Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

The Char ze on t

wealth.

CHAPTER VI

FROM THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II TO THE
DEATH OF DRYDEN (1660-1700)

Puritan Repression. It will be readily inferred from what has been said in the preceding chapter that life under Puritan government was not happy. A certain sort of people will perhaps always derive a certain sort of pleasure from a life of repression, self-denial, and prohibition of all forms of amusement; but the class is never numerous, and it is likely to decrease when the period of repression is too long extended. It must be kept in mind that in this instance the prohibitions arose not because of the effect on the amusers, but because of that on the amused. The Puritans prohibited bear baiting, not because it gave pain to the bears but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

The Change in Government. The great majority of Englishmen had doubtless wearied of the Puritan régime long before the end came. Cromwell, however, by his overmastering personality, became autocrat in fact if not in name in 1653; and he forced the distasteful life on the people for five years longer. At his death his son Richard succeeded to the title of Lord Protector; but having no ability or taste for leadership, he resigned in six months. After about nine months of a pretence of government by the military leaders, General Monk gained control of London, and brought about the election of a "free Parliament," which immediately invited Charles II to return and take his kingdom.

118

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[graphic]
[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

at all, they took the position expressed by one of the Cavalier poets, that sin consists, not in doing wrong, but in being found out. Not that the entire nation fell to this low level: there were many exceptions. But the upper class in state and society was morally down, and this class determined the literature of the period.

Before studying the greatest writer of the day it will be well to look briefly at a work which admirably supplements Restoration comedy in picturing the life of the time. This work is the Diary of Samuel Pepys.1

SAMUEL PEPYS, 1633-1703

Life. Pepys was born in London, the son of a tailor. He attended St. Paul's School in the City, and Magdalene College, Cambridge, being graduated in 1650. At the age of twenty-two, without occupation or prospects, he married; and of his life for the succeeding four or five years we have no information. Having, however, secured the favor and patronage of his distant kinsman, Sir Edward Montagu, an influential man in the Restoration, Pepys became in 1660 Clerk of the Acts of the Navy Board. Soon afterward he became Secretary of the Admiralty; and to him, it is said, much credit is due for improvements in administration of the navy.

The Diary, begun in 1660, Pepys was compelled to discontinue in 1669 because of the weakness of his eyes. He was an early member of the Royal Society and became its presi

1 According to H. B. Wheatley, authority on Pepys, the most usual
pronunciation of the name to-day is Peps, though most bearers of the
name say Peeps, and one branch of the family has said Pep-pis for at
Mr. Wheatley thinks the pronunciation of the
least a hundred years.
See Samuel Pepys and the

diarist's own day was undoubtedly Peeps.
World He Lived In, second edition, preface.

[blocks in formation]
[graphic]
[graphic]
[ocr errors]
[graphic]

not all of unquestionable character, at his own and friends' houses, and at taverns of all kinds.

A Business Man. On the other hand, he certainly devoted himself faithfully to the business of his office, with benefit to the service, as has been mentioned. For many a day the entry is as brief as the following: "At the office all the morning, and merry at noon, at dinner; and after dinner to the office, where all the afternoon, doing much business, late." (Nov. 15, 1668.) That he earnestly wished

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

to be freed from his bad habits is evidenced by the number of times he "prays that he may overcome them. Sometimes in a sentence he seems rightly to estimate a business acquaintance: "I thought it dangerous to be free with him, for I do not think he can keep counsel; because he blabs to me of what hath passed between other people and him." (Aug. 13, 1666.)

[ocr errors]

Life of the Time Pictured. - The satisfaction of the people with the new government appears from two passages for 1660. On March 6 he writes: "Everybody now drinks the King's health without any fear, whereas before it was very private (i.e., secretly) that a man dare do it; " and on

October 13: General Har Ta presentl people, The most

ze of 1666. Entoration cred

[blocks in formation]
« ÎnapoiContinuă »