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period, of the customs, habits, and opinions of our forefathers; to give us a real and lively notion of the days in which they lived, and to teach us the relative civilization of the age in question, as compared with that which preceded and those which have followed it. These five volumes, in short, would be everything to a Macaulay, but nothing to a Smollett. We doubt even if Hume would have availed himself of the Diary, to add or change half a dozen lines in his reign of Charles II.; for although Mr. Pepys paints the court, the monarch, and the times in more vivid colors than any one else, yet the general lights and shades of the picture were correctly enough known before, and could hardly have been amplified or deepened without a departure from that sententious "dignity" which opinion prescribed.

but the two productions are hardly homoge- | neous enough to be compared. But little information is discoverable in the Diary itself of the motives which led to its compilation. Once, on visiting Sir W. Coventry in the Tower, he found him alone "writing down his journall, which, he tells me, he now keeps of the material things; upon which I told him (and he is the only man I ever told it to, I think), that I kept it most strictly these eight or ten years; and I am sorry almost that I told him it not being necessary, nor may be convenient, to have it known." This entry shows that the precaution of a cipher had some reference to the political perils of the times; although, as far as Mr. Pepys's memoranda go, "the material things" assuredly form but a small portion of their substance. Many of our readers will probably be able to tax their own recollections for the motives which suggest the keeping of a temporary journal; and we are inclined to think, upon the whole, that the ideas which resulted in the relic now before us, differed but very little from those of the most ordinary school-pects, his most secret motives, and his most girl, tourist, or idle recluse.

As regards the historical value of this production, we have already rated it rather low: though this opinion must be taken with a certain qualification. It is according to the definition which the term "history" receives that it must rise or fall in the reader's estimation. If history is to be characterized by that "dignity" which prcedents have sanctioned, or composed with that grave formality which some quarterly reviewers demand, the journal of Mr. Pepys will be next to useless. It tells us comparatively little of wars, treaties, speeches, proclamations or debates; and this little is told in a sorely undignified spirit, and with an accuracy of detail by no means unimpeachable. Every now and then, indeed, we are able to detect errors in dates, Christian names, and even records of appointments, which would infallibly ruin the author in the eyes of modern critics. In fact, the very style in which such information is communicated precludes the possibility of giving it an unconditional acceptance. It is mostly mere gossip, retailed at second, or even at third hand. "Comes my lord so and so to me, and tells me that he has seen Mr. so and so, who does say," &c. The facts, therefore, which would be available for such histories as were written in the last century are few in number, and not extraordinary in value. But the picture wholly changes, if History isconsidered in the light of a science which isto inform us, besides the great events of the

Even, however, when thus liberally viewed, the character of Mr. Pepys's Journal is far more personal than historical. The entries have an almost exclusive reference to himself - his family, his position, his pros

inward thoughts. It is therefore as a picture of a single mind that the monument is most perfect-although, in point of fact, the mind thus portrayed is one of the most ordinary and commonplace imaginable. Certain intellectual qualities of a common enough kind, Mr. Pepys doubtless possessed in an unusual degree; but his moral and religious stature might be well matched out of any company numbering a score of individuals. The little dirty motives, the more generous impulses, the secret reservations, the halfformed hopes, and the private confessions which he so faithfully chronicles, reveal nothing but the commonest operations of the commonest conscience; the only singularity being in the incredible naïveté and candor with which these feelings and reflections are committed to writing. Nineteen men out of twenty might make a journal as edifying as that before us, if they would but describe their own sentiments with equal fidelity. The secret cipher must have marvelously aided in giving that confidence which the practice required; for certainly no person who ever yet lived would have recorded such facts for any information but his own and this is the peculiarity which distinguishes the Diary before us from all others. We have known persons of respectable abilities who kept a careful record of the most ordinary transactions of their daily lives their company, their dinners, the party round the table, and even the dishes

upon it. In this as in other practices, accidental beginnings may easily beget permanent habits. But no example, to the best of our knowledge, has ever been elsewhere known of an individual who, without prickings of conscience or persuasions of creed, deliberately sate down every evening, and put upon record, not only all the most insignificant events, but all the childish, sneaking, ludicrous, or miserly thinkings and doings which had characterized the past day of his life.

so curtailed and condensed as wholly to ruin that true portraiture of the author's own character and thoughts which was the most striking feature of the Diary. Moreover, notwithstanding the risk incurred by omissions, when the information desired by the student is to be picked and gleaned from incidental allusions and involuntary disclosures, we are yet ready to grant that two volumes out of the five might have been spared even in this view of the subject, were it not for the loss in credibility and faithfulness which would thus be suffered by the remainder. But, taking the whole composition for what it is, and for what it may teach us, it is scarcely possible to suppress a single passage without serious detriment; and if we want to be satisfied with what we now possess, we must endeavor to persuade ourselves that the statements of the noble editor

"I found," says Lord Braybrooke, “after once more carefully reading over the whole of the MS., that a literal transcript of the Diary was absolutely inadmissible. I determined, therefore, in preparing the forthcoming edition, to insert in its proper place, every passage that had been omitted, with the exception only of such entries as were devoid of the slightest interest, and many others of so indelicate a character, that no one with a well-regulated mind will regret their loss; nor could they have been tolerated even in the licentious days to which they relate." With these assurances we suppose we must be content; but the "interest" of a passage is what every inquisitive reader likes to determine for himself; and we cannot forbear recollecting that on a previous occasion, Lord Braybrooke suppressed as "uninteresting" the particulars of a dinner which included a boiled haunch of venison!

It is this predominant personality of the Diary which renders it so difficult to give a satisfactory view of its contents, in any form but that of a complete and unreserved transcript of the whole. The present edition is, in this respect, incomparably superior to the others, and, from the same cause, inferior still to what it might be made. We do not say that its absolutely literal or unreserved publication would be consistent with the reasonable re-imply on this occasion no prudish or unscruquirements of public decency; on the contra- pulous use of his privilege. ry, we are well enough inclined to believe, from the specimens which have now been allowed to pass, that those rejected upon the second scrutiny were indeed inadmissible. But the fact nevertheless remains, that the Journal in our hands is still incomplete; and the misgivings thus naturally created are strengthened by the involuntary observation that in the former instance, the most valuable and characteristic portion of the Diary was often that which was suppressed. The cases, it is true, are not exactly parallel; for in the former the guiding motive of the noble editor was a well-intended regard for the public patience; whereas in the present he has been solely actuated by the observances due, even above the truth of history, to public decorum; but in such a publication as this, complete satisfaction is not to be expected where anything is known to be behind. With respect to the "historical value" of the two editions, there can, as we have already remarked, be no comparison between them. If the phrase be taken in its most formal import, at least forty-nine fiftieths of the whole Journal might have been suppressed without loss on this score; so that the original edition retained comparatively little which was worth preserving, while it utterly demolished the instruction which it might have been made to convey. For although we regret to see that the additions and insertions are not marked in the new issue, yet the reader who will trouble himself to compare the two will find that, in the old edition even the published extracts were not given verbatim, but that sentences and paragraphs were

There is one very remarkable characteristic of this Diary which we do not remember to have ever seen noticed, and that is the prodigious faculty of memory in the writer which its entries discover. That this was in some degree artificially aided is probable enough. We know from the Journal itself that its composition involved two stages. The events of the day were first jotted down with great brevity, and with the use of no more words than would serve to recall them ; after which these notes were expanded into the entries which we now see. No doubt, too, the operation was greatly facilitated by daily practice; but even after all allowances are made on these scores, the results to an

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one day made by the necessitous monarch
himself. The hint was not very pleasantly
received, "there being," as our journalist ob-
serves, "no delight in lending money now,
to be paid by the king two years hence."
However, he went to "Westminster, to the
Exchequer, to see what sums of money oth-

attentive observer will appear very extraor- | A less imperative call on his gratitude was
dinary. Page after page retails with seem-
ing accuracy the particulars of conversations
which must necessarily have lasted through
several hours, and which it would be thought
almost impossible to take down except by
the aid of shorthand. That these details are
generally accurate, we are very willing to be-
lieve; but the circumstances should be re-er people lend upon the Act, and find of all
membered, in estimating the information so
conveyed. After such specimens, however,
of his method and diligence, we can no longer
wonder at the value set on the official servi-
ces of the Clerk of the Acts.

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sizes, from £1000 to £100, nay to £50 and to £20 and to £5, for I find that one Dr. Reade, Doctor of Law, gives no more, and others of them £20, which is a poor thing methinks that we should stoop so low as to borrow such sums. Upon the whole I do think to lend, since I must lend, £300, though God knows, it is much against my will to lend my money... but I find it necessary I should, and so will speedily do it, before any of my fellows begin-and lead to a bigger

To appreciate these and similar entries, it is necessary to be acquainted with the gradual progress of Mr. Pepys's circumstances; and, indeed, this little financial history supplies a very good illustration of several characteristics of the age. Our hero was in the habit of making up "monthly balances" of his property and effects, so that we are enabled to trace his worldly advancement with unusual precision. He began life with that stimulative capital-nothing. His first record of his plight gives "My own private condition very handsome-and esteemed rich, but indeed very poor; besides my goods of my house, and my office (not the Clerkship of the Acts), which is at present somewhat certain."-"June 3. 1660. At sermon in the morning: after dinner into my cabin to cast my accounts up, and find myself to be worth near £100, for which I bless Almighty God, it being more than I hoped for so soon, being, I believe, not clearly worth £25 when I came to sea, besides my house and goods." This, however, soon improves by the gettings of his new office. A year afterward, "To my father's. There I told him how I would have him speak to my uncle Robert concerning my buying of land-that I could pay ready money £600 and the rest by £150 per annum, to make up as much as will buy £50 per annum; which I do, though I am not worth above £500 per annum, that he may think me to be a greater saver than I am. About this time (1662) his expenses seem to have been, rather to his disquiet, about £500 "March 2nd. Talking long in bed a year. with my wife about our frugall life for the time to come, proposing to her what I could

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and would do if I were worth £2000; that | proved dirty and stormy, the reins were is, be a knight and keep my coach-which splashed, the coach befouled, and all the pleased her." This desirable consummation, trouble lost for lack of spectators and adhowever, was some time in coming. Through mirers. the year 1663 he barely kept his "£700 beforehand with the world," and could show but twice as much in April, 1665. Thereafter, however, he "did rapidly gather," and in the same month of the year following was worth £5200. "One thing I reckon remarkable in my own condition is, that I am come (Christmas, 1666) to abound in good plate, so as at all entertainments to be served wholly with silver plates, having two dozen and a half." His "gathering" indeed is nothing strange,considering that his clerkship brought him £3560 in 1665, and £2986 in 1666, though in this latter year his expenditure made a clear jump from £500 to £1000. There were evidently pretty pickings in the Admiralty; nor did many things come amiss even to our conscientious clerk. April 3, 1663. I met Captain Grove, who did give me a letter directed to myself from himself. I discerned money to be in it; and took it, knowing, as I found it to be, the proceed of the place I have got him to be, the taking up of vessels for Tangier. But I did not open it till I came home, not looking into it till all the money was out, that I might say I saw no money in the paper, if ever I should be questioned about it! There was a piece of gold and £4 in silver."-" Oct. 27, 1667. After dinner, I down to Deptford to look upon the Maybolt which the king hath given me; and I did meet with Mr. Braithwayte, who do tell me that there are new sails ordered to be delivered her and a cable, which I did not speak of at all to him. So thereupon I told him I would not be my own hindrance so much so as to take her into my custody before she had them, which was all I said to him." Yet, after all this, it was not until the eighth year of his lucrative office that he thought himself qualified to set up a coach and a footman, though the price of the vehicle, when brought home, was but £53-less than he had often given for a necklace or jewel for his wife-and but a few months before, when seen in so handsome a hackney that it was taken for a private coach, he was "somewhat troubled." The launch of the new equipage will tend greatly to the edification of any reader inclined to moralize. Nothing could exceed the pains lavished on the turn-ont. The wheels were blue, the horses black, and the reins green;-the boy's livery, green, lined with red. But after all these preparations and anticipations, the day

Such, in those days, was the housekeeping of a gentleman of £3000 a year: though of course Mr. Pepys's management is not to be taken as an average specimen of economy. The current prices of household articles are constantly specified and commented on. Coals fetched from 20s. to 30s. a chaldron, though "during the (Dutch) war poor people were forced to give 45s., 50s., and £3;" indeed, "such is the despair of having any supply from the enemy's being abroad, and no fleet of ours to secure them, that they are come this day (26th June, 1667) to £5 10s. per chaldron. Dinners at an ordinary-such at least as Mr. Pepys ordered-were rather costly, running from 78. to a guinea. Α "hundred of sparrowgrass," brouhgt home from Fenchurch Street, cost 18d. We had them, and a little bit of salmon my wife had a mind to; cost 3s. So to supper." The first dish of green peas tasted by Mr. Pepys in the year 1668 was on the 22nd of May-"extraordinary young and pretty." The same year a pound of cherries, on the 2nd of June, cost 2s. The theatre was perhaps not an advantageous market for the purchase of fruit; but oranges, when retailed by Nell Gwynn's sisterhood, fetched 68. a dozen-"there I sat, with my wife and Deb. and Mrs. Pierce and Corbet and Betty Turner, it costing me 8s. upon them in oranges, at 6d. a piece." The general character of the meals particularized in the Diary is decidedly solid. Mr. Pepys and his wife, for instance, often sit down alone to two substantial joints of meat. One noticeable fact is the constant occurrence of venison, at tables which it would scarcely reach now-a-days; and, what is more, the substitution of the coarser parts of the buck for the haunch is noted, even in the case of thrifty households, as a censurable piece of parsimony; while a pasty made of mutton instead of venison scandalizes the journalist beyond all measure. The current histories of the East India Company mention the first order for tea as having been given in 1668-100 lbs. weighta circumstance which gives an interest to the following entry of the previous year. "June 28th, 1667. Home, and there find my wife making of tea-a drink which Mr. Pelling, the Potticary, tells her is good for her cold and defluxions."

The expenses of dress bore a considerably greater proportion to the rest of the year's

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outgoings than in later times. A night-yearly accounts the "goods of his house gown for Mrs. Pepys is mentioned as a great bore a very large proportion to the more bargain at 248.: "the very stuff" of a cloak convertible part of his property. for her lord and master cost £6., and "the outside" of a coat, £8. Nay, a gratifying result, discovered on making up a certain year's balance, is set down especially to an abatement of outlay" in coats, bands, periwigs, &c. At this time £80 was not thought an extravagant price for "a necklace of pearl for Mrs. Pepys, so that we can the less wonder at the valuation subsequently set upon her stock of jewelry. "A fairing" to Knipp, stood our hero in five guineas, but then he had not given her anything for a great while." Altogether, what with theatres, gardens, and the incidental demands on the purse of so gallant a gentleman, we suspect that pocket-money must have formed a large item in Mr. Pepys's expenditure. Furniture, too, was decidedly dear. "A set of chairs and a couch" are set "at near £40;" and "three pieces of hangings for my room at "almost £80." In this matter, however, he was very fastidious, and no doubt proportionately extravagant. The tapestry at Audley End he condemns as poor, and takes a general delight in comparing other houses with his own. "Oct. 16. To my aunt Wights; the first time, I think, these two years, and there mighty kindly used, and had a barel of oysters; and so to look up and down their house, they having hung a room since I was there but with hangings not fit to be seen with mine." A cabinet, very pretty, of walnutt tree," cost £11, and a looking glass for the dining room," £6 7s. 6d. Pictures must have told largely in the ist of outgoings. The painter had £30 for Mrs. Pepys's miniature, and £8 3s. 4d. were further expended upon the case. One of our hero's fancies in this matter was highly characteristic. "Aug. 29, 1668. After dinner Harris and I to Chyrurgeons' Hall, where they are building it new, very fine, and there to see their theatre which stood all the fire, and, which was our business, their great picture of Holbeins; thinking to have bought it, by the help of Mr. Pierce, for a little money; I did think to give £200 for it, it being said to be worth £1000." This was the famous picture, still preserved by the company, of the grant of their charter by Henry VIII. So went the world, in the way of earnings and spendings, with Mr. Samuel Pepys. Upon the whole, considering his various tastes for books, prints, paintings, and other rarities, it may be concluded that what he terms in his VOL. XVIIL NO. IV.

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As might have been expected from his character and station, the Clerk of the Acts was a regular and devout attendant at church, where few sermons escaped his comments. That either the discourse, however, or the prayers were the chief object of attraction to him he never pretends. His curiosity was excited by the organs, and his interest by a certain class of the congregation. "April 21, 1667. To Hackney church, where very full, and found much difficulty to get pews, I offering the sexton money, and he could not help me. So my wife and mercer ventured into a pew, and I into another. A knight and his lady very civil to me, when they came, being Sir George Viner, and his lady, rich in jewels, but most in beauty; almost the finest woman that I ever saw. That which I went chiefly to see was the young ladies of the schools, whereof great store, very pretty; and also the organ, which is handsome and tunes the psalm, and plays, with the people; which is mighty pretty." The next Sunday, "To Barn Elms by water, and there took one turn alone, and then back to Putney church, where I saw the girls of the schools, few of which pretty. Here a good sermon and much company; but I sleepy and a little out of order, at my hat falling down through a hole beneath the pulpit which, however, after sermon, by a stick and the help of the clerk I got up again." Here follows a still more explicit record: " 18. I walked toward White Hall, but being wearied, turned into St. Dunstan's church, where I heard an able sermon of the minister of the place; and stood by a pretty modest maid, whom I did labor to take by the hand; but she would not, but got further and further from me; and at last I could perceive her to take pins out of her pocket to prick me if I should touch her again which seeing, I did forbear, and was glad I did spy her design! And then I fell to gaze on another pretty maid in a pew close to me, and she on me; and I did go about to take her by the hand, which she suffered a little and then withdrew. So the sermon ended." It is difficult to cap such a story-but we will make a trial with the adventures of the next succeeding Sabbath. "Aug. 25. Myself to Westminster and the parish church, thinking to see Betty Michell, and did stay an hour in the crowd, thinking, by the end of a nose that I saw, that it had been her! but

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