“I allow a double quantity of malt to my small beer, and set it a running for twelve days to every one that calls for it. I have always a piece of cold beef and a mince-pie upon the table, and am wonderfully pleased to see my tenants pass away a whole evening in playing their innocent tricks, and smutting one another.* Our friend Will Wimble is as merry as any of them, and shows a thousand roguish tricks upon these occasions.”
I was very much delighted with the reflection of my old friend, which carried so much goodness in it. He then launched out into the praise of the late Act of Parliament for securing the Church of England,* and told me, with great satisfaction, that he believed it already began to take effect, for that a rigid Dissenter,* who chanced to dine at his house on Christmas Day, had been observed to eat very plentifully of his plum-porridge.*
From an essay in ‘The Spectator’ No. 269 (Tuesday January 8th, 1712) collected in ‘The Spectator’ (1841) by Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729).
* This very line is quoted in Samuel Johnson’s English Dictionary to illustrate the verb ‘smut’, in the sense of ‘to stain; to mark with soot or coal’. Samuel Pepys speaks of a party on August 14th, 1666, at which the guests smutted one another “with candle grease and soot till most of us were like devils”.
* This was the Occasional Conformity Act (1711). At the time, public offices were restricted to members of the Church of England, disqualifying e.g. Roman Catholics, and also Non-Conformists such as Congregationalists and Baptists. Some of these evaded the restriction by ostentatiously attending a Church of England service once a year. The Occasional Conformity Act tried to close the loophole by punishing office-holders who attended Roman Catholic services or Non-Conformist meetings during their tenure. The new law was not very effective and was repealed in 1719.
* Dissenter or Non-Conformist was a term for Protestants, such as Congregationalists and Baptists, who rejected the Act of Uniformity (1662) that had prescribed lawful forms of Christian worship in England, following the restoration of the monarchy. Dissenters were often serious-minded folk, who regarded Christian feasts such as Christmas as superstitious, and its party food as sinful self-indulgence. See also Christmas Under Cromwell and The Return of Plum Pudding.
* Sir Roger implies that in consequence of the Occasional Conformity Act, one Non-Conformist in the neighbourhood had begun to attend the Church of England parish regularly, and was already less sober in his habits. Plum porridge was a beef stew. The beef was boiled in a stock, thickened with bread and seasoned with spices, to which the cook added handfuls of dried currants, raisins and plums, all sweetened with sugar and fortified with wine.
Précis
Sir Roger ensured that it snowed food and rained drink throughout the feast, and loved to see the peasant folk frolicking at parlour games. Addison declared himself touched. Sir Roger added that he had noticed a formerly strait-laced Dissenter among the revellers, and speculated that following recent legislation, he had been spending more time with Anglicans. (56 / 60 words)
Sir Roger ensured that it snowed food and rained drink throughout the feast, and loved to see the peasant folk frolicking at parlour games. Addison declared himself touched. Sir Roger added that he had noticed a formerly strait-laced Dissenter among the revellers, and speculated that following recent legislation, he had been spending more time with Anglicans.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, just, must, or, since, whether, who.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Beef. Keep. Wonder.
2 Late. Quantity. Time.
3 Begin. His. Rogue.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
Post Box : Help Available
You are welcome to share your creativity with me, or ask for help with any of the exercises on Clay Lane. Write to me at this address:
See more at Post Box.
If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane, from time to time you could buy me a coffee.
Buy Me a Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and there is no need to register.
