Thursday 31 December 1668
Up, and at the Office all the morning. At noon Capt. Ferrers and Mr. Sheres come to me to dinner, who did, and pretty pleased with their talk of Spayne; but my wife did not come down, I suppose because she would not, Captain Ferrers being there, to oblige me by it. They gone, after dinner, I to the office, and then in the evening home, being the last day of the year, to endeavour to pay all bills and servants’ wages, &c., which I did almost to 5l. that I know that I owe in the world, but to the publique; and so with great pleasure to supper and to bed, and, blessed be God! the year ends, after some late very great sorrow with my wife by my folly, yet ends, I say, with great mutual peace and content, and likely to last so by my care, who am resolved to enjoy the sweet of it, which I now possess, by never giving her like cause of trouble. My greatest trouble is now from the backwardness of my accounts, which I have not seen the bottom of now near these two years, so that I know not in what condition I am in the world, but by the grace of God, as far as my eyes will give me leave, I will do it.
46 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Henry Sheeres and Capt Ferrers were close to Sandwich and had served in his embassy. Ferrers had made advances to Elizabeth Pepys on Sandwich's behalf http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… Sheeres is said in the DNB to have made advances to her of his own, presumably after the Diary time. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/She…
Terry Foreman • Link
The Royal Society today at Arundel House — from the Hooke Folio Online
Dec. 31. Dr Wrens Inuentio for smoking chimnys.
Diuers Letters -
It was moued that some expts might be made wth. pendulums in an Exhausted Receiuer [a vessel in which a vacuum has been created], to see wt Difference there is between their motions in such a Receiuer and in the open air. As also to make tryall whether motion could be made quite to cease.
Mr Hooke affirmed that he did conceiue that the Impediment giuen by the air or other fluids to mouing bodys, did decrease in a continuall proportion, which the president desired, that it might be made out by Expt.
[Vz thus all my theories were misunderstood & all recorded. & insteed of hearing grounds & reason, experimts were always calld for. and all Loaded with obiections little to purpose] [In margin]
http://webapps.qmul.ac.uk/cell/Ho…
***
May we infer that not much was made of the turn of the year in London just now, since, as has been pointed out, after The Great Fire fireworks have been out of the question? And, moreover, this is the seventh day of Christmas!!
Terry Foreman • Link
John Evelyn's Diary
31st December, '1668. I entertained my kind neighbors, according to custom, giving Almighty God thanks for his gracious mercies to me the past year.
http://goo.gl/eySTk
mary k mcintyre • Link
And so Sam (and we) enter the new year, conscious of our faults and errors but cautiously optimistic, withal.
Happy New Year, everyone, from damp and rainy Toronto!
Cheers,
Mary
Ramona • Link
Such a heartfelt summing of Mr. Pepy's year.
Happy New Year to all from Boise, Idaho. I'm getting
edgy and sad that this is our last year.
Carl in Boston • Link
Well, I think I'll give a hearty Happy New Year toooooo. Susan in the Land of Oz has already had her New Year, ours in Boston is 3 hours away, and that in London was 3 hours ago. Hard to know what to do, except say Happy New Year.
Eric Walla • Link
Happy New Year everyone!
May all your spoilers in life be good ones!
kim oliver • Link
Happy New Year from a very warm (50 degree) East Hampton, New York.
Nate • Link
Happy New Year to all of you from Southern California where it's due about 4 hours from now.
Linda F • Link
Happy New Year to all Pepysians from New Orleans -- by the grace of God still on this planet, and still unlike anyplace else.
Jesse • Link
"my accounts, which I have not seen the bottom of now near these two years"
I think this is because Pepys knows he's (finally) got enough cushion that he doesn't have to keep close tabs.
A new year of "peace and content" to everyone.
Terry Foreman • Link
Happy 1669 from Kentucky near where the Ohio River enters the Mississippi.
Peter Last • Link
Happy New Year from Adelaide, South Australia, where it's 41 deg C, so we are trapped inside with the benefit of an efficient air conditioner to keep us pleasantly cool.
Australian Susan • Link
Belated Happy New Year from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where it has been blessedly cool.
Sam has not been mentioning the weather recently except to comment on the recent waistcoat wearing, so I think he is having a mild December. Trying not to dwell too much on this being our last New Year together.
Paul Chapin • Link
The Mayans tell us this is the last New Year for the whole world. Maybe not, but for us and the diary the prophecy is all too true. But let us revel in the time that is left to us. A happy and peaceful 2012 to all.
London Paul • Link
Happy New year from home of the great man London. I wonder what he would have made of the fireworks on the Thames opposite Westminster that celebrated the arrival of 2012
Sandra • Link
After all the related woes of the past few months, I'm so pleased for Sam that he rang in 1669 at peace with Bess (and vice versa, it seems!)
Happy New Year to all from beautiful Ottawa, Canada!
Terry Foreman • Link
"Sam has not been mentioning the weather recently except to comment on the recent waistcoat wearing, so I think he is having a mild December. "
John Gadbury’s London Diary (above) has "Freezing winds like to snow"
Here in Murray, KY it's unseasonably warm at 50 F = 10 C. Sorry, Susan.
Daisy Shell • Link
Paul, I'm sure that Sam would have been there, having secured a good viewpoint...but as it's started to rain heavily in London, maybe the fireworks will be more of a damp squib
arby • Link
And Happy New Year from the woods of central Kentucky, where the Hoppin' John is cooking with a country ham hock.
My gauge of the weather isn't a waistcoat, but plastic film on the windows, this is the latest I've ever gone plastic-free. Wishing you all a great New Year with unobstructed clarity and a sunny view, rb
Barry P. Reich • Link
Happy New Year to the Pepysian community from Yellow Springs, Ohio.
James Streit • Link
Happy New Year to all, and especially to Phil and the regular annotaters who've kept us lurkers entertained all these years!
Lovely weather here in the Columbia, South Carolina airport as I head back to New York.
languagehat • Link
Happy New Year from Hadley, Mass.; the least Mother Nature could have done was give us a white Christmas after that huge snowstorm that devastated the region at the end of October (we had a wood stove and only lost power for three days, so we were lucky), but no, it's been sunny and cold for weeks now. May we all have a better 2012, aside from the inevitable Pepys withdrawal!
John Eure • Link
Happy New Year from Roanoke, Virginia, where the temperature is rapidly dropping toward freezing. I heartily second the thanks to Phil and all the regular annotators, and raise "a cup 'o kindness yet" to Sam and Bess, and to this cheerful, thoughtful, and most enjoyable company!
Betty Birney • Link
Happy New Year from sunny Los Angeles where it will be 80 degrees today! I'm very grateful to Phil and everyone who posts here and wish you all a wonderful 2012.
Margaret • Link
And Happy New Year from Alberta, where we've had such warm weather that some of the snow has actually melted, and re-frozen enough to make walking scary. I too am sorry that this is our last New Year together.
AnnieC • Link
A Happy New Year to all, from 175deg east, 39deg south.
Ralph Berry • Link
175deg east,39 deg south.
Annie C you must be my next door neighbor. All the best to all for 2012 and my special thanks to Terry Foreman who always comes up with that extra bit of information and the missing bits from L&M, much appreciated.
Judith Boles • Link
Blessings to all in this, our last year together. It has been quite an experience, and education. Happy New Year from South Carolina.
Robert Gertz • Link
So is Sam suggesting that Bess is avoiding Capt Ferres to please him, given her admission that he'd acted in Lord Sandwich's place as "hit man" a while ago? If so, you damn well should be on your knees, Samuel...And not to the Almighty...
Serafina • Link
And a Happy New Year to all Pepys Peeps from a (very mild) Vancouver.
Tom Carr • Link
And a belated Happy New Year to all from Torrington, Connecticut!
Second Reading
Elisabeth • Link
Happy 2022 from San Francisco, where Omicron has cancelled most public gatherings. May this year see the end of the plague.
LKvM • Link
Happy 2022 to all. "Auld Lang Syne" is my song because Jan. 1st is my birthday. I'll be four tomorrow -- four score, that is :-). I've loved the diary and will miss all this terribly when it comes to an end.
Jmacg • Link
And a Happy New Year from a very warm Martinborough, New Zealand. I'm also distressed that I won't share another New Year's Day with Sam'l & Co. I read the latter two-thirds of this diary the first time around, and everything so far in this second showing. There will be a wee hole in my life.
Carl • Link
How confusing! Until 1752 the year began on ladies day, 25th march. When it was changed, there were riots because people felt they had 'lost' three months. At the same time the calender was corrected to the one we use today. The inland revenue decided start their tax year on April 6th.
But here is Sam talking of the end of the year.
Either way have a good, safe, peaceful and preposterous new year
Tonyel • Link
Best wishes from grey and wet Somerset UK to all the Sam & Bess fans. This has been my second trip through part of their lives and, Phil permitting, I'll probably go round again. Tales of lust, ambition, corruption, incompetence in high places - so different from our well-ordered lives today!
Colin Skyrme • Link
Happy New 2022 everyone from a very mild and currently sunny Hertfordshire, 30 miles north of London, England. May peace, health and happiness return rapidly everywhere. Meanwhile how lucky we are to enjoy all this about our favourite diarist. So huge thanks to Phil and our frequent scholars for making it so. Keep safe.
Michael Sheahan • Link
Greeting from an unseasonably mild and sunny Poitiers in SW France.
A lurker up till now, reading the Pepys e-mail and this site has been my wake -up activity for nearly a year now. I love the quirkiness of "a conversation" between people from ten years ago and those in the present day - and all based on the diary of a man writing over 300 years ago.
A happy new year to one and all.
Stephane Chenard • Link
From Paris, under a radiant Sun - though France is, of course, always under his Most Christian Majestie's radiance - we salute Mr. Pepys' I-will-do-it spirit, and his closing of the year with only £5 outstanding from so much expense. Our health & estate excellent, for which we thank Providence, and wish its Blessings & the ſame on our Lords & Ladies of this Society, a happy birth-day to mynheer vM, & to all a happy New Year, Anno Domini MDCLXIX.
Linda C • Link
Happy New Year from a grey, dismal Ann Arbor Michigan. I'm a lurker but so appreciate you all and the fun you bring to discussions of our always fascinating Mr. Pepys! I would be happy to start all over from the beginning of the diary!
fleaflicker • Link
Happy New Year from a snowy Manitou Springs, Colorado. I'm another lurker and so enjoy Mr. Pepys and Bess being part of my day. Thank you, Phil, and all the regular annotators!
San Diego Sarah • Link
Happy 2022 to everyone ... may it be kinder to us all than the last 2 years. At least sunny California is looking at lots of snow/water this year. My flowers, however, think it's March already. Pepys had it cold, we've got it hot. Pepys' plague burned itself out in 18 months; ya think we have made ours longer by giving it time to morph? I don't think he'd have done well under lockdowns.
Mary Scrivener • Link
Happy New Year plus 1 as it is after midnight. Glad to see this site is still up and running. I bought a full set of Pepys diaries years ago. Meant to really get my teeth sunk into them,but…life. Fingers crossed that this wonderful resource can help me along in 2022.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Welcome, Mary, and Pepys will help you along better in 2022 than you can guess now. If nothing else, you will find out how much you love the internet and the telephone. I envy Pepys his wide circle of friends and acquaintences; we have swapped convenience for intimacy, and I suspect we are the losers.
RSGII • Link
Best wishes to all.