The Diary of Samuel Pepys [1]
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 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