Samuel Pepys and the World He Lived In. Wheatley Henry Benjamin

was found that the charge for one year’s work would be as much as £13,000. Two years after this, the committee agreed to pay 4s. a yard more, and the whole amount spent upon the mole was found to be £36,000 (March 30, 1665). The wind and sea exerted a very destructive influence over this structure, although it was very strongly built, and Colonel Norwood reported in 1668 that a breach had been made in the mole which would cost a considerable sum to repair. As Norwood was an enemy of a friend of his, Pepys at once jumps to the conclusion that he must be a bad man (February 22, 1668–69). The second Earl of Carnarvon said that wood was an excrescence of the earth, provided by God for the payment of debts, and Sir W. Coventry, in a conversation with Pepys, applied this saying to Tangier and its governors. It is not always safe to take for granted all that our Diarist says against the persons he writes about, but there must have been some truth in the indictment he drew up against all those who undertook the government of Tangier. When Lord Peterborough received the place from the Portuguese, a book was given to him which contained a secret account of all the conduit-heads and heads of watercourses in and about the town. This book was always given from one governor to another, but was not to be looked at by anyone else. When Lord Peterborough left, he took the book away with him, and on being asked for it always answered that he had mislaid it and could not recover it. Colonel Kirke told Pepys in 1683 that the supply of water was greatly reduced by the want of this information.102 In 1666 Pepys had applied the adjective “ignoble” to Lord Peterborough’s name, on account of his lordship’s conduct in regard to money matters. On December 15, 1662, Andrew Lord Rutherford and Earl of Teviot, Governor of Dunkirk until its surrender to the French, was appointed Governor of Tangier in succession to Lord Peterborough, who was recalled. He was a brave but rash man, and made a practice of going out of the town into the country without taking proper precautions. In May, 1664, he was surveying his lines after an attack by the Moors, when he and nineteen officers were killed by a party of the enemy in ambush. Pepys called him a cunning man, and said that had he lived he would have undone the place; but in 1683, Dr. Lawrence told Pepys that his death was a great misfortune, for he took every opportunity of making the place great, but without neglecting himself.103 John Lord Bellassis was the next governor, and he was said to be corrupt in his command.

      1

      “Diary,” ed. Mynors Bright, vol. iv. p. 366; vol. vi. p. 306.

      2

      “Diary,” Feb. 10, 1661–62.

      3

      “Habits and Men,” p. 300.

      4

      I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Herbert Bree, Rector of Brampton, for this information.

      5

      “Diary,” Dec. 31, 1664.

      6

      “Notes and Queries,” 1st S. vol. xii. p. 102.

      7

      “Diary,” May 12, 1667.

      8

      Jan. 22, 1660–61.

      9

      Nov. 1, 1660.

      10

      “Did put on my gown first, March 5, 1650–51,” Dec. 31, 1664 (note).

      11

      “Diary,” Nov. 11, 1660.

      12

      Lord Braybrooke says October, but the “Athenæum” (1848, p. 551) says December 1st.

      13

      “Life, Journals, and Correspondence of S. Pepys,” vol. i. p. 146.

      14

      “Diary,” Sept. 22, 1663. In the original patent (No. 138) St. Michel’s name appear

1

“Diary,” ed. Mynors Bright, vol. iv. p. 366; vol. vi. p. 306.

2

“Diary,” Feb. 10, 1661–62.

3

“Habits and Men,” p. 300.

4

I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Herbert Bree, Rector of Brampton, for this information.

5

“Diary,” Dec. 31, 1664.

6

“Notes and Queries,” 1st S. vol. xii. p. 102.

7

“Diary,” May 12, 1667.

8

Jan. 22, 1660–61.

9

Nov. 1, 1660.

10

“Did put on my gown first, March 5, 1650–51,” Dec. 31, 1664 (note).

11

“Diary,” Nov. 11, 1660.

12

Lord Braybrooke says October, but the “Athenæum” (1848, p. 551) says December 1st.

13

“Life, Journals, and Correspondence of S. Pepys,” vol. i. p. 146.

14

“Diary,” Sept. 22, 1663. In the original patent (No. 138) St. Michel’s name appears as Alexander Merchant of St. Michaell. (See Appendix.)

15

Jan. 4, 1663–64.

16

June 21, 1667.

17

Dec. 28, 1668.

18

“Diary,” May 11, 1667.

19

Feb. 25, 1666–67.

20

Entry-Book No. 105 of the Protector’s Council of State, p. 327 (quoted, “Notes and Queries,” 5th S. vol. v. p. 508).

21

“Diary,” June 21, 1660.

22

March 8, 1664–65.

23

Nov. 7, 1660.

24

Smith afterwards took orders, and was presented to the rectory of Baldock in Hertfordshire by Lord Brougham in 1832, at the instigation of Harriet Martineau. In 1841 he published two octavo volumes, entitled, “The Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, Esq., F.R.S.” This wretchedly edited book contains the Tangier “Diary” and much valuable information; but I cannot find that the information has been used by the successive editors of the “Diary.” He died in 1870.

102

“Tangier Diary” (Smith, vol. i. p. 444).

103

“Tangier Diary” (Smith, vol. i. p. 444).