Mr Pepys and his Failings.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 811, 13 June 1876, Page 7

Mr Pepys and his Failin gs.

The '■ Pall Mall Gazette,' in a review of a recent new edition of ' Pepys' Diary,' makes the following reference to an amiable weakness of the diarist : — " Another failing which he as freely confesses, but for which, we regret to say, he shows little contrition, is a tendency to ' galivanting,' we may call ifc, but perhaps unbridled and promiscuous kissing would be nearer the fact. Whenever he got from under the range of Mrs Pepys' eye and within range of any prepossessing female, married or single, he either kissed her, or, with unblushing candor, expressed his regret thafc he did not. His recorded headaches are more than we should care to count, but his kisses defy computation. He seems to have pretty nearly kissed his way back from Cambridge Avhen he went to see his brother John. No sooner has he landed in Holland than we find him kissing ' two very pretty ladies, with black patches,' who were in the coach with him. And on his way home at Gravesend he observed ' a good handsome wench, the first I have seen a great while,' and promptly refreshed himself. At Chatham, again, showing some ladies over the Royal Sovereign, he put them into the lauthorn and kissed them, ' demanding it as a fee,' One of them, Mrs Bebecca Allen, especially took his fancy, and he had little pleasure in a ' fine collation ' ' for the intentness of my mind upon her.' However, he was • exceedingly merry, and had the opportunity of kissing Mrs Rebecca very often.' Next morning, even before breakfast, the rogue was at it again. ' I did again please myself with Mrs Bebecca ; and then he left for London, * a little troubled to part with her, for whioh God forgive me.' Dining at a tavern with jMr Creed and Moore, ' I saw the girle of the house, being very pretty, go into a chamber, and I went in after her and kissed her.' In short, he never let an opportunity slip. No one will sympathise Avith Mm when he complains i thafc ' the mayde thafc my wife hath lately I hired is very ugly, so that I cannot care for her •' and everyone with any sense of justice Avill rejoice when he reacta of Pepys comiDg in and catching a iVenchman kissing Mrs Pepys, which curiously he ' did not like ; ' and of his ' meeting a footman who was in quest of my wife, and spoke with her privately, bufc I could not tell what ifc was only my wife promised to go to some place to-morrow morning, whioh do trouble my mind how to know whither it was.' No man stood more in need of a practical illustration of * Sauce for the goose,' &c. There is a [ great deal of quiet comedy in the I manoeuvring about a certain journey to Portsmouth on which sho wished to ' accompany him, while he wished her to go tp Bromptpn j but virtue was not | triumphant here any more than on the Restoration sta^e, and 24* hours later we find Pepys at Portsmouth kissing Mrs Pierce."