PEPYS’S BOOKS AND COLLECTIONS.
“A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles.”
_Winter’s Tale_, act iv. sc. iii.
Pepys desired that his name might go down to posterity, but he could
little have foreseen the fame that it has attained in the nineteenth
century. The mode he took to keep it alive was the bequeathment of his
library and collections to a time-honoured foundation; and there is
every reason to believe that he would have strongly objected to the
publication of his “Diary.” Now that that book has been published, we
all see the full-length figure of the man; but his character might also
have been read in the Pepysian library at Magdalene College, Cambridge;
and this latter exhibition of him has been much longer before the
public. Comparatively little interest was, however, taken in it until
after the appearance of the deciphered “Diary,” when his name at once
sprang into fame.
The library was left, in the first instance, to the Diarist’s nephew,
John Jackson, but with a special proviso that it should on no account
be dispersed. Pepys refers in his memorandum to “the infinite pains and
time and cost employed in my collecting and reducing the same to the
state it now is” in. He is particularly solicitous “for its unalterable
preservation and perpetual security against the ordinary fate of such
collections, falling into the hands of an incompetent heir and thereby
being sold, dissipated or imbezzled.” Jackson was allowed a certain
latitude in the disposal of the collections after his death. They
were to be placed at one of the Universities, but Cambridge was to be
preferred to Oxford. A private college was to be chosen rather than the
Public Library, and of colleges Trinity or Magdalene were to be given
the preference over the others. Of these two colleges (on the boards
of each of which Pepys’s name had been entered), Magdalene, at which
he received his education, was to have the preference. The college
which did not receive the gift was appointed visitor, and if at the
annual inspection any breach of covenant occurred, the library became
forfeited to it.
A fair room was to be provided for the library, and no other books were
to be added, save those which Jackson might add in distinct presses.
The whole was to be called “Bibliotheca Pepysiana,” and the sole power
and custody over it was to be vested in the master of the college for
the time being.[119]
Magdalene College was founded by Lord Chancellor Audley, who vested for
ever the right of nominating to the mastership in the possessors of
Audley End. At the time that Pepys was a student the buildings were far
from extensive, and consisted of the first court alone. The foundation
of the second court was laid in 1677, and Pepys’s “Correspondence”
contains a letter from Dr. Hezekiah Burton, asking for the contribution
already promised towards the new buildings; and another from John
Maulyverer in 1679, thanking for money lent for the same purpose, and
referring to a bond. A fellow-collegian of Pepys was John Peachell,
afterwards Vicar of Stanwick, Prebendary of Carlisle, and Master of
the College in 1679. He does not appear to have been altogether an
estimable man, for in 1677 (May 3) Pepys felt half ashamed to be
seen in his company because of his red nose; and according to Lord
Dartmouth’s manuscript notes on Bishop Burnet’s “History of his own
Time,” there was cause for this rubicundity, as Archbishop Sancroft
rebuked him for setting an ill example in the University by drunkenness
and other loose behaviour. Dr. Peachell had his good points, however,
for in 1687 he was suspended from his mastership and deprived of his
vice-chancellorship for refusing to admit Alban Francis, a Benedictine
monk, to the degree of Master of Arts without taking the prescribed
oaths. It appears from a letter to Pepys that he greatly feared the
Earl of Suffolk, who was then owner of Audley End, would be content
to have him removed in order to obtain the privilege of nominating a
successor, but he was fortunate in being restored to his office in the
following year.
Pepys never forgot a friend, and a month before this restoration he
induced Lord Dartmouth, on his appointment to the command of the fleet,
to ask Peachell to be his chaplain, with authority over all the other
chaplains. In 1690 the Master of Magdalene died of starvation brought
about by a four days’ fast which he prescribed himself as a penance
after the archbishop’s admonition; and when he afterwards tried to eat
he could not.
The master at the period of Pepys’s death was Dr. Quadring, and in
the college chest are two letters written by Jackson to him to inform
him of the will of the deceased respecting the library. It was not,
however, until 1724, on the death of Jackson, that the three thousand
volumes of which the library consisted were, with the original
bookcases, removed to the college, and deposited in the new buildings
which Pepys had assisted to build. The old inscription, “Bibliotheca
Pepysiana,” which was set up at the time, is still to be seen on the
front in the second courtyard.
The library is of the greatest interest, and a mere enumeration of some
of the treasures contained in it is enough to whet the appetite of
the least ardent among the lovers of old books. To mention first the
manuscripts:--there are the various papers collected by Pepys for his
proposed “Navalia;” a “vast treasure of papers” lent by Evelyn, but
never returned to their owner; seventeen letters from Henry VIII. to
Anne Boleyn, copied at Rome from the originals in the Vatican, 1682; a
collection of papers relating to Charles II.’s escape from Worcester;
a journal of the proceedings of the Duke of Monmouth in his invading
of England, with the progress and issue of the rebellion attending it,
kept by Mr. Edward Dummer, then serving the train of artillery employed
by his Majesty for the suppression of the same; and a Survey (made by
order of the Admiralty) of buildings and encroachments on the River of
Thames, from London Bridge to Cuckold’s Point, 1684–1687. The Maitland
MS., which contains an excellent collection of Scottish poetry, and
is named after Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, Lord Privy Seal
and Judge in the Court of Session (b. 1496, d. 1586), who formed it,
is also worthy of special mention. How the two volumes of which it
consists came into Pepys’s possession is not recorded. Selections from
them were printed by Pinkerton in 1786.
Among the choice articles that should have some notice, however
inadequate, are the pocket-book constantly used by Sir Francis Drake,
and that of James II., described as follows by Pepys himself:--“My
Royal master K. James yᵉ 2ᵈ. Pocket Book of Rates and Memorandums
during yᵉ whole time of his serving at yᵉ Seas as Lord High Admiral of
England, vizᵗ., from May, 1663, to his laying down his commission, May,
1673.” Another great curiosity is the original “Libro de Cargos as to
Provisions and Munic̃ons of the Proveedor of the Spanish Armada, 1588,”
with a hole right through, for the purpose of hanging it up in the
ship.
Besides all the papers on naval affairs in the Pepysian Library, there
is a series of fifty volumes of Pepys’s manuscripts in the Rawlinson
Collection in the Bodleian Library. How these papers came into the
possession of Rawlinson is not known.
What gives a special interest to the Library is the fact that it still
remains in exactly the same condition as Pepys left it, the books being
in the original cases, arranged in the order which he had fixed. There
are several entries in the “Diary” relating to the arrangement and
cataloguing of the books; thus on December 17th, 1666, we read:--“Spent
the evening in fitting my books, to have the number set upon each, in
order to my having an alphabet of my whole, which will be of great
ease to me.” He employs his brother John to write out the catalogue
“perfectly alphabeticall,”[120] but he afterwards finishes it off with
his own hand.[121] He was very particular as to the books he admitted
into his catalogue, so when he bought in the Strand “an idle rogueish
French book, ‘L’escholle des filles,’” he resolved, as soon as he had
read it, to burn it, “that it might not stand in the list of books
nor among them, to disgrace them if it should be found.”[122] He had,
at a later time, a similar feeling with regard to Lord Rochester’s
poems, and in a letter dated Nov. 2, 1680, he directs Hewer to leave
the volume in a drawer, as it is written in a style which he thought
unfitted it for mixing with his other books. He adds that as the
author (who had just died) was past writing any more poems so bad in
one sense, he despaired of any man surviving “to write so good in
another.”[123] When I was looking over the Library I made a point of
seeing whether this book had found a place at last on the shelves,
and I discovered it there; but with sad hypocrisy it stood in false
colours, for the lettering on the back was “Rochester’s Life.”
The books were numbered consecutively throughout the Library, and,
therefore, when re-arranged, they needed to be all renumbered. All
hands were pressed into this service; and we read that on the 15th of
February, 1667–68, Pepys himself, his wife, and Deb Willett, were busy
until near midnight “titleing” the books for the year, and setting them
in order. They all tired their backs, but the work was satisfactory,
though, on the whole, not quite so much so as the previous year’s job
had been.
On account of this constant changing, each book contains several
numbers, sometimes as many as six; and the last, which is the one by
which the books are still found, is in red ink.
The books are arranged in eleven curious old mahogany bookcases,
which are mentioned in the “Diary,” under date August 24th, 1666, and
which gave the Diarist so much pleasure, when they were sent home
quite new by Mr. Sympson, the joiner and cabinet-maker. The presses
are handsomely carved, and have handles fixed at each end; the doors
are formed of little panes of glass; and, in the lower divisions, the
glass windows are made to lift up. The books are all arranged in
double rows; but, by the ingenious plan of placing small books in front
of large ones, the letterings of all can be seen. Some have tickets on
the outside, and this practice is mentioned in the “Diary,” where we
read: “To my chamber, and there to ticket a good part of my books, in
order to the numbering of them for my easy finding them to read as I
have occasion.”[124]
The word “arranged” has been several times used in this chapter; but it
must not be understood as implying any kind of classification, for the
books are merely placed in order of size. This arrangement, however,
has been very carefully attended to; and, in one instance, some short
volumes have been raised to the required height by the help of wooden
stilts, gilt in front.
The classification was to be found in the catalogues; and, as Pepys
increased in substance, he employed experts to do this work for him.
One of these was Paul Lorrain, the author of several tracts and
sermons, who was employed in copying manuscripts, and making catalogues
of books and prints. A letter from this man, written on October 12th,
1700, to explain the nature of the work he then had in hand, is printed
in the correspondence of Pepys.
There are numerous entries in the “Diary” relating to the binding of
certain books; and a single glance at the Library as it now exists
would show any one experienced in the matter that Pepys paid great
attention to this most important point in the proper preservation
of a library. As early as May 15th, 1660, he showed this taste by
buying three books solely on account of the binding; and on January
18th, 1664–65, he went to his bookseller to give directions for the
new binding of a great many of his old books, in order that his whole
studyful should be uniform. Nearly all the books are bound in calf,
although some are in morocco and some in vellum.
Pepys came to the resolution in the year 1667 that he would not have
any more books than his cases would hold; so when, on the 2nd of
February, 1667–68, he found that the number of books had much increased
since the previous year, he was forced to weed out several inferior
ones to make room for better. He had previously written: “Whereas,
before, my delight was in multitude of books, and spending money in
that, and buying alway of other things, now that I am become a better
husband, and have left off buying, now my delight is in the neatness
of everything.”[125] This plan he continued to practise throughout his
life, generally to the improvement of the character of his library, but
not always so.
When I was allowed the privilege of looking through the Library, I
came upon a list of books headed “Deleta, 1700.” The entries in this
list are most curious. To each title is added a note, such as these:
“Ejected as a duplicate,” “Removed to a juster place,” “To give way to
the same reprinted,” “To give way to a fairer edition.”
As the “Diary” is full of notices of books purchased, I felt
interested to know which of them had been weeded out after they had
been bought, and which had been thought worthy to remain on to the end.
The following is the result of these inquiries in a few instances,
chosen from the poets:--On the 8th of July, 1664, Pepys went to his
bookseller about some books; from his shop he went on to the binder,
to give directions as to the binding of his “Chaucer;” “and thence to
the clasp-makers, to have it clasped and bossed.” Reposing in a quiet
corner of the Pepysian Library is Speght’s edition of 1602, which is
the identical copy referred to, and here, therefore, we have an example
of the books that remained. It is in a plain calf cover, unlettered,
“full neat enough,” with brass clasp and bosses.
This evident attempt to do honour to the memory of
“That renownmed Poet
Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled,
On Fame’s eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled,”
is an incident of the more interest, in that Chaucer is almost the
only great poet that Pepys was able to appreciate. Sir John Minnes,
the wit, taught him to love England’s grand old singer. These two men
were constantly brought together in the fulfilment of business duties,
and Pepys writes “among other things Sir J. Minnes brought many fine
expressions of Chaucer, which he doats on mightily.” To this he adds as
his own opinion, “and without doubt he is a very fine poet.”[126]
That this is not a mere passing remark is evident, for on August 10th,
1664, he actually quotes a line from “Troilus and Cressida,” a most
unusual practice with this “matter-of-fact” man. He goes to visit the
famous Cocker, and has an hour’s talk with him on various matters.
“He (Cocker) says that the best light for his life to do a very small
thing by (contrary to Chaucer’s words to the Sun, ‘that he should lend
his light to them that small seals grave’)[127] it should be by an
artificial light of a candle, set to advantage, as he could do it.”
I very much fear that the quotation did not spring up into Pepys’s own
mind, but that it was suggested by Cocker, who was “a great admirer,
and well read in all our English poets.” More than thirty years after
this, Pepys still remained one of Chaucer’s warmest admirers, and we
have it on the best authority that we owe Dryden’s modernization of the
“Character of a Good Parson” to his recommendation.[128]
To return, however, to the Pepysian Library. On the 7th of July, 1664
(the day before he went to the binder about Chaucer), Pepys bought
“Shakespeare’s Plays.” This probably was the third edition, which had
just appeared; though it might have been either the first folio of
1623, or the second folio of 1632; but whichever of these three it
happened to be, it was replaced in after years by the fourth folio of
1685, which is now in the collection. Although “Paradise Lost” was
first published in 1667, we find no notice either of it or of its
author in the “Diary.”
[Illustration: JOHN MILTON.
Engraved by _H. Meyer_ from a Drawing by Mʳ. Cipriani, in the
Possession of the Rev: Dʳ. Disney.
_Published April 16, 1810, by T. Cadell & W. Davies, Strand London._]
The Library contains the collected edition, in three folio volumes,
of Milton’s Works, published at London by John Toland in 1698, but
stated in the title-page to be published at Amsterdam. Pepys probably
thought it wise to have nothing to do with any of the publications of
so dangerous a man as Milton before the period of the Revolution; and
a curious letter from Daniel Skinner to Pepys, dated from Rotterdam,
November 19th, 1676, shows that a man might be injured in his public
career by the rumour that he had the works of Milton in his possession.
Skinner agreed with Daniel Elzevir, the last of that learned race, to
print at Amsterdam certain of Milton’s writings which the poet had left
to him. In the meantime a surreptitious edition of some State Letters
appears, or as Skinner puts it, “creeps out into the world.” When Sir
Joseph Williamson, the Secretary of State, is informed of this, and is
asked to give a licence for the proposed authentic edition, he replies
that “he could countenance nothing of that man’s (Milton) writings.”
Upon this, Skinner gives up his scheme, and lends the papers to
Williamson, but he gets shabby treatment in return, for on his arrival
in Holland he finds that those likely to employ him have been warned
against him as a dangerous character.[129]
The last instance of Pepys’s weeding-out process shall be “Hudibras,”
and it is the most curious of all. On the 26th of December, 1662, we
read in the “Diary:” “To the Wardrobe. Hither come Mr. Battersby;
and we falling into a discourse of a new book of drollery, in verse,
called ‘Hudebras,’ I would needs go find it out, and met with it at the
Temple: cost me 2_s._ 6_d._ But when I came to read it, it is so silly
an abuse of the Presbyter Knight going to the warrs, that I am ashamed
of it; and by and by meeting at Mr. Townsend’s at dinner, I sold it
to him for 18_d._” The book is dated 1663, and could only have been
published a few days when Pepys bought and sold it at a loss of one
shilling.
Warned by his previous experience, he would not buy the second part
when it came out, but borrowed it “to read, to see if it be as good as
the first, which the world cry so mightily up, though it hath not a
good liking in me, though I had tried but twice or three times reading
to bring myself to think it witty.”[130]
He still remained uneasy, and tried to appreciate the fashionable
poem, so that on December 10th, 1663, he thought it well to buy both
parts and place them in his library. Twenty years after this he was
still doing his best to find “where the wit lies,” for we find by the
“Tangier Diary” that he read the first two books on board ship during
the voyage out.[131]
The edition of “Hudibras” in the Library is that of 1689, so that the
earlier editions must have been exchanged for it.
It does not say much for the literary taste of the man who tried in
vain to appreciate “Hudibras,” that he found Cotton’s “Scarronides, or
Virgile Travestie,” “extraordinary good.”[132]
The Library contains many very valuable volumes; as, for instance,
there are nine Caxtons, and several Wynkyn de Wordes and Pynsons, but
the chief interest centres in the various collections.
First and foremost among these are the five folio volumes of old
English Ballads, which contain the largest series of broadside ballads
ever brought together; the next in size being the well-known Roxburghe
Collection, now in the British Museum.
Pepys has written on the title-page of his volumes: “Begun by Mr.
Selden: Improved by yᵉ addition of many Pieces elder thereto in Time,
and the whole continued down to the year, 1700, When the Form till
then peculiar thereto, vizᵗ., of the Black Letter, with Picturs, seems
(for cheapness sake) wholly laid aside, for that of the White Letter,
without Pictures.”
The Ballads are arranged under the following heads:--1. Devotion and
Morality. 2. History, true and fabulous. 3. Tragedy, viz. murders,
executions, judgements of God. 4. State and Times. 5. Love, pleasant.
6. Love, unfortunate. 7. Marriage, cuckoldry. 8. Sea: love, gallantry,
and actions. 9. Drinking and good fellowship. 10. Humorous frolics and
mirth. The total number of Ballads is 1800, of which 1376 are in black
letter. Besides these there are four little duodecimo volumes, lettered
as follows: Vol. 1. Penny Merriments. Vol. 2. Penny Witticisms. Vol. 3.
Penny Compliments; and Vol. 4. Penny Godlinesses.
Other collections are lettered “Old Novels,” “Loose Plays,” and
“Vulgaria.” There are six folio volumes of tracts on the Popish Plot,
four quarto volumes of Sea Tracts, and a collection of News-Pamphlets
for six years, that is, from January 1st, 1659–60, to January 1st,
1665–66, the time of the commencement of the Gazettes. Pepys was the
first person to collect prints and drawings in illustration of London
topography. These he left to his nephew, who added to the collection,
and two thick folio volumes therefore came to the College with the
other treasures.
Pepys’s collections have a special interest, because he collected his
books himself, knew all about them, and registered them with loving
care. His various catalogues and indexes are marvels of neatness,
and living as he did in a pre-bibliographical age, he deserves the
greatest credit for the judgment exercised in their production. In the
fifth volume of the little collection of books on Shorthand, there is
an index of authors, with dates of publication and references to the
volume in which each will be found; and the following, which is the
title of one of the appendixes to the catalogue, will show how much
labour was willingly expended in the production of these helps to
research: “A chronological Deductions of the Variations of Stile (to
be collected from yᵉ Alphabet of my books) in yᵉ language of England
between ann. 700 & yᵉ attempt last made towards its refinement by Sir
Philᵖ Sidney in his ‘Arcadia,’ between 1580 and 1590.”
Neatness and the love of accuracy were ruling passions with Pepys,
and when a catalogue was filled up with additional entries he had it
re-arranged and copied out. On “A Catalogue and Alphabet to my books
of Geography and Hydrography, 1693–95,” is the following memorandum:
“Before this Index be transcribed far to collect and alphabet the
particulars contained in the List of additional Books inserted at
the end, and that being done To incorporate both them and the four
particular Indexes preceding into the Principal, and so as to unite the
whole.”
This is an interesting list: “Bibliotheca Nautica, 1695. Catalogue of
Authors (the perfectest I can arrive at) upon the art and practice
of Navigation, with a Chronological Catalogue of the most eminent
Mathematicians of this Nation, Antient and Modern, to the year 1673.”
Some papers show how all this was arrived at, thus: “Memorandum,
to look over yᵉ Epistles and Prefaces to all the Bookes in this
Collection, of which I am not maister, and yᵉ other allsoe, and
apply what is usefull through yᵉ whole.” Mr. Mount, “son-in-law and
successor to the late Mr. Fisher, master of the ancient shopp and our
only magazine of English Books of Navigation at the Postern on Tower
Hill,” prepared a list, and tried to answer Pepys’s queries. The
Diarist was well known to all the booksellers, and he doubtless was a
good customer, although he must have troubled them sometimes with his
fastidiousness. A note intended for Mr. Mount may be looked upon as a
good sample of many more such memorandums, “To get me the ‘Invention of
yᵉ Art of Navigation,’ a fair one for yᵉ dirty one I bought of him.”
Robert Scott, the famous bookseller of Little Britain, when sending
Pepys four scarce books, the total cost of which was only _£_1 14_s._,
writes, “But without flattery I love to find a rare book for you.”
Herringman, of the “Blue Anchor,” at the New Exchange in the Strand,
Joseph Kirton, of St. Paul’s Churchyard, who was ruined by the Fire of
London, and Bagford, the title-robber, were some among the booksellers
with whom Pepys had dealings.
Pepys was not a producer of _marginalia_, but some of his books contain
an occasional note of interest; thus, in Cotton’s “Compleat Gamester”
(1674), “cocking” is described at page 206 as a “game of delight
and pleasure,” and Pepys added a manuscript note in the margin, “of
barbarity.” Not only does this give us Pepys’s opinion of the sport
very pithily, but it also illustrates a passage in the “Diary,” where
he describes his visit to the cock-fighting in Shoe Lane, and says he
soon had enough of it.[133]
All the books in the Library have a bookplate in the inside cover.
These are of different design, two having Pepys’s portrait (one large
and the other small), and one having S. P. and two anchors interlaced.
Dr. Diamond writes in “Notes and Queries,” that he once met with
a large quantity of these bookplates in four varieties. Two were
beautifully engraved by Faithorne, as is supposed, and two were by
White. Some of them had a rough margin, and others were cut close up to
the mantle on the arms.[134]
The motto which Pepys adopted, _Mens cujusque is est quisque_, was
criticized by some of the Admirals in 1690, and the Diarist desired
his friend Hewer to point out to them, through Mr. Southerne, that it
was a quotation from Cicero’s “Somnium Scipionis,” and that the thought
was derived from Plato and wrought upon by St. Paul. The whole passage
is, “Tu vero enitere, et sic habeto te non esse mortalem, sed Corpus
hoc. Nec enim is est quem forma ista declarat; sed _mens cujusque is
est quisque_, non ea figura quæ digito monstrari potest.”
In concluding this notice of the Pepysian Library, it will be necessary
to say a few words about the Musical collections. Pepys was not a mere
amateur in music, but understood both theory and practice thoroughly,
and he found consolation from it when troubles came upon him.[135] On
November 2nd, 1661, he tried “to make a song in praise of a liberal
genius,” which he took his own to be, but the result did not prove to
his mind; and on March 20th, 1668, he endeavoured to invent “a better
theory of music than hath yet been abroad.”
We have references in the “Diary” to four songs which he composed, and
a notice of one which he only attempted.[136] On January 30th, 1659–60,
he sang Montrose’s verses on the execution of Charles I. beginning,--
“Great, good, and just, could I but rate,”
which he had set to music. He composed “Gaze not on Swans,” on the 11th
of February, 1661–62; but his grand achievement was the setting to
music of the song,
“Beauty retire; thou doest my pitty move,
Believe my pitty, and then trust my love,” &c.,
from Davenant’s Second Part of “The Siege of Rhodes,” (act iv. sc.
2). Mrs. Knipp sang the song so well that the composer is forced to
exclaim, that it seems to be a very fine song, and Captain Downing,
“who loves and understands music,” “extols it above everything he had
ever heard.”[137] Further evidence of the pride of the composer is seen
in the fact that he had his portrait painted with the music of “Beauty
retire” in his hand.
On April 6th, 1666, he began “putting notes” to Ben Jonson’s song,
“It is decreed--nor shall thy fate, O Rome!
Resist my vow, though hills were set on hills,”
but he did not finish it until November 11th, 1666. He thought himself
that it was even better than “Beauty retire,” but the opinion of others
is not given.
In the Pepysian Library is a volume of music, entitled, “Songs and
other Compositions, Light, Grave and Sacred, for a single voice
adjusted to the particular compass of mine; with a thorough base on
yᵉ ghitare, by Cesare Morelli,” which contains, among others, “Beauty
retire,” “It is decreed,” and “To be or not to be.” We find in the
“Diary” that on November 13th, 1664, Pepys was learning to recite this
speech of Hamlet.
In the present day, when few instruments besides the piano are heard
in private houses, it is somewhat surprising to find how many were
familiar to our ancestors in the seventeenth century, and a note of
some of these will perhaps be thought interesting.
The lute was a favourite instrument when Pepys was young, and a
good lutenist was in high esteem among his fellows. Lady Wright’s
butler gave Pepys a lesson or two, and in the first two years of the
“Diary,” there are several references to the hours the Diarist spent
in practising; but for a time he was unable to play, as his lute was
in pawn. Various forms of the violin were much used by Pepys, who rose
by candlelight on the 3rd of December, 1660, and spent his morning in
fiddling, till it was time to go to the office.
He and Mr. Hill were engaged for an hour or two in stringing a theorbo;
and, on another occasion, he had it mended at a cost of twenty-six
shillings. The flute and flageolet were always handy, as he could put
them in his pocket, and use them as occasion required, particularly if
he were in the neighbourhood of an echo. He mentions the guitar twice
in the “Diary,” but did not play on it, as he thought it a bauble. He
afterwards altered his opinion, for he expressly charges Morelli, the
arranger of his musical papers, to set a certain French song to the
guitar; and, as may be seen above, many others were treated in the same
way.[138] He is at one time angry with The. Turner because she will
not give him a lesson on the harpsichord; and afterwards he buys a
spinet.[139]
I here end the portion of this book which deals with the life of Pepys
himself.
The “Correspondence” discovers a more dignified character than the
“Diary,” but we cannot say for certain whether, if we had a diary of
the later years, we should not read such a confession as this on the
27th of January, 1666–67:--“Went down and sat in a low room (at Sir
Philip Warwick’s), reading ‘Erasmus de scribendis epistolis,’ a very
good book, especially one letter of advice to a courtier, most true and
good, which made me once resolve to tear out the two leaves that it was
writ in, but I forbore it.”
FOOTNOTES:
[119] Harl. MS. 7,031, pp. 208, 209. “Samuel Pepys, his disposition and
settlement of his Library.”
[120] “Diary,” Jan. 8, 1666–67.
[121] Feb. 4, 1666–67.
[122] Feb. 8, 1667–68.
[123] Smith’s “Life, &c., of Pepys,” vol. i. p. 247.
[124] “Diary,” Dec. 19, 1666.
[125] “Diary,” Aug. 10, 1663.
[126] “Diary,” June 14, 1663.
[127] “Allas! what hath this lovers the agylte?
Dispitous Day, thyn be the pyne of Helle!
For many a lover hastow slayn, and wilt;
Thi pourynge in wol nowher lat hem dwelle:
What? profrestow thi light here for to selle?
_Go selle it hem that smale seles grave_,
We wol the nought, as nedeth no day have!”
_Troylus and Cryseyde_, book iii. ll. 1408–14.
[128] This is so interesting a fact that I think Dryden’s letter to
Pepys on the subject may well appear in full at this place:--
“July 14, 1699.
“Padron Mio,
“I remember last year when I had the honour of dining with you, you
were pleased to recommend to me the character of Chaucer’s “Good
Parson.” Any desire of yours is a command to me, and accordingly I
have put it into my English, with such additions and alterations as I
thought fit.
“Having translated as many fables from Ovid, and as many novels from
Boccace, and tales from Chaucer, as will make an indifferent large
volume in folio, I intend them for the press in Michaelmas term next.
In the mean time my Parson desires the favour of being known to you,
and promises if you find any fault in his character, he will reform
it. Whenever you please, he shall wait on you, and for the safer
conveyance, I will carry him in my pocket, who am
“My _Padron’s_ most obedient servant,
“JOHN DRYDEN.
“For Samuel Pepys, Esq.,
At his house in York Street, These.”
“For Samuel Pepys, Esq.,
At his house in York Street, These.”
In Pepys’s answer, dated on the same day, he writes:
“You truly have obliged me, and, possibly, in saying so, I am more in
earnest than you can readily think, as verily hoping from this your
copy of one ‘Good Parson’ to fancy some amends made me for the hourly
offence I bear with from the sight of so many lewd originals.”--Smith’s
“Life, &c., of Pepys,” vol. ii. pp. 254–55.
[129] Smith’s “Life, &c., of Pepys,” vol. i. pp. 169–81.
[130] “Diary,” Nov. 28, 1663.
[131] Smith’s “Life, &c., of Pepys,” vol. i. p. 343.
[132] “Diary,” March 2, 1663–64.
[133] “Diary,” Dec. 21, 1663.
[134] “Notes and Queries,” 1st S. vi. 534.
[135] “The little knowledge in music which I have, never was of more
use to me than it is now, under the molestations of mind which I have
at this time more than ordinary to contend with.”--Smith’s “Life, &c.,
of Pepys,” vol. i. p. 199.
[136] “Diary,” Nov. 30, 1667.
[137] “Diary,” Dec. 6, 1665; Feb. 23, 1665–66; Nov. 9, 1666.
[138] Letter dated Sept. 25, 1679, in Smith’s “Life, &c., of Pepys,”
vol. i. p. 200.
[139] References to the “Diary” where the several instruments are
mentioned:--
_Lute_, Jan. 25, 31, Feb. 4, March 18, 1659–60; Oct. 21, Nov. 9, 21,
1660; May 26, 1662.
_Viol_, Jan. 4, March 4, 6, Feb. 17, 1662–63; Sept. 28, 1664.
_Lyre viol_, Nov. 17, 1660; Oct. 16, Nov. 20, 1666.
_Bass viol_, July 5, 1662; April 17, 1663.
_Arched viol_, Oct. 5, 1664.
_Treble_, April 23, 1660.
_Violin_, March 6, 1659–60; April 6, 10, Nov. 21, 1660; April 23, June
6, 1661; June 15, 1663.
_Theorbo_, March 5, 1569–60; Nov. 24, Dec. 30, 1660; Oct. 9, 28, Dec.
7, 1661; Aug. 21, 1663; July 30, 1666.
_Guitar_, June 8, 1660; July 27, 1661.
_Cittern_, June 5, 1660; Jan. 17, 1660–61.
_Bandore_, Oct. 15, 1662.
_Recorder_, April 8, 1668.
_Flageolet_, Jan. 16, 30, Feb. 8, 9, 27, 1659–60; May 14, June 21,
1660; June 5, 1661; Jan. 20, 1667–68.
_Triangle_, March 18, 1662–63; April 1, 15, June 21, 1663.
_Triangle virginal_, June 14, 1661.
_Virginals_, Dec. 8, 1660; Sept. 2, 1666.
_Spinet_ (espinette), April 4, July 10, 13, 1668.
_Harpsichord_, March 17, 1659–60; Feb. 26, 1660–61; April 31, June 18,
1661; Sept. 9, 1664; April 4, 1668.
_Dulcimer_, June 23, 1662.
_Trumpet marine_, Oct. 24, 1667.
[Illustration: Decoration]
[Illustration: Decoration]