Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
At the office all the morning, and in the afternoon at making up my accounts for my Lord to-morrow; and that being done I found myself to be clear (as I think) 350l. in the world, besides my goods in my house and all things paid for.
Saturday 16 February 1660/61Thursday 14 February 1660/61
5°C / 41°F
(monthly average for February 1661) About
There are no journals available for this date.
Why is Sam getting his accounts okayed by Lord sandwich?
Re:the books for me laud, he keeps the the family accounts, otherwise his lerdship would be losing the family stake to the Baiting Buckingham.
As for SP “…besides my goods in my house and all things paid for…”
[1 oz of gold =
What would that be in American dollars?
It would be
SP prepares invoices and the like for his “my Lord” to re-imburse SP for payments already made. This being done — he adds the total of tomorrows payments to his current balances to find that currently he has “clear” i.e., after Montagau has paid him, an amount of 350 pounds (curly L)
“It would be
“clear (as I think) 350l. in the world”
While diverting, currency conversions across centuries are largely meaningless, because (a) the in-kind or barter economy (17th century) has shifted almost entirely to a money economy, (b) accompanying this shift is an enormous creation of wealth (several orders of magnitude) tied to similar increases in population. Better is simply to watch Sam accumulate accoutrements of wealth and status, and see with whom he successively becomes equal as he rises in Restoration socioeconomy.
You also have to consider that the average income in 1650 was only about
==> “making up my accounts” <==
Would this phrase have been ambiguous in the 17th century? (I don’t mean so much “creating fictitious stories” as “jiggering my written reckonings so they come out right”).
Also, in comparing yesteryear’s monies to today’s, would it work to provide something like this?
“At the time,
No debts known”…I found myself to be clear (as I think) 350l. in the world,…” No tabs at the local as far he does know.
Dives sum , si non reddo eis quibus debeo.
Plautus, Curculio, 377:
I am rich [man], if I do not give back to them that what I owe, or sumert like that.
RE: value; ‘tis in the eyes of the beholder. Cost [of living] of very basic staples do tell the story. One must keep ones vulgas lot alive to remove that muck et al. The rest is up for grabs, thems that have values change based on desire.
An example to calculate a recipercal of 5.27 to power of minus 8 required those long forgotten tables, or mechanical device that cost 3 times an engineers annual salary[1950’s], now the device comes free with ones corn flakes.
Then, now: cost of 1000 calories of munchies to stay alive tells the story.
David Smith “clear (as I think) 350l. in the world”
I don’t agree that the 17th c. economy was still mainly based on barter. It was a monetary economy, where in most cases goods were bought with money (tangible or intangible: coins or prom notes) and not traded for other goods. In the countryside there *might* still be *very occasional* bartering going on, but in cities like London the economy worked on money and people were paid in money - and thought of their possessions in terms of monetary value. (Just read Sam’s diary for examples…)
…making up my accounts…
Dadcat- I don’t think Sam is jiggering or otherwise fudging the books in any duplicitous manner; rather, the use of the phrase “making up” is likely the same as “doing”, or as we might say it, “In the afternoon I did the books…”
No foul…yet. Perhaps in the future Sam will share some seventeenth century creative accounting tricks, when and if he finds needs to employ them.
Thanks to all for the reply re : US currency. Not that I didnt realize there was no comparable US currency at the time; I was just trying to understand Sam’s finances better.
Some other people’s income anno 1660…
From:
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~alan/family/N-Money.html#1264
Daily Money Wage Rates of Building Craftsmen and Labourers in Southern England:
1646-93 Labourer 12 p
1655-87 Craftsman 18 p
Calculating for approx 250 working days in a year (allowing for sundays and church holidays) this means:
Labourer: