No life can better than that of Pepys illustrate
the dangers of this respectable theory of living. For what
can be more untoward than the occurrence, at a critical
period and while the habits are still pliable, of such a
sweeping transformation as the return of Charles the Second?
Round went the whole fleet of England on the other tack; and
while a few tall pintas, Milton or Pen, still sailed a lonely
course by the stars and their own private compass, the cock-
boat, Pepys, must go about with the majority among "the
stupid starers and the loud huzzas."
The respectable are not led so much by any desire of applause
as by a positive need for countenance. The weaker and the
tamer the man, the more will he require this support; and any
positive quality relieves him, by just so much, of this
dependence. In a dozen ways, Pepys was quite strong enough
to please himself without regard for others; but his positive
qualities were not co-extensive with the field of conduct;
and in many parts of life he followed, with gleeful
precision, in the footprints of the contemporary Mrs. Grundy.
In morals, particularly, he lived by the countenance of
others; felt a slight from another more keenly than a
meanness in himself; and then first repented when he was
found out. You could talk of religion or morality to such a
man; and by the artist side of him, by his lively sympathy
and apprehension, he could rise, as it were dramatically, to
the significance of what you said.
Pages:
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322