Snippets from James Woodforde, A Country Parson's, Diary

April 15, 17778. “Brewed a vessel of strong Beer today. My two large Piggs (sic), by drinking some beer grounds taking out of one of my Barrels today, got so amazingly drunk by it, that they were not able to stand and appeared like dead things almost, and so remained all night from dinner time today. I never saw Piggs so drunk in my life, I slit their ears for them without feeling.”

Which leads me to the question: Why did Parson Woodforde slit their ears. Tut tut, today, what would the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have to say about that?

April 16, 1778 “My two Piggs (sic) are still unable to walk yet, but they are better than they were yesterday. They tumble about the yard and can by no means stand at all steady yet. In the afternoon my 2 Piggs (sic) were tolerably sober.”

I wonder if the pigs also had hangovers.

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Garden History

My interest in gardening and history extends to Garden History and the effect of changes in climate over the years. At the moment I am reading A little History of British Gardening by Jenny Uglow.

It begins with a mention of the Iron Age in the first Chapter: 'Did the Romans Have Rakes" and is a mine of information. Ms Uglow describes gardens large and small, the plants and the gardeners.  She writes:

"I wish there were medieval monastic gardens for us to visit, to wander from the cloister to the orchard, the infirmary to the fish ponds, the paradise where flowers were grown to the rows of kale and leeks. But even if we cannot visit them we know that the monks and nuns enjoyed their gardens.

At Winchester the clerk of works had a private garden called 'La Joye'. And in 1108, on the day that he died, the ailing archbishop of York walked in his garden to breathe the air and the scent of flowers.'

Every time I go into my own organic garden I appreciate the legacy of fresh air and the scent of flowers also enjoyed so long ago by the archbishop.

The 18th century Cinderella Princess.

Today, I posted Part One of The Cinderella Princess,. King Charles II’s niece the future Queen Anne Stuart, on my publisher’s blogspot.

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