passing thoughts of the moment. And this being the case, comparison
between the two Diaries would be just as unfair as it is unnecessary.
The one is the fruit of unrestrained freedom and a mirthful mind, while
the other is the product of cultured leisure and a refined literary
method. When Evelyn was Commissioner for the maintenance of the Dutch
prisoners (1664-70) he had frequent communications with Pepys, then of
the Navy, and there are special references to him in Evelyn's memoirs.
That an intimate friendship existed there is no doubt, and that they
each held the other in great respect as a man of intellect, as well as
of good business capacity, is equally clear. Thus, in June, 1669, he
encouraged Pepys to be operated on 'when exceedingly afflicted with the
stone;' and on 19 February, 1671, 'This day din'd with me Mr. Surveyor,
Dr. Christopher Wren, and Mr. Pepys, Cleark of the Acts, two
extraordinary ingenious and knowing persons, and other friends. I
carried them to see the piece of carving which I had recommended to the
King.' This was a masterpiece of Grinling Gibbon's work, which Charles
admired but did not purchase; so Gibbon not long after sold it for L80,
though 'well worth L100, without the frame, to Sir George Viner.' Evelyn
at this time got Wren, however, to promise faithfully to employ Gibbon
to do the choir carving in the new St. Paul's Cathedral.

Each of their Diaries teems with reference to the other. Pepys asked
Evelyn to sit to Kneller for his portrait which he desired for 'reasons
I had (founded upon gratitude, affection, and esteeme) to covet that in
effigie which I most truly value in the original.' This refers to the
well-known portrait, now at Wotton, that has been copied and engraved.

It appears to have been begun in October, 1685, but it was not till
July, 1689, that the commission was actually completed. The portrait
exhibits the face of an elderly man distinctly of a high-strung and
nervous temperament, though not quite to the extent of being 'sicklied
oer with the pale caste of thought.' His right hand, too, which grasps
his _Sylva_ is one very characteristic of the nervous disposition. A
bright, shrewd intellect, lofty thoughts, high motives, good resolves,
and--last, tho' by no means least--a serene mind, the _mens conscia
recti_ which Pepys bluntly called 'a little conceitedness,' are all
stamped upon his well-marked and not unshapely features. It is eminently
the face of a philosophe