He was on the one hand confessedly a coward, and on the other hand a man
of the most hasty and violent temper. Yet none of his readers can
despise him very bitterly for either of these vices. For he disarms all
criticism by the incredibly ingenious frankness of his confessions; and
the instances of these somewhat contemptible vices alternate with bits
of real gallantry and fineness, told in the same perfectly natural and
unconscious way.
His relations with his wife and other ladies would fill a volume in
themselves. It would not be a particularly edifying volume, but it
certainly would be without parallel in the literature of this or any
other country for sheer extremity of frankness. Mrs. Pepys appears to
have been a very beautiful and an extremely difficult lady, disagreeable
enough to tempt him into many indiscretions, and yet so virtuous as to
fill his heart with remorse for all his failings, and still more with
vexation for her discoveries of them. But below all this surface play of
pretty disreputable outward conduct, there seems to have been a deep and
genuine love for her in his heart.
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