New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-04-14
SAMUEL PEPYS.
HIS MEMORIAL IN ST. oLAvEs-MR. low
ELLIS EUL0GY.

IysoM The REGULAR ooRhEsroNpENT OF InE Imhgnh J
The heaviest penalty, said Mr.. Lowell, now
laid upon departed greatness is statue. No
aoubt he had in his minds eve some OF
Che recent London monuments to buried merit
raised; perhaps Mr.. Belts performances. The
memorial TO Pepys. In unwilling which our Minister
made this remark, is, as he said, mittgated Dur
den upon the dead man whom il is meant TO honor
There was think, no very urgent reason why
Pepys should have mural tablet set up over
against his grave His Diary Is his best mohu-
ment. However, IL happens that tho immortal Cos
sip lies buried IN the chamber of st. OiaNe-a SAINT
borrowed ont of the scandinavian calcnuar-shu
st. Olaye has rector of restless mind, and
hence tho memorial and the ceremony OF yesterday
As Pepys had been Secretary 10 the Navy
the First Lord Of the Admiralty was asked TO make
the chief speech and consented And As PepyS had
Furthermore written a Diary which his eUoglst oil
Yesterday described rs devoid of literary merit, IL
was deemed night that one of the first living men
of letters should make a second speech ana ths IN
yitation sent 10 Mr. Lowell was accepted. II hap
neped. however that Lord NorthbrOok could not
come and II was left to Mr. Lowell to represent the
ROYAL Navy and the world Of lottcrs as well.
The Rector Of ST Olsvesi Is man for whom the
Church ought TO do something. 1t may he said OF
him that he maguifes his office, and that IA good
enough reason for giving him better. lie asked
NJ. 10 his church TO listen to addresses 10y Lord
Norihbrook and Mr.. Lowell. The cards OF invita-
ton bore no hint OF any other performance but the
Rector was good enough to begin the proceedings
with the morning service Of the Church of England
reading PRAYING singing and all the rest OF II.
The memorial 10 Pepys may he said TO have been
not only "maugurated," but consecrated. Pepys
would perhaps haNo liked this He used to 20 pref
" regularly 10 church. and spend his time III look
ing about him for pretty women. lie would nave
looked in vain yesterday. OF women there was no
lack but that tluthfulness which the stern moral
ist insists on putting before pollteness for
bids one to say they were pretty
Pepvs however, would have seen other men looking
at each other IN bewilderment at the exercises
of religion going on about them on this week day
afternoon in streaming Londons central road. 81.
Oaves is one of many churches left stranded III the
city. You enter it by court bounded Oh two sides
BY warehouses, on the third by lane leading ont
of Hart-st " hich leads out of Mark Lane, one of
The most famous business streets of London. One
ought not tO censure the Reverend Mr. Povah too
harshy He has been twenty three years rector of
St Oayes and this was perhaps the first time he had
,een his church filed The temptation was irresstl-
BILE Pepys would have seen, moreover, the master OF
Magdalen College. Cambridge, tho college to
which be bsquesthed the library he wasso proud Of
and by which he was best left in remembrance till
sixty wears ago when his Diary was first decpher-
ed and published lie would have seen the Deputy
Master of Trinity House. Of which he was an Elder
Brother I'm his day lie would have seen the Master
and Wardens of the Clothvorbers' Company
mindful of the fact that Pepys had himself been
master of tina; once worshipfu ganizstion-wear-
Ing the fur,rmmed gowns which. supp oso. were
worn in Popys's time. lie would have seen the
COMPTROLLER of the Household of the Duke Of Edin-
burgh side 10y side with the Envoy of a Republic
theoxstcncs Of which could not easily be explained
10 the man in whose honor he was there.
PRAYERS over the rector quilted his desk aud took
mn a positlon m front of the choir and made us
speech of his own. lilo related in spirit of frank
eeotisIn his connection with tho memorial; how he
had proposed it twenty years ago. and let it drop
snd taken 1t up again After while he stopped
aud Mr. Lowell was asked to begin.
Mr. Lowell began, yon perceive, under the double
depression of Lord Norhbrook's absence and Of the
religion. solemnity which had just been transacted
IN hi. own presence. lie practised speaker
that his embarrassment. If it existed, concealed
from over, body but himself lie read letter from
Lord Nofthbrook explaining that nothing but
urgent business could have kept him away, and
saving how anxious he was to give his
testimony % the merits of Pepvs as an Admiralty
official; merits which he believed to be fairly
stated in q contemporary account which he in
closed MI Lowell did not know whether the
count bad been in print, who was the author Of
IT which makes il the better worth quoting
Pepvs was without exception, the greatest and
most useful Minister that ever filed the same sltu2-
tons lu England the 9cts and registers of tho Adj
Inralty proving tins beyond contradiction. Tho
principal rule aud establishments in present use in
these offices are we-knOwu 10 have been of his in
Producing aud most of the officers serving therein
since the Restoration of his bringing up lie was
most studlOus reporter and strenuous asserter OF
order and discipline. SObTiety diligence, capacity,
lovalty and subsection 10 command were essentials
required in all whom he advanced. Where any of
these were found wanting no interest OF authority
was capable of moving him IN favor of tho highest
pretender. DischaTging his duty to his FRINGE and
country with religious Application and perfect in
tegrlty he feared no one, cOurted no ono, and neg
lectcd LS own fortune.
Not the least interesting point in this striking tes
timony Is that IT should be accepted as true by a
man like Lord NorthbroOk, himself the ablcSt man
81 business in a Ministry exceptionally strong in
able men Of business. lie is the present head of
he great Department with which Pcpys was con-
nectcd, aud his opinion is decisive Ii lie none the
less interesting to add that down to this day many
Of the forms and papers in at the Admiralty are
Of Pcpys's doyising. lie found the administration
Of the Navy a chaos. lie left it an ordered and set
ted establishment Of business.
When. however, Mr. Lowell came to the literary
side Of Pcpys's character and fame considering
Pepys a. tho diarist whom the world knows he
seemed If one may say afraid of bis liking for
him. He laid the foundations of his final euogy in
az elaborate dispsragement of the man and Of the
writer. He described hin as the very tpye of what
We now call Philithns. He enumerated with pitt
less particularly all the charges against him which
can be collected out of his confessions. He did
more cruel thing than that for he quoted from the
idox to Mr.. Whe9tley's Samuel Pepys and the
" orld He lived lu.' Mr. Wheatlcys list Of Pepyss
Offences as seen through Mr. Wheatley's spectacle
This makes it eXcusablo for an old sdmirer of
Pepys 10 interpose | must say that | doubt
whether Mr.. Lowell, who knows tho Diary almost