PEPYS 121 



Rochester was chiefly observable on account of its 

 Bridge " furnished with high raihngs, that drunkards, 

 not uncommon here, may not mix water with their 

 wine " ; and nineteen years later, Charles the Second, 

 on his " glorious and never-to-be-forgotten Restoracion." 



How Charles was feted here, and how he stayed at 

 the beautiful old place that has taken the name of 

 " Restoration House " from this visit, these pages 

 cannot tell ; the story is too long. 



And here, in the name of all that's lewd and scandal- 

 mongering, comes old Pepys again. It is no use trying 

 to keep him out of one's pages : suppress him at one 

 place, and he recurs unfailingly at another, with a 

 worse record than before. I discreetly " sat on " him 

 at Deptford, but here he is at Rochester, " goin' on 

 hawful," to quote one of Dickens' characters (I forget 

 which, and the society of so many Kings and Queens 

 on the Dover Road is so fatiguing that I have neither 

 sufficient time nor energy to inquire). 



Well then, it was in 1667* that Mr. Samuel Pepys 

 came here, and, putting up at the " White Hart," 

 strolled into the Cathedral, more intent upon the 

 architecture than the doctrine, it would seem ; for 

 when service began he walked out into the fields, and 

 there " saw Sir F. Clark's pretty seat." And so 

 " into the Cherry Garden, and here he met with a 

 young, plain, silly shopkeeper and his wife, a pretty 

 young woman, and I did kiss her ! " And after this 

 they dined, and walked in the fields together till 

 dark, " and so to bed," without the usual " God 

 forgive me ! " which, considering how he had shirked 

 the Cathedral service, and how questionable had been 

 his conduct in the Cherry Garden, was more needful 

 than ever, one would think. 



Twenty-one years after this date came James the 

 Second on two hurried visits to Rochester within a few 



* He was here also in 1661, giving a very amnsing account of how he was 

 entertained, and how lie kissed and sang and danced : it is too long, though, 

 for quotation here. But look it up. 



