TWO GREAT DIARISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3755, 2 March 1926, Page 78

TWO GREAT DIARISTS.

WHAT PEPYS AND EVELYN THOUGHT OF ONE ANOTHER. It is vastly entertaining to try to discover from the diaries of John Evelyn and Samuel Pepys, those two men who were so closely associated, what each thought of the other. Evelyn states in reference to Pepys’s death that “ Mr JPepys had been for near 40 years . . my particular friend.” That was in 2703, yet. curiously enough, during the whole period covered by Pepys in his diary—los9 to 1009—Evelyn makes no reference to him whatever.

But you can trace the growth of this long friendship in the two diaries, and as I see it Samuel Pepys, the tailor’s son, the clever, human, successful man of comparatively humble origin, worked hard to achieve that friendship with John Evelyn, the man of birth, wealth, and assured position. And that he succeeded is a great tribute to his sterling character. The two men, of such dissimilar antecedents, met probably about 1064, when Evelyn was appointed one of three charged with looking after the sick and wounded in the Dutch war. Pepys at that time, as Clerk of the Acts, had much to do with naval stores and economy. Pepys must have known of Evelyn as an author, an “ old acquaintance ” of the King, and a man of great learning, and I think he was a little anxious to know so famous a man, but a good deal afraid of his learning and position.

His first mention of his friend-to-be is on May 5, 1G65, when he went to Evelyn’s house at Saves Court, its owner not being at home, and walked in the garden, noting “ among other rarities, a hive of bees, so being hived in glass you may see the bees making their honey and combs mighty pleasantly.” Four months later he tells of an actual meeting in very pleasant circumstances. There had been a great haul of Dutch prizes, and Pepys met Evelyn in the company of others, and they all rejoiced at the good news. Pepys speaks with rather respectful admiration of his new acquaintance. Among other humours, Mr Evelyn’s repeating some verses made up of nothing but the various acceptations of may and oan, and doing it so aptly Upon occasion of something of that nature, and so fast, aid make us all die, almost, of laughing. They seemed to have got on so well that night that shortly afterwards Evelyn sent Pepys a present of a book of his own translating, “ about directions for gathering a library.” But this, honest Samuel Pepys admits frankly, "4i above my reach, but his epistle to

my Lord Chancellor is a very line piece.” By this time, October, 1665, the two men were in close touch on business matters, for Pepys tells how he called on Mr Evelyn “to discuss our confounded business of prisoners and sick. . and Evelyn showed him round the garden. Then, just a month later, we find poor Mr Pepys being rather overwhelmed by the erudition of his learned friend. Pepys’s entry for November 5, 1665, always seems to me to suggest that, having achieved a certain intimacy with the desirable Mr Evelyn, he felt sufficiently sure of his groun' to claim that much equality that permits of criticism. But lie does it rather ervously. He was obviously still overawed and anxious to keen in Evelyn’s good books, and I think perhaps Evelyn rather overdid it. Perhaps he felt that the amusing little Clerk of the Acts was getting a little above himself and needed squashing. But this is what happened.

I Pepys called on Evelyn, and Evelyn, intentionally or unintentionally, proceeded to impress his visitor. He showed him, among other things, “paintings in little in distemper. Indian incke, water colours: graveing; and above all the whole secret of mezzo- 1 in o. . He read to me very much also. . He read me part of a play or two of his making, very good, but not as he conceits them I think to be.” Poor Pepys was obviously getting bored. He showed me his Hortus Hyemalis. . . In fine, a most excellent person he is, and must be allowed a little for a little conceitedness, but he may ell be so, being a man so much above others. He read me, though with too much gusto, some little poems of his own that were not transcedent, yet one or two very pretty epigrams. Yet somehow I think that this tremendous entertainment was the beginning of the real friendship. Evelyn must have recognised in Pepys a certain sympathy during that long discourse, for afterwards we find the two meeting very frequently to discuss business and matters of interest, and to grumble together about the rotten state of the country. Pepys, too, seems to be growing realiv fond of his fellow-diarist. His admiration increases and he writes of Evelyn in April, 1666, ‘‘the more I know him the more I love him.” By March, 1669, the two seem settled friends. Evelyn dined with Pepys one day then, “but had a bad dinned/’ says Pepys candidly, and describes his guest as “a worthy good man.” And shortly after that Pepys’s threatened eyesight caused him to end his diary, and we hear no more of his views of famous John Evelyn. Yet the friendship continued aJid grew closer as the years went on. It seems almost as though the less demonstrative Evelyn felt bitterly sorr for his friend’s affliction, and it is •'urious to note that he makes his first reference to Pepys ten days after the closing of the diary. On January 10, 1669, he writes : “I went this evening to London to carry Mr Pepys to my brother Richard.” And then for thirty odd years it is evident that the two men were in very close touch with one another. They dine together and exchange visits with increasing frequency. * * • Evelyn seems to have infected his friend with something of his own love of art, antiquities, and curious matters, and when poor Pepys, by the plottings of his enemies, fell upon troublous ti—es Evelyn is ever at hand to bring what comfort he can to him. He dined with him when he was committed to the Tower. “I believe he was unjustly charged,” Evelyn says. A few weeks later, Pepys still being a prisoner, Evelyn sent him a gift of venison and went to dine again. Then some years later, when Pepys was again suspect and was committed to the Gate House, Evelyn, is with im on the night before his committal and again immediately after his release. When Pepys in his old age removed to Clapham, Evelyn approves ‘‘the very noble and wonderfully well "urnished house.” The whole tone of his many references to Pepys, although never specifically praising nor citicising the man. indicate an affection for him as an old and tried friend; but we never get a definite opinion until Evelyn sums him up in a long note on the day he died. And even then there is something judicial and restrained about the tribute. It reads more as though Evelyn were writing a recommendation to enable Pepys to secure some coveted post than as a dirge on the death of a friend. Had it fallen to Pepys’s lot to write of the death of Evelyn I feel there would have been less restraipt m the entry. But here is Evelyn’s final opinion: This day died Mr Samuel Pepys, a very worthy, industrious and curious person, none in England exceeding him in knowledge of the Navy. ... He was univorsally beloved, hospitable, generous, learned in many things, skilled in music, a very great cherisher of learned men of whom he had the conversation. And within two years Evelyn had gone to join his friend in the Great Beyond. —Clifford Jloskcn.