possession It appears from the doctor’s letters to Mr Rawlins, that although Mr Jackson’s widow, who was still living, might have satisfied him more fully concerning the collection which he had acquired, he declined prosecuting the inquiry, sufficiently happy in the idea of having rescued such a prize, as he himself expressed it, ‘thus et odores vendentibus.’ I feel convinced myself, that when Mr Pepys removed to Mr Hewer’s house at Clapham, a great portion of his familiar letters and other manuscripts remained at his London residence in York Buildings, or in the custody of some friend for he speaks, in the correspondence, of trusting himself with the company of those papers only which he did not object to have looked into, and Mr Jackson was probably never aware of their existence At all events, we must consider it as a fortunate circumstance, that so large a mass of original manuscripts should have been saved from destruction, and deposited in a place where the laudable care bestowed upon the literary treasures, and the facilities afforded to those who are desirous of examining them, reflect the highest credit on the University of Oxford and the officers of the Bodleian Library.

The remaining portion of the correspondence has been principally made up from a large collection of letters, discovered by Mr Upcott among the archives of Mr Samuel Pepys Cockerell, the representative of the family of Pepys (as the lineal descendant from the secretary’s sister, Mrs Jackson), who kindly permitted them to be copied for publication. They contain many interesting particulars respecting Mr Pepys and his friends -- and, though the subjects of which they treat are not of much importance, it is hoped that from their variety and the celebrity of some of the writers (amongst whom Mr Evelyn should not be forgotten), they will be found worthy of perusal. The correspondence is, generally speaking, autographic, and, like the Diary, entirely new to the public.

It remains for me gratefully to acknowledge the assistance afforded by those gentlemen whom I had occasion to consult whilst employed in arranging the materials for the press.

To Samuel Pepys Cockerell, Esq of Westbourne, my thanks are, in the first instance, more particularly due, for the readiness and liberality with which he entrusted to me the original papers before-mentioned, as well as for the information which he was at all times ready to communicate upon every circumstance connected with the history of his family To Dr Bandinel, and his colleagues, Dr Bliss and Mr Lawrence, I am indebted in no small degree, for their personal attentions to me at Oxford, for the zeal with which they forwarded my researches in the Bodleian Library, and the accuracy and promptitude evinced by them in superintending the task of copying the manuscript letters Nor should I forget to express my sense of the good offices rendered to me during the progress of the work by Mr William Upcott, of the London Institution, to whom I also owe copies of some interesting letters from the Evelyn Collection. In justice to the Revd John Smith (with whom I am not personally acquainted), it may be added, that he appears to have performed the task allotted to him, of deciphering the short-hand diary, with diligence and fidehty, and to have spared neither time nor trouble in the undertaking.

The best account of Mr Pepys occurs in the supplement to Collier’s Historical Dictionary, published soon after his death, and written, as I have reason to believe, by his relative Roger Gale Some particulars may also be obtained from Knight’s Life of Dean Colet; Chalmers’s Biographical Dictionary; Cole’s manuscripts in the British Museum, the manuscripts in the Bodleian and Pepysian Libraries, and the Cockerell Papers.

BRAYBROOKE
Audley End, May 14, 1825