Title: Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 01: Preface and Life
Author: Pepys, Samuel, 1633-1703
Language: English
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                 THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS M.A.   F.R.S.

            CLERK OF THE ACTS AND SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY

   TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SHORTHAND MANUSCRIPT IN THE PEPYSIAN LIBRARY
MAGDALENE COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE BY THE REV. MYNORS BRIGHT M.A.  LATE FELLOW
                      AND PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE

                              (Unabridged)

                      WITH LORD BRAYBROOKE'S NOTES

                        EDITED WITH ADDITIONS BY

                        HENRY B. WHEATLEY F.S.A.



LONDON
GEORGE BELL & SONS YORK ST.  COVENT GARDEN
CAMBRIDGE DEIGHTON BELL & CO.


1893



                                 PREFACE

Although the Diary of Samuel Pepys has been in the hands of the public for
nearly seventy years, it has not hitherto appeared in its entirety. In the
original edition of 1825 scarcely half of the manuscript was printed.
Lord Braybrooke added some passages as the various editions were
published, but in the preface to his last edition he wrote: "there
appeared indeed no necessity to amplify or in any way to alter the text of
the Diary beyond the correction of a few verbal errors and corrupt
passages hitherto overlooked."

The public knew nothing as to what was left unprinted, and there was
therefore a general feeling of gratification when it was announced some
eighteen years ago that a new edition was to be published by the Rev.
Mynors Bright, with the addition of new matter equal to a third of the
whole.  It was understood that at last the Diary was to appear in its
entirety, but there was a passage in Mr. Bright's preface which suggested
a doubt respecting the necessary completeness.  He wrote: "It would have
been tedious to the reader if I had copied from the Diary the account of
his daily work at the office."

As a matter of fact, Mr. Bright left roughly speaking about one-fifth of
the whole Diary still unprinted, although he transcribed the whole, and
bequeathed his transcript to Magdalene College.

It has now been decided that the whole of the Diary shall be made public,
with the exception of a few passages which cannot possibly be printed. It
may be thought by some that these omissions are due to an unnecessary
squeamishness, but it is not really so, and readers are therefore asked to
have faith in the judgment of the editor.  Where any passages have been
omitted marks of omission are added, so that in all cases readers will
know where anything has been left out.

Lord Braybrooke made the remark in his "Life of Pepys," that "the cipher
employed by him greatly resembles that known by the name of 'Rich's
system.'"  When Mr. Bright came to decipher the MS., he discovered that
the shorthand system used by Pepys was an earlier one than Rich's, viz.,
that of Thomas Shelton, who made his system public in 1620.

In his various editions Lord Braybrooke gave a large number of valuable
notes, in the collection and arrangement of which he was assisted by the
late Mr. John Holmes of the British Museum, and the late Mr. James
Yeowell, sometime sub-editor of "Notes and Queries."  Where these notes
are left unaltered in the present edition the letter "B." has been affixed
to them, but in many instances the notes have been altered and added to
from later information, and in these cases no mark is affixed. A large
number of additional notes are now supplied, but still much has had to be
left unexplained.  Many persons are mentioned in the Diary who were little
known in the outer world, and in some instances it has been impossible to
identify them.  In other cases, however, it has been possible to throw
light upon these persons by reference to different portions of the Diary
itself.  I would here ask the kind assistance of any reader who is able to
illustrate passages that have been left unnoted.  I have received much
assistance from the various books in which the Diary is quoted.  Every
writer on the period covered by the Diary has been pleased to illustrate
his subject by quotations from Pepys, and from these books it has often
been possible to find information which helps to explain difficult
passages in the Diary.

Much illustrative matter of value was obtained by Lord Braybrooke from the
"Diurnall" of Thomas Rugge, which is preserved in the British Museum (Add.
MSS. 10,116, 10,117).  The following is the description of this
interesting work as given by Lord Braybrooke

                    "MERCURIUS POLITICUS REDIVIVUS;

  or, A Collection of the most materiall occurrances and transactions
            in Public Affairs since Anno Dni, 1659, untill
                            28 March, 1672,
      serving as an annuall diurnall for future satisfaction and
                             information,
                            BY THOMAS RUGGE.

             Est natura hominum novitatis avida.--Plinius.

     "This MS. belonged, in 1693, to Thomas Grey, second Earl of
     Stamford.  It has his autograph at the commencement, and on the
     sides are his arms (four quarterings) in gold.  In 1819, it was sold
     by auction in London, as part of the collection of Thomas Lloyd,
     Esq.  (No. 1465), and was then bought by Thomas Thorpe, bookseller.
     Whilst Mr. Lloyd was the possessor, the MS. was lent to Dr. Lingard,
     whose note of thanks to Mr. Lloyd is preserved in the volume.  From
     Thorpe it appears to have passed to Mr. Heber, at the sale of whose
     MSS. in Feb.  1836, by Mr. Evans, of Pall Mall, it was purchased by
     the British Museum for L8 8s.

     "Thomas Rugge was descended from an ancient Norfolk family, and two
     of his ancestors are described as Aldermen of Norwich.  His death
     has been ascertained to have occurred about 1672; and in the Diary
     for the preceding year he complains that on account of his declining
     health, his entries will be but few.  Nothing has been traced of his
     personal circumstances beyond the fact of his having lived for
     fourteen years in Covent Garden, then a fashionable locality."

Another work I have found of the greatest value is the late Mr. J. E.
Doyle's "Official Baronage of England" (1886), which contains a mass of
valuable information not easily to be obtained elsewhere.  By reference to
its pages I have been enabled to correct several erroneous dates in
previous notes caused by a very natural confusion of years in the case of
the months of January, February, and March, before it was finally fixed
that the year should commence in January instead of March.  More confusion
has probably been introduced into history from this than from any other
cause of a like nature.  The reference to two years, as in the case of,
say, Jan. 5, 1661-62, may appear clumsy, but it is the only safe plan of
notation.  If one year only is mentioned, the reader is never sure whether
or not the correction has been made.  It is a matter for sincere regret
that the popular support was withheld from Mr. Doyle's important
undertaking, so that the author's intention of publishing further volumes,
containing the Baronies not dealt with in those already published, was
frustrated.

My labours have been much lightened by the kind help which I have
received from those interested in the subject.  Lovers of Pepys are
numerous, and I have found those I have applied to ever willing to give
me such information as they possess.  It is a singular pleasure,
therefore, to have an opportunity of expressing publicly my thanks to
these gentlemen, and among them I would especially mention Messrs.
Fennell, Danby P. Fry, J. Eliot Hodgkin, Henry Jackson, J. K. Laughton,
Julian Marshall, John Biddulph Martin, J. E. Matthew, Philip Norman,
Richard B. Prosser, and Hugh Callendar, Fellow of Trinity College, who
verified some of the passages in the manuscript.  To the Master and
Fellows of Magdalene College, also, I am especially indebted for allowing
me to consult the treasures of the Pepysian Library, and more
particularly my thanks are due to Mr. Arthur G. Peskett, the Librarian.

                                        H. B. W.
BRAMPTON, OPPIDANS ROAD,
          LONDON, N.W.
               February, 1893.



PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE DIARY.

I.  Memoirs of Samuel Pepys, Esq., F.R.S., Secretary to the Admiralty in
the reigns of Charles II.  and James II., comprising his Diary from 1659
to 1669, deciphered by the Rev. John Smith, A.B., of St. John's College,
Cambridge, from the original Shorthand MS. in the Pepysian Library, and a
Selection from his Private Correspondence.  Edited by Richard, Lord
Braybrooke.  In two volumes.  London, Henry Colburn .  .  . 1825.  4vo.

2.  Memoirs of Samuel Pepys, Esq., F.R.S.  .  .  .  Second edition.  In
five volumes.  London, Henry Colburn .  .  .  .  1828.  8vo.

3.  Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, F.R.S., Secretary to the
Admiralty in the reigns of Charles II. and James II.; with a Life and
Notes by Richard, Lord Braybrooke; the third edition, considerably
enlarged.  London, Henry Colburn .  .  .  .  1848-49.  5 vols.  sm. 8vo.

4.  Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, F.R.S.  .  .  .  The fourth
edition, revised and corrected.  In four volumes.  London, published for
Henry Colburn by his successors, Hurst and Blackett .  .  .  1854.  8vo.

The copyright of Lord Braybrooke's edition was purchased by the late Mr.
Henry G. Bohn, who added the book to his Historical Library.

5.  Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, Esq., F.R.S., from his MS.
Cypber in the Pepysian Library, with a Life and Notes by Richard, Lord
Braybrooke.  Deciphered, with additional notes, by the Rev. Mynors Bright,
M.A.  .  .  .  London, Bickers and Son, 1875-79.  6 vols. 8vo.

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 being out of copyright have been reprinted by various
publishers.

No. 5 is out of print.

                 PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF SAMUEL PEPYS.

The family of Pepys is one of considerable antiquity in the east of
England, and the Hon. Walter Courtenay Pepys

     [Mr. W.  C.  Pepys has paid great attention to the history of his
     family, and in 1887 he published an interesting work entitled
     "Genealogy of the Pepys Family, 1273-1887," London, George Bell and
     Sons, which contains the fullest pedigrees of the family yet
     issued.]

says that the first mention of the name that he has been able to find is
in the Hundred Rolls (Edw. I, 1273), where Richard Pepis and John Pepes
are registered as holding lands in the county of Cambridge.  In the next
century the name of William Pepis is found in deeds relating to lands in
the parish of Cottenham, co.  Cambridge, dated 1329 and 1340 respectively
(Cole MSS., British Museum, vol. i., p. 56; vol.  xlii., p. 44). According
to the Court Roll of the manor of Pelhams, in the parish of Cottenham,
Thomas Pepys was "bayliffe of the Abbot of Crowland in 1434," but in spite
of these references, as well as others to persons of the same name at
Braintree, Essex, Depedale, Norfolk, &c., the first ancestor of the
existing branches of the family from whom Mr. Walter Pepys is able to
trace an undoubted descent, is "William Pepis the elder, of Cottenham, co.
Cambridge," whose will is dated 20th March, 1519.

In 1852 a curious manuscript volume, bound in vellum, and entitled "Liber
Talboti Pepys de instrumentis ad Feoda pertinentibus exemplificatis," was
discovered in an old chest in the parish church of Bolney, Sussex, by the
vicar, the Rev. John Dale, who delivered it to Henry Pepys, Bishop of
Worcester, and the book is still in the possession of the family.  This
volume contains various genealogical entries, and among them are
references to the Thomas Pepys of 1434 mentioned above, and to the later
William Pepys.  The reference to the latter runs thus:--

     "A Noate written out of an ould Booke of my uncle William Pepys."

     "William Pepys, who died at Cottenham, 10 H. 8, was brought up by
     the Abbat of Crowland, in Huntingdonshire, and he was borne in
     Dunbar, in Scotland, a gentleman, whom the said Abbat did make his
     Bayliffe of all his lands in Cambridgeshire, and placed him in
     Cottenham, which William aforesaid had three sonnes, Thomas, John,
     and William, to whom Margaret was mother naturallie, all of whom
     left issue."

In illustration of this entry we may refer to the Diary of June 12th,
1667, where it is written that Roger Pepys told Samuel that "we did
certainly come out of Scotland with the Abbot of Crowland."  The
references to various members of the family settled in Cottenham and
elsewhere, at an early date already alluded to, seem to show that there is
little foundation for this very positive statement.

With regard to the standing of the family, Mr. Walter Pepys writes:--

     "The first of the name in 1273 were evidently but small copyholders.
     Within 150 years (1420) three or four of the name had entered the
     priesthood, and others had become connected with the monastery of
     Croyland as bailiffs, &c.  In 250 years (1520) there were certainly
     two families: one at Cottenham, co. Cambridge, and another at
     Braintree, co. Essex, in comfortable circumstances as yeomen
     farmers.  Within fifty years more (1563), one of the family, Thomas,
     of Southcreeke, co. Norfolk, had entered the ranks of the gentry
     sufficiently to have his coat-of-arms recognized by the Herald
     Cooke, who conducted the Visitation of Norfolk in that year.  From
     that date the majority of the family have been in good
     circumstances, with perhaps more than the average of its members
     taking up public positions."

There is a very general notion that Samuel Pepys was of plebeian birth
because his father followed the trade of a tailor, and his own remark,
"But I believe indeed our family were never considerable,"--[February
10th, 1661-62.] has been brought forward in corroboration of this view,
but nothing can possibly be more erroneous, and there can be no doubt that
the Diarist was really proud of his descent.  This may be seen from the
inscription on one of his book-plates, where he is stated to be:--

     "Samuel Pepys of Brampton in Huntingdonshire, Esq., Secretary of the
     Admiralty to his Matr. King Charles the Second: Descended from ye
     antient family of Pepys of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire."

Many members of the family have greatly distinguished themselves since the
Diarist's day, and of them Mr. Foss wrote ("Judges of England," vol. vi.,
p. 467):--

     "In the family of Pepys is illustrated every gradation of legal rank
     from Reader of an Inn of Court to Lord High Chancellor of England."

The William Pepys of Cottenham who commences the pedigree had three sons
and three daughters; from the eldest son (Thomas) descended the first
Norfolk branch, from the second son (John Pepys of Southcreeke) descended
the second Norfolk branch, and from the third son (William) descended the
Impington branch.  The latter William had four sons and two daughters; two
of these sons were named Thomas, and as they were both living at the same
time one was distinguished as "the black" and the other as "the red."
Thomas the red had four sons and four daughters.  John, born 1601, was the
third son, and he became the father of Samuel the Diarist. Little is known
of John Pepys, but we learn when the Diary opens that he was settled in
London as a tailor.  He does not appear to have been a successful man, and
his son on August 26th, 1661, found that there was only L45 owing to him,
and that he owed about the same sum.  He was a citizen of London in 1650,
when his son Samuel was admitted to Magdalene College, but at an earlier
period he appears to have had business relations with Holland.

In August, 1661, John Pepys retired to a small property at Brampton (worth
about L80 per annum), which had been left to him by his eldest brother,
Robert Pepys, where he died in 1680.

The following is a copy of John Pepys's will:

                            "MY FATHER'S WILL.
                        [Indorsement by S. Pepys.]

     "Memorandum.  That I, John Pepys of Ellington, in the county of
     Huntingdon, Gent.", doe declare my mind in the disposall of my
     worldly goods as followeth:

     "First, I desire that my lands and goods left mee by my brother,
     Robert Pepys, deceased, bee delivered up to my eldest son, Samuell
     Pepys, of London, Esqr., according as is expressed in the last Will
     of my brother Robert aforesaid.

     "Secondly, As for what goods I have brought from London, or procured
     since, and what moneys I shall leave behind me or due to me, I
     desire may be disposed of as followeth:

     "Imprimis, I give to the stock of the poore of the parish of
     Brampton, in which church I desire to be enterred, five pounds.

     "Item.  I give to the Poore of Ellington forty shillings.

     "Item.  I desire that my two grandsons, Samuell and John Jackson,
     have ten pounds a piece.

     "Item.  I desire that my daughter, Paulina Jackson, may have my
     largest silver tankerd.

     "Item.  I desire that my son John Pepys may have my gold seale-ring.

     "Lastly.  I desire that the remainder of what I shall leave be
     equally distributed between my sons Samuel and John Pepys and my
     daughter Paulina Jackson.

     "All which I leave to the care of my eldest son Samuel Pepys, to see
     performed, if he shall think fit.

     "In witness hereunto I set my hand."

His wife Margaret, whose maiden name has not been discovered, died on the
25th March, 1667, also at Brampton.  The family of these two consisted of
six sons and five daughters: John (born 1632, died 1640), Samuel (born
1633, died 1703), Thomas (born 1634, died 1664), Jacob (born 1637, died
young), Robert (born 1638, died young), and John (born 1641, died 1677);
Mary (born 1627), Paulina (born 1628), Esther (born 1630), Sarah (born
1635; these four girls all died young), and Paulina (born 1640, died
1680), who married John Jackson of Brampton, and had two sons, Samuel and
John.  The latter was made his heir by Samuel Pepys.

Samuel Pepys was born on the 23rd February, 1632-3, but the place of birth
is not known with certainty.  Samuel Knight, D.D., author of the "Life of
Colet," who was a connection of the family (having married Hannah Pepys,
daughter of Talbot Pepys of Impington), says positively that it was at
Brampton.  His statement cannot be corroborated by the registers of
Brampton church, as these records do not commence until the year 1654.

Samuel's early youth appears to have been spent pretty equally between
town and country.  When he and his brother Tom were children they lived
with a nurse (Goody Lawrence) at Kingsland, and in after life Samuel
refers to his habit of shooting with bow and arrow in the fields around
that place.  He then went to school at Huntingdon, from which he was
transferred to St. Paul's School in London.  He remained at the latter
place until 1650, early in which year his name was entered as a sizar on
the boards of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.  He was admitted on the 21st June,
but subsequently he transferred his allegiance to Magdalene College, where
he was admitted a sizar on the 1st October of this same year. He did not
enter into residence until March 5th, 1650-51, but in the following month
he was elected to one of Mr. Spendluffe's scholarships, and two years
later (October 14th, 1653) he was preferred to one on Dr. John Smith's
foundation.

Little or nothing is known of Pepys's career at college, but soon after
obtaining the Smith scholarship he got into trouble, and, with a
companion, was admonished for being drunk.

     [October 21st, 1653.  "Memorandum: that Peapys and Hind were
     solemnly admonished by myself and Mr. Hill, for having been
     scandalously over-served with drink ye night before.  This was done
     in the presence of all the Fellows then resident, in Mr. Hill's
     chamber.--JOHN WOOD, Registrar."  (From the Registrar's-book of
     Magdalene College.)]

His time, however, was not wasted, and there is evidence that he carried
into his busy life a fair stock of classical learning and a true love of
letters.  Throughout his life he looked back with pleasure to the time he
spent at the University, and his college was remembered in his will when
he bequeathed his valuable library.  In this same year, 1653, he graduated
B.A.  On the 1st of December, 1655, when he was still without any settled
means of support, he married Elizabeth St. Michel, a beautiful and
portionless girl of fifteen.  Her father, Alexander Marchant, Sieur de St.
Michel, was of a good family in Anjou, and son of the High Sheriff of
Bauge (in Anjou).  Having turned Huguenot at the age of twenty-one, when
in the German service, his father disinherited him, and he also lost the
reversion of some L20,000 sterling which his uncle, a rich French canon,
intended to bequeath to him before he left the Roman Catholic church.  He
came over to England in the retinue of Henrietta Maria on her marriage
with Charles I, but the queen dismissed him on finding that he was a
Protestant and did not attend mass.  Being a handsome man, with courtly
manners, he found favour in the sight of the widow of an Irish squire
(daughter of Sir Francis Kingsmill), who married him against the wishes of
her family.  After the marriage, Alexander St. Michel and his wife having
raised some fifteen hundred pounds, started, for France in the hope of
recovering some part of the family property. They were unfortunate in all
their movements, and on their journey to France were taken prisoners by
the Dunkirkers, who stripped them of all their property.  They now settled
at Bideford in Devonshire, and here or near by were born Elizabeth and the
rest of the family.  At a later period St. Michel served against the
Spaniards at the taking of Dunkirk and Arras, and settled at Paris.  He
was an unfortunate man throughout life, and his son Balthasar says of him:
"My father at last grew full of whimsies and propositions of perpetual
motion, &c., to kings, princes and others, which soaked his pocket, and
brought all our family so low by his not minding anything else, spending
all he had got and getting no other employment to bring in more."  While
he was away from Paris, some "deluding papists" and "pretended devouts"
persuaded Madame St. Michel to place her daughter in the nunnery of the
Ursulines.  When the father heard of this, he hurried back, and managed to
get Elizabeth out of the nunnery after she had been there twelve days.
Thinking that France was a dangerous place to live in, he removed his
family to England, where soon afterwards his daughter was married,
although, as Lord Braybrooke remarks, we are not told how she became
acquainted with Pepys. St. Michel was greatly pleased that his daughter
had become the wife of a true Protestant, and she herself said to him,
kissing his eyes: "Dear father, though in my tender years I was by my low
fortune in this world deluded to popery, by the fond dictates thereof I
have now (joined with my riper years, which give me some understanding) a
man to my husband too wise and one too religious to the Protestant
religion to suffer my thoughts to bend that way any more."

     [These particulars are obtained from an interesting letter from
     Balthasar St. Michel to Pepys, dated "Deal, Feb. 8, 1673-4," and
     printed in "Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys,"
     1841, vol. i., pp. 146-53.]

Alexander St. Michel kept up his character for fecklessness through life,
and took out patents for curing smoking chimneys, purifying water, and
moulding bricks.  In 1667 he petitioned the king, asserting that he had
discovered King Solomon's gold and silver mines, and the Diary of the same
date contains a curious commentary upon these visions of wealth:--

     "March 29, 1667.  4s. a week which his (Balty St. Michel's) father
     receives of the French church is all the subsistence his father and
     mother have, and about; L20 a year maintains them."

As already noted, Pepys was married on December 1st, 1655.  This date is
given on the authority of the Registers of St. Margaret's Church,
Westminster,

     [The late Mr. T. C. Noble kindly communicated to me a copy of the
     original marriage certificate, which is as follows: "Samuell Peps
     of this parish Gent. & Elizabeth De Snt. Michell of Martins in the
     fields, Spinster.  Published October 19tn, 22nd, 29th 1655, and
     were married by Richard Sherwin Esqr one of the justices of the
     Peace of the Cittie and Lyberties of Westm.  December 1st.  (Signed)
     Ri. Sherwin."]

but strangely enough Pepys himself supposed his wedding day to have been
October 10th.  Lord Braybrooke remarks on this,

     "It is notorious that the registers in those times were very ill
     kept, of which we have here a striking instance .  .  .  .  Surely a
     man who kept a diary could not have made such a blunder."

What is even more strange than Pepys's conviction that he was married on
October 10th is Mrs. Pepys's agreement with him: On October 10th, 1666, we
read,

     "So home to supper, and to bed, it being my wedding night, but how
     many years I cannot tell; but my wife says ten."

Here Mrs. Pepys was wrong, as it was eleven years; so she may have been
wrong in the day also.  In spite of the high authority of Mr. and Mrs.
Pepys on a question so interesting to them both, we must accept the
register as conclusive on this point until further evidence of its
incorrectness is forthcoming.

Sir Edward Montage (afterwards Earl of Sandwich), who was Pepys's first
cousin one remove (Pepys's grandfather and Montage's mother being brother
and sister), was a true friend to his poor kinsman, and he at once held
out a helping hand to the imprudent couple, allowing them to live in his
house.  John Pepys does not appear to have been in sufficiently good
circumstances to pay for the education of his son, and it seems probable
that Samuel went to the university under his influential cousin's
patronage.  At all events he owed his success in life primarily to
Montage, to whom he appears to have acted as a sort of agent.

On March 26th, 1658, he underwent a successful operation for the stone,
and we find him celebrating each anniversary of this important event of
his life with thanksgiving.  He went through life with little trouble on
this score, but when he died at the age of seventy a nest of seven stones
was found in his left kidney.

     ["June 10th, 1669.  I went this evening to London, to carry Mr.
     Pepys to my brother Richard, now exceedingly afflicted with the
     stone, who had been successfully cut, and carried the stone, as big
     as a tennis ball, to show him and encourage his resolution to go
     thro' the operation."--Evelyn's Diary.]

In June, 1659, Pepys accompanied Sir Edward Montage in the "Naseby," when
the Admiral of the Baltic Fleet and Algernon Sidney went to the Sound as
joint commissioners.  It was then that Montage corresponded with Charles
II., but he had to be very secret in his movements on account of the
suspicions of Sidney.  Pepys knew nothing of what was going on, as he
confesses in the Diary:

     "I do from this raise an opinion of him, to be one of the most
     secret men in the world, which I was not so convinced of before."

On Pepys's return to England he obtained an appointment in the office of
Mr., afterwards Sir George Downing, who was one of the Four Tellers of the
Receipt of the Exchequer.  He was clerk to Downing when he commenced his
diary on January 1st, 1660, and then lived in Axe Yard, close by King
Street, Westminster, a place on the site of which was built Fludyer
Street.  This, too, was swept away for the Government offices in 1864-65.
His salary was L50 a year.  Downing invited Pepys to accompany him to
Holland, but he does not appear to have been very pressing, and a few days
later in this same January he got him appointed one of the Clerks of the
Council, but the recipient of the favour does not appear to have been very
grateful.  A great change was now about to take place in Pepys's fortunes,
for in the following March he was made secretary to Sir Edward Montage in
his expedition to bring about the Restoration of Charles II., and on the
23rd he went on board the "Swiftsure" with Montage.  On the 30th they
transferred themselves to the "Naseby."  Owing to this appointment of
Pepys we have in the Diary a very full account of the daily movements of
the fleet until, events having followed their natural course, Montage had
the honour of bringing Charles II. to Dover, where the King was received
with great rejoicing.  Several of the ships in the fleet had names which
were obnoxious to Royalists, and on the 23rd May the King came on board
the "Naseby" and altered there--the "Naseby" to the "Charles," the
"Richard" to the "Royal James," the "Speaker" to the "Mary," the "Winsby"
to the "Happy Return," the "Wakefield" to the "Richmond," the "Lambert" to
the "Henrietta," the "Cheriton" to the "Speedwell," and the "Bradford" to
the "Success."  This portion of the Diary is of particular interest, and
the various excursions in Holland which the Diarist made are described in
a very amusing manner.

When Montagu and Pepys had both returned to London, the former told the
latter that he had obtained the promise of the office of Clerk of the Acts
for him.  Many difficulties occurred before Pepys actually secured the
place, so that at times he was inclined to accept the offers which were
made to him to give it up.  General Monk was anxious to get the office for
Mr. Turner, who was Chief Clerk in the Navy Office, but in the end
Montagu's influence secured it for Pepys.  Then Thomas Barlow, who had
been appointed Clerk of the Acts in 1638, turned up, and appeared likely
to become disagreeable.  Pepys bought him off with an annuity of too,
which he did not have to pay for any length of time, as Barlow died in
February, 1664-65.  It is not in human nature to be greatly grieved at the
death of one to whom you have to pay an annuity, and Pepys expresses his
feelings in a very naive manner:--

     "For which God knows my heart I could be as sorry as is possible for
     one to be for a stranger by whose death he gets L100 per annum, he
     being a worthy honest man; but when I come to consider the
     providence of God by this means unexpectedly to give me L100 a year
     more in my estate, I have cause to bless God, and do it from the
     bottom of my heart."

This office was one of considerable importance, for not only was the
holder the secretary or registrar of the Navy Board, but he was also one
of the principal officers of the navy, and, as member of the board, of
equal rank with the other commissioners.  This office Pepys held during
the whole period of the Diary, and we find him constantly fighting for his
position, as some of the other members wished to reduce his rank merely to
that of secretary.  In his contention Pepys appears to have been in the
right, and a valuable MS. volume in the Pepysian library contains an
extract from the Old Instructions of about 1649, in which this very point
is argued out.  The volume appears to have been made up by William Penn
the Quaker, from a collection of manuscripts on the affairs of the navy
found in his father's, "Sir William Penn's closet." It was presented to
Charles II., with a dedication ending thus:--

     "I hope enough to justifie soe much freedome with a Prince that is
     so easie to excuse things well intended as this is
                         "BY
                              "Great Prince,
                                   "Thy faithfull subject,
                                        "WM. PENN"

     "London, the 22 of the Mo. called June, 1680."

It does not appear how the volume came into Pepys's possession.  It may
have been given him by the king, or he may have taken it as a perquisite
of his office.  The book has an index, which was evidently added by Pepys;
in this are these entries, which show his appreciation of the contents of
the MS.:--

               "Clerk of the Acts,
                    his duty,
                    his necessity and usefulness."

The following description of the duty of the Clerk of the Acts shows the
importance of the office, and the statement that if the clerk is not
fitted to act as a commissioner he is a blockhead and unfit for his
employment is particularly racy, and not quite the form of expression one
would expect to find in an official document:

                           "CLERKE OF THE ACTS.

     "The clarke of the Navye's duty depends principally upon rateing (by
     the Board's approbation) of all bills and recording of them, and all
     orders, contracts & warrants, making up and casting of accompts,
     framing and writing answers to letters, orders, and commands from
     the Councell, Lord High Admirall, or Commissioners of the Admiralty,
     and he ought to be a very able accomptant, well versed in Navall
     affairs and all inferior officers dutyes.

     "It hath been objected by some that the Clarke of the Acts ought to
     be subordinate to the rest of the Commissioners, and not to be
     joyned in equall power with them, although he was so constituted
     from the first institution, which hath been an opinion only of some
     to keep him at a distance, least he might be thought too forward if
     he had joynt power in discovering or argueing against that which
     peradventure private interest would have concealed; it is certaine
     no man sees more of the Navye's Transactions than himselfe, and
     possibly may speak as much to the project if required, or else he is
     a blockhead, and not fitt for that imployment.  But why he should
     not make as able a Commissioner as a Shipp wright lett wise men
     judge."

In Pepys's patent the salary is stated to be L33 6s. 8d., but this was
only the ancient "fee out of the Exchequer," which had been attached to
the office for more than a century.  Pepys's salary had been previously
fixed at L350 a-year.

Neither of the two qualifications upon which particular stress is laid in
the above Instructions was possessed by Pepys.  He knew nothing about the
navy, and so little of accounts that apparently he learned the
multiplication table for the first time in July, 1661.  We see from the
particulars given in the Diary how hard he worked to obtain the knowledge
required in his office, and in consequence of his assiduity he soon became
a model official.  When Pepys became Clerk of the Acts he took up his
residence at the Navy Office, a large building situated between Crutched
Friars and Seething Lane, with an entrance in each of those places.  On
July 4th, 1660, he went with Commissioner Pett to view the houses, and was
very pleased with them, but he feared that the more influential officers
would jockey him out of his rights.  His fears were not well grounded, and
on July 18th he records the fact that he dined in his own apartments,
which were situated in the Seething Lane front.

On July 24th, 1660, Pepys was sworn in as Lord Sandwich's deputy for a
Clerkship of the Privy Seal.  This office, which he did not think much of
at first, brought him "in for a time L3 a day."  In June, 1660, he was
made Master of Arts by proxy, and soon afterwards he was sworn in as a
justice of the Peace for Middlesex, Essex, Kent, and Hampshire, the
counties in which the chief dockyards were situated.

Pepys's life is written large in the Diary, and it is not necessary here
to do more than catalogue the chief incidents of it in chronological
order.  In February, 1661-62, he was chosen a Younger Brother of the
Trinity House, and in April, 1662, when on an official visit to Portsmouth
Dockyard, he was made a burgess of the town.  In August of the same year
he was appointed one of the commissioners for the affairs of Tangier.
Soon afterwards Thomas Povy, the treasurer, got his accounts into a
muddle, and showed himself incompetent for the place, so that Pepys
replaced him as treasurer to the commission.

In March, 1663-64, the Corporation of the Royal Fishery was appointed,
with the Duke of York as governor, and thirty-two assistants, mostly "very
great persons."  Through Lord Sandwich's influence Pepys was made one of
these.

The time was now arriving when Pepys's general ability and devotion to
business brought him prominently into notice.  During the Dutch war the
unreadiness of the ships, more particularly in respect to victualling, was
the cause of great trouble.  The Clerk of the Acts did his utmost to set
things right, and he was appointed Surveyor-General of the Victualling
Office.  The kind way in which Mr. Coventry proposed him as "the fittest
man in England" for the office, and the Duke of York's expressed approval,
greatly pleased him.

During the fearful period when the Plague was raging, Pepys stuck to his
business, and the chief management of naval affairs devolved upon him, for
the meetings at the Navy Office were but thinly attended.  In a letter to
Coventry he wrote:--

     "The sickness in general thickens round us, and particularly upon
     our neighbourhood.  You, sir, took your turn of the sword; I must
     not, therefore, grudge to take mine of the pestilence."

At this time his wife was living at Woolwich, and he himself with his
clerks at Greenwich; one maid only remained in the house in London.

Pepys rendered special service at the time of the Fire of London.  He
communicated the king's wishes to the Lord Mayor, and he saved the Navy
Office by having up workmen from Woolwich and Deptford Dockyards to pull
down the houses around, and so prevent the spread of the flames.

When peace was at length concluded with the Dutch, and people had time to
think over the disgrace which the country had suffered by the presence of
De Ruyter's fleet in the Medway, it was natural that a public inquiry into
the management of the war should be undertaken.  A Parliamentary Committee
was appointed in October, 1667, to inquire into the matter. Pepys made a
statement which satisfied the committee, but for months afterwards he was
continually being summoned to answer some charge, so that he confesses
himself as mad to "become the hackney of this office in perpetual trouble
and vexation that need it least."

At last a storm broke out in the House of Commons against the principal
officers of the navy, and some members demanded that they should be put
out of their places.  In the end they were ordered to be heard in their
own defence at the bar of the House.  The whole labour of the defence fell
upon Pepys, but having made out his case with great skill, he was rewarded
by a most unexpected success.  On the 5th March, 1667-68, he made the
great speech of his life, and spoke for three hours, with the effect that
he so far removed the prejudice against the officers of the Navy Board,
that no further proceedings were taken in parliament on the subject.  He
was highly praised for his speech, and he was naturally much elated at his
brilliant success.

About the year 1664 we first hear of a defect in Pepys's eyesight.  He
consulted the celebrated Cocker, and began to wear green spectacles, but
gradually this defect became more pronounced, and on the 31st of May,
1669, he wrote the last words in his Diary:

     "And thus ends all that I doubt I shall ever be able to do with my
     own eyes in the keeping of my journal, I being not able to do it any
     longer, having done now as long as to undo my eyes almost every time
     that I take a pen in my hand."

He feared blindness and was forced to desist, to his lasting regret and
our great loss.

At this time he obtained leave of absence from the duties of his office,
and he set out on a tour through France and Holland accompanied by his
wife.  In his travels he was true to the occupation of his life, and made
collections respecting the French and Dutch navies.  Some months after his
return he spoke of his journey as having been "full of health and
content," but no sooner had he and his wife returned to London than the
latter became seriously ill with a fever.  The disease took a fatal turn,
and on the 10th of November, 1669, Elizabeth Pepys died at the early age
of twenty-nine years, to the great grief of her husband.  She died at
their house in Crutched Friars, and was buried at St. Olave's Church, Hart
Street, where Pepys erected a monument to her memory.

Pepys's successful speech at the bar of the House of Commons made him
anxious to become a member, and the Duke of York and Sir William Coventry
heartily supported him in his resolution.  An opening occurred in due
course, at Aldborough, in Suffolk, owing to the death of Sir Robert Brooke
in 1669,  but, in consequence of the death of his wife, Pepys was unable
to take part in the election.  His cause was warmly espoused by the Duke
of York and by Lord Henry Howard (afterwards Earl of Norwich and sixth
Duke of Norfolk), but the efforts of his supporters failed, and the
contest ended in favour of John Bruce, who represented the popular party.
In November, 1673, Pepys was more successful, and was elected for Castle
Rising on the elevation of the member, Sir Robert Paston, to the peerage
as Viscount Yarmouth.  His unsuccessful opponent, Mr. Offley, petitioned
against the return, and the election was determined to be void by the
Committee of Privileges.  The Parliament, however, being prorogued the
following month without the House's coming to any vote on the subject,
Pepys was permitted to retain his seat.  A most irrelevant matter was
introduced into the inquiry, and Pepys was charged with having a crucifix
in his house, from which it was inferred that he was "a papist or popishly
inclined."  The charge was grounded upon reported assertions of Sir John
Banks and the Earl of Shaftesbury, which they did not stand to when
examined on the subject, and the charge was not proved to be good.

     ["The House then proceeding upon the debate touching the Election
     for Castle Rising, between Mr. Pepys and Mr. Offley, did, in the
     first place, take into consideration what related personally to Mr.
     Pepys.  Information being given to the House that they had received
     an account from a person of quality, that he saw an Altar with a
     Crucifix upon it, in the house of Mr. Pepys; Mr. Pepys, standing up
     in his place, did heartily and flatly deny that he ever had any
     Altar or Crucifix, or the image or picture of any Saint whatsoever
     in his house, from the top to the bottom of it; and the Members
     being called upon to name the person that gave them the information,
     they were unwilling to declare it without the order of the House;
     which, being made, they named the Earl of Shaftesbury; and the House
     being also informed that Sir J. Banks did likewise see the Altar, he
     was ordered to attend the Bar of the House, to declare what he knew
     of this matter.  'Ordered that Sir William Coventry, Sir Thomas
     Meeres, and Mr. Garraway do attend Lord Shaftesbury on the like
     occasion, and receive what information his Lordship, can give on
     this matter.'"--Journals of the House of Commons, vol. ix., p.
     306.--" 13th February, Sir W. Coventry reports that they attended
     the Earl of Shaftesbury, and received from him the account which
     they had put in writing.  The Earl of Shaftesbury denieth that he
     ever saw an Altar in Mr. Pepys's house or lodgings; as to the
     Crucifix, he saith he hath, some imperfect memory of seeing somewhat
     which he conceived to be a Crucifix.  When his Lordship was asked
     the time, he said it was before the burning of the Office of the
     Navy.  Being asked concerning the manner, he said he could not
     remember whether it were painted or carved, or in what manner the
     thing was; and that his memory was so very imperfect in it, that if
     he were upon his oath he could give no testimony."--.  Ibid., vol.
     ix., p. 309.--" 16th February--Sir John Banks was called in--The
     Speaker desired him to answer what acquaintance he had with; Mr.
     Pepys, and whether he used to have recourse to him to his house and
     had ever seen there any Altar or Crucifix, or whether he knew of his
     being a Papist, or Popishly inclined.  Sir J. Banks said that he had
     known and had been acquainted with Mr. Pepys several years, and had
     often visited him and conversed with him at the Navy Office, and at
     his house there upon several occasions, and that he never saw in his
     house there any Altar or Crucifix, and that he does not believe him
     to be a Papist, or that way inclined in the least, nor had any
     reason or ground to think or believe it."--Ibid., vol, ix., p. 310.]

It will be seen from the extracts from the Journals of the House of
Commons given in the note that Pepys denied ever having had an altar or
crucifix in his house.  In the Diary there is a distinct statement of his
possession of a crucifix, but it is not clear from the following extracts
whether it was not merely a varnished engraving of the Crucifixion which
he possessed:

     July 20, 1666.  "So I away to Lovett's, there to see how my picture
     goes on to be varnished, a fine crucifix which will be very fine."
     August 2. "At home find Lovett, who showed me my crucifix, which
     will be very fine when done."  Nov. 3.  "This morning comes Mr.
     Lovett and brings me my print of the Passion, varnished by him, and
     the frame which is indeed very fine, though not so fine as I
     expected; but pleases me exceedingly."

Whether he had or had not a crucifix in his house was a matter for himself
alone, and the interference of the House of Commons was a gross violation
of the liberty of the subject.

In connection with Lord Shaftesbury's part in this matter, the late Mr. W.
D. Christie found the following letter to Sir Thomas Meres among the
papers at St. Giles's House, Dorsetshire:--

                              "Exeter House, February 10th, 1674.

     "Sir,--That there might be no mistake, I thought best to put my
     answer in writing to those questions that yourself, Sir William
     Coventry, and Mr. Garroway were pleased to propose to me this
     morning from the House of Commons, which is that I never designed to
     be a witness against any man for what I either heard or saw, and
     therefore did not take so exact notice of things inquired of as to
     be able to remember them so clearly as is requisite to do in a
     testimony upon honour or oath, or to so great and honourable a body
     as the House of Commons, it being some years distance since I was at
     Mr. Pepys his lodging.  Only that particular of an altar is so
     signal that I must needs have remembered it had I seen any such
     thing, which I am sure I do not.  This I desire you to communicate
     with Sir William Coventry and Mr. Garroway to be delivered as my
     answer to the House of Commons, it being the same I gave you this
     morning.

               "I am, Sir,
                         "Your most humble servant,
                                             "SHAFTESBURY."

After reading this letter Sir William Coventry very justly remarked,
"There are a great many more Catholics than think themselves so, if having
a crucifix will make one."  Mr. Christie resented the remarks on Lord
Shaftesbury's part in this persecution of Pepys made by Lord Braybrooke,
who said, "Painful indeed is it to reflect to what length the bad passions
which party violence inflames could in those days carry a man of
Shaftesbury's rank, station, and abilities."  Mr. Christie observes, "It
is clear from the letter to Meres that Shaftesbury showed no malice and
much scrupulousness when a formal charge, involving important results, was
founded on his loose private conversations." This would be a fair
vindication if the above attack upon Pepys stood alone, but we shall see
later on that Shaftesbury was the moving spirit in a still more
unjustifiable attack.

Lord Sandwich died heroically in the naval action in Southwold Bay, and on
June 24th,1672, his remains were buried with some pomp in Westminster
Abbey.  There were eleven earls among the mourners, and Pepys, as the
first among "the six Bannerolles," walked in the procession.

About this time Pepys was called from his old post of Clerk of the Acts to
the higher office of Secretary of the Admiralty.  His first appointment
was a piece of favouritism, but it was due to his merits alone that he
obtained the secretaryship.  In the summer of 1673, the Duke of York
having resigned all his appointments on the passing of the Test Act, the
King put the Admiralty into commission, and Pepys was appointed Secretary
for the Affairs of the Navy.

     [The office generally known as Secretary of the Admiralty dates back
     many years, but the officer who filled it was sometimes Secretary to
     the Lord High Admiral, and sometimes to the Commission for that
     office.  "His Majesties Letters Patent for ye erecting the office of
     Secretary of ye Admiralty of England, and creating Samuel Pepys,
     Esq., first Secretary therein," is dated June 10th, 1684.]

He was thus brought into more intimate connection with Charles II., who
took the deepest interest in shipbuilding and all naval affairs.  The Duke
of Buckingham said of the King:--

     "The great, almost the only pleasure of his mind to which he seemed
     addicted was shipping and sea affairs, which seemed to be so much
     his talent for knowledge as well as inclination, that a war of that
     kind was rather an entertainment than any disturbance to his
     thoughts."

When Pepys ceased to be Clerk of the Acts he was able to obtain the
appointment for his clerk, Thomas Hayter, and his brother, John Pepys, who
held it jointly.  The latter does not appear to have done much credit to
Samuel.  He was appointed Clerk to the Trinity House in 1670 on his
brother's recommendation, and when he died in 1677 he was in debt L300 to
his employers, and this sum Samuel had to pay.  In 1676 Pepys was Master
of the Trinity House, and in the following year Master of the
Clothworkers' Company, when he presented a richly-chased silver cup, which
is still used at the banquets of the company.  On Tuesday, 10th September,
1677, the Feast of the Hon. Artillery Company was held at Merchant
Taylors' Hall, when the Duke of York, the Duke of Somerset, the Lord
Chancellor, and other distinguished persons were present.  On this
occasion Viscount Newport, Sir Joseph Williamson, and Samuel Pepys
officiated as stewards.

About this time it is evident that the secretary carried himself with some
haughtiness as a ruler of the navy, and that this was resented by some.
An amusing instance will be found in the Parliamentary Debates. On May
11th, 1678, the King's verbal message to quicken the supply was brought in
by Mr. Secretary Williamson, when Pepys spoke to this effect:

     "When I promised that the ships should be ready by the 30th of May,
     it was upon the supposition of the money for 90 ships proposed by
     the King and voted by you, their sizes and rates, and I doubt not by
     that time to have 90 ships, and if they fall short it will be only
     from the failing of the Streights ships coming home and those but
     two .  .  .  .  .

     "Sir Robert Howard then rose and said, 'Pepys here speaks rather
     like an Admiral than a Secretary, "I" and "we."  I wish he knows
     half as much of the Navy as he pretends.'"

Pepys was chosen by the electors of Harwich as their member in the short
Parliament that sat from March to July, 1679, his colleague being Sir
Anthony Deane, but both members were sent to the Tower in May on a
baseless charge, and they were superseded in the next Parliament that met
on the 17th October, 1679.

The high-handed treatment which Pepys underwent at this time exhibits a
marked instance of the disgraceful persecution connected with the
so-called Popish plot.  He was totally unconnected with the Roman Catholic
party, but his association with the Duke of York was sufficient to mark
him as a prey for the men who initiated this "Terror" of the seventeenth
century.  Sir. Edmund Berry Godfrey came to his death in October, 1678,
and in December Samuel Atkins, Pepys's clerk, was brought to trial as an
accessory to his murder.  Shaftesbury and the others not having succeeded
in getting at Pepys through his clerk, soon afterwards attacked him more
directly, using the infamous evidence of Colonel Scott.  Much light has
lately been thrown upon the underhand dealings of this miscreant by Mr. G.
D. Scull, who printed privately in 1883 a valuable work entitled,
"Dorothea Scott, otherwise Gotherson, and Hogben of Egerton House, Kent,
1611-1680."

John Scott (calling himself Colonel Scott) ingratiated himself into
acquaintance with Major Gotherson, and sold to the latter large tracts of
land in Long Island, to which he had no right whatever.  Dorothea
Gotherson, after her husband's death, took steps to ascertain the exact
state of her property, and obtained the assistance of Colonel Francis
Lovelace, Governor of New York.  Scott's fraud was discovered, and a
petition for redress was presented to the King.  The result of this was
that the Duke of York commanded Pepys to collect evidence against Scott,
and he accordingly brought together a great number of depositions and
information as to his dishonest proceedings in New England, Long Island,
Barbadoes, France, Holland, and England, and these papers are preserved
among the Rawlinson Manuscripts in the Bodleian.  Scott had his revenge,
and accused Pepys of betraying the Navy by sending secret particulars to
the French Government, and of a design to dethrone the king and extirpate
the Protestant religion.  Pepys and Sir Anthony Deane were committed to
the Tower under the Speaker's warrant on May 22nd, 1679, and Pepys's place
at the Admiralty was filled by the appointment of Thomas Hayter. When the
two prisoners were brought to the bar of the King's Bench on the 2nd of
June, the Attorney-General refused bail, but subsequently they were
allowed to find security for L30,000.

Pepys was put to great expense in collecting evidence against Scott and
obtaining witnesses to clear himself of the charges brought against him.
He employed his brother-in-law, Balthasar St. Michel, to collect evidence
in France, as he himself explains in a letter to the Commissioners of the
Navy:--

     "His Majesty of his gracious regard to me, and the justification of
     my innocence, was then pleased at my humble request to dispence with
     my said brother goeing (with ye shippe about that time designed for
     Tangier) and to give leave to his goeing into France (the scene of
     ye villannys then in practice against me), he being the only person
     whom (from his relation to me, together with his knowledge in the
     place and language, his knowne dilligence and particular affection
     towards mee) I could at that tyme and in soe greate a cause pitch
     on, for committing the care of this affaire of detecting the
     practice of my enemies there."

In the end Scott refused to acknowledge to the truth of his original
deposition, and the prisoners were relieved from their bail on February
12th, 1679-80.  John James, a butler previously in Pepys's service,
confessed on his deathbed in 1680 that he had trumped up the whole story
relating to his former master's change of religion at the instigation of
Mr. William Harbord, M.P. for Thetford.

Pepys wrote on July 1st, 1680, to Mrs. Skinner:

     "I would not omit giving you the knowledge of my having at last
     obtained what with as much reason I might have expected a year ago,
     my full discharge from the bondage I have, from one villain's
     practice, so long lain under."

William Harbord, of Cadbury, co.  Somerset, second son of Sir Charles
Harbord, whom he succeeded in 1682 as Surveyor.  General of the Land
Revenues of the Crown, was Pepys's most persistent enemy.  Several papers
referring to Harbord's conduct were found at Scott's lodging after his
flight, and are now preserved among the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian.
One of these was the following memorandum, which shows pretty plainly
Pepys's opinion of Harbord:--

     "That about the time of Mr. Pepys's surrender of his employment of
     Secretary of the Admiralty, Capt. Russell and myself being in
     discourse about Mr. Pepys, Mr. Russell delivered himself in these or
     other words to this purport: That he thought it might be of
     advantage to both, if a good understanding were had between his
     brother Harbord and Mr. Pepys, asking me to propose it to Mr. Pepys,
     and he would to his brother, which I agreed to, and went immediately
     from him to Mr. Pepys, and telling him of this discourse, he gave me
     readily this answer in these very words: That he knew of no service
     Mr. Harbord could doe him, or if he could, he should be the last man
     in England he would receive any from."

     [William Harbord sat as M.P.  for Thetford in several parliaments.
     In 1689 he was chosen on the Privy Council, and in 1690 became Vice-
     Treasurer for Ireland.  He was appointed Ambassador to Turkey in
     1692, and died at Belgrade in July of that year.]

Besides Scott's dishonesty in his dealings with Major Gotherson, it came
out that he had cheated the States of Holland out of L7,000, in
consequence of which he was hanged in effigy at the Hague in 1672.  In
1682 he fled from England to escape from the law, as he had been guilty of
wilful murder by killing George Butler, a hackney coachman, and he reached
Norway in safety, where he remained till 1696.  In that year some of his
influential friends obtained a pardon for him from William III., and he
returned to England.

In October, 1680, Pepys attended on Charles II. at Newmarket, and there he
took down from the King's own mouth the narrative of his Majesty's escape
from Worcester, which was first published in 1766 by Sir David Dalrymple
(Lord Hailes) from the MS., which now remains in the Pepysian library both
in shorthand and in longhand?  It is creditable to Charles II. and the
Duke of York that both brothers highly appreciated the abilities of Pepys,
and availed themselves of his knowledge of naval affairs.

In the following year there was some chance that Pepys might retire from
public affairs, and take upon himself the headship of one of the chief
Cambridge colleges.  On the death of Sir Thomas Page, the Provost of
King's College, in August, 1681, Mr. S. Maryon, a Fellow of Clare Hall,
recommended Pepys to apply to the King for the appointment, being assured
that the royal mandate if obtained would secure his election.  He liked
the idea, but replied that he believed Colonel Legge (afterwards Lord
Dartmouth) wanted to get the office for an old tutor.  Nothing further
seems to have been done by Pepys, except that he promised if he were
chosen to give the whole profit of the first year, and at least half of
that of each succeeding year, to "be dedicated to the general and public
use of the college."  In the end Dr. John Coplestone was appointed to the
post.

On May 22nd, 1681, the Rev. Dr. Milles, rector of St. Olave's, who is so
often mentioned in the Diary, gave Pepys a certificate as to his attention
to the services of the Church.  It is not quite clear what was the
occasion of the certificate, but probably the Diarist wished to have it
ready in case of another attack upon him in respect to his tendency
towards the Church of Rome.

Early in 1682 Pepys accompanied the Duke of York to Scotland, and narrowly
escaped shipwreck by the way.  Before letters could arrive in London to
tell of his safety, the news came of the wreck of the "Gloucester" (the
Duke's ship), and of the loss of many lives.  His friends' anxiety was
relieved by the arrival of a letter which Pepys wrote from Edinburgh to
Hewer on May 8th, in which he detailed the particulars of the adventure.
The Duke invited him to go on board the "Gloucester" frigate, but he
preferred his own yacht (the "Catherine "), in which he had more room, and
in consequence of his resolution he saved himself from the risk of
drowning.  On May 5th the frigate struck upon the sand called "The Lemon
and Oar," about sixteen leagues from the mouth of the Humber.  This was
caused by the carelessness of the pilot, to whom Pepys imputed "an
obstinate over-weening in opposition to the contrary opinions of Sir I.
Berry, his master, mates, Col. Legg, the Duke himself, and several others,
concurring unanimously in not being yet clear of the sands."  The Duke and
his party escaped, but numbers were drowned in the sinking ship, and it is
said that had the wreck occurred two hours earlier, and the accompanying
yachts been at the distance they had previously been, not a soul would
have escaped.

Pepys stayed in Edinburgh for a short time, and the Duke of York allowed
him to be present at two councils.  He then visited; with Colonel George
Legge, some of the principal places in the neighbourhood, such as
Stirling, Linlithgow, Hamilton, and Glasgow.  The latter place he
describes as "a very extraordinary town indeed for beauty and trade, much
superior to any in Scotland."

Pepys had now been out of office for some time, but he was soon to have
employment again.  Tangier, which was acquired at the marriage of the King
to Katharine of Braganza, had long been an incumbrance, and it was
resolved at last to destroy the place.  Colonel Legge (now Lord Dartmouth)
was in August, 1683, constituted Captain-General of his Majesty's forces
in Africa, and Governor of Tangier, and sent with a fleet of about twenty
sail to demolish and blow up the works, destroy the harbour, and bring
home the garrison.  Pepys received the King's commands to accompany Lord
Dartmouth on his expedition, but the latter's instructions were secret,
and Pepys therefore did not know what had been decided upon.  He saw quite
enough, however, to form a strong opinion of the uselessness of the place
to England.  Lord Dartmouth carried out his instructions thoroughly, and
on March 29th, 1684, he and his party (including Pepys) arrived in the
English Channel.

The King himself now resumed the office of Lord High Admiral, and
appointed Pepys Secretary of the Admiralty, with a salary of L500 per
annum.  In the Pepysian Library is the original patent, dated June 10th,
1684: "His Majesty's Letters Patent for ye erecting the office of
Secretary of ye Admiralty of England, and creating Samuel Pepys, Esq.,
first Secretary therein."  In this office the Diarist remained until the
period of the Revolution, when his official career was concluded.

A very special honour was conferred upon Pepys in this year, when he was
elected President of the Royal Society in succession to Sir Cyril Wyche,
and he held the office for two years.  Pepys had been admitted a fellow of
the society on February 15th, 1664-65, and from Birch's "History" we find
that in the following month he made a statement to the society:--

"Mr. Pepys gave an account of what information he had received from the
Master of the Jersey ship which had been in company with Major Holmes in
the Guinea voyage concerning the pendulum watches (March 15th, 1664-5)."

The records of the society show that he frequently made himself useful by
obtaining such information as might be required in his department.  After
he retired from the presidency, he continued to entertain some of the most
distinguished members of the society on Saturday evenings at his house in
York Buildings.  Evelyn expressed the strongest regret when it was
necessary to discontinue these meetings on account of the infirmities of
the host.

In 1685 Charles II. died, and was succeeded by James, Duke of York.  From
his intimate association with James it might have been supposed that a
long period of official life was still before Pepys, but the new king's
bigotry and incapacity soon made this a practical impossibility.  At the
coronation of James II.  Pepys marched in the procession immediately
behind the king's canopy, as one of the sixteen barons of the Cinque
Ports.

In the year 1685 a new charter was granted to the Trinity Company, and
Pepys was named in it the first master, this being the second time that he
had held the office of master.

Evelyn specially refers to the event in his Diary, and mentions the
distinguished persons present at the dinner on July 20th.

It is evident that at this time Pepys was looked upon as a specially
influential man, and when a parliament was summoned to meet on May 19th,
1685, he was elected both for Harwich and for Sandwich.  He chose to serve
for Harwich, and Sir Philip Parker was elected to fill his place at
Sandwich.

This parliament was dissolved by proclamation July 2nd, 1687, and on
August 24th the king declared in council that another parliament should be
summoned for November 27th, 1688, but great changes took place before that
date, and when the Convention Parliament was called together in January
and February, 1689-90, Pepys found no place in it.  The right-hand man of
the exiled monarch was not likely to find favour in the eyes of those who
were now in possession.  When the election for Harwich came on, the
electors refused to return him, and the streets echoed to the cry of "No
Tower men, no men out of the Tower!"  They did not wish to be represented
in parliament by a disgraced official.

We have little or no information to guide us as to Pepys's proceedings at
the period of the Revolution.  We know that James II.  just before his
flight was sitting to Kneller for a portrait intended for the Secretary to
the Admiralty, and that Pepys acted in that office for the last time on
20th February, 1688-89, but between those dates we know nothing of the
anxieties and troubles that he must have suffered.  On the 9th March an
order was issued from the Commissioners of the Admiralty for him to
deliver up his books, &c., to Phineas Bowies, who superseded him as
secretary.

Pepys had many firm friends upon whom he could rely, but he had also
enemies who lost no opportunity of worrying him.  On June 10th, 1690,
Evelyn has this entry in his Diary, which throws some light upon the
events of the time:--

     "Mr. Pepys read to me his Remonstrance, skewing with what malice and
     injustice he was suspected with Sir Anth. Deane about the timber of
     which the thirty ships were built by a late Act of Parliament, with
     the exceeding danger which the fleete would shortly be in, by reason
     of the tyranny and incompetency of those who now managed the
     Admiralty and affairs of the Navy, of which he gave an accurate
     state, and shew'd his greate ability."

On the 25th of this same month Pepys was committed to the Gatehouse at
Westminster on a charge of having sent information to the French Court of
the state of the English navy.  There was no evidence of any kind against
him, and at the end of July he was allowed to return to his own house on
account of ill-health.  Nothing further was done in respect to the charge,
but he was not free till some time after, and he was long kept in anxiety,
for even in 1692 he still apprehended some fresh persecution.

Sir Peter Palavicini, Mr. James Houblon, Mr. Blackburne, and Mr. Martin
bailed him, and he sent them the following circular letter:--

                                             "October 15, 1690.

     "Being this day become once again a free man in every respect, I
     mean but that of my obligation to you and the rest of my friends, to
     whom I stand indebted for my being so, I think it but a reasonable
     part of my duty to pay you and them my thanks for it in a body; but
     know not how otherwise to compass it than by begging you, which I
     hereby do, to take your share with them and me here, to-morrow, of a
     piece of mutton, which is all I dare promise you, besides that of
     being ever,

               "Your most bounden and faithful humble servant,
                                                       "S. P."

He employed the enforced idleness caused by being thrust out of his
employment in the collection of the materials for the valuable work which
he published in 1690, under the title of "Memoirs of the Navy."  Little
more was left for him to do in life, but as the government became more
firmly established, and the absolute absurdity of the idea of his
disloyalty was proved, Pepys held up his head again as a man to be
respected and consulted, and for the remainder of his life he was looked
upon as the Nestor of the Navy.

There is little more to be told of Pepys's life.  He continued to keep up
an extended correspondence with his many friends, and as Treasurer of
Christ's Hospital he took very great interest in the welfare of that
institution.  He succeeded in preserving from impending ruin the
mathematical foundation which had been originally designed by him, and
through his anxious solicitations endowed and cherished by Charles II. and
James II.  One of the last public acts of his life was the presentation of
the portrait of the eminent Dr. John Wallis, Savilian Professor of
Geometry, to the University of Oxford.

In 1701 he sent Sir Godfrey Kneller to Oxford to paint the portrait, and
the University rewarded him with a Latin diploma containing in gorgeous
language the expression of thanks for his munificence.'

On the 26th May, 1703, Samuel Pepys, after long continued suffering,
breathed his last in the presence of the learned Dr. George Hickes, the
nonjuring Dean of Worcester, and the following letter from John Jackson to
his uncle's lifelong friend Evelyn contains particulars as to the cause of
death:

                       Mr.  Jackson to Mr. Evelyn.

                                        "Clapham, May 28th, 1703.
                                        "Friday night.

     "Honoured Sir,

     "'Tis no small addition to my grief, to be obliged to interrupt the
     quiet of your happy recess with the afflicting tidings of my Uncle
     Pepys's death: knowing how sensibly you will partake with me herein.
     But I should not be faithful to his desires, if I did not beg your
     doing the honour to his memory of accepting mourning from him, as a
     small instance of his most affectionate respect and honour for you.
     I have thought myself extremely unfortunate to be out of the way at
     that only time when you were pleased lately to touch here, and
     express so great a desire of taking your leave of my Uncle; which
     could not but have been admitted by him as a most welcome exception
     to his general orders against being interrupted; and I could most
     heartily wish that the circumstances of your health and distance did
     not forbid me to ask the favour of your assisting in the holding up
     of the pawll at his interment, which is intended to be on Thursday
     next; for if the manes are affected with what passes below, I am
     sure this would have been very grateful to his.

     "I must not omit acquainting you, sir, that upon opening his body,
     (which the uncommonness of his case required of us, for our own
     satisfaction as well as public good) there was found in his left
     kidney a nest of no less than seven stones, of the most irregular,
     figures your imagination can frame, and weighing together four
     ounces and a half, but all fast linked together, and adhering to his
     back; whereby they solve his having felt no greater pains upon
     motion, nor other of the ordinary symptoms of the stone.  Some other
     lesser defects there also were in his body, proceeding from the same
     cause.  But his stamina, in general, were marvellously strong, and
     not only supported him, under the most exquisite pains, weeks beyond
     all expectations; but, in the conclusion, contended for nearly forty
     hours (unassisted by any nourishment) with the very agonies of
     death, some few minutes excepted, before his expiring, which were
     very calm.

     "There remains only for me, under this affliction, to beg the
     consolation and honour of succeeding to your patronage, for my
     Uncle's sake; and leave to number myself, with the same sincerity he
     ever did, among your greatest honourers, which I shall esteem as one
     of the most valuable parts of my inheritances from him; being also,
     with the faithfullest wishes of health and a happy long life to you,

                    "Honoured Sir,
                         "Your most obedient and
                              "Most humble Servant,
                                        "J.  JACKSON.

     "Mr. Hewer, as my Uncle's Executor, and equally your faithful
     Servant, joins with me in every part hereof.

     "The time of my Uncle's departure was about three-quarters past
     three on Wednesday morning last."

Evelyn alludes in his Diary to Pepys's death and the present to him of a
suit of mourning.  He speaks in very high terms of his friend:--

     "1703, May 26th.  This day died Mr. Sam Pepys, a very worthy,
     industrious, and curious person, none in England exceeding him in
     knowledge of the navy, in which he had passed thro' all the most
     considerable offices, Clerk of the Acts and Secretary of the
     Admiralty, all which he performed with great integrity.  When K.
     James II.  went out of England, he laid down his office, and would
     serve no more, but withdrawing himselfe from all public affaires, he
     liv'd at Clapham with his partner Mr. Hewer, formerly his clerk, in
     a very noble and sweete place, where he enjoy'd the fruits of his
     labours in greate prosperity.  He was universally belov'd,
     hospitable, generous, learned in many things, skilfd in music, a
     very greate cherisher of learned men of whom he had the conversation
     .  .  .  .  Mr. Pepys had been for neere 40 yeeres so much my
     particular friend that Mr. Jackson sent me compleat mourning,
     desiring me to be one to hold up the pall at his magnificent
     obsequies, but my indisposition hinder'd me from doing him this last
     office."

The body was brought from Clapham and buried in St. Olave's Church, Hart
Street, on the 5th June, at nine o'clock at night, in a vault just beneath
the monument to the memory of Mrs. Pepys.  Dr. Hickes performed the last
sad offices for his friend.

Pepys's faithful friend, Hewer, was his executor, and his nephew, John
Jackson, his heir.  Mourning was presented to forty persons, and a large
number of rings to relations, godchildren, servants, and friends, also to
representatives of the Royal Society, of the Universities of Cambridge and
Oxford, of the Admiralty, and of the Navy Office.  The bulk of the
property was bequeathed to Jackson, but the money which was left was much
less than might have been expected, for at the time of Pepys's death
there was a balance of L28,007  2s. 1d.  due to him from the Crown, and
none of this was ever paid.  The books and other collections were left to
Magdalene College, Cambridge, but Jackson was to have possession of them
during his lifetime.  These were the most important portion of Pepys's
effects, for with them was the manuscript of the immortal Diary.  The
following are the directions for the disposition of the library, taken
from Harl. MS., No. 7301:

     "For the further settlement and preservation of my said library,
     after the death of my nephew.  John Jackson, I do hereby declare,
     That could I be sure of a constant succession of heirs from my said
     nephew, qualified like himself for the use of such a library, I
     should not entertain a thought of its ever being alienated from
     them.  But this uncertainty considered, with the infinite pains, and
     time, and cost employed in my collecting, methodising and reducing
     the same to the state it now is, I cannot but be greatly solicitous
     that all possible provision should be made for its unalterable
     preservation and perpetual security against the ordinary fate of
     such collections falling into the hands of an incompetent heir, and
     thereby being sold, dissipated, or embezzled.  And since it has
     pleased God to visit me in a manner that leaves little appearance of
     being myself restored to a condition of concerting the necessary
     measures for attaining these ends, I must and do with great
     confidence rely upon the sincerity and direction of my executor and
     said nephew for putting in execution the powers given them, by my
     forementioned will relating hereto, requiring that the same be
     brought to a determination in twelve months after my decease, and
     that special regard be had therein to the following particulars
     which I declare to be my present thoughts and prevailing
     inclinations in this matter, viz.:

     "1.  That after the death of my said nephew, my said library be
     placed and for ever settled in one of our universities, and rather
     in that of Cambridge than Oxford.

     "2.  And rather in a private college there, than in the public
     library.

     "3.  And in the colleges of Trinity or Magdalen preferably to all
     others.

     "4.  And of these too, 'caeteris paribus', rather in the latter, for
     the sake of my own and my nephew's education therein.

     "5.  That in which soever of the two it is, a fair roome be provided
     therein.

     "6.  And if in Trinity, that the said roome be contiguous to, and
     have communication with, the new library there.

     "7.  And if in Magdalen, that it be in the new building there, and
     any part thereof at my nephew's election.

     "8.  That my said library be continued in its present form and no
     other books mixed therein, save what my nephew may add to theirs of
     his own collecting, in distinct presses.

     "9.  That the said room and books so placed and adjusted be called
     by the name of 'Bibliotheca Pepysiana.'

     "10.  That this 'Bibliotheca Pepysiana' be under the sole power and
     custody of the master of the college for the time being, who shall
     neither himself convey, nor suffer to be conveyed by others, any of
     the said books from thence to any other place, except to his own
     lodge in the said college, nor there have more than ten of them at a
     time; and that of those also a strict entry be made and account
     kept, at the time of their having been taken out and returned, in a
     book to be provided, and remain in the said library for that purpose
     only.

     "11.  That before my said library be put into the possession of
     either of the said colleges, that college for which it shall be
     designed, first enter into covenants for performance of the
     foregoing articles.

     "12.  And that for a yet further security herein, the said two
     colleges of Trinity and Magdalen have a reciprocal check upon one
     another; and that college which shall be in present possession of
     the said library, be subject to an annual visitation from the other,
     and to the forfeiture thereof to the life, possession, and use of
     the other, upon conviction of any breach of their said covenants.

                                                  "S. PEPYS."

The library and the original book-cases were not transferred to Magdalene
College until 1724, and there they have been preserved in safety ever
since.

A large number of Pepys's manuscripts appear to have remained unnoticed in
York Buildings for some years.  They never came into Jackson's hands, and
were thus lost to Magdalene College.  Dr. Rawlinson afterwards obtained
them, and they were included in the bequest of his books to the Bodleian
Library.

Pepys was partial to having his portrait taken, and he sat to Savill,
Hales, Lely, and Kneller.  Hales's portrait, painted in 1666, is now in
the National Portrait Gallery, and an etching from the original forms the
frontispiece to this volume.  The portrait by Lely is in the Pepysian
Library.  Of the three portraits by Kneller, one is in the hall of
Magdalene College, another at the Royal Society, and the third was lent to
the First Special Exhibition of National Portraits, 1866, by the late Mr.
Andrew Pepys Cockerell.  Several of the portraits have been engraved, but
the most interesting of these are those used by Pepys himself as
book-plates.  These were both engraved by Robert White, and taken from
paintings by Kneller.

The church of St. Olave, Hart Street, is intimately associated with Pepys
both in his life and in his death, and for many years the question had
been constantly asked by visitors, "Where is Pepys's monument?" On
Wednesday, July 5th, 1882, a meeting was held in the vestry of the church,
when an influential committee was appointed, upon which all the great
institutions with which Pepys was connected were represented by their
masters, presidents, or other officers, with the object of taking steps to
obtain an adequate memorial of the Diarist.  Mr. (now Sir) Alfred
Blomfield, architect of the church, presented an appropriate design for a
monument, and sufficient subscriptions having been obtained for the
purpose, he superintended its erection.  On Tuesday afternoon, March 18th,
1884, the monument, which was affixed to the wall of the church where the
gallery containing Pepys's pew formerly stood, was unveiled in the
presence of a large concourse of visitors.  The Earl of Northbrook, First
Lord of the Admiralty, consented to unveil the monument, but he was at the
last moment prevented by public business from attending.  The late Mr.
Russell Lowell, then the American Minister, took Lord Northbrook's place,
and made a very charming and appreciative speech on the occasion, from
which the following passages are extracted:--

     "It was proper," his Excellency said, "that he should read a note he
     had received from Lord Northbrook.  This was dated that day from the
     Admiralty, and was as follows:

     "'My dear Mr. Lowell,

     "'I am very much annoyed that I am prevented from assisting at the
     ceremony to-day.  It would be very good if you would say that
     nothing but very urgent business would have kept me away.  I was
     anxious to give my testimony to the merits of Pepys as an Admiralty
     official, leaving his literary merits to you.  He was concerned with
     the administration of the Navy from the Restoration to the
     Revolution, and from 1673 as secretary.  I believe his merits to be
     fairly stated in a contemporary account, which I send.

                         "'Yours very truly,
                                        "'NORTHBROOK.

     "The contemporary account, which Lord Northbrook was good enough to
     send him, said:

     "'Pepys was, without exception, the greatest and most useful
     Minister that ever filled the same situations in England, the acts
     and registers of the Admiralty proving this beyond contradiction.
     The principal rules and establishments in present use in these
     offices are well known to have been of his introducing, and most of
     the officers serving therein since the Restoration, of his bringing-
     up.  He was a most studious promoter and strenuous asserter of order
     and discipline.  Sobriety, diligence, capacity, loyalty, and
     subjection to command were essentials required in all whom he
     advanced.  Where any of these were found wanting, no interest or
     authority was capable of moving him in favour of the highest
     pretender.  Discharging his duty to his Prince and country with a
     religious application and perfect integrity, he feared no one,
     courted no one, and neglected his own fortune.'

     "That was a character drawn, it was true, by a friendly hand, but to
     those who were familiar with the life of Pepys, the praise hardly
     seemed exaggerated.  As regarded his official life, it was
     unnecessary to dilate upon his peculiar merits, for they all knew
     how faithful he was in his duties, and they all knew, too, how many
     faithful officials there were working on in obscurity, who were not
     only never honoured with a monument but who never expected one.  The
     few words, Mr. Lowell went on to remark, which he was expected to
     say upon that occasion, therefore, referred rather to what he
     believed was the true motive which had brought that assembly
     together, and that was by no means the character of Pepys either as
     Clerk of the Acts or as Secretary to the Admiralty.  This was not
     the place in which one could go into a very close examination of the
     character of Pepys as a private man.  He would begin by admitting
     that Pepys was a type, perhaps, of what was now called a
     'Philistine'.  We had no word in England which was equivalent to the
     French adjective Bourgeois; but, at all events, Samuel Pepys was the
     most perfect type that ever existed of the class of people whom this
     word described.  He had all its merits as well as many of its
     defects.  With all those defects, however perhaps in consequence of
     them--Pepys had written one of the most delightful books that it was
     man's privilege to read in the English language or in any other.
     Whether Pepys intended this Diary to be afterwards read by the
     general public or not--and this was a doubtful question when it was
     considered that he had left, possibly by inadvertence, a key to his
     cypher behind him--it was certain that he had left with us a most
     delightful picture, or rather he had left the power in our hands of
     drawing for ourselves some, of the most delightful pictures, of the
     time in which he lived.  There was hardly any book which was
     analogous to it .  ..  .  .  If one were asked what were the reasons
     for liking Pepys, it would be found that they were as numerous as
     the days upon which he made an entry in his Diary, and surely that
     was sufficient argument in his favour.  There was no book, Mr.
     Lowell said, that he knew of, or that occurred to his memory, with
     which Pepys's Diary could fairly be compared, except the journal of
     L'Estoile, who had the same anxious curiosity and the same
     commonness, not to say vulgarity of interest, and the book was
     certainly unique in one respect, and that was the absolute sincerity
     of the author with himself.  Montaigne is conscious that we are
     looking over his shoulder, and Rousseau secretive in comparison with
     him.  The very fact of that sincerity of the author with himself
     argued a certain greatness of character.  Dr. Hickes, who attended
     Pepys at his deathbed, spoke of him as 'this great man,' and said he
     knew no one who died so greatly.  And yet there was something almost
     of the ridiculous in the statement when the 'greatness' was compared
     with the garrulous frankness which Pepys showed towards himself.
     There was no parallel to the character of Pepys, he believed, in
     respect of 'naivete', unless it were found in that of Falstaff, and
     Pepys showed himself, too, like Falstaff, on terms of unbuttoned
     familiarity with himself.  Falstaff had just the same 'naivete', but
     in Falstaff it was the 'naivete' of conscious humour.  In Pepys it
     was quite different, for Pepys's 'naivete' was the inoffensive
     vanity of a man who loved to see himself in the glass.  Falstaff had
     a sense, too, of inadvertent humour, but it was questionable whether
     Pepys could have had any sense of humour at all, and yet permitted
     himself to be so delightful.  There was probably, however, more
     involuntary humour in Pepys's Diary than there was in any other book
     extant.  When he told his readers of the landing of Charles II. at
     Dover, for instance, it would be remembered how Pepys chronicled the
     fact that the Mayor of Dover presented the Prince with a Bible, for
     which he returned his thanks and said it was the 'most precious Book
     to him in the world.'  Then, again, it would be remembered how, when
     he received a letter addressed 'Samuel Pepys, Esq.,' he confesses in
     the Diary that this pleased him mightily.  When, too, he kicked his
     cookmaid, he admits that he was not sorry for it, but was sorry that
     the footboy of a worthy knight with whom he was acquainted saw him
     do it.  And the last instance he would mention of poor Pepys's
     'naivete' was when he said in the Diary that he could not help
     having a certain pleasant and satisfied feeling when Barlow died.
     Barlow, it must be remembered, received during his life the yearly
     sum from Pepys of L100.  The value of Pepys's book was simply
     priceless, and while there was nothing in it approaching that single
     page in St. Simon where he described that thunder of courtierly red
     heels passing from one wing of the Palace to another as the Prince
     was lying on his death-bed, and favour was to flow from another
     source, still Pepys's Diary was unequalled in its peculiar quality
     of amusement.  The lightest part of the Diary was of value,
     historically, for it enabled one to see London of 200 years ago,
     and, what was more, to see it with the eager eyes of Pepys.  It was
     not Pepys the official who had brought that large gathering together
     that day in honour of his memory: it was Pepys the Diarist."

In concluding this account of the chief particulars of Pepys's life it may
be well to add a few words upon the pronunciation of his name. Various
attempts appear to have been made to represent this phonetically. Lord
Braybrooke, in quoting the entry of death from St. Olave's Registers,
where the spelling is "Peyps," wrote, "This is decisive as to the proper
pronunciation of the name."  This spelling may show that the name was
pronounced as a monosyllable, but it is scarcely conclusive as to anything
else, and Lord Braybrooke does not say what he supposes the sound of the
vowels to have been.  At present there are three pronunciations in
use--Peps, which is the most usual; Peeps, which is the received one at
Magdalene College, and Peppis, which I learn from Mr. Walter C. Pepys is
the one used by other branches of the family.  Mr. Pepys has paid
particular attention to this point, and in his valuable "Genealogy of the
Pepys Family" (1887) he has collected seventeen varieties of spelling of
the name, which are as follows, the dates of the documents in which the
form appears being attached:

1. Pepis (1273); 2. Pepy (1439); 3. Pypys (1511); 4.  Pipes (1511);
5. Peppis (1518); 6. Peppes (1519); 7. Pepes (1520); 8. Peppys (1552);
9. Peaps (1636); 10. Pippis (1639); 11. Peapys (1653); 12. Peps (1655);
13. Pypes (1656); 14.  Peypes (1656); 15. Peeps (1679); 16. Peepes (1683);
17. Peyps (1703).  Mr. Walter Pepys adds:--

     "The accepted spelling of the name 'Pepys' was adopted generally
     about the end of the seventeenth century, though it occurs many
     years before that time.  There have been numerous ways of
     pronouncing the name, as 'Peps,' 'Peeps,' and ' Peppis.'  The
     Diarist undoubtedly pronounced it 'Peeps,' and the lineal
     descendants of his sister Paulina, the family of 'Pepys Cockerell'
     pronounce it so to this day.  The other branches of the family all
     pronounce it as 'Peppis,' and I am led to be satisfied that the
     latter pronunciation is correct by the two facts that in the
     earliest known writing it is spelt 'Pepis,' and that the French form
     of the name is 'Pepy.'"

The most probable explanation is that the name in the seventeenth century
was either pronounced 'Pips' or 'Papes'; for both the forms 'ea' and 'ey'
would represent the latter pronunciation.  The general change in the
pronunciation of the spelling 'ea' from 'ai' to 'ee' took place in a large
number of words at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the
eighteenth-century, and three words at least (yea, break, and great) keep
this old pronunciation still.  The present Irish pronunciation of English
is really the same as the English pronunciation of the seventeenth
century, when the most extensive settlement of Englishmen in Ireland took
place, and the Irish always pronounce ea like ai (as, He gave him a nate
bating--neat beating).  Again, the 'ey' of Peyps would rhyme with they and
obey.  English literature is full of illustrations of the old
pronunciation of ea, as in "Hudibras;"

              "Doubtless the pleasure is as great
               In being cheated as to cheat,"

which was then a perfect rhyme.  In the "Rape of the Lock" tea (tay)
rhymes with obey, and in Cowper's verses on Alexander Selkirk sea rhymes
with survey.' It is not likely that the pronunciation of the name was
fixed, but there is every reason to suppose that the spellings of Peyps
and Peaps were intended to represent the sound Pepes rather than Peeps.

In spite of all the research which has brought to light so many incidents
of interest in the life of Samuel Pepys, we cannot but feel how dry these
facts are when placed by the side of the living details of the Diary. It
is in its pages that the true man is displayed, and it has therefore not
been thought necessary here to do more than set down in chronological
order such facts as are known of the life outside the Diary.  A fuller
"appreciation" of the man must be left for some future occasion.

                                   H. B. W.



     ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

     Confusion of years in the case of the months of January (etc.)
     Else he is a blockhead, and not fitt for that imployment
     Fixed that the year should commence in January instead of March
     He knew nothing about the navy
     He made the great speech of his life, and spoke for three hours
     I never designed to be a witness against any man
     In perpetual trouble and vexation that need it least
     Inoffensive vanity of a man who loved to see himself in the glass
     Learned the multiplication table for the first time in  1661
     Montaigne is conscious that we are looking over his shoulder
     Nothing in it approaching that single page in St. Simon
     The present Irish pronunciation of English





*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 01: Preface and Life" ***

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