Small time

Up and to my office, where all the morning very busy. At noon home to dinner, and then to my office again, where Sir William Petty come, among other things to tell me that Mr. Barlow is dead; for which, God knows my heart, I could be as sorry as is possible for one to be for a stranger, by whose death he gets 100l. per annum, he being a worthy, honest man; but after having considered that when I come to consider the providence of God by this means unexpectedly to give me 100l. a year more in my estate, I have cause to bless God, and do it from the bottom of my heart. So home late at night, after twelve o’clock, and so to bed.

among the dead I could be
a sorry stranger

but I consider providence
from the bottom of a clock


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 9 February 1665.

One Reply to “Small time”

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Your email address will not be published.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.