Diary of Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. The Celebrated work here presented to the public under peculiar advantages may require a few introductory remarks.

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• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 06 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9782819947578
• Langue: English

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THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS, ESQ., F.R.S.
FROM 1659 TO 1669
WITH MEMOIR
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
The Celebrated work here presented to the publicunder peculiar advantages may require a few introductoryremarks.
By the publication, during the last half century, ofautobiographies, Diaries, and Records of Personal Character; thisclass of literature has been largely enriched, not only with workscalculated for the benefit of the student, but for that largerclass of readers— the people, who in the byeways of History andBiography which these works present, gather much of the nationallife at many periods, and pictures of manners and customs, habitsand amusements, such as are not so readily to be found in moreelaborate works.
The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn,published in the year 1817, is the first of the class of books towhich special reference is here made. This was followed by thepublication, in 1825, of the Diary and Correspondence of SamuelPepys, a work of a more entertaining character than that of Evelyn.There is, moreover, another distinction between the two: the Diaryof Pepys was written “at the end of each succeeding day; ” whereasthe 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 1666is full as minute as that of Evelyn, but it is mingled with agreater number of personal and official circumstances, of popularinterest: the scene of dismay and confusion which it exhibits isalmost beyond parallel. “It is observed and is true in the lateFire of London, ” says Pepys, “that the fire burned just as manyparish churches as there were hours from the beginning to the endof the fire; and next, that there were just as many churches leftstanding in the rest of the city that was not burned, being, Ithink, thirteen in all of each; which is pretty to observe. ”Again, Pepys was at this time clerk of the Acts of the Navy; hishouse and office were in Seething-lane, Crutched Friars; he wascalled up at three in the morning, Sept. 2, by his maid Jane, andso rose and slipped on his nightgown, and went to her window; butthought the fire far enough off, and so went to bed again, and tosleep. Next morning, Jane told him that she heard above 300 houseshad been burnt down by the fire they saw, and that it was thenburning down all Fish-street, by London Bridge. “So, ” Pepyswrites, “I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower,and there got upon one of the high places, and saw the houses atthat end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire atthe other end of the bridge. ” On Sept. 5, he notes, “About two inthe 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 ourlane. ” The fire was, however, stopped, “as well at Mark-lane endas ours; it having only burned the dyall of Barking Church, andpart of the porch, and there was quenched. ” This narrative has allthe advantage of being written at the time of the event, which kindof record has been pronounced preferable to “a cart- load ofpencillings. ” Of this very attractive particularity is the Diaryof Pepys, which is here submitted to the reader in the most elegantand economical as well as complete form.
Of the origin of this work, details are given theaccompanying Preface, by the noble Editor— Lord Braybrooke. Thediarist— Mr. Secretary Pepys— was a great virtuoso in collectionsof English history, both by land and sea, much relating to theadmiralty and maritime affairs. He gathered very much from recordsin the Tower, had many fine models, and new inventions of ships,and historical paintings of them; had many books of mathematics andother sciences; many very costly curiosities relating to the Cityof London, as views, maps, palaces, churches, coronations,funerals, mayoralties, habits, heads of all our famous men, drawnas well as painted, the most complete collection of anything of itskind. He was a man whose free and generous spirit appeared in hispen, and his ingenious fancy at his finger's end.
The original MS. of the Diary, which gives so vivida picture of manners in the reign of Charles II. , is preserved inMagdalene College, Cambridge; it is in six volumes, containingupwards of 3000 pages, closely written in Rich's system ofshorthand, which Pepys doubtless adopted from the possibility ofhis journal falling into unfriendly hands during his life, or beingrashly communicated to the public after his death. The originalspelling of every word in the Diary, it is believed, has beencarefully preserved by the gentleman who deciphered it; andalthough Pepys's grammar has been objected to, it is thought thatthe entries derive additional interest from the quaint terms inwhich they are expressed.
The period of the Diary was one of the mostinteresting and eventful decades in our history. We have here thejoyous pictures of the Restoration, as well as much about “themerry monarch, ” his gaieties and his intrigues. The Plague of1665, with the appalling episodes of this national calamity, isfollowed by the life-like record of the Great Fire, and therebuilding of London. Then, what an attractive period is that ofthe 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 tolove and admire Nell Gwyn, whose name still carries an oddfascination with it after so many generations. In those busy timescoffee-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 witsof the town. The Diarist records sending for “a cup of tea, a Chinadrink he had not before tasted. ” Here we find the earliest accountof a Lord Mayor's dinner in the Guildhall; and Wood's, Pepys's “oldhouse for clubbing, in Pell Mell, ”— all pictures in little ofsocial life, with innumerable traits of statesmen, politicians,wits and poets, authors, artists, and actors, and men, and women ofwit and pleasure, such as the town, court, and city have scarcelypresented at any other period.
Shortly after the publication of the Diary, thereappeared in the Quarterly Review, No. 66, a charming paper from theaccomplished pen of Sir Walter Scott, upon this very curiouscontribution to our reminiscent literature. Sir Walter's parallelof Pepys and Evelyn is very nicely drawn. “Early necessity madePepys laborious, studious, and careful. But his naturalpropensities were those of a man of pleasure. He appears to havebeen ardent in quest of amusement, especially where anything odd oruncommon was to be witnessed. To this thirst after novelty, theconsequence of which has given great and varied interest to hisDiary, Pepys added a love of public amusements, which he himselfseems to have considered as excessive. ” "Our diarist must not betoo severely judged. He lived in a time when the worst examplesabounded, a time of court intrigue and state revolution, whennothing was certain for a moment, and when all who were possessedof any opportunity to make profit, used it with the most shamelessavidity, lest the golden minutes should pass away unimproved.
“In quitting the broad path of history, ” says SirWalter, "we seek for minute information concerning ancient mannersand customs, the progress of arts and sciences, and the variousbranches of antiquity. We have never seen a mine so rich as thevolumes before us. The variety of Pepys's tastes and pursuits ledhim 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 ofwhim; and to a certain degree a man of pleasure. He was astatesman, a BEL ESPRIT, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur. Hiscuriosity made him an unwearied as well as an universal learner,and whatever he saw found its way into his tables. Thus, his Diaryabsolutely resembles the genial cauldrons at the wedding ofCamacho, a souse into which was sure to bring forth at onceabundance and variety of whatever could gratify the most eccentricappetite.
"If the curious, affect dramatic antiquities— a linewhich has special charms for the present age— no book published inour time has thrown so much light upon plays, playwrights, andplay- actors.
“Then those who desire to be aware of the earliestdiscoveries, as well in sciences, as in the useful arts, may readin Pepys's Memoirs, how a slice of roast mutton was converted intopure blood; and of those philosophical glass crackers, whichexplode when the tail is broken off (Rupert's Drops) of AURUMFULMINANS, applied to the purpose of blowing ships out of thewater; and of a newly contrived gun, which was to change the wholesystem of the art of war; but which has left it pretty much uponthe old footing. A lover of antique scandal which taketh away thecharacter, and committeth SCANDALUM MAGNATUM against the nobilityof the seventeenth century, will find in this work an untouchedtreasure of curious anecdote for the accomplishment of his purpose.”
PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.
In submitting the following pages to the Public, Ifeel that it is incumbent upon me to explain by what circumstancesthe materials from which the Work has been compiled were placed atmy disposal. The original Diary, comprehending six volumes, closelywritten in short-hand by Mr. Pepys himself, belonged to thevaluable collection of books and prints, bequeathed by him toMagdalene College, Cambridge, and had remained there unexamined,till the appointment of my Brother, the present Master, under whoseauspices the MS. was deciphered by Mr. John Smith, with a view toits publication.
My Brother's time, however, being too much engrossedby more important duties to admit of his editing the work, the taskof preparing it for the press was undertaken by me at hisrequest.
The Diary commences January 1st, 1659-60 and afterbeing regularly kept for ten years, it is brought to a suddenconclusion,