PEPYS’S RELATIONS, FRIENDS, AND ACQUAINTANCES.
“If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life
he will soon find himself left alone; a man should keep his friendship
in constant repair.”--DR. JOHNSON.
Family feeling was strong in Pepys, and we therefore find him in
constant communication with persons in all degrees of relationship.
These relations varied greatly in social position, from the peer to
the little shopkeeper. Thus we find that one Pepys was a Lord Chief
Justice of Ireland; another a Member of Parliament; another a Doctor of
Divinity; another a goldsmith, and another a turner.
In later life, when Pepys had risen greatly in social importance, the
relations were not so much associated with, and a more distinguished
circle of friends make their appearance. This gradual dropping away
of the relations may have been caused by decrease of the family, for
the Diarist on one occasion writes: “It is a sad consideration how
the Pepys’s decay, and nobody almost that I know in a present way of
increasing them.”[163]
The members of Pepys’s immediate family have already been alluded to,
and we have seen how his father, John Pepys, the tailor, retired to
Brampton in 1661. The old man died in 1680, and desired by his will
that all the lands and goods left him by his brother Robert should
be delivered up to his eldest son. He also left _£_5 to the poor of
Brampton, and 40_s._ to the poor of Ellington, and the remainder of his
property to be divided amongst his three children--Samuel and John and
Paulina Jackson. John, however, died before him.
Of the numerous cousins who figure in the “Diary,” the Turners and
the Joyces are the most frequently referred to. Serjeant John Turner
and his wife Jane, who lived in Salisbury Court, were not very highly
esteemed by Sir William Baker, who called the one a false fellow and
the other a false woman, and Pepys does not appear altogether to have
disliked hearing him say so.[164]
Their daughter Theophila was, however, a favourite with Pepys, and
on March 3, 1662–63, she showed him his name on her breast as her
valentine, “which,” he observes, “will cost me 20_s._” Four days
afterwards he bought her a dozen pairs of white gloves.
The Joyces were never much liked by Pepys, but at one time he thought
it well to be friends with them, as he writes on the 6th of August,
1663,--“I think it convenient to keep in with the Joyces against a bad
day, if I should have occasion to make use of them.” William Joyce
was good-natured, but Pepys wearied of his company because he was “an
impertinent coxcomb” and too great a talker. As is often the case with
our Diarist, he gives a different character of the man on another
occasion. He writes, “A cunning, crafty fellow he is, and dangerous to
displease, for his tongue spares nobody.”[165]
Anthony Joyce was in business, and on one occasion he supplied Pepys
with some tallow, payment for which he was unduly anxious about, so
that the purchaser was vexed.[166] Anthony gave over trade in 1664,
but was ruined by the Fire; and afterwards kept the “Three Stags” at
Holborn Conduit. William was greatly disgusted when his brother became
a publican. Pepys says he ranted about it “like a prince, calling him
hosteller and his sister hostess.”[167]
In January, 1667–68, Anthony threw himself into a pond at Islington,
but being seen by a poor woman, he was got out before life was extinct.
“He confessed his doing the thing, being led by the devil; and do
declare his reason to be, his trouble in having forgot to serve God
as he ought since he came to this new employment.”[168] He died soon
after this, and his friends were in great fear that his goods would be
seized upon on the ground that he was a suicide. Pepys used all his
influence to save the estate, and obtained the King’s promise that it
should not be taken from the widow and children. Those who were likely
to benefit by the confiscation gave much trouble, and managed to stop
the coroner’s verdict for a time. At last, however, the widow’s friends
on the jury saved her from further anxiety by giving a verdict that
her husband died of a fever. “Some opposition there was, the foreman
pressing them to declare the cause of the fever, thinking thereby to
obstruct it; but they did adhere to their verdict, and would give no
reason.”[169]
Kate Joyce (Anthony’s widow) was a pretty woman, and caused Pepys some
trouble. She had many offers of marriage, and after a short period of
widowhood she married one Hollingshed, a tobacconist.[170] Pepys was
disgusted, and left her to her own devices with the expression, “As she
brews let her bake.”
Mrs. Kite, the butcher, was another of Pepys’s aunts whose company he
did not greatly appreciate. He was, however, her executor, and at her
death he calls her daughter ugly names, thus: “Back again with Peg
Kite, who will be I doubt a troublesome carrion to us executors.”[171]
A few days after she is called “a slut,”[172] and when she declares her
firm intention to marry “the beggarly rogue the weaver,” the executors
are “resolved neither to meddle nor make with her.”[173]
Few of these family connections were left when Pepys himself died, for
in the long list of persons to whom rings and mourning were given the
following relations only are noticed:--Samuel and John Jackson, sons
of Pall Jackson (born Pepys), the two nephews; Balthazar St. Michel,
brother-in-law, and his daughter Mary; Roger Pepys, of Impington,
Edward Pickering, Tim Turner, the minister of Tooting; Mr. Bellamy, Mr.
and Mrs. Mathews, Dr. Montagu, Dean of Durham; and the Earl of Sandwich.
Dr. Daniel Milles, the minister of St. Olave’s, Hart Street, was one of
Pepys’s life-long acquaintances--we can hardly call him friend, for the
Diarist never seems to have cared much for him. We read how he “nibbled
at the Common Prayer,” then how he took to the surplice, and gradually
changed from the minister under the Commonwealth to the Church of
England rector under Charles. A year or two after he ought to have been
accustomed to the Prayer-Book, he made an extraordinary blunder in
reading the service. Instead of saying, “We beseech Thee to preserve
to our use the kindly fruits of the earth,” he said: “Preserve to our
use our gracious Queen Katherine.”[174] In 1667 he was presented to the
rectory of Wanstead, in Essex, and in order to qualify him for holding
two livings at the same time, he was made one of the Duke of York’s
chaplains.[175]
It is often amusing to notice how frequently Pepys changed his opinion
of certain persons: for instance, in 1660, he calls Mr. Milles “a
very good minister,”[176] while in 1667 he styles him “a lazy fat
priest.”[177]
Two men who occupy a considerable space in the “Diary” are the two
clerks, Thomas Hayter and William Hewer. Most of those who were in
anyway connected with Pepys were helped on by him in the struggle
of life, and his clerks were no exception to this rule. Hayter was
appointed Clerk of the Acts in 1674, and Secretary of the Admiralty
in 1679; and subsequently Hewer was a Commissioner of the Navy and
Treasurer for Tangier. Some of those whose fortunes had been made by
Pepys turned out ungrateful when their patron was out of power; but
Hewer continued to be a comfort to the old man to the last.
Allusion has already been made to Pepys’s helpers in the arrangement of
his books and papers, and therefore much need not be said about them
here. While the “Diary” was being written, Pepys obtained help from his
wife and brother-in-law and servants; but when he became more opulent
he employed educated men to write for him. One of these was Cesare
Morelli, an Italian, recommended by Thomas Hill. He arranged Pepys’s
musical papers, and in 1681 he acknowledged the receipt of _£_7, which
made a total of _£_85 17_s._ 6_d._ received from Pepys during a period
extending from November 4th, 1678, to August 13th, 1681.[178] This
friendship, which does Pepys much credit, caused him some trouble, as
Morelli was a Roman Catholic, and the zealots falsely affirmed that he
was also a priest.
Pepys early made the acquaintance of Dr. Petty, who was a member of
the Rota Club; and he frequently mentions him and his double-bottomed
boat (named “The Experiment”) in the “Diary.” Many anecdotes are told
of Petty by Aubrey--how he was poor at Paris, and lived for a week on
three pennyworth of walnuts; how, while teaching anatomy at Oxford,
he revived Nan Green after her execution, and how he obtained the
Professorship of Music at Gresham College by the interest of Captain
John Graunt, author of “Observations on the Bills of Mortality.” At
the Restoration Petty was knighted, and made Surveyor-General of
Ireland, where he gathered a large fortune. Pepys considered Sir
William Petty to be one of the most rational men that he ever heard
speak with tongue;[179] and he was also an excellent droll. The latter
character was proved when a soldier knight challenged him to fight. He
was very short-sighted; and, having the privilege of nominating place
and weapon for the duel, he chose a dark cellar for the place, and a
great carpenter’s axe for the weapon. This turned the challenge into
ridicule, and the duel never came off.
Petty was a prominent Fellow of the Royal Society, and about 1665 he
presented a paper on “The Building of Ships,” which the President (Lord
Brouncker) took away and kept to himself, according to Aubrey, with
the remark, that “’twas too great an arcanum of State to be commonly
perused.” Aubrey also relates an excellent story _apropos_ of the
Royal Society’s anniversary meeting on St. Andrew’s Day. The relater
had remarked that he thought it was not well the Society should have
pitched upon the patron of Scotland’s day, as they should have taken
St. George or St. Isidore (a philosopher canonized). “No,” said Petty,
“I would rather have had it on St. Thomas’s Day, for he would not
believe till he had seen and put his fingers into the holes, according
to the motto, _Nullius in verba_.”
Among the City friends of Pepys, the Houblons stand forward very
prominently. James Houblon, the father, died in 1682, in his ninetieth
year, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, his epitaph
being written in Latin by Pepys. His five sons are frequently mentioned
in the “Diary,” but James and Wynne were more particularly his friends,
and were among those who received mourning rings after his death. In
1690, when Pepys was committed to the Gate-house, and four gentlemen
came forward to bail him, James Houblon was one of these four.[180]
Alderman Backwell, the chief goldsmith of his time, had many dealings
with Pepys, who went to him at one time to change some Dutch money,
and at another to weigh Lord Sandwich’s crusados.[181] Probably our
Diarist was rather troublesome at times, for once he bought a pair of
candlesticks, which soon afterwards he changed for a cup, and at last
he obtained a tankard in place of the cup. In 1665 there was a false
report that Backwell was likely to become a bankrupt; but in 1672,
on the closing of the Exchequer, the King owed him _£_293,994 16_s._
6_d._, and he was in consequence ruined by Charles’s dishonest action.
On his failure many of his customers’ accounts were taken over by the
predecessors of the present firm of Child and Co., the bankers.
We shall have occasion to allude in the next chapter to some of those
who were brought in contact with Pepys in the way of business; but
it is necessary to say a few words here about two men who were both
official acquaintances and personal friends. Sir Anthony Deane was
one of the most accomplished shipbuilders of his time, and a valuable
public servant, but he did not escape persecution. A joint charge
of betraying the secrets of the British navy was made against Pepys
and Deane in 1675. In 1668 Deane had held the office of shipwright
at Portsmouth, and afterwards he was appointed a Commissioner of the
Navy. In 1680 he resigned his post, but in 1681 he again formed one of
the new Board appointed by James II., and hoped to help in improving
the condition of the navy, which was then in a very reduced state.
After the Revolution he sought retirement in Worcestershire, and the
two old men corresponded and compared notes on their states of mind.
Deane wrote to Pepys: “These are only to let you know I am alive.
I have nothing to do but read, walk and prepare for all chances,
attending this obliging world. I have the old soldier’s request, a
little space between business and the grave, which is very pleasant
on many considerations. As most men towards their latter end grow
serious, so do I in assuring you that I am,” &c.[182] Pepys replied:
“I am alive too, I thank God! and as serious, I fancy, as you can be,
and not less alone. Yet I thank God too! I have not within me one of
those melancholy misgivings that you seem haunted with. The worse the
world uses me, the better I think I am bound to use myself. Nor shall
any solicitousness after the felicities of the next world (which yet
I bless God! I am not without care for) ever stifle the satisfactions
arising from a just confidence of receiving some time or other,
even here, the reparation due to such unaccountable usage as I have
sustained in this.”[183]
Mr. (afterwards Sir Henry) Sheres is frequently referred to in the
latter pages of the “Diary,” but the friendship which sprang up between
him and Pepys dates from a period subsequent to the completion of
that work. Sheres accompanied the Earl of Sandwich into Spain, where
he acquired that Spanish character which clung to him through life.
He returned to England in September, 1667, carrying letters from Lord
Sandwich. Pepys found him “a good ingenious man,” and was pleased with
his discourse.
In the following month Sheres returned to Spain, being the bearer of a
letter from Pepys to Lord Sandwich.[184] Subsequently he was engaged at
Tangier, and received _£_100 for drawing a plate of the fortification,
as already related.[185] He was grateful to Pepys for getting him
the money, and had a silver candlestick made after a pattern he had
seen in Spain, for keeping the light from the eyes, and gave it to
the Diarist.[186] On the 5th of April, 1669, he treated the Pepys
household, at the Mulberry Garden, to a Spanish _olio_, a dish of meat
and savoury herbs, which they greatly appreciated.
On the death of Sir Jonas Moore, Pepys wrote to Colonel Legge
(afterward Lord Dartmouth) a strong letter of recommendation in favour
of Sheres, whom he describes “as one of whose loyalty and duty to the
King and his Royal Highness and acceptance with them I assure myself;
of whose personal esteem and devotion towards you (Col. Legge), of
whose uprightness of mind, universality of knowledge in all useful
learning particularly mathematics, and of them those parts especially
which relate to gunnery and fortification; and lastly, of whose
vigorous assiduity and sobriety I dare bind myself in asserting much
farther than, on the like occasion, I durst pretend to of any other’s
undertaking, or behalf of mine.”[187] Sheres obtained the appointment,
and served under Lord Dartmouth at the demolition of Tangier in 1683.
He appears to have been knighted in the following year, and
to have devoted himself to literature in later life. He translated
“Polybius,” and some “Dialogues” of Lucian, and was the author of a
pretty song. His name occurs among those who received mourning rings on
the occasion of Pepys’s death.
Raleigh said, “There is nothing more becoming any wise man than to make
choice of friends, for by them thou shalt be judged what thou art.” If
so, it speaks well for Pepys that the names of most of the worthies
of his time are to be found amongst his correspondents. Newton and
Wallis stand out among the philosophers; the two Gales (Thomas and
Roger), Evelyn, and Bishop Gibson among antiquaries and historians;
Kneller among artists; and Bishop Compton and Nelson, the author of the
“Festivals and Fasts,” among theologians.
The letters of some of these men have been printed in the
“Correspondence” appended to the “Diary,” and in Smith’s “Life,
Journals, and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys;” but many more still
remain in manuscript in various collections.
FOOTNOTES:
[163] “Diary,” April 26, 1664.
[164] Oct. 10, 1664.
[165] “Diary,” Aug. 14, 1664.
[166] May 31, 1662.
[167] Dec. 6, 1666.
[168] Jan. 21, 1667–68.
[169] “Diary,” Feb. 18, 1667–68.
[170] May 11, 1668.
[171] Sept. 15, 1661.
[172] Oct. 2, 1661.
[173] Nov. 7, 1661.
[174] “Diary,” April 17, 1664.
[175] May 29, 1667.
[176] “Diary,” Aug. 19, 1660.
[177] June 3, 1667.
[178] Smith’s “Life, Journals, &c., of Samuel Pepys,” vol. i. p. 270.
[179] “Diary,” Jan. 27, 1663–64.
[180] Smith’s “Life, &c., of Pepys,” vol. ii. p. 352.
[181] A Portuguese coin worth from _2s. 3d._ to _4s._:--
“Believe me, I had rather lost my purse Full of cruzados.”--_Othello_,
iii. 4.
[182] Smith’s “Life, &c. of Pepys,” vol. ii. p. 291.
[183] Ibid., vol. ii. p. 238.
[184] Smith’s “Life, &c. of Pepys,” vol. i. p. 117.
[185] “Diary,” Jan. 18, 1668–69.
[186] Jan. 28, 1668–69.
[187] Smith’s “Life, &c. of Pepys,” vol. i. p. 303.
[Illustration: Decoration]
[Illustration: Decoration]