Saturday 5 January 1660/61

Home all the morning. Several people came to me about business, among others the great Tom Fuller, who came to desire a kindness for a friend of his, who hath a mind to go to Jamaica with these two ships that are going, which I promised to do.

So to Whitehall to my Lady, whom I found at dinner and dined with her, and staid with her talking all the afternoon, and thence walked to Westminster Hall. So to Will’s, and drank with Spicer, and thence by coach home, staying a little in Paul’s Churchyard, to bespeak Ogilby’s Æsop’s Fables and Tully’s Officys to be bound for me. So home and to bed.

16 Annotations

First Reading

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

Tully's Officys.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, "de Officiis,"
an ethical treatise addressed to his son. A rich source of gnomic quotes, e.g., "summum jus, summa injuria," which might be translated as "Extreme law is extreme injustice." An English translation (Loeb edition) can be found at
http://www.stoics.com/cicero_book…
The Latin text is at:
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ci…

dirk  •  Link

Jamaica

Jamaica had only five years before become English. In 1655 the British had taken Jamaica from the Spanish - with the help of the "bucanneers". Bristol Admiral Sir William Penn in command of the operation.

Many slaves took the opportunity to escape to the mountains and establish the socalled "Maroon" settlements. These Maroons - and slave rebellions - would continue to be a problem for the British for the rest of the century.

Jamaica, by the way, would introduce **rum** to Europe - a "hellish" drink that was originally given to the plantation slaves to ease their misery and keep them tolerably content during their appalling labours.

In 1660 the voyage to Jamaica was still not exactly without danger...

vincent  •  Link

"...bespeak Ogilby's AEsop's Fables and Tully's Officys to be bound for me…”
655+ Fables AesopFables.com
Most[modern] were translated into English by Rev. George Fyler Townsend (1814-1900) and Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) the rest are from Jean De La Fontaine [the tales were actually written by Aesop. Some scholars even believe he never existed.
His works were polished by Jean de La Fontaine in his Fables (1668-1694)] in French and translated to English
http://www.aesopfables.com/
Ogilby, John 1600-1676. … Paris
John Ogilby's 1651 edition of Aesop's Fables mentioned in
http://www.cf.ac.uk/encap/ceir/sc… for
For those desperate for this version like SP got; still available for money Fables of Aesop Paraphrased in Verse
by Author: Aesop Author: John Ogilby

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

It is peculiar that Sam can always stay for a bite whenever he is visiting people at mealtimes. There was enough to eat for unexpected guests, but that was especially the case in the richer houses, I suppose. In some countries there is (was?) the habit to lay the table for at least one extra person.

Kevin Sheerstone  •  Link

Wim van der Meij -extra place at table

I have personally come across this practice in Eastern Europe (Poland and Hungary), and in North America (Newfoundland in Canada and the New England states of the US). In the case of New England it seemed to be confined to Thanksgiving, and in the other places mentioned, to Christmas.

I can remember my mother, who was Irish, mentioning it too.

Barbara  •  Link

I think the laying of an extra place had more of a charitable religious background, than in case a chance guest turned up. In large households, such as the Sandwich one, there were many children, servants, other employees and there would always be a further cut of a large joint to serve an extra person, or the remains of yesterday's pie to be hurried from the kitchens.

Alan Bedford  •  Link

Correction to Vincent's reference: http://www.cf.ac.uk/encap/ceir/sc…

It's an interesting history of an adaptation of one of Ogilby's Aesop translations into a masque for (!) Cromwell.

vincent  •  Link

In my early formative years: an extra mouth never fazed the Lady of the house, rich or poor. But by the 60's it changed amongst the more affluent. I still find that those who have the least are more generous than those with excess. Just an observation [or my personality or who nose].

Second Reading

simplicio  •  Link

SP first mentions reading Fuller's Church History back in 2/15/60 and is still reading it 30th Dec of the same year. Must be quite a tome, but it explains his some-what star-struck "great Tom Fuller".

Bill  •  Link

"Tully’s Officys"

In the 17th century, and well into the 19th, Marcus Tullius Cicero was better known as "Tully" than as "Cicero." The town of Cicero, Illinois (founded 1849) is somewhat familiar though the village of Tully, New York (founded 1803), where I once lived, is not.

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

the laying of an extra place:
Though I don't know where this originated, some Christian families today set an extra place as a reminder that Christ is also present at their table. I wonder would it have helped to quiet our children's pandemonium?

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"Tom Fuller...came to desire a kindness for a friend of his, who hath a mind to go to Jamaica with these two ships that are going, which I promised to do."

The ships sailed in February with settlers and stores -- an important step in the colonization of Jamaica. The 'Great Tom' Fuller was the divine and author. His friend may have been Peter Beckford, his parishioner at Cranford, Middlesex, who founded a prominent dynasty of Jamaican planters. (L&M)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"So to Will’s, and drank with Spicer"

Pepys and his buds were such regulars that Will rewarded them the day before yesterday: "to Will’s, where Spicer and I eat our dinner of a roasted leg of pork which Will did give us" http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

I wonder why Pepys, a regular, from now on references going to Will's only three more times in the course of the diary!?

Third Reading

Jim Mullins  •  Link

Can someone remind me - were My Lord and My Lady living at Whitehall at this point?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Yes, Jim -- Adm. Montagu had been awarded a large apartment at Whitehall by Cromwell, and by the time he was plotting Charles' return, Richard was gone and no one had the power or necessity to take it away, so Montagtu left his servants there to maintain his residency. Charles returns, and Montagu / Sandwich is still there.

Sandwich is also rennovating an apartment for Lady Jemima at the Wardrobe, but we haven't been told she has moved there yet. Plus the workmen are improving Hinchingbrooke at this time, so it is fit for an Earl's family.

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