NOTES ON MEMORABLE MEN

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 87

NOTES ON MEMORABLE MEN

By Joyce Jocelyn,

SAMUEL PEPYS, THE DIARIST.

"The Avorld will likely wait 300 years or more for one who shall so wittily combine the story of a man with the history of a period." Among the happy lovers of good books there are surely few who would not place upon their list of favourites the Diary of Pepys, which, to quote the appreciation of Macaulay, "has kept his name fresh to our time." ".

To earn a place in the republic of letters it is not always necessary to exhibit the highest scholarship or disclose a, mind of finest order; it is.sufficient to write with lettered ease and general cultivation on civil, social, or democratic topics, so—and this is the great poind>— "tnat they come home to men's business and bosoms." Within this range, it may be safely claimed that diarists like Pepys and Evelyn have earned a more than creditable place. Books that bring the ready laughter or pathetic smile are not so many that we can afford to hold the few we have too cheaply. Appealingly and companionable, let us own them for the friends they are. The recording faculty is not the necessarily mean. At its best it, implies keen observation) regular persistence, and a sympathetic eye for the humanities; events being notable and famous; and the writer who ambles on from day to day will not -be despised by the historian who, marching with a bolder stride, covers a greater interval. Vain trifling, curious, artistic, and industrious, Pepys painted with a facile brush a picture of the time—the doings and desires.of personal and official everyday experience, presenting an unrivalled study of a somewhat petty-minded man ambitious to standi high in the opinion of his contemporaries, who was most carelessly self-revelant. Clever and inquisitive, this chameleon of the precincts of a court has with art unparalleled spun from his recollection a curious and a strangely-woven tapestry. Simplicity and cunning, a passionate regard for economy alternating with an easy generosity; the pleasure of the connoissajffe in books; their matter, their lodging, amrtheir garb; affection for his fireside and his wife, mingled with reproach or patience, as occasion called, contrasted with an evident delight in luxury, fondness for society warmly praised and -seethingly condemned, are shown by turn on every fascinating page. Yet> in effect, the modest menage of the Secretary of State for the British Navy shows no official splendour, his entourage seldom numbering more than a secretary, a man, -and maid or two. These latter, patted for their accomplishments or scolded for their misdemeanours, make record sufficiently amusing. Occasions on which this officer of State, who loved nothing better than to aesifct his tailor with ideas for his wardrobe, to loiteringly inspect the painting of the various portraits of his wife, to criticise the colouring of her gown or the "mending" of her hand, are funnily contrasted with his "basting" of a recalcitrant maid "with a broom . . ." The artful quiet with which Mr Samuel Pepys received the curtain lecture of the wife whose consolation never failed him when offioial cares were pressing, is mentioned so naively and with such genuine abandon that the tickled reader pauses to laugh, admire, perhaps pity, Mrs Pepys, whose wifehood began at 15, whose health was poor, her life apparently inconsequent. ... The quaintness of the past is in it all; the fragrance of laces and stored lavender steals through the loves and laughter of the noble and the clown, redeeming in a measure the sickening atmosphere of an immoral Court. _ Onejs clad to note the counteracting influence of and their mutual friend, Godolphin, serenely shining above the fog of vicious pleasure and the terror of the plaoue. London burning is vividly depicted, and facts historical are dealt with in pictorial fashion. The industry of Pepys, who kept his journal "written up" until by failing sight compelled to abandon Ins task is one of the most commendable of his virtues. "Up very betimes" is frequently his phrase. Up betimes, indeed, at 3 or 4 in the morning "to take a journey with my wife," and "to bed" very late sometimes "discoursing music, the playhouse, occasionally too merry.' Very

proud of and very lovingly disposed to deck "my wife in laced gowns, and now and then to choose a jewel," for which ho went "to much expense"; childishly delighted when, having "our own coach," they went in line array and all the pride of new possession so joyously upon parade. Figuring so prominently almost on every other page, the wife, whose onetime vision of a child contrasted pathetically with the matter-of-fact admission that "I did not wish it," one cannot help regretting that the diary was closed before her death. One can imagine the artless pathos' with which his Borrow wlould be worded—the lack of interest in events for Pepys when she had ceased to be. One feels that this beautiful woman, not too good for human nature s daily food, was gently treated dearly prized, a Dresden china goddess, informed by tears and wiles; her portrait in the exquisite edition which furnished hex story is proof convincing of her charm, her loveliness, and grace; and rests assured that a sincere affection had subsisted, threatened often by quarrels quite inconsequent and soon "made up, ' with Pepys records in his indulgent manner, regarding each, no doubt, as a necessary incident of Many different days were tibeiirs; one is glad to know it when "we are at present very kind." , , Pepys's correspondence with the philosophysing "world-despisimg" Evelyn shows that friendship for many years existed. Evelyn's Ddary, which contributed very valuably to the proper understanding of the period, contrasted with the simple, unaffected grace of Pepys, conveys a sense of stiffness in recital, and perhaps a notion that the writer had one eye upon the reader, the other upon Evelyn, while Pepys, alert and buoyant in his prattle-, instructs us unaware. This comparison, however, would be hardly fair were reference not made to very charming letters in which the scholarly vein is frequently relieved by flashes of a pleasant Wit, and his diary makes frequent mention of Mr Pepys : —Dining "with Mr Pepys, late Secretary to the Admiralty at his house"; visiting Mr Pepys at Clap ham, where he has "a noble and wonderfully well-furnished house, especially with indian and Chinese curiosities" ; "sitting for his picture to Mr Kneller for Mr Pepys, holding my Syloa in my right hand .... it is placed in his. library . . . Kneller never painted in a more masterly manner is complacently observed'. At another Admiralty dinner, it was their pleasure conjointly to examine the son of one Dr Cleuch, of a most prodigious maturity of knowledge." This infantile compendium, "who toyed wiith a parrot" while he astounded his inquisitors with the quantity and quality of the information he had amassed during has short life of 12 years, who answered perfectly in every subject touched upon from chronology and astronomy to Olympic years and synchronisms, from theology to the schisms, delighted his hearers, who, ungated, though exhausted, further • plied their victim, who, "after a little thought, satisfied them, so fully that "we left questioning further." Can one be surprised that Evelyn "counselled his father not to set his heart upon this jewel." Notwithstanding difference of- training, temperament, and occupation, there was evidently a sympathetic understanding which drew these' diarists together. Even when disgraced Pepys was not ; deserted by his friend : witnees this naive record : —"Sending a piece of venison to Mr Pepys, still a prisoner, I went and dined with him." Both were connoisseurs, amd both prided tbemoelves upon the fact v Sir Isaac Newton's correspondence shows his regard for Pepys; and Sir Godfrey Kneller, who painted to his order, pronounced him "an entire gentleman of a noble and generous mind."

Pepys, in his official capacity, in his relations, with the King, .and his patron, the Earl of Sandwich, Pepys entertaining right hoepitaoly, Pepys in his library, "arranging and rearranging my books./' Pepys listening quietly to conjugal upbraiding at one time, anxious at another that the health of 'his wife should not suffer from going out too "very betimes" to gather may-dew—Pepys busy, worried, self-engrossed, "too merry" often; truthfully inditing himself—nob free from frailty in a time of folly, yet loved and miou'incd by eome of the best and wisest of his time, stands quite alone, a quaint and pleasant figure in a dissolute period. A faithful 'servant of the State, a kind employer, a born collector, and a genial friend. Pepys, poor Pepys; vain, easy, courteous Papys; not quite a master spirit, but a boon companion. Where in bookland shall we look upon thy like again ? or find self-etched in any diary so memorable a portrait of a maai ?