Wednesday 18 October 1665
Up, and after some pleasant discourse with my wife (though my head full of business) I out and left her to go home, and myself to the office, and thence by water to the Duke of Albemarle’s, and so back again and find my wife gone. So to my chamber at my lodgings, and to the making of my accounts up of Tangier, which I did with great difficulty, finding the difference between short and long reckonings where I have had occasion to mix my moneys, as I have of late done my Tangier treasure upon other occasions, and other moneys upon that. However, I was at it late and did it pretty perfectly, and so, after eating something, to bed, my mind eased of a great deal of figures and castings.
12 Annotations
First Reading
Paul Chapin • Link
"my mind eased of a great deal of figures and castings"
"Castings" as such doesn't appear in the OED in the sense Sam is using it here. The following senses of the verb "cast" seem to be the appropriate reading:
VI. To reckon, calculate.
37. To count or reckon, so as to ascertain the sum of various numbers, orig. by means of counters, to the manipulation of which the word probably refers. a. intr. Formerly in the phrases to cast in or at accounts. Now, to add a column of figures.
1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 135 If any man in dede wille keste in a countes. c1340 Cursor M. App. (Edinb. MS.) 20834 Qua wel can caste sal finde it euin. a1360 Song Yesterday 66 in E.E.P. (1862) 135 And in vr hertes acountes cast Day bi day. 138. Antecrist in Todd 3 Treat. Wyclif 138 To cast at þe countes. 1842 Tennyson Audley Court 43 Who would cast and balance at a desk? 1884 Law Times 25 Oct. 419/2 A resort to the court in order that+a mistake in casting be corrected.
[...]
†38. a. To reckon, calculate, estimate. Obs.
a1300 Cursor M. 8775 Þe king did cast wit scantliun, And did mak al þe timber bun. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 39 After as it may be cast it was .cc.iiijxxxj. yere. 1542–75 Recorde Gr. Artes 78 Then will I caste the whole charge of one monethes commons at Oxforde. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] tr. Ivstine 2a, Wisely casting the inconuenience that might redound hereby vpon himself. a1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 341/2 He must be+perfect in Casting the Tides. 1666 Pepys Diary 29 Oct.
Interestingly, that's how the entry ends, with a reference to a Pepys (forthcoming) entry, but without the cited example.
Tony Eldridge • Link
'the making of my accounts up of Tangier, which I did with great difficulty, finding the difference between short and long reckonings where I have had occasion to mix my moneys, as I have of late done my Tangier treasure upon other occasions, and other moneys upon that.'
This sounds like Sam is running two sets of books, private and public, and suffering the complications.
Like the famous Doonesbury character said, "I can do triple-cross but the bookkeeping is horrendous".
Robert Gertz • Link
"...after some pleasant discourse with my wife (though my head full of business)..."
Six months later...
Tangier colony...
"What the hell are we to do with this?!" garrison commander eyes ten tons of dress lace and silk just in from England.
"Of course the new carpets are very nice..." his lieutenant notes.
Seething Lane...
"Bess...Moldy biscuit and salt beef for dinner again?"
"Sam'l..." frowning Bess. "We have ten tons of biscuit and salt beef in the cellar sent on your order and nonreturnable. Imagine it's venison pasty."
"Hmmn...Say, you know I never thought I'd say it but you look very good in trousers and soldier's blouse."
"I'm kind of liking the look myself."
Terry Foreman • Link
"Say, you know I never thought I’d say it but you look very good in trousers and soldier’s blouse.”
As a lad, I too had a sailor suit; and they were and are available for girls.
http://www.bestdressedchild.com/c…
Todd Bernhardt • Link
"finding the difference between short and long reckonings where I have had occasion to mix my moneys"
I'm not so sure this involves public vs. private books, as Tony says; rather, it might be the problem involved in mixing what are essentially IOUs (i.e., tallies) and cash. Does L&M have anything to say about this "short and long reckonings" terminology?
Michael Robinson • Link
" ... difference between short and long reckonings ..."
Nothing in the L&M annotations; in their 'Large Glossary' only a reference to
"had great wrangling with the master of the house when the reckoning was brought to us, he setting down exceeding high every thing."
( http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… ) for 'reckoning' as bill.
Paul Chapin • Link
"A short reckoning is the speedy settlement of an account."
Per http://www.answers.com/topic/shor… (with citations going back to 1530)
"Every business man knows that cash payment is the soundest method of conducting business ... Never depart from the principle of buying and selling for ready money. Beware of long reckonings."
From "Thrift", by Samuel Smiles, 1876
Per http://books.google.com/books?id=…
Michael Robinson • Link
" ... finding the difference between short and long reckonings where I have had occasion to mix my moneys, as I have of late done my Tangier treasure upon other occasions, and other moneys upon that ..."
AV 2 Kings 22:7 " Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully."
http://www.biblicalproportions.co…
Todd Bernhardt • Link
Thanks, all. This leads me to believe, then, that Sam has been trying to singly account for cash payments (short reckonings) and tally/IOU-style payments (long reckonings, preferred by the King for the obvious reasons)...
Second Reading
Louise Hudson • Link
“Up, and after some pleasant discourse with my wife (though my head full of business) I out and left her to go home, and myself to the office, and thence by water to the Duke of Albemarle’s, and so back again and find my wife gone.”
Did he ever find out where she was?
“. . . after eating something, to bed, my mind eased of a great deal of figures and castings.”
But no thought of Bess.
JayW • Link
Bess has come to stay overnight and has now gone home! Or rather, to her lodgings for the time being. No mention of Mercer today though.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Meanwhile, in Oxford the business of the nation drones on: the House of Commons form a Naturalization Committee, vote the Sum of Twelve hundred and Fifty thousand Pounds for the King, discuss the importing of cattle and fish, are against the embezzlement of Prize Goods, Sir William Batten is given leave to return to Greenwich on the King's business, a committee wants to encourage the growth of hemp and flax, and there is talk of combining of parishes.
I have been wondering why they say "the Sum of Twelve hundred and Fifty thousand Pounds," and it just occurred to me they didn't have the word MILLION in their vocabulary yet.