Friday 4 October 1661

Annotations

• N Pedro. on Mon 4 Oct 2004, 11:02pm

  “Mons. Eschar, makes a great complaint against the English”

  Mons. Eschar, that insolent French chap, he’s at it again..
  “Here I met with Mr. Mage, and discoursing of musique Mons. Eschar spoke so much against the English and in praise of the French that made him mad, and so he went away”

  http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1661/08/08/index.php
  

• N Pedro. on Mon 4 Oct 2004, 11:03pm

• N RexLeo on Mon 4 Oct 2004, 11:27pm

  “…Thence to Paternoster Row, where my Will did receive the 50l. I borrowed yesterday.”

  What we have here may be an old fashioned “Cash Flow” problem that Sam may be trying to overcome with borrowings. His limited time in office in the recent past must have hit his customary “fees” (and not much of Privy Seal either) and he has been pretty free with spending the money on his pet passions. I suppose Sam is in no danger of being driven into bankruptcy as his net worth is considerably larger than his recent borrowings and is inherently a cautious soul.

• N JWB on Mon 4 Oct 2004, 11:28pm

  In my mind’s eye…
  I can see a Thurber dog with caption: Vexed by Suffolk cheese.

• N Glyn on Mon 4 Oct 2004, 11:53pm

  The Navy was a big buyer of Suffolk cheese, which doubtless is how Pepys “acquired” it (see the Cheese link), and I can see why the Navy would buy it - it sounds as if not only would it have kept for long periods but they could probably have used it as spare planking in emergencies! The fact that it tasted terrible was secondary. No doubt the servants would have preferred meat like their master and mistress, and being given this stuff was adding insult to injury.

  Concerning China ale. This seems to have been a sort of fizzy, carbonated drink flavoured with sarsaparilla or china-root. Sounds revolting.

  I doubt if it was very strong, or the flavour would have been hidden by the alcohol: he

• N Robert Gertz on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 01:26am

  Lousy sinkin’ Suffolk cheese…T’ain’t nothin’ like our good ole Cheddar… Grousing below stairs.

  Somehow I picture Beth lecturing Jane, etc… “Attendez!…Girls, back when Mr. Pepys and I lived in a beggardly garret at the Montagues’ we’d have thanked the good Lord on bended knee for such an abundance of cheese…Would we not, Mr. Pepys?” Stern look at Sam for immediate support… “Indeed, Mrs. Pepys. Such a blessing of the Almighty would have carried us over many a hard week then.”

• N daniel on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 03:11am

  what would a china ale be?

• N vicente on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 03:32am

  Economy time, boss gets grocery monies, so lads and lasses scrimp, back to basics. If it is good for the Tarpaulins, it be good enough for ye. Essex cheese be too deer tho it be near.[Essex. from ewes]

• N dirk on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 03:43am

  China ale

  Ale flavoured with China-root (Wikipedia)

  Isaac Newton’s Trinity College notebook (1659) mentions under his “Otiose & frustra expensa”:
  China Ale 8d
  Source:
  http://www.newtonproject.ic.ac.uk/texts/trinity_notebook_n.html
  

• N dirk on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 03:51am

  Will?

  Following the storyline of this entry, would Will have been with Sam in the coach from the beginning? Will appears “out of thin air” in Paternoster Row.

• N dirk on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 03:58am

  Navy cheese

  Cheese was a very important part of the sailor’s diet, so it should at least last a reasonable number of weeks.

  (In Elisabethan times every “mess” of 4 seamen was allowed 14 ounces of cheese each wednesday and saturday as a standard ration - this was probably still the case in Sam’s time.)
  

• N vicente on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 04:06am

  Will? Unfortunately we only get to hear of the juicy ‘better’ parts of the days events.
  Catarina [house of Joao Pires E Filhos, nice chilled] goes down in history as a nice white Portuguese wine, with nice soft cheese.

• N Robert Gertz on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 10:20am

  Will?

  It is interesting that Will H had to “receive” Pepys’ loan money. Hint of a slightly disreputable deal here.

  By the way, Sam’l…I seem to recall you having a certain vow in force regarding theater visits?

• N Mary on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 11:54am

  Disreputable deal?

  I see no hint of that. Doubtless Will had to sign a receipt for monies received, but this doesn’t make him a ‘receiver’ in the modern, pejorative sense.

• N Nix on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 04:37pm

  China ale —

  If it is “a fizzy carbonated drink flavoured with sarsaparilla or china-root” as Glyn and Dirk indicate, it sounds like what we now (at least in U.S.) drink as root beer. I don’t know if they have it in U.K., but I can assure you it’s not revolting at all.

• N vicente on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 08:49pm

  Will is in to-days terms a P.A.[Personal Assistant or in some cases dogs body]who is trusted to do EveryThing, pay the bills, pick up the contracts and checks, even pay the bills or the waiter when on a trip [save the special ‘alf, those mere details that make life run smooth] pick up this and do that. So necessary to that busy person who has to be here and there participating in this coffee and that liquor. If compatible [except for the brass] become a truly trusted friend.
  [very popular position amongst the monied elite]

• N Todd Bernhardt on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 10:15pm

  re: “a truly trusted friend”

  Vincente brings up a good point here … it’s going to be interesting to see, over the course of the diary, the progression of the relationship between Sam and Will, knowing how deep their friendship was later in life (if I recall correctly, Pepys essentially spent his waning years as a guest of Will’s, who did very well as a result of their business and personal relationship).

• N Glyn on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 10:17pm

  Of course this is a Friday, so it may be a meat-free day anyway.

• N JWB on Tue 5 Oct 2004, 10:28pm

  “China Ale”
  Sarsaparilla was thought to be a specific v. syphilis, thus the running joke in old time westerns about ordering a “sassparilla” in a saloon. Ferrers being infected wouldn’t be out of character.

• N Pedro. on Wed 6 Oct 2004, 01:14pm

  Would Cina Ale have Sarsaparilla as we know it?

  The Chinese brewed an ale since 23BC called

• N Katherine on Wed 6 Oct 2004, 05:39pm

  Oh, irony of ironies, I’m getting quite the chuckle over the fact that the low-fat skim milk Suffolk cheese would probably outsell full millk Cheshire in today’s market.

  (Still, I’d take the blandish Suffolk any day over the modern abomination known as “cheese food” any day.)