Putney
A village on the Thames above London. Pepys and his wife went by boat almost as far as Putney one evening in 1669, and some of Thackeray's friends claimed he had written his travels there without leaving home.
Today: Putney, London, England
A diary for every day of the year
Samuel Pepys, from his diary (London, 1660–1669), in the edition of Henry B. Wheatley (London, 1893–99) · January 1660 to June 1669, written day by day (modern calendar)
My wife again up by four o’clock, to go to gather May-dew; and so back home by seven, to bed, and by and by I up and to the office, where all the morning, and dined at noon at home with my people, and so all the afternoon. In the evening my wife and I all alone, with the boy, by water, up as high as Putney almost, with the tide, and back again, neither staying going nor coming; but talking, and singing, and reading a foolish copy of verses upon my Lord Mayor’s entertaining of all the bachelors, designed in praise to my Lord Mayor, and so home and to the office a little, and then home to bed, my eyes being bad.
My wife [was] up again by four o’clock, to go to gather May dew, and so back home by seven, to bed. And by and by I [got] up and [went] to the office, where [I was] all the morning, and dined at noon at home with my household, and so all the afternoon. In the evening my wife and I, all alone with the boy, [went] by water almost as far up as Putney with the tide, and back again, not stopping going or coming, but talking and singing, and reading a foolish set of verses on my Lord Mayor’s entertaining all the bachelors, written in praise of my Lord Mayor. And so home and to the office a little, and then home to bed, my eyes being bad.
A free ticket on an early pleasure cruise
William Makepeace Thackeray (“Mr. M. A. Titmarsh”), Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo, 1846, on his P&O voyage of 1844 · voyage of 1844; preface and book published 1846
These important statements are made partly to convince some incredulous friends — who insist still that the writer never went abroad at all, and wrote the following pages, out of pure fancy, in retirement at Putney ; but mainly, to give him an opportunity of thanking the Directors of the Company in question for a delightful excursion.
These important statements are made partly to convince some doubting friends, who still insist that the writer never went abroad at all, and wrote the following pages out of pure fancy, in retirement at Putney. But mainly they are made to give him a chance to thank the directors of the Company in question for a delightful excursion.