Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

that he utterly reprobated. His copy of the History, as far as he had proceeded, he put into the hands of his friend, Mr. Pepys, of the Admiralty, who did not return it; but as the books and manuscripts belonging to Mr. Pepys passed into the possession of Magdalen College, Cambridge, it was hoped it might be there preserved. The Editor went to Cambridge for the purpose of seeing it; and was favoured with access to the library, and with the most obliging personal attendance of the Hon. Mr. Fortescue, one of the Fellows of the College; but, after a diligent search for several hours, it could not be found.

Dr. Campbell understood "The Mystery of Jesuitism" to be a single volume; but there were three published in different years. The translation of the second was undertaken by Mr. Evelyn at the express desire of Lord Clarendon and his son, as appears by a letter of Mr. Evelyn to Lord Cornbury, dated 9 February, 1664. The third was translated by Dr. Tonge for Mr. Evelyn; but a fuller statement of this will be found in a note to one of the entries of the Diary.*

In giving a list of his publications, the authors of the "Biographia" say, "As several of these treatises were printed before the author's return to England, and others without his name, we must depend on the general opinion of the world, and the authority of Mr. Wood for their being his; yet there is no great reason to suspect a mistake.”† They add, "We know nothing of the 'Mundus Muliebris; or, the Ladies' Dressing Room unlocked,' except that it has had a place in the Catalogue of our Author's Works, from which therefore we have no right to remove it." ‡

There is no doubt of his being the author. Under 1685, Mr. Evelyn, in his account of his daughter Mary, says, she "put in many pretty symbols in the Mundas

* Vol. i., p. 387.

+ Biog. Brit., vol. v., 2nd edit., p. 611, note E. Ibid. p. 624, note S.

Muliebris,' wherein is an enumeration of the immense variety of the modes and ornaments belonging to the sex."

In a letter to Lord Cornbury, dated 9th February, 1664, he speaks of having written a Play.

The authors of the "Biographia" remark of his residence abroad, that "The account, which Mr. Boyle received from Mr. Evelyn, * of the method used by the Italians for preserving snow in pits, is an admirable specimen of that care with which he registered his discoveries, as well as the curiosity which prompted him to inquire into every thing worthy of notice, either natural or artificial, in the countries through which he passed. It is much to be regretted that a work so entertaining and instructive as a History of his Travels would have been, appeared, even to so indefatigable a person as he was, a task too laborious for him to undertake; for, we should then have seen, in a clear and true light, many things in reference to Italy which are now very indistinctly and partially represented; and we should also have met with much new matter never touched before, and of which we shall now probably never hear at all." +

What is thus said of Mr. Evelyn's travels is partly supplied in the present Diary, but not so fully as could be wished. That he made many observations which will not be found here, appears by the above quotation from Mr. Boyle; and by an account of the manner of making bread in France, which he communicated to Mr. Houghton, a Fellow of the Royal Society, who published it in some papers which he printed in 1681, and following years.

From the numerous authors who have spoken in high terms of Mr. Evelyn, we will select the two following notices of him.

In the "Biographia," Dr. Campbell says, "It is certain * Boyle's Works, vol. ii., p. 306. Biog. Brit., vol. v., p. 610, note D.

that very few authors who have written in our language deserve the character of able and agreeable writers so well as Mr. Evelyn, who, though he was acquainted with most sciences, and wrote upon many different subjects, yet was very far, indeed the farthest of most men of his time, from being a superficial writer. He had genius, he had taste, he had learning; and he knew how to give all these a proper place in his works, so as never to pass for a pedant, even with such as were least in love with literature, and to be justly esteemed a polite author by those who knew it best."*

Horace Walpole (afterwards Earl of Orford), in his Catalogue of Engravers, gives us the following admirably drawn character, pp. 85, 86: "If Mr. Evelyn had not been an artist himself, as I think I can prove he was, I should yet have found it difficult to deny myself the pleasure of allotting him a place among the arts he loved, promoted, patronised; and it would be but justice to inscribe his name with due panegyric in these records, as I have once or twice taken the liberty to criticise him. But they are trifling blemishes compared with his amiable virtues and beneficence; and it may be remarked, that the worst I have said of him is, that he knew more than he always communicated. It is no unwelcome satire to say, that a man's intelligence and philosophy is inexhaustible. I mean not to write his life, which may be found detailed in the new edition of his 'Sculptura,' in Collins's Baronetage,' in the General Dictionary,' and in the new 'Biographical Dictionary; but I must observe, that his life, which was extended to eighty-six years, was a course of inquiry, study, curiosity, instruction, and benevolence. The works of the Creator, and the minute labours of the creature, were all objects of his pursuit. He unfolded the perfection of the one, and assisted the imperfection of the other. He adored from

[ocr errors]

Biog. Brit., vol. v., p. 614, note I.

examination; was a courtier that flattered only by informing his Prince, and by pointing out what was worthy of him to countenance; and really was the neighbour of the Gospel, for there was no man that might not have been the better for him. Whoever peruses a list of his works, will subscribe to my assertion. He was one of the first promoters of the Royal Society; a patron of the ingenious and the indigent; and peculiarly serviceable to the lettered world; for, besides his writings and discoveries, he obtained the Arundelian Marbles for the University of Oxford, and the Arundelian Library for the Royal Society.-Nor is it the least part of his praise, that he, who proposed to Mr. Boyle the erection of a Philosophical College for retired and speculative persons, had the honesty to write in defence of active life against Sir George Mackenzie's 'Essay on Solitude.' He knew that retirement, in his own hands, was industry and benefit to mankind; but in those of others, laziness and inutility."

His son, Mr. John Evelyn, was of Trinity College, Oxford, and, when about fifteen years old, wrote that elegant Greek Poem which is prefixed to the second Edition of the "Sylva." He translated Rapin on Gardens, in four books, written in Latin verse. His father annexed the second book of this to the second edition of his "Sylva." He also translated from the Greek of Plutarch the life of Alexander the Great, printed in the fourth volume of "Plutarch's Lives, by several Hands;" and from the French, the History of the Grand Viziers Mahomet and Achmet Coprogli. There are several poems of his, of which some are printed in "Dryden's Miscellanies," and more in "Nicols's Collection of Poems."

In December, 1688, he was presented to the Prince of Orange, at Abington, by Colonel Sidney and Colonel Berkley; and was one of the volunteers in Lord Lovelace's troop, when his lordship secured Oxford for the Prince.

In 1690, he purchased the place of chief clerk of the Treasury; but, in the next year, he was by some means removed from it by Mr. Guy, who succeeded in that office. In August, 1692, he was made one of the Commissioners of the Revenue in Ireland, from whence he returned to England in 1696, in very ill health, and died 24th March, 1698, in his father's lifetime.

He married Martha, daughter and coheir of Richard Spencer, Esq., a Turkey merchant, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. The eldest son, and the eldest daughter, Martha-Mary, and youngest daughter, Jane, died infants. The surviving daughter, Elizabeth, married Simon Harcourt, Esq., son of the Lord Chancellor Harcourt. September 18th, 1705, the son John, who had succeeded his grandfather at Wotton, married Anne, daughter of Edward Boscawen, Esq., of the county of Cornwall; and, by letters patent, dated 30 July, 1713, was created a Baronet. He inherited the virtue and the taste for learning, as well as the patrimony, of his ancestors; and lived at Wotton universally loved and respected. He built a library there, forty-five feet long, fourteen wide, and as many high, for the reception of the large and curious collection of books made by his grandfather, father, and himself; and where they now remain. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, was long the first Commissioner of the Customs, and died 15th July, 1763, in the eightysecond year of his age.

By his lady, who died before him, he had several children, and was succeeded by John the eldest, who married Mary, daughter of Hugh Boscawen, Viscount Falmouth, and died 11th June, 1767, in the 61st year of his age. He was Clerk of the Green Cloth to Frederick Prince of Wales, father of George III., and to that King when Prince of Wales, and after he came to the Crown. He represented the Borough of Helston in several Parliaments,

« AnteriorContinuar »