Samuel PepysI home to dinner. Whither by and by comes Roger Pepys, Mrs. Turner her daughter, Joyce Norton, and a young lady, a daughter of Coll. Cockes, my uncle Wight, his wife and Mrs. Anne Wight.
This being my feast, in lieu of what I should have had a few days ago for my cutting of the stone, for which the Lord make me truly thankful.
We had a fricasee of rabbits and chickens, a leg of mutton boiled, three carps in a dish, a great dish of a side of lamb, a dish of roasted pigeons, a dish of four lobsters, three tarts, a lamprey pie (a most rare pie), a dish of anchovies, good wine of several sorts.
the roamerA generous offering of fine dishes, Sam, truly glorious. Quite an achievement to get it all done in your house! Your friends will have enjoyed the event.
You invite your friends to celebrate the success of the dangerous operation that removed your bladder stone, five years earlier, and I celebrate with you. Looking mortality in the eye changes our outlook on things, doesn't it. Most people forget the lesson once the danger is over. But you keep reminding yourself of the fact that every day alive is a gift, and for that I love you, Sam.
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I don't want to spoil it for Pepys, so I won't ask him about "a leg of mutton boiled". If boiled here means cooked in boiling water, the mutton clearly is being ruined. But perhaps he means slow-cooked or baked? I do appreciate that preparing all those varied meats and pies in his own family kitchen all at the same time may have simply left his cook with no space in the oven or over the fire.