Feb, 23.
Samuel Pepys, on February 22, 1664, thus wrote in his diary:
'This day by the blessing of God, I have lived thirty-one years in the world; and, by the grace of God, T find' myself not only in good health in everything, and particularly as to the stone, but only.
ain upon taking cold, and also in 8 fair way of coming to a better esteem and estate in the world, than ever I expected. But T pray.
God give me a heart to fear a Jail, and to prepare for i by genuine enough Diary was never intended. for other than author's eye—came to be ful filled in greater measure than Samuel could have expected, in spite of his evident good self-esteem. This three hundredth anniversary of his birth deserves recognition for, oven if Samuel Pepys, the Secretary to the Admiralty, or "Clerk of the Acts" as he was first called, could claim a respectable place in the history of British off dom, and yet lack the qualities which adorn many occupants of national pedestals, he stands out, across the gulf which separates his age from this, a most remark. ably vivid figure. He is more real than many of the greater men of whom his Diary wrote. And he is still running. Parolists have long battened on him, Presentday journalism, however, gives weekly, in the pages of "Truth," so vivid and reverent an imitation of him as if he were. commenting on the events of today, that it seems to be more a continuation than a parody. It Keeps alive interest in. the original—no_ greater tribute could be paid to the clever author, Samuel Pepys merits a passing tribute from his countrymen. He left behind a priceless record of his age; its bona fides is beyond question in a sense unclaimable by the large majority of diaries and memoirs: it is unreserved, originally written in secret shorthand and utterly frank, Pepys spares neither himself nor his contemporaries. So, when he is regretting the flagrant indecencies of his royal asters, he does not conceal his deep sense of the importance of Preserving the monarchical aystem, to the restoration of which he helped ina humble way to contribute.
In displaying a very reasonble predilection for Samuel the Diarist does not conceal faults. He puts on paper the ecstasies of 9 lover of Pleasure who possessed, at the same time, a marked devotion to the national weal. The Navy League must honour the name of Pepys, He may have followed the custom of the time and enriched. himself covertly public expense but he endea-youred not without success to create a sound organisation for England's bulwark. He gave full service to the Duke of York, afterwards James LI, whose efforts. for the Navy stand out as the redeeming feature in an otherwise inglorious career. Samuel Pepys was a firm believer in conjugal discipline; his wife had reason to doubt his fidelity and suffered violence at his hands at least, once on the own showing. Yet the etch" managed to exercise over him unbroken sway and, in the midst of an age of out-Yageous licence, the Pepys "menage preserved a reasonable appearance, of wedded bliss. Perhaps Elizabeth, the daughter of a French Huguenot exile and an English mother, was more adept in handling her susceptible @pouse than Catherine of Braganza in the Palace of Whitehall... This, for example, is the Diary's picture of events on another February 23—in 1666, the year of the Great Fire which receives graphic attention from Pepys—and it shows that Mistress Pepys was able to preserve her dignity even when endanger ed. by the charms of an actress belonging to the "King's House": gar a a teaching her my song of "Beau
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.