Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Wikipedia
John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February 1706) was an English writer, gardener and diarist.
Evelyn's diaries are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time (he witnessed the deaths of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London in 1666). Evelyn and Pepys corresponded frequently and much of this correspondence has been preserved.
[edit] Life
Born into a family whose wealth was largely founded on gunpowder production, John Evelyn was born in Wotton, Surrey, and grew up in the Sussex town of Lewes. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford and at the Middle Temple. While in London, he witnessed important events such as the execution of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Having briefly joined the Royalist army, he went abroad to avoid further involvement in the English Civil War. He travelled in Italy, attending anatomy lectures in Padua in 1646 and sending the Evelyn Tables back to London. In 1644, Evelyn visited the Venerable English College at Rome, where Catholic Priests were trained for service in England.
He married Mary Browne, daughter of the British ambassador in Paris in 1647.[1]
In 1652, Evelyn and his wife settled in Deptford, in south-east London. Their house, Sayes Court (adjacent to the naval dockyard), was purchased by Evelyn from his father-in-law Sir Richard Browne in 1653 and Evelyn soon began to transform the gardens. In 1671, he encountered master wood-worker Grinling Gibbons (who was renting a cottage on the Sayes Court estate) and introduced him to Sir Christopher Wren. There is now an electoral ward called Evelyn in the Deptford area of the London Borough of Lewisham.
It was after the Restoration that Evelyn's career really took off. In 1660, Evelyn was a member of the group that founded the Royal Society. The following year, he wrote the Fumifugium (or The Inconveniencie of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated), the first book written on the growing pollution problem in London.
He was known for his knowledge of trees, and his treatise Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest Trees (1664) was written as an encouragement to landowners to plant trees to provide timber for England's burgeoning navy. Further editions appeared in his lifetime (1670 and 1679), with the fourth edition (1706) appearing just after his death and featuring the engraving of Evelyn shown on this page even though it had been made more than 50 years prior by Robert Nanteuil in 1651 in Paris. Various other editions appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries and feature an inaccurate portrait of Evelyn made by Francesco Bartolozzi.
Following the Great Fire in 1666, closely described in his diaries, Evelyn presented one of several plans (Wren produced another) for the rebuilding of London, all of which were roundly ignored by Charles II. He took an interest in the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral by Wren (with Gibbons' artistry a notable addition). Evelyn's interest in gardens led him even to design pleasure gardens, such as those at Euston Hall.
Evelyn was a prolific author and produced books on subjects as diverse as theology, numismatics, politics, horticulture, architecture and cookery, and he cultivated links with contemporaries across the spectrum of Stuart political and cultural life. Like Pepys, Evelyn was a lifelong bibliophile, and by his death his library is known to have comprised 3,859 books and 822 pamphlets. Many were uniformly bound in a French taste and bear his motto Omnia explorate; meliora retinete ("explore everything; keep the best") from I Thessalonians 5, 21.
His daughter Maria Evelyn (1665–1685) is sometimes acknowledged as the pseudonymous author of the book Mundus Muliebris of 1690. Mundus Muliebris: or, The Ladies Dressing Room Unlock'd and Her Toilette Spread. In Burlesque. Together with the Fop-Dictionary, Compiled for the Use of the Fair Sex is a satirical guide in verse to Francophile fashion and terminology, and its authorship is often jointly credited to John Evelyn, who seems to have edited the work for press after his daughter's death.
In 1694 Evelyn moved back to Wotton, Surrey because his elder brother George had no living sons available to inherit the estate. Evelyn's own son John ii (1655-99) and grandson John iii (1682–1763) later Sir John Evelyn, bart, were the only hope for Wotton staying in the family. Sayes Court was made available for rent. Its most notable tenant was Russian tsar Peter the Great who lived there for three months in 1698 (and did great damage to both house and grounds). The house no longer exists, but a public park of the same name can be found in Evelyn Street.
John and Mary Evelyn had eight children: Richard (1652–8), John Standsfield (1653–4), John (1655–99), George (1657–8), Richard ii (1664), Mary (1665–85), Elizabeth (1667–85) and Susanna (1669–1754). Only Susanna outlived her parents.
Evelyn died in 1706 at his house in Dover Street, London. His wife Mary died three years later. Both are buried in the Evelyn Chapel in St John's Church at Wotton. In 1992 their skulls were stolen by persons unknown who hacked into the stone sarcophagi on the chapel floor and tore open the coffins. They have not been recovered.
Evelyn's epitaph (original spelling) reads:
Here lies the Body of JOHN EVELYN Esq of this place, second son of RICHARD EVELYN Esq who having served the Publick in several employments of which that Commissioner of the Privy Seal in the reign of King James the 2nd was most Honourable: and perpetuated his fame by far more lasting Monuments than those of Stone, or Brass: his Learned and useful works, fell asleep the 27th day of February 1705/6 being the 86th Year of his age in full hope of a glorious resurrection thro faith in Jesus Christ. Living in an age of extraordinary events, and revolutions he learnt (as himself asserted) this truth which pursuant to his intention is here declared. That all is vanity which is not honest and that there's no solid Wisdom but in real piety. Of five Sons and three Daughters borne to him from his most vertuous and excellent Wife MARY sole daughter, and heiress of Sir RICHARD BROWNE of Sayes Court near Deptford in Kent onely one Daughter SUSANNA married to WILLIAM DRAPER Esq of Adscomb in this County survived him the two others dying in the flower of their age, and all the sons very young except one nam'd John who deceased 24 March 1698/9 in the 45th year of his age, leaving one son JOHN and one daughter ELIZABETH.
Wotton passed down to Evelyn's great-great-grandson Sir Frederick Evelyn (1733–1812). The baronetcy next passed to Frederick Evelyn's cousins, Sir John Evelyn, 4th Bt (1757–1833) and Sir Hugh Evelyn, 5th Bt (1769–1848). Both these two were of unsound mind and the estate was therefore left to a remote cousin descended from the diarist's grandfather's first marriage, in whose family it remains to this day though they no longer occupy the house. The title died out in 1848. However, there are many living descendants of John Evelyn the diarist via his daughter Susanna, Mrs William Draper, and his granddaughter Elizabeth, Mrs Simon Harcourt.
[edit] Legacy
In 1977 and 1978 in eight auctions at Christie's, a major surviving portion of Evelyn's library was sold and dispersed.[2] The British Library holds a large archive of Evelyn's personal papers including the manuscript of his Diary.[3]
In 2005 a new biography by Gillian Darley, based on full access to the archive, was published.[4]
[edit] Things named after John Evelyn
- Evelyn, London, an electoral ward of the London Borough of Lewisham covering Deptford where John Evelyn lived.
- Evelyn College for Women, the short-lived coordinate college of Princeton University, USA
- A house at Addey and Stanhope School in London, UK
- Crabtree & Evelyn, the skincare company
- Evelyn rose, a scented rose used in Crabtree & Evelyn products
- Evelyn, the gossip column of Oxford student newspaper Cherwell
- Evelyn Street, a road in Deptford
- John Evelyn Primary School on the corner of Rolt Street, Deptford.
- The John Evelyn public house on Evelyn Street in Deptford (as featured in the BBC Television's The Tower)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Douglas D. C. Chambers, ‘Evelyn, John (1620–1706)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8996, accessed 13 Jan 2008.
- ^ Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd. (1977) The Evelyn Library: Sold by Order of the Trustees of the Wills of J. H. C. Evelyn, deceased and Major Peter Evelyn, deceased.
- ^ The John Evelyn archives
- ^ Open Letters Monthly: An Arts and Literature Review » Wider Stranger Worlds
[edit] Sources
- John Evelyn, ed. Guy de la Bédoyère (1997), Particular Friends: The Correspondence of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, Boydell and Brewer, ISBN 0-85115-697-5
- John Evelyn, ed. Guy de la Bédoyère (1995), The Writings of John Evelyn, Boydell and Brewer, ISBN 0-85115-631-2 (full annotated texts of several of Evelyn's books and tracts; the only modern collected edition produced.)
- John Evelyn, The Diary of John Evelyn (excerpts)
- John Evelyn, Diary and Correspondence, vol. 1 (full text) editor, William Bray (originally published in London: George Bell and Sons, 1882), from the Tufts Digital Library.
- John Evelyn, Diary and Correspondence, vol. 2
- John Evelyn, Diary and Correspondence, vol. 3
- John Evelyn, Diary and Correspondence, vol. 4
- Darley, Gillian (2006). John Evelyn: Living for Ingenuity. Yale: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300112276.
- Works by John Evelyn at Project Gutenberg
[edit] External links
- Article on Fumifugium. Retrieved 4 April 2006.
- Evelyn family tree
Annotations
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John Evelyn (Oct 1620- Feb 1706) Another Diarist, Royalist thru and thru; Wealthy, His Diary, ( an edition edited E.S. de Beer 1959) Evelyn called it ‘Kalendarium’ Major portions were were religeous related tracts. His epitaph worth reading. His trips abroad, around England in Coach,His entries are questionable in some areas as they were not done on the date in Question so a little memory variations.
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a link to on line diary of J Evelyn
http://astext.com/history/ed_main.html -
The letters between John Evelyn and Samuel Pepys:
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John Evelyn
John Evelyn: Between ancients and Moderns by Joseph M Levine
An article about Evelyn
(Vincente’s site, above, seems to have gone for a burton, any alternatives for the Evelyn Diary?)
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John Evelyn - re Pedro
I haven’t found an alternative on the web yet, although I’ve tried several search engines. Some time ago I downloaded the diary files: it’s these that I use now when I occasionally refer to JE’s diary in annotations.
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Dirk/pedro: A contact for J Evelyn : also ref to the above from diary mar 7 60 :
http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1660/03/07/index.php
message found: -
Evelyn the master gardner: http://www.doaks.org/Evelyn/evel006.pdf
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John Evelyn on line at:
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/1914/ed_1661.html#Cromwell%20exhumed
By the time he returned to England in 1652 to take up residence at a house belonging to his wife’s family, Sayes Court at Deptford, he had made himself prodigiously learned, not only in classical literature but also in scientific and technical matters. He soon established himself as one of the foremost virtuosi of his day. His famous garden at Sayes Court, begun at this time, gave scope for his talent for design, his enthusiasm for French and Italian ideas, his practical skills and his strong moral and religious impulses: his conviction that `the air and genius of gardens operate upon human spirits towards virtue and sanctity’http://greenwichpast.com/vip/writers/evelyn.htm
Life: English diarist, author, garden designer and friend of Charles II. John Evelyn’s own garden was at Sayes Court in Deptford and it is possible that he advised Charles II on the design of Greenwich Park [and author of sylva]
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more links
http://www.gardenvisit.com/g/eus.htm
http://www.gardenvisit.com/g/alb1.htm
http://www.gardenvisit.com/b/evelyn.htmhttp://www.doaks.org/OMEB.html
browne http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/1348.phpJohn Evelyn’s Elysium Britanicum
http://www.doaks.org/Evelyn/evel006.pdf
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Frances Harris’ book, “Transformations of Love” about the friendship of John Evelyn and Margaret Godolphin is located in the biography section of the site at http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/2433.php
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A new edition of Evelyn’s diary.
Everyman have recently published a new edition of Evelyn’s diary. This one is edited by Roy Strong and is based on E.S. De Beer’s six-volume edition. Strong provides a perceptive introduction to the work (pace Raymond Carr in today’s Spectator magazine) and runs to 1000+ pages.
ISBN 1857152913
Price: £14.99 -
A new life of Evelyn, by Gillian Darley (author of “John Soane: An accidental Romantic,” 1999), will be published later this year, says the contributors’ page to the 31 March 2006 Times Lit. Supp.—-how handy to have the new Everyman to go with it.
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The Everyman edition Mary alerted us to has now been reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement too, weighs in at 1,013 pages, and should now be readily available from your preferred dealer, at least in the UK.
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Gillian Darley’s “John Evelyn: Living for Ingenuity” will be forthcoming from Yale Univ. Press on 31 October 2006. 416pp., 36 b/w illus., L25, says their ad and Amazon.co.uk too:
“This new biography of John Evelyn, diarist, scholar and intellectual virtuoso, is the first account to make full use of his huge unpublished archive deposited at the British Library in 1995. This crucial source evokes a broader and richer picture of Evelyn than permitted by his own celebrated diaries.”
US publication will be 27 Feb. 2007. -
John Evelyn’s resevations concerning the forthcoming war.
Evelyn had wrote the following probably about the middle of 1664, as skirmishes in various parts of the world were taking place and he, like many others, saw the inevitability of declared war.
(From John Evelyn, Living for Ingenuity, by Gillian Darley.)
Evelyn had grave misgivings about war with the Dutch a nation that he particularly admired. As usual at times of stress he composed a prayer.
“Lord I have long desired of thee that thou would choose my Employment, furnish out my person and render me useful in something that might please thee.” He asked for Divine blessing with his responsibilities in “this unhappy war with our neighbours” and hoped to carry out his duties “with integrity, as to his Majesties trust, and with Charity and Tenderness as to thine; that having obtained the grace and the anyways helpful to those in distress, I be remembered for Good.”Finally he prayed for the victims and relatives and, above all, an end to the war.
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Evlyn’s house…Plan of Sayes Court House and Garden.
(From site posted by Lawrence under Deptford)
This plan of the house and garden at Sayes Court shows in detail the renovations to the house and outbuildings and the new garden layout of the parterre, grove and orchard designed and carried out by John Evelyn. The property had long been held by Evelyn’s wife’s family as a crown lease, and he lived there from 1652 until he moved to his own ancestral home at Wotton in Surrey in 1694. The line dividing the key from the plan actually represents the dock wall. Sandwiched between the docks and the yards where cattle were slaughtered, this was not an ideal location for a tranquil garden. But at Sayes Court Evelyn, inspired by French and Italian ideas, created one of the most influential gardens of his day.
http://collectbritain.co.uk/personalisation/object.cfm?UID=008ADD00078628AU00000000
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Evelyn’s Archive at the British Library:-
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/evelynarchive.html
Related page includes photo of the following, Autograph Letter from Samuel Pepys to Evelyn, 2 October 1685.