Mr. Mynors Bright
has given us a new transcription of the Diary, increasing it
in bulk by near a third, correcting many errors, and
completing our knowledge of the man in some curious and
important points. We can only regret that he has taken
liberties with the author and the public. It is no part of
the duties of the editor of an established classic to decide
what may or may not be "tedious to the reader." The book is
either an historical document or not, and in condemning Lord
Braybrooke Mr. Bright condemns himself. As for the time-
honoured phrase, "unfit for publication," without being
cynical, we may regard it as the sign of a precaution more or
less commercial; and we may think, without being sordid, that
when we purchase six huge and distressingly expensive
volumes, we are entitled to be treated rather more like
scholars and rather less like children. But Mr. Bright may
rest assured: while we complain, we are still grateful. Mr.
Wheatley, to divide our obligation, brings together, clearly
and with no lost words, a body of illustrative material.
Sometimes we might ask a little more; never, I think, less.
And as a matter of fact, a great part of Mr. Wheatley's
volume might be transferred, by a good editor of Pepys, to
the margin of the text, for it is precisely what the reader
wants.
In the light of these two books, at least, we have now to
read our author.
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