New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-06-28

Clerk of the Acts and Secretary TO the Admiral.
ty. Transcribed from the Shorthand MANUSCRIPT
Il the pepy:an Library; Masd s1,ns, College
istn FeIIow a ana p Presdcnt Of the COLLEGE with
Lord Braybrooke's Notes Edited. with Add-
I aD co. " IS" VOL WILL PD' iH' ''' "''"'''"
With these volumes the new edition OF Pepys's
Diary ends. so far as the authors own work goes
The additions and improvements to Lord Bray
brooke's work have been so slight that one Won
ders why a new edition OF the work was consd-
cred necessary But II may at least be taken for
granted now that no unexpurgated copy will ever
be made Of Pepys's confessions for general read
ing. Mr.. Wheatley has trod the danger line from
page to page and yet the places where words are
represented by small rows Of dots are more sgnii-
cant In a sense than all the letterpress. The loss
however. is obviously not great. Some truly judi
cious editor might well take the diary and cancel
a great part OF IL without reducing Its historical
value particle For example that tiresome do
nestle drama Of the injured wife and recreant
husband Of which the reader gets fragment
every few pages, could all be told in half-dozen
lines. As you near the end you learn that Pepys
found out how to stop quarrel merely by keep
ing his OWN mouth shut. But this was not an
original discovery with Pepys Possibly remark
of the same kind will be found in the memoirs
which the Arabians say that Adam wrote, II That
much deslderated work shall ever be recovered
Before Pepys adopted the policy of ellence ne was
mean enough to say that no OF his family
ever married a handsome woman. But after he
became wise his eyes opened so TO speak
and he often remarks that his wife was one OF the
few pretty women at the theatre or at some social
affair
The later volumes of the diary grew in inter-
"Reminiscences is lessened. Toward the last Pepys
had so much to say about the really important
people whom he knew that he has less room for
himself He was rieing TO a level where he might
be called one Of the most valuable men in the
England of his time and he knew 1t. The ser
vile tone toward great men which he could not
avoid in the secret recesses Of bis closet when
his diary began gave way he advanced to an
utterance In which there the bitterness of
a rival rather than Of lackey. Not that he
grew kinder as he grew in years. Mr.. Wheat
lev In his preface TO the eighth volume remarks
that Pepys wrote uniformly in praise Of only one
mamie might have added that this man never
was in Pepys's way. or course II Pepys had
written the history of the British Navy which
he contemplated he would doubtless have modi-
fed his characters. Men who are held up to
scorn in the diary would in the history have cut
a very respectable figure. Pepys did not nour-
ISL his dislikes When he had once paesed
man in the race he was often willing 70 atone
for his victory by helping the beaten one aioiS'
and his hand was always outstretcLed 10 those
who were dependent upon him. the pstter trans
In his makeup come more and more INTO pronh'-
renee as Fortunes smile brightens around hiih'
This &c all the more noteworthy because he was
. ,o, ,rretched man in the last years covered
-, hic secrat meroirs He was in imminent
danger Of blindness. His free manner OF me-
which he had the will to give up only oy MS
and starts. intensified the evil His work had
10 go on. For long time he dreaded 10 lay II
aside lest some else should slip INFO his
place 1t was only when he FELT sure thal he
had made his task in the Admiralty his own for
life that he asked King Charles ii Tor lohb
| ,eave of absence. He did not lose his eyesight.
| He returned to England from a journey on the
| Continent with a better mind for his office. But
| arrarentIy he had ceased to care for his diary.
| He wrote no more confessions either Of his own
| ,,s mr. those Of other people. What he thought
| about lanes II and Monmouths Rebellion. the
Catholic reaction or the Revolution Of 1858 can
| only, no guessed Possibly with the caution or
| an experienced placeman. he tried 10 think or
dangerous topics as little possible, and to
| annlv TO public affairs that poultice OF silence
which he found so eficacious in his domestic
difficulties.
After censure has exhausted itself on PepySs
superfuous confessions there remains-and the
would all be saved by that judicous editor VINO
| IS often wanted but almost never at hano-nOt
merely the valuable historical material but mere
and there a bit of writing which gives fepys
| rank among the beat of the unconsciously gCod
writer's 1t is absolutely necessary to recognize Ill
| Pepvss favor as we'll as in cases where MS own
| words condemn him. the fact that his great work
WAS written without thought of publicity the
mystery Of the script, the utter abandon OF the
remarks upon hic affairs and his own con-
! duct prove that he thought Of no readers put
| himself But this consideration reacts on the
question Of style Pepys did not stop to think
| what he ought to write. There could nave Deeh
IN his case no weighing Of words and balancing
| OF clauses as in the romances, French and Eng
lsh. which he mentions among the books he read
| His sentences are as unprecedented as those
seem TO be of the songs and ballads which ne
| tool 60 much trouble to collect. That explains
vhv ANYTHING in his Da ges that touches the heart
| Of the reader IS seen to be touching, SIMPLY be-
| Gauge It came from the heart OF the man who
| wrote IT, There are shepherds and shepherds in
| literature but none was ever drawn more truly
| than ne whom Pepys describes in a passage mat
has more than once been quoted. Besides the
| minute study Of outward details there IS a tnge
| Of morality In the narrative worthy of Bunyans
| lighter moments. Indeed. If Bunyan could have
| looked on the scene he might have taken Pepys
for his Mr. Worldly Wiseman and the shepherd
| for a pilgrim. only this Mr.. Worldly Wisernan
| had an unexpected delicacy OF thought, or he
could never have moralized so pretily as he does:
| And so the women and w. Hewer and walked
uron the Downes, where flock Of sheep was and
| the most pleasant and innocent sight that
| saw in my llfe-we found shepherd and his lit
| tie boy reading far from any houses sight OF
| people the Bible to him. so made the boy read TO
me which he did, with the forced tone that chill