46 THE PEPYS OF SOUTH DORSKT. 



shee is to mend into the price aforesaid." It will be observed 

 that the composition here is slightly confused. 



It was on the 26th June, 1699, that the diarist records: 

 "Last night the gout came into my left foot ; " during the next 

 fortnight the transits from the left to the right foot and vice versa 

 are pathetically recounted. At length, however, " both feet be g 

 pretty easy, I walked to my table and once about my room." 

 For the gout Mr. Richards had recourse to leeches and anointed 

 his feet with Neat's-foot oil. 



Mrs. Richards' separate allowance for dress, &c., was 10 a 

 year, equal to about 20 of our money; this our lady members 

 will probably think not a very extravagant allowance for the wife 

 of the Lord of the Manor ; but even that sum was not always 

 punctually paid. 



Mr. Richards' leisured life must, on the whole, have been a 

 very happy one ; although, in addition to being troubled by the 

 gout, he suffered from his wife's uneven temper, as the frequent 

 entries in his diary (judiciously made in Italian), sufficiently shew. 

 And so it happened that the year 1700 c?me in in a turbulent 

 fashion : there was a domestic storm a deep depression on 

 the 3rd January; but, a fortnight afterwards, Mrs. Richards lends 

 her husband money, upon which peace, and seemingly love, are 

 restored; he now calls her "my Alee" (short for "Alice"), 

 and writes: " 16 Jany. Borrowed of my Alee \6 25. 6d. I 

 owe her last year's allowance money, 10 os. od." The Italian 

 entries are really the most amusing of any, and approach the 

 most closely to those of the great Pepys himself. I was sorely 

 tempted to reproduce them, but on consideration I determined, 

 from sincere respect for Mr. and Mrs. Richards' memory, to 

 refrain, and content myself with the translation of the following 

 entry only ; the original, it must be explained, appears the very 

 next month after the " my Alee" entry; here it is: " Having 

 kept myself for two days strange" (i.e., distant), " she said to me 

 in the morning if I did not mend my manners in a short time, 

 she declared, &c." (what Mrs. Richards did actually declare we 

 are not told), "upon which insolence losing all patience I burnt 



