Introduction
Twelfth Day, the Feast of the Epiphany, is kept on January 6th each year and marks the end of the Christmas season. Samuel Pepys, never one to miss the opportunity for a glass of good cheer and some venison pasty, took care to make a family party of it — even if his duties as paymaster for the Treasury meant a slow start to the festivities.
Friday January 6th, 1660
THIS morning Mr Sheply and I did eat our breakfast at Mrs Harper’s,* (my brother John being with me)* upon a cold turkey-pie and a goose. From thence I went to my office,* where we paid money to the soldiers till one o’clock, at which time we made an end, and I went home and took my wife* and went to my cosen, Thomas Pepys,* and found them just sat down to dinner, which was very good; only the venison pasty was palpable beef,* which was not handsome.
After dinner I took my leave, leaving my wife with my cozen Stradwick,* and went to Westminster to Mr Vines, where George and I fiddled* a good while, Dick and his wife (who was lately brought to bed)* and her sister being there, but Mr Hudson not coming according to his promise, I went away, and calling at my house* on the wench,* I took her and the lanthorn* with me to my cosen Stradwick, where, after a good supper, there being there my father, mother, brothers, and sister,* my cosen Scott and his wife,* Mr Drawwater and his wife,* and her brother, Mr Stradwick, we had a brave cake brought us, and in the choosing, Pall* was Queen and Mr Stradwick was King. After that my wife and I bid adieu and came home, it being still a great frost.
From The Diary of Samuel Pepys Vol. I, by Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), for the date January 6th, 1659/60.
* Mr Sheply was in service with Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. Mrs Harper was the landlady of a tavern near Pepys’s home in Westminster.
* John Pepys (1641-1677) was Samuel’s younger brother.
* At this time, Pepys worked in the Exchequer office in the Palace of Westminster.
* Samuel’s wife was Elizabeth Pepys (1640-1669).
* Thomas Pepys was the son of Samuel’s uncle Thomas, his father’s brother.
* Pepys liked nothing better than venison pasty, and mentions it frequently throughout his diary. In this case, he detected that the meat was beef, not venison (deer meat). In calling that ‘not handsome’, he implies that he felt someone had played a trick on him and his host.
* Tom Stradwick, who was married to Pepys’s sister Elizabeth, had a sister Jane, who had married James Drawwater.
* That is, they played music on stringed instruments such as the viol.
* That is, she had recently given birth to a child.
* Samuel and Elizabeth lived at this time in Axe Yard, Westminster, just south of what is now Downing Street.
* ‘The wench’ (an Old English word for a young serving woman) was Samuel’s pet name for Jane Birch, maid to the Pepys family from 1658 to 1661. In March 1669 she married Samuel’s clerk, Tom Edwards, and Samuel was chosen as godfather to their son, Sam, born in 1673. Jane was widowed twice, and in 1690 Samuel settled a £15 annuity on her.
* A lanthorn (pronounced lant-horn) is a lantern: it gets dark early on January 6th.
* Samuel’s father was John Pepys, his mother was Margaret. The brothers who came with them were Thomas and John, and the sister was Paulina.
* Benjamin Scott was husband of Judith, Samuel’s cousin and another daughter of Chief Justice Richard Pepys.
* Samuel Pepys’s cousin Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Pepys, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, who was married to Thomas Stradwick.
* That is, Samuel’s sister Paulina. The tradition was for Twelfth Cake to be served at this Christian feast, commemorating the three Wise Men who made a pilgrimage to Bethlehem to see the infant Jesus. The term ‘brave’ cake means a luxury cake; in his dictionary, Samuel Johnson suggested the synonyms ‘magnificent’ and ‘grand’. Two tokens were baked into the cake, one in each side; one side was sliced and given to the men, and the other side was sliced and given to the women. Whoever found a token in his or her slice was acclaimed King or Queen for the day.
Précis
In 1660, Twelfth Day or the Feast of the Epiphany fell on a Friday, so Samuel Pepys had to go to work in the morning. But he spent the evening with his extended family, playing a little music, and at dinner enjoying a magnificent twelfth-cake, from which his sister Pauline drew the lucky bean that made her Queen of the feast. (61 / 60 words)
In 1660, Twelfth Day or the Feast of the Epiphany fell on a Friday, so Samuel Pepys had to go to work in the morning. But he spent the evening with his extended family, playing a little music, and at dinner enjoying a magnificent twelfth-cake, from which his sister Pauline drew the lucky bean that made her Queen of the feast.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, despite, just, otherwise, ought, since, until, whereas.
About the Author
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) studied at St Paul’s School in London, and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating in 1653. He married Elizabeth St Michel (1640-1669) two years later, and the couple at first relied on the hospitality of Samuel’s cousin Sir Edward Montagu (later Earl of Sandwich). Sir Edward brought Samuel into Naval administration, and after Pepys had escorted Charles II home across the Channel to his Restoration in 1660 he was appointed Clerk of the Acts at the Navy Office, work in which he excelled. Promoted Secretary to the Navy in 1673, he also served as a magistrate and as MP for Castle Rising and later Harwich; but in 1679 Pepys was relieved of his Navy post and briefly remanded to the Tower on suspicion of Popery. He was reappointed in 1684 but retired in 1690 after more charges were laid, following the Glorious Revolution. Pepys is best known today for his diary, which he began on January 1st 1660 and kept up until May 31st, 1669, when his eyesight began to fail.
Archive
Word Games
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 Cold. Sister. Still.
2 Choose. My. Thence.
3 King. Turkey. Wench.
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.)
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Handsome. 2 Best. 3 Good. 4 Greater. 5 Brave. 6 Left. 7 Just. 8 Great. 9 Late.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
Confusables Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that are similar to one another, but not exactly the same. Compose your own sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between them, whether in meaning, grammar or use.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
mt (12+3)
emit. mat. mate. meat. meet. met. mete. mite. moat. moot. mute. omit.
emeute. emote. mote.
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