wine a day and limit his times at the theatre and it appears to be helping him be more productive. His major stresses are his Uncle's estate and the lawsuit involved with it, his brother Tom's need for a wife with sufficient money, his wife and maid Sarah's constant fighting, the politics at work with Sir William Pen and Sir J. Mennes, two coworkers who he is in disputes with about their co-lodgings. He is learning like Epicetus' rule says, "Some things are in our power; others are not". My review is finished, and so to bed. Here are my other Pepys diary reviews: Vol 1: 1660, 117,000 words Vol 2: 1661, 84,000 words Vol 4: 1663, 159,000 words Vol 5: 1664, 132,000 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