Saturday 12 December 1668

Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon home to dinner, and so the like mighty busy, late, all the afternoon, that I might be ready to go to the drawing up of my answer to Middleton to-morrow, and therefore home to supper and to bed.

I hear this day that there is fallen down a new house, not quite finished, in Lumbard Street, and that there have been several so, they making use of bad mortar and bricks; but no hurt yet, as God hath ordered it. This day was brought home my pair of black coach-horses, the first I ever was master of. They cost me 50l., and are a fine pair.

19 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Ormond to Ossory
Written from: Whitehall
Date: 12 December 1668

Is much obliged to Dr Loftus, for his industry & affection in the writer's concerns. ...
Lord Anglesey, if he shall fail to be restored to his office & seat in Council, intends (now that privilege of Parliament will cease) to bring his action against Osborne and Littleton, to try the validity of his patent against theirs. The writer gave him no encouragement to enter on a suit, which must displease the King. ...

http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwm…

George Mosley  •  Link

Currency conversion: 50 pounds for a brace of coach horses:

There is a reason that every lady in a Restoration play and early novel dreams of "a coach and six." Pepys has been sweating this purchase more than professional review. There is no simple way to convert money, as England had city and country pricing, and there were periods of inflation. That said, in 1690, a comfortable middle class living could be had for 200 pounds sterling a year.

If today in the City that would be 60,000, then the horses cost Pepys as much as a car, easily.

Paul Chapin  •  Link

At the beginning of the diary, 50L was a year's salary for SP.

London Paul  •  Link

Pepys seems to be having the same traumas as we would buying a new car, much expert advice, 'salesmen' of doubtful honesty, which model to go for, what spec' and horsepower etc. He also seems to be experiencing the same deep joy of riding around in his new toy feeling the money well spent . What would he have driven today, Audi, BMW, or a Jag'? Discuss.

Carl in Boston  •  Link

What is Sam's annual income at this time? salary, and monetary perks.

JWB  •  Link

UK Nat'l Archives converter yields 4150 GBP's in 2005 for the 1670 50 GBP. Shopping for an American team today? Goto: http://www.ruralheritage.com/team…

Be sure to read the comments.

JWB  •  Link

"I can weary out their malice and peevishness"

'Penn is imprisoned in the Tower, 1668-9'

from Samuel M. Janney (The Life of William Penn, Sixth Edition, 1882)

http://www.gwyneddfriends.org/pen…

AnnieC  •  Link

Black horses, mmmm, very classy.

Carl in Boston  •  Link

What would he have driven today, Audi, BMW, or a Jag’? Discuss.
Obviously he would drive a sedate family car, an Audi, for Elizabeth to ride in, shiny black of course, very grand, befitting his secret incomes.
Come on out, All you Pepyrs and Lurkers, this diary is not long for the world. Queen jeannine just said so. Let's dance in the sunshine while we can.

chris  •  Link

Houses falling down due to poor mortar: presumably "cowboy" builders cashing in on a post-fire reconstruction boom. Plus ca change...

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Note that even as Pepys has lately recorded a rumor that Ormond night be displaced as Lieutenant-General of Ireland, Ormond writes today of his having not taken sides in the struggle for the treasurership pf the navy: Lord Anglesey intends "(now that privilege of Parliament will cease) to bring his action against Osborne and Littleton, to try the validity of his patent against theirs. The writer gave him no encouragement to enter on a suit, which must displease the King." …

But Pepys, apparently, is otherwise distracted. ;-)

Paul Chapin  •  Link

@Carl in Boston, re Sam's income:
Sam's salary has been fixed at 350L per annum since he first took the position of Clerk of the Acts. He had to give his predecessor, Thomas Barlow, 100L a year of that until Barlow died in 1664/65. But his income from other sources has greatly exceeded his salary, as can be seen in the chart tracking his wealth at
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo… .
His net worth increased fairly steadily by about 300L a year until mid-1665, at which time it moved sharply upward, increasing by about 4000L in the next year alone, at which point he stopped reporting it, but there's no reason to suppose it didn't continue to increase at the same rate or more. Which means the purchase of the coach and horses was not that extravagant in terms of his overall wealth.

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Interesting that young Penn's incarceration didn't merit Sam's noting it today. I'd think it would at least attract his attention here. One imagines what this is doing for poor Admiral Sir Will's gout...

"But the only time I really got into trouble..." Bess, hesitating... "Was young Will..."

"Hewer?" Sam, gasping...

"Oh, no...Will?...Our boy? Never...I mean Will Penn."

"Penn! You! And that radical?!! Bess!!"

"Welll...He was so elegant on returning from Paris and he speaks French so very well...And we discussed Religion...And one thing led to another...Well...You ought to be damned grateful, Sam'l. It's the one thing that keeps me understanding your behavior. And it never got that serious either..."

"Will Penn, Jr.?! The son of mine worst enemy?!! And a radical?!!"

"Like you didn't flirt with Meg Penn...He tole me about it...She tells her brother everything, you know. And he's not a radical, he's trying to find himself."

"In your closet?!"

"Now, Sam'l...You won't make any trouble about this, will you? He's already in some hot water over a tract or something he just had published."

Tract? Hmmn...Now that she mentions it...Rather two birds with one charge, eh?

***
"Yes, we've had our eye on young Mr. Penn for a while. Thank ye for bringing this radical outpouring to our attention, Mr. Pepys."

"No particular need for my hand to show in this, my working closely with his father and all?"

"Not at all, sir."

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

"I hear this day that there is fallen down a new house, not quite finished, in Lumbard Street...."

Oh dear, another banking crisis looms.

Second Reading

Tonyel  •  Link

"I hear this day that there is fallen down a new house, not quite finished, in Lumbard Street...."

Probably just due to ignorance - up to this time the main skills required for town houses were masonry or joinery. Freestanding brick walls must have been 'new-fangled' to the majority of builders who, in my experience, are a fairly conservative bunch.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Welcome to anyone logging on from the Historical Novel Society, who posted our link on their blog today as being a resource for information and discussion. We've got to live up to that standard now!!!

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

You're right, TonyL. Just yesterday the local Exeter newspaper printed a story about moving a 500-year-old house with photos from the 1930s.

"The team started by stripping out the building to discover it was in a far worse state than originally thought. It had no foundations and a lot of the oak had rotted, leaving the whole structure unstable and liable to fall over once it was released from its timber anchors."

NO FOUNDATIONS! And it is still standing, but I think they added "foundations" of some sort at the new site.

https://www.devonlive.com/news/hi…

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