Thomas Turner

Paid Mr Holman 1.12.0 for 48 lbs wool received of him today. Thomas Cornwell a-gardening for me today and dined with us on some beans and bacon. Paid him 12d for sundry jobs. Paid John Elphick in cash 0.14.0 for 21 lbs of wool received of him today. Lent Mr Joseph Burgess in cash 2.10.0, for which he gave me his note of hand, payable to me or bearer on demand.

In the afternoon walked down to Halland with Mrs Coates’s bill, which amounted to 5.1.9. In the evening went down to Jones’s to the vestry where were only John Cayley and myself. Came home about 8:10. Lent John Cayley in cash 1 guinea.

After breakfast rode over to Framfield and from thence I rode to Chailey to consult my brother concerning the appointing a day to settle my mother’s affairs. I dined at Mr Beard’s on some cold bacon and beans… I came home by my uncle Hill’s, but he was not at home. Called at Thomas Jones’s at Bentley and bought his wool at 9d per pound. Came home about 8:10, but not thorough sober…

Rec’d of John Cayley the guinea lent him the 2nd instant. We dined on part of the scrag end of a neck of mutton boiled. Dame Rothfield and Dame Merricks drank tea with my wife. At home all day. Read part of The Peerage of England.

In the morning my brother came over and I lent him my horse… About 1:10 Charles Diggens called on me and I walked with him to the Dicker to see a game at cricket played between the same two elevens that played on Eason’s Green the 28th ult. It was not played out, though if it had, in all probability Framfield would have beat, they heading the other eleven 98 runs the first innings.

Came home about 8:30. Spent 1½d, though neither ate nor drank during the time I was absent from home. A prodigious hot day, but a fine serene air, there being nothing of a sultry air.

In the forenoon my brother came over and brought my horse. I received of him in cash 4.6.3½ for goods as under:

½ hundred [weight] sugar	50/-	1.5.0
¼ hundred do.	58/-	0.14.6
2 hundred do.	52/-	0.13.0
14 lbs do.	56/-	0.7.0
35½ lbs lump	76/-	1.4.3¼
Carriage		0.2.6¼

…Paid Mr Sam Beckett in cash 11/6, which he paid this week to Messrs Raby and Master in full on my account. At home all day. Dame Beach drank tea at our house. My wife very ill with a cold and cough.

…This day received by the post the disagreeable news of the French being landed at Dover. Oh, melancholy news! but yet I hope it is only a false report set about by some credulous and fearful people without any real foundation.

About 8:20 Mr Richard Sterry came in and we balanced accounts. I paid him…19.5.6 in full on my account to this day. Mr Sterry supped and lodged at our house. At home all day. Received of Joseph Fuller 1½ 1bs mutton not paid for, that I received in the morning being paid for. My wife very ill with a cold all day and I think somewhat dangerous.

After breakfasting with us Mr Sterry set out on his journey for Lewes. Myself and wife both ill with colds. Our maid only at church in the morning. We dined on some bacon and peas. Our maid only at church in the afternoon. In the forenoon my brother came over to borrow my horse to go to Lewes upon. Mr Thornton and Thomas Durrant sat with us in the evening, as did Molly Fuller and Mr Shoesmith.

Rec’d of John Streeter the guinea I lent him the 30^th ult. Rec’d of Mr Joseph Burgess the 2.10.0 I lent him the 2nd instant and gave him his note of hand. Rec’d of Joseph Smith in cash 0.10.6 on account. We dined on some peas and bacon. In the evening my brother brought my horse, but did not stay. Very busy all day and at home.

This day I saw in the newspaper that instead of our being invaded by the French, we have a fleet under the command of Admiral Rodney now lying before Havre de Grace which has burned upwards of 30 flat-bottomed boats and also were a-bombarding the town and had set it on fire in two places when the [express] came away. So we have a sudden transition from sorrow to joy. In the afternoon posted my day book.

In the morning about 6:10 rode over to Framfield where I breakfasted with my brother and also dined with him in company with my brother Richard and Mr George Beard on some part of a leg of lamb and some beans… We met intending to settle my mother’s affairs, but as my brother had not got in all the book debts and bills, and at the same time my brother Richard behaving very contrary, we did not settle anything. I stayed and drank tea with my brother and came home about 7:20. About 0:10 we had a tempest of thunder, lightning and rain, which continued near an hour. The thunder did not seem to be very sharp here, though the lightning was almost continual. My wife paid Mr Sam Beckett 16d in full for 4 lbs of lobsters received by him today.

This day John Cayley and his servant Ann Smith were married at our church… In the afternoon played at cricket some time, and I lost about 1½d… At home all day. In the evening bottled off some cider.