Saturday 29 October 1664
Up, and it being my Lord Mayor’s show, my boy and three mayds went out; but it being a very foule, rainy day, from morning till night, I was sorry my wife let them go out. All the morning at the office. At dinner at home. In the afternoon to the office again, and about 9 o’clock by appointment to the King’s Head tavern upon Fish Street Hill, whither Mr. Wolfe (and Parham by his means) met me to discourse about the Fishery, and great light I had by Parham, who is a little conceited, but a very knowing man in his way, and in the general fishing trade of England.
Here I staid three hours, and eat a barrel of very fine oysters of Wolfe’s giving me, and so, it raining hard, home and to my office, and then home to bed.
All the talke is that De Ruyter is come over-land home with six or eight of his captaines to command here at home, and their ships kept abroad in the Straights; which sounds as if they had a mind to do something with us.
24 Annotations
First Reading
djc • Link
see http://www.lordmayorsshow.org/ for the the present Lord Mayor's Show.
Robert Gertz • Link
Always interesting to see when one of an enemy's commanders manages to emerge as a "star" commanding respect, even admiration from many on the other side-Wellington in the Napoleonic wars for example and of course Erwin Rommel in WWII.
Andrew Hamilton • Link
In the afternoon to the office again, and about 9 o’clock ... to the King’s Head tavern .... Here I staid three hours, ... and so, it raining hard, home and to my office, and then home to bed.
Remarkably late hours for a man who yesterday reported having a "very great cold."
Ruben • Link
djc: thanks for the link to the Lord Mayor Show! I enjoyed the Canaletto and the history. Still, I will not make it to the next Show (in a few days).
I am waiting impatiently to read Pepys next entry, to see if the people in his staff enjoyed the Show.
By the way: Do you remember the first entries of the diary? Only Sam and his wife...A visit to the barber was news in those days. Now he has "my boy and three mayds" to dispose of, and may be others that were not allowed to go to the Show, so the household continued to function. Life this days is good for our hero.
Mary • Link
A barrel of oysters for late supper?
Not sure that my digestive system would welcome this. Let's hope that our man manages to sleep well tonight.
Mary • Link
The Dutch fleet remains in The Straights.
According to an L&M footnote, this was a false rumour. de Ruyter was actually en route to Guinea.
Michael Robinson • Link
Remarkably late hours for a man who yesterday reported having a “very great cold.”
"I staid three hours, and eat a barrel of very fine oysters ..."
"Oysters contain more zinc per serving than any other food, ... The effect of zinc treatments on the severity or duration of cold symptoms is controversial. A study of over 100 employees of the Cleveland Clinic indicated that zinc lozenges decreased the duration of colds by one-half, ... Recent research suggests that the effect of zinc may be influenced by the ability of the specific supplement formula to deliver zinc ions to the oral mucosa ..."
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/…
And, whether pigs have wings, a couple dozen, or so, oysters always lift my own spirits!
Pedro • Link
L&M footnote… de Ruyter was actually en route to Guinea.
Actually De Ruyter had sailed for Cape Palmas on the 27th and had taken the surrender of Goree on the 14th of October.
A. Hamilton • Link
“Oysters contain more zinc per serving than any other food"
Ha! I always knew they were therapeutic. Smart Sam. On balance, the oysters probably helped him sleep better that evening.
Ruben • Link
Oysters:
Do not believe oysters are therapeutic till you read a study were they are compared to placebo oysters.
A. Hamilton • Link
Do not believe oysters are therapeutic till you read a study were they are compared to placebo oysters.
I'd happily volunteer to be in that study, and it wouldn't matter to me which group I was put in.
Bradford • Link
We've often discussed these barrels of oysters, which were rather small as a barrel goes; but how were the oysters packed? Shucked, in brine? Or still in their shells, likewise with briny water as a preservative? If the latter, it substantially reduces the amount Pepys ingested vs. what "barrel" suggests, and---unless one is a seasoned hand at the practice---requires a certain caloric outlay to open them all. Like cracking a whole lobster as you go until the bits you eat last are stone cold. . . .
Speaking of which, might Master's disinclination to have servants out in the chilly wet be linked to his fear of contracting cold from them? (We know that colds are transmitted via virus, though being cold and wet only encourages them, but Sam didn't know that.)
pk • Link
Sam has certainly spoken of a barrel pickled oysters before so there is a good chance that these were too.
As for Quantity:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
gives us:
"...probably the BARREL in which pickled oysters have been noted [Inventories (1627)] and the SMALL BARREL in which they were rated [Rates (1660)] were probably much smaller than a standard barrel for beer or the like. In discussing the sizes and capacities of barrels, Randle Holme finished with the comment '... till you come to a Rundlet for Oysters pickled, containing about a quart, or a pint and half' [Holme (2000)]"
The Holmes reference: "Living and Working in Seventeenth Century England: an Encyclopedia of Drawings and Descriptions from Randle Holme's Original Manuscripts for the Academy of Armory (1688), edited by N.W. Alcock and Nancy Cox, CD-ROM published by the British Library, London"
Michael Robinson • Link
placebo oysters
"Knockout" oysters; are those the ones eaten when there is no 'r' in the month, they don't sound edible?
Pedro • Link
This day Evelyn writes...
29th October. Was the most magnificent triumph by water and land of the Lord Mayor.3 I dined at Guildhall at the upper table, placed next to Sir H. Bennett, Secretary of State, opposite to my Lord Chancellor and the Duke of Buckingham, who sate between Monsieur Comminges, the French Ambassador, Lord Treasurer, the Dukes of Ormond and Albemarle, Earl of Manchester, Lord Chamberlain, and the rest of the great officers of state. My Lord Mayor came twice up to us, first drinking in the golden goblet his Majesty's health, then the French King's as a compliment to the Ambassador; we returned my Lord Mayor's health, the trumpets and drums sounding. The cheer was not to be imagined for the plenty and rarity, with an infinite number of persons at the tables in that ample hall. The feast was said to cost 1000l. I slipped away in the crowd, and came home late.
Australian Susan • Link
I found it strange that Sam did not want to go and see the festivities - or does he now think he is too grand to enjoy something his boy and the maids want to see?
Paul Chapin • Link
"strange that Sam did not want to go and see the festivities"
I believe that if I had a nasty cold in my head, I wouldn't want to go out in a "very foule, rainy day" to stand and watch a parade, either.
Paul Chapin • Link
Of course, if he had had an invitation like Evelyn's to dine at the Guildhall with the grandees, he would have probably put on his new suit and hied himself over there, cold or no cold.
Pedro • Link
On this day William Coventry to Sandwich
Date: 29 October 1664
Shelfmark: MS. Carte 75, fol(s). 237
Document type: Holograph
Has visited the ships in the Hope, in attendance upon the Lord Admiral prior to there being sent as a recruitment of the Fleet under Sandwich. Sends orders also to Plymouth for despatch of another vessel. Suggests the desirability of one or two ships being set "to observe the Dutch motions, ... and, if it might be so, observe their parting". ...
pepf • Link
"Remarkably late hours..."
I think the absence of his usual self-congratulatory phrase "at the office till late" or of its equivalents is remarkable. The German translation based on L&M reads "4 o'clock" so he would have returned to his office about 7 o'clock after eating those oysters, therapeutic or otherwise.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"by appointment to the King’s Head tavern upon Fish Street Hill, whither Mr. Wolfe (and Parham by his means) met me to discourse about the Fishery, and great light I had by Parham, who is a little conceited, but a very knowing man in his way, and in the general fishing trade of England. "
Both William Wolfe and Richard Parham were members of the Fishmongers' Company. (L&M footnote)
Bill • Link
"it being my Lord Mayor’s show, my boy and three mayds went out"
The King and Queen were present at the banquet. The Intelligencer, 31st Oct., 1664.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . great light I had by Parham . . ’
‘light, n.1 < Old English . .
. . 6. c. pl. (a) Pieces of information or instruction; facts, discoveries, or suggestions which explain a subject. . .
. . 1683 W. Temple Mem. in Wks. (1731) I. 387 I had long Conversations with the Pensioner, by which I gain'd the Lights necessary to discover the whole present Scene of Affairs . . ‘
San Diego Sarah • Link
How interesting, Bill, that neither Pepys or Evelyn mention Charles II and Catherine being there. Perhaps they stayed in a back room to avoid the rabble.