Page I or the Diary began on New Year’s day 1650.
Pepys’s “frolique” is a euphemism for a picnic, which did not exist as a word in English. It was among his favorite ways to spend an afternoon with friends idling.
It was a favorite way for him to spend an afternoon with friends idling. We know this from his Diary, a frank glimpse of his personal and professional life, begun when he was thirty-seven and continued for the next decade.
Among his entertainments, two “froliques” are memorable. One is with his wife Elisabeth along a stretch of the Thames below London Bridge on Sunday, 26 June 1664. “So my wife dressed,” Pepys says, “and, with good victuals and drink, we took boat presently, and the tide with us got down, but it was night, and the tide spent by the time we got to Gravesend; so there we stopped . . . to get some cherries [there was a Cherry Garden there].” The party returned home when it began to thunder.
Another “frolique” began with his mistress, Mrs. Martin, and ended gliding in a hired boat reading Anecdotes of Solitude by his friend John Evelyn. Leaving Mrs. Martin, presumably in excellent spirits, Pepys and other companions boated to Richmond, where they visited the manor house. They were not the only ones taking advantage of the day, for Pepys writes, “I walked the length of the [Barne] Elmes and with great pleasure saw some gallant ladies and people come with their bottles, and basket, and chairs, and form, to sup under the trees, by the waterside, which was mighty pleasant.” Sunday, 26 May 1667, was a grand day, and Pepys was very happy.
*Pepys’ Diary was written in code and not translated and published until 1825. Though Parisians used pique-nique to designate an indoor meal, Pepys neither knew of the custom nor would he have used it to describe his alfresco outings.
Featured Image: Pepys commissioned Hendrick Danckerts to paint several English landscapes, including A View of Greenwich, the Queens House from the South-East (1670c.). Some suggest that Danckerts commemorated Pepys and his wife Elizabeth, who died on 16 March 1669. London: National Maritime Museum
Featured Image: Pepys commissioned Hendrick Danckerts to paint several English landscapes, including A View of Greenwich, and the Queens House from the South-East (1670c.). Some suggest that Danckerts’ commemorated Pepys and his wife Elizabeth, who died 16 March 1669. London: National Maritime Museum
See http://www.pepysdiary.com/; The Diary of Samuel Pepys: A New and Complete Transcription. Edited by Robert Latham and William C. Matthews, and William A. Armstrong. London: HarperCollins, 2000.