In relation to the stage, which he so warmly
loved and understood, he was not only more hearty, but more
generous to others. Thus he encounters Colonel Reames, "a
man," says he, "who understands and loves a play as well as
I, and I love him for it." And again, when he and his wife
had seen a most ridiculous insipid piece, "Glad we were," he
writes, "that Betterton had no part in it." It is by such a
zeal and loyalty to those who labour for his delight that the
amateur grows worthy of the artist. And it should be kept in
mind that, not only in art, but in morals, Pepys rejoiced to
recognise his betters. There was not one speck of envy in
the whole human-hearted egotist.
RESPECTABILITY.
When writers inveigh against respectability, in the present
degraded meaning of the word, they are usually suspected of a
taste for clay pipes and beer cellars; and their performances
are thought to hail from the OWL'S NEST of the comedy. They
have something more, however, in their eye than the dulness
of a round million dinner parties that sit down yearly in old
England. For to do anything because others do it, and not
because the thing is good, or kind, or honest in its own
right, is to resign all moral control and captaincy upon
yourself, and go post-haste to the devil with the greater
number. We smile over the ascendency of priests; but I had
rather follow a priest than what they call the leaders of
society.
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