Friday 16 May 1662

Up early, Mr. Hater and I to the office, and there I made an end of my book of contracts which I have been making an abstract of. Dined at home, and spent most of the day at the office. At night to supper and bed.

6 Annotations

First Reading

dirk  •  Link

"I made an end of my book of contracts which I have been making an abstract of"

On wednesday 16 April 1662 Sam mentions making a start "abstracting all the contracts made in the office since we came into it".

Link:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Cumgranissalis  •  Link

Finally there is a monitoring of all contracts; no longer sealed, forgotton and then brought to light if someone falls short. Sam be the self organising type , not waiting till events dictate. Tis a lesson for for all those who want to be in the drivers seat. Be ready with the facts [in ones little black book [ or organiser]when the question be asked or just hinted at.

Clement  •  Link

As one who currently builds database applications for companies to manage abstracted contract data this is an impressively proactive operational control.
Most don't think of summarizing key information in one place until their records are a shambles.
True, the topic will put most reasonable people to sleep, but to anyone responsible for managing assets and vendors, Sam's effort demonstrates a key practice in his legendary administrative ability.

Cumgranissalis  •  Link

Meanwhile the Houses be busy tidying up their Bills, they must be signed off, as they be out of work [not redundant?] while the King be on his honeymoon and he wants all the loose ends tied.
Herewith, be my summary:
yesterday 15th may; the day to process the bills before the Queen gets here.
Monies for the royalist officers that helped at Court during the Inter-Regnum.[ sorry; his first 11 years of rule being in exile with his cousin and they were not paid as CII could not collect monies from his Loyal Subjects]
King needs barges to transport his Royal Baggage.
Highway bill to unclog the streets of Westminister and surrounds ; too many deliveries of food stuffs while the Carriages must suffer the the stench waiting to get where ever.
Arrest the arrester for arresting a Bp's servant .
Ban good English leather from exportation.
Drain the Fens; they be helping support wild life;
Get the bill for army commisions straightened out, the King wishes to reserve the right to commission his the landed ones; not every one agrees.
Get control of the Press, they be inciting the under class with facts of what is going on in the back rooms of Court. The Printing Press be dangerous.
A good read for ones own view of the Court in it's 14th year of Reign .
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
today the 16th may
Two acts to get blessed by the House of Commons.
The Act against exporting fine English leather.: reserve the fine pigskins for gloves?
The act for easing the Charge of Sheriffs?
The act of draining the Fens. The Fen peoples will no longer need their stilts to get away from the local bobby.[and lose their pimples]
Yorkshire Woolens must be regulated [ i.e taxes must be paid]
the Audacity to Arrest the Bishops Pawn , must be undone
The arresting 'Hofficers be now Delinquents;
Bill to ban the exportation of woolies and their carriers.
Commissions bill must be worded correctly.
Commissioned Military Officers must be sanctioned by Charles ? .

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…

Second Reading

Tonyel  •  Link

At night to supper and bed.
I'm on my second reading of Sam's diary and it has only just occurred to me (after 10 + years), why does he mention going to bed so frequently? Considering all the stuff he omits, to our occasional distress, why mention something so commonplace?

Margaret Rose  •  Link

Tonyel, I think it puts a period on the end of the day. Sort of like Walter Cronkite signing off with "And that's the way it was".

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