A mess of brave plum-porridge

[malsperanza]

Thursday 25 December 1662

(Christmas Day). Up pretty early, leaving my wife not well in bed, and with my boy walked, it being a most brave cold and dry frosty morning, and had a pleasant walk to White Hall, where I intended to have received the Communion with the family, but I came a little too late. So I walked up into the house and spent my time looking over pictures, particularly the ships in King Henry the VIIIth’s Voyage to Bullen;1 marking the great difference between their build then and now.

By and by down to the chappell again where Bishopp Morley preached upon the song of the Angels, “Glory to God on high, on earth peace, and good will towards men.” Methought he made but a poor sermon, but long, and reprehending the mistaken jollity of the Court for the true joy that shall and ought to be on these days, he particularized concerning their excess in plays and gaming, saying that he whose office it is to keep the gamesters in order and within bounds, serves but for a second rather in a duell, meaning the groom-porter. Upon which it was worth observing how far they are come from taking the reprehensions of a bishopp seriously, that they all laugh in the chappell when he reflected on their ill actions and courses. He did much press us to joy in these publique days of joy, and to hospitality. But one that stood by whispered in my ear that the Bishopp himself do not spend one groat to the poor himself.

The sermon done, a good anthem followed, with vialls. and then the King came down to receive the Sacrament. But I staid not, but calling my boy from my Lord’s lodgings, and giving Sarah some good advice, by my Lord’s order, to be sober and look after the house, I walked home again with great pleasure, and there dined by my wife’s bed-side with great content, having a mess of brave plum-porridge and a roasted pullet for dinner, and I sent for a mince-pie abroad, my wife not being well to make any herself yet. After dinner sat talking a good while with her, her [pain] being become less, and then to see Sir W. Pen a little, and so to my office, practising arithmetique alone and making an end of last night’s book with great content till eleven at night, and so home to supper and to bed.

1. Boulogne. These pictures were given by George III. to the Society of Antiquaries, who in return presented to the king a set of Thomas Hearne’s works, on large paper. The pictures were reclaimed by George IV., and are now at Hampton Court. They were exhibited in the Tudor Exhibition, 1890.

http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1662/12/25/

Comments

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

He did much press us to joy in these publique days of joy

Sounds awfully familiar, no? One more holiday season behind us, hurrah!

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

:-) OTOH, what other time of year can you get brave plum-porridge? Mmmm.

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

Currants, raisins, and prunes, hmmm! (Yes, I looked up the recipe on the online Pepys' diary.) Sounds like the ancestor of the fruitcake to me (surely someone once left some of this out and forgot about it and it dried up a bit . . .)

Although I was reading, somewhere, that both Medieval and Early modern European tastes ran to what we might call "sweet and sour," with fruity sauces poured all over everything. Also, to having stuff (meats, nuts, fruits, spices) all sort of minced together and cooked in a mass, which we might today call "single male stand-up cookery." But maybe that, in turn, had to do with poor dentistry . . .

*sigh* I am free-associating, which I rather tend to do, don't I? Anyway, enjoyed the Pepys excerpt -- I keep meaning to read him but never sustain momentum on it. Although I am finally barreling right through Hartley's "The Go-Between" -- was it you who recommended that to me? Or shezan maybe.

Have a happy quidquid and best for the new year!

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

I always meant to read Pepys too, and even own a copy, but I recommend subscribing to his LJ. You get an entry a day, and it's like reading his life in real time. We are up to 1662 now, so in 2008 we'll get to the famous description of the Great Fire. Just add him to your flist.

I might have recc'd The Go-Between--I like it a lot, but I haven't read it in, er, dog's years so it probably wasn't me.