The only man who is uniformly spoken well of in the Diary is Sir William Coventry, and many of the characters introduced come in for severe castigation.  It is therefore the more necessary to remember that many of the judgments on men were set down hastily, and would probably have been modified had occasion offered.  At all events, we know that, however much he may have censured them, Pepys always helped on those who were dependent upon him.

H. R. W.

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