Wednesday 6 November 1661

Going forth this morning I met Mr. Davenport and a friend of his, one Mr. Furbisher, to drink their morning draft with me, and I did give it them in good wine, and anchovies, and pickled oysters, and took them to the Sun in Fish Street, there did give them a barrel of good ones, and a great deal of wine, and sent for Mr. W. Bernard (Sir Robert’s son), a grocer thereabouts, and were very merry, and cost me a good deal of money, and at noon left them, and with my head full of wine, and being invited by a note from Luellin, that came to my hands this morning in bed, I went to Nick Osborne’s at the Victualling Office, and there saw his wife, who he has lately married, a good sober woman, and new come to their home. We had a good dish or two of marrowbones and another of neats’ tongues to dinner, and that being done I bade them adieu and hastened to Whitehall (calling Mr. Moore by the way) to my Lord Privy Seal, who will at last force the clerks to bring in a table of their fees, which they have so long denied, but I do not join with them, and so he is very respectful to me. So he desires me to bring in one which I observe in making of fees, which I will speedily do. So back again, and endeavoured to speak with Tom Trice (who I fear is hatching some mischief), but could not, which vexed me, and so I went home and sat late with pleasure at my lute, and so to bed.


11 Annotations

First Reading

Pedro.  •  Link

"at the Victualling Office, and there saw his wife, who he has lately married, a good sober woman"

As she is a sober woman the Victualling Office must be concerned with shipping and not booze!

vicente  •  Link

'Sober' she be, of the religious type, I doth think, no laugh, no cackle nor a pullet may be. Abstemsious. Our Sam he be punning again.
"...and cost me a good deal of money..." for the why he doth spend so much?
Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.
Cicero, In Verrem,,I, ii, 4
Nutin is so well fortified that a bit of brass cannot overcome.

Bullus Hutton  •  Link

"endeavoured to speak with Tom Trice .. but could not, which vexed me"
Ha ha, not suprised, you naughty juicer! All whizzed up by mid-day, what are you doing Sam?
He must have been able to hold his booze well though, imagine playing a lute after all that "great deal of wine" .. or maybe he didn't, maybe his neighbours were going - Omigod there he goes again!

Xjy  •  Link

A very good day for Sam

Lots of booze and company, oysters, grumbling about money, meeting a good woman, sucking up to the boss (the Lord Privy Seal), playing his music, and being vexed by a possible hatcher of mischief with an improbable name...

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: "my Lord Privy Seal, who will at last force the clerks to bring in a table of their fees, which they have so long denied, but I do not join with them, and so he is very respectful to me."

Anyone care to help me w/an interpretation of this? Thanks in advance...

Mary  •  Link

a table of their fees.

According to an L&M footnote, the Lord Privy Seal received 20% of all fees and a fixed tariff would facilitate his check on the clerks' accounts as well as protect the public. Apparently no official table of fees survived amongst the Navy Office papers, though there are some fee-acounts, dating from 1717 onwards, in the Public Records Office.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

Thanks, Mary. So, is Sam saying that unlike the other clerks ("I do not join with them"), he has already shown the Lord Privy Seal his table of fees, and that the Lord has asked him to bring in an example of his work to show the other clerks ("So he desires me to bring in one which I observe in making of fees, which I will speedily do")?

Mary  •  Link

The table of fees.

Yes, Todd, I think that that's exactly what Sam is saying. The Lord Privy Seal is pleased to discover that one of his clerks is sticking to a schedule of fees and (by implication) suspects that others may be profiteering on a "what the market will bear" basis, or neglecting to tell him the full amount of the fees that they charge, or a combination of the two.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

What's with Uncle Robert's Will today? What with Pepys lobbying in the forenoon with "a good deal of money" the Brampton connections -- Davenport, Furbisher, Bernard -- and the vain quest for Tom Trice at day's end. His sitting "late with pleasure at [ his ] lute" suggests he deems the day a success, but I do wish he'd told us what it was all about.

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