Bad religion

(Sunday). At church, where a stranger preached like a fool.
From thence home and dined with my wife, she staying at home, being unwilling to dress herself, the house being all dirty.
To church again, and after sermon I walked to my father’s, and to Mrs. Turner’s, where I could not woo The. to give me a lesson upon the harpsicon and was angry at it.
So home and finding Will abroad at Sir W. Batten’s talking with the people there (Sir W. and my Lady being in the country), I took occasion to be angry with him, and so to prayers and to bed.

A church like a fool unwilling
to dress to woo—
angry with the people,
angry with prayers.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 31 March 1661.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.