Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/86

 [q. v.] in 1702, and a description, written by Evelyn for Cowper's information, now belongs to Mr. Alfred Huth. He etched five plates from his own drawings, made on the way from Rome to Naples. At the end of April 1646 he set out with Waller, the poet, and others for Verona and Milan, crossed the Simplon, and at Geneva had a dangerous attack of small-pox. He reached Paris in October 1646. Here he became intimate with Sir (1605–1683) [q. v.], then the king's ambassador at Paris; and on 27 June 1647 was married to Mary, Browne's only daughter. In September he returned to England, leaving his wife, who was at most twelve years old, with her mother. Evelyn's diaries show a keen interest in art and antiquities, and a strong appreciation of beautiful scenery, although the Alps were naturally too terrible to be agreeable.

He stayed in England for nearly two years, a good deal occupied, it seems, by the investment of his fortune in land. In October 1647 he saw the king at Hampton Court, and in January 1649 published a translation of La Mothe Le Vayer in ‘Liberty and Servitude,’ with a short but decidedly royalist preface, for which he was ‘threatened.’ In June 1649 he got a pass from ‘the rebel Bradshaw’ with which in July he returned to France, reaching Paris on 1 Aug. In 1650 he paid a short visit to England, and finally returned in February 1652. Thinking the royalist cause hopeless, he now resolved to settle at Sayes Court, Deptford. The Brownes held a lease from the crown of the manor, which had been seized by the parliament. Evelyn obtained the king's leave to compound with the occupiers, the king also promising in the event of a restoration to secure it to him in fee farm. Evelyn succeeded in compounding for 3,500l. (22 Feb. 1653). He obtained leases from the king after the Restoration (Cal. State Papers, Domestic, 5 Dec. 1662, and Diary, 30 May 1663). He was afterwards harassed by lawsuits and had claims upon the crown arising from his advances of money to Sir R. Browne as ambassador. His wife joined him in June 1652, and he finally settled at Sayes Court.

Evelyn lived quietly until the Restoration, occupying himself in gardening and cultivating the acquaintance of men of congenial tastes. He was on friendly terms with John Wilkins, the warden of Wadham, and afterwards bishop of Chester, and with Robert Boyle, to whom in 1659 he addressed a letter proposing a scheme for building a sort of college near London where a few men of science were to devote themselves to ‘the promotion of experimental knowledge.’ The scheme was suggested by the meetings of which Wilkins and Boyle were chief promoters, and which soon afterwards developed into the Royal Society. At the first meeting after the Restoration (January 1660–1) Evelyn was chosen a fellow, and he was nominated one of the council by the king in the charter granted 5 July 1662. Evelyn had corresponded in cipher with Charles and his ministers. On 7 Nov. 1659 he published an ‘Apology for the Royal Party,’ and in 1660 ‘The late News or Message from Brussels unmasked,’ in answer to Marchmont Needham's ‘News from Brussels.’ He also endeavoured to persuade Herbert Morley, then lieutenant of the Tower, to anticipate Monck by pronouncing for the king (letter dated 12 Jan. 1659–60). Morley declined from uncertainty as to Monck's intentions, and had afterwards to obtain his pardon, with Evelyn's help, at the price of 1,000l. Evelyn as a hearty royalist, although it must be confessed that his zeal had been tempered by caution, was in favour after the Restoration, and was frequently at court. He was soon disgusted by the profligacy of the courtiers. He confided many forebodings to Pepys. He took no part in political intrigues, but held some minor offices. He was a member of some commissions appointed in 1662 for improving the streets and regulating the Mint and Gresham College. In October 1664 he was a commissioner for the care of the sick and wounded and prisoners in the Dutch war. He attended to his duties when his fellow-commissioners were frightened from their post by the plague, and stayed at Deptford, sending his family to Wotton. He incurred expenses for the payment of which he was still petitioning in 1702. Part of his claim was then allowed (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. ix. 257). On 28 Feb. 1671 he was appointed a member of the council of foreign plantations, with a salary of 500l. a year. James II showed him much favour, and from 24 Dec. 1685 till 10 March 1686–7 he was one of the commissioners for the privy seal, during the absence of Clarendon as lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He absented himself occasionally to avoid active participation in illegal concessions to Roman catholics, and was profoundly alarmed by the king's attacks upon the church of England. Evelyn continued to be warmly interested in the Royal Society. He obtained for the Royal Society a gift from Henry Howard, sixth duke of Norfolk, of the ‘Arundelian library’ in 1678, having previously (1667) obtained from the same person a gift of the Arundelian marbles to the university of Oxford. He was secretary to the Royal Society