Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl

Fowl is in Meat.

Pepy's Diary. 26 Jan 1660. Thursday. To my office for £20 to carry to Mr Downing (age 35), which I did and back again. Then came Mr. Frost to pay Mr Downing his £500, and I went to him for the warrant and brought it Mr. Frost. Called for some papers at Whitehall for Mr Downing, one of which was an Order of the Council for £1800 per annum, to be paid monthly; and the other two, Orders to the Commissioners of Customs, to let his goods pass free. Home from my office to Lord's (age 34) lodgings where my wife had got ready a very fine dinner-viz. a dish of marrow bones; a leg of mutton; a loin of veal; a dish of fowl, three pullets, and two dozen of larks all in a dish; a great tart, a neat's tongue, a dish of anchovies; a dish of prawns and cheese.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Capons

Pepy's Diary. 06 Mar 1660. While we were drinking, in comes Mr. Day, a carpenter in Westminster, to tell me that it was Shrove Tuesday, and that I must go with him to their yearly Club upon this day, which I confess I had quite forgot. So I went to the Bell, where were Mr. Eglin, Veezy, Vincent a butcher, one more, and Mr. Tanner, with whom I played upon a viall, and he a viallin, after dinner, and were very merry, with a special good dinner, a leg of veal and bacon, two capons and sausages and fritters, with abundance of wine. After that I went home, where I found Kate Sterpin who hath not been here a great while before. She gone I went to see Mrs. Jem, at whose chamber door I found a couple of ladies, but she not being there, we hunted her out, and found that she and another had hid themselves behind a door. Well, they all went down into the dining-room, where it was full of tag, rag, and bobtail, dancing, singing, and drinking, of which I was ashamed, and after I had staid a dance or two I went away. Going home, called at my Lord's for Mr. Sheply, but found him at the Lion with a pewterer, that he had bought pewter to-day of. With them I drank, and so home and wrote by the post, by my Lord's command, for J. Goods to come up presently. For my Lord intends to go forthwith into the Swiftsure till the Nazeby be ready.

Pepy's Diary. 18 Dec 1662. Up and to the office, Mr. Coventry (age 34) and I alone sat till two o'clock, and then he inviting himself to my house to dinner, of which I was proud; but my dinner being a legg of mutton and two capons, they were not done enough, which did vex me; but we made shift to please him, I think; but I was, when he was gone, very angry with my wife and people.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Chicken

Olla Podrida, literally "rotten pot", although podrida is probably a version of the original word poderida, so possibly "powerful pot" is a Spanish stew, usually made with chickpeas or beans, and assorted meats like pork, beef, bacon, partridge, chicken, ham, sausage, and vegetables such as carrots, leeks, cabbage, potatoes and onions.

Pepy's Diary. 26 Mar 1662. At noon come my good guests, Madame Turner, The., and Cozen Norton, and a gentleman, one Mr. Lewin of the King's Life-Guard; by the same token he told us of one of his fellows killed this morning in a duel. I had a pretty dinner for them, viz., a brace of stewed carps, six roasted chickens, and a jowl of Salmon, hot, for the first course; a tanzy1 and two neats' tongues, and cheese the second; and were very merry all the afternoon, talking and singing and piping upon the flageolette.

Note 1. Tansy (tanacetum), a herb from which puddings were made. Hence any pudding of the kind. Selden ("Table Talk") says: "Our tansies at Easter have reference to the bitter herbs". See in Wordsworth's "University Life in the Eighteenth Century" recipes for "an apple tansey", "a bean tansey", and "a gooseberry tansey".-M. B.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Duck

Pepy's Diary. 13 Feb 1663. Lay very long with my wife in bed talking with great pleasure, and then rose. This morning Mr. Cole, our timber merchant, sent me five couple of ducks. Our maid Susan is very ill, and so the whole trouble of the house lies upon our maid Mary, who do it very contentedly and mighty well, but I am sorry she is forced to it. Dined upon one couple of ducks to-day, and after dinner my wife and I by coach to Tom's, and I to the Temple [Map] to discourse with my cozen Roger Pepys (age 45) about my law business, and so back again, it being a monstrous thaw after the long great frost, so that there is no passing but by coach in the streets, and hardly that.

Pepy's Diary. 14 Feb 1663. So home to dinner, my wife and I upon a couple of ducks, and then by coach to the Temple [Map], where my uncle Thomas, and his sons both, and I, did meet at my cozen Roger's (age 45) and there sign and seal to an agreement. Wherein I was displeased at nothing but my cozen Roger's insisting upon my being obliged to settle upon them as the will do all my uncle's estate that he has left, without power of selling any for the payment of debts, but I would not yield to it without leave of selling, my Lord Sandwich (age 37) himself and my cozen Thos. Pepys being judges of the necessity thereof, which was done. One thing more that troubles me was my being forced to promise to give half of what personal estate could be found more than £372, which I reported to them, which though I do not know it to be less than what we really have found, yet he would have been glad to have been at liberty for that, but at last I did agree to it under my own handwriting on the backside of the report I did make and did give them of the estate, and have taken a copy of it upon the backside of one that I have. All being done I took the father and his son Thos. home by coach, and did pay them £30, the arrears of the father's annuity, and with great seeming love parted, and I presently to bed, my head akeing mightily with the hot dispute I did hold with my cozen Roger and them in the business.

Pepy's Diary. 15 Feb 1663. So to dinner, to three more ducks and two teals, my wife and I Then to Church, where a dull sermon, and so home, and after walking about the house awhile discoursing with my wife, I to my office there to set down something and to prepare businesses for tomorrow, having in the morning read over my vows, which through sicknesse I could not do the last Lord's day, and not through forgetfulness or negligence, so that I hope it is no breach of my vow not to pay my forfeiture. So home, and after prayers to bed, talking long with my wife and teaching her things in astronomy.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Larks

Pepy's Diary. 26 Jan 1660. Thursday. To my office for £20 to carry to Mr Downing (age 35), which I did and back again. Then came Mr. Frost to pay Mr Downing his £500, and I went to him for the warrant and brought it Mr. Frost. Called for some papers at Whitehall for Mr Downing, one of which was an Order of the Council for £1800 per annum, to be paid monthly; and the other two, Orders to the Commissioners of Customs, to let his goods pass free. Home from my office to Lord's (age 34) lodgings where my wife had got ready a very fine dinner-viz. a dish of marrow bones; a leg of mutton; a loin of veal; a dish of fowl, three pullets, and two dozen of larks all in a dish; a great tart, a neat's tongue, a dish of anchovies; a dish of prawns and cheese.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Ortolan

Pepy's Diary. 10 Jul 1666. Anon my business at the office being done I to the Tower to speak with Sir John Robinson (age 51) about business, principally the bad condition of the pressed men for want of clothes, so it is represented from the fleete, and so to provide them shirts and stockings and drawers. Having done with him about that, I home and there find my wife and the two Mrs. Bateliers [Note. Mary Batelier and Susan Batelier] walking in the garden. I with them till almost 9 at night, and then they and we and Mrs. Mercer, the mother, and her daughter Anne, and our Mercer, to supper to a good venison-pasty and other good things, and had a good supper, and very merry, Mistresses Bateliers being both very good-humoured. We sang and talked, and then led them home, and there they made us drink; and, among other things, did show us, in cages, some birds brought from about Bourdeaux, that are all fat, and, examining one of them, they are so, almost all fat. Their name is [Ortolans], which are brought over to the King (age 36) for him to eat, and indeed are excellent things. We parted from them and so home to bed, it being very late, and to bed.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Partridge

Olla Podrida, literally "rotten pot", although podrida is probably a version of the original word poderida, so possibly "powerful pot" is a Spanish stew, usually made with chickpeas or beans, and assorted meats like pork, beef, bacon, partridge, chicken, ham, sausage, and vegetables such as carrots, leeks, cabbage, potatoes and onions.

Pepy's Diary. 21 Aug 1665. By and by comes my fellow-officers, and the Duke (age 31) walked in, and to counsel with us; and that being done we departed, and Sir W. Batten (age 64) and I to the office, where, after I had done a little business, I to his house to dinner, whither comes Captain Cocke (age 48), for whose epicurisme a dish of partriges was sent for, and still gives me reason to think is the greatest epicure in the world.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Pheasant

Pepy's Diary. 26 Dec 1663. So home and found Mr. Hollyard (age 54) there, and he stayed and dined with us, we having a pheasant to dinner. He gone, I all the afternoon with my wife to cards, and, God forgive me! to see how the very discourse of plays, which I shall be at liberty to see after New Year's Day next, do set my mind upon them, but I must be forced to stint myself very strictly before I begin, or else I fear I shall spoil all.

Pepy's Diary. 17 Jan 1665. Thence with Creed to the 'Change [Map] and Coffee-house, and so home, where a brave dinner, by having a brace of pheasants and very merry about Povy's (age 51) folly.

Evelyn's Diary. 23 Aug 1681. I went to Wotton, Surrey [Map], and, on the following day, was invited to Mr. Denzil Onslow's (age 39) at his seat at Purford, where was much company, and such an extraordinary feast, as I had hardly seen at any country gentleman's table. What made it more remarkable was, that there was not anything save what his estate about it did afford; as venison, rabbits, hares, pheasants, partridges, pigeons, quails, poultry, all sorts of fowl in season from his own decoy near his house, and all sorts of fresh fish. After dinner we went to see sport at the decoy, where I never saw so many herons.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Pigeons

Pepy's Diary. 04 Apr 1663. Up betimes and to my office. By and by to Lombard Street [Map] by appointment to meet Mr. Moore, but the business not being ready I returned to the office, where we sat a while, and, being sent for, I returned to him and there signed to some papers in the conveying of some lands mortgaged by Sir Rob. Parkhurst in my name to my Lord Sandwich (age 37), which I having done I returned home to dinner, whither by and by comes Roger Pepys (age 45), Mrs. Turner (age 40) her daughter, Joyce Norton, and a young lady, a daughter of Coll. Cockes, my uncle Wight, his wife and Mrs. Anne Wight. This being my feast, in lieu of what I should have had a few days ago for my cutting of the stone, for which the Lord make me truly thankful. Very merry at, before, and after dinner, and the more for that my dinner was great, and most neatly dressed by our own only maid. We had a fricasee of rabbits and chickens, a leg of mutton boiled, three carps in a dish, a great dish of a side of lamb, a dish of roasted pigeons, a dish of four lobsters, three tarts, a lamprey pie (a most rare pie), a dish of anchovies, good wine of several sorts, and all things mighty noble and to my great content.

Pepy's Diary. 18 May 1664. So home again and to Sir W. Pen (age 43), who, among other things of haste in this new order for ships, is ordered to be gone presently to Portsmouth, Hampshire [Map] to look after the work there. I staid to discourse with him, and so home to supper, where upon a fine couple of pigeons, a good supper; and here I met a pretty cabinet sent me by Mr. Shales, which I give my wife, the first of that sort of goods I ever had yet, and very conveniently it comes for her closett. I staid up late finding out the private boxes, but could not do some of them, and so to bed, afraid that I have been too bold to-day in venturing in the cold. This day I begun to drink butter-milke and whey, and I hope to find great good by it.

Pepy's Diary. 12 May 1667. Against noon we had a coach ready for us, and she and I to White Hall, where I went to see whether Sir G. Carteret (age 57) was at dinner or no, our design being to make a visit there, and I found them set down, which troubled me, for I would not then go up, but back to the coach to my wife, and she and I homeward again, and in our way bethought ourselves of going alone, she and I, to go to a French house to dinner, and so enquired out Monsieur Robins, my perriwigg-maker, who keeps an ordinary, and in an ugly street in Covent Garden [Map], did find him at the door, and so we in; and in a moment almost had the table covered, and clean glasses, and all in the French manner, and a mess of potage first, and then a couple of pigeons a la esterve, and then a piece of boeuf-a-la-mode, all exceeding well seasoned, and to our great liking; at least it would have been anywhere else but in this bad street, and in a perriwigg-maker's house; but to see the pleasant and ready attendance that we had, and all things so desirous to please, and ingenious in the people, did take me mightily. Our dinner cost us 6s., and so my wife and I away to Islington [Map], it being a fine day, and thence to Sir G. Whitmore's house, where we 'light, and walked over the fields to Kingsland, and back again; a walk, I think, I have not taken these twenty years; but puts me in mind of my boy's time, when I boarded at Kingsland, and used to shoot with my bow and arrows in these fields. A very pretty place it is; and little did any of my friends think I should come to walk in these fields in this condition and state that I am.

Pepy's Diary. 08 Jun 1667. So to the office, we all sat all the morning, and then home to dinner, where our dinner a ham of French bacon, boiled with pigeons, an excellent dish. Here dined with us only W. Hewer (age 25) and his mother.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Swan

Pepy's Diary. 19 Jan 1663. Thence by coach to Mr. Povy's (age 49), being invited thither by (him) came a messenger this morning from him, where really he made a most excellent and large dinner, of their variety, even to admiration, he bidding us, in a frolique, to call for what we had a mind, and he would undertake to give it us: and we did for prawns, swan, venison, after I had thought the dinner was quite done, and he did immediately produce it, which I thought great plenty, and he seems to set off his rest in this plenty and the neatness of his house, which he after dinner showed me, from room to room, so beset with delicate pictures, and above all, a piece of perspective in his closett in the low parler; his stable, where was some most delicate horses, and the very-racks painted, and mangers, with a neat leaden painted cistern, and the walls done with Dutch tiles, like my chimnies. But still, above all things, he bid me go down into his wine-cellar, where upon several shelves there stood bottles of all sorts of wine, new and old, with labells pasted upon each bottle, and in the order and plenty as I never saw books in a bookseller's shop; and herein, I observe, he puts his highest content, and will accordingly commend all that he hath, but still they deserve to be so.

Pepy's Diary. 01 Jan 1664. Thence to my uncle Wight's (age 62), where Dr. of---, among others, dined, and his wife, a seeming proud conceited woman, I know not what to make of her, but the Dr's. discourse did please me very well about the disease of the stone, above all things extolling Turpentine, which he told me how it may be taken in pills with great ease. There was brought to table a hot pie made of a swan I sent them yesterday, given me by Mr. Howe, but we did not eat any of it. But my wife and I rose from table, pretending business, and went to the Duke's house, the first play I have been at these six months, according to my last vowe, and here saw the so much cried-up play of "Henry the Eighth"; which, though I went with resolution to like it, is so simple a thing made up of a great many patches, that, besides the shows and processions in it, there is nothing in the world good or well done.

Pepy's Diary. 10 Jan 1664. After dinner I to the office, where all the afternoon, and at night my wife and I to my uncle Wight's (age 62), and there eat some of their swan pie, which was good, and I invited them to my house to eat a roasted swan on Tuesday next, which after I was come home did make a quarrels between my wife and I, because she had appointed a wish to-morrow. But, however, we were friends again quickly.

Pepy's Diary. 12 Jan 1664. Up and to the office, where we sat all the morning, and at noon to the 'Change [Map] awhile, and so home, getting things against dinner ready, and anon comes my uncle Wight (age 62) and my aunt, with their cozens Mary and Robert, and by chance my uncle Thomas Pepys. We had a good dinner, the chief dish a swan roasted, and that excellent meate. At, dinner and all day very merry.

Culture, General Things, Food and Drink, Food, Meat, Fowl, Teal

Pepy's Diary. 15 Feb 1663. So to dinner, to three more ducks and two teals, my wife and I Then to Church, where a dull sermon, and so home, and after walking about the house awhile discoursing with my wife, I to my office there to set down something and to prepare businesses for tomorrow, having in the morning read over my vows, which through sicknesse I could not do the last Lord's day, and not through forgetfulness or negligence, so that I hope it is no breach of my vow not to pay my forfeiture. So home, and after prayers to bed, talking long with my wife and teaching her things in astronomy.