[21] The student will see that there are facts cited, and expressions
    borrowed, in this paragraph, from a period extending over almost the
    whole of Charles's life, instead of being confined entirely to his
    boyhood. As I do not believe there was any change, so I do not
    believe there is any anachronism involved. [22] "The Debate between the Heralds of France and England,"
    translated and admirably edited by Mr. Henry Pyne. For the
    attribution of this tract to Charles, the reader is referred to Mr.
    Pyne's conclusive argument. [23] Des Ursins. [24] Michelet, iv. App. 179, p. 337. [25] Champollion-Figeac, pp. 279-82. [26] Michelet, iv. pp. 123-24. [27] "Debate between the Heralds." [28] Sir H. Nicholas, "Agincourt." [29] "Debate between the Heralds." [30] Works (ed. d'Héricault), i. 43. [31] _Ibid._ i. 143. [32] _Ibid._ i. 190. [33] _Ibid._ i. 144. [34] Works (ed. d'Héricault), i. 158. [35] M. Champollion-Figeac gives many in his editions of Charles's
    works, most (as I should think) of very doubtful authenticity, or
    worse. [36] Rymer, x. 564; D'Héricault's "Memoir," p. xli. ; Gairdner's
    "Paston Letters," i. 27, 99. [37] Champollion-Figeac, p. 377. [38] Dom Plancher, iv. 178-9. [39] Works, i. 157-63. [40] Vallet's "Charles VII.," i. 251. [41] "Procès de Jeanne d'Arc," i. 133-55. [42] Monstrelet. [43] Vallet's "Charles VII.," iii. chap. i. But see the chronicle that
    bears Jaquet's name; a lean and dreary book. [44] Monstrelet. [45] D'Héricault's "Memoir," xl. xli. ; Vallet, "Charles VII.," ii. 435. [46] Champollion-Figeac, p. 368. [47] Works, i. 115. [48] D'Héricault's "Memoir," xlv. [49] Champollion-Figeac, pp. 361, 381. [50] _Ibid._, pp. 359, 361. [51] Lecoy de la Marche, "Roi René," ii. 155, 177. [52] Champollion-Figeac, chaps, v. and vi. [53] _Ibid._, p. 364; Works, i. 172. [54] Champollion-Figeac, p. 364: "Jeter de l'argent aux petis enfans
    qui estoient au long de Bourbon, pour les faire nonner en l'eau et
    aller querre l'argent au fond." [55] Champollion-Figeac, p. 387. [56] "Nouvelle Biographie Didot," art. "Marie de Clèves"; Vallet,
    "Charles VII.," iii. 85, note 1. [57] Champollion-Figeac, pp. 383-386. [58] Works, ii. 57, 258. VIII

SAMUEL PEPYS


In two books a fresh light has recently been thrown on the character and
position of Samuel Pepys. Mr. Mynors Bright has given us a new
transcription of the Diary, increasing it in bulk by near a third,
correcting many errors, and completing our knowledge of the man in some
curious and important points. We can only regret that he has taken
liberties with the author and the public. It is no part of the duties of
the editor of an established classic to decide what may or may not be
"tedious to the reader." The book is either an historical document or
not, and in condemning Lord Braybrooke Mr. Bright condemns himself. As
for the time-honoured phrase, "unfit for publication," without being
cynical, we may regard it as the sign of a precaution more or less
commercial; and we may think, without being sordid, that when we
purchase six huge and distressingly expensive volumes, we are entitled
to be treated rather more like scholars and rather less like children. But Mr. Bright may rest assured: while we complain, we are still
grateful. Mr. Wheatley, to divide our obligation, brings together,
clearly and with no lost words, a body of illustrative material. [59]
Sometimes we might ask a little more; never, I think, less. And as a
matter of fact, a great part of Mr. Wheatley's volume might be
transferred, by a good editor of Pepys, to the margin of the text, for
it is precisely what the reader wants. In the light of these two books, at least, we have now to read our
author. Between them they contain all we can expect to learn for, it may
be, many years. Now, if ever, we should be able to form some notion of
that unparalleled figure in the annals of mankind--unparalleled for
three good reasons: first, because he was a man known to his
contemporaries in a halo of almost historical pomp, and to his remote
descendants with an indecent familiarity, like a tap-room comrade;
second, because he has outstripped all competitors in the art or virtue
of a conscious honesty about oneself; and, third, because, being in many
ways a very ordinary person, he has yet placed himself before the public
eye with such a fulness and such an intimacy of detail as might be
envied by a genius like Montaigne. Not then for his own sake only, but
as a character in a unique position, endowed with a unique talent, and
shedding a unique light upon the lives of the mass of mankind, he is
surely worthy of prolonged and patient study. THE DIARY

That there should be such a book as Pepys's Diary is incomparably
strange. Pepys, in a corrupt and idle period, played the man in public
employments, toiling hard and keeping his honour bright. Much of the
little good that is set down to James the Second comes by right to
Pepys; and if it were little for a king, it is much for a subordinate. To his clear, capable head was owing somewhat of the greatness of
England on the seas. In the exploits of Hawke, Rodney, or Nelson, this
dead Mr. Pepys of the Navy Office had some considerable share. He stood
well by his business in the appalling plague of 1666. He was loved and
respected by some of the best and wisest men in England. He was
President of the Royal Society; and when he came to die, people said of
his conduct in that solemn hour--thinking it needless to say more--that
it was answerable to the greatness of his life. Thus he walked in
dignity, guards of soldiers sometimes attending him in his walks,
subalterns bowing before his periwig; and when he uttered his thoughts
they were suitable to his state and services. On February 8, 1668, we
find him writing to Evelyn, his mind bitterly occupied with the late
Dutch war, and some thoughts of the different story of the repulse of
the Great Armada: "Sir, you will not wonder at the backwardness of my
thanks for the present you made me, so many days since, of the Prospect
of the Medway, while the Hollander rode master in it, when I have told
you that the sight of it hath led me to such reflections on my
particular interest, by my employment, in the reproach due to that
miscarriage, as have given me little less disquiet than he is fancied to
have who found his face in Michael Angelo's hell. The same should serve
me also in excuse for my silence in celebrating your mastery shown in
the design and draught, did not indignation rather than courtship urge
me so far to commend them, as to wish the furniture of our House of
Lords changed from the story of '88 to that of '67 (of Evelyn's
designing), till the pravity of this were reformed to the temper of that
age, wherein God Almighty found his blessings more operative than, I
fear, he doth in ours his judgments." This is a letter honourable to the writer, where the meaning rather than
the words is eloquent.