Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
Up, and walked to the office, where we sat late, and thence to dinner home with Sir J. Minnes, and so to the office, where writing letters, and home in the evening, where my wife shews me a letter from her brother speaking of their father’s being ill, like to die, which, God forgive me! did not trouble me so much as it should, though I was indeed sorry for it. I did presently resolve to send him something in a letter from my wife, viz. 20s. So to bed.
Temperature: 13°C / 55°F (Sep 1665 avg.)
Only twenty shillings, to a father-in-law so sick that he might die? Our Sam does seem to be a bit tight with his money.
20 shillings be 240 loaves of 1lb bread.or 2 1/2 weeks of jack tars wage or in 1950 numbers it be a jr. secretary’s weekly wage or a girl would bless thee for that kind of take home money.
My rich uncles would be very generous in giving us a bob let alone 20 of them, as todays youngsters would call one a cheap skate to give them less than 500 pounds, as one gold coin now be worth 500 hundred pounds then it be worth 20 shillings.
all numbers approximate as inflation is having fun with the numbers.
Sam only five years previous, kept a wife and mayd on 20 shillings a week, and he not be starving , of course there be no venison pie.
Money be all relative, Million to some be peanuts and to others it be a lifetime earnings,
then a Million would make Charles two very happy.
As Washington now says billion here or there it is only change.
It still seems a paltry sum for Sam to send to his in-laws in such an extremity, if only out of decent regard for his wife. He has gleefully tallied his worth and could easily have sent more. What medical help or nutrition remained in London in plague time would have cost very dear. After thanking God (or, more accurately, asking God to make him properly grateful) for the wealth he continues to amass, Sam seems to know that he does not care as he ought to. But not even compunction loosens his purse strings. Disappointing.
“I did presently resolve to send him something in a letter from my wife, viz. 20s.”
i.e. approximately double yesterday’s winnings at billiards.
“After dinner to billiards, where I won an angel, …”
Entry for yesterday the 11th…“After dinner to billiards, where I won an angel,”
Angel Half a sovereign in gold; so called because, at one time, it bore the figure of the archangel Michael slaying the dragon. When the Rev. Mr. Patten, vicar of Whitstable, was dying, the Archbishop of Canterbury sent him #10. The wit said, “Tell his Grace that now I am sure he is a man of God, for I have seen his angels.”
Brewer’s Phrase and fable.
(Annotations for the 11th appear to go to the 12th!)
I have to agree with Margaret and Linda. Twenty bob would be a very generous gift to a servant or acquaintance; as support for your wife’s father in his desperate need, it’s paltry, and doesn’t reflect well on Sam. Of course, it’s not clear he would have done much more for his own father. He’s a fascinating guy, but tight as a tick.
“Twenty What?!!!”
“Eh….Pounds, dear. Of course I meant, pounds.”
no! no! he meant farthings: 240 little pieces
there were 240 pence to the pound 12 pence to the shilling and 20 s to the pound (the farthing being a quarter of a penny)
why 20 s and not one pound because the guinea was the currency and that was 21 shillings
“I did presently resolve to send him something in a letter from my wife”
Does anybody know what happened between Sam and his in-laws? - he never visits them, they never visit the Pepys’. The various entries seems to demonstrate some real ill feelng. Does it go back to their reaction to the marriage or does it go back to the pre-diary period when Elizabeth left him for some months? The problem not apply to Balty whom Sam seems rather to like.
Thanks Robert of Cottam, [just testing]
Shilling be the major currency for the little people,
Samuel’s calculation:
- If Pere St. Michel has plague, he will go quickly and won’t need more than 20 shillings. The rest of his household will probably go as well, but any survivors will inevitably turn to Son Pepys for support.
- If the old man survives, I can always send more — but if they all perish I’ll never get that money back.
From the Carte Papers, Bodleian Library
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/carte/carte.html
Instructions by Edward, Earl of Sandwich to Vice-Admiral Sir John Harman
Written from: On board H.M.S. The Prince, in Southwold Bay
Date: 12 September 1665
He is to sail with the Squadron specified to Hosely Bay, is to obtain provisions at Harwich and is to make certain dispositions of prize-vessels and of prisoners. …