Sunday 16 March 1661/62

(Lord’s day). This morning, till churches were done, I spent going from one church to another and hearing a bit here and a bit there. So to the Wardrobe to dinner with the young Ladies, and then into my Lady’s chamber and talked with her a good while, and so walked to White Hall, an hour or two in the Park, which is now very pleasant. Here the King and Duke came to see their fowl play. The Duke took very civil notice of me. So walked home, calling at Tom’s, giving him my resolution about my boy’s livery. Here I spent an hour walking in the garden with Sir W. Pen, and then my wife and I thither to supper, where his son William is at home not well. But all things, I fear, do not go well with them; they look discontentedly, but I know not what ails them. Drinking of cold small beer here I fell ill, and was forced to go out and vomit, and so was well again and went home by and by to bed. Fearing that Sarah would continue ill, wife and I removed this night to our matted chamber and lay there.

Monday 17 March 1661/62Saturday 15 March 1661/62

Also on this day

Temperature: 6°C / 43°F

(Average for March 1662)

In Earls Colne, Essex

Diary of Ralph Josselin

(About this data)

Annotations

N Bradford on Wed 16 Mar 2005, 11:37pm

Interesting, Sam’s round of sermon-sampling. Any bets on what sort of fowl play the King’s and Duke’s birds get up to?
N Alan Bedford on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 01:11am

” The Duke took very civil notice of me.”

Ah, yes, to see and be seen! “Good day, your grace”. “Ah, Master Pepys. How nice to see you this afternoon”. And everyone walks on….
N dirk on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 01:47am

“small beer”

A “second brewing”: a fairly refreshing drink with an alcohol content of 0.8 volume percent on average. Good if you’re thirsty, but would not make you drunk. Presumably not always of superior quality.

Cfr.:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/308.php#c5148
N vicenzo on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 01:49am

‘Tis March time, birds and the bees time “…came to see their fowl play….” Sam can also smell spring in the air with a spring in his step, eyeing the new options, fouling the the different pews.
I doth think it be Sam watching bird island and punning to himself.
We we need an OED for the mention.
N daniel on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 03:38am

“do not go well with them; they look discontentedly, but I know not what ails them.”

Perhaps his son’s Quakerism is causing them trouble.
N Harry on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 09:07am

“Drinking of cold small beer here I fell ill”

On a gravestone a few metres from the entrance to Winchester Cathedral there is this appropriate inscription:

“Here sleeps a Hampshire Grenadier,
Who caught his death by drinking cold small Beer,
Soldiers be wise from his untimely fall,
And when ye’re hot dring Strong or none at all.

The gravestone was replaced by the North Hants Militia in 1802 in consequence of the original stone being destroyed, and again replaced by the North Hampshire Regiment in 1966.”
N Mary on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 09:23am

“removed to our matted chamber”

This can be taken two ways. Either Sam and Elizabeth were so concerned about Sarah that they moved to a room closer to hers so that they might be near her in the night, or they moved farther away ot avoid being disturbed by her during the night. I prefer the former interpretation, but others may differ.
N Australian Susan on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 09:42am

“their fowl” Are these the St James Park pelicans?
Re Sam and Elizabeth’s chamber removal - I took this to mean they want to be further away from the maid - possibly because of contagion: they thought then that illness frquently came from bad air emanating from the one ill and being breathed in by those around (that’s one reason why the judiciary carried nosegays to hold to their noses - another was because of the stench of the common people!).
N A. De Araujo on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 01:01pm

“a bit here and a bit there”
Ah the remote control!
N Bill Braithwaite on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 01:14pm

I hope this doesn’t put him off GREEN BEER for today!!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day! ;)))
N Rex Gordon on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 02:15pm

The Birds in St James Park …

L&M, in their note to Sam’s entry for 18 August 1661, say: “The modern Birdcage Walk preserves the memory of this aviary, which was greatly extended, if not founded, by Charles II. Most of the birds were water-birds living on the ponds or in a decoy; others - e.g. the exotic varieties presented by the E. India Company - were kept in a ‘poultry-house’. In 1661 there were parrots and cassowaries; in 1663 pelicans, Indian ducks, Muscovy ducks and white crows. Descriptions in Mundy, v. 156-8 (1663); Monconys, ii. 22-3, 58 (1663); Evelyn, 9 February 1665; Magalotti, p. 168 (1669).”
N Ruben on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 02:19pm

I looked at
http://www.whozoo.org/AnlifeSS2001/stephbic/SWB_BrownPelican.htm
and found that…”The Brown pelicans seems to spent most of their times resting, but some times they play around among themselves! They are very friendly to each other, they treat each individual with respect, and kindness. They are birds that anyone would like to watch. This popular huge bird has clown of personality, doing just about anything for a fish.When the pelicans eat their meal they seem to enjoy it, just as other animals do.”
I do not know which kind of Pelican they had in the Park, but the Brown Pelican is a good bet, as they lived on the east coast of North America and the Caribe.
N Stolzi on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 03:00pm

The Birds in St James Park
N JWB on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 03:19pm

“removed to our matted chamber
N Bob T on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 03:20pm

Small beer
This morning after I came back from the “Y”, I grabbed a can of low alcohol beer from the fridge, and took it out on the sun-deck. It was while I was listening to the birds arguing, and uttering threats, that I realised that I was drinking Sam’s small beer. It is made by Labatt’s and has a 0.5% alcohol contents, and mine was a lot colder than Sam would ever have had. Maybe the quality control in those days wasn’t what it should have been.
N JohnT on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 03:32pm

I presume this is Sam using brother Tom in his tailoring capacity to produce a livery for Wayneman. But what does the livery consist of for the servant of a man who presumably does not have a coat of arms ?
N vicenzo on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 05:51pm

I wonder what
N Rex Gordon on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 05:51pm

What “living in a decoy” means …

The word “decoy” is derived from a Dutch word, “endekooy”, or “duck cage”. Originally a decoy was a trap into which ducks were driven, by dogs or serfs or some other suitable labor. The decoys Sam saw some of the birds living in must have been large cages. The Book of Duck Decoys by Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey (1886) has descriptions of hundreds of them, and illustrations. See it here: www.decoymans.co.uk
N Rex Gordon on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 06:03pm

Vicenzo …

The two of us were working on a parallel course. Here are two of the illustrations from the Gallwey book:

http://www.decoymans.co.uk/pages/plate3.html

http://www.decoymans.co.uk/pages/plate2.html
N Sjoerd on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 08:41pm

I never knew your “decoy” came from our “de kooy”. We had a lot of these in this part of our country (Holland), and Kooyman is a very common name.

Apart from using dogs or “serfs or other suitable labour” (?) the main attraction of a “kooy” for passing wild ducks were the tame ducks or ducks with clipped wings already there. Or WOODEN ducks of course. So, interesting word, decoy.
N Australian Susan on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 10:29pm

Pelicans
The ones presently in St James’s Park (anecdotally descended from 17thc ones) are white ones with black bits on the wings (just like the ones I see here in Queensland). Presumably, as they are not recorded until 1663, Sam did not see them on his walk today. We had a discussion about the cassowaries last year.
N Australian Susan on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 10:32pm

Reference for the previous discussions on birds in the Park was Sunday, August 18th, 1661.
N BradW on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 10:35pm

More on “kooy”

It occurs to me that “kooy” seems similar (both in meaning and physical structure) to the English “coop,” meaning a structure for enclosing chickens. My dictionary says that coop came to English from the Norse “kaup,” a wooden can, via Middle Eglish “coupe,” a basket. Still I wonder if the Norse and Dutch terms don’t have a common Germanic root.
N Pedro on Thu 17 Mar 2005, 11:22pm

Information from Essex.

March: 16. A hopeful morning for dryness, the lord be blessed for every act of mercy and bounty. god good to us in our many outward mercies, god gave me a comfortable Sabbath, my heart sensible of its nothing, god good in giving us bowels to relieve one in want by fire. my son very cheerful and looks well, his fellow apprentice is going away, the lord do him good by all. this day. Corbet , Okey , and Barkstead formerly Lt. of the Tower, who were taken in Holland by Sir George Downing formerly scoutmaster of Cromwells army, were committed to the tower, what changes god makes in the world. who also was Okeys chaplain.

http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earlscolne//diary/70013415.htm
N dirk on Fri 18 Mar 2005, 12:00am

coop & decoy: a common Germanic root?

I doubt it.
According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

decoy: de+kooi = the cage - from Middle Dutch coie, from Latin cavea

coop: Middle English coupe, possibly from Middle Dutch kupe = basket, tub, from Germanic *kupon, possibly from Latin cupa, cask (modern Dutch: kuip)
N vicenzo on Fri 18 Mar 2005, 06:52pm

As Sam saw all the fowl in courting plumage, then he knew, he better deck out his lad, to let the world know that he has the farthings to parade his boy around the City. “livery” from the Latin liberare, da! in Roma it be called it “vestis famularis” domestic tunic [blanket][now it be familiar shirt or Tea shirt with coffe stains].
“…an hour or two in the Park…”: ‘tis why the preety do love the Balls , promena[r]ding, or parading with parasol, etc. ‘Tis a joy to watch, it being Easter soon.
N Robert Gertz on Fri 18 Mar 2005, 08:44pm

“The Duke took very civil notice of me…”

As a fairly new executive administrator in DC, you are understandably pleased when US Vice-President Dick Cheney takes you by the hand and addresses you by name.
N Mark Pearson on Sun 20 Mar 2005, 03:12am

Ruben- Regarding Pelicans and Muscovies,
Life as a ranger lets you have a go at rescue attempts of the local wildlife now and then. We saved one Brown Pelican last year who had collapsed due to exhaustion. He would hold my hand very gently in his beak as we transported him to a shelter. I belive he sensed our intent. Meet a muscovy once just north of Victoria B.C. who would happily walk up tp the helicopters as they landed. All made a point to great him. He would really get put out if you ignored him.I wonder how well the birds were treated in the aviary in St. James Park?
N Glyn on Sun 20 Mar 2005, 05:33pm

For the record, the pelicans that are now in St James’ Park are fed every day at 3 pm. I am fairly sure that some are from Poland and Russia, and some from Louisiana in the USA.