Thursday 4 December 1662

At the office all the morning setting about business, and after dinner to it again, and so till night, and then home looking over my Brampton papers against to-morrow that we are to meet with our counsel on both sides toward an arbitration, upon which I was very late, and so to bed.

18 Annotations

First Reading

A. Hamilton  •  Link

all the morning setting about business, and after dinner to it again,

A brief (53 word) entry, and notable for lack of social contact and color, yet we can well imagine Sam hard at work keeping track of prices, setting up files, and making order of Navy business, and then home preparing himself for tomorrow's arbitration on Brampton (which I confess still confuses me).

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

"arbitration" I just be a wondering how much this consultation be a costing, obviously less than the 200 libre at stake.[I be D*** sure it be not for love] To-day, each consultation dothe cost one ounce of guinea's finest output per 'our or part there too. As Our Samuel hathe 600 quid divided by 2.5 in varius euro. coins d'oro, thereby he won't be broke for a while but then he can always barter a few impressions of navy seals or privy seal appointments duly embossed.

bardi  •  Link

to A. Hamilton - if you go to Robert Pepys (Sam's Uncle), Pauline has given an excellent, detailed explanation of the legal and familial knots our poor Sam is trying to untangle.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

Sam’l doesn’t always spell them out

Amen, brother Terry. Reading Pauline's entries, taken from the L&M summary, I conclude that Sam is now at the stage of settling on arbitrators (who paid & how much: good questions)to settle the dispute with his cousin Thomas and uncle Thomas concerning the distribution of income from Brampton.

The Brampton property was awarded by a court to John (father) and Sam (son) in October 1662, even though by manorial custom it should have gone to the heir-at-law (Uncle Thomas, in spite of Uncle Robert's will) because copyhold surrender documents were missing. (A point of law that has been explained, but not understood by me.)

To quote L&M, "Thomas Pepys, after an attempt at arbitration, appealed on the ground that this offended manorial custom, and also on the ground that the settlement had been made conditinal on the payment of annuities and legacies which had not yet been paid — his own among them. He threatened to prosecute any Brampton tenants who paid their rents to the executors. Negotiations for an out-of-court settlement which would apply to the whole etate were resumed..." And here we are.

Linda F  •  Link

Another terse entry, steeped in concentration. Perhaps Sam does not always spell out Brampton matters because they were unclear to him, too, and he was aware of the weaknesses of his position. He knew enough to be deeply concerned about the outcome. At least we have the image of him in the circle of light from the lamp or the hearth, the rattle or shush of parchments and pages, and the roll of the wind outside an otherwise quiet house (unless he talked or hummed to himself, which would not surprise me a bit).

A. Hamilton  •  Link

the image of him

Lovely, Linda -- you've given us the image and more, the sounds of the room where he sits absorbed.

Bradford  •  Link

What's the advice that someone gives, in vain, to Mr. Tulliver in George Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss"? "Never go to law!"

Gus Spier  •  Link

Another terse entry, steeped in concentration...

I wonder if Sam's editorial policy is to annotate in the Journal those things he'd like to be able to remember. The things that are really important, he knows he'll remember, and doesn't need to write them down.

It's a thought ...

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

Gus Spier: It be my view that he writes what is new and different and make notes for future reference, those thoughts that he be thinking he needs for the future. Those items that be familiar, he dothe not note as he not be thinking of us interlopers wanting to know if he wears his cap to bed.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

in re Uncle Robert's will

Emilio gives an explanation of copyhold, at the link given abovce by Glynn, that seems to suggest that Uncle Robert failed to get quit claims from other potential heirs to his various properties, this limiting his right to dictate who should inherit.

Linda F  •  Link

I see your point: had thought the economy of this entry arose from Sam's intensity in prepping for that legal business (wrote the entry in those wee hours after all his mental efforts)? Bookending entries are swimming with detail and activity, so it does seem that he writes what he will want most to recall years later but thinks he may not: what vividly impressed him at the time (cold weather juxtaposed against someone's hot buttered ale: all those contrasts that turn time on its head and put us right there). Sam lives!

in Aqua Scripto  •  Link

The diary could have been filled as follows:
Jane was up and about, raking out the ashes and banking up all the hearths with my coles from the cellar. My day shirt be nice and warm as she set up my clothes before the hearth, the windows be pretty with the nights frost on the panes with such pretty patterns, She be such a good girl, she takes the chamber to the basement,and the cold brick wrapped in a blanket to the kitchen to be ready for tonight. I warm my backside in front of the hearth before being helped by Wayneman into the nice fire warmed clothes , Ah ! what a life so much nicer, than that old Garret were Liz and I shivered from the cold as there be very little coles........

Pauline  •  Link

'Reading Pauline’s entries, taken from the L&M summary'
Greetings, good friends in Pepys. When I type out from the L&M Companion, I indicate when it is only a partial rendition and never summarize. I give it its all. (I am not alone in providing this information from the Campanion. But often the Campanion information is more specific to the diary that other gleanings.)

Second Reading

Louise Hudson  •  Link

Let this be a lesson to everyone to keep his or her own diary, just in case a spouse or S/O decides to keep one and it gets published 500 years down the road. Too bad no one gave Elizabeth this advice. Then, at least, we'd know something about what SHE was thinking day by day. It would be endlessly fascinating. As it is, we never hear Elizabeth's voice or have any idea of her thoughts or reactions to anything except through Sam. More's the pity. How delicious it would be able to read a day-by-day account by Elizabeth, Sam's parents, and some of Sam's contacts, including the servants.

Maybe we should all assume that SOMEONE close to us is keeping a diary and we have only one chance to get our two-cent's worth in--and possibly defend ourselves.

Louise Hudson  •  Link

Let this be a lesson to everyone to keep his or her own diary, just in case a spouse or S/O decides to keep one and it gets published 500 years down the road. Too bad no one gave Elizabeth this advice. Then, at least, we'd know something about what SHE was thinking day by day. It would be endlessly fascinating. As it is, we never hear Elizabeth's voice or have any idea of her thoughts or reactions to anything except through Sam. More's the pity. How delicious it would be able to read day by day account by Elizabeth, Sam's parents, and some of Sam's contacts, including the servants.

Maybe we should all assume that SOMEONE close to us is keeping a diary and we have only one chance to get our two-cent's worth in--and defend ourselves.

John York  •  Link

There is a saying History is written by the victors. It could be more accurately said the survivors. Maybe Elizabeth did keep a diary, but Samuel found it, read it, didn't like what it said and destroyed it. He wouldn't read Elizabeth's letter last month because he didn't like what it might contain.

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