The Diary of Samuel Pepys
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Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1667 N.S. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 01: Preface and Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 04: March/April 1659-1660 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1661 N.S. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 36: July 1665 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 57: September 1667 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 64: April 1668 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 68: September/October 1668 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 51: March 1666-67 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1664 N.S. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1665 N.S. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 19: November/December 1662 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 50: February 1666-67 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 67: August 1668 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 35: May/June 1665 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 46: October 1666 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 59: November 1667 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 13: November/December 1661 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 72: February/March 1668-69 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 08: October/November/December 1660 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 12: September/October 1661 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 49: January 1666-67 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 69: November 1668 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 37: August 1665 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1662 N.S. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 03: February 1659-1660 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 32: December 1664 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 44: July 1666 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 38: September 1665 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for The Diary of Samuel Pepys
3 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Better than I thought it would be. Not the endless, wordy school-stuff of Dickens. Pepys was an interesting man in interesting times who thought very highly of himself and his financial and sexual prowess.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great book which takes you back more than three centuries back, in the turbulent London of the Civil War & Restoration. There are a number of obscure—and sometimes uninteresting—passages where Pepys details his problems at work. But they are intermixed with everyday-life details which show that life in the 17c. wasn't so different from that in the present time (e.g. ordering and delivery of a new coach, supervision of the work done by carpenters at home, problems with the cesspool, where to stop over in town when you needed to pass a motion, &c.) The reading of this 3-volume selection of the Diary incites me to seriously consider the reading of the full 11-vol version...
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the most honest, perceptive and vivid first person accounts of a fascinating period.Teeming with life and directly connecting the major and minor players of seventeenth century England to the present with his eye for human vanities, joys of life and the motivations of power and class.
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The Diary of Samuel Pepys - Richard Griffin Braybrooke
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Title: The Diary of Samuel Pepys
Author: Samuel Pepys
Editor: Lord Braybrooke
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THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS, ESQ., F.R.S.
FROM 1659 TO 1669
WITH MEMOIR
Edited by LORD BRAYBROOKE
Notes about the etext:
There are over a thousand footnotes in the printed text that were added by the editor. Most of these are very short biographical and similar notes, and have been inserted into the etext in square brackets close to the point where they were originally referred to by a suffix. A few of the longer notes have been given a separate paragraph which has also been placed in square brackets.
Text that was in italics in the printed book has been written in capitals in the etext. Accents etc. have been omitted.
Where sums of money are referred to, the abreviations 'l.', 's.' and 'd.' are used to designate 'Pounds', 'Shillings', and 'Pence'.
In the printed text, the year was printed at the top of each page. As this was not possible in the etext, years have been added to the first entry for each month to make it easier for readers to keep track of the year. Because the old-style calendar was in use at the time the diary was written, in which the New Year began on March 25th, the year has been given a dual number in January, February and March, as has been done elsewhere in the diary, (eg. 1662-63 during the first months of 1663).
Pepys' spelling and punctuation have been left as they were in the printed text.
The copy from which this etext was taken was published in 1879 by Frederick Warne and Co. (London and New York), in a series called Chandos Classics.
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
The Celebrated work here presented to the public under peculiar advantages may require a few introductory remarks.
By the publication, during the last half century, of autobiographies, Diaries, and Records of Personal Character; this class of literature has been largely enriched, not only with works calculated for the benefit of the student, but for that larger class of readers—the people, who in the byeways of History and Biography which these works present, gather much of the national life at many periods, and pictures of manners and customs, habits and amusements, such as are not so readily to be found in more elaborate works.
The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn, published in the year 1817, is the first of the class of books to which special reference is here made. This was followed by the publication, in 1825, of the Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, a work of a more entertaining character than that of Evelyn. There is, moreover, another distinction between the two: the Diary of Pepys was written at the end of each succeeding day;
whereas the Diary of Evelyn is more the result of leisure and after- thought, and partakes more of the character of history.
Pepys's account of the Great Fire of London in 1666 is full as minute as that of Evelyn, but it is mingled with a greater number of personal and official circumstances, of popular interest: the scene of dismay and confusion which it exhibits is almost beyond parallel. It is observed and is true in the late Fire of London,
says Pepys, that the fire burned just as many parish churches as there were hours from the beginning to the end of the fire; and next, that there were just as many churches left standing in the rest of the city that was not burned, being, I think, thirteen in all of each; which is pretty to observe.
Again, Pepys was at this time clerk of the Acts of the Navy; his house and office were in Seething-lane, Crutched Friars; he was called up at three in the morning, Sept. 2, by his maid Jane, and so rose and slipped on his nightgown, and went to her window; but thought the fire far enough off, and so went to bed again, and to sleep. Next morning, Jane told him that she heard above 300 houses had been burnt down by the fire they saw, and that it was then burning down all Fish-street, by London Bridge. So,
Pepys writes, I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower, and there got upon one of the high places, and saw the houses at that end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire at the other end of the bridge.
On Sept. 5, he notes, About two in the morning my wife calls me up, and tells me of new cries of fire, it being come to Barking Church, which is at the bottom of our lane.
The fire was, however, stopped, as well at Mark-lane end as ours; it having only burned the dyall of Barking Church, and part of the porch, and there was quenched.
This narrative has all the advantage of being written at the time of the event, which kind of record has been pronounced preferable to a cart- load of pencillings.
Of this very attractive particularity is the Diary of Pepys, which is here submitted to the reader in the most elegant and economical as well as complete form.
Of the origin of this work, details are given the accompanying Preface, by the noble Editor—Lord Braybrooke. The diarist—Mr. Secretary Pepys—was a great virtuoso in collections of English history, both by land and sea, much relating to the admiralty and maritime affairs. He gathered very much from records in the Tower, had many fine models, and new inventions of ships, and historical paintings of them; had many books of mathematics and other sciences; many very costly curiosities relating to the City of London, as views, maps, palaces, churches, coronations, funerals, mayoralties, habits, heads of all our famous men, drawn as well as painted, the most complete collection of anything of its kind. He was a man whose free and generous spirit appeared in his pen, and his ingenious fancy at his finger's end.
The original MS. of the Diary, which gives so vivid a picture of manners in the reign of Charles II., is preserved in Magdalene College, Cambridge; it is in six volumes, containing upwards of 3000 pages, closely written in Rich's system of shorthand, which Pepys doubtless adopted from the possibility of his journal falling into unfriendly hands during his life, or being rashly communicated to the public after his death. The original spelling of every word in the Diary, it is believed, has been carefully preserved by the gentleman who deciphered it; and although Pepys's grammar has been objected to, it is thought that the entries derive additional interest from the quaint terms in which they are expressed.
The period of the Diary was one of the most interesting and eventful decades in our history. We have here the joyous pictures of the Restoration, as well as much about the merry monarch,
his gaieties and his intrigues. The Plague of 1665, with the appalling episodes of this national calamity, is followed by the life-like record of the Great Fire, and the rebuilding of London. Then, what an attractive period is that of the history of the London theatres, dating from the Restoration, with piquant sketches of the actors and actresses of that day. Pepys, in his love of wit and admiration of beauty, finds room to love and admire Nell Gwyn, whose name still carries an odd fascination with it after so many generations. In those busy times coffee-houses were new, and we find Pepys dropping in at Will's, where he never was before, and where he saw Dryden and all the wits of the town. The Diarist records sending for a cup of tea, a China drink he had not before tasted.
Here we find the earliest account of a Lord Mayor's dinner in the Guildhall; and Wood's, Pepys's old house for clubbing, in Pell Mell,
—all pictures in little of social life, with innumerable traits of statesmen, politicians, wits and poets, authors, artists, and actors, and men, and women of wit and pleasure, such as the town, court, and city have scarcely presented at any other period.
Shortly after the publication of the Diary, there appeared in the Quarterly Review, No. 66, a charming paper from the accomplished pen of Sir Walter Scott, upon this very curious contribution to our reminiscent literature. Sir Walter's parallel of Pepys and Evelyn is very nicely drawn. Early necessity made Pepys laborious, studious, and careful. But his natural propensities were those of a man of pleasure. He appears to have been ardent in quest of amusement, especially where anything odd or uncommon was to be witnessed. To this thirst after novelty, the consequence of which has given great and varied interest to his Diary, Pepys added a love of public amusements, which he himself seems to have considered as excessive.
"Our diarist must not be too severely judged. He lived in a time when the worst examples abounded, a time of court intrigue and state revolution, when nothing was certain for a moment, and when all who were possessed of any opportunity to make profit, used it with the most shameless avidity, lest the golden minutes should pass away unimproved.
In quitting the broad path of history,
says Sir Walter, "we seek for minute information concerning ancient manners and customs, the progress of arts and sciences, and the various branches of antiquity. We have never seen a mine so rich as the volumes before us. The variety of Pepys's tastes and pursuits led him into almost every department of life. He was a man of business, a man of information if not of learning; a man of taste; a man of whim; and to a certain degree a man of pleasure. He was a statesman, a BEL ESPRIT, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur. His curiosity made him an unwearied as well as an universal learner, and whatever he saw found its way into his tables. Thus, his Diary absolutely resembles the genial cauldrons at the wedding of Camacho, a souse into which was sure to bring forth at once abundance and variety of whatever could gratify the most eccentric appetite.
"If the curious, affect dramatic antiquities—a line which has special charms for the present age—no book published in our time has thrown so much light upon plays, playwrights, and play- actors.
Then those who desire to be aware of the earliest discoveries, as well in sciences, as in the useful arts, may read in Pepys's Memoirs, how a slice of roast mutton was converted into pure blood; and of those philosophical glass crackers, which explode when the tail is broken off (Rupert's Drops) of AURUM FULMINANS, applied to the purpose of blowing ships out of the water; and of a newly contrived gun, which was to change the whole system of the art of war; but which has left it pretty much upon the old footing. A lover of antique scandal which taketh away the character, and committeth SCANDALUM MAGNATUM against the nobility of the seventeenth century, will find in this work an untouched treasure of curious anecdote for the accomplishment of his purpose.
PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.
In submitting the following pages to the Public, I feel that it is incumbent upon me to explain by what circumstances the materials from which the Work has been compiled were placed at my disposal. The original Diary, comprehending six volumes, closely written in short-hand by Mr. Pepys himself, belonged to the valuable collection of books and prints, bequeathed by him to Magdalene College, Cambridge, and had remained there unexamined, till the appointment of my Brother, the present Master, under whose auspices the MS. was deciphered by Mr. John Smith, with a view to its publication.
My Brother's time, however, being too much engrossed by more important duties to admit of his editing the work, the task of preparing it for the press was undertaken by me at his request.
The Diary commences January 1st, 1659-60 and after being regularly kept for ten years, it is brought to a sudden conclusion, owing to the weak state of Mr. Pepys's eyes, which precluded him from continuing or resuming the occupation. As he was in the habit of recording the most trifling occurrences of his life, it became absolutely necessary to curtail the MS. materially, and in many instances to condense the matter; but the greatest care has been taken to preserve the original meaning, without making a single addition, excepting where, from the short-hand being defective, some alteration appeared absolutely necessary. It may be objected by those who are not aware how little is known from authentic sources of the History of the Stage about the period of the Restoration, that the notices of theatrical performances occur too frequently; but as many of the incidents recorded, connected with this subject, are not to be met with elsewhere, I thought myself justified in retaining them, at the risk of fatiguing those readers who have no taste for the concerns of the Drama. The general details may also, in some instances, even in their abridged form, be considered as too minute; nor is it an easy task, in an undertaking of this sort, to please everybody's taste: my principal study in making the selection, however, has been to omit nothing of public interest; and to introduce at the same time a great variety of other topics, less important, perhaps, put tending in some degree to illustrate the manners and habits of the age.
In justice to Mr. Pepys's literary reputation, the reader is forewarned that he is not to expect to find in the Diary accuracy of style or finished composition. We should rather consider the Work as a collection of reminiscences hastily thrown together at the end of each succeeding day, for the exclusive perusal of the Author.
The Journal contains the most unquestionable evidences of veracity; and, as the writer made no scruple of committing his most secret thoughts to paper, encouraged no doubt by the confidence which he derived from the use of short-hand, perhaps there never was a publication more implicitly to be relied upon for the authenticity of its statements and the exactness with which every fact is detailed. Upon this point, I can venture to speak with the less hesitation, having, in preparing the sheets for the press, had occasion to compare many parts of the Diary with different accounts of the same transactions recorded elsewhere; and in no instance could I detect any material error or wilful misrepresentation.
The Notes at the bottom of the pages were introduced to elucidate obscure passages; and I have been tempted occasionally to insert short Biographical Sketches of the principal persons who are named, accompanied by such references as will enable the curious reader to inform himself more fully respecting them. In some instances I experienced considerable difficulty in identifying the individuals; but I trust that the notices will be found, on the whole, sufficiently correct to answer the object intended.
In justice to the Reverend John Smith, (with whom I am not personally acquainted,) it may be added, that he appears to have performed the task allotted to him, of deciphering the short-hand Diary, with diligence and fidelity, and to have spared neither time nor trouble in the undertaking.
The best account of Mr. Pepys occurs in the Supplement to Collier's Historical Dictionary, published soon after his death, and written, as I have reason to believe, by his relative Roger Gale. Some particulars may also be obtained from Knight's Life of Dean Colet; Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary; Cole's MSS. in the British Museum: the MSS in the Bodleian and Pepysian Libraries, and the Cockerell Papers.
BRAYBROOKE. Audley End, May 14th, 1825
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL PEPYS.
Samuel Pepys, the author of the Diary here presented to the reader was descended from the family of Pepys originally seated at Diss, in Norfolk, and who settled at Cottenham, in Cambridgeshire, early in the sixteenth century. His father, John Pepys, followed for some time the trade of a tailor; and the reader may hereafter notice the influence which this genealogy seems to have exercised over the style and sentiments of his son's Diary. The father retired to Brampton, in Huntingdonshire, where he ended his days in 1680. His wife, Margaret, died in 1666-7, having had a family of six sons and five daughters. Samuel was born February 23, 1632, most probably in London, but by some it is thought at Brampton; he certainly passed his boyish days in the Metropolis, and was educated regularly at St. Paul's School; and afterwards at the University of Cambridge, and probably went through his studies with success. But little is known of him as an undergraduate. One record, however, remains which proves that in his early life, as in later years, he was a BON VIVANT. The following appears in the register book of the college respecting his pranks when there:—October 21, 1653. Mem. 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 (Signed) John Wood, Registrar.
Early in life, Pepys took one of those decided steps which tend, according to circumstances, to a man's marring or making. He appears to have married Elizabeth St. Michel, a beautiful girl of fifteen, when he himself was only about twenty- three. She was of good family her mother being descended from the Cliffords of Cumberland, and her daughter had only just quitted the convent in which she was educated. She brought her husband no fortune; but the patronage of Pepys's relation, Sir Edward Montagu, afterwards first Earl of Sandwich, prevented the ill consequences with such a step might naturally have been attended, and young Pepys's aptitude for business soon came to render him useful. The distresses of the young couple at this period were subjects of pleasant reflexion during their prosperity—as recorded in the Diary, 25th February, 1667.
But better times were approaching Mr. Pepys: he accompanied Sir Edward Montagu upon his Expedition to the Sound, in March, 1658, and upon his return obtained a clerkship in the Exchequer. Through the interest of the Earl of Sandwich, Mr. Pepys was nominated Clerk of the Acts: this was the commencement of his connexion with a great national establishment, to which in the sequel his diligence and acuteness were of the highest service. From his Papers, still extant (says Lord Braybrooke), we gather that he never lost sight of the public good; that he spared no pains to check the rapacity of contractors, by whom the naval stores were then supplied; that he studied order and economy in the dockyards, advocated the promotion of old-established officers in the Navy; and resisted to the utmost the infamous system of selling places, then most unblushingly practised. His zeal and industry acquired for him the esteem of the Duke of York, with whom, as Lord High Admiral, he had almost daily intercourse. At the time of his entering upon this employment, he resided in Seething-lane, Crutched Friars. He continued in this office till 1673; and during those great events, the Plague, the Fire of London, and the Dutch War, the care of the Navy in a great measure rested upon Pepys alone. He behaved with calm and deliberate courage and integrity. Nevertheless, he had the misfortune to experience some part of the calumnies of the time of the Popish Plot.
The Earl of Shaftesbury, the foster-father of this most wicked delusion, showed a great desire to implicate Pepys in a charge of Catholicism, and went so far as to spread a report that the Clerk of the Acts had in his house an altar and a crucifix. The absence not only of evidence, but even of ground of suspicion, did not prevent Pepys being committed to the Tower on the charge of being an aider and abettor of the plot, and he was, for a time, removed from the Navy Board. He was afterwards allowed, with Sir Anthony Deane, who had been committed with him, to find security in 30,000l.; and upon the withdrawal of the deposition against him, he was discharged. He was soon, by the special command of Charles II., replaced in a situation where his skill and experience could not be well dispensed with; and rose afterwards to be Secretary of the Admiralty, which office he retained till the Revolution. It is remarkable that James II. was sitting to Sir Godfrey Kneller for a portrait designed as a present to Pepys, when the news of the landing of the Prince of Orange was brought to that unhappy monarch. The King commanded the painter to proceed, and finish the portrait, that his good friend might not be disappointed.
Pepys had been too much personally connected with the King, (who had been so long at the Admiralty,) to retain his situation upon the accession of William and Mary; and he retired into private life' accordingly, but without being followed thither, either by persecution or ill will.
The Diary, as already explained, comprehends ten years of Mr. Pepys official life, extending from January, 1659-60, to May, 1669. It is highly necessary to keep in mind that Mr. Pepys was only thirty-seven years of age when he closed his Diary in 1669, and that of the remainder of his life we have no regular account; although the materials for it which exist have encouraged the hope that this portion of the Life may yet be written. After the death of Cromwell, Pepys seems to have consorted much with Harrington, Hazelrigge, and other leading Republicans; but when the Restoration took place, he became—as, perhaps was natural—a courtier; still, it is said of him that were the eulogy of Cromwell now to be written, abounding particulars and material for the purpose might be found in and drawn from Pepys' Diary.
Mr. Pepys sat in Parliament for Castle Rising, and subsequently he represented the borough of Harwich, eventually rising to wealth and eminence as clerk of the treasurer to the Commissioners of the affairs of Tangier, and Surveyor-general of the Victualling Department, proving himself to be,
it is stated, a very useful and energetic public servant.
In the year 1700, Mr. Pepys, whose constitution had been long impaired by the stone, was persuaded by his physicians to quit York Buildings, now Buckingham-street, (the last house on the west side, looking on the Thames,) and retire, for change of air, to the house of his old friend and servant, William Hewer, at Clapham. Soon after, he was visited here by John Evelyn, who, in his Diary, Sept. 22, 1700, records, I went to visit Mr. Pepys, at Clapham, where he has a very noble and wonderfully well- furnished house, especially with India and Chinese curiosities. The offices and gardens well accommodated for pleasure and retirement.
In this retreat, however, his health continued to decline, and he died in May, 1703, a victim in part, to the stone, which was hereditary in his constitution, and to the increase of that malady in the course of a laborious and sedentary life. In the LONDON JOURNAL of the above year is this entry: London, June 5. Yesterday in the evening were performed the obsequies of Samuel Pepys, Esq., in Crutched Friars Church, whither his corpse was brought in a very honourable and solemn manner from Clapham, where he departed this life, the 26th day of the last month.—POST BOY, June 5, 1703.
The burial-service at his funeral was read at 9 at night, by Dr. Hickes, author of the THESAURUS which bears his name. There is no memorial to mark the site of his interment in the church; but there is a monument in the chancel to Mrs. Pepys, and Mr. Pepys is interred in a vault of his own making, by the side of his wife and brother.
Pepys had an extensive knowledge of naval affairs. He thoroughly understood and practised music; and he was a judge of painting, sculpture, and architecture. In 1684, he was elected President of the Royal Society, and held that honourable office two years. He contributed no less than 60 plates to Willoughby's HISTORIA PISCIUM.
To Magdalene College, Cambridge, he left an invaluable collection of manuscript naval memoirs, of prints, and ancient English poetry, which has often been consulted by critics and commentators, and is, indeed, unrivalled of its kind. One of its most singular curiosities is a collection of English ballads in five large folio volumes, begun by Selden and carried down to the year 1700. Percy's Reliques
are for the most part, taken from this collection. Pepys published Memoirs relating to the State of the Royal Navy in England for ten years, determined December, 1688,
8vo. London, 1690; and there is a small book in the Pepysian Library, entitled A Relation of the Troubles in the Court of Portugal in 1667 and 1668,
by S. P., 12mo., Lond., 1677, which Watt ascribes to Pepys.
In the Supplement to Collier's Dictionary, published contemporaneously, is this tribute to the character of Samuel Pepys:—It may be affirmed of this Gentleman, that he 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 fact beyond contradiction. The principal rules and establishments in present use in those 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 assertor of order and discipline through all their dependencies. 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 were capable of moving him in favour of the highest pretender; the Royal command only excepted, of which he was also very watchful, to prevent any undue procurements. Discharging his duty to his Prince and Country with a religious application and perfect integrity, he feared no one, courted no one, neglected his own fortune. Besides this, he was a person of universal worth, and in great estimation among the Literati, for his unbounded reading, his sound judgment, his great elocution, his mastery in method, his singular curiosity, and his uncommon munificence towards the advancement of learning, arts, and industry, in all degrees: to which were joined the severest morality of a philosopher, and all the polite accomplishments of a gentleman, particularly those of music, languages, conversation, and address. He assisted, as one of the Barons of the Cinque Ports, at the Coronation of James II., and was a standing Governor of all the principal houses of charity in and about London, and sat at the head of many other honourable bodies, in divers of which, as he deemed their constitution and methods deserving, he left lasting monuments of his bounty and patronage.
*
PEPYS'S DIARY.
1659-60. Blessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health, without any sense of my old pain, but upon taking of cold. I lived in Axe Yard, having my wife, and servant Jane, and no other in family than us three.
The condition of the State was thus; viz. the Rump, after being disturbed by my Lord Lambert, [Sufficiently known by his services as a Major-General in the Parliament forces during the Civil War, and condemned as a traitor after the Restoration; but reprieved and banished to Guernsey, where he lived in confinement thirty years.] was lately returned to sit again. The officers of the Army all forced to yield. Lawson [Sir John Lawson, the son of a poor man at Hull, rose to the rank of Admiral, and distinguished himself during the Protectorate; and, though a republican in his heart, readily closed with the design of restoring the King. He was mortally wounded in the sea fight in 1665.] lies still in the river, and Monk is with his army in Scotland. [George Monk, afterwards Duke of Albemarle.] Only my Lord Lambert is not yet come into the Parliament, nor is it expected that he will without being forced to it. The new Common Council of the City do speak very high; and had sent to Monk their sword-bearer, to acquaint him with their desires for a free and full Parliament, which is at present the desires, and the hopes, and the expectations of all. Twenty-two of the old secluded members having been at the House-door the last week to demand entrance, but it was denied them; and it is believed that neither they nor the people will be satisfied till the House be filled. My own private condition very handsome, and esteemed rich, but indeed very poor; besides my goods of my house, and my office, which at present is somewhat certain. Mr. Downing master of my office. [George Downing, son of Calibute Downing, D.D. and Rector of Hackney. Wood calls him a sider with all times and changes; skilled in the common cant, and a preacher occasionally. He was sent by Cromwell to Holland as resident there. About the Restoration he espoused the King's cause, and was knighted and elected M.P. for Morpeth in 1661. afterwards, becoming Secretary to the Treasury and Commissioner of Customs, he was in 1663 created a Baronet of East Hatley, in Cambridgeshire.] [The office appears to have been in the Exchequer, and connected with the pay of the army.]
JAN. 1, 1659-60 (Lord's day). This morning (we living lately in the garret,) I rose, put on my suit with great skirts, having not lately worn any other clothes but them. Went to Mr. Gunning's chapel [Peter Gunning, afterwards Master of St. John's College, Cambridge, and successively Bishop of Chichester and Ely: ob. 1684. He had continued to read the liturgy at the chapel at Exeter House when the Parliament was most predominant, for which Cromwell often rebuked him.—WOOD'S ATHENAE.] at Exeter House, [Essex-street in the Strand was built on the site of Exeter House.] where he made a very good sermon upon these words:— That in the fulness of time God sent his Son, made of a woman,
&c.; showing, that, by made under the law,
is meant the circumcision, which is solemnized this day. Dined at home in the garret, where my wife dressed the remains of a turkey, and in the doing of it she burned her hand. I staid at home the whole afternoon, looking over my accounts; then went with my wife to my father's, and in going observed the great posts which the City workmen set up at the Conduit in Fleet-street.
2nd. Walked a great while in Westminster Hall, where I heard that Lambert was coming up to London: that my Lord Fairfax was in the head of the Irish brigade, but it was not certain what he would declare for. The House was to-day upon finishing the act for the Council of State, which they did; and for the indemnity to the soldiers; and were to sit again thereupon in the afternoon. Great talk that many places had declared for a free Parliament; and it is believed that they will be forced to fill up the House with the old members. From the Hall I called at home, and so went to Mr. Crewe's [John Crewe, Esq., created Baron Crewe of Stene at the coronation of Charles II. He married Jemima, daughter and co-heir to Edward Walgrave, Esq., of Lawford, co. Essex.] (my wife she was to go to her father's), and Mr. Moore and I and another gentleman went out and drank a cup of ale together in the new market, and there I eat some bread and cheese for my dinner.
3rd. To White Hall, where I understood that the Parliament had passed the act for indemnity for the soldiers and officers that would come in, in so many days, and that my Lord Lambert should have benefit of the said act. They had also voted that all vacancies in the House, by the death of any of the old members, should be filled up; but those that are living shall not be called in.
4th. Strange the difference of men's talk! Some say that Lambert must of necessity yield up; others, that he is very strong, and that the Fifth-monarchy-men will stick to him, if he declares for a free Parliament. Chillington was sent yesterday to him with the vote of pardon and indemnity from the Parliament. Went and walked in the Hall, where I heard that the Parliament spent this day in fasting and prayer; and in the afternoon came letters from the North, that brought certain news that my Lord Lambert his forces were all forsaking him, and that he was left with only fifty horse, and that he did now declare for the Parliament himself; and that my Lord Fairfax did also rest satisfied, and had laid down his arms, and that what he had done was only to secure the country against my Lord Lambert his raising of money, and free quarter. [Thomas Lord Fairfax, Generalissimo of the Parliament forces. After the Restoration he retired to his country seat, where he lived in private till his death in 1671.]
5th. I dined with Mr. Shepley, at my Lord's lodgings, [Admiral Sir Edward Montagu, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, uniformly styled My Lord
throughout the Diary.] upon his turkey pie. And so to my office again where the Excise money was brought, and some of it told to soldiers till it was dark. Then I went home, after writing to my Lord the news that the Parliament had this night voted that the members that were discharged from sitting in the years 1648 and 49, were duly discharged; and that there should be writs issued presently for the calling of others in their places, and that Monk and Fairfax were commanded up to town, and that the Prince's lodgings were to be provided for Monk at Whitehall. Mr. Fage and I did discourse concerning public business; and he told me it is true the City had not time enough to do much, but they had resolved to shake off the soldiers; and that unless there be a free Parliament chosen, he did believe there are half the Common Council will not levy any money by order of this Parliament.
6th. This morning Mr. Shepley and I did eat our breakfast at Mrs. Harper's, (my brother John being with me,) upon a cold turkey-pie and a goose.
9th. I rose early this morning, and looked over and corrected my brother John's speech, which he is to make the next opposition. [Declamations at St. Paul's school, in which there were, opponents and respondents.] I met with W. Simons, Muddiman, and Jack Price, and went with them to Harper's and staid till two of the clock in the afternoon. I found Muddiman a good scholar, an arch rogue; and owns that though he writes new books for the Parliament, yet he did declare that he did it only to get money; and did talk very basely of many of them. Among other things, W. Simons told me how his uncle Scobell [H. Scobell, clerk to the House of Commons.] was on Saturday last called to the bar, for entering in the journal of the House, for the year 1653, these words: This day his Excellence the Lord G. Cromwell dissolved this House;
which words the Parliament voted a forgery, and demanded of him how they same to be entered. He said that they were his own hand-writing, and that he did it by rights of his office, and the practice of his predecessor; and that the intent of the practice was to let posterity know how such and such a Parliament was dissolved, whether by the command of the King, or by their own neglect, as the last House of Lords was; and that to this end, he had said and writ that it was dissolved by his Excellence the Lord G.; and that for the word dissolved, he never at the time did hear of any other term; and desired pardon if he would not dare to make a word himself what it was six years after, before they came themselves to call it an interruption; that they were so little satisfied with this answer, that they did chuse a committee to report to the House, whether this crime of Mr. Scobell's did come within the act of indemnity or no. Thence into the Hall, where I heard for certain that Monk was coming to London, and that Bradshaw's lodgings were preparing for him. [John Bradshaw, Serjeant-at-Law, President of the High Court of Justice.] I heard Sir H. Vane was this day voted out of the House, and to sit no more there; and that he would retire himself to his house at Raby, [Son of a statesman of both his names, and one, of the most turbulent enthusiasts produced by the Rebellion, and an inflexible republican. His execution, in 1662, for conspiring the death of Charles I. was much called in question as a measure of great severity.] as also all the rest of the nine officers that had their commissions formerly taken away from them, were commanded to their farthest houses from London during the pleasure of the Parliament.
1Oth. To the Coffee-house, where were a great confluence of gentlemen; viz. Mr. Harrington, Poultny, chairman, Gold, Dr. Petty, &c., where admirable discourse till 9 at night. Thence with Doling to Mother Lam's, who told me how this day Scott was made Intelligencer, and that the rest of the members that were objected against last night were to be heard this day se'nnight.
[James Harrington, the political writer, author of Oceana,
and founder of a club called The Rota, in 1659, which met at Miles's coffee-house in Old Palace Yard, and lasted only a few months. In 1661 he was sent to the Tower, on suspicion of treasonable designs. His intellects appear to have failed afterwards, and he died 1677. Sir William Poultny, subsequently M.P. for Westminster, and a Commissioner of the Privy Seal under King William. Ob. 1691. Sir William Petty, an eminent physician, and celebrated for his proficiency in every branch of science. Ob. 1687. Thomas Scott, M.P., made Secretary of State to the Commonwealth Jan. 17th following.]
13th. Coming in the morning to my office, I met with Mr. Fage and took him to the Swan. He told me how he, Haselrigge, [Sir Arthur Haselrigge, Bart. of Nosely, co. Leicester, Colonel of a regiment in the Parliament army, and much esteemed by Cromwell. Ob. 1660.] and Morley, [Probably Colonel Morley Lieutenant of the Tower.] the last night began at my Lord Mayor's to exclaim against the City of London, saying that they had forfeited their charter. And how the Chamberlain of the City did take them down, letting them know how much they were formerly beholding to the City, &c. He also told me that Monk's letter that came by the sword-bearer was a cunning piece, and that which they did not much trust to: but they were resolved to make no more applications to the Parliament, nor to pay any money, unless the secluded members be brought in, or a free Parliament chosen.
16th. In the morning I went up to Mr. Crewe's, who did talk to me concerning things of state; and expressed his mind how just it was that the secluded members should come to sit again. From thence to my office, where nothing to do; but Mr. Downing came and found me all alone; and did mention to me his going back into Holland, and did ask me whether I would go or no, but gave me little encouragement, but bid me consider of it; and asked me whether I did not think that Mr. Hawley could perform the work of my office alone. I confess I was at a great loss, all the day after, to bethink myself how to carry this business. I staid up till the bell-man came by with his bell just under my window as I was writing of this very line, and cried, Past one of the clock, and a cold, frosty, windy morning.
17th. In our way to Kensington, we understood how that my Lord Chesterfield [Philip, second Earl of Chesterfield, born. 1634, ob. 1713.] had killed another gentleman about half an hour before, and was fled. I went to the Coffee Club and heard very good discourse; it was in answer to Mr. Harrington's answer, who said that the state of the Roman government was not a settled government, and so it was no wonder that the balance of prosperity was in one hand, and the command in another, it being therefore always in a posture of war; but it was carried by ballot, that it was a steady government, though it is true by the voices it had been carried before that it was an unsteady government; so to-morrow it is to be proved by the opponents that the balance lay in one hand, and the government in another. Thence I went to Westminster, and met Shaw and Washington, who told me how this day Sydenham [Colonel Sydenham had been an active officer during the Civil Wars, on the Parliament side. M.P. for Dorsetshire, and governor of Melcombe, and one of the Committee of Safety.] was voted out of the House for sitting any more this Parliament, and that Salloway was voted out likewise and sent to the Tower, [In the Journals of that date Major Salwey.] during the pleasure of the House. At Harper's Jack Price told me, among other things, how much the Protector is altered, though he would seem to bear out his trouble very well, yet he is scarce able to talk sense with a man; and how he will say that Who should a man trust, if he may not trust to a brother and an uncle;
and how much those men have to answer before God Almighty, for their playing the knave with him as they did.
He told me also, that there was 100,000l. offered, and would have been taken for his restitution, had not the Parliament come in as they did again; and that he do believe that the Protector will live to give a testimony of his valour and revenge yet before he dies, and that the Protector will say so himself sometimes.
18th. All the world is at a loss to think what Monk will do: the City saying that he will be for them, and the Parliament saying he will be for them.
19th. This morning I was sent for to Mr. Downing, and at his bed side he told me, that he had a kindness for me, and that he thought that he had done me one; and that was, that he had got me to be one of the Clerks of the Council; at which I was a little stumbled, and could not tell what to do, whether to thank him or no; but by and by I did; but not very heartily, for I feared that his doing of it was only to ease himself of the salary which he gives me. Mr. Moore and I went to the French Ordinary, where Mr. Downing this day feasted Sir Arth. Haselrigge, and a great many more of the Parliament, and did stay to put him in mind of me. Here he gave me a note to go and invite some other members to dinner to-morrow. So I went to White Hall, and did stay at Marsh's with Simons, Luellin, and all the rest of the Clerks of the Council, who I hear are all turned out, only the two Leighs, and they do all tell me that my name was mentioned last night, but that nothing was done in it.
20th. In the morning I met Lord Widdrington in the street, [Sir Thomas Widdrington, Knight, Serjeant-at-Law. one of Cromwell's Commissioners of the Treasury, appointed Speaker 1656, and first Commissioner for the Great Seal, January, 1659; he was M.P. for York.] going to seal the patents for the Judges to-day, and so could not come to dinner. This day three citizens of London went to meet Monk from the Common Council. Received my 25l. due by bill for my trooper's pay. At the Mitre, in Fleet-street, in our way calling on Mr. Fage, who told me how the City have some hopes of Monk. This day Lenthall took his chair again, [William Lenthall, Speaker of the Long or Rump Parliament, and made Keeper of the Great Seal to the Commonwealth, ob, 1662.] and the House resolved a declaration to be brought in on Monday to satisfy the world what they intend to do.
22nd. To church in the afternoon to Mr. Herring, where a lazy poor sermon. This day I began to put on buckles to my shoes.
23rd. This day the Parliament sat late, and revolved of the declaration to be printed for the people's satisfaction, promising them a great many good things.
24th. Came Mr. Southerne, clerk to Mr. Blackburne, and with him Lambert, lieutenant of my Lord's ship, and brought with them the declaration that came out to-day from the Parliament, wherein they declare for law and gospel, and for tythes; but I do not find people apt to believe them. This day the Parliament gave orders that the late Committee of Safety should come before them this day se'nnight, and all their papers, and their model of Government that they had made, to be brought in with them.
25th. Coming home heard that in Cheapside there had been but a little before a gibbet set up, and the picture of Huson hung upon it in the middle of the street. [John Hewson, who had been a shoemaker, became a Colonel in the Parliament Army, and sat in judgement on the King: he escaped hanging by flight, and died in 1662 at Amsterdam.] I called at Paul's Churchyard, where I bought Buxtorf's Hebrew Grammar; and read a declaration of the gentlemen of Northampton which came out this afternoon.
26th. Called for some papers at Whitehall for Mr. Downing, one of which was an order of the Council for 1800l. per annum, to be paid monthly; and the other two, Orders to the Commissioners of Customs, to let his goods pass free. Home from my office to my Lord's lodgings