Vulgar words in Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 01: Preface and Life (Page 1)

This book at a glance

blockhead x 3
            

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~   ~   ~   Sentence 240   ~   ~   ~

The following description of the duty of the Clerk of the Acts shows the importance of the office, and the statement that if the clerk is not fitted to act as a commissioner he is a blockhead and unfit for his employment is particularly racy, and not quite the form of expression one would expect to find in an official document: "CLERKE OF THE ACTS.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 242   ~   ~   ~

"It hath been objected by some that the Clarke of the Acts ought to be subordinate to the rest of the Commissioners, and not to be joyned in equall power with them, although he was so constituted from the first institution, which hath been an opinion only of some to keep him at a distance, least he might be thought too forward if he had joynt power in discovering or argueing against that which peradventure private interest would have concealed; it is certaine no man sees more of the Navye's Transactions than himselfe, and possibly may speak as much to the project if required, or else he is a blockhead, and not fitt for that imployment.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 607   ~   ~   ~

Else he is a blockhead, and not fitt for that imployment Fixed that the year should commence in January instead of March He knew nothing about the navy He made the great speech of his life, and spoke for three hours I never designed to be a witness against any man In perpetual trouble and vexation that need it least Inoffensive vanity of a man who loved to see himself in the glass Learned the multiplication table for the first time in 1661 Montaigne is conscious that we are looking over his shoulder Nothing in it approaching that single page in St. Simon The present Irish pronunciation of English

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