Attention 18th Century Fans!

Addison and Steele's "Spectator" is available as a blog.

17th century fans will have to continue to content themselves with Pepys (which my dad loved).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The first time I ever went to Cambridge, I asked a perfect old don for directions to the Pepys Library, only I pronounced it the way it looks: "PEP-iss."

He practically choked and snorted, "It's 'peeps'! 'Peeps'! Oh, oh, don't make a Mexican out of him!"

I was, of course, mortified. As I often am in England, where now I don't dare pronounce anything (somehow I learned that it was "maudlin" instead of "Magdalene." But then all this from the people who brought you "chumley" for "Cholmondeley.")

By the way, to this day, when I see a flock of sheep anywhere, I say, "Oh, look -- shepp-iss!" I figure if Pepys is peeps, then sheep should be Shepys.