Lord Braybrooke, who first introduced the “Diary” to the public, had no very accurate notions of the duties of an editor; and he treated his manuscript in a very unsatisfactory manner. Large portions were omitted without explanation, and apparently without reason; and although much was added to succeeding editions, still the reader might well say—
“That cruel something unpossess’d
Corrodes and leavens all the rest.”
The third edition, published in 1848, contained a large mass of restored passages, amounting, it is said, to not less than one-fourth of the entire work. Some fresh notes were added to the fourth edition, published in 1854; but no alteration of the text was made beyond “the correction of a few verbal errors and corrupt passages hitherto overlooked.” Subsequent editions have been mere reprints of these. In 1875 appeared the first volume of the Rev. Mynors Bright’s entirely new edition, with about one-third of matter never yet published, all of which was of the true Pepysian flavour. Here was a treat for the lovers of the “Diary” which they little expected.
Having traced the particulars of Pepys’s life to the year 1659, and described the way in which the “Diary” was written, and the means by which it first saw the light, I will now pass on to notice, in the [next chapter], the chief personal incidents recorded in the book itself.
FOOTNOTES:
- [1] “Diary,” ed. Mynors Bright, vol. iv. p. 366; vol. vi. p. 306.
- [2] “Diary,” Feb. 10, 1661–62.
- [3] “Habits and Men,” p. 300.
- [4] I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Herbert Bree, Rector of Brampton, for this information.
- [5] “Diary,” Dec. 31, 1664.
- [6] “Notes and Queries,” 1st S. vol. xii. p. 102.
- [7] “Diary,” May 12, 1667.
- [8] Jan. 22, 1660–61.
- [9] Nov. 1, 1660.
- [10] “Did put on my gown first, March 5, 1650–51,” Dec. 31, 1664 (note).
- [11] “Diary,” Nov. 11, 1660.
- [12] Lord Braybrooke says October, but the “Athenæum” (1848, p. 551) says December 1st.
- [13] “Life, Journals, and Correspondence of S. Pepys,” vol. i. p. 146.
- [14] “Diary,” Sept. 22, 1663. In the original patent (No. 138) St. Michel’s name appears as Alexander Merchant of St. Michaell. ([See Appendix.])
- [15] Jan. 4, 1663–64.
- [16] June 21, 1667.
- [17] Dec. 28, 1668.
- [18] “Diary,” May 11, 1667.
- [19] Feb. 25, 1666–67.
- [20] Entry-Book No. 105 of the Protector’s Council of State, p. 327 (quoted, “Notes and Queries,” 5th S. vol. v. p. 508).
- [21] “Diary,” June 21, 1660.
- [22] March 8, 1664–65.
- [23] Nov. 7, 1660.
- [24] Smith afterwards took orders, and was presented to the rectory of Baldock in Hertfordshire by Lord Brougham in 1832, at the instigation of Harriet Martineau. In 1841 he published two octavo volumes, entitled, “The Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, Esq., F.R.S.” This wretchedly edited book contains the Tangier “Diary” and much valuable information; but I cannot find that the information has been used by the successive editors of the “Diary.” He died in 1870.
- [25] “Tachygraphy. The most exact and compendious methode of short and swift writing that hath ever yet beene published by any. Composed by Thomas Shelton, author and professor of the said art. Approued by both Unyuersities. Ps. 45, 1, My tongue is as the pen of a swift writer.” 1641.
CHAPTER II.
