Friday 30 November 1666

Up, and with Sir W. Batten to White Hall, and there we did attend the Duke of York, and had much business with him; and pretty to see, it being St. Andrew’s day, how some few did wear St. Andrew’s crosse; but most did make a mockery at it, and the House of Parliament, contrary to practice, did sit also: people having no mind to observe the Scotch saints’ days till they hear better newes from Scotland.

Thence to Westminster Hall and the Abbey, thinking as I had appointed to have met Mrs. Burroughs there, but not meeting her I home, and just overtook my cozen Roger Pepys, Mrs. Turner, Dicke, and Joyce Norton, coming by invitation to dine with me. These ladies I have not seen since before the plague. Mrs. Turner is come to towne to look after her things in her house, but all is lost. She is quite weary of the country, but cannot get her husband to let her live here any more, which troubles her mightily. She was mighty angry with me, that in all this time I never writ to her, which I do think and take to myself as a fault, and which I have promised to mend. Here I had a noble and costly dinner for them, dressed by a man-cooke, as that the other day was, and pretty merry we were, as I could be with this company and so great a charge. We sat long, and after much talk of the plenty of her country in fish, but in nothing also that is pleasing, we broke up with great kindness, and when it begun to be dark we parted, they in one coach home, and I in another to Westminster Hall, where by appointment Mrs. Burroughs and I were to meet, but did not after I had spent the whole evening there. Only I did go drink at the Swan, and there did meet with Sarah, who is now newly married, and there I did lay the beginnings of a future ‘amour con elle’ … [which in time may come para laisser me hazer alguna cosa con elle. – L&M] Thence it being late away called at Mrs. Burroughs’ mother’s door, and she come out to me, and I did hazer whatever I would … [con su mano tocando mi cosa; – L&M] and then parted, and home, and after some playing at cards with my wife, we to supper and to bed.

22 Annotations

First Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

….”“…. Only, I did go drink at the Swan, and there did meet with Sarah, who is now newly married; and there I did lay the beginnings of a future amor con ella [ love with her ], which in time may come para laisser me hazer alguna cosa con elle [ let me play some thing with her]. Thence, it being late, away; called at Mrs. Burroughs mother’s door, and she came out to me and I did hazer whatever I would con su mano tocando mi cosa [ with her hand touching my thing ] ; and then parted and home; and after some playing at cards with my wife, we to supper and to bed.”
http://www.pepys.info/bits3.html#…

So: now that Sarah Udall is married, she is liable to get pregnant both legitimately and not?

cape henry  •  Link

Are these the first instances of Pepys hiring a male catering chef? I recall times when he ordered some professionally cooked items - take out - but this is new it seems to me.

(Thanks again to MR for wonderful profile of the current
Tam Dalyell of the Binns. I agree with CGS in summary. Interesting to learn that there is a current chatelaine of the Binns as well.)

Ralph Berry  •  Link

Thanks TF for the extra detail.

Our man is having a busy week.
Monday he "tumbles" Doll and then is off chasing Mrs Burroughs, that shows stamina.
Wednesday he is in the closet with Pegg.
Friday he is again chasing Mrs Burroughs, who is obviously avoiding him, so chats up and plays with Sarah then meets up with Mrs Burrough's mother and uses her hand "tocando mi cosa" then home to his wife to play cards and off to bed with her. (Oh to have that sort of drive.)
Interesting he uses the word "tumble", this is the first time I recall him using it rather than his mixture of European languages. I wonder if this denotes a less importance attached to the relationship and/or because Doll is well down the pecking order.
Also interesting his use of the words "man-cooke". Does this imply cooks were usually almost always woman so to have a "man-cooke" is something rather special?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Heaven.

Ummn...

"All right, it's not one of my finer moments..."

"Bess? Say something..."

"'The Adventure of Eight Hours'. I admire your persistence."

"You are being sarcastic, right?"

"And your sense of style...Right to her mother's door. Did you threaten to cut off her widow's pension if she didn't come out? Lord Mordaunt has nothing on you."

***

I wonder if Jane Turner was included in that crack about the company. If so, Sam is getting a bit big-headed for a man who spent the day running about haunting a poor (even if generally willing, compulsion is compulsion) widow for sexual favors.

'Handling Mr. Pepys' must be becoming quite a joke about London by now...

JWB  •  Link

...just so you call me for supper.

"The adjective or noun Scotch is an early modern English (16th century) contraction of the English word Scottish which was later adopted into the Scots language...From the early 19th century, however, Scots or Scottish increasingly became the preferred usages among educated Scottish people, Scotch being regarded as an anglicised affectation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scot…

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

re: Mrs. Burroughs' mother

Ralph, I don't think he's referring to activities with her mother; rather, it's that he found Mrs. Burroughs at her mother's house.

As for "tumble," I've always understood as denoting a lower level of sexual activity (think of today's "fooling around") rather than denoting lower social order or importance of relationship...

Don McCahill  •  Link

> Does this imply cooks were usually almost always woman so to have a “man-cooke” is something rather special?

I am guessing that it is normal for an in-house cook for regular meals to be a woman, but a man-cooke is what we might call a chef, brought in as a caterer. Perhaps one of the OED people can tell us when chef began being used in England.

Bradford  •  Link

Is "tumble" a step further than "tousle," which I believe Pepys has used before?

Don O'Shea  •  Link

As Sam has been discussing canine blood transfusions, some readers may want to take a look at the Royal Society's Trailblazing page. In celebration of the RS's 350 anniversary, they have highlighted 60 special papers in their history of journal publication. The Trailblazing page is at http://trailblazing.royalsociety.…. The first two red circles in 1666 relate to the transfusion experiments.

My all-time favorite paper is the next one, Newton's 1672 paper on the colors of light. An editorial on the paper can be found at http://files.me.com/donoshea/3axo….

CGS  •  Link

> Does this imply cooks were usually almost always woman so to have a “man-cooke” is something rather special?

Samuell's words is not recorded as the first instance in the OED although his should take precedence.
later.
man-cook n.
1734 G. BERKELEY Let. to Prior 30 Apr. in A. C. Fraser Life & Lett. G. Berkeley (1871) vi. 227 A *man-cook would be a great convenience to us. 1897 Private Life of Queen iv. 33 The army of white-capped and aproned men-cooks.

chef
[Fr.; = ‘head, chief’; used absolutely for chef d'office or chef de cuisine.]

The man who presides over the kitchen of a large household; a head cook.
1842 BARHAM Ingol. Leg., St. Romwold, The chef's peace of mind was restored, And in due time a banquet was placed on the board.
to chef v
[< CHEF n. Compare slightly earlier CHEFFING n.]

intr. To work as a chef: to preside over a (restaurant) kitchen; to cook, esp. professionally.
1912 Wellsboro (Pa.) Gaz. (Electronic text) 8 Aug., Tiuro valeted, butled, chefed and chauffered.
chef d'ecole
The initiator or leader of a school or style of painting, music, or literature.
1840 THACKERAY
;
chef d'oeuve
A masterpiece.
1619 J. CHAMBERLAIN Let. 31 July in T. Birch Court & Times of Jas. I (1848) II. 182 To make up an election at Merton College, as his chef d'{oe}uvre, and last work.
;
chef d'orchestre. [Fr.]

The leader or conductor of an orchestra.
1855 Sat. Rev. 15 Dec. 113/1 An experienced chef-d'orchestre like Mr. Benedict.

arby  •  Link

Don O'Shea, your second link is busted, "File not found". The Trailblazing link looks fun, thanks. rb

arby  •  Link

Got it, thankee! And thanks for the Trailblazing link too. rb

Bryan M  •  Link

Perhaps one of the OED people can tell us when chef began being used in England.

From Online Etymology Dictionary

chef
1826, from Fr. chef de cuisine, lit. "head of the kitchen," from O.Fr. chief "leader, ruler, head" (see chief).

http://www.etymonline.com/index.p…

Mary  •  Link

chef.

The earliest OED citation of 'chef' as a stand-alone noun is from 1842.

The etymonline date of 1826 is not supported by a specific quotation or source.

Todd Bernhardt  •  Link

For Don and others who don't know about this, the software behind this blog will include any punctuation that you put in after a link, thus "breaking" the link, so if you need to put a period, comma, etc., after a link, make sure to insert a space between it and the link, so the link "works."

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Don O'Shea's fave Royal Society paper, sc. Isaac Newton's "Letter Containing His New Theory about Light and Colors": Sent by the Author to the Publisher from Cambridge, Febr. 6. 1671/72; In Order to be Communicated to the R. Society

(click "Show PDF in full window" on the right if it's slow)
http://rstl.royalsocietypublishin…

The "editorial" Don refers to may be this?
http://trailblazing.royalsociety.…

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"man-cooke"

Pepys's first used "man-cook" 26 March 1662
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

he has used it again recently several times:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/search…

I emailed the OED about Pepys's first use of it to; perhaps that will gain him the rightful antedate.

[11 Oct 2019: Replaced original search link (\http://www.gyford.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=3&search=man-cook&MaxResults=25&SearchElement=entries) with working version. P.G.]

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"We sat long, and after much talk of the plenty of her country"

L&M: North Riding, Yorkshire.

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