Ixiv INTRODUCTION 



admission with the definite statement made in the diary of 

 1 9th April, 1 66 1, that ' he might have receiv'dthis honour, ' 

 of Knighthood of the Bath c but declined it. ' 



Evelyn's other publications, works of considerably less 

 importance, include Tyrannus or the Mode, in a Discourse of 

 Sumptuary Laws (1661); A Parallel of the Ancient Architecture 

 with the Modern (1664), and An Idea of the Perfection of 

 Painting^ Demonstrated from the Principles of Art (1668), both 

 translated from the French of Roland Freart ; Another Part 

 of the Mystery of Jesuitism, also from the French (1665); 

 Publick Employment, and an Active Life preferred to Solitude 

 ( 1 667 : a reply to Sir George Mackenzie's Work on Solitude) ; 

 The History of three late famous Importers (Padre Ottomano, 

 Mahomed Bei, and Sabatei Sevi : 1669); Mundus Muliebris : 

 or the Ladies' Dressing-room Unlocked and her Toilette spread 

 (1690 : a burlesque poem, * A voyage to Marryland, ' cata- 

 loguing female follies of the time, by his daughter Mary, 

 who died in 1685); Numismata : a 'Discourse ofMedals^ Antient 

 and Modern : &c. (1697); and Acetaria : a Discourse of Pallets 

 (1699), which was merely a chapter, written many years 

 previously, of an extensive work he intended writing under 

 the comprehensive title of Elysium Britannicum. There is 

 no doubt that, but for his immersion in public affairs in 

 middle life, Evelyn would have been a much larger producer 

 of literary work than he actually was. But it seems very 

 questionable if this would in any substantial way have added 

 to the enduring reputation he won for himself by Syha. 



In addition to his published works, however, he left 

 numerous manuscripts, which he had noted as Things I 

 would write out faire aud reform if I had leisure, ' compris- 

 ing poems, mathematical papers, religious meditations, and 

 biographies. The most ambitious of his poems is Thyrsander^ 

 a Tragy-Comedy^ which is probably one of those referred to 

 by Pepys in his Diary for 5th Novr. 1665, when, visiting 

 Evelyn at Sayes Court, he says that c He read me part of a 

 play or two of his making, very good, but not as he conceits 

 them, I think, to be. ' Some of these, including My own 

 Ephemeris or Diarie^ an autobiographical memoir based on the 

 journal or common-place book kept by him ever since being 

 eleven years of age, and his correspondence, were published 



