Page:Rolland - A musical tour through the land of the past.djvu/33



gives us a pleasanter idea of musical life in the English society of the Restoration than Pepys' Diary. In this we perceive the place which music held in the home of an intelligent citizen of London.

Samuel Pepys is a well-known figure: I will confine myself to recounting the principal events of his life. The son of a tailor, he was born in London in 1633, and attached himself, to begin with, to the fortunes of Lord Montagu, Earl of Sandwich. A Liberal, and in touch with the Republicans, after Cromwell's death, under the Restoration, he became clerk to the Exchequer, and subsequently clerk of the Acts to the Admiralty. He retained this post until 1673, and while holding it rendered great services to the English Navy; with energetic probity he restored order, economy and discipline therein during the critical period of the Plague, the Fire of London and the war with Holland. He was highly esteemed by the Lord High Admiral, the Duke of York, later James II. Nevertheless, he was calumniated