The Diary by Samuel Pepys (children's ebooks online TXT) π
Description
Pepysβ Diary is an incredibly frank decade-long snapshot of the life of an up and coming naval administrator in mid-17th century London. In it he describes everything from battles against the Dutch and the intrigues of court, down to the plays he saw, his marital infidelities, and the quality of the meat provided for his supper. His observations have proved invaluable in establishing an accurate record of the daily life of the people of London of that period.
Pepys eventually stopped writing his diary due to progressively worse eyesight, a condition he feared. He did consider employing an amanuensis to transcribe future entries for him, but worried that the content he wanted written would be too personal. Luckily for Pepys, his eyesight difficulties never progressed to blindness and he was able to go on to become both a Member of Parliament and the President of the Royal Society.
After Pepysβ death he left his large library of books and manuscripts first to his nephew, which was then passed on to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where it survives to this day. The diary, originally written in a shorthand, was included in this trove and was eventually deciphered in the early 19th century, and published by Lord Baybrooke in 1825. This early release censored large amounts of the text, and it was only in the 1970s that an uncensored version was published. Presented here is the 1893 edition, which restores the majority of the originally censored content but omits βa few passages which cannot possibly be printed.β The rich collection of endnotes serve to further illustrate the lives of the people Pepys meets and the state of Englandβs internal politics and international relations at the time.
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- Author: Samuel Pepys
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Dr. John Hacket, bishop 1661β ββ 71. β©
Dr. Thomas Wood, consecrated bishop of this see in 1671. β©
The Court of Arches. β©
βHacket was just the man for the time.β ββ β¦ His clergy said the king must have the βold apostolic spirit of discerning,β since he sent them a bishop so exactly to their minds.β ββ β¦ Whilst Lichfield had thus the best of bishops, it had the worst of deans. In 1663 Thomas Wood (bishop 1671β ββ 92), son of a Court official, had paid Β£100 to Charles II, and got the deanery.β ββ β¦ The whole chapter hated Wood, and sent a letter to the archbishop complaining that their stalls under such a dean were intolerable.β
Beresfordβs Lichfield (Diocesan Histories, S.P.C.K., pp. 246, 250β©
William Godolphin, descended from a younger branch of that family, which was afterwards ennobled in the person of Sidney, Earl Godolphin, Lord Treasurer. William Godolphin was of Christ Church, Oxford, and graduated M.A., January 14th, 1660β ββ 61. He was afterwards secretary to Sir H. Bennet (Lord Arlington), and M.P. for Camelford. He was a great favourite at Court, and was knighted on August 28th, 1668. In the spring of 1669 he returned to Spain as Envoy Extraordinary, and in 1671 he became Ambassador. On July 11th, 1696, he died at Madrid, having been for some years a Roman Catholic. β©
See December 13th, 1667. β©
The royal pardon was thus announced in the Gazette of February 24th, 1668: βThis day his Majesty was pleased to declare at the Board, that whereas, in contemplation of the eminent services heretofore done to his Majesty by most of the persons who were engaged in the late duel, or rencontre, wherein William Jenkins was killed, he doth graciously pardon the said offence: nevertheless, He is resolved from henceforth that on no pretence whatsoever any pardon shall be hereafter granted to any person whatsoever for killing of any man, in any duel or rencontre, but that the course of law shall wholly take place in all such cases.β The warrant for a pardon to George, Duke of Buckingham, is dated January 27th, 1668; and on the following day was issued, βWarrant for a grant to Francis, Earl of Shrewsbury, of pardon for killing William Jenkins, and for all duels, assaults, or batteries on George, Duke of Buckingham, Sir John Talbot, Sir Robert Holmes, or any other, whether indicted or not for the same, with restitution of lands, goods, etc.β (Calendar of State Papers, 1667β ββ 68, pp. 192, 193). β©
Lord Cornbury and Laurence Hyde. β©
Dr. John Dolben, afterwards Archbishop of York. β©
Dr. George Morley. β©
Sir George Etherege, the celebrated wit and man of fashion. He was the author of three comedies, The Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub (1664), She Would if She Could (1667), and The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter (1676). He is said to have bought his knighthood in order to persuade a rich widow to marry him. He was sent to the Hague by Charles II, and in 1685 by James II to Ratisbon. He died at Paris in 1691. β©
Shadwell confirms this complaint of Etheregeβs in the preface to his own Humourists. He writes: βThe last (viz. imperfect action) had like to have destroyed She Would if She Could, which I think (and I have the authority of some of the best judges in England forβt) is the best comedy that has been written since the Restoration of the Stage.β Harris played Sir Joslin Jolly. Downes says that it was inferior to Love in a Tub, but took well. β©
I.e., suitor. β©
See note 3835. β©
Mrs. Lowther, here mentioned by her maiden name. β©
Born at Kinsale in 1636, educated at Queenβs College, Oxford, and afterwards entered at Lincolnβs Inn. He was sworn one of the clerks of the Privy Council in 1664, and knighted in 1665. He was employed on several diplomatic missions, and in 1672 he was sent as Envoy Extraordinary to Portugal. William III appointed him Principal Secretary of State for Ireland. He was President of the Royal Society, 1690β ββ 95. Died 1702, at Kingβs-Weston, in Gloucestershire. His son Edward became Secretary of State, and his great-grandson succeeded to the ancient barony of De Clifford. β©
The kingβs speech is printed in Journals of the House of Lords (vol. xii, p. 181). It commences thus: βMy Lords and Gentlemen, I am glad to see you here again, to tell you what I have done in this interval, which I am confident you will be pleased with, since it is so much for the honour and security of this nation.β β©
Francis Pemberton, afterwards knighted, and made Lord Chief Justice of the Kingβs Bench in 1679. His career was a most singular one, he having been twice removed from the Bench, and twice imprisoned by the House of Commons. He twice returned to the bar, and after his second return he practised with great success as a serjeant for the next fourteen years till his death, June 10th, 1697. Evelyn says, βHe was held to be the most learned of the judges and an honest manβ (Diary, October 4th, 1683). β©
The play in which Smith acted Zanga was Lord Orreryβs Mustapha. The cast, as given by Downes (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 26), was as follows:
Solyman the Magnificent Betterton Mustapha Harris Zanger Smith Rustan Sandford Pyrrhus Richards βΈ» Young Haly Cademan Roxalana Mrs. Davenport Queen of Hungaria Mrs. DaviesDownes adds, with reference to the part of Roxalana, that it was afterwards played
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