Thursday 17 July 1662
To my office, and by and by to our sitting; where much business. Mr. Coventry took his leave, being to go with the Duke over for the Queen-Mother. I dined at home, and so to my Lord’s, where I presented him with a true state of all his accounts to last Monday, being the 14th of July, which did please him, and to my great joy I continue in his great esteem and opinion. I this day took a general acquittance from my Lord to the same day. So that now I have but very few persons to deal withall for money in the world.
Home and found much business to be upon my hands, and was late at the office writing letters by candle light, which is rare at this time of the year, but I do it with much content and joy, and then I do please me to see that I begin to have people direct themselves to me in all businesses.
Very late I was forced to send for Mr. Turner, Smith, Young, about things to be sent down early to-morrow on board the King’s pleasure boat, and so to bed with my head full of business, but well contented in mind as ever in my life.
21 Annotations
First Reading
Bradford • Link
Love and work, said Freud, make life bearable. (Elaborate according to your own taste.) Wonder when the former will resurface in Sam's?
Terry Foreman • Link
"Mr. Coventry took his leave...to go over for the Queen-Mother."
L&M note: "I.e. to France. Sandwich sailed too: hence the 'general acquittance' with Pepys that follows." -- evidently a change in the terms of Sam's contract, elevating his status and, we would say, reducing his span of control on an organizational chart -- relieving him of duties to be delegated -- or so I read it. (But will this run counter to Sam's natural interactive style?)
Sandwich's imminent departure explains why yesterday Sam was so eager to present to him the "true state of all his accounts to last Monday."
Jeannine • Link
Love and work--Bradford --we can only hope that when "the former" does resurface it's with Elizabeth--but sadly so we'd best prepare for it to be otherwise knowing Sam....
A. De Araujo • Link
"but well contented in mind as ever in my life" Lately everything seems to be allright with Elizabeth because Sam has not been complaining,so we must assume they are having a good time in bed.
Pauline • Link
..."to my great joy I continue in his great esteem and opinion."
Do you suppose Sam had a moment of doubt yesterday when he showed up and was not admitted to dinner with Lord Sandwich, the Montagu brothers, and Coventry, but had to dine with "Mr Moore and the people below"?
I took the "general acquittance from my Lord" to be a "paid in full" between them to date, leaving Sam with "very few persons to deal withall for money in the world"---ie, few outstanding accounts.
Australian Susan • Link
"my head full of business"
Wonder how Elizabeth is taking this? Sam is not even taking time to "be about my workmen" on the house extensions, let alone spend time with her. I know how I react when my husband takes to dealing with email on a laptop in bed at night and answering "Hmm" or "Yes" to anything I raise as a conversation starter!
By the Grace of God • Link
All hail having a cool job, indeed. Sam describes my idea of employment bliss, the state of being joyfully overwhelmed with work.
Terry Foreman • Link
The "general acquittance from my Lord" = the major source of income is paid in full? A cleaner reading than my first, Pauline; thanks.
What is the physical circuit of this day? "To my office....I dined at home, and so to my Lord's….Home and found much business to be upon my hands, and was late at the office….[home] and so to bed.”
What did he at home after he was paid in full by Sandwich? Stash his loot, realize what he yet needed to do at the office, and dash out to it?
GrahamT • Link
(A)Quittance:
Release from a debt, an obligation, or a penalty. (Dictionary.com)
Quittance is still used in legal documents.
Xjy • Link
"general acquittance"
I'd imagine that Sandwich was so pleased with the clean accounts that he just told Sam everything was clean between them too. No outstanding odds and ends from any earlier loans or the Portuguese loot or unfinished navy business where Sam had mixed in his own and his boss's private interests. So a lot of worries lifted all at once, and Sam feels it's due to his recent focused diligence as much as his personal ties to milord.
A bit like the feeling you get after a particularly gratifying visit to the dental hygienist.
Sandra • Link
"Lately everything seems to be all right with Elizabeth because Sam has not been complaining,so we must assume they are having a good time in bed."
I've read that Sam and his wife "had a good time in bed" infrequently, only once or twice a month, and that this was the norm for married couples at that time. This is a very vague recollection -- I can't remember the source or exact statement -- so I may well be wrong.
A. Hamilton • Link
by and by to our sitting
Here Sam appears to define "sitting time" (see Jly 15 entry) as the formal convening of the commissioners.
Pedro • Link
"Mr. Coventry took his leave…to go over for the Queen-Mother. (Sandwich sailed too).
(Sandwich) As Admiral of the Narrow Seas he chose to sail in the King’s yacht to bring over the QM while the Duke and Coventry took passage in the warship escort. (Ollard).
A. Hamilton • Link
I this day took a general acquittance from my Lord to the same day.
I take this to mean, all monetary debts cancelled. But a lingering question remains. Was Sam in some sense ever bound to Sandwich by a contract, e.g., as a servant? And could this "acquittance" mean he is now being set free from the contract?
dirk • Link
"I presented him with a true state of all his accounts to last Monday... I this day took a general acquittance from my Lord to the same day."
Couldn't this simply mean that Mountagu accepts his accounts, as Sam made them up, up to that same day, i.e. "last Monday", and by doing so "acquits" him of any possible irregularities - very much like an accountant's statement on a company's balance sheet?
Robert Gertz • Link
Regards the remark as to Elisabeth's taking of Sam's devotion to business...Despite her natural pride in Sam's success, I see an explosion coming.
Pauline • Link
'Couldn't this simply mean that Mountagu accepts his accounts’
Sounds within the realm, Dirk; except that the next sentence is: “So that now I have but very few persons to deal withall for money in the world.”
I wonder if “all his accounts” doesn’t include one with Samuel Pepys, esq. So Sam has carried or taken in some money on Sandwich’s behalf and had expenses on his behalf. And today they draw a line at Monday, July 14, and call it even. I assume “even”, no money seeming to chang hands in today’s entry. I also assume that “even” includes a service charge, gratuity, fee of services, “salary”, or whatever for Sam.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Retrieving Mother in style: L&M note the yachts of the King and of the Duke of York were to sail with the flotilla to France.
Bill • Link
“I this day took a general acquittance from my Lord”
ACQUITTANCE, a Release or Discharge in Writing, of a Debt, or any other Duty, formerly due.
---An Universal Etymological English Dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.
Chris Squire UK • Link
OED has;
‘acquittance, n. < Anglo-Norman acquitance . .
1. A document showing that a debt has been paid; a receipt in full, barring further demand for payment; a written or printed release. Now hist.
. . 1672 H. Oldenburg Let. 2 May in I. Newton Corr. (1959) I. 151 Our Treasurer was not present..so yt I could not deliver him your quarters paymt: wch I shall doe the first time I find him there; and then send you his acquittance.
1684 London Gaz. mdccccxciv. 4 Lost..a File with Writings and Acquittances, supposed to be dropt not far off the Exchange, London. . . ‘
Terry Foreman • Link
"Very late I was forced to send for Mr. Turner, Smith, Young, about things to be sent down early to-morrow on board the King’s pleasure boat, "
L&M: The yachts of the King and the Duke of Yptk were now to sail with the flotilla to France.