haughtiness as a ruler of the navy, and that this was resented by some.
An amusing instance will be found in the Parliamentary Debates. On May
11th, 1678, the King's verbal message to quicken the supply was brought in
by Mr. Secretary Williamson, when Pepys spoke to this effect:
"When I promised that the ships should be ready by the 30th of May,
it was upon the supposition of the money for 90 ships proposed by
the King and voted by you, their sizes and rates, and I doubt not by
that time to have 90 ships, and if they fall short it will be only
from the failing of the Streights ships coming home and those but
two . . . . .
"Sir Robert Howard then rose and said, 'Pepys here speaks rather
like an Admiral than a Secretary, "I" and "we." I wish he knows
half as much of the Navy as he pretends.'"
Pepys was chosen by the electors of Harwich as their member in the short
Parliament that sat from March to July, 1679, his colleague being Sir
Anthony Deane, but both members were sent to the Tower in May on a
baseless charge, and they were superseded in the next Parliament that met
on the 17th October, 1679.
The high-handed treatment which Pepys underwent at this time exhibits a
marked instance of the disgraceful persecution connected with the
so-called Popish plot. He was totally unconnected with the Roman Catholic
party, but his association with the Duke of York was sufficient to mark
him as a prey for the men who initiated this "Terror" of the seventeenth
century. Sir. Edmund Berry Godfrey came to his death in October, 1678,
and in December Samuel Atkins, Pepys's clerk, was brought to trial as an
accessory to his murder. Shaftesbury and the others not having succeeded
in getting at Pepys through his clerk, soon afterwards attacked him more
directly, using the infamous evidence of Colonel Scott. Much light has
lately been thrown upon the underhand dealings of this miscreant by Mr. G.
D. Scull, who printed privately in 1883 a valuable work entitled,
"Dorothea Scott, otherwise Gotherson, and Hogben of Egerton House, Kent,
1611-1680."
John Scott (calling himself Colonel Scott) ingratiated himself into
acquaintance with Major Gotherson, and sold to the latter large tracts of
land in Long Island, to which he had no right whatever. Dorothea
Gotherson, after her husband's death, took steps to ascertain the exact
state of her property, and obtained the assistance of Colonel Francis
Lovelace, Governor of New York. Scott's fraud was discovered, and a
petition for redress was presented to the King. The result of this was
that the Duke of York commanded Pepys to collect evidence against Scott,
and he accordingly brought together a great number of depositions and
information as to his dishonest proceedings in New England, Long Island,
Barbadoes, France, Holland, and England, and these papers are preserved
among the Rawlinson Manuscripts in the Bodleian. Scott had his revenge,
and accused Pepys of betraying the Navy by sending secret particulars to
the French Government, and of a design to dethrone the king and extirpate
the Protestant religion. Pepys and Sir Anthony Deane were committed to
the Tower under the Speaker's warrant on May 22nd, 1679, and Pepys's place
at the Admiralty was filled by the appointment of Thomas Hayter. When the
two prisoners were brought to the bar of the King's Bench on the 2nd of
June, the Attorney-General refused bail, but subsequently they were
allowed to find security for L30,000.
Pepys was put to great expense in collecting evidence against Scott and
obtaining witnesses to clear himself of the charges brought against him.
He employed his brother-in-law, Balthasar St. Michel, to collect evidence
in France, as he himself explains in a letter to the Commissioners of the
Navy:--
"His Majesty of his gracious regard to me, and the justification of
my innocence, was then pleased at my humble request to dispence with
my said brother goeing (with ye shippe about that time designed for
Tangier) and to give leave to his goeing into France (the scene of
ye villannys then in practice against me), he being the only person
whom (from his relation to me, together with his knowledge in the
place and language, his knowne dilligence and particular affection
towards mee) I could at that tyme and in soe greate a cause pitch
on, for committing the care of this affaire of detecting the
practice of my enemies there."
In the end Scott refused to acknowledge to the truth of his original
deposition, and the prisoners were relieved from their bail on February
12th, 1679-80. John James, a butler previously in Pepys's service,
confessed on his deathbed in 1680 that he had trumped up the whole story
relating to his former master's change of religion at the instigation of
Mr. William Harbord, M.P. for Thetford.
Pepys wrote on July 1st, 1680, to Mrs. Skinner:
"I would not omit giving you the knowledge of my having at last
obtained what with as much reason I might have expected a year ago,
my full discharge from the bondage I have, from one villain's
practice, so long lain under."
William Harbord, of Cadbury, co. Somerset, second son of Sir Charles
Harbord, whom he succeeded in 1682 as Surveyor. General of the Land
Revenues of the Crown, was Pepys's most persistent enemy. Several papers
referring to Harbord's conduct were found at Scott's lodging after his
flight, and are now preserved among the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian.
One of these was the following memorandum, which shows pretty plainly
Pepys's opinion of Harbord:--
"That about the time of Mr. Pepys's surrender of his employment of
Secretary of the Admiralty, Capt. Russell and myself being in
discourse about Mr. Pepys, Mr. Russell delivered himself in these or
other words to this purport: That he thought it might be of
advantage to both, if a good understanding were had between his
brother Harbord and Mr. Pepys, asking me to propose it to Mr. Pepys,
and he would to his brother, which I agreed to, and went immediately
from him to Mr. Pepys, and telling him of this discourse, he gave me
readily this answer in these very words: That he knew of no service
Mr. Harbord could doe him, or if he could, he should be the last man
in England he would receive any from."
[William Harbord sat as M.P. for Thetford in several parliaments.
In 1689 he was chosen on the Privy Council, and in 1690 became Vice-
Treasurer for Ireland. He was appointed Ambassador to Turkey in
1692, and died at Belgrade in July of that year.]
Besides Scott's dishonesty in his dealings with Major Gotherson, it came
out that he had cheated the States of Holland out of L7,000, in
consequence of which he was hanged in effigy at the Hague in 1672. In
1682 he fled from England to escape from the law, as he had been guilty of
wilful murder by killing George Butler, a hackney coachman, and he reached
Norway in safety, where he remained till 1696. In that year some of his
influential friends obtained a pardon for him from William III., and he
returned to England.
In October, 1680, Pepys attended on Charles II. at Newmarket, and there he
took down from the King's own mouth the narrative of his Majesty's escape
from Worcester, which was first published in 1766 by Sir David Dalrymple
(Lord Hailes) from the MS., which now remains in the Pepysian library both
in shorthand and in longhand? It is creditable to Charles II. and the
Duke of York that both brothers highly appreciated the abilities of Pepys,
and availed themselves of his knowledge of naval affairs.
In the following year there was some chance that Pepys might retire from
public affairs, and take upon himself the headship of one of the chief
Cambridge colleges. On the death of Sir Thomas Page, the Provost of
King's College, in August, 1681, Mr. S. Maryon, a Fellow of Clare Hall,
recommended Pepys to apply to the King for the appointment, being assured
that the royal mandate if obtained would secure his election. He liked
the idea, but replied that he believed Colonel Legge (afterwards Lord
Dartmouth) wanted to get the office for an old tutor. Nothing further
seems to have been done by Pepys, except that he promised if he were
chosen to give the whole profit of the first year, and at least half of
that of each succeeding year, to "be dedicated to the general and public
use of the college." In the end Dr. John Coplestone was appointed to the
post.
On May 22nd, 1681, the Rev. Dr. Milles, rector of St. Olave's, who is so
often mentioned in the Diary, gave Pepys a certificate as to his attention
to the services of the Church. It is not quite clear what was the
occasion of the certificate, but probably the Diarist wished to have it
ready in case of another attack upon him in respect to his tendency
towards the Church of Rome.
Early in 1682 Pepys accompanied the Duke of York to Scotland, and narrowly
escaped shipwreck by the way. Before letters could arrive in London to
tell of his safety, the news came of the wreck of the "Gloucester" (the
Duke's ship), and of the loss of many lives. His friends' anxiety was
relieved by the arrival of a letter which Pepys wrote from Edinburgh to
Hewer on May 8th, in which he detailed the particulars of the adventure.
The Duke invited him to go on board the "Gloucester" frigate, but he
preferred his own yacht (the "Catherine "), in which he had more room, and
in consequence of his resolution he saved himself from the risk of
drowning. On May 5th the frigate struck upon the sand called "The Lemon
and Oar," about sixteen leagues from the mouth of the Humber. This was
caused by the carelessness of the pilot, to whom Pepys imputed "an
obstinate over-weening in opposition to the contrary opinions of Sir I.
Berry, his master, mates, Col. Legg, the Duke himself, and several others,
concurring unanimously in not being yet clear of the sands." The Duke and
his party escaped, but numbers were drowned in the sinking ship, and it is
said that had the wreck occurred two hours earlier, and the accompanying
yachts been at the distance they had previously been, not a soul would
have escaped.
Pepys stayed in Edinburgh for a short time, and the Duke of York allowed
him to be present at two councils. He then visited; with Colonel George
Legge, some of the principal places in the neighbourhood, such as
Stirling, Linlithgow, Hamilton, and Glasgow. The latter place he
describes as "a very extraordinary town indeed for beauty and trade, much
superior to any in Scotland."
Pepys had now been out of office for some time, but he was soon to have
employment again. Tangier, which was acquired at the marriage of the King
to Katharine of Braganza, had long been an incumbrance, and it was
resolved at last to destroy the place. Colonel Legge (now Lord Dartmouth)
was in August, 1683, constituted Captain-General of his Majesty's forces
in Africa, and Governor of Tangier, and sent with a fleet of about twenty
sail to demolish and blow up the works, destroy the harbour, and bring
home the garrison. Pepys received the King's commands to accompany Lord
Dartmouth on his expedition, but the latter's instructions were secret,
and Pepys therefore did not know what had been decided upon. He saw quite
enough, however, to form a strong opinion of the uselessness of the place
to England. Lord Dartmouth carried out his instructions thoroughly, and
on March 29th, 1684, he and his party (including Pepys) arrived in the
English Channel.
The King himself now resumed the office of Lord High Admiral, and
appointed Pepys Secretary of the Admiralty, with a salary of L500 per
annum. In the Pepysian Library is the original patent, dated June 10th,
1684: "His Majesty's Letters Patent for ye erecting the office of
Secretary of ye Admiralty of England, and creating Samuel Pepys, Esq.,
first Secretary therein." In this office the Diarist remained until the
period of the Revolution, when his official career was concluded.
A very special honour was conferred upon Pepys in this year, when he was
elected President of the Royal Society in succession to Sir Cyril Wyche,
and he held the office for two years. Pepys had been admitted a fellow of
the society on February 15th, 1664-65, and from Birch's "History" we find
that in the following month he made a statement to the society:--
"Mr. Pepys gave an account of what information he had received from the
Master of the Jersey ship which had been in company with Major Holmes in
the Guinea voyage concerning the pendulum watches (March 15th, 1664-5)."
The records of the society show that he frequently made himself useful by
obtaining such information as might be required in his department. After
he retired from the presidency, he continued to entertain some of the most
distinguished members of the society on Saturday evenings at his house in
York Buildings. Evelyn expressed the strongest regret when it was
necessary to discontinue these meetings on account of the infirmities of
the host.
In 1685 Charles II. died, and was succeeded by James, Duke of York. From
his intimate association with James it might have been supposed that a
long period of official life was still before Pepys, but the new king's
bigotry and incapacity soon made this a practical impossibility. At the
coronation of James II. Pepys marched in the procession immediately
behind the king's canopy, as one of the sixteen barons of the Cinque
Ports.
In the year 1685 a new charter was granted to the Trinity Company, and
Pepys was named in it the first master, this being the second time that he
had held the office of master.
Evelyn specially refers to the event in his Diary, and mentions the
distinguished persons present at the dinner on July 20th.
It is evident that at this time Pepys was looked upon as a specially
influential man, and when a parliament was summoned to meet on May 19th,
1685, he was elected both for Harwich and for Sandwich. He chose to serve
for Harwich, and Sir Philip Parker was elected to fill his place at
Sandwich.
This parliament was dissolved by proclamation July 2nd, 1687, and on
August 24th the king declared in council that another parliament should be
summoned for November 27th, 1688, but great changes took place before that
date, and when the Convention Parliament was called together in January
and February, 1689-90, Pepys found no place in it. The right-hand man of
the exiled monarch was not likely to find favour in the eyes of those who
were now in possession. When the election for Harwich came on, the
electors refused to return him, and the streets echoed to the cry of "No
Tower men, no men out of the Tower!" They did not wish to be represented
in parliament by a disgraced official.
We have little or no information to guide us as to Pepys's proceedings at
the period of the Revolution. We know that James II. just before his
flight was sitting to Kneller for a portrait intended for the Secretary to
the Admiralty, and that Pepys acted in that office for the last time on
20th February, 1688-89, but between those dates we know nothing of the
anxieties and troubles that he must have suffered. On the 9th March an
order was issued from the Commissioners of the Admiralty for him to
deliver up his books, &c., to Phineas Bowies, who superseded him as
secretary.
Pepys had many firm friends upon whom he could rely, but he had also
enemies who lost no opportunity of worrying him. On June 10th, 1690,
Evelyn has this entry in his Diary, which throws some light upon the
events of the time:--
"Mr. Pepys read to me his Remonstrance, skewing with what malice and
injustice he was suspected with Sir Anth. Deane about the timber of
which the thirty ships were built by a late Act of Parliament, with
the exceeding danger which the fleete would shortly be in, by reason
of the tyranny and incompetency of those who now managed the
Admiralty and affairs of the Navy, of which he gave an accurate
state, and shew'd his greate ability."
On the 25th of this same month Pepys was committed to the Gatehouse at
Westminster on a charge of having sent information to the French Court of
the state of the English navy. There was no evidence of any kind against
him, and at the end of July he was allowed to return to his own house on
account of ill-health. Nothing further was done in respect to the charge,
but he was not free till some time after, and he was long kept in anxiety,
for even in 1692 he still apprehended some fresh persecution.
Sir Peter Palavicini, Mr. James Houblon, Mr. Blackburne, and Mr. Martin
bailed him, and he sent them the following circular letter:--
"October 15, 1690.
"Being this day become once again a free man in every respect, I
mean but that of my obligation to you and the rest of my friends, to
whom I stand indebted for my being so, I think it but a reasonable
part of my duty to pay you and them my thanks for it in a body; but
know not how otherwise to compass it than by begging you, which I
hereby do, to take your share with them and me here, to-morrow, of a
piece of mutton, which is all I dare promise you, besides that of
being ever,
"Your most bounden and faithful humble servant,
"S. P."
He employed the enforced idleness caused by being thrust out of his
employment in the collection of the materials for the valuable work which
he published in 1690, under the title of "Memoirs of the Navy." Little
more was left for him to do in life, but as the government became more
firmly established, and the absolute absurdity of the idea of his
disloyalty was proved, Pepys held up his head again as a man to be
respected and consulted, and for the remainder of his life he was looked
upon as the Nestor of the Navy.
There is little more to be told of Pepys's life. He continued to keep up
an extended correspondence with his many friends, and as Treasurer of
Christ's Hospital he took very great interest in the welfare of that
institution. He succeeded in preserving from impending ruin the
mathematical foundation which had been originally designed by him, and
through his anxious solicitations endowed and cherished by Charles II. and
James II. One of the last public acts of his life was the presentation of
the portrait of the eminent Dr. John Wallis, Savilian Professor of
Geometry, to the University of Oxford.
In 1701 he sent Sir Godfrey Kneller to Oxford to paint the portrait, and
the University rewarded him with a Latin diploma containing in gorgeous
language the expression of thanks for his munificence.'
On the 26th May, 1703, Samuel Pepys, after long continued suffering,
breathed his last in the presence of the learned Dr. George Hickes, the
nonjuring Dean of Worcester, and the following letter from John Jackson to
his uncle's lifelong friend Evelyn contains particulars as to the cause of
death:
Mr. Jackson to Mr. Evelyn.
"Clapham, May 28th, 1703.
"Friday night.
"Honoured Sir,
"'Tis no small addition to my grief, to be obliged to interrupt the
quiet of your happy recess with the afflicting tidings of my Uncle
Pepys's death: knowing how sensibly you will partake with me herein.
But I should not be faithful to his desires, if I did not beg your
doing the honour to his memory of accepting mourning from him, as a
small instance of his most affectionate respect and honour for you.
I have thought myself extremely unfortunate to be out of the way at
that only time when you were pleased lately to touch here, and
express so great a desire of taking your leave of my Uncle; which
could not but have been admitted by him as a most welcome exception
to his general orders against being interrupted; and I could most
heartily wish that the circumstances of your health and distance did
not forbid me to ask the favour of your assisting in the holding up
of the pawll at his interment, which is intended to be on Thursday
next; for if the manes are affected with what passes below, I am
sure this would have been very grateful to his.
"I must not omit acquainting you, sir, that upon opening his body,
(which the uncommonness of his case required of us, for our own
satisfaction as well as public good) there was found in his left
kidney a nest of no less than seven stones, of the most irregular,
figures your imagination can frame, and weighing together four
ounces and a half, but all fast linked together, and adhering to his
back; whereby they solve his having felt no greater pains upon
motion, nor other of the ordinary symptoms of the stone. Some other
lesser defects there also were in his body, proceeding from the same
cause. But his stamina, in general, were marvellously strong, and
not only supported him, under the most exquisite pains, weeks beyond
all expectations; but, in the conclusion, contended for nearly forty
hours (unassisted by any nourishment) with the very agonies of
death, some few minutes excepted, before his expiring, which were
very calm.
"There remains only for me, under this affliction, to beg the
consolation and honour of succeeding to your patronage, for my
Uncle's sake; and leave to number myself, with the same sincerity he
ever did, among your greatest honourers, which I shall esteem as one
of the most valuable parts of my inheritances from him; being also,
with the faithfullest wishes of health and a happy long life to you,
"Honoured Sir,
"Your most obedient and
"Most humble Servant,
"J. JACKSON.
"Mr. Hewer, as my Uncle's Executor, and equally your faithful
Servant, joins with me in every part hereof.
"The time of my Uncle's departure was about three-quarters past
three on Wednesday morning last."
Evelyn alludes in his Diary to Pepys's death and the present to him of a
suit of mourning. He speaks in very high terms of his friend:--
"1703, May 26th. This day died Mr. Sam Pepys, a very worthy,
industrious, and curious person, none in England exceeding him in
knowledge of the navy, in which he had passed thro' all the most
considerable offices, Clerk of the Acts and Secretary of the
Admiralty, all which he performed with great integrity. When K.
James II. went out of England, he laid down his office, and would
serve no more, but withdrawing himselfe from all public affaires, he
liv'd at Clapham with his partner Mr. Hewer, formerly his clerk, in
a very noble and sweete place, where he enjoy'd the fruits of his
labours in greate prosperity. He was universally belov'd,
hospitable, generous, learned in many things, skilfd in music, a
very greate cherisher of learned men of whom he had the conversation
. . . . Mr. Pepys had been for neere 40 yeeres so much my
particular friend that Mr. Jackson sent me compleat mourning,
desiring me to be one to hold up the pall at his magnificent
obsequies, but my indisposition hinder'd me from doing him this last
office."
The body was brought from Clapham and buried in St. Olave's Church, Hart
Street, on the 5th June, at nine o'clock at night, in a vault just beneath
the monument to the memory of Mrs. Pepys. Dr. Hickes performed the last
sad offices for his friend.
Pepys's faithful friend, Hewer, was his executor, and his nephew, John
Jackson, his heir. Mourning was presented to forty persons, and a large
number of rings to relations, godchildren, servants, and friends, also to
representatives of the Royal Society, of the Universities of Cambridge and
Oxford, of the Admiralty, and of the Navy Office. The bulk of the
property was bequeathed to Jackson, but the money which was left was much
less than might have been expected, for at the time of Pepys's death
there was a balance of L28,007 2s. 1d. due to him from the Crown, and
none of this was ever paid. The books and other collections were left to
Magdalene College, Cambridge, but Jackson was to have possession of them
during his lifetime. These were the most important portion of Pepys's
effects, for with them was the manuscript of the immortal Diary. The
following are the directions for the disposition of the library, taken
from Harl. MS., No. 7301: