Sunday 2 June 1667
(Lord’s day). Up betimes, and down to my chamber without trimming myself, or putting on clean linen, thinking only to keep to my chamber and do business to-day, but when I come there I find that without being shaved I am not fully awake, nor ready to settle to business, and so was fain to go up again and dress myself, which I did, and so down to my chamber, and fell roundly to business, and did to my satisfaction by dinner go far in the drawing up a state of my accounts of Tangier for the new Lords Commissioners. So to dinner, and then to my business again all the afternoon close, when Creed come to visit me, but I did put him off, and to my business, till anon I did make an end, and wrote it fair with a letter to the Lords to accompany my accounts, which I think will be so much satisfaction and so soon done (their order for my doing it being dated but May 30) as they will not find from any hand else. Being weary and almost blind with writing and reading so much to-day, I took boat at the Old Swan, and there up the river all alone as high as Putney almost, and then back again, all the way reading, and finishing Mr. Boyle’s book of Colours, which is so chymical, that I can understand but little of it, but understand enough to see that he is a most excellent man. So back and home, and there to supper, and so to bed.
15 Annotations
First Reading
Andrew Hamilton • Link
without being shaved I am not fully awake, nor ready to settle to business
Shaving: man's daily confrontation with death.
Lovely respite at the end of the day, a couple of hours or so on the water, reading.
David Goldfarb • Link
A great deal of work done today, but it hardly strikes me as keeping the Sabbath.
Ruben • Link
A boat round trip in a river not yet poluted, just for pleasure, with a book for company. Fantastic!
Mary • Link
"a river not yet polluted"
Well, that depends on which stretch of the river you are thinking of. In the environs of Westminster and London and many areas downstream you wouldn't really have cared to go paddling - not just because of raw sewage, but also because of all the 'dirty trades' such as leather-tanning that lined the riverbanks. Upstream of Westminster (the direction in which Pepys travelled) would certainly have been more pleasant.
JWB • Link
This morning's news brought word that overnight deposits at ECB rose to record high as European banks are wary of lending to each other. This brought to mind Steven Quinn's "Goldsmith-Banking: Mutual Acceptance and Interbank Clearing in Restoration London". Worth a look.
http://www.econ.tcu.edu/quinn/fin…
Larry Hill • Link
but when I come there I find that without being shaved I am not fully awake, nor ready to settle to business, and so was fain to go up again and dress myself,
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Sounds like some things never change!! This is the mixed blessing of working from home. It is comfortable to toil away in casual clothes, but often you need that daily "clean up" to get really motivated.
Terry Foreman • Link
JWB, thanks for the link to the very enlightening Quinn article.
It shows how Pepys's banking w/ Vyner is linked to his banking with Blackwell and others, quite w/out his knowledge.
If I understand Quinn aright, this is a prototype of Adam Smith's "invisible hand." http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/Inv…
Terry Foreman • Link
"drawing up a state of my accounts of Tangier for the new Lords Commissioners"
L&M note this and the letter have not been traced.
Terry Foreman • Link
It's been a long while since Pepys recorded evening Lord's Day family prayers.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
TF: " a prototype of Adam Smith's invisible hand"
For quite the best book on what went wrong with the banking system in 2007, I highly recommend Gary Gorton's "Slapped by the Invisible Hand,"
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/gen…
Second Reading
David Garfield • Link
Samuel echoes what many feel currently when so many of us have to work at home. It's tempting to slop around all day but now we have Teams meeting to dress up for (top half at least).
Gerald Berg • Link
Nearly blind from the work what does Pepys do? Read a book!
Scube • Link
What a wonderful entry. Much work done. No skirt chasing. Interesting as others point out, that there appears to be no great expectation of keeping sabbath and no consequence for failing to do so. I wonder what his accounts look like. Are they ledgers? Are there any adopted accounting conventions or rules?
San Diego Sarah • Link
Another Sunday afternoon outing without Elizabeth. You're asking for trouble, Pepys.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I wonder what his accounts look like. Are they ledgers? Are there any adopted accounting conventions or rules?"
Yes, Scube, they did double entry bookkeeping, just like us. HOWEVER, how Pepys kept his commissions off the books, we have not figured out. So I suspect he did quadruple bookkeeping, and kept one set in the Navy Office for official inspection, and kept the other set in his home Closett.