Monday 10 September 1660

(Office day). News of the Duke’s intention to go tomorrow to the fleet for a day or two to meet his sister. Col. Slingsby and I to Whitehall, thinking to proffer our service to the Duke to wait upon him, but meeting with Sir G. Carteret he sent us in all haste back again to hire two Catches for the present use of the Duke. So we returned and landed at the Bear at the Bridge foot, where we saw Southwark Fair (I having not at all seen Bartholomew Fair), and so to the Tower wharf, where we did hire two catches. So to the office and found Sir W. Batten at dinner with some friends upon a good chine of beef, on which I ate heartily, I being very hungry.

Home, where Mr. Snow (whom afterwards we called one another cozen) came to me to see me, and with him and one Shelston, a simple fellow that looks after an employment (that was with me just upon my going to sea last), to a tavern, where till late with them. So home, having drunk too much, and so to bed.

17 Annotations

First Reading

Paul Brewster  •  Link

news brought us of the Dukes intention
L&M insert the words "brought us".

Nix  •  Link

"a good chine of beef" --

OED:

3. Cookery. A "joint" consisting of the whole or part of the backbone of an animal, with the adjoining flesh. The application varies much according to the animal; in mutton it is the "saddle"; in beef any part of the back (ribs or sirloin).

c1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1354 Syen sunder ay e sydez swyft fro e chyne [of a deer]. 1556 in W. H. Turner Sel. Rec. Oxford 260 Item, payed for a chyne of freshe salmon. 1592 Nobody & Someb. (1878) 289 Yeomen..Whose long backs bend with weightie chynes of biefe. a1764 in Dodsley Coll. Poems VI. 257 Chickens and a chine of lamb. 1796 H. GLASSE Cookery ii. 7 In a sheep..the two loins together is called a chine or saddle of mutton. 1823 F. COOPER Pioneers ix, A prodigious chine of roasted bear’s meat.

Glyn  •  Link

This engraving from 1616 is the exact place where Sam was on this day, but you may need to click on it to enlarge it.

http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.c…

It's from Southwark looking north across the Thames to the City of London.
On the bottom left is the edge of Southwark Cathedral. The "Bear" mentioned in the diary entry is the pale building just next to London Bridge on the left of the road.

The large building on the other side of the Thames on the right of the picture is the Tower of London near where Pepys now lives. The Tower wharf would have been directly opposite it.

There's a couple of things about the Bridge I find interesting: one is how narrow its arches are, which makes the passage of water difficult and risky if you're foolhardy enough to sail under it ("shooting the Bridge").

The other is all of the heads of executed criminals and traitors on long poles on the top of London Bridge gatehouse just by the "Bear".

In the 1650s the Cavaliers wrote a ballad about sailing into exile from the Bear:

"Farewell Bridge Foot and Bear thereby,
And those bald pates that stand so high,
We wish it from our very souls,
That other heads were on those poles."

They're about to get their wish.

Nix  •  Link

London Bridge --

I don't know much about the history of London Bridge. Would the narrowness of the arches, and the consequent fierce rush of waters, have been the source of fears of it falling down? (Not a wisecrack, for once -- I really am curious.)

Paul Brewster  •  Link

London Bridge
There is some discussion of the origins of the nursery rhyme and the effects of the rushing water at the site referenced by Sam Sampson in the London Bridge entry. http://www.oldlondonbridge.com/in…

chip  •  Link

PER L&M, Southwark Fair (or Suthwark faire as Pepys has it), originally authorized to run from 7 to 9 September, had like most fairs extended its duration, and now lasted for 14 days. Bartholomew Fair (Bartlmew fayre) ran at this time from 23 August to 6 September. They also mention that John Snow of Blackwall was related to Pepys through a marriage connection with the Glassocks. They suggest this is he. Thanks Glyn for that great link. Reading the entry, I was thinking how great it would be to see where he was today. It seems the poorer the people, the more drunk our Pepys gets.

J A Gioia  •  Link

London Bridge

interesting website for the london bridge, however the nursery song almost certainly dates from the late 18th century, when the pilings were becoming undermined, and not, as this account would have it, when ethelred yanked it down in 1014.

language, melodic structure and the notion of a 'fair lady' had to evolve quite a bit after ethelred's day before that lovely little ditty was possible.

andy thomas  •  Link

fantastic link, Glyn, many thanks! Looks like Sam could have written the original "good pub guide".

JWB  •  Link

Noticed Bear near Clink.

Brian McMullen  •  Link

St.George The Martyr Church was (and is) on The Borough Street, south of London Bridge. According to the following site:

http://www.stgeorgethemartyr.fsne…

The church was situated at the end of the road with St.George's Fields lying beyond.

The Rocque map reference is:

http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/Se…

If you scroll to the lower right corner of the map section you will see St.George. Interestingly enough, there is another Axe Yard slightly further down on Borough.

A closer view of the St.George's Bell Tower in the Hogarth painting can be found at:

http://members.fortunecity.de/hog…

PS - SP's current home on Seething lane would be slightly to the left of the Tower when you look at Glyn's link. Too bad we can't make it out!

Thanks to the other annotators for an enjoyable tour today!

JWB  •  Link

I was just looking at Hogarth's "Southwark Fair" in Cincinnati Art Museum. It's 70 years after Sam's visit, but you might want to google an image.

john lauer  •  Link

Glyn T, what is the trick to learn Russkiy,
register, and join, to see the larger version'?

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Southwark Fair [engraving] by William Hogarth, 1733 (Old Style) / 1734 (New Style).
The following description is taken from: Hogarth W, Trusler J, Hogarth J, Nichols J (1833) The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings With Descriptions, and a Comment on Their Moral Tendency, London: Jones, p. 110.

The subject of the plate under consideration is that of the Borough Fair; a fair held some time since in the Borough of Southwark, though now suppressed. This fair was attended, generally, by the inhabitants of town and country, and, therefore, was one that afforded great variety; especially as, before its suppression, it was devoted to every thing loose and irregular. A view of the scene, of which the following print is a faithful representation, will affirm this truth. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wik…

Hogarth's Suppressed plates
https://books.google.com/books?id…

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"Southwark Fair [engraving] by William Hogarth, 1733 (Old Style) / 1734 (New Style).
The following description is taken from: Hogarth W, Trusler J, Hogarth J, Nichols J (1833) The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings With Descriptions, and a Comment on Their Moral Tendency, London: Jones, p. 110. ..."

I.E. IN 1734 Hogarth chose to represent the Southwark Fair as one that afforded great variety; especially as, before its suppression, it was devoted to everything loose and "irregular" -- and we can guess what that meant, knowing the Georgians. Stuart promiscuity was nothing compared to the Georgians.

In 1660 there must have been prostitution, of course, and country lasses who came to London to learn new skills and ran out of money before learning anything, so they had a choice between starvation and the oldest profession.

Besides those two 1660 provisos, coming as they were out of the Presbyterian quarter century, with Quakerism and other non-conformist beliefs still on the rise, things would have been much tamer at the Southwark Fair.
There would also have been Christmas gifts, and jugglers, tightrope walkers, dog fights, horses and chickens for sale, sillouette artists, shoe stalls, etc. etc. etc.

Please don't believe Mr. Hogath, who loved to document depravity, which sold lots of his engravings! He didn't illustrate the mid-17th century dirty and chaotic Southwark Fair.

Carmichael  •  Link

What's new is old ... in the American TV series "The Bear," close friends refer to each other as "cousin" (explicitly and frequently). Sam did the same, some 400 years ago:

"Mr. Snow (whom afterwards we called one another cozen)"

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