Friday 30 November 1660

(Office day). To the office, where Sir G. Carteret did give us an account how Mr. Holland do intend to prevail with the Parliament to try his project of discharging the seamen all at present by ticket, and so promise interest to all men that will lend money upon them at eight per cent., for so long as they are unpaid; whereby he do think to take away the growing debt, which do now lie upon the kingdom for lack of present money to discharge the seamen. But this we are troubled at as some diminution to us.

I having two barrels of oysters at home, I caused one of them and some wine to be brought to the inner room in the office, and there the Principal Officers did go and eat them.

So we sat till noon, and then to dinner, and to it again in the afternoon till night.

At home I sent for Mr. Hater, and broke the other barrel with him, and did afterwards sit down discoursing of sea terms to learn of him. And he being gone I went up and sat till twelve at night again to make an end of my Lord’s accounts, as I did the last night. Which at last I made a good end of, and so to bed.

17 Annotations

First Reading

Alan Bedford  •  Link

Sam seems concerned that Holland's scheme will cost him and the Principal Officers some power and/or money. Anyone have any specific insight into Holland's proposal?

john lauer  •  Link

It will be covered on the 3rd and 4th.

David A. Smith  •  Link

"interest to all men ... at eight per cent., for so long as they are unpaid"
Welcome to deficit spending; the government is recapitalizing a liability into a loan, being sold by the government as a scrip for a debt. The rate is (intentionally) exorbitant (for the times) and is intended to assuage the army and also to get a lot of soldiers happily to sign up for it. I expect most of them will grab it and ease the government's cash flow problem. Clever Charles II!

Harry  •  Link

I DO feel perplexed by the way SP handles his verbs:

Sir G. Carteret DID give us an account...
Mr. Holland DO intend to prevail...
whereby he DO think...

However:
I CAUSED one of them and some wine to be brought to the inner room in the office....
So we SAT till noon...
At home I SENT for Mr. Hater, and BROKE the other barrel with him, and DID afterwards sit down

Can anyone explain this to me? What would induce SP to insert a DO (or DID, but not a DOES!), or leave it out? Was it common usage at the time, and when DID the practice cease? Remnants have survived to this day. DID people speak this way, or was it restricted to written English? I DO find it very puzzling, DOn't you agree?

Mary  •  Link

DO as an auxiliary verb

Between about 1500 and 1700 it became very common to use 'do' as a periphrastic, auxiliary verb in indicative tenses. It gave no additional meaning to the verb: 'He did say' was the simple equivalent of 'He said'. Language has its fashions, and this was one of them.

The variation between 'do', 'doth' and 'does' reflects changes in use over time. In the 16th century, all three forms might be found in fairly general use; in the course of the 17th Century 'doth' started to disappear, being supplanted by the northern English form 'does'. The 'do' form of the 3rd person singular retreated to south-western dialectal areas, where it can still be found. I have also heard it amongst older speakers in East Anglia.

Pepys was writing at a time when these changes were gradually taking place and he would have heard all three forms used, but has apparently not adopted the northern 'does' himself in all cases.

'Do/doth/does' are used in the present tense and 'did' in the preterite, of course.

A. De Araujo  •  Link

"Clever Charles II" Was this deficit spending generalized? followed by inflation? any concise economic history of this period?

Martin King  •  Link

Up until about 5 years ago I was living in South Wales where "do" was still used as an auxiliary verb including using it with the verb "to do"! For example "That's what I do do"

Harry  •  Link

DO as an auxiliary verb

Thank you Mary and Martin, that was most helpful. As I live in Paris I have noted the difficulty that some Frenchmen have with the survival of certain uses of "do" as an auxiliary verb(which, I believe, are not found in any other language), such as for interrogations ("how do you make this machine work?") and negatives ("I don't have a clue"). Try explaining to them what "how do you do?" is all about.

dirk  •  Link

DO as an auxiliary verb

The only language I know of (if I remember correctly) that consistently uses the equivalent of "to do" as an auxiliary verb with all other verbs and in all tenses is Basque - a language which has no obvious relationship with any other roman or germanic language.

In English this would lead to sentences like: "And he HAVING DONE going I DID go up and DID sit till twelve at night again to DO make an end of my Lord

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"discharging the seamen all at present by ticket" does not apply to soldiers, whose idleness the Parliament has feared even more than the seamen and have paid and "disbanded" -- a reasonable priority, given the recent history of The New Model Army. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New…

Parliament will leave the scheme in the hands of Pepys and the other principal Officers of the Navy -- a scurvy job!

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Mr. Holland do intend to prevail with the Parliament to try his project of discharging the seamen all at present by ticket, and so promise interest to all men that will lend money upon them at eight per cent., for so long as they are unpaid"

L&M: John Holland was an experienced naval official: between 1635 and 1653 he had been in turn Paymaster, Commissioner, and Surveyor. Pepys kept some of his earlier memoranda (1630) on pay-tickets. His present scheme came to nothing; additional funds were provided by a tax: see http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… and
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

Third Reading

Awanthi Vardaraj  •  Link

Two 'barrels' of oysters in one day. Exactly how big are these barrels?

Charles Miller  •  Link

The barrel in this instance would, I think, be similar to a costrel - a small portable container in use until the 19th century, and would probably contain 24-30 oysters, so enough to share as a mid-morning snack with office colleagues, perhaps 3-4 each. What I don’t know is whether the barrel was bought or returned.. SP mentions them so often, what did he do with them?

Carl  •  Link

So many oysters! And a young wife!

john  •  Link

"I having two barrels of oysters at home, I caused one of them and some wine to be brought to the inner room in the office, and there the Principal Officers did go and eat them."

Today, one brings in bagels or doughnuts or somesuch for one's colleagues.

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