Manuscript Location

Winterthur Library, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Place of Origin

England
Ireland

Date of Composition

mostly 1740-1751, with a few later entries

Description

Robert Jocelyn, 1st Viscount Jocelyn, was born in England in 1687 or 1688 but lived and worked in Ireland during most of his adult life. Jocelyn trained as a lawyer beginning in 1709 and was called to the Irish bar in 1719. He subsequently served in several elected and appointed offices in Ireland until, in 1739, he was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland and took his seat as speaker of the Irish House of Lords. He was created Viscount Jocelyn in 1755. In 1756 he returned to England, where he died that year, at age 68. Jocelyn married his first wife, Charlotte, in 1720. They had one son, Robert (1731-1797), who was created Earl of Roden, in Ireland, in 1771. Charlotte died in 1747 and Jocelyn married his second wife, Frances, in 1754. Jocelyn was reputed to be an amiable, unassuming man, with a literary and scholarly bent.

This extraordinary 200-page volume contains menus for approximately eighty dinners and eight ball suppers hosted by Jocelyn during his years as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. All of the menus are diagrammed, showing the placement of the serving dishes on the table. When guests were present, their names are generally noted adjacent to the diagrams. Most of the dinners are served in two courses. The simpler dinners comprise as few as three or four dishes in each course. Most, though, include six to ten dishes in each course, and the fanciest dinners, such as those honoring members of the peerage, have many more and also feature spectacular dessert pyramids as centerpieces in the second course. The ball suppers are diagrammed on L-shaped tables, from which guests helped themselves.

To view this book online, click on the link in the library catalog record under "Multimedia."