Tuesday 3 April 1666

Up, and Sir W. Warren with me betimes and signed a bond, and assigned his order on the Exchequer to a blank for me to fill and I did deliver him 1900l.. The truth is, it is a great venture to venture so much on the Act, but thereby I hedge in 300l. gift for my service about some ships that he hath bought, prizes, and good interest besides, and his bond to repay me the money at six weeks’ warning. So to the office, where busy all the morning. At noon home to dinner, and there my brother Balty dined with me and my wife, who is become a good serious man, and I hope to do him good being sending him a Muster-Master on one of the squadrons of the fleete. After dinner and he gone I to my accounts hard all the afternoon till it was quite darke, and I thank God I do come to bring them very fairly to make me worth 5,000l. stocke in the world, which is a great mercy to me. Though I am a little troubled to find 50l. difference between the particular account I make to myself of my profits and loss in each month and the account which I raise from my acquittances and money which I have at the end of every month in my chest and other men’s hands. However I do well believe that I am effectually 5,000l., the greatest sum I ever was in my life yet, and this day I have as I have said before agreed with Sir W. Warren and got of him 300l. gift.

At night a while to the office and then home and supped and to my accounts again till I was ready to sleepe, there being no pleasure to handle them, if they are not kept in good order. So to bed.

12 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"The truth is, it is a great venture to venture so much on the Act, but...."

Ah, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Also "Audaces fortuna iuvat" ~ "Fortune favors the bold."

cape henry  •  Link

"...I thank God I do come to bring them very fairly to make me worth 5,000l." This sounds suspiciously like the famous clear sheet accounting method whereby estimates are made, plug numbers are employed, and new columns are filled in. It's either a lesson, or the beginning of a disaster.

Mary  •  Link

"who is become a good and serious man"

Well, here's a change of tune. Let's see if Balty lives up to Sam's hopes for him in the navy.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

"The truth is, it is a great venture to venture so much on the Act, but thereby I hedge in 300l. gift for my service about some ships that he hath bought, prizes, and good interest besides, and his bond to repay me the money at six weeks’ warning."

Parliamentary investigating committee-1667:

"Now let me understand this, Mr. Pepys. As the Royal Navy's Clerk of the Acts you not only deliberately favored Sir William Warren of Warrens Ship Supplies Inc for providing masts to our fleet and received "gifts" for that "service" to the tune of several hundred pounds...You engaged in investiment with him, trading on your inside knowledge of the Royal Government's acts?"

"That is correct, sir. But...It was done with benefit to the King. Everything I've done in my arduous and at the time of plague life-threatening service, has been with benefit to the King."

"Right...Mr. Pepys, we rather think it might be of more 'benefit to the King' to suggest a term of twenty years imprisonment on charges."

JWB  •  Link

Brother Balty

1st I can recall Sam referring to Balty as brother instead of "my wife's brother". Perhaps it was that "spurt" back in December that has redounded to Balty's favor.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Tony Eldridge  •  Link

I thank God I do come to bring them very fairly to make me worth 5,000l. stocke in the world, which is a great mercy to me. Though I am a little troubled to find 50l. difference between the particular account I make to myself of my profits and loss in each month and the account which I raise from my acquittances and money which I have at the end of every month in my chest and other men’s hands.
Considering he has been neglecting his 'double entry' accounting for quite a while, a 1% error doesn't sound too bad.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"trading on your inside knowledge of the Royal Government’s acts"

This argument will fail on the testimony of anyone who visited the Guildhall to see the accounts of the Additional Aid "open to inspection to encourage lending." (L&M) It was a public secret. ;-)

cgs  •  Link

"...I did deliver him 1900l.. The truth is, it is a great venture to venture so much on the Act, but thereby I hedge in 300l. gift for my service about some ships that he hath bought, prizes, and good interest besides, and his bond to repay me the money at six weeks’ warning. ..."

GIFT: freely given no consideration whatsoever,????
now
gift
1. something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.

OED 2. Law. a. The transference of property in a thing by one person to another, voluntarily and without any valuable consideration.
1767 BLACKSTONE Comm. II. 440 Gifts are always gratuitous, grants are upon some consideration or equivalent.

5. Something given with a corrupting intention; a bribe.
Obs.
as a specific sense.
The existence of this sense seems to be implied a1300 in Cursor M. 17464 (Gött.) {Th}ai war for gifte [read forgifte, bribed] {th}e soth to hele.
1362

Nix  •  Link

"the account which I raise from my acquittances and money which I have at the end of every month in my chest and other men’s hands" --

Acquittance: A written discharge, whereby one is freed from an obligation to pay money or perform a duty. It differs from a release in not requiring to be under seal.

This word, though perhaps not strictly speaking synonymous with "receipt," includes it. A receipt is one form of an acquittance; a discharge is another.

Black's Law Dictionary, p. 42 (rev. 4th ed. 1968)

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Sir W. Warren with me betimes and signed a bond, and assigned his order on the Exchequer to a blank for me to fill and I did deliver him 1900l.. The truth is, it is a great venture to venture so much on the Act, but thereby I hedge in 300l. gift for my service about some ships that he hath bought, prizes, and good interest besides, and his bond to repay me the money at six weeks’ warning."

L&M: Pepys's memorandum on this transaction, dated this day, is in Rawl. A
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/s… 174, f. 436. He had consulted Downing about the security provided by the act (the Additional Aid of 1665). On 13 August he cashed the order at Colvill's for £2,432, and on the whole transaction (excluding the gift) made a profit of £230 in four months.

Steven Snipes  •  Link

The Royal Mint has issued a coin commemorating Sam Pepys.

Log in to post an annotation.

If you don't have an account, then register here.