The Diary of Samuel Pepys

by Samuel Pepys

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."

*