The death of his wife, following so shortly after, must have
stamped the impression of this episode upon his mind. For
the remaining years of his long life we have no Diary to help
us, and we have seen already how little stress is to be laid
upon the tenor of his correspondence; but what with the
recollection of the catastrophe of his married life, what
with the natural influence of his advancing years and
reputation, it seems not unlikely that the period of
gallantry was at an end for Pepys; and it is beyond a doubt
that he sat down at last to an honoured and agreeable old age
among his books and music, the correspondent of Sir Isaac
Newton, and, in one instance at least the poetical counsellor
of Dryden. Through all this period, that Diary which
contained the secret memoirs of his life, with all its
inconsistencies and escapades, had been religiously
preserved; nor, when he came to die, does he appear to have
provided for its destruction. So we may conceive him
faithful to the end to all his dear and early memories; still
mindful of Mrs. Hely in the woods at Epsom; still lighting at
Islington for a cup of kindness to the dead; still, if he
heard again that air that once so much disturbed him,
thrilling at the recollection of the love that bound him to
his wife.
CHAPTER IX - JOHN KNOX AND HIS RELATIONS TO WOMEN
I.
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