No Turkey for Christmas

25 Dec 1742
Paid carriage of a Hare from Brother 6d
26 Dined on the Hare at Home 2 Days & spt 3d

That doesn't sound like a Merry Christmas, does it?

Then he eats out at friends' houses for a bit, then...

9 January 1742/3
Dined at Home in Stead of Xmas Day spent nothing

Did you know that "Xmas" was used so long ago?
Whatever does he mean by "in Stead"? He dined at home on 25 December.

10 January
Went to See King Richard the Third Garick Richard. Skeliton 2/- Aples 2d

Culture AND fruit!!! All on one day! (sorry, I feel sarcastic when I see how far from his 5 portions of fruit and veg a day Thomas was!).

Here is a wonderful Hogarth painting of David Garrick as Richard III. It was painted in 1745 but based on Garrick's appearance in 1743 which, by happy coincidence is the right year for this blog.
Thomas, as followers of this blog will remember, now lives in King Street, Covent Garden, so he is only round the corner from the theatre. It seems likely that John Rich, under his stage name Lun, was Harlequin in the comic piece which ended the evening.

An Evening at the Theatre

February 22 1738
Went to Drury Lane play House to see Hamlitt Intertainment Harliquin ship wreck 2/6

Here is a picture of the inside of the theatre in 1775. It is the same building (which was demolished in 1791), designed by Sir Christopher Wren which Thomas visited.


An evening at the theatre typically consisted of a tragedy followed by a comedy and Harlequin Shipwrecked was one such.