Forced by his own desire to have the administration run as smoothly and efficiently as possible and to be recognised for achieving this. He's reluctant to delegate, especially if this means involving men outside his own close and trusted colleagues. Certainly monetary reward comes into the question, but that doesn't seem to be the prime mover behind these long days and late hours.
Sam means, I think, that the size and scope of library detailed in the book are beyond his means. Books are expensive things, especially when, like Sam, you like to have all your volumes bound in fine, matching bindings.
The cart at Chatham could equally have been going to pick up a heavy load from elsewhere in the yard and was simply dropping off a single piece of different timber on the way. Perhaps Pett did not know enough about the minutiae of this particular piece of work (why should he?) to argue the point.
Jack sounds like Glanvill's boy or perhaps (Glanville was a lawyer) his clerk? Some kind of live-in employee, at any rate. If Jack were a relative (son, nephew etc.) I should expect Pepys to indicate the relationship.
Really ALL of it? Then where is the rest? Sam has been telling us month by month how his capital has increased and in August reckoned that he was worth £1900. Some of this will have been value in plate and some, no doubt, calculated upon likely future benefit from his various dealings. We have worked on the likelihood that most of his tangible wealth is kept in Seething Lane. There has been no recent mention (have I missed something here?) of a decision to deposit any large sums with one of the major goldsmiths, so I should have thought that £180 might represent only part of his wealth in specie.
Admittedly £180 is a large sum, but I am surprised that it is not in fact larger.
Note; the Leeds referred to in the letter from Evelyn to Pepys is the village near Maidstone famous for it's wonderful castle, not the city of Leeds much farther north.
In February 1664 Sam was certainly shaving himself in the mornings (though not necessarily every morning), so perhaps he has just continued this practice without recording it in the diary. He may have been growing and wearing his own hair for a year, but I find it difficult to imagine that he would have been allowing his beard to grow for twelve whole months without making some mention of that fact in the journal.
Comments
First Reading
About Monday 23 October 1665
Mary • Link
Negotiations with the East India Company.
An L&M footnote tells us that this scheme was proposed by Coventry.
Spoiler: the prize goods (less the quantity already taken by the seamen) were eventually sold for approximately £155,000 in the first quarter of 1666.
About Sunday 22 October 1665
Mary • Link
No medical gossip here. Just a misleading rumour about summary imprisonment - as demonstrated by Tom Carr.
About Friday 20 October 1665
Mary • Link
Forced by his own desire to have the administration run as smoothly and efficiently as possible and to be recognised for achieving this. He's reluctant to delegate, especially if this means involving men outside his own close and trusted colleagues. Certainly monetary reward comes into the question, but that doesn't seem to be the prime mover behind these long days and late hours.
About Thursday 19 October 1665
Mary • Link
Don't miss the new Pepys Family Tree that Phil has kindly added to the site.
About Pepys family tree
Mary • Link
Thanks again, Phil for another example of "added value" to the site.
About Friday 6 October 1665
Mary • Link
The L&M text shows only one full stop after 300l.
About Sunday 8 October 1665
Mary • Link
"fairly good-looking"?
"handsome", at least to English ears, has somewhat more weight to it than "pretty".
About Thursday 5 October 1665
Mary • Link
"the book is above my reach"
Sam means, I think, that the size and scope of library detailed in the book are beyond his means. Books are expensive things, especially when, like Sam, you like to have all your volumes bound in fine, matching bindings.
About Monday 2 October 1665
Mary • Link
The cart at Chatham could equally have been going to pick up a heavy load from elsewhere in the yard and was simply dropping off a single piece of different timber on the way. Perhaps Pett did not know enough about the minutiae of this particular piece of work (why should he?) to argue the point.
About Monday 2 October 1665
Mary • Link
L&M reading of Sam's 'foreign code' is different, though tends to a similar conclusion.
There I did besarlas muchas vezes et tocar leur mains and necks, to my great pleasure.
About Sunday 1 October 1665
Mary • Link
"there laid and slept a little"
L&M reading is "there leaned and slept a little" with a gloss that this is an obsolete use of 'to lean' meaning 'to lie'. OED?
About Thursday 28 September 1665
Mary • Link
this cause of diarrhoea
Ah, but these days we pay scant attention to the need for keeping all four of the essential humours in delicate balance.
About Wednesday 27 September 1665
Mary • Link
Jack sounds like Glanvill's boy or perhaps (Glanville was a lawyer) his clerk? Some kind of live-in employee, at any rate. If Jack were a relative (son, nephew etc.) I should expect Pepys to indicate the relationship.
About Saturday 23 September 1665
Mary • Link
"took out all my gold"
Really ALL of it? Then where is the rest? Sam has been telling us month by month how his capital has increased and in August reckoned that he was worth £1900. Some of this will have been value in plate and some, no doubt, calculated upon likely future benefit from his various dealings. We have worked on the likelihood that most of his tangible wealth is kept in Seething Lane. There has been no recent mention (have I missed something here?) of a decision to deposit any large sums with one of the major goldsmiths, so I should have thought that £180 might represent only part of his wealth in specie.
Admittedly £180 is a large sum, but I am surprised that it is not in fact larger.
About Saturday 23 September 1665
Mary • Link
Note; the Leeds referred to in the letter from Evelyn to Pepys is the village near Maidstone famous for it's wonderful castle, not the city of Leeds much farther north.
About Friday 22 September 1665
Mary • Link
P.S.
Or the Docklands Museum, of course.
About Friday 22 September 1665
Mary • Link
preserved trees.
If others have recently come to light, I should have thought that the Museum of London might hold information.
About Thursday 21 September 1665
Mary • Link
Tables.
The game is backgammon, not cribbage. "Tables' was the common name for backgammon in earlier days, though became obsolete after about 1750.
The term derives from the 'men' or 'tablets' with which the game is played.
About Wednesday 20 September 1665
Mary • Link
'trimming' does not necessarily involve shaving.
In February 1664 Sam was certainly shaving himself in the mornings (though not necessarily every morning), so perhaps he has just continued this practice without recording it in the diary. He may have been growing and wearing his own hair for a year, but I find it difficult to imagine that he would have been allowing his beard to grow for twelve whole months without making some mention of that fact in the journal.
About Thursday 7 September 1665
Mary • Link
Christian burial denied.
We have no evidence that the lad was Christian at all. Was it normal to insist that such servants be baptised? I've so far seen no reference to this.