uch, and had suffered much. He had outlived four reigns, two of which
were terminated by a natural death, one by public execution, and one by
abdication. He had served many public and other distinguished offices
with zeal, ability, integrity, and success. He had given to English
literature some of the classic works that are among the treasures of our
literature of the Restoration period. He had outlived all of his six
sons, most of whom had died in childhood, as well as his eldest and
favourite daughter. Of all his nine children, the sole survivors were
his daughter Elizabeth, who was soon afterwards married to a son of Sir
John Tippet, and Susanna, wife of William Draper, afterwards of Adscomb
near Croydon. After nearly 60 years of pure domestic wedded life, in
marked contrast to the prevailing dissoluteness of the time, Evelyn was
survived for nearly three years by his widow, who died in 1709, aged 74
years, cherishing to the last her love and affection for him to whom her
destiny had been committed whilst she was still a mere child. 'His care
of my education', she wrote in her last Will and Testament, 'was such as
might become a father, a lover, a friend, and a husband; for
instruction, tenderness, affection and fidelity to the last moment of
his life; which obligation I mention with a gratitude to his memory ever
dear to me; and I must not omit to own the sense I have of my parents'
care and goodness in placing me in such worthy hands.' Surely no husband
ever had a nobler epitaph.

In an age of fierce political and ecclesiastical conflict, Evelyn,
often, no doubt, strongly tempted to partisanship, managed to steer his
course with prudence and great worldly judgment. But for that, his
industry and business talent would probably have brought him more
prominently into office under Charles II. In a corrupt and profligate
age, however, his character stands out as that of one unsullied by
excesses, impurities, or vices. And it is not the least of his merits
that, in an age of bigotry and narrow-mindedness, he was not intolerant
towards those whose religious views happened to differ from his own.

VII

_Evelyn's Literary Works._

Evelyn's earliest publications, some of which have already been referred
to, consisted mostly in translations from the French, Latin, and Greek,
that of the first book of Lucretius' _De Rerum Natura_ being in verse.
Their authorship was usually veiled either under Greek pseudonyms or
else mo