INRTODUCTION xv 



It appears to have been begun in October, 1685, but it 

 was not till July, 1689, that the commission was actually 

 completed. The portrait exhibits the face of an elderly 

 man distinctly of a high-strung and nervous temperament, 

 though not quite to the extent of being * sicklied oer with 

 the pale caste of thought. ' His right hand, too, which 

 grasps his Sylva is one very characteristic of the nervous 

 disposition. A bright, shrewd intellect, lofty thoughts, high 

 motives, good resolves, and last, tho' by no means least 

 a serene mind, the mens conscia recti which Pepys bluntly 

 called * a little conceitedness, ' are all stamped upon his 

 well-marked and not unshapely features. It is eminently the 

 face of a philosopher, an enthusiast, a studious scholar, and 

 a gentleman. 



No one can ever know Evelyn so well as Pepys did ; and 

 here is his opinion of John Evelyn, expressed in the secret 

 pages of his cipher Diary on November, 1665 : * In fine, 

 a most excellent person he is, and must be allowed a little 

 for a little conceitedness ; but he may well be so, being a 

 man so much above others.' And this just exactly bears 

 out the rough general impression conveyed by the perusal of 

 Evelyn's Diary and his other literary works. The long 

 friendship of these two was only terminated by the death of 

 Pepys on 26th May, 1703, not long before Evelyn had 

 himself to depart from this life. 'This day died Mr. Sam. 

 Pepys, a very courtly, industrious and curious person, none 

 in England exceeding him in knowledge of the navy, in 

 which he had passed through all the most considerable 

 offices, Clerk of the Acts and Secretary of the Admirality, 

 all which he performed with great integrity. When King 

 James II., went out of England, he laid down his office and 



would serve no more He was universally belov'd, 



hospitable, generous, learned in many things, skilled in 

 music, a very great cherisher of learned men of whom he 



had the conversation Mr. Pepys had been for near 40 



yeares so much my particular friend, that Mr. Jackson sent 

 me compleat mourning, desiring me to be one to hold up 

 the pall at his magnificient obsequies, but my indisposition 

 hinder'd me from doing him this last office. ' 



