Diary, 1660 N.S. Complete | Page 9

[The late Mr. T. C. Noble kindly communicated to me a copy of the
original marriage certificate, which is as follows: "Samuell Peps of this
parish Gent. & Elizabeth De Snt. Michell of Martins in the ffields,
Spinster. Published October 19tn, 22nd, 29th [1655]and were married
by Richard Sherwin Esqr one of the justices of the Peace of the Cittie
and Lyberties of Westm. December 1st. (Signed) Ri. Sherwin."]
but strangely enough Pepys himself supposed his wedding day to have
been October 10th. Lord Braybrooke remarks on this,
"It is notorious that the registers in those times were very ill kept, of
which we have here a striking instance . . . . Surely a man who kept a
diary could not have made such a blunder."
What is even more strange than Pepys's conviction that he was married
on October 10th is Mrs. Pepys's agreement with him: On October 10th,
1666, we read,
"So home to supper, and to bed, it being my wedding night, but how
many years I cannot tell; but my wife says ten."
Here Mrs. Pepys was wrong, as it was eleven years; so she may have
been wrong in the day also. In spite of the high authority of Mr. and
Mrs. Pepys on a question so interesting to them both, we must accept
the register as conclusive on this point until further evidence of its
incorrectness is forthcoming.
Sir Edward Montage (afterwards Earl of Sandwich), who was Pepys's
first cousin one remove (Pepys's grandfather and Montage's mother
being brother and sister), was a true friend to his poor kinsman, and he
at once held out a helping hand to the imprudent couple, allowing them
to live in his house. John Pepys does not appear to have been in
sufficiently good circumstances to pay for the education of his son, and
it seems probable that Samuel went to the university under his
influential cousin's patronage. At all events he owed his success in life
primarily to Montage, to whom he appears to have acted as a sort of
agent.
On March 26th, 1658, he underwent a successful operation for the
stone, and we find him celebrating each anniversary of this important

event of his life with thanksgiving. He went through life with little
trouble on this score, but when he died at the age of seventy a nest of
seven stones was found in his left kidney.
["June 10th, 1669. I went this evening to London, to carry Mr. Pepys to
my brother Richard, now exceedingly afflicted with the stone, who had
been successfully cut, and carried the stone, as big as a tennis ball, to
show him and encourage his resolution to go thro' the
operation."--Evelyn's Diary.]
In June, 1659, Pepys accompanied Sir Edward Montage in the
"Naseby," when the Admiral of the Baltic Fleet and Algernon Sidney
went to the Sound as joint commissioners. It was then that Montage
corresponded with Charles II., but he had to be very secret in his
movements on account of the suspicions of Sidney. Pepys knew
nothing of what was going on, as he confesses in the Diary:
"I do from this raise an opinion of him, to be one of the most secret
men in the world, which I was not so convinced of before."
On Pepys's return to England he obtained an appointment in the office
of Mr., afterwards Sir George Downing, who was one of the Four
Tellers of the Receipt of the Exchequer. He was clerk to Downing
when he commenced his diary on January 1st, 1660, and then lived in
Axe Yard, close by King Street, Westminster, a place on the site of
which was built Fludyer Street. This, too, was swept away for the
Government offices in 1864-65. His salary was L50 a year. Downing
invited Pepys to accompany him to Holland, but he does not appear to
have been very pressing, and a few days later in this same January he
got him appointed one of the Clerks of the Council, but the recipient of
the favour does not appear to have been very grateful. A great change
was now about to take place in Pepys's fortunes, for in the following
March he was made secretary to Sir Edward Montage in his expedition
to bring about the Restoration of Charles II., and on the 23rd he went
on board the "Swiftsure" with Montage. On the 30th they transferred
themselves to the "Naseby." Owing to this appointment of Pepys we
have in the Diary a very full account of the daily movements of the
fleet until, events having followed their natural course, Montage had
the honour of bringing Charles II. to Dover, where the King was
received with great rejoicing. Several of the ships in the fleet had
names which were