Friday 17 August 1660
To the office, and that done home to dinner where Mr. Unthanke, my wife’s tailor, dined with us, we having nothing but a dish of sheep’s trotters. After dinner by water to Whitehall, where a great deal of business at the Privy Seal. At night I and Creed and the judge-Advocate went to Mr. Pim, the tailor’s, who took us to the Half Moon, and there did give us great store of wine and anchovies, and would pay for them all. This night I saw Mr. Creed show many the strangest emotions to shift off his drink I ever saw in my life. By coach home and to bed.
Paul Brewster Link to this
"strangest evasions to shift off his drink"
Per L&M: Evasions not emotions
“It was often customary for each member of a drinking party in turn to propose and pay for a toast: to ‘shift it off’ was to miss one’s turn … John Creed, as a Puritan, may have objected to toasts on priciple.”
On the other hand he may just have been tight with his money.
The change from "emotion" to "evasion" presents an interesting case for the OED. They may have been lead astray into creating a whole new sense for the phrase "shift off" by the Wheatley interpretation. I think L&M has the better case for a simple instance of meaning “c” below but again it's all in the short hand.
“19 Shift off
…
b. colloq. To get rid of the effects of (drink).
1660 Pepys Diary 17 Aug., I saw Mr. Creed show many of the strangest emotions to shift off his drink I ever saw in my life.
[Note that’s the only quotation under this meaning.]
c. To evade, turn aside (an argument); to evade fulfilment of (a duty, a promise).
1577 tr. Bullinger’s - Let vs not lye, nor goe about with subtiltie to shifte off the othe that once we haue made. 1674 Hickman Quinquart. Hist - The calling of a Councel had been shifted off by Leo the X. a1768 Secker Serm - Many of them shift off the Subject, as well and as soon as they can. 1774 Reid Aristotle’s Logic - Conceiving that he intended to shift off his second payment.”
Danski Link to this
The Companion entry that languagehat has added to Creed's notes in the "People" section seems to bear out his tight-fistedness (Creed's, not lh's!). In any case, Sam's eyebrows have been raised sufficiently for him to make special mention of his behaviour. Although they are supposedly friends, they are also in direct competion for Montagu's favour; perhaps a little of this rivalry is creeping in here.
vincent Link to this
I rather like the idea of skinflint. I have met so many who would participate in the imbibing but kept the lid on their purse so tight that no light got to the money that the moths were having a field day.
chip Link to this
Pepys can never mention Creed but find some fault or deficiency with him. I think there is more than rivalry here. He genuinely dislikes the fellow. And not the least for his parsimony. Are sheep's trotters what they seem to be? Pepys seems ashamed by the fare he is forced to offer.
Paul Brewster Link to this
a great deal of business at the Privy Seal
just yesterday SP noted that he'd hit a lull and we speculated that it was tailing off.
Nate Lockwood Link to this
Yep, trotters are boiled sheep feet and I think it's a regional delicacy - at least it was in the 1860s for the costermongers http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public....
Grahamt Link to this
Trotters:
Pig's trotters are still eaten in Britain and France, but this is the first time I have come across sheep's trotters
David Duff Link to this
My first nervous venture into this erudite comments section but I too am fascinated by the sheep's trotters. Anyone know of anywhere they are served today? Has anyone tasted them?
David Duff
gerry Link to this
I too had never heard of anyone eating sheep's trotters but googling it gives a number of recires from around the world.
brad W Link to this
Trotters:
Don't know how much credence to lend this source, but didn't Granny Clampitt used to threaten to serve people "pickled pigs feet" on TV? The few times I've had a chance to check some of the Beverly Hillbillies' outrageous-sounding Appalachain habits against authentic sources, they've been verified as true. I was floored the first time I heard an erudite English literature teacher pronounce "victuals" correctly.
Todd Bernhardt Link to this
re: a great deal of business at the Privy Seal
Yep, Paul, mea culpa for basing my assumption on a single data point. Seems as if he'll make some money off the Privy Seal post yet.
As for pig's feet, pickled or otherwise ... they're easy to find in here in Northern Virginia, right outside Washington, D.C., along with some even more unsavory fare (pork brains, anyone?) that my 7-year-old son delights in pointing out to me whenever we shop together. Haven't seen any sheep trotters, though...
maureen Link to this
Pigs trotters readily available here in central London - for home cooking and in restaurants.
Roger Miller Link to this
I'd never heard of sheep trotters either but on googling I found several references including this section from Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor (1861) 'OF THE PREPARATION AND QUANTITY OF SHEEP'S TROTTERS, AND OF THE STREET-SELLERS.'
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new...
Not exactly gourmet fare!
john lauer Link to this
brad, I don't know what "correct" is any more, but:
"The modern pronunciation of victual, (vitl), represents an Anglicized pronunciation of the Old French form vitaille, which was borrowed into English in the early 14th century. The modern English spelling reflects the fact that in both French and English the word was sometimes spelled with a c, and later also with a u, under the influence of its Late Latin ancestor victualia, meaning 'provisions.' The word is now occasionally spelled vittle rather than victual, but in either case the pronunciation is (vitl)." -AHD.
Pardon the lack of (helpful) symbols in the above quote.
Sam Sampson Link to this
Trotters, both Pig & Sheep
Should be easily available anywhere in New Zealand. Probably most folk only get "Shanks", ie, no hoof attached. My 'Personal Source' provides the full-blown article - the gelatine contained is great for making "brawn". He'll also send any "liver & lights" components needed for Haggis. Methinks he can produce much the same tucker as SP's butcher would.
Paul B Link to this
Victual or vittle:
I wonder whether the word "victual" is the derivation of the English Black Country term "Bostin' Fittle", which means good food.
Grahamt Link to this
Victualers:
Today, the organisation that represents British pub landlords is called The Licenced Victuallers (pronounced vitellers) Association. I understand Australia has something similar.