Saturday 3 January 1662/63
Up and to the office all the morning, and dined alone with my wife at noon, and then to my office all the afternoon till night, putting business in order with great content in my mind. Having nothing now in my mind of trouble in the world, but quite the contrary, much joy, except only the ending of our difference with my uncle Thomas, and the getting of the bills well over for my building of my house here, which however are as small and less than any of the others. Sir W. Pen it seems is fallen very ill again.
So to my arithmetique again to-night, and so home to supper and to bed.
9 Annotations
First Reading
Australian Susan • Link
Bills for the house
We have discussed this before - as to whether it is the Govt or Sam himself who is paying for all this. The way he phrases this account today seems to me to imply he's paying up personally. And should there be an apostrope in "others"?, so that the sentence should be completed "others' house alterations" i.e. Penn, Batten et al? Or is this a reference to other bills?
Terry F • Link
"the getting of the bills well over for my building of my house here, which however are as small and less than any of the others."
An L&M note refers to 5 April 5 1662; so Mary on Wed 6 Apr 2005, 8:01 am http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
“to enlarge our houses”
"According to the L&M notes, this was the most extensive work undertaken to Pepys’ house during the time that he lived there. The roof extension resulted in the provision of four extra rooms, including a new, wainscotted dining-room (so handy, when the kitchen is on the ground floor!) The main timber structures were made in the Deptford dockyard and the total cost (for both Pepys and Batten lodgings) rose above £320." and the comment that the invoices on file were not itemized
- so, Australian Susan, we don't know what sum is bothering Sam'l.
in Aqua Scripto • Link
So every one be raising the roof? Cost be it Labour and/or Materials ? The Usual practice be material, Labour be nowt as they need to keep their hand in. Just a guess, normal government work/job, practiced through out the ages ?
Mary • Link
bills for the house,
Extra rooms need to be decorated and furnished, so perhaps this is where Sam's expenses lie. The Navy Office clearly financed the structural parts of the work, but the optional extras (that splendid, new chimney-piece, the wainscotting in the new dining-room)were possibly for personal account.
A. Hamilton • Link
I think Mary is right about who pays for what.
Todd Bernhardt • Link
As do I (FWIW). The other thing that struck me reading this entry is how *content* he is with the "simple life." Made me wonder how he felt when (as Tomalin conjectures) he re-read the Diary in his waning years...
Second Reading
Louise Hudson • Link
"and the getting of the bills well over for my building of my house here, which however are as small and less than any of the others."
I take that to mean less than any of the other bills he has to pay.
Third Reading
Ruslan • Link
> Having nothing now in my mind of trouble in the world, but quite the contrary, much joy, except only the ending of our difference with my uncle Thomas, and the getting of the bills well over for my building of my house here, which however are as small and less than any of the others.
Louise Hudson said: "I take that to mean less than any of the other bills he has to pay."
Another interpretation is that his concerns are minor compared to those of others. To reinforce this point, he then records that Sir W. Penn is "fallen very ill again".
Irish Susan • Link
Me wonders, W.Pen’s indisposition being gout, if he over- indulged during the holiday season, landing himself right back in bed? A venison pasty too many, perhaps?