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Tuesday 16 October 1666

Up, and to the office, where sat to do little business but hear clamours for money. At noon home to dinner, and to the office again, after hearing my brother play a little upon the Lyra viall, which he do so as to show that he hath a love to musique and a spirit for it, which I am well pleased with. All the afternoon at the office, and at night with Sir W. Batten, Sir W. Pen, [and Sir] J. Minnes, at [Sir] W. Pen’s lodgings, advising about business and orders fit presently to make about discharging of ships come into the river, and which to pay first, and many things in order thereto. But it vexed me that, it being now past seven o’clock, and the businesses of great weight, and I had done them by eight o’clock, and sending them to be signed, they were all gone to bed, and Sir W. Pen, though awake, would not, being in bed, have them brought to him to sign; this made me quite angry. Late at work at the office, and then home to supper and to bed. Not come to any resolution at the Parliament to-day about the manner of raising this 1,800,000l..

17 Oct 166615 Oct 1666

Temperature: 11°C / 52°F (Oct 1666 avg.)

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  • “Not come to any resolution at the Parliament to-day about the manner of raising this 1,800,000l..”

    House of Commons today

    Ways and Means.

    Ordered, That the House do resolve into a Committee of the whole House, to proceed in the further Debate of the Means of effectual raising Eighteen hundred thousand Pounds Supply for his Majesty.

    […]

    Mr. Millward took the Chair of the Committee.

    Mr. Millward reports, That the Committee of the whole House had made some further Progress in Debate of the Means of raising Eighteen hundred thousand Pounds for his Majesty’s Supply: And desired the House would, To-morrow Morning, Ten of the Clock, resolve into a Committee, to proceed in the further Debate thereof.
    http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=26779

    L&M cite Milward as reporting that the Commons was debating whether to use a land-tax or a general excise.

  • Milward

    The Diary of John Milward, Esq., Member of Parliament for Derbyshire, September, 1666 to May, 1668. Edited, with some notes and an introduction on his life, by Caroline Robbins. http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/docs/bp/Diaries.html

  • “….. they were all gone to bed”

    Saving money on candles, Sir Wm.? Or perhaps Penn has had One Of Those Days and doesn’t want to think about work at all till tomorrow.

  • re: “Eighteen hundred thousand Pounds”

    Why not expressed as one million eight hundred thousand, I wonder?

  • Why not expressed as one million eight hundred thousand, I wonder?

    This struck me too. Neither Wikipedia nor the OED offer much illumination. The word “million” has been in English use since the 14th century with the same precise meaning as today. However, it has also has a metaphorical use meaning a very large amount. Perhaps Parliament had a tradition of using “thousand” and “hundred” when referring to Treasury transactions because they were accepted as precise accounting terms and “million” had not yet been so accepted.

  • (I could have sworn I left this comment yesterday, but…)

    For the same reason we say “eighteen hundred” rather than “one thousand eight hundred”: it’s shorter.

  • Anglesey to Ormond
    Written from: London

    Date: 16 October 1666

    Shelfmark: MS. Carte 217, fol(s). 342

    Document type: Holograph

    The City of London received, at Gresham College, the letter of the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland, “concerning the [proffered] beeves for the distressed of London; which munificent bounty, as they called it, … so ample, and so early, they confessed they wanted for expressions to acknowledge”. … The writer asks the Duke to be his proxy, as to his (the Earl’s) share in the subscription.

    As to the Cattle Bill, … “the King hath declared plainly he will never do so unjust a thing as to pass it…”
    http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/carte/carte44.html

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